Conservation Areas in Harborough district - Kings Norton Conservation Area

Kings Norton is a small village within open countryside six miles south east of Leicester. The village is compact and is dominated by the Church of St. John the Baptist. The Church, wholly faced in white limestone and with tall tower and high long nave with many pinnacled parapets, is of national importance.

This Church dominates the surrounding countryside; views towards it are important, both close to and from a distance. The character of the Conservation Area derives from the clustering of the village buildings to the rear and sides of the Church and the imposing position of the Church standing above and overlooking a little green to its west. The churchyard stands above the green and has tall 18th century wrought iron gates with overthrow set in a tall stone wall opening onto wide steps into the churchyard. The churchyard wall here is in stone and incorporates a recessed water trough.

The Church and the Manor Farmhouse are the two most prominent buildings in the Conservation Area. The Church is a Grade I Listed Building and is one of the most remarkable of the Gothic Revival in England, principally because it is virtually unaltered since its construction in 1757/61. The 17th century Manor Farmhouse very close to its east end is a Grade II* Listed Building, constructed in red brick and stone with a Swithland slate roof.

The Conservation Area includes the village core and farmyards but excludes modern farm buildings to the north. New development to the east of the village core is included because its form continues the clustering of buildings within the core and the individual buildings are unobtrusive and of low mass. The Conservation Area includes Grange Farmhouse and the meadow in front of it facing the village green and Church. Land to the south of the village is included because of its Yew tree spinney and because it provides a setting for the Church and Manor Farmhouse. By the churchyard gates and at the road junction close by are humbler brick and slate cottages in marked contrast to the magnificence of the Church, churchyard and gateway. This contrast and the open spaces of the greens in the village centre and the open area of gardens to Limes Farmhouse south of the church and pasture in front of Grange Farm give Kings Norton its special character.

Kings Norton Conservation Area map