THE AMPORT VILLAGE DESIGN STATEMENT (Feb 2006 Draft)

The purpose of this Village Design Statement is to:

The VDS was compiled over an 18 month period involving a questionnaire delivered to every house in the village, numerous open meetings and the subsequent establishment of groups to look into the various specialist areas. This very wide consultation process resulted in the VDS being accepted by the Parish Council on …and adopted by the TVBC on …

INTRODUCTION

AMPORT PARISH

Amport is a scattered parish with an irregular boundary. The important consequence of this is the many differing styles of development, buildings and industry that exist in the parish. It must not be forgotten that whilst almost all the key social features of the parish lie south of the A303, some 37% of the population live to the north of this major trunk road.

The Village Design Statement has been structured along 5 themes: Landscape, Settlement, Buildings & Materials, Transport and Amenities. Each section has a commentary, followed by a set of recommendations where appropriate.

(Parish administration and social cohesion would be much easier if the boundaries were simplified by following the lines of the Church parish boundaries (i.e. the western parts to Cholderton, Middlecote to Quarley and the estates of Fairways and Michaelmas Drove to Weyhill). An attempt at such a rationalisation occurred in 2001.)

The principal features of the Parish are:

Landscape & wildlife

Buildings & amenities

These are discussed in more detail on the following pages.

1. LANDSCAPE

General Description

The bulk of the parish is in a rural area of largely unspoilt arable farmland and is mostly within the Conservation area. The Amport and Monxton and the East Cholderton Conservation Areas designated by local planning authorities are identified in the Test Valley Borough Local Plan Review Revised Deposit Draft 2004. These Conservation Areas ("areas of special architectural or historical interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance") are of great importance to residents of Amport and in preparing this VDS this has been in the forefront of our thinking. To quote from the important open areas & landscape features (set 06) section of the Deposit Draft 2004 "The landscape setting of many settlements contribute significantly to their character, and should be protected from harmful development." The old villages of Amport, Sarson and East Cholderton are clustered in the valley of the Pillhill Brook with the banks given over mostly to water-meadow and ancient woodland.

Amport Green, in the centre of the village, is a focal point. In the far south-west of the parish, housing is sparse and residents tend to gravitate more towards their nearby village settlements of Quarley and Cholderton.

On the higher ground throughout the parish are a number of active farms conducting mainly arable cultivation with some grazing land, amidst a fair amount of mixed woodland – rough woods, plantations and coppiced areas. Small clusters of dwellings are scattered across the area, including several where former farm buildings and the former sanatorium at The Limes have been converted to housing. There are also a number of stables for riding, breeding, convalescent and livery horses.

The area north of the A303 is mostly residential with a small industrial site. Many of the roads through the parish are only single lane wide and very few have pavement. Most houses have their own garages or parking areas resulting in very little on road parking. There is an extensive network of much-used footpaths and some bridleways.

Landscape Features

Matters of Concern.

Changes to the landscape are inevitable, but within the consultation process there are four areas in particular which caused concern in survey responses.

Other issues respondents considered to be important include:

1. Landscape Recommendations

2. SETTLEMENT

The Parish’s settlement patterns remain largely unchanged from those of the early 20^th century. They focus on the roadways between the long-established settlements at Sarson, Amport and Cholderton. Settlement is generally low-lying rather than prominent.

At the time of the Norman Conquest the parish was made up of seven Saxon settlements. William the Conqueror gave Anne, the largest of these, to Hugh de Port. In the course of time the name Anne changed to Anne de Porte, Annaporta, Anneporte and finally, Amport. Being the largest, it gave its name to the village. Of the other six Domesday manors, three small manors joined to form the manor of East Cholderton; two others, Anne Savage and Soresden combined to form Sarson. The sixth was that of Appleshaw. These four manors established in Norman times gave rise to the four present day settlements of Amport, East Cholderton, Sarson and Appleshaw. Appleshaw was later created a separate parish. Amport Parish today includes Oklahoma Farm, Georgia Farm and Fox to the south and areas of Quarley, Middlecote and Cholderton to the West

From whatever direction you enter Amport the striking feature is the wide diversity of the buildings in the village. The principal areas are:

Sarson

The original settlement (traces of which are still visible) was along the South side of the Brook.
Photograph 5: Pillhill Brook at Sarson
Landscape recommendation G

The existing development is mainly along the North side of Pillhill Brook and is largely brick and flint.

