South Croxton Conservation Area

South Croxton Conservation Area Feb 09

South Croxton Conservation Area was designated in September 1975.

Tthe full text of the Conservation Area Appraisal was adopted by Cabinet in November 2005.

The Management Plan for the Conservation Area was approved by Cabinet in April 2009.

South Croxton is a small rural village on the edge of the Leicestershire uplands standing pleasantly on a hillside road, crowned by a fine church. The Conservation Area covers 15.4 ha.

The village is strongly influenced by the topography of the landscape and its relative isolation. It lies outside the principal corridors along the Soar and Wreake valleys. It is screened from views from the north but there is a panoramic view of the village flowing down the hillside as one approaches from Beeby. From within the village there are corresponding views into the open countryside across the valley of Queniborough Brook.

The church at the highest point in the village is a focal point for views from several directions.

The approach from the south offers a dramatic journey through the village as Main Street climbs steeply up the hillside, with the Church clearly framed within the changing street scene. The views from the north along Main Street open up after the junction with Three Turns Lane as the land falls steeply into the valley bottom.

The village sits within an established agricultural landscape, largely in pastoral use. It has a linear form, composed originally of clusters of houses with modern infilling, broken in places by the intrusion of open fields. To the east, part way down the hill, is what was once a separate settlement, West Thorpe, that is now joined to the main village by modern housing along School Street.

South Croxton has its origins as a Saxon settlement. It is called Crochestone in the Domesday Survey of 1086. To the north of the church, around the moat, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, is the site of the only Saxon occupation finds in the county. A church was first mentioned at the end of the 12^th Century but the present church of St John the Baptist dates from the 14^th Century.

The village was historically split between two manors, the Upper End and the Nether End, on opposite sides of Queniborough Brook. The influence of this division continued from mediaeval times to the 18^th Century, when the open fields were enclosed.

Traditionally, South Croxton was an agricultural village. In the 19th Century some framework knitting was introduced but this was a short lived economic activity and there is no obvious evidence of the cottage industry in the village today. The importance of the agricultural economy is also now much reduced with most of the local population now employed in service industries, commuting into surrounding towns.

Originally, most of the houses were relatively small cottages, sitting in small plots on the back edge of the pavement or slightly back from it, with their long frontage parallel to the road. Most were of two storeys, built in a vernacular style with an ordered arrangement of windows and door in the main street façade. This form creates a sense of enclosure and a relatively intimate human scale compared with the open space of the surrounding countryside. Many of the houses are influenced by their position on the steep hillside. The ridge line is continuous but there is an exposed raised plinth at the lower end of each building and steps to the main entrance door. With the vernacular cottages are more distinguished detached houses from the late Georgian and early Victorian periods, built in a more polite style and standing in their own grounds.

The principal building in the village is the church, built of local ironstone. The domestic buildings are typically built of red brick, laid to Flemish bond in contrasting headers and stretchers with stone used for rubble plinths, to support timber framing or as dressings to windows and doors. Generally roofs are of Welsh slate though the roofs of several older buildings, such as North Manor Farm and The Grange, are covered in Swithland slate.

The more distinguished buildings have white painted timber sash windows while the vernacular cottages have casement windows or Yorkshire horizontal sliding sash windows. Unfortunately, a number of traditional properties, such as the Old Post Office, have lost their original windows which has diminished their overall appearance. The more modern 20^th Century houses tend to have large picture windows with side casements and top opening lights, which are at variance with the traditional windows. As well as timber windows, there are good examples of timber panel doors, many with fanlights above.

Chimney stacks are a distinctive feature contributing to skyline views across the village where they are often seen in silhouette.

Apart from the churchyard the public realm is restricted to the footpaths and verges alongside the roads, with a number of footpaths that extend into the open countryside. Also of interest are the cobbled yards to the farm buildings at South Manor Farm and Millbrook Barn. Street furniture is minimal, but there are many overhead wires and telegraph poles which are quite obtrusive in the street scene.

Generally there are few trees within the village. At the top of the hill, the churchyard is screened from the road by a tall hedge and contains many mature yew trees. Opposite, the former Rectory stands in grounds surrounded by mature trees. At 68 Main Street a group of five silver birch trees have been planted in the front lawn.

The extensive development of modern houses in the Conservation Area detract from the prevailing form and grain. Typically, the buildings are detached houses set back behind front gardens and dominated by garages and car parking. They do not respect the scale, materials and form of the more traditional buildings within the village, in particular, in the use of concrete tiles and upvc picture windows. The houses have no special historic or architectural interest and make no contribution to the character or appearance of the area.

South Croxton Conservation Area Map (PDF Document, 0.1 Mb)