Historic Landscape
Study of East
Bergholt and the
Cultural Legacy of
John Constable
March 2021 | Project Ref 641
On behalf of East Bergholt Parish Council

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 2
Project Number: 641
Authored by: Claire Browne / Anne Johnson
Approved by: Jonathan Edis
Date: March 2021
Document version M:LCProjectsProjects641 East BergholtReportsV5

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 3
Executive Summary
A historic landscape study of East Bergholt
has been undertaken to inform the
Neighbourhood Plan. The study considers
the archaeological dimension of the
village that stretches back into prehistory,
the time depth of the landscape around
the village documented in Constable’s
paintings and the modern heritage and
landscape context of the village.
A unique approach and methodology has
been used in this study to determine landscape value. It considers the significance of East Bergholt to Constable’s legacy as well as the presence of archaeological and heritage assets.
The key findings of the report are as
follows:
• East Bergholt is a very special English village as the birthplace of the internationally renowned painter John Constable, and was his inspiration throughout his life.
• Constable’s iconic landscape paintings were not just of Flatford Mill; the village and former heath were important subjects in his work.
• Most of the views in Constable’s paintings remain unchanged today. These fields, tracks and hedgerow now need a higher level of landscape protection.
• The study charts the organic growth of East Bergholt since pre-historic times, through Medieval changes to the 19th century, through to the 20th century and current times. The narrative describes the satellite hamlets, the field enclosures of the 19th century, and the survival, currently, of the openness of the heath.
• Most importantly, this study assesses the landscape sensitivity of key areas around East Bergholt, from a heritage and cultural point of view. It warns of threats of potential damage by inappropriate large scale development, despite Conservation Area and AONB status.
The study has identified the following areas
of archaeological and landscape sensitivity:
• The former heathland north of the village has archaeological potential.
• The historic landscape pattern is still evident north of the village and is highly susceptible to visual impacts.
• The former East Bergholt Heath at the centre of the village is sensitive to encroachment and erosion of historic character and has important cultural associations with Constable’s work. It is recommended that the landscape on either side of the Donkey Track is protected.
• The historic association of the medieval satellite hamlets and village greens has been weakened or lost due to encroachment, including “Quinton’s Area and land south of Gandish Road.
• Landscape and development guidelines are proposed to protect the historic environment from inappropriate encroachment or from erosion of character.
• Greater recognition of the important association with Constable and close associations with the village and the former heath warrants a higher level of protection. The historic landscape character can be strengthened and enhanced for future generations.

4 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
Appendices
Appendix 1 Listed Buildings gazetteer and photographs
Appendix 2 Suffolk Historic Environment Record List
Appendix 3 Landscape Character Guidelines
Appendix 4 AONB Management Policies
Appendix 5 John Constable’s East Bergholt Works by Location
Appendix 6 Figures (Maps) Separate Document
Figures
Fig. 2.1 Designated Heritage assets (whole parish)
Fig. 2.2 Designated Heritage assets (detail within ‘Heart’)
Fig. 2.3 Archaeological assets (whole parish)
Fig. 2.4 Historic Landscape Characterisation
Fig. 2.5 1733 Map on OS Base
Fig. 3.1 Topography
Fig. 3.2 Superficial Geology
Fig. 3.3 Soils
Fig. 3.4 Suffolk Landscape Character Areas
Contents
1.0 Introduction 9
2.0 Historic Development of the Village 13
3.0 The Landscape of the River Stour and Vale 37
4.0 Appraisal of John Constable’s Paintings 57
5.0 Landscape and Heritage Sensitivity Appraisal 70
6.0 Summary 87
7.0 References 91

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 5
Fig. 3.5 Parish Scale Landscape Character Areas and Historic Village Character Areas
Fig. 3.6 Views and Viewpoint Locations
Fig. 3.7 Viewpoint Locations 1
Fig. 3.8 Viewpoint Locations 2
Fig. 3.9 Viewpoint Locations 3
Fig. 3.10 Viewpoint Locations 4
Fig. 4.1 John Constable Artist Locations
Fig. 5.1 Landscape and Heritage Sensitivity
Plates
Plate 2.1: Satellite image, June 2018. Linear cropmarks south of the A12, on either side of
the B1070
Plate 2.2: Satellite image, August 2007. Cropmarks south of White Horse Farm & west of
Dene House
Plate 2.3 1731. William Brasier. A Survey of the Parish of East Bergholt &c.
Plate 2.4 Postcard of St. Mary’s Church
Plate 2.5. 1731. William Brasier.
Plate 2.5. Historic Postcard Flatford Mill Bridge
Plate 2.6. 1731. William Brasier. Extract.
Plate 2.7 1731. William Brasier. Extract.
Plate 2.8 William Brasier. Extract.
Plate 2.9. 1733. William Brasier.
Plate 2.10. The site of East Bergholt House in the Village Heart today.
Plate 2.11 Hodskinson’s Map 1783
Plate 2.12 Map Extracted from Vaughan
Plate 2.13 1817. Enclosure Map. Extract.
Plate 2.14 1817. Enclosure Map. Extract.
Plate 2.15 The Remnant Village Green Today
Plate 2.16 Agricultural Heritage
Plate 2.17 Cassini Old Series (1805-1874)
Plate 2.18 Designated Heritage Assets – The Heart
Plate 2.19 Church of St. Mary
Plate 2.20 The Old Hall

