As we look to develop a new Design Code - a tool that will shape future development within the National Park - we want to get your thoughts on the below profiles and short films that we have created based on our villages, including one town.
Within these we have tried to identify the aspects of design that create a village’s ‘sense of place’ and are asking you to think about places in the same way. We are inviting you to look around a village and tell us what you like about the area, and what you notice. What are the 'design cues' which make a place distinctive? What is good design within the context your local area?
You can submit your thoughts via the link at the end of each profile. The villages included on this page include: Hackness, Harwood Dale, Hawnby, Hawsker, Helmsley (town), Hinderwell, Houlsyke, Hutton Buscel, Hutton le Hole, Hutton Village, Iburndale and Ingleby Greenhow.
Hackness
Hackness lies to the southeast of the National Park, near Scarborough. A poly-focal settlement, it is divided into two distinct cores which are physically and visually separated by a tree covered belt which runs along Back Race Beck. The first core forms a line of cottages sitting alongside Broxa Lane and Storr Lane, with most elevated above the highway with front gardens bounded by dry stone walls. The building line is linear and of single plot depth with cottages forming terraces or semi-detached properties. The only exception to this layout is Red House and its former traditional agricultural outbuildings (partially converted) and the Village Hall which both stand detached. There is no development to the south of Broxa Lane (other than the pinfold) which affords a more open feel to this part of Hackness.
The second core is the cluster of buildings around St Peters Church, the Primary School and Hackness Hall and its landscaped gardens. High stone walls are a predominant feature which provides a more formal character and sense of enclosure to the street scene. A cobbled water channel runs alongside the road, constructed as part of the water management system associated with the late 18th century designed landscape around Hackness Hall. Sandstone is the only building material with red clay pantile interspersed with slate, brick chimney stacks and stone water tabling. Timber vertical and horizontal sashes, mostly white painted, with timber boarded or panelled doors and decorative barge boarding to dormers and eaves are common.
Negative factors: Parked cars along the highway verge. Modern highway signage at the junction.
Harwood Dale lies in the peaceful, pastoral landscape of the limestone dales in the eastern part of the National Park. The landform is slightly elevated and surrounded by rolling grass fields which lends an open character to the area. The village itself is dispersed in form with clusters of buildings interspersed by large open fields and outlying farmsteads. Due to the undulating character of the landscape, each cluster is visually hidden from one another.
The settlement has not altered much from what you see today. To the western edge, St. Margaret’s Church and the old school and schoolhouse (now converted) sit detached from the main core of the settlement. The main core of the village sits around the old Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and the Grade II Listed Smithy, bounded to the west by Broadlands Beck. Here, buildings generally front directly out onto the highway, some set back behind a small grass verge, but the lack of garden boundaries is noticeable. The exception to this layout is the Chapel which is surrounded by a small stone wall topped with metal railings. Beyond this cluster is a pair of semi-detached Victorian houses, distinctive in their appearance with gabled rooflines. These properties, along with Keasbeck Hill Cottages, are noticeably set further back from the road and partially hidden from view.
Houses are generally modest in scale, whether this be smaller 1 ½ storey cottages or 2-storey farmhouses. Sandstone is the only building material under natural red clay pantiles with slate limited to the Church, the Chapel, and the Victorian semis. Where traditional windows exist, they are generally white painted vertical sashes, some with deep stone lintels, often white painted. The wide boarded doors to the Smithy are characterful which collectively with the adjacent Grade II Listed red K6 telephone box and red post box contribute to the street scene. Water tabling is a feature of the vernacular buildings with brick chimney stacks. Where boundaries exist, they tend to be drystone wall or native hedging which, along with wide grassy verges and tree-line Broadlands Beck, provides an open and natural character to the street scene. Views between buildings to the surrounding landscape are important.
Negative factors: Tarmac edges to driveways. Overhead wires and poles. Loss of traditional window proportions and window designs. Use of fascia boarding. Some erosion of grass verges.
Hawnby lies in a moorland dale (Ryedale) to the west of the National Park. It is a very traditional estate village almost entirely owned by the Mexborough Estate. It has become the first dark skies village in the UK. The estate has managed to keep the traditional character of the village and it feels as though you have stepped back in time. Timber sash windows mix with historic panelled timber doors, which are all painted in the same green colour. Gardens are well stocked, many still with vegetables abundantly growing. Grassy lanes and verges mingle in between properties and add to the ‘greening’ of the village.
The amount of greenery and ‘open space’ adds to the character of Hawnby whilst allowing far reaching views out towards the moorland and surrounding farmland. The village is split in two on a steep bank. This historical split was the result of a disagreement between the church congregation (at the top of the village) and the new Methodist Community (at the bottom of the village). Sandstone walls under a pantile roof are the predominant building material. There are 13 Listed Buildings in Hawnby (all Grade II Listed), including the Village shop, Wesleyan Chapel, Village Hall and (former) Corn Mill. John Wesley frequently visited the area and reported in 1757 that Hawnby was ‘one of the pleasantest parts of England’.
Negative factors: Roadside parking, erosion of green verges and pathways.
Hawsker is the name for the combined villages of High and Low Hawsker that straddle the A171 between Whitby and Scarborough. Low Hawsker lies to the west of the road and High Hawsker to the east. Between 1885 and 1965 Hawsker was a station on the Scarborough & Whitby Railway Line, its track bed is now a long-distance path and cycleway known as the Cinder Track. The old station buildings are now a cycle hire business.
In High Hawsker the building layout is much more enclosed where the core of the village includes properties built close to the highway in terraced form. There are two modern cul-de-sac developments which have extended the village, but historically the village clustered around the B1447 road junction. The building form is modest, with 1 ½ or 2 storey terraced cottages built mainly of sandstone, but brick is also evident as well as rendered finishes. Stone water tabling, cills and lintels are a feature of the older buildings. Red clay pantile is the common roofing material, but slate is also present. Dormers are present as are porches. Boundaries are generally small stone walls and mature hedging.
Negative factors: Loss of boundaries and boundary details in some locations. Loss of traditional window styles. Widened accesses. Dormers which dominate roofscapes. Modern highway signage and clutter.
Hawsker is the name for the combined villages of High and Low Hawsker that straddle the A171 between Whitby and Scarborough. Low Hawsker lies to the west of the road and High Hawsker to the east. Between 1885 and 1965 Hawsker was a station on the Scarborough & Whitby Railway Line, its track bed is now a long-distance path and cycleway known as the Cinder Track. The old station buildings are now a cycle hire business.
In contrast to High Hawsker, the building layout in Low Hawsker is more open with properties set back behind gardens and wide grassy verges which are a distinct feature of the village. Overall properties are modest in form and size with simple vernacular farmhouses alongside modern bungalows and semi-detaches. Boundaries are generally low stone walls with some post and rails or metal chain link fencing. In Low Hawsker the predominant building material is brick, mainly as a result of the 20th century expansion but its historic core is sandstone. Red clay pantile is the only roofing material, most with simple mortared verges and stone water tabling is limited. The village appears to have evolved from agricultural origins and Hawsker Hall is the only listed building. The windmill is a prominent feature, built in 1861 by George Burnett and was known to be in use up until 1915. The upper storeys were removed in 1960, but the lower portion remains.
Negative factors: Overhead poles and overhead wires. Loss of boundaries and boundary details in some locations. Loss of traditional window styles. Widened accesses. Modern highway signage and clutter.
Coastal Hinterland Landscape Character Type
Submit your thoughts on Hawsker (low)
Helmsley
The National Park’s only town, Helmsley, nestles in a hollow amongst undulating open countryside, flanked by imposing heather moor to the north and the rolling farmland of the Howardian Hills to the south. Half of the town (west of Bridge Street and North of Bondgate) is within the National Park. The flat lowland of the Vale of Pickering stretches eastwards from the town towards Malton. The River Rye forms part of the meandering southern boundary of the Helmsley Conservation Area and is joined by Borough Beck at Rye Bridge, which flows southwards through the town from the moors.
