by Dr George Nash
In terms of setting, Old Oswestry Hillfort has commanding views across the four compass points and clearly interacts with Wat’s Dyke (north and south), Oswestry’s post-medieval town-form (south), the parkland and garden landscapes of Brogyntyn (west), the Park Hall and Old Port Farm complexes (east) and the Wrekin (south-east). One would think that under current English Heritage guidance, the various vistas this impressive scheduled monument commands would be safe for us and future generations. However, for reasons unbeknown to myself and other academics, English Heritage have gone against their own guidance on setting (see free download documents: The Settings of Heritage Assets [October 2011] and Seeing the History in the View [May 2011, with revisions June 2012]. I, along with many people in and around Oswestry are perplexed by the double standards that appear to be in operation.
Here is what they say in Seeing the History in the View (2011 [revised 2012]):
“Views play an important part in shaping our appreciation and understanding of England’s historic environment, whether in towns and cities or in the countryside. Some of those views were deliberately designed to be seen as a unity – for example Greenwich Palace seen from the River Thames, or the many facets of Stowe Park in Buckinghamshire. Much more commonly, a significant view is a historical composite, the cumulative result of a long process of development. The existence of such views, often containing well-known landmarks and cherished landscapes, enriches our daily life, attracts visitors and helps our communities prosper.
……Historically important views are among the many sensitive issues that local planning authorities have to consider, and this account of English Heritage’s method of assessment is intended to help clarify this heritage aspect of the planning process, and promote national consistency. It should be especially useful to those commissioning and carrying out area-based studies as advocated by English Heritage and CABE in their joint Guidance on Tall Buildings (2007).
English Heritage will apply this method to its own decisions in relation to developments affecting views, and we believe that planning authorities and other interested parties will benefit by adopting the same approach”.
Chris Smith National Planning Director | English Heritage, May 2011
Extract from Seeing History……(free download document published by English Heritage in 2012)
_______________________________________
.
Dr George Nash is an Archaeologist & specialist in Prehistoric and Contemporary art. He is Associate Professor and Senior Researcher at the Faculty of Architecture, Spiru Haret University, Bucharest, Romania and at the Centro de Geociências, Museu de Arte Pré-Histórica de Mação, Portugal.
The Heritage Journal 
3 comments
Comments feed for this article
22/02/2014 at 14:48
June McCarthy
In planning law it is plainly illegal to damage the setting of an ancient scheduled Monument, therefore, whether English Heritage has the courage to stand up or not to defend the heritage, would it not be possible for the concerned public to raise funds and to prosecute those responsible for doing so,…. that would be in the case of Old Oswestry, (if planning permission for housing development in the Monument’s setting is given ),both the Councillors, ( Shropshire Council), who knowingly and deliberately ignore Planning laws and give permission for development damaging to the setting of Old Oswestry Hill fort, and the builders who then physically would damage the Monument,
If such a legal case were brought English Heritage would , to their shame, be called upon in court to justify a stance that development did not damage the setting, In the case of Oswestry so many experts have clearly demonstrated that development would damage the setting. ( I have just attended the wonderful seminar in Oswestry where a number of leading archaeologists expounded the compelling evidence )
Perhaps the archaeologists and the Group and all the people of Oswestry trying to defend the Monument should consider giving notice that they will consider taking legal action if the planning laws requiring respect and preservation for a Monument’s setting are not adhered to by Shropshire Council in the case of Old Oswestry Hill fort. This may cause Shropshire Council to think more clearly and consider more carefully!
22/02/2014 at 16:05
heritageaction
It’s illegal to damage a scheduled monument but “setting” has no such specific protection and isn’t clearly defined. Somewhere in that fog dark deeds are sometimes done by profit seeking developers and compliant planning authorities. Happily two out of three such deeds have been prevented at Oswestry – not because Shropshire Council or the developers changed their minds but because a lot of persistent campaigners and experts fought them and refused to be dismissed, ignored, belittled or conned. Hooray for the right side!
23/02/2014 at 23:42
June McCarthy
Damaging a scheduled ancient monument’s setting is deleterious to it, is harmful to it, therefore one could make the case that to damage the setting is to damage and detract from the Monument. Perhaps it is about time someone brought a case and a judge made a ruling. One feels that common sense is more likely to prevail, and Monuments and their settings receive true protection, if the law was given an opportunity to be clear about the level of protection the law provides, and this country wishes to afford, to its most important and ancient monuments.