HERITAGE

Preserving a rich heritage

Hilperton Area Action Group have enlisted a Heritage Professional to prepare a character appraisal of Hilperton village, which you can download in full here.

A Conservation Area was designated at Hilperton in 1991.

The Town and Country Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act places a statutory duty to consider the preservation and enhancement of designated Conservation Areas. In terms of planning policy, the high level policies are those set down in National Planning Policy Framework.

At a more local level the Development Plan consists of various documents including the Wilshire Core Strategy of 2015 in which Core Policy 29 identifies Hilperton as a large village. More detailed policies are established in the Hilperton Neighbourhood Plan adopted in 2018. Objective 1 of the HNP is “To preserve the essentially rural nature of the area and the historic character of the individual settlements within it.” Objective 7 is also relevant to the Conservation Area: “To conserve and enhance heritage and the built environment.” Policy 3 of the Plan states “New development in Hilperton Conservation Area must demonstrate how the design chosen reflects the principles of the Village Design Statement 2005, including use of local and traditional materials and architectural features where appropriate...applications for new development should demonstrate how they have paid attention to the village design statement as appropriate.”

More recently in January 2021 Wiltshire Council consulted on a Local Plan that contained proposals that could have unfavorable impacts upon Hilperton. The documentation acknowledged that there could be a harmful effect on the setting of the Conservation Area and before any development proposals can be taken forward it is likely that objections would be subject to close scrutiny at a public inquiry.

In the thirty years since the Conservation Area was first designated Hilperton has consolidated as a diverse, organic, well-balanced, and stable settlement that contributes to economic well-being and quality of life. The historic core is recognized for the contribution it makes to local cultural inheritance.

Historic Development

There is little doubt that Hilperton is ancient. Evidence has been discovered in the form of a Paleolithic hand axe at Hilperton Rectory, although this could have been dropped or moved in the millennia before it was found. A ditch containing Roman pottery at Church Farm provides more certain proof. A ring ditch of uncertain age, now overlain by ridge and furrow, has also been recorded in the Church Field immediately west of the Conservation Area. The Historic Environment Record also plots medieval field boundaries and associated ridge and furrow, visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar, in the fields to the east of the village. Learn more in the full heritage report.

Landscape Setting

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) stresses the importance of the setting of all heritage assets. The National Assessment of Landscape Character Areas places Hilperton within the Thames and Avon Vale. Detailed landscape analysis of the open land west of Hilperton is set out in the evidence base supporting the Hilperton Neighbourhood Plan. The agricultural land classification is either class 2 or 3 and suitable for the growing of corn and sheep farming. The landscape is comparatively open and the edge of the village has a close relationship with the surrounding open countryside. Farmland and the village playing fields abut the rear of properties in Hill Street, Whaddon Lane, The Knap, Church Street, Trowbridge Road, and Devizes Road. The neighbouring countryside has considerable wildlife value with deer, badgers, native birdlife, and bats contributing to biodiversity.

The village is surrounded by a network of public footpaths and a bridle path giving residents easy access for exercise and well-being. Views of the Parish church and the village from the Hilperton Gap and from the arable fields to the east leave a lasting impression of the rural character. The built form is generally low-rise thus the spire of St Michael’s church is a landmark feature from far afield. Learn more in the full heritage report.

Map 1. The Conservation Area – hatched in blue (Wiltshire Council)

Map 2 indicates the main buildings and structures contributing to the character of the Conservation Area. The absence of small features, such as boundary walls, does not mean they are of no consequence.