6 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
Plate 2.21 Stour House
Plate 2.22 Moss Cottage, John Constable’s Former Studio
Plate 2.23 The Gables
Plate 2.24 Designated Heritage Assets – Rectory Hill and Burnt Oak
Plate 2.25 Dairy Cottages on Rectory Hill
Plate 2.26 Designated Heritage Assets – Gaston End and Quinton’s Corner
Plate 2.27 Chaplins
Plate 2.28 Quinton’s Cottage
Plate 2.29 Designated Heritage Assets at Flatford
Plate 2.30 Bridge Cottage
Plate 2.31 Willy Lott’s Cottage
Plate 2.32 Miller’s House and Cottage
Plate 2.33 Valley Farmhouse
Plate 2.34 HLC Extract of the former East Bergholt Common and Heath
Plate 2.35 HLC Extract of Post 1950s HLC Type
Plate 2.36 Old Photograph East Bergholt’s Agricultural Heritage
Plate 3.1 Parish Landscape Character Areas
Plate 3.2 Views and Viewpoint Locations
Plate 3.3 Viewpoint 2 from Woodgates Road across former heath
Plate 3.4 Historic Village Character Areas
Plate 3.5 1733 Map of former heath overlaid on modern OS map.
Plate 4.1 John Constable (1799-1804) © The National Portrait Gallery
Plate 4.2 John Constable Artist Locations
Plate 4.3 Spring: East Bergholt Common. (1814) Oil on Panel. © V&A
Plate 4.4 East Bergholt. (1813) Oil on Cardboard. © Yale Center for British Art
Plate 4.5 View of the Riber valley today
Plate 4.6 East Bergholt. (1808) Oil. © Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Plate 4.7 Current day view from the Donkey Path towards the Rectory
Plate 4.8 View Towards the Rectory East Bergholt. (1813) Oil. © Public Domain
Plate 4.9 View of East Bergholt Over the Kitchen of the Garden of Golding Constable’s
House. Pencil. 1812-1816 © V&A.
Plate 4.10 East Bergholt House. Oil on millboard. 1811© V&A. The V&A description
of this painting is as follows: “This panoramic view depicts Constable’s birth

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 7
place, with East Bergholt church to the left… Constable recalled with delight the
scenes where his ‘ideas of Landscape were formed’ and ‘the retrospect of those
happy days and years’”.
Plate 4.11 East Bergholt Church North Archway of the Ruined Tower. Pen and
Watercolour. C.1805 © V&A.
Plate 4.12 Current view of the north archway
Plate 4.13 Fen Lane, East Bergholt. Oil on Canvas. 1817 © TATE
Plate 4.14 View from Fenbridge Lane today
Plate 5.1 Areas of Potential Archaeological and Historical Sensitivity (Areas A-E)
Plate 5.2 The Landscape Partnership East Bergholt Landscape Capacity Appraisal Map
Plate 5.3 East Bergholt Landscape and Heritage Sensitivity

Introduction
1.0

10 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
1 Introduction
1.1 Heritage Collective has been commissioned
by East Bergholt Parish Council to
undertake a study of the historic landscape
of East Bergholt, with the intention that
the document becomes a cornerstone of
the Neighbourhood Plan and an important
part of the framework for future decisions
on changes and development.  A study
of this kind encompasses a range of disciplines and skills, which is we have collaborated closely with colleagues in Landscape Collective and Archaeology Collective, in order to present a
comprehensive approach.  Like many
villages, East Bergholt has a history to tell, and it has an archaeological dimension
that stretches back into prehistory.  It
is unusual, however, in having a close association with the nationally important painter, John Constable (1776-1837), illustrating certain connections between the Georgian landscape and the contemporary
landscape. 
1.2 Our study, therefore, has had to be framed
with an understanding of the modern heritage and landscape policy context (not least of which is the Dedham Vale AONB and recent extension of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB) as much as an appreciation of the artistic and aesthetic
dimension of Constable’s legacy.  It also
has to tread a fine line between identifying what is significant in heritage terms, and
what is valued in landscape terms.  Many
considerations come into play, involving visual and aesthetic assessments as well as abstract and intangible connections
between the past and present.  
1.3 East Bergholt is an amalgam of physical
buildings that we have inherited from the past and a physical landscape that has
evolved over centuries.  Taking this at its
simplest level, the historic buildings are set within the modern landscape, thereby drawing in one of the most hotly debated planning policy issues in recent years, the
setting of heritage assets.  In this case,
however, the contemporary landscape
has a time depth which is unusually well documented by Constable’s paintings of the
Dedham Vale.  It is a complex landscape,
involving many areas which have distinct
characteristics and values.  Our study has
had to be multi-faceted, seeking to fuse three broad strands:
• what is significant in the material culture of the past;
• what is important in the visual enjoyment of the landscape: and, finally,
• the historical and artistic context.
1.4 We have structured our study by looking
first at the historic development of the village and archaeological resource and the landscape character of today. An appraisal of John Constable’s paintings of East Bergholt follows, exploring the significance of the village and its setting to his work and development as internationally renowned artist. The appraisal identifies views depicted in his work and assesses the degree of change and the extent that the buildings and landscape represented is still evident today. The final section considers the heritage and archaeological resource of the village, the importance of cultural associations of John Constable with the village and landscape and identifies relative areas of sensitivity to inform future development guidelines for the village.
1.5 We give thanks to East Bergholt Parish
Council for their valued contribution to this study.

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 11
Research and Analysis:
1.6 The study has required research and
analysis in the following areas:
• History of the village and the way it
developed.
• The landscape : the River Stour, the Vale, topography, trees, woodlands together with hedges, fields and the legacy of agriculture.
• Key historic buildings, clusters of housing, farms and settlements.
• Established village plan form and setting.
• The impact on the heritage of late 20th
development and growth  (e.g. the
schools, doctors surgery, housing estates).
• Key Views – from the village, looking out, and from the surrounding landscape (and the A.12) looking towards the village.
• Appraisal of John Constable’s paintings and sketches of East Bergholt and Dedham Vale, with special regard to the views which are in overall character still consistently visible.
• Historical archive material available from The East Bergholt Society, Parish Council and others. Overview of existing broad- brush “character area” assessments from the Neighbourhood Plan.
Output :
• Commentary about the village’s current heritage and historic landscape status, based on the above research.
• How does East Bergholt fare in a national context? What qualities mark it out as a “special” English village?
• How important is the historical body of work by Constable in assessing East Bergholt’s significance in national heritage terms?
• Assessment of any areas of “fragility” in the heritage of the village, in terms of the scale and location of future developments.