The 1997 conversion of Sarson Barns to one and two storey dwellings in timber, brick and flint is an excellent example of good development.
Photograph 6: Sarson Barns

Some of the older, cob walled and straw thatched cottages are set well back from the road on slightly higher ground.
Photograph 7: Cottages at Sarson
Settlement recommendations A & C

Sarson Lane

The older cottages are centred on the south end of the lane. Further to the north is Sarson Close, comprising 30 one or two storey red brick houses built by the Local Authority after the Second World War. These houses are now mainly in private ownership. They are characterised by shared features, materials, angles and pitches and sit on generous plots.
Photograph 8: Sarson Close plots
Settlement recommendations C & F
Design recommendation D
Materials recommendation M

The lane is then bordered by open farmland on both sides for several hundred yards before reaching the top of Sarson Lane. Industrial units lie largely screened from the surrounding paths and roads by shrubs and trees. Beyond the Hawk Conservancy lies a group of homes known as The Limes - previously red-brick buildings built during the Second World War and intended as an isolation hospital, but never used as such.

The North of the Parish (Weyhill)

On the north side of the A303 trunk road from London to the West Country lies part of the Parish of Amport. The buildings here are early 20^th century; two storey red-brick, many with grey slate roofs.

During the 1960s a need for more housing in the countryside was recognised and to this end Fairways (52 houses and flats) was built, as local authority housing. In the 1980’s, following the sale of local authority property into private ownership, came a need for affordable housing for people with young families and thus Michaelmas Drove (24 houses) was built, which is partly owned by a housing association and partly by the occupiers. This area is characterised by low boundaries between plots.

In addition to these post Second World War developments there are two park home sites, at Elmstead Park (39 units) in East Cholderton and Mullenscote Park (21 units) in the North of the Parish. These two sites house roughly 100 people, or almost 10% of the population of the Parish, in what can be described as low cost housing.
Photograph 9: Elmstead Park

Amport

For many hundreds of years development took place along the Pillhill Brook and around The Green, notably after the late 17^th century Park clearance on the Amport estate. Between the river and the road is a small mixed wooded copse and opposite, two-storey houses and bungalows of mid 20^th century design, some with quarry-tiled roofs and some with grey slates. Most of these more recent properties are set back from the road and tend not to dominate the plot on which they sit.

Heading north toward East Cholderton, the lane is bordered by farmland and watermeadow before reaching Waterloo Cottage. There is then a further separation in settlement, before reaching the first properties at the margin of East Cholderton.
Photograph 10: Waterloo Cottage and the Pillhill Brook water-meadow
Landscape recommendation H;
Settlement recommendations A & B

The School. Behind the red brick Victorian school building, built in 1815 by Sophia Sheppard, lies a row of almshouses, also built by her and administered now by the Sheppard Trust. In her will Sophia Sheppard stipulated that these houses should be let to ‘poor widows without independent means’, but this stipulation has lapsed over the years.

Furzedown Lane: The lane runs behind the north side of Amport House. It has been developed since the sale of Amport House soon after World War 1. It consists of large houses, all with sizeable gardens. A recent build of a house at the south end of the lane in brick and flint is a welcome and sympathetic development.

Fox Farm: A mix of later 20^th century housing opposite the conversion of original barns and other structures on the Fox Farm site.

2. Settlement Recommendations:

3. BUILDINGS & MATERIALS

General description

The three former settlements of Amport, East Cholderton and Sarson that make Amport Parish today contain an eclectic mix of architectural style dating from the 16^th century up to today. The historically indigenous building materials in the Parish are chalk cob and flint and hand made brick walls, thatched or slate covered roofs. The use of these materials in the 18^th and 19^th century dwellings contributes to the visual quality of the Parish. Windows in these cottage dwellings are generally Hampshire casement windows often framed by eyebrow rooflines. The result is both aesthetic and practical. Many of the dwellings have been sympathetically extended with the result that conservation aims and objectives have usually been met.

