Conservation Areas in Harborough district - Bringhurst Conservation Area

Bringhurst is a very small but visually significant village as it is a hill-top village on an outlier in the Welland Valley. At the centre is the near-circular churchyard of St Nicholas' Church whose squat tower rises above the surrounding cottages. A cul-de-sac road leads into the village, almost encircling the churchyard. Around it are houses and cottages principally of ironstone with thatched, Collyweston stone, or slate roofs. Longstraw thatch, the traditional local vernacular survives and has been used on new build as well as being renewed on older buildings. There is a little red brick, including an important paddock wall, but most of the village is of stone, with stone walls, many having pantile copings. The preponderance of stone (in walls and buildings), the informal grouping on the hilltop around the church and the hilltop location form the dominant characteristics of the Conservation Area.

The entrance to the village core is marked by a central grass triangle with a K6 (red cast iron) telephone kiosk and wide grass verges to the other cottages. Behind the triangle to the north is the farmhouse and traditional farm buildings of Manor Farm. The Conservation Area extends . outwards from the buildings and gardens of the hill top settlement to incorporate the surrounding paddocks and pasture of the hill itself above the valley bottom. The boundary follows loosely the junction of the flat valley bottom with the slopes of the outlier. It extends to the junction with the Drayton Road where a horse chestnut signals the entry point for the village The quality of Bringhurst is not just for the immediate impact as it appears clustered round its church, but also from a distance for the hilltop settlement with central church tower can be seen from far across the Welland Valley . Views within and to the village are important so should be respected in any development. At the entrance to the village core some recent alterations to existing buildings, by addition or changing rooflines, has enhanced the character of the stone cottages. Elsewhere redundant stone buildings have been carefully converted and extended to form dwellings. The raised churchyard and wide verges form a significant open core to the settlement; opposite, to the east, the paddocks surrounding the settlement penetrate to the churchyard with random stone field barns making a visual link with the rest of the village buildings. This space is the only point from the village core Main Street where there are important views outwards. But the views into the village from the surrounding landscape on all sides are all very important.

Bringhurst Conservation Area map