History of the Village and
How It Developed
2.0

14 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
2 History of the Village and How it
Developed
Introduction
2.1 This section explores the origins of East
Bergholt village and the key stages
in its development. It is important to
understand how the historic development
has influenced the plan form of the
village and the extent that the historic
environment contributes to the village
character and landscape setting evident
today.
2.2
East Bergholt is highly valued for being rich
in heritage assets and tracts of land within the Parish are owned by the National Trust. This section will first describe the evidence of archaeological assets and heritage in chronological order, noting key historic buildings, followed by a summary of key stages that have been influential on the development of the village’s historic character, its cultural heritage and highly valued landscape setting.
2.3 The richness of heritage is reflected in
the many names for the village that have appeared in various village documents over time as noted in Paul Jenning’s 1963 article Anatomy of a Suffolk Village, ‘the
village has appeared as Bercold, Bargholt, Yesterberfolt, Barff, Harholt, Barfolly, Barforde, Barfould, and (as late as the 18h century) Ast Barchoulld, Barfilld and Barchold’.
Archaeological Assets
2.4
The Suffolk Historic Environment Record
(HER) entries are mapped at Figure 2.3 (see Appendix 2).
Confidential PAS (Portable
Antiquities Scheme) Findspots
2.5 The Suffolk HER shows 12 confidential,
mainly metal-detecting, findspots within the parish, dating from the Neolithic
(c.4000BC) to post-medieval periods.
Cropmarks on Aerial Photographs
2.6
Aerial photographs have revealed
cropmarks representing buried features of both geological and potential archaeological origin at 13 locations within the parish, which are hatched on Figure 2.3. The superficial sand and gravel deposits covering the majority of the parish are particularly conducive to the formation of cropmarks. Buried features can often be identified from aerial photographs as crop- or parch- marks, formed by differential growth in crops, particularly cereals, over varying soil depths and water content: taller and more well–developed crops growing where the underlying soil is deeper, such as above buried pits or ditches, and less well developed or stunted crops over buried stone walling or floor surfaces.
2.7 Small rings may represent encircling
ditches of ploughed-down prehistoric burial mounds (round barrows) or the drip gullies of prehistoric roundhouses. Linear cropmarks appear to represent a combination of relatively modern (mapped) boundaries and potentially earlier features, possibly prehistoric or Roman field systems and trackways.
Previous Archaeological Investigations
2.8 Extensive archaeological evaluations have
recently been carried at two principal locations in the parish in advance of development.
2.9 Geophysical survey and metal detecting
followed by trial trenching was carried out on an 8.45ha site north-west of Moore’s Lane in 2015. Twenty one trial trenches were equally spaced across the site.

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 15
Seven trenches contained archaeological
features, either pits or ditches of
indeterminate, but probable post-medieval
date, 4 contained modern land drains,
one showed natural geological features
and the remaining 9 contained nothing
of archaeological interest. Six sherds of
pottery were recovered: one possibly
prehistoric, two medieval and three of
Post-medieval date.
2.10
Geophysical survey followed by trial
trenching was carried out in two fields adjacent to (east of) The Constable Country Medical Centre, on the south side of Mill Road / Heath Road, in 2016- 2017. Sixty one trenches were equally spaced across the 9.2ha site. Twenty eight archaeological features, either undated or of Post—medieval origin were revealed, some of which represent a former (mapped) field boundary.
2.11 Archaeological monitoring in advance of
the installation of a replacement water mains pipeline in fields alongside the east side of the B107 Hadleigh Road north of and extending for a distance of some 750m as far as the A12 Ipswich Road revealed two small pits containing fragments of burnt flint. Elsewhere in the parish,
small-scale archaeological monitoring associated with small building projects and extensions has yielded little archaeological information.
Prehistoric
2.12
The Suffolk Historic Environment Record
(HER) records limited evidence for prehistoric activity within the parish. Two flint implements, one of Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age 450,000-12,000 BC) and the other of Mesolithic date (12,000 BC) found close to Flatford Lane (MSF5059) are likely to be a residual artefacts which have been re-deposited in the underlying gravels by fluvial action rather than an in-situ finds. Further (later) prehistoric finds include a flint scraper found in the garden at Old Hall (MSF23150), and metal detecting finds of a Bronze Age socketed axe, bronze axeheads from a dispersed Bronze Age hoard, an unspecified number of Iron Age metal objects, and a single Iron Age coin.
2.13 Despite extensive archaeological trial
trenching north-west of Moore’s lane and south of Mill Road / Heath Road, very little prehistoric material was recovered apart from a single flint flake and shard
Plate 2.1: Satellite image, June 2018. Linear cropmarks south of the A12, on either side of the B1070

16 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
of pottery. Monitoring of the 750m long
water pipeline alongside Hadleigh Road
identified just two pits which although
undated, were assigned a possible
prehistoric date because they contained
fragments of burnt flint (MSF26596).
2.14
However, the HER records ring ditches
observed on aerial photographs within fields to the north of the village, close to the A12, one c.16m in diameter (MSF5051) and another larger causewayed ring (30m in diameter) (MSF12643), together with a third ring (15m diameter) observed to the east of Flatford Mill (MSF17408) which may, on morphological grounds, represent traces of prehistoric burial, ceremonial or settlement sites.
2.15 Similarly, although difficult to identify
against often complex geological (ice wedge) patterning, linear cropmarks observed at several locations, which are hatched on Figure 2.3 may represent field boundaries and double-ditched trackways of former field systems which differ from, and may therefore pre-date, the present (and mapped Post-medieval) field
Plate 2.2: Satellite image, August 2007. Cropmarks south of White Horse Farm & west of
Dene House
boundaries. They include traces of a small rectilinear enclosure or field system south of the Roman road and west of Woodgates Road (MSF5052) and cropmarks of rectilinear ditch systems and trackways on the north side of the Roman road, on both sides of Hadleigh Road (MSF38087) (Plate 2.1).
2.16
An extensive cropmark pattern of linear
features (ditches) has been recorded cut by ‘Dead Lane’, west of Vale Farm (MSF5069). Further cropmarks have been observed within the eastern part of the parish. Cropmarks of complex ice-wedges and linears forming a possible field system on different alignments to the present system have been recorded on the north- west side of Warren Wood (MSF12290), and three linears forming three sides of a rectangular enclosure or small field have been observed on the north side of East End Road, in the field east of The Grange Lodge Park (MSF12290). Groups of inter-related curvilinear ditches have been observed immediately southwest of the settlement at East End, south of Park Road (MSF12192). A cropmark complex

