Woodhouse Eaves Conservation Area

Woodhouse Eaves Conservation Area was designated in July 1993.

The character appraisal was approved by Cabinet in April 2009. See Related Documents for the complete Appraisal, Map and Slideshow.

The conservation Area covers 72.3 Hectares. It includes both the historic area of built development of the village and the traditional landscape, Victorian houses and extensively planted gardens of Brand Hill.

Woodhouse Eaves is a prosperous village at the edge of Charnwood Forest, raised well above the valley of the river Soar. It is about 6km south of Loughborough.

There is evidence of human activity since the early Bronze Age and it is known that the Romans were exploiting Swithland Slate. However, the soil did not allow for good arable land, and for centuries there were only isolated houses at the edge of the woods and Woodhouse Eaves as a recognisable village did not begin until late Georgian and early Victorian times.

It was greatly influenced by Beaumanor, of which estate it was a significant part, and much of the Victorian building may be attributed to the energy of Sophia Perry Herrick. In 1920 there was a significant sale when much of the property was sold to the tenants and in 1946 the Estate was sold off completely.

In mid Victorian times the village was advertised and noted for the quality of its air and much visited as a resort from the smoky cities, including London. In the same period the village survived the loss of the Swithland Slate industry when the quarries closed, swamped by drainage problems in their very deep pits and unable to compete with cheaper and lighter Welsh slate brought in on the railways.

The centre of the village is the junction of four roads, Main Street, Maplewell Road, Church Hill and Meadow Lane. It is intimate in character. It lies in a bowl surrounded by wooded hills.

Main Street is set between the wooded hill above and the equally wooded slopes leading down to the valley The houses and groups of houses have little recognisable pattern: they may be set at the back of the pavement, or set with a small front garden behind a stone wall. Other houses may have a large front garden. Maplewell Road is tighter, from the proximity of the hills on either side, and with more continuous development.

The Brand Hill area is a pleasant alternation of dense woodland which comes up to the edge of the highway with open clearings of meadows and openings to private gardens of the well spaced houses.

The contours and landform contribute greatly to the appearance of the village and provide opportunities for views and glimpses, both from within and without. The valley of the river Soar can be seen from a number of places but the most important views are those of the village itself, especially the central bowl against the backdrop of houses and gardens on the slopes and the wooded Brand Hill with the tower of St Pauls Church standing on the rock.

From Brand Hill there are views into the open meadows and delightful views of the open country beyond to the hills of the Soar and Wreake valleys.

St Pauls Church is the major landmark. The Pear Tree Inn, Le Fevre’s Stores and Oakwood Pharmacy in the central bowl make an important contribution and, at the far end of Main Street, The Old Bulls Head marks the entrance to the village. Higher up Maplewell Road is the ornate Liberty Hall.

Most of the buildings are 2 storey dwellings with a simple ridge parallel to the street. There are also buildings with a gable facing the street. The dwellings range from modest vernacular cottages to imposing detached houses. Besides the simple vernacular style the Victorians were fond of a more conscious rural style and a good example is found in the centre of the village: the row of cottages, Nos. 2-6 Maplewell Road, for the workers in the quarries. Public buildings include the Baptist Chapel with a unique octagonal form and the tall red brick Methodist Chapel

While there is a variety of building styles uniformity is derived from a small palette of materials. The predominant material for walls is stone, either slate or granite, from the local quarries, although many houses have been rendered so that the stone is more often seen in plinths or in the low boundary walls. Red brick, sometimes a buff brick, is also seen especially for the quoins and door and window surrounds in the stone built houses. The most common roofing material for buildings of all styles, periods and degrees of importance is Swithland slate.

The vernacular Yorkshire sliding sash is still evident in the older cottages, occasionally replaced with flush casements. In the later Victorian houses there are sash windows. A number of houses have diamond lattice windows, made of cast iron, painted white. Doors are generally simple, in a plain reveal. There are some simple canopies and a few well made doorcases. More often the door is set in a gabled porch, which in some cases forms a two storey bay to the house. Many of the cottages have dormer windows and this tradition has been continued into the later Victorian and larger houses. Unfortunately, many fine original timber windows have been lost and replaced by the increasingly ubiquitous uPVC which has no identifiable style and seeks to mimic, without charm, the original.

There are some wonderful chimney stacks to be seen such as those on the cottages at Nos 2-6 Maplewell Road.

Throughout the village, where the houses are set back from the pavement edge, there are boundary walls of local slate. The slate is laid fairly roughly with standing slates to cap the wall. The walls vary in height and may have an associated hedge of holly or privet or bay.

The parish is noted for having a wall mounted letter box from every reign since their introduction and four of them are within the Conservation Area, one from the reign of George VI in the wall by the Village Hall, a Victorian one in the wall at the junction of Main Street and Beacon Road and one from the current reign of Elizabeth II in the entrance wall to the Post Office. There is another letterbox from the reign of George VI on Brand Hill near Swithland Court.

Trees and many fine shrubs and hedgerows form an essential part of the townscape against the backdrop of Charnwood Forest. Within the village are the beautiful gardens of Long Close, which are privately maintained and not visible from the street but they are often open to the public on payment of a small fee.

Nearby to this private garden is a well cared for public green space containing a play area for children and leading to tennis courts and the village cricket pitch and football ground. Adjoining the green space is a public car park which makes a useful starting point for walkers going into the forest.

St Paul’s churchyard has fine trees at the front and an avenue of yews bordering the path from the lychgate. To the north is a rocky outcrop on which stands a cross and flagstaff which are part of the war memorial and below the rock, approached by a private drive off Church Hill there is a romantic glade leading to a cave, known as the Stone Hole, which was a former slate quarry.

Brand Hill comprises a large piece of woodland and meadows with cottages, the Wheatsheaf Inn and some scattered large houses, such as The Brand itself, the magnificent Swithland Court and the complex of Charnwood House to Bradgate Park Nursing Home which was originally the Zachary Merton convalescence homes. There are pines, oaks, and beech with yew and holly understorey and much of the planting follows the Victorian romantic ideal of sombre evergreens.

At a triangle of grass with a planted oak in the centre, Brand Lane meets the junction with Main Street, Swithland and Swithland Road leading back up the hill. Nearby is a circular stone folly, said to have been the gunpowder store for the quarrymen. The disused slate pits are now very deep ponds and workings have become re-colonised by heath, scrub and woodland.

The Conservation Area encompasses part of ‘Swithland Wood & The Brand’ SSSI, which has a rich lichen flora including many species rare in the East Midlands. The common lizard and adder have been recorded in the area reflecting the geographical location of Woodhouse Eaves within the Forest.