Grasmere Town End Conservation Area
We have carried out an Appraisal of Grasmere Town End Conservation Area. The draft Appraisal assesses the special qualities which justify its designation and helps to determine whether any alterations in the boundary need to be made. A draft Management Plan has also been prepared outlining the measures for the preservation and enhancement of the area.
We would like comments on the draft Appraisal from local residents, local stakeholders and interest groups.
Why is Grasmere Town End special?
Grasmere Town End is a hamlet that has changed little since Wordsworth's time with architectural and historic character. This includes:
- International significance as a centre for Wordsworth heritage, focused around Dove Cottage, the home of William and Dorothy Wordsworth from 1799 to 1808, and the Wordsworth Museum.
- Location on a former packhorse track, now a tree-lined lane, up to White Moss Common.
- Few buildings less than 150 years old, and several good examples of architecture influenced by the Lakeland vernacular style.
- Award-winning example of contemporary architecture using traditional materials in the form of the Jerwood Centre, built in 2005 to house the collections of the Wordsworth Trust.
- Tightly clustered hamlet with houses tucked into the steep hill slope that rises to the east of the hamlet.
- Strong building lines and front elevations that open directly onto the street, giving strong definition to the streets and lanes, a characteristic that is reinforced by the strong lines of the Jerwood Centre.
- Setting softened by the presence of several large and mature trees in the centre of the hamlet and by a backdrop of green trees rising above the hamlet to the east.
- Important roofscapes of local slate stone when viewed from the upper heights of the village, especially down on to the Waterside Hotel.
- The palette of building materials reflecting the underlying geology of dark grey and purple slate stone, with contrasting blue grey detailing for quoins, window and door surrounds, drip moulds and chimneys.
- Significant views entering the hamlet from the south to Grasmere Lake and Helm Crag; and from the north over Lake Grasmere and to the west over the lake to Silver How.
- A large purpose built hotel on the lake shore as testimony to the nineteenth-century tourist industry that Wordsworth did so much to inspire.
Public consultation
The involvement of local community, stakeholders and those with an interest in the local area in the designation of a conservation area and in the preparation of appraisals and management plans is an essential part of the process. Such involvement can integrate local knowledge into the appraisal and bring invaluable public understanding and ownership to proposals for the conservation area. The initial appraisal and management plan are draft documents to enable them to be amended if required.
Each appraisal and management plan involves a four week period of consultation during which time an exhibition will be held in the local area for the public.
Find out more
Grasmere Town End Draft Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan (opens Document Library)
Read more about the benefits of Conservation Areas and the Appraisals process.
To comment
We want to hear the views of local people, organisations and businesses and other interest groups about the proposed conservation area.
Please give us your views using the Conservation Area Assessment Questionnaire (opens Document Library). Please download and either print out and send to:
David James
Lake District National Park Authority
Murley Moss
Oxenholme Road
Kendal
Cumbria
LA9 7RL
or email as an attachment to david.james@lake-district.gov.uk by 16 January 2009
Exhibition
A local exhibition has been arranged at Grasmere Village Hall, Brodgate, Grasmere on:
- Monday 15 December 2008 4pm to 8pm
- Wednesday 17 December 2008 10am to 2pm
Someone will be available at the exhibition if you have any questions.
If you can't make it, don't worry! You can look at the Grasmere Town End Conservation Area Exhibition Panels online (opens Document Library)