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 17
forming a rectangular area of small
connected enclosures has been recorded
south of White Horse Farm and west of
Dene House (MSF14811) (Plate 2.2).
2.17
A curving trackway complex, whose west
end has been cut by a modern lake/ reservoir probably represents a trackway serving the moated site to the southeast of Flatford Mill (MSF 17408).
2.18 A further area of undated linears, which
were identified by geophysical survey rather than as cropmarks from the air, were recorded on the south side of Mill Road / Heath Road, east of the Constable Country Medical Centre (MSF35367).
Roman
2.19 The main (A12) Ipswich Road which
crosses the northern tip of the parish follows the course of a Roman road, known today as The Pye Road (MSF15171), which connected Colchester (Camulodunum) with a settlement on the site of Baylham House, c.31km to the northeast. A variety of Roman finds, including pottery sherds, coins, bricks and other metal objects have been recorded along both sides of the road as it approaches the Lattinford Bridge (MSF5056, MSF14966, MSF17674 & MSF18824), and similar material has been dredged from the Stutton Brook in the vicinity of the bridge (MSF5053), suggesting the presence of a roadside settlement area close to the stream crossing (MSF5106). Two pits said to be 1.2m in diameter and c.6.7m deep are recorded close to the road; their contents included pottery shards including amphorae of early Roman date together with quantities of tile, burnt clay and fragments of lava quernstone (MSF5055); the circumstances of the discovery are not recorded. Roman finds have also been recorded along the roadside further west, within an area of cropmarks including Roman pottery sherds (MSF5063), and metal detecting finds of at least four coins (MSF16301 & MSF17673).
2.20 Two isolated finds have also been recorded
south of the road, closer to Woodgates Farm: a late 2nd century coin of Commodus (MSF17675) and a domed lead spindle whorl (MSF5054).
2.21 A low level scatter of Roman pottery
sherds was identified during archaeological monitoring at Foxhall Fields on the northern edge of the village (MSF23168).
2.22 A possible Roman cremation cemetery
was found in 1838 whilst digging the foundations for Ackworth House on the west side of Hadleigh Road, in the course of which a number of pottery vessels filled with ashes, believed to be cremation urns, were uncovered (MSF5058). Earthwork banks 2m high enclosing an oval area some 55 x 35m within the grounds are of unknown origin but are thought possibly to be associated with this cemetery (MSF23170).
Medieval
2.23 East Bergholt’s place-name derives
from the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) ‘ēst bercholt’, whose meaning is ‘birch copse’ or
‘wood by a hill’.
2.24
Early medieval/Anglo-Saxon activity
within the parish is attested by two
metal detector finds, a bronze strap
union (MSF15486) and an (unspecified)
metal object (MSF36442). The HER
maps the centre of East Bergholt as an
indicative area of the historic settlement
(MSF27156).
2.25
The Norman taxation document, written in
1086 and referring back to the Conquest of 1066, known today as Domesday Book, provides the earliest description of East Bergholt in the late Saxon period, revealing that at the time of King Edward the Confessor in 1066 ‘Bercolt’ was held by Earl Harold Godwin, and was his principal manor in Suffolk.
2.26 The manor was extensive, comprising 13 carucates of land, covering an area measuring one league and two furlongs in length and one league in width. The late Saxon settlement had a population of around 54 households: 42 villagers, five smallholders, one freeman and six slaves. There was a considerable amount of arable land, as the taxable amount of land that could be ploughed by a team of eight oxen was assessed as three plough teams in the lord’s demesne, and a further 20 plough teams in the rest of the village. There

18 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
were also 12 acres of meadow, together
with extensive woodland or wood pasture,
nominally (for tax purposes) assessed
as being sufficient to support 1000 pigs.
Livestock comprised one cob, 10 cattle, 29
pigs, 85 sheep and 26 goats. There was
also a mill at this date.
2.27
Following the Norman Conquest the estate
came into the possession of King William and was the pre-eminent manor in the Hundred of Samford. The majority of this royal estate was administered by Aelfric Wand , whilst a four acre holding occupied by a freeman, was administered on behalf of the king by Aubrey de Vere.
2.28 Documentary sources show that there
were four manors in East Bergholt in the medieval period: Old Hall, St John’s or The Commandery, Illaries and Spencers. The principal manor was Old Hall, whose manor house stood opposite (south of) the church.
2.29 A Subsidy Roll on everyone in East
Bergholt with more than 5 shillings worth of taxable goods, levied by Edward III
in 1327 to pay for his war in Scotland, recorded 41 individuals. At the top of the list was John Daundely, presumably lord of the principal manor, also John le Spencer of the Spencers sub manor, and John Gobyonn (Gibeon) of Flatford.
2.30
The earliest documentary reference which
names Old Hall dates from 1349, at which time the lord of the manor was Sir John de Sutton of Wyvenhoe and his wife Margaret. When their son, also John, died in 1393, an inquiry into his properties and services (Inquisition Post Mortem) described the extent of the manor as follows: ‘Old Hall and 4 messuages [homesteads], 70½ acres land,19 acres and 32 acres of meadow, 52 acres and 1 rood of pasture, one fishery, and 17s 3d rent’.
2.31 This information derives from Crown
documents; no local documents such as court rolls or manorial documents prior to 1381 survive, as they were burnt by local insurgents led by Thomas Fletcher in front of the church in the course of the Peasants’ Revolt.
Plate 2.3 1731. William Brasier. A Survey of the Parish of East Bergholt
&c… (Suffolk Records Office FB191/A/8/1)

