Rydal Conservation Area
We have carried out an Appraisal of Rydal 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 Rydal special?
Rydal village is a dispersed settlement between Grasmere and Ambleside with architectural and historic character. This includes:
- Dispersed historic settlement on the route between Grasmere and Ambleside.
- Picturesque location on the River Rothay where the valley narrows between Nab Scar and Loughrigg.
- Village and landscape setting that are largely a legacy of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
- Development of village influenced by relict medieval deer park and later large listed house, Rydal Hall with its estate, seventeenth century Picturesque gardens and Edwardian formal gardens.
- Good examples of listed Lakeland vernacular farmhouses, cottages and barns including 15 grade listed buildings, including one grade I and four grade II*.
- Relict packhorse track, now a bridlepath linking village to Grasmere and Ambleside.
- Later turnpike route stimulated further development which now hugs the main road.
- Wooded river banks, bridges and lake margins that are an important component of the area’s scenic landscapes.
- Extensive areas of mixed woodland.
- A mix of stone and rendered historic buildings with a wealth of traditional local details.
- Significant survival of historic cobbled floorscape.
- Numerous good boundary walls of local boulder stones.
- Views and vistas that are celebrated in the poetry of Wordsworth and the paintings of Constable and Wright.
- Further Wordsworth heritage in the form of Rydal Mount, the poet’s home from 1813 to 1850, and its designated garden and Dora’s Field, planted with daffodils by Wordsworth, and the church where he worshipped.
- Network of public footpaths link the village to the surrounding countryside.
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
Rydal 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 Rydal Conservation Area Exhibition Panels online (opens Document Library)
