Heritage Statement for a grain store near a scheduled medieval moated site.

A large farm building near a scheduled monument.

The farm needed a grain store: a steel portal-framed building 25m by 30m, a little under 12m to the ridge, on arable land about 200m south of the monument. The farm notified the council under the procedure for agricultural buildings. The council replied that prior approval was required, because the building would stand on a part of the holding with no existing buildings and close to the scheduled monument, and that its effect on the landscape and on heritage assets needed to be assessed.

The building was not within the scheduled area, so the question was one of setting. National planning policy treats the setting of a scheduled monument as part of its significance, and Historic England is consulted. The farm’s agent came to us on the day the council’s decision was issued.

Testing whether the two can be seen together.

We gave an initial view the next day. The assessment was desk-based, following Historic England’s staged approach to setting. We sent the farm a plan of the viewpoints we needed, drawn on an aerial photograph with the monument and the building plotted, and the photographs were taken to it.

We used the scheduling description, the tithe map and apportionment of 1841 and five Ordnance Survey editions from 1884 to 1972 to establish how the land around the monument had been used. The photographs showed that the monument is enclosed by a belt of trees, with a further band of mature trees running south towards the site, so that there is no view between the two. The moat itself cannot be seen from the public road.

The Heritage Statement.

Our Heritage Statement was issued in February 2026. It described the monument and why it is scheduled, set out the map evidence, illustrated the views, and assessed the proposal. It found that the site forms part of the wider farmed landscape around the monument, that a farm building of ordinary form and materials is in keeping with that landscape, and that there would be no harm to the significance of the scheduled monument.

No objection from Historic England.

Historic England’s Inspector of Ancient Monuments reached the same view. The building would be in keeping with the agricultural character of the surroundings and well screened from the monument, there would be no adverse impact on its setting, and Historic England “does not object to the application on heritage grounds”. The county archaeological service did not ask for any investigation.

East Suffolk Council granted prior approval in May 2026. The planning officer’s report records that a heritage assessment had been carried out in accordance with national policy and adopts the conclusion that there would be no harm.