Discover stunning architecture on Combe Down

Listed Buildings

This is, obviously, a list of (hopefully) all the listed buildings on Combe Down and in Midford and Monkton Combe – the area that I have taken as Combe Down and shown on the map.

Essentially, is the hill itself. Almost all the area has, at one time or another or by one authority or another, been regarded as a part of Combe Down.

I have divided this into 16 areas – shown on the tabs – as follows:

Prior Park
North Road
The Avenue
Church Road
Belmont Road
Summer Lane
Combe Road
Bradford Road
Entry Hill
Perrymead
Midford Castle
Tucking Mill
Monkton Combe
Brassknocker Hill
Combe Grove Manor
Shaft Road

For each building or monument I have tried to give:

A link to Google maps
A link to the Historic England listing
A link to a photograph of the building or monument via a Pinterest board (Listed buildings and monuments on Combe Down and in Midford and Monkton Combe) which is also embedded below, so that it’s easy to browse.
A brief summary of the building or monument

Listed buildings and stunning architecture

The principles of selection for listing buildings and deciding whether a building is of special architectural or historic interest are set out under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.

It imposes a duty on the Secretary of State for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to compile or approve a list or lists of buildings of special architectural or historic interest as a guide to the planning authorities when carrying out their planning functions.

The planning system is supposed to be designed to regulate the development and use of land in the public’s interest.

Buildings on the list are graded to reflect their relative architectural and historic interest but buildings of historic interest may justify a higher grading than would otherwise be appropriate.

Grade I buildings are of exceptional interest
Grade II* buildings are particularly important buildings of more than special interest
Grade II buildings are of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve them

Statutory Criteria

There are statutory criteria that the Secretary of State uses in assessing whether a building is of special interest and therefore should be added to the statutory list. These are:

Architectural interest

To be of special architectural interest a building must be of importance in its architectural design, decoration or craftsmanship; special interest may also apply to nationally important examples of particular building types and techniques (e.g. buildings displaying technological innovation or virtuosity) and significant plan forms.

Historic interest

To be of special historic interest a building must illustrate important aspects of the nation’s social, economic, cultural, or military history and/or have close historical associations with nationally important people. There should normally be some quality of interest in the physical fabric of the building itself to justify the statutory protection afforded by listing.

General Principles

There are also general principles that the Secretary of State uses in assessing whether a building should be added to the statutory list. These are:

Age and rarity

The older a building is, and the fewer the surviving examples of its kind, the more likely it is to have special interest. A chronology is used as a guide to assessment; the dates are indications of likely periods of interest and are not absolute. The relevance of age and rarity will vary according to the particular type of building because for some types, dates other than those given are significant. However, the general principles are:

that before 1700, all buildings that contain a significant proportion of their original fabric are listed
from 1700 to 1840, most buildings are listed
after 1840, because of the greatly increased number of buildings erected and the much larger numbers that have survived, progressively greater selection is necessary
particularly careful selection is required for buildings from the period after 1945
buildings of less than 30 years old are normally listed only if they are of outstanding quality and under threat

Aesthetic merits

The appearance of a building – both its intrinsic architectural merit and any group value – is a key consideration in judging listing proposals, but the special interest of a building will not always be reflected in obvious external visual quality.

Buildings that are important for reasons of technological innovation, or as illustrating particular aspects of social or economic history, may have little external visual quality.

Selectivity

Where a building qualifies for listing primarily on the strength of its special architectural interest, the fact that there are other buildings of similar quality elsewhere is not likely to be a major consideration. However, a building may be listed primarily because it represents a particular historical type in order to ensure that examples of such a type are preserved.

Listing in these circumstances is largely a comparative exercise and needs to be selective where a substantial number of buildings of a similar type and quality survive. In such cases, the policy is to list only the most representative or most significant examples of the type.

National interest

The emphasis is to establish consistency of selection to ensure that not only are all buildings of strong intrinsic architectural interest included on the list, but also the most significant or distinctive regional buildings that together make a major contribution to the national historic stock.

For instance, the best examples of local vernacular buildings will normally be listed because together they illustrate the importance of distinctive local and regional traditions. Similarly, for example, some buildings will be listed because they represent a nationally important but localised industry, such as shoemaking in Northamptonshire or cotton production in Lancashire.

State of repair

The state of repair of a building is not a relevant consideration when deciding whether a building meets the test of special interest. The policy is to list a building which has been assessed as meeting the statutory criteria, irrespective of its state of repair.

In addition to listed buildings English Heritage compiles registers of parks and gardens of special historic interest, and of historic battlefields. The designation of conservation areas is the responsibility of local planning authorities.