Conservation Areas in Harborough district - Gaulby Conservation Area

Gaulby is a small farming village set in attractive open rural upland to the north east of Great Glen. The Conservation Area has a strong agricultural character and appearance which is reinforced by the substantial open areas within the settlement. 

The Conservation Area centres around the large open area in the middle of the village. This is enclosed by Front Street (to the north), Main Street (to the east) and Back Street (to the west). It also includes the buildings that face onto this space. It excludes the modern farm and farm buildings to the north east off the Frisby road, and the modern dwellings to the west off the Kings Norton road. 

The Church of St Peter stands at the higher end of the village in the north east corner of the central area. The isolated position of the church emphasises the peculiarity of the pagoda like pinnacles of the tower, which were added in 1741.

On the three sides of the central enclosure are low density housing and cottages. These include a row of half-rendered half ironstone cottages to the east and the former rectory (Grey Ladies) to the north. There are also a number of late 20th and early 21st Century in-fill houses which are in keeping with the character of the area interspersed within these older houses and cottages. The grounds of the former rectory merge into the cricket ground, which is included in the conservation area. The ground, showing marked ridges from mediaeval arable farming practises, is bounded by hedges and affords views of the city of Leicester.

To the south of the central pastureland the land falls away sharply leaving the tower part of the settlement visually separate from the upper area. Built around the enclosing roads are farmsteads, cottages (including good examples of nineteenth century farm cottages on Main Street). A long building with Swithland Slate roof at the south end of Back Street which faces down hill is a significant building marking the entry to the village from Illston on the Hill. This building was formerly in the grounds of Carrygate, which stands in the adjacent plot. Carrygate is an important modernist house of 1940 by Raymond McGrath with landscaped gardens by Christopher Tunnard.

The character of Gaulby derives from the positioning of the low density buildings and gardens circling the central area, which contains the church.

Gaulby Conservation Area map