Changes in the economics of farming have meant that some farm buildings have become available for conversion into dwellings. Two notable examples in the Parish are Fox Farm and Sarson’s Barns where the use of flint and brick with slate or clay tile roofs together with sympathetic landscaping has contributed to developments that fit in well.

Distinctive Buildings:

St Mary’s Church. No trace of the original church now exists. A new church was built between 1320 and 1330, constructed of flint with a square central tower, much of which still remains. In 1866 the Marquis of Winchester instigated major alterations and modernisation, with the thatch being replaced by tiles and the main entrance relocated to its present position on the north side of the nave. The church has 6 bells, two of which date from 1662, although there had been bells earlier than this.
Photograph 11: St Mary’s Church

Amport Church of England Primary School built in 1815. The school was extended in 1898 and again in 1999 with a new red brick replacement of a temporary classroom. This new building has many desirable features that should be borne in mind for other potential development – low-level, use of traditional materials, and it ‘mirrors’ the facing building.
Photographs 12 & 13: Amport Church of England Primary School
Settlement recommendation A
Design recommendations B, D & I

Amport House was built in 1857 to a design by the architect William Burn.It has a Victorian grey brick façade under a grey slate roof (replacing two previous houses on the same site). Of significance are the gardens. Sir Edwin Lutyens designed these with their lime walks and terraces, while the planting scheme was drawn up by Miss Gertrude Jekyll. The House is a Grade 2 listed building and Amport Park is a Grade 2 Registered Historic Park and Garden.
Photograph 14: Amport House from the Grateley Road
Design recommendation B & D

Amport Mews (formerly stables to Amport House) has been successfully converted into a courtyard of private housing, retaining the key features and character of the original building.

Sarson

Along the north side of the Amport road are several cob cottages with thatched roofs which are in good repair, a few of which are owned by Testway Housing. Infilling between the cottages is mainly 19^th and 20^th century houses.

Flagons is a unique modern property, yet due to the nature of the boundary planting there is minimal visual impact on the line of more traditional housing along the road.

The grey slate roofs of many of the houses in Amport have continued to be a feature of newly constructed homes, including Sarson Mill, rebuilt in 2003.

Sarson Lane includes the 15^th century Sarson Corner Cottage and several brick and flint cottages with thatched roofs. The red brick Methodist Chapel built in the late part of the 19^th century was converted to a private dwelling in the late 1990s. The Eights is a row of white cob walled terraced cottages built in the early 19^th century, reputedly by prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars.

Weyhill 

The buildings on the two estates – Fairways and Michaelmas Drove – are early 20^th century two storey red brick, many with grey slate roofs.

Amport

To the north of the Pillhill Brook, approaching the village green, is Bridge Cottage, reputedly the oldest in Amport. It is opposite Broadwater and both properties are thatched, with timber frame brick and flint construction.
Photograph 15: Bridge Cottage
Buildings recommendations D to H
Materials recommendations M

To the south of the Green are Hampshire thatched, cob walled cottages and Old Farm, a square fronted white-washed Georgian house under slate tile. It sits in extensive grounds which include a paddock and a large timber barn standing on staddle stones, alongside a similar barn with cob walls and a thatched roof.

East Cholderton

Approaching from Amport, the first building is Waterloo Cottage standing adjacent to the recently renovated Waterloo Bridge, which spans the Pillhill Brook. Haydown Farm has several traditional corrugated farm storage barns and a farmhouse built at the end of the 20^th century. Manor Farm has a traditional brick and flint farmhouse.

At Monks Cottage, an unmade lane leads to several 20^th century bungalows sited in substantial plots.

Further along the village at Old Farm Cottage, a lane leads to a park of mobile and semi-mobile homes known as Elmstead Park. The northern boundary is close to the 16^th century White Horse Inn, which sits in the shadow of the A303 flyover.

