heritage

What English Heritage says about the garden

After being consulted by the former Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council, English Heritage gave this advice (edited):

THE application affects the former walled garden of Townsend House, which was built in 1580 for Richard Wilbraham, a wealthy town person with court connections. Whilst the house has regrettably been lost, the walled garden is a rare national survival of a late 16th century urban garden structure, and notwithstanding its dilapidated condition, it deserves to be fully repaired and conserved.

   English Heritage was consulted on an earlier application for development of the walled garden in 2004, when we recommended that the site should not be developed with buildings, but should be repaired as part of the wider development of Kingsley Farm. The application was refused on the grounds that it was detrimental to the special interest of the listed structure and that no justification had been presented why development within the walled garden was required.
   The new application involves a less intensive scheme, but the need for development and its impact on the setting of the listed structure remain the fundamental issues of concern. It is our view that development of the walled garden is undesirable in view of its special interest.
   Regarding the impact that the proposed development has on its special interest, it should be considered that the listed structure is not merely a wall, but a wall enclosing a space. The space was designed to be open and used for recreation and amenity. Its size, proportions and layout are an important aspect of its significance, and the construction of a substantial building within the space would have a major and adverse impact.
   Whilst the setting of the wall has been damaged to some degree by the development to the north and west, the walled garden still survives as a substantial historic structure behind the original burgage plots on Welsh Row, and should be retained as an entity.
   We would therefore support the rejection of this application, and the service of an appropriate legal notice to secure the repair of the wall.

English Heritage declined to list the garden as being of historic interest, saying there was no plan of the garden or traces of its layout on the ground. They also declined to become involved in our project.