Conservation Area Proposal (Cheadle Hulme)

Boundary of the Proposed Extension

The proposed extension starts from the current conservation area boundary with Ravenoak Cottages, crossing Ravenoak Road to include the entire north side of Beechfield Road; it then crosses to cover the south side of Beechfield Road up to the east edge of Holmefield Drive, encompassing nos.10, 12 and 14 Holmefield Drive and the Governor’s (Public) House on Ravenoak Road (see Fig. 1). The proposed extension thus follows the original property boundaries shown in the first Ordnance Survey map of the area in 1872 (see Fig. 2) and includes all properties established before Beechfield Road was open to thoroughfare (see Fig. 3).
Prior to the introduction of the first local railways, Cheadle Hulme had been a “largely agricultural district” with fields and a few farmsteads and individual cottages. The installation of the Macclesfield and Crewe railway lines and the building of Cheadle Hulme’s first railway station in 1842 changed all that and connected the township of Cheadle Hulme to the heart of the city, making it an attractive suburban settlement for the new generation of wealthy industrialists, professionals and entrepreneurs. There was a significant population increase between 1861 and 1871, attributable “in the census report to these becoming a place of residence for people ‘engaged in business in Manchester’” (Squire, Carole, Cheadle Hulme: A Brief History (A Department of Culture Publication, 1976, p.6)).

Description and Character

The area was one of the first to be developed for villa housing before Cheadle Hulme became an ecclesiastical parish in 1868 and contains a continuity of two predominant building types: detached Victorian villas and detached houses of the inter-war period, each representative of important eras in local suburbanisation.

The north side of Beechfield Road comprises eight individually designed detached houses of the inter-war period with significant openings between them, harmonious rooflines and mature gardens with extensive planting.

The group of dwellings on the south side is less formally arranged and comprises an enclave of four detached properties of the mid-Victorian period, one late Victorian detached house, one detached house of the inter-war period and three later insertions in bungalow form. In the 1860s, the entire south side of Beechfield Road constituted the ‘Ellerslie’ estate and the shape and character of this is still in evidence.

The character of the area derives in part from the complementary design and layout of the suburban domestic architecture of these inter-war and Victorian periods; from a harmonious blend of contrasting architecture which emphasises the separate and individual nature of each; the hierarchical use of space which accentuates the distinctness and uniqueness of each era in the suburb’s evolution, contrasting for instance the consistent, low-level rooflines of the inter-war architecture on north side with the more mosaic building lines and shapes opposite, over which woodland and Victorian rooflines predominate. The contrasting styles and shapes chart the evolution of one of the area’s earliest suburbs. An historical and architectural continuity is there: a walk through the area is like a journey through its past.

The Victorian properties are among the earliest examples of their kind. ‘Woodcote House’, no. 8 Beechfield Road was originally known as ‘Ellerslie’ and associated with a number of figures of national importance, including industrialist and patron of the arts Henry Boddington, county architect Henry Littler, Isaac Storey (owner and renovator of Grade II listed Hulme Hall, Cheadle Hulme) and Thomas Brideoake Knott commemorated by a stained-glass window in All Saints’ Parish Church, Cheadle Hulme. Dr Knott is featured in the chapter dedicated to ‘Ellerslie’ in Morris Garratt’s history Pictures and Postcards from the Past: Cheadle Hulme. Ellerslie’s coach house and wooded parkland still exist and the three elements combine to form an historic ensemble, the jewel in the crown of the neighbouring Victorian properties. An English Heritage inspection of November 2004 concluded that “the house, former outbuilding and elements of the former planting scheme survive as an ensemble of considerable local interest. […] Both buildings would be considered as assets within a conservation area.”

Indeed, this wooded parkland constitutes far more than mere curtilage; it is a large, identifiable green space that contains numerous mature, protected trees and shrubs; it is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including many birds (bullfinches, greenfinches, nuthatches, wrens, blue tits, great tits, thrushes, songthrushes, blackbirds, doves, woodpigeons, magpies, crows, sparrowhawks, jays, robins), grey squirrels, fieldmice, frogs, hedgehogs, foxes and fruit bats (see photograph 3.4). As such, it combines with the other mature trees, hedgerows, extensive planting and spacious setting throughout the rest of the proposed area to form the ‘green lungs’ of the local community, a rich expanse of green space supporting and encouraging wildlife in an increasingly densely populated and polluted urban environment; the rich variety of mature, evergreen trees contributes to landscape quality by enhancing views between houses and across road boundaries, softening the edges of road boundaries and screening roads, offering sneak peeks into the area’s Victorian past: as such it contributes significantly to the open, rural character of the extended area.

Harmonious views of the proposed area appear from Swann Lane, Ravenoak Road and other neighbouring streets (see photographs 3.1 and 3.2). More recent developments at the west end of Beechfield Road are single-storey dwellings and so have not impinged on the open vistas available. Nos. 12 and 14 Holmefield Road, while of no intrinsic architectural or historical merit, are included in the proposed extension area for that reason.

Reasons for the Proposed Extension