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 19
2.32 Old Hall passed through female heirs of
Sir John de Sutton to the de Vere’s, Earls
of Oxford, in 1425, who held the manor
for the next 150 years (until 1579). The
Earls of Oxford were not resident at East
Bergholt, and consequently during this
period the manor house and lands were
leased to tenants and managed by a
steward.
2.33
Henry II granted part of his royal estate
at East Bergholt to the Catholic military order, the Knights Templars in the second half of the 12th century. This manor was known as St. Johns or The Commandery, and two subsidiary manors were created, known as Spencers and Illaries. There is a documentary reference to the manor of Spencers held by the Dakeney family in 1252-3. Following suppression of the Templars at the beginning of the 14th century their property came into the possession of the Knights Hospitallers (Knights of St John of Jerusalem), whose preceptory (hospital) lay at Battisford, southwest of Stowmarket c.18km distant from East Bergholt. A post-medieval (1731) map (Plate 2.3), shows Illaries on the site of Manor Farm and Spencers on the site of the present Tudor Cottage, Mission Lane, both in East End, whilst The Commandery was situated on or close to the site of the present White Horse Farm at the bottom of Mill Road / Heath Road, an area known as Bakers End.
2.34 The Church of St Mary stands on a
prominent site overlooking the valley (MSF13474). The earliest fabric, which dates from the mid-14th century, is the cross wall on either side of the chancel arch. The church was built in late Perpendicular style in the mid-late 15th century. The tower, built mainly of stone rubble, lined with brick and faced with knapped flint and ashlar dressings, stands unfinished, only the first stage having been completed. There is a processional way beneath it, whose south arch bears a datestone of 1525. There is a tradition in the village that the tower was sponsored by Cardinal Wolsey and left unfinished when he fell out of favour with Henry VIII. However, the failure to complete the tower is just as, if not more, likely to be the result of dwindling legacies from wealthy villagers for church building, which can be attributed to changes in public willingness to spend lavishly on fabric in preference to providing alms for the poor at the time
of the Reformation. Unlike neighbouring villages such as Dedham and Stratford St Mary, whose church towers had been completed by the early 1500s, by the time the tower builders at East Bergholt began work, attitudes had changed towards such ostentatious building projects. One consequence is the survival within the churchyard of a medieval timber-built bell- cage, thought to have been set up in 1531 as a temporary structure to house the bells whilst the tower was under construction, the five large bells still rung by hand today. They are the heaviest set of bells rung in the country. The earliest of the bells (the Gabriel Bell) bears a maker’s mark indicating that it was founded in c.1450, implying an earlier tower on the site. The church was extensively restored in the 1850s and 60s.
2.35
Churchgate House which stands next to
the church on the north side of Church Plain and dates from c.1500, was probably a religious guildhall of the guild of St John the Baptist, with a chapel in the church.
2.36 Throughout the medieval (and post-
medieval periods) the central part of the parish was dominated by an extensive area of open heathland (East Bergholt Heath), criss-crossed by trackways leading to Dodnash Priory, Brantham, Flatford and Wenham. Although the core of the village was grouped around the church and the principal manor house (Old Hall) within the western part of the parish ribbon
Plate 2.4 Postcard of St. Mary’s Church

20 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
settlement stretched alongside the fringes
of the Heath, particularly on the western
and southern edges. The several ‘End’
place-name elements within the parish
such as Gaston End, Bakers End, East
End, Gallows End, Pitts End and Puttocks
End derive from the growing population
pressure of the medieval period, which
saw previously uncultivated heath and
waste land on the margins of manors and
estates taken into cultivation for the first
time, often farmed from individual small
farmsteads or clusters of farmsteads
around a common green (Ends) beyond
the main centres of settlement. East End
was the site of at least two small manorial
sites from at least the end of the 12th
century (Plate 2.2 above), and Gaston
End was named in a document of 1437.
Another small settlement area, Burnt Oak,
is medieval in origin, named as ‘Brendhok’
in a document dated 1384-5.
2.37
Like many other Suffolk villages and
towns along the River Stour, East Bergholt became highly prosperous in the medieval period from the manufacture of woollen cloth. The industry was essentially a cottage industry with spinners and weavers working at home. Pegs for holding wool, indicative of a cloth workshop survive inside Rectory Hill Cottages.
2.38 Flatford Mill was documented in 1536 as a
water and fulling mill (to beat, thicken and degrease cloth). English wool and cloth was highly prized, and by the end of the 15th century Suffolk was the centre of the industry and trade, producing a class of wealthy clothiers, who built large houses and endowed many fine buildings in the wool towns, particularly churches. The river not only powered the fulling mills, but also provided the transport routes downstream to ports such as Mistley for export to the continent, whilst the return journey brought coal, bricks and building materials upriver as far as Sudbury and Clare. By the end of the 15th century more wool was being worked in Suffolk than any other county and there was a relatively large number of wealthy cloth manufacturers and merchants in East Bergholt who built themselves substantial timber-framed buildings, many of which still survive in the parish, and who were also responsible for financing the building
of the impressive church.
2.39
However, by the mid-16th century there
was a marked decline in the industry, as tastes changed and the demand for finer and cheaper continental-made fabrics grew. The decline was gradual, for even in the period 1650-1699 there were still 13 clothiers, 3 spinsters and 3 clothworkers recorded in the village.
Flatford
2.40 Dodnash Priory, an Augustinian priory
whose site abuts the north-eastern parish boundary (with Bentley)(MSF9996), was founded in 1188 by Wimer the chaplain, servant of Henry II, and sometime sheriff of Suffolk and Norfolk. The priory exercised considerable influence in the region, and possessed assets in East Bergholt, including 12 acres in Flatford and Flatford Mill, which had been granted to them by Roger Bigot, Earl of Norfolk. Three of the priory charters confirm the grants in the late 12th-early 13th century and name the family and heirs of Edward son of Wlfard of the Aldergrove as tenants of the mill (‘molendiunum meum de Flotford in villa de Berkholt’). This is the earliest reference to Flatford Mill. Nicholas of the Aldergrove is recorded as paying an annual rent of 11s 7d for the mill to the canons of Dodnash in the middle of the 13th century.
2.41 Situated in a favourable location at the
lowest crossing of the Stour, with a ford and a mill which had been on the site since the Saxon period, it is possible that the present hamlet of Flatford may have been a significantly larger settlement in the medieval period. The presence of ‘Church Field’ on a Post-medieval map (Plate 2.7) has led to speculation that a church may once have stood in the field immediately north of Valley Farmhouse (MSF5066). Although reputed to have been visible as a cropmark on an aerial photograph, this identification has not been verified.
2.42 The Parsonage which stood just north
of Hay Barn at the top of Tunnel Lane (Flatford Lane), together with three glebe fields (land assigned as part of the living of the incumbent clergyman), c.1km distant as the crow flies from East Bergholt Church

