SDO21743 - Springhead Farm, Fontmell Magna. Heritage Statement

‘This Heritage Statement has been prepared on behalf of the client in conjunction with an application relating to demolition of selected structures, a proposed new farmhouse and outbuildings, and associated landscaping at Springhead Farm, Mill Street, Fontmell Magna, Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 0NU, a mostly modern farmstead at the eastern end of the village comprising a principal dwelling of the 1980s and an aesthetically disjointed series of agricultural buildings, one of which dates to the 1930s-1940s and is a relic of farming and forestry operations here pursued by Rolf Gardiner, rural revivalist. Although there are some references to the local vernacular in the half-hips to the stone-built farmhouse, originally proposed by Julian Bicknell, architect, on behalf of the Springhead Trust, there is little aesthetic or architectural merit in what survives at the broader site. Springhead Farm is neither Listed, nor is it considered an Unlisted Building which contributes to the character of the village, unlike White Cottage and Nos. 30 and 31, Mill Street, both to the immediate south-west of the subject site1. Springhead Farm is located to the north side of Mill Street just within the eastern boundary of the Fontmell Magna Conservation Area first designated in May 1977, characterised by mostly brick, flint and stone edifices encompassing several dwellings which were designed in model village-style by the Glyn Estate and relics of industrial endeavours at the former brewery (now Fontmell Potteries) and Springhead, formerly a fulling mill, then corn mill, engineering works, cheese factory and home of (Henry) Rolf Gardiner, ecologist and organic farmer, and co-founder of the Soil Association. Springhead Farm is also within the wider setting of this Grade II Listed former mill (List Entry No. 1110242, 24th June 1985, amended 28th July 1986) to the south side of the lane, albeit that there is dense tree planting providing screening between the two2. The spatial layout of Fontmell Magna is derived from its local economy historically based on agriculture, albeit that several farms, including those in the centre of the settlement, have been converted into residential use. Of note is the open landscape of Cranborne Chase and the Wiltshire Downs to the east of the village, which is relatively unchanged since the 18th century, and which forms part of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill had acquired land in Fontmell Magna in 1930 from Harold Squire, penniless artist who set out the gardens at Springhead, before it was sold on to Rolf Gardiner. The development of Springhead Farm is a curiosity and is little-documented, at least not obviously, although is occasionally referred to in local press reported on the exploits of Gardiner from the 1930s until his death in 1971; on one occasion, at harvest-time in 1941, the Bailiff of the Farm, J.C. Clarke is mentioned, although farm buildings had been alluded to as early as 1934 in the Western Gazette. Ultimately, Springhead ‘became a nucleus of a widely extended farm and forestry operation and a centre for the arts and revival of traditional cultures’3; Springhead Farm also has historical links with Gore Farm, the property of Gardiner’s uncle, H. Balfour Gardiner, the composer, as well as with D.H. Lawrence. Proposals by Ben Pentreath and Kim Wilkie are considered to have a substantial beneficial impact on the Fontmell Magna Conservation Area, and a minor beneficial impact on the settings of several identified heritage assets, as well as the positive effects of restoring the Springhead farm site, which is currently dilapidated and unsalvageable. The historic information contained in this report has been based on information derived from the catalogues of the Dorset History Centre, Cambridge University Archives, the Museum of English Rural Life’s collection at the University of Reading, and Historic England’s Archive, as well as sequential historic Ordnance Survey and other maps, and information acquired from secondary sources. Further historical research has been carried out via the Census and newspaper records among other resources.’