The origins of the current settlement are medieval, with a church built in the 10th Century. The roads, the confluence of the Borough Beck and the River Rye, and the crossing point over the River Rye were integral to the development of Helmsley as a market town. The construction of a Norman castle on a knoll to the west of the town allowed control of the town and the river crossing. It dates from around 1200 when Robert de Roos was Lord of Helmsley. The nearby All Saints Church is recorded in the Domesday book and was heavily restored in 1866 still contains a Norman chancel arch and another Norman arch over the south door. A Norse Hogsback stone is to be found in the church porch.
Many of the historic burgage plots survive, with property boundaries extending back from the roads in narrow strips. Helmsley’s local geology is sandstone, and the use of local stone has resulted in a mix of buildings. The variation in roof heights contribute to the roofscape in Helmsley. The vast majority are red pantile however there are some slate, mainly on municipal buildings. Sandstone buildings including the Town Hall are cream and honey in colour, others are limestone which is lighter in colour and helps to create a unique sense of place. Doors tend to be historic in 6 or 4 panelled arrangements, windows range from traditional sash and bow/bay windows to modern variations of this traditional style. The form of Helmsley’s vernacular buildings frequently relates to their earlier origins as longhouses, reflecting the fact that, like most market towns, Helmsley was an agricultural community well into the 19th century. The settlement is nucleated, some with a dense development pattern and back of pavement housing others more dispersed, intertwined with gardens and allotments.
Negative factors: Cluttering of street furniture, hard landscaping, loss of gardens to off street parking, roof lights to front elevations, loss of allotments for development. Tall, close boarded timber fencing can visually enclose areas that previously had an open feel. Patched areas of tarmac and concrete undermine the continuity of the streetscape.
Hinderwell is set within the coastal hinterland but borders the edge of the coastal landscape. Despite being near the sea, it is not visible due to the dip in landform, providing shelter amongst fields and trees, giving more of an agricultural setting to the village.
The historic core is relatively linear in form, where development straddles the main A174 road with a high density of buildings. The village has a strong farming association with five farms within its confines and the historic burgage plot layout of the surrounding field system is still evident today. Despite the presence of traditional stone farms and outbuildings, there are also modest workers’ cottages and tall ornate Victorian style townhouses which are uncharacteristic of the National Park. This possibly reflects the close relationship to the ports and mining communities, especially Port Mulgrave which is situated at the northwestern end of the village. A combination of 19th Century coastal townhouses, large community spaces and rural cottages and farms creates an interesting and diverse streetscape, with some featuring large front gardens with stone walls and timber gates, and others fronting the main road where plots remain narrow. The set back nature of some properties, especially on West End Close creates an interesting, varied roofscape. The materials are similarly diverse, a combination of stone, and brick and render with slate or pantile. There is one example of thatch. There are historic vertical sash windows, elaborate porches, barge boards and ironmongery, including a few balconies and many examples of religious buildings and former schools and halls, including a Quaker house, primitive and Wesleyan Methodist chapels and St Hilda’s church with historic Grade II Listed well. The name ‘Hinderwell’ is derived from St. Hilda who is said to have rested there on a journey between Whitby Abbey and Guisborough Priory and used ‘Hilda’s Well’ in the churchyard.
Hinderwell evolved substantially in the 20th century after the closing of the Whitby to Loftus railway line in 1958. The old Station building is now the industrial estate and the land at Newton Farm was developed to create the local authority estate housing cul-de-sacs of Coronation Avenue, Moor View and Moor View Court. Further development along Station Road, Runswick Lane and Rosedale Lane extended its edges. Here, development is more regular in form, with larger detached houses set in decent sized plots. Given the slightly larger nature of the village, there are several buildings still in community use including a few shops, pubs, a school, and a cafe.
Negative factors: Modern steel railings, industrial ventilation, and flues, non-sympathetic roof lights and dormers, poor quality renders and loss of traditional windows and porches. Loss of boundaries and front gardens for parking.
Houlsyke is a modest settlement, situated in the Central Valley landscape between the larger local villages of Danby and Lealholm. It is a nucleated settlement, centred around the Grade II listed Brook House Farm, which gives a noticeable agricultural character. There is a cluster of farms, related cottages, former workshops, and traditional smaller outbuildings which appear to have changed very little as the historical maps suggest that many buildings are over a century old. The cottages are modest, and the agricultural buildings are predominantly of a traditional long linear form with most buildings sandstone and pantile, with timber sash windows and low-level stone and timber boundaries. Although many outbuildings have been converted, high quality agricultural features remain. These include deeply recessed openings, ledged and braced batten doors, cart shed doors, stone water tabling, deep stone cills and lintels and conservation metal roof lights.
Of note is the former primitive Methodist chapel, previously labelled the Zoar chapel, with a date stone of 1853, which has since been converted into residential use. It was built on a plot of land donated by J Dale and built with local subscriptions and was attended for over 100 years until conversion. The only contrasting property is next door; a modern brick and timber framed dwelling.
Given the elevated nature of the village with properties set into the hillside amongst dense woodland, fields and gardens, there is a strong natural relationship with the surrounding landscape and valleys, affording picturesque views on the entrance and exit to the settlement. Coupled with small streams which run through the village, there is a distinctly tranquil nature.
Negative factors: Non-sympathetic roof lights, loss of traditional window styles, flat roof dormers, modern greenhouses, tall modern flues.
Hutton Buscel is a linear village running east to west, located on elevated land set back from the main A170 in the eastern part of the National Park. The majority of the village is included in the Conservation Area which was designated in 1977. Buildings are situated on both sides of a main street in a single plot depth. Back land development is rare. Access to the village from the A170 is via three roads, lined on either side by trees, hedges and stone walls, revealing little of the village until the main street is reached. Small scale growth has taken place mainly to the north of the main street along Middle Lane where development is detached dwellings in larger plots set back from the highway, which differs from the historic core.
Buildings are a mixture of stone and render under natural red clay pantiles and traditional dry stone wall boundaries help to integrate these developments into the street scene. The historic core of the village is mainly sandstone buildings which face the highway under natural red clay pantiles, brick chimneys and stone water tabling on some, but not all. Slate is evident but generally limited to key buildings such as St Matthew’s Church, Village Hall, and The Holt. Whilst most buildings in the historic core reflect the local vernacular, there are several exceptions - East and West Cottages are a pair of Arts and Crafts style cottages, Church Meadows reflects the Edwardian period and the gambrel roofed Rosedene is unique. This concentration and variety of architectural styles in one village is not found anywhere else in the National Park. Most buildings front directly onto the footpath, set back from the highway behind grass verges, but where boundaries exist, they generally take the form of stone walls and picket fences interspersed with timber 5 bar gates. Large mature trees are scattered throughout the village. Windows are mainly white, or cream painted timber vertical or horizontal sliding sashes although casements are evident as well. Doors are mainly solid timber of 4 or 6-panel design, white or cream painted but other colours are also apparent, some framed with timber pilasters or simple timber porches. Dormers are a feature of some properties. Overall, uPVC is less common in Hutton Buscel.
Negative factors: Loss of traditional window styles and sizes. Loss of boundary walls or gates. Overhead wires and poles. Modern garage doors.
Located to the south of the National Park and situated within the Limestone Hills, Hutton le Hole sits at the base of a gently sloping wooded valley. Hutton Beck meanders though the centre of the village, criss-crossed by small bridges which contribute to the aesthetic appeal of the village. With the beck, white picket fence and wide expanses of grass, edged by beautiful stone cottages, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Hutton le Hole has always been described as a picturesque village. Victorians, however, regarded it as ‘ill-planned and untidy’ due to the overcrowded homes of weavers and smallholders, the green used as a farmyard and the beck as a sewer. Today, things are far more pristine with a clear moorland stream, Hutton Beck, winding its way through the middle of the village, which is criss-crossed by footpaths and wooden bridges. Open areas of Common Land, grazed by moorland sheep, are a significant feature creating an open and spacious character. The entire village is a Conservation Area, designated in 1978.
The village is set out in a linear form where the building line follows two parallel roads of Main Street and Back Lane and, to a limited extent, along Moor Lane. Buildings generally front the highway and are of single plot depth and predominantly modest 2-storey and terraced in form. Sandstone and natural red clay pantile are the predominant building materials, although slate exists in a few instances. Chimney stacks are mainly brick with stone water tabling to some buildings, but not all. Windows are generally white, or cream painted timber sash windows with panel or planked doors. White painted timber ‘birds’ mouth’ fencing borders the beck and elsewhere timber picket fencing (both painted and unpainted) or drystone walls are the common boundary treatment. Trees are important in the village running along the beck, as well as forming the western backdrop to the village.