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 21
Plate 2.5. Historic Postcard Flatford Mill Bridge
was not replaced until a new rectory was
built in East Bergholt at the beginning
of the 18th century, giving rise to the
suggestion that it might originally have
served a church in closer proximity (i.e.
Flatford).
2.43
Although extended and substantially
altered, the core of Valley Farmhouse retains evidence for a medieval timber- framed hall-house of 14th-15th century origin. The single-storey timber-framed element on the north-west side of Willy Lott’s House probably also represents an original small late-medieval building pre-dating the rest of the house. The rectangular moated enclosure which stands on the north bank of the river , c.150m downstream from the present mill, with a causeway in the centre of its northern arm, may represent the site of a long abandoned medieval moated manor house associated with a settlement on the north bank of the river (MSF5050).
2.44 The HER records metal detecting finds
of a flat bronze mount with enamelled front, found near the A12 Ipswich Road (MSF16392), and two coins of Edward II (1461-1483) found close to Tudor Cottage at East End, the site of the Spencers manor house (MSF23144). A small number of medieval finds were also identified during a metal detecting and trial trench evaluation on land north-west of Moores Road (MSF34156).
Post Medieval
2.45 William Brasier’s maps of East Bergholt,
surveyed in 1731-3 at the instigation of the Lord of Old Hall Manor, Henry Hankey, provide the earliest large-scale mapping of the parish, showing field names and landowners for the first time, together with manorial copyholds, described by the surveyor in the cartouche as ‘Shewing of What Mannor and Holding every Particular Field & in this Survey Holds of, Also, Whose is the Boundary Fence of Each Proprietor’. The map is large, measuring 2.7 x 1.5m, and extremely detailed, the fields coloured to aid identification of the individual land owners (Plate 2.6).
2.46 The extract below (Plate 2.7) shows the
church, Old Hall and the buildings flanking what is now Rectory Hill and The Street. The triangular widening of both streets to the northwest of the church, each containing large ponds indicates communal areas of medieval and early post-medieval village green; the area closest to the church, containing a Maypole, probably also served as the medieval market place. Although not shown on this extract, several of the field names bear testimony to the woollen industry which brought prosperity to the village in the medieval period, names such as: Woad-house Field (where fabric was dyed), Hanging Field (where yarn was spread out), Tainter Field (where tenters or frames for stretching cloth were set out), Washmeadow (for scouring sheared wool), and a combshop (for combing wool before spinning).
2.47 The map also shows two of the new high
status mansions which had been built in the early 18th century close to the church: a replacement for the old manor house at Old Hall, commenced by Joseph Chaplin in 1713, and West Lodge.
2.48 At Flatford, Brasier’s map shows the mill
and miller’s house (MSF23145), together with four dry docks to the north, owned by the lord of Old Hall manor Henry Hankey (HH) (MSF7876), together with Bridge Cottage and the bridge beyond. Willy Lott’s cottage at that date was known as Gibeons. The water-filled arms of the rectangular moated site known as ‘Swans Nest’, within Moat Field, is shown southeast of Gibeons Farm. The field north of the Home Field in which Valley Farm stands, is recorded as Church Field (Plate 2.7).

22 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
Plate 2.6. 1731. William Brasier. Extract. (Suffolk Records Office
FB191/A/8/1)
Plate 2.7 1731. William Brasier. Extract. The moated site lies southeast
of ‘Gibeons’ (Willy Lott’s Cottage). Church Field can be seen north of Valley
Farmhouse and Home Field. (Suffolk Records Office FB191/A/8/1)

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 23
Plate 2.8 William Brasier. Extract. The Old Parsonage stands close to the
top of Tunnel Lane (Flatford Lane). (Suffolk Records Office FB191/A/8/1)
Plate 2.9. 1733. William Brasier. East Bergholt
Heath. (Suffolk Record Office V5/5/3.1)
2.49 The map also shows the Old Parsonage
adjacent to what is now Hay Barn (the
building situated on the northern edge
of the field belonging to Kemps), at the
top of Tunnel Lane (Flatford Lane) (Plate
2.8). The Reverend Edward Alston had
only relatively recently (in 1714) moved
his rectory from this location to Woodcote
(now ‘The Old Rectory’) on the north side
of Rectory Hill.
2.50
Brasier’s map of East Bergholt Heath
(Plate 2.9) shows the heath criss-crossed by tracks, with ribbon development of settlement along parts of its perimeter. ’Windmill Bank’ is ringed. The road to East Bergholt village from Burnt Oak can be seen to the south west, and Gastons End is to the north west. The Heath covered c.342 acres (c.140ha) at this time.
2.51 Joseph Hodskinson’s Map of Suffolk,
published in 1783, shows two windmills on the Heath at this time, and three bridges crossing the Stour (MSF23146, MSF23417
& MSF15827) (Plate 2.11 below).
The Constable Family
2.52
The first member of the Constable family
to be associated with the village was

24 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
Abram Constable who acquired Flatford Mill
in 1742. Upon his death in 1765 the mill
passed to his nephew Golding, the artist’s
father. Golding Constable was already a
successful corn merchant, and soon added
the corn mill at Dedham and two windmills
(one of which may have been a derelict
roundhouse) on East Bergholt Heath to
his property portfolio in and around East
Bergholt. He was a businessman and mill
owner rather than a miller himself. John
Constable, born on 11th June 1776, was
Golding and Ann Constable’s fourth of six
children, and the second son. He was born
at East Bergholt House, which Golding had
recently built in the centre of the village for
his growing family.
2.53
After leaving school, John initially worked
in his father’s mills, at both Flatford and the windmill (post-mill) near Pitts Farm on East Bergholt Heath.
2.54 Plate 2.10 opposite shows Golding
Constable’s landholding that extended to the rear of East Bergholt house to the Rectory.
2.55 Golding died in 1816. With his inheritance
John had sufficient prospects to marry Maria Bicknell, the granddaughter of the Rector, the Reverend Dr. Durand Rhudde, in London in the same year. East Bergholt House was sold soon afterwards, and was demolished in the early 1840s. Only the
Plate 2.10. The site of East Bergholt House in the
Village Heart today. The railings and boundary wall are all that remain of the original building.
Plate 2.11 Hodskinson’s Map 1783

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 25
Plate 2.13 1817. Enclosure Map. Extract. The windmill is ringed. (Suffolk
Records Office B150/1/4.2). (Suffolk Records Office FB191/A/8/1)
Plate 2.12 Map Extracted from Vaughan, W, John Constable (2015), TATE
Publishing) showing the extent of Golding Constable’s land and the Riber Valley

26 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
coach-house and stable block now known
as The Court, and the railings and gates
survive today. Constable’s small studio,
bought by his father in 1802 and today
known as Moss Cottage is still standing on
the south side of Cemetery Lane.
Enclosure
2.56
The legal process of consolidating
Plate 2.15 The Remnant Village Green Today Plate 2.16 Agricultural Heritage
Plate 2.14 1817. Enclosure Map. Extract. (Suffolk Records Office B150/1/4.2)
(enclosing) small landholdings into larger farms impacted the landscape pattern became a feature of the agricultural landscape surrounding the village surrounding the village in the early 19th century.
2.57 East Bergholt Heath was enclosed in 1817,
and the opportunity was taken by the principal landowners to rationalise their land holdings and create the system of

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 27
straight roads which are familiar today
(Plate 2.13). John Constable’s painting,
Spring East Bergholt Common shows the
heath adjacent to his father’s windmill,
being ploughed for the first time shortly
after enclosure.
2.58
The owners of both Old Hall and West
Lodge also took the opportunity afforded by Enclosure to rationalise and extend their boundaries. After purchasing all four manors in 1811 in East Bergholt Peter Godfrey moved into Old Hall and proceeded to clear the fields, hop yards and orchards to create a park, Old Hall Park (MSF27157). Enclosure provided the opportunity to add a triangle of land at the junction between Flatford Lane and Church Plain to his park.
2.59 Similarly, the Reverend William Deane
of West Lodge (now Stour) walled off a triangular strip in front of his house from the green, screening the house from The Street with a white brick wall and dense hedge (Plate 2.14). Today the only remnant of the original green is the tiny patch of grass on which the village sign stands. John Constable’s painting of East Bergholt Fair, painted in 1811, shows the green in front of West Lodge only a few years before it disappeared.
2.60 From the early 1820s, several of the older
late medieval half-timbered village houses were modernised and extended, the wattle and daub of the original fabric having been replaced with brick infilling and rendered, others had new brick façades added, as seen at The Old Chapel House and Gissings on Rectory Hill.
2.61 Comparison between the 1817 Enclosure
Map and the Tithe Map surveyed 20 years later (1837) shows very little change in the pattern and density of settlement in East Bergholt. Sheep farming began to be replaced by dairy farming and cereal growing, particularly barley and corn. Change from pasture to arable seen in Tithe Apportionment of 1838 – 685 acres meadow of pasture (22%) of acreage, whilst there were 2,353 acres under cultivation. Both Flatford Mill and the Millhouse and land surrounding the windmill were still owned and occupied by Abram Constable, John’s younger brother, although the windmill had disappeared.
John himself died in this year.
2.62
A community of Benedictine nuns from
Winchester moved to Old Hall in 1856- 7, building a considerable extension including a campanile on the north side of the original building. The site became a Franciscan Friary after the last war. The buildings and grounds have been occupied since 1974 by a communal housing association.
2.63 The 1851 census shows only 16 houses
between Tuffnells at the north end of Gaston Street and ‘Gothics’ (now ‘Commandree and Gothics’) to the south, the majority of which stood close to Richardsons Farm. Map regression has shown that the west side of Gaston Street south of Richardson’s Farmhouse remained largely undeveloped until the middle of the last century, from which time the western side of the street and the gaps between the late medieval houses on the opposite side were gradually in filled with comparatively modern development, built in a variety of styles.
2.64 In 1927, as a result of a campaign to save
it from dereliction, the Flatford Mill Estate was bought for the nation by Thomas Parkington of Ipswich, and was acquired by The National Trust in 1943. Flatford Mill, the attached Miller’s House, Valley Farm, Bridge Cottage and Willy Lott’s House are all now owned by The National Trust and are leased to The Field Studies Council. In addition to those buildings at Flatford, which have been restored by The National Trust, the dry dock mapped in 1731 to the south of Bridge Cottage, and the subject of John Constable’s painting ‘Boat Building’ (1814) was rediscovered in the 1980s and restored in 1988.
2.65 During the 20th century the village
continued to expand to the north west to include residential estates, a school and community facilities.
Designated Heritage Assets
2.66 Historic England has designated a total
of 89 listed buildings within East Bergholt parish: five are listed grade I, seven are listed grade II*, and 77 are listed grade II. Listing descriptions and photographs for each can be found in Appendix 1.

28 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
2.67 The historic core of East Bergholt was
designated a Conservation Area in
1968. No Conservation Area Appraisal or
Management Plan has been published.
2.68 There are no scheduled monuments
actually within the parish, although two lie close by: the site of the medieval Dodnash Priory, situated adjacent to the north eastern parish boundary, and a group of up to a dozen ring ditches southwest of Reed Island, c.230m south of the parish boundary on the south bank of the River Stour.
2.69 The south-western half of the parish
lies within the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), an area covering 117 square miles across Dedham Vale and the Stour Valley, an area made famous by the landscape painter, and known as ‘Constable Country’, which was designated in 1970.
2.70 There are no registered parks & gardens or
registered battlefields within the parish.
Plate 2.17 Cassini Old Series (1805-1874) clearly showing the extent of the former Bergholt Heath,
East Bergholt Common around the village in relation to the village and the landform of the Ryber tributary valley extending into the Common from Rectory Hill.
Plate 2.18 Designated Heritage Assets – The Heart
The Street
Flatford Lane

