YEOMAN FOLD, BURNLEY, LANCASHIRE Desk-based Heritage Assessment - Revised

BAK Contracts Ltd are preparing plans for the redevelopment of land on Yeoman Fold, bounded by Hargrove Avenue, Burnley (centred on SD 8292 3352). They commissioned Oxford Archaeology North to carry out a desk-based heritage assessment of the Site Area, which was intended to establish, as far as possible, the area’s cultural heritage significance, and to establish the impact of any future development upon it.
The Lancashire Historic Environment Record (LHER) has records for 17 heritage assets within a radius of 500m from the Site Area, of which two are listed buildings. One of
these, Clifton House, lies immediately to the west of the Site Area, which lies within the curtilage of the listed building. The vast majority of heritage assets within 500m of the Site Area relate to cotton mills on the banks of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which lies 330m to the south of the site area. Two sites of potential archaeological interest have been identified, by this desk-based assessment, within the bounds of the Site Area, and are a
former ornamental garden (Site 01) and a former property boundary (Site 02). Cartographic evidence, survey data and archival records illustrates that Clifton House,
originally a seventeenth century farmhouse, was enlarged and re-modelled into a villa in the early nineteenth century, by the Margerison family who ran Calder Vale printworks in
Burnley. Since the middle of the nineteenth century the house has been subdivided into two separate dwellings; a farmstead based in the western seventeenth century house, and to the east, a larger polite villa-style dwelling.
The Site Area is situated to the south-east of the nineteenth century villa, within an area formerly laid out with formal gardens, tree plantings, and in the early twentieth century, it had a sweeping driveway. The Site Area also includes the former southern boundary wall
of the property, which marks the historic curtilage of Clifton House. These are considered to be of local/borough importance due to their association with the listed Clifton House. Following the spread of suburban housing in the area surrounding Clifton House, the building became a public house known as The Malt Shovel in the late 1970s. Following its closure, the building was turned into apartments.
Whilst the former gardens and wooded areas surrounding Clifton House have been used as car parking for many years, the Site Area is within the curtilage of a listed building and within its setting. Changes to setting are a material consideration in the planning process and this should be taken into consideration during the design stage of the development. There exists the possibility that there are, as yet undiscovered, buried archaeological remains on the site which could potentially be impacted by the proposed development; it is therefore recommended that an archaeological watching brief be maintained during the
groundworks for the laying of the foundations.
Ground plans and a rendered image of the proposed new buildings illustrate that their architectural design takes account of that of Clifton House, and that some areas of green space and tree cover, which are important elements of the setting of the listed building, are to be retained. It is recommended that the gable ends of the proposed buildings be rendered and painted white to match in with the gable of Clifton House, and that a grass verge be maintained at the front of the proposed dwellings. So long as the building materials used are appropriate and complimentary to those of Clifton House, and approved by the Local Yeoman Fold, Burnley: Desk-based Heritage Assessment Report 3 Planning authority, the architectural design of the proposed buildings is considered to mitigate negative impacts on the significance of Clifton House.