Landscape & listed buildings in and around the area proposed for development west of Stevenage

I. Introduction: Landscape Overview

II. The Listed Buildings
The Listed Buildings are considered in two areas:
Area One - Those adjacent to Hitchin
Area Two - Those around Langley

III. List of References Map of the Area

I. Introduction: Landscape Overview

The area identified for the proposed west of Stevenage development lies within long established Green Belt. It is to the south of the historic market town and natural centre of north Hertfordshire, Hitchin.

The area comprises good agricultural land and, until the very recent past, was deemed to fall within the Harpenden mixed farming region and the southern edge of the north Hertfordshire arable belt. The traditional market/service focus of the area is Hitchin. This is still reflected by certain key functions (e.g. bus routes, district council control, post office delivery and shopping patterns) and the area has been kept separate from Stevenage New Town by that town’s western industrial belt and the hard barrier of the A1(M).

The area has been settled throughout historic times: it currently contains about 20 known archaeological sites and over 20 Listed Buildings. It originally formed a portion of ancient countryside and, although this characteristic has been damaged by the increasingly industrial farming methods of the past 50 years, the area still has important scenic qualities and is immediately adjacent to the well preserved tract of ancient countryside that stretches from the south-west of Hitchin to the fringes of Harpenden and St. Albans.

The existing landscape of the area is also important in relation to the historic context that it provides for the settings of the Listed Buildings. This factor is particularly important for the buildings in the small hamlets of Little Almshoe, Redcoats Green, and Titmore Green where the development has the potential to wholly destroy the surviving contexts of these small rural settlements.

Overall, therefore, the proposed development represents a major threat to a landscape of considerable intrinsic value both in its own terms and as an important element in the historic setting of Hitchin within north Hertfordshire.