3. Buildings & Materials Recommendations:

4. TRANSPORT

INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES

Introduction

The Parish contains a number of minor roads around and to the south of Amport village, with a "panhandle" to the west following the minor road from Quarley to Cholderton. It has been a well-travelled area for thousands of years, with a Roman road, the Portway, running east-west across the parish south of Amport. It is also crossed by the A303 trunk road and the main railway line from Exeter via Salisbury and Andover to London. A branch line from Andover to Ludgershall crosses the northern corner, but is only used occasionally.

Public Footpaths

Amport parish is well served by public footpaths, many still following the old direct routes taken by farm workers and local people, as they travelled between villages. The routes of some of these paths have been altered in recent years as land use has changed and regulations concerning the registration of footpaths has become more strictly enforced. However, two new paths were added for the Queen’s Jubilee in 2002, both joining Wiremead Lane to Sarson Lane.

Public Transport

Bus

Amport village is served by a bus service from Andover to Grateley or to Thruxton. There is also a service every half hour from Andover to Tidworth via Weyhill and Ludgershall through the NW corner of the parish. The provision of buses is good by rural standards linking the majority of the residential areas of the parish with the local railway stations and shopping areas. (There are 5 bus shelters in Amport at strategic points around the village.)

Train

There is road access to Grateley and Andover railway stations which provide a regular service to London and the West Country.

Community Transport

TVBC operate an active Community Transport Scheme. This comprises a number of groups with differing aims and objectives and is really intended for areas less well served by public transport than Amport parish.

The main types of transport provided are minibuses that can be hired at reasonable rates by recognised groups, dial-a-ride - serving areas without buses, and mopeds which are hired out to enable young people to get to places of work from rural locations.

Road Network

With the exception of the road following the route of the Portway, the B3084 which cuts across the "panhandle" and its branch to Cholderton, nearly all the minor roads are single track, narrow and winding, and generally not suitable for heavy vehicles. The village of Amport and most of the outlying villages and hamlets are only accessible by roads of 5 metres width or less.

The A303 runs along part of the northern border of the parish and cuts across the NW corner. This road was upgraded in about 1990 and now follows a new route in some places. The old A303 is still useable from Thruxton to Weyhill and Andover, and makes a useful wide local road. However, the new dual carriageway tends to isolate the part of the parish to the north of it from the rest of the parish. This is exacerbated by the temporary closure of the gap in the A303 where it is crossed by Sarson Lane.

Road links to other parts of the country are extremely effective, with major roads radiating in several directions from Andover.

Road Traffic

The road system of the parish area is not ideally suited to modern transport. Some roads can take light traffic in two directions but many cannot. It is a predominantly farming area with little industry. Nevertheless some heavy vehicles are required to enter the area and buses are the most regular users.

Some through traffic uses the minor roads but generally the quantity of traffic on these roads is light. The condition of some roads is not good and banks are only cut occasionally, which can reduce visibility of the road at bends. There are few passing places on single lane roads and drivers therefore have to drive onto the verges, which become muddy and rutted in winter.

During the times of delivery and collection of children from Amport School, the roads become more congested and parking around the School and The Green can cause difficulties for through traffic.

Future Traffic Patterns

The largest single cause of traffic entering the parish is the 40,000 visitors a year to The Hawk Conservancy in Sarson Lane. A significant change in the local traffic pattern is anticipated as a result of the closure of the gap in the A303 at Sarson Lane. This crossing previously afforded direct access from the North (home to approximately two fifths of the population) to the South (the Green, School, Church and Inn). The gap closure has risked increasing the flow of traffic through Amport village and adjacent narrow lanes. Traffic that would previously have crossed the gap has to find alternative ways to the other side. It can turn back east at either of the next two junctions to the west, or at Hundred Acre Roundabout to the west, but there remains potential for considerably increased traffic along Wiremead and Sarson Lanes and through Amport village.

