Sinderhill Court, Northowram · West Yorkshire · 2023
Heritage Statement for a garden office in the grounds of a Grade II listed hall.
A small timber garden office behind the 1940s wing of Northowram Hall, near Halifax. Heritage Unlimited’s Heritage Statement established which parts of the Hall carry its significance, the council agreed there would be no harm, and planning permission was granted.
Northowram Hall stands on the western edge of the village of Northowram, near Halifax. It is listed Grade II. The list entry describes a country house of about 1700, remodelled and extended in about 1863 and about 1895, built of ashlar with hipped and gabled slate roofs.
In the 20th century the Hall became the offices and staff accommodation of Northowram Hospital. After the hospital closed it was converted to houses, now known as Sinderhill Court, and the hospital site to the north was redeveloped for housing. The house in question is in a plainer stone wing added to the west side of the Hall in the 1940s. An underground bath house in the grounds, thought to date from the mid 18th century, is listed separately at Grade II. Our Heritage Statement was issued in August 2023, and Calderdale Council granted planning permission in October 2023.
- Property
- Sinderhill Court, Northowram, Halifax
- Listing
- Grade II listed building (Northowram Hall)
- Location
- Northowram, West Yorkshire
- Authority
- Calderdale Council
- Year
- 2023
- Outcome
- Planning permission granted
A garden office in the grounds of a listed building.
The owner wanted a small timber garden office at the far end of the garden, about 4.3m by 3.3m and under 2.5m high, in place of an existing shed. A householder planning application had been submitted in June 2023 and was still undecided when the owner came to us in August.
Anywhere else a building of this size would usually need no planning application at all. Here it did, because the garden is within the grounds of a listed building. Under s.66(1) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 the council must have special regard to the desirability of preserving a listed building and its setting, and Calderdale’s Local Plan policy HE1 requires an application affecting a heritage asset to show an understanding of its significance. However modest the building, the council needed that assessment before it could decide.
Which part of the building matters.
The assessment was desk-based, with photographs supplied by the owner. The first task was to separate the Hall from its later additions. Ordnance Survey maps from the mid 19th century to the revision of 1930 show the house growing, with its conservatories, but nothing where the wing now stands. The wing first appears on an aerial photograph of 1948. The list entry describes the L-shaped historic house and does not mention the wing, and the council’s own assessment at the time of the conversion had found that the western extension had no architectural or historic merit.
We treated the wing as covered by the listing all the same, because it is attached to the Hall and was in the same ownership and use when the Hall was listed in 1997. That is the cautious course, and it meant the council did not have to take the point on trust.
The Heritage Statement.
Our Heritage Statement of August 2023 described the Hall and the bath house, set out the map evidence, and assessed the setting. It found that the grounds had been much changed by the hospital and by the housing that followed it, but that the open space to the southeast, from which the principal fronts of the Hall are seen, survives. The garden is on the other side of the building, behind the 1940s wing and enclosed by woodland to the south and west.
It concluded that a low timber building in place of an existing shed, at the far end of that garden, would not be seen with the historic fronts of the Hall and would cause no harm to the listed building or its setting. The bath house, being wholly underground, would not be affected.
Permission granted.
Calderdale Council granted planning permission in October 2023. The officer’s report states that the application “includes a comprehensive heritage statement which sets out the significance of the listed building and any impacts on the setting”, records its conclusion that there would be no harm to the significance of the listed building, and says that “this view is concurred with by the LPA”.
No objections were received, and the only condition requires the work to follow the approved plans.
What we did
Two services, one outcome.
Heritage Statements
A Heritage Statement establishing which parts of Northowram Hall carry its significance and showing that a garden office behind the 1940s wing would not affect them.
About Heritage Statements →Heritage Development Advice
Before appointment we researched the site and told the owner that the proposal could be supported.
About Heritage Development Advice →Small works at a listed building?
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