Negative factors: Overhead poles and overhead wires. Loss of grassy areas to the front of buildings and wide vehicular accesses. Signage. Loss of traditional fenestration styles and materials, but these are in the minority.
Hutton Village is a small village a mile south of Guisborough. Although Hutton Village is recorded in the Domesday Book, the origins of the modern village are from the year 1855 when around 30 miner’s cottages were built for workers at the nearby Codhill ironstone mine. These houses, arranged in three terraces, remain today next to the small village green and are an important link to the village’s industrial past. The remainder of the village is linear in character. The character of the village is informed by the surrounding Guisborough Forest, owned by the Forestry Commission, with paths and fire roads leading into the forest and onto the moors running from the village. Hutton Hall and the Victorian Home Farm also form part of the setting.
Hutton Hall, to the north of the village, was designed for industrialist and ‘father of Middlesbrough’ J.W Pease by Alfred Waterhouse, the architect of the Natural History Museum in London. When it was built 113 hectares of surrounding land were converted to parkland.
Houses in the linear part of the village were mostly built from the 1940s through to the 1980s and consequently display a great variation in both materials and styles. Built on a slope, houses on the southeast side are elevated above the road level and often visually prominent, whereas houses to the northeast are lower, and often set back from the road. Boundaries are frequently marked by hedges and there are many examples of mature trees in the village, giving it a ‘green’ character
Negative factors: More modern buildings have little architectural coherence in comparison with the older part of the village and there is little sense of a local vernacular. Some hedges have been removed and replaced with fencing.
Iburndale is a small, nucleated hamlet at the foot of Iburndale Lane, separated from Sleights by Little Beck. Four roads meet around a triangle of land where the terraced properties of The Row are located. Sat in a hollow, the village has a tight, close-knit and enclosed feel where buildings are located close to one another, fronting the highway, and sat behind small front gardens. Buildings are linear in their form and are mainly modest 2-storey or 1 ½ storey cottages. Sandstone under natural red clay pantile are the common materials, but slate is also apparent, with stone chimneys and stone water tabling.
The semi of Rose Cottage and No.4 Wrench Green are, however, of brick construction with buff brick chimney stacks. Windows and doors are mainly white painted timber vertical and horizontal sashes. White uPVC is evident in some instances. Porches are not a common feature, but where they exist, they are modest in size. Boundaries are a mixture of hedging, stone walls, timber picket and hazel hurdles interspersed with timber 5-bar gates and picket gates. Mature trees line the road and the beck giving a natural appearance to the village and one which is relatively hidden from wider views.
Negative factors: Overhead wires and poles. Loss of boundaries to create wider driveways.
An ancient settlement, recorded in the Domesday Book, Ingleby Greenhow lies at the foot of the Cleveland Hills, which are a prominent feature when entering and leaving the village. Large trees and high hedges are an attractive and notable feature of the village, forming avenues into the settlement and lending a sense of enclosure. There is a limited amount of public open space and no village green. The village mostly has a tight knit linear form with mainly dwellings facing the road, with eaves parallel to the road and front gardens separating them. Ingleby Manor, a Grade 2 listed building lies separate from the settlement to the south. St. Andrew’s Church to the southwest is a Grade 1 listed building. There are a variety of ages and styles of building, however, there is a historic core of attractive terraced cottages and larger farmsteads from the eighteenth century. Many of these are mostly unchanged and retain their important features and curtilages. Local vernacular features include mainly two storey houses with dressed herringbone sandstone walls, clay pantile roofs with stone kneelers, tall stone or brick chimneys and sliding sash or Yorkshire Light windows. Dormers are uncommon. Curtilage features tend to be hedges, rubble stone walls of simple grassy banks, with few fences present.
Negative factors: Some new developments, built between the 1960s and 1990s are present, with some more out of character with the village due to larger windows, use of balconies and dominant front gables. Little public open space within the village.