4. Transport Recommendations:

5. AMENITIES

The village amenities play an important part in encouraging active social participation within the community. The village’s proximity to Stonehenge, to Winchester and Salisbury Cathedrals, and to Thruxton Racing Circuit makes it an ideal location to stay for a visit.

The Green and Strouds’ Field

At the heart of the village, situated between the Pillhill Brook and the School is Amport Green. The Green is enjoyed by villagers of all ages. There is an area with play equipment for young children and The Green is regularly used by the School for many of its sporting activities, as well as by members of the community including the Sea Scouts who have a new hall in the village. It is the site of the village fête, the hog roast and occasional wedding receptions, while it more regularly serves as a picturesque location for quiet contemplation.

Next to Amport Green, on the opposite side of the Pillhill Brook, is Strouds’ Field which was acquired by the Parish Council in 2001. Under the guidance of the Hampshire Wild Life Trust members of the parish are working to create a nature reserve.
Photograph 19: Strouds’ Field

Amport School

Opposite The Green is Amport School, the Church of England (Aided) Primary School. A credit to its academic excellence, demand for places at the school far exceeds the 84 places available. It has state-of-the art computer facilities which are all linked and networked, and it is known for its strengths in music and sport.

The Pubs

Like many small villages, the pubs provide prime venues for members of the community to socialise. The namesake pub The Amport Inn is housed in the former home of the coachman to the Marquis of Winchester. It became an inn in the early 20^th century and was modernised in the 1980s and again in 2002. The land opposite the inn, stretching down to the Pillhill Brook, is owned by the pub and is used in the summer for village and charity events.

Villagers living in the East Cholderton area enjoy the benefit of The White Horse public house. This thatched pub, which is steeped in history, represents another important amenity to parishioners.
Photograph 20: The White Horse public house

Project Arts Workshops

On the western edge of the Parish the buildings at Lains Farm, Quarley have been developed to provide studios and workshops, attracting artists, sculptors and craftsmen of national renown.

Bed and Breakfast

Amport is well equipped with a number of attractive ‘Bed and Breakfasts’ to accommodate visitors to the area.

Amport Cricket Club

The present ground is situated on the Grateley Road overlooking Amport House and gardens. The club has been in existence for over 100 years, playing at several different venues in the parish until the last move from the Keepers Hill ground in 1981. There are currently two teams competing in the Hampshire Cricket League on Saturdays, and friendly fixtures are played on Sundays. Despite the lack of electricity at the ground, the wooden clad pavilion is equipped with hot showers, tea-making facilities and a licensed bar area. The ground itself is kept in excellent condition entirely by self-help. An artificial playing strip and nets facility has recently been added – initially for use by the colts teams, but also used extensively be senior members.

Amport House

The house was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force at the start of the Second World War and purchased for them in 1957 as RAF Maintenance Command. Amport House remains in MoD ownership and is the Joint Services Chaplains’ School. The beautiful and tranquil setting of the site with parkland to the south fit well with its current function.

The Hawk Conservancy

This award winning and internationally acclaimed conservancy for birds of prey is situated in the village. The park, as it is affectionately known by parishioners, offers them free access during the open season between February and October. It attracts visitors from all over the world to view its large collection of birds and its impressive flying displays. Much work has been done to improve and develop the amenities and areas of nature conservation within its boundaries. A recent addition to the park has been a bird of prey hospital. The preservation of the conservancy is of national as well as local importance.

Farming

In past times Amport had a thriving farming community with many people being employed in agriculture. Now the majority of farmland is arable and there are no dairy herds in the parish, although there is a limited amount of sheep farming carried out. Some farms have resorted to leasing their land for horse grazing and stabling. However the extensive farmland throughout the parish defines the rural character of the village and should be preserved.

St Mary’s Church

There are significant proposals to develop the church to make it more useable for other community groups

At the core of the home is a long-established substantial family house, with the addition of further accommodation over time. The home is a family-run concern which employs around 30 people to care for approximately 25 residents.

The Shooting Grounds at Lains Farm

Are a nationally recognised centre of excellence.

5. Amenities Recommendations: