Conservation Areas in Harborough district - East Norton Conservation Area

East Norton is an attractive small settlement on the old Leicester – Uppingham road incorporating the cross roads of the minor Hallaton – Loddington road. It was by-passed in 1990. The nucleus of the settlement is the concentration of houses along Uppingham Road including the Post Office and Old Police House. There are further concentrations of houses along Church Lane and at the junction of Uppingham Road with the road to Loddington. The grounds of East Norton Hall, to the north, with their many fine trees form an important wooded area and provide a back-drop to the village buildings.

The Conservation Area includes the village core along Main Street, the road to Uppingham, East Norton Hall and grounds to the north, and the land between the Main Street and the A47 bypass. The bypass forms a definite boundary to the south showing the village within its pasture land/paddock setting. There are especially fine views when seen from the Hallaton Road and the south. The line of the cross roads of Loddington Lane with the Uppingham Road (former A47) still remains with open space to the south and a group of cottages around the corner.

The two roads within the village each have a distinctive form. The Main Street is characterised by individual buildings fronting either side with open space between them. The quality and age of the buildings vary, but include the Old Police House, a good 19th century brick building with cast iron windows, the contiguous Courthouse of brick with fine stone dressings, various 18th century houses on earlier cores, and the listed Post Office, dated 1643, with stone mullion bay windows, fronting the road. The red brick cottages at the junction with the Loddington Road continue the varied grouping of the buildings.

In addition to the Main Street, Church Lane has special character based on the informal placing of a variety of buildings with open frontages. These buildings include the knoll-top church and the tiny former Wesleyan Chapel (1855) with its cast iron windows. The open spaces between the bypass and the village are significant to the whole setting especially as seen from the Hallaton Road to the south.

East Norton Conservation Area map