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 29
2.71 All designated assets within the parish are
shown on Figure 2.1 (see Appendix 6).
The ‘Village Heart’ is also shown on Figure
2.2.
Key Historic Buildings
2.72 All of the buildings within the Conservation
Area make a contribution to the special historic character, although the following are of form notable landmarks or have important cultural associations:
Plate 2.22 Moss Cottage, John Constable’s Former Studio
Plate 2.21 Stour House
Plate 2.19 Church of St. Mary
Plate 2.20 The Old Hall
Plate 2.23 The Gables

30 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
Plate 2.26 Designated Heritage Assets – Gaston
End and Quinton’s Corner
• Historic Cottages in the village heart on the
Street and junction with Cemetery Lane.
• The Gables (Grade II*) – no.9.
43
• The Church of St. Mary (Grade I) – no. 4
• The Old Hall (Grade II) – no.38
• Stour House (Grade II) – no. 62.
• Moss Cottage (Grade II) – no. 60. 17th century cottage that was once John Constable’s studio.
Plate 2.24 Designated Heritage Assets – Rectory Hill and Burnt Oak
Flatford Lane
Plate 2.25 Dairy Cottages on Rectory Hill Plate 2.27 Chaplins
Plate 2.28 Quinton’s Cottage

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 31
• Commandree, Little Gothics and The
Gothics (Grade II) – no. 72.
• Dairy Farm Cottages (Grade II)- no. 69, located in a prominent position on Rectory Hill
• The Old Rectory (Grade II) – no.37.
Plate 2.29 Designated Heritage Assets at Flatford
Plate 2.30 Bridge Cottage
Plate 2.31 Willy Lott’s Cottage
Plate 2.32 Miller’s House and Cottage
Plate 2.33 Valley Farmhouse

32 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
Pre-18th Century Enclosure
2.75 This category refers to land that was
enclosed into fields for agriculture before
1700. In most of Suffolk the landscape is
one of ‘ancient enclosure’, in contrast to
areas like the Midlands, where extensive
areas of common fields (large ‘open’ fields
subdivided into separately-owned strips)
were enclosed using parliamentary acts in
the 18th and 19th centuries.
2.76
The landscape of the majority of the
former East Bergholt heath dates to pre- 18th century enclosure (see Plate 2.11), extending to the settlement edge north of the former heath and to the Old Mill House in the east. This indicates that the historic landscape pattern and composition evident today retain s the same pattern, structure and scale similar to the landscape of Constable’s period.
2.77 This time depth is evident for the majority
of the landscapes surrounding East Bergholt, including land either side of the Hadleigh Road north of the village and land north of Woodgate’s Farm to the A12 road
Plate 2.34 HLC Extract of the former East Bergholt Common and Heath
• The Town House (Grade II) – no. 42.
• Richardson’s Farmhouse (Grade II) – no. 43
• Chaplin’s (Grade II*) – no.11
• Quinton’s Cottage (Grade II) – no. 70
• The Miller’s House (Grade 1) – no.1
• Willy Lotts Cottage (Grade I) – no 2
• Valley Farmhouse (Grade I) – no 3
• 5- Flatford Mill (Grade I) – no 5
• Bridge Cottage (Grade II*) -no 8.
Historic Landscape Character
2.73 The Suffolk HLC project has characterised
the historic landscape of Suffolk though the identification and mapping of a range of defined Historic Landscape Types, each based on a current land use and an assessment of its historical origin, thus giving the type a ‘time depth’. This provides both a historical context to descriptions of the Suffolk landscape, and a means to enhance understanding and management of historic landscapes.
2.74 The Historic Landscape Character Areas
for the Parish are shown by Figure 2.4. Much of the meadow and post-medieval park HLC Types lie within the protected areas of the Dedham Vale AONB and East Bergholt Conservation Areas where these landscapes are highly valued and are already afforded a high level of protection. The following discussion will focus on the agricultural landscapes surrounding the village to explore the ‘time-depth’ of these landscapes to understand their historical value and contribution to East Bergholt’s agricultural legacy.

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 33
corridor. The majority of the plateaux and
rolling landform to the north valley side of
the Stour Valley falls within this category.
18th Century and Later Enclosure
2.78 This HLC category corresponds with areas
of former heath, as shown by the Cassinni
Old Series Map dates from 1805-1874 (see
Plate 2.13) and is evident within the east
extent of the former heath near Mill Road
/ Heath Road, farmland adjacent East End
Road and a few smaller areas to the fringes
of the village. Agricultural advancements
in fertilisation techniques during this period
made it possible to convert these areas
from lower fertility heathland to arable
production.
2.79 Advances in farming techniques, allied to
significant social changes concerning the
holding of land resulted in the ‘agricultural
revolution’ of the 18th century. Prominent
amongst the changes was the ending
of the system common-field farming
whereby farmers cultivated separately-
owned strips in large ‘open’ fields. Some
common fields were enclosed by means
of parliamentary acts, while others were
enclosed by agreement. This type of
‘planned’ enclosure resulted in a landscape
Plate 2.35 HLC Extract of Post 1950s HLC Type
with regularly-shaped units with straight
boundaries. Boundaries are usually
composed of single species hedges (usually
hawthorn).
2.80 The straight roads of Mill Road, East
End Road and Park Road in East End
are characteristic of changes during this
period.
Post 1950 Agricultural Landscape
2.81 This HLC category shows little ‘time-
depth’ as these areas have had their
character altered as a result of agricultural
changes in the post-war period. Historic
field patterns have disappeared or been
weakened through the removal and
remodelling of hedges and other field
boundaries.
2.82 This HLC type is evident north of East
Bergholt High School and farmland east
and west of Cutler’s Lane extending to the
Stutton Brook, to the north east of the
Parish.
Summary
2.83 East Bergholt is a historically important
village that is rich in heritage assets with
strong cultural heritage associations with
John Constable.
2.84 Flatford was important in ancient times as
the first crossing point over the River Stour
and there is evidence of Bronze Age and
Roman Activity. The village subsequently
became an integral part of the cloth
making industry in the late middle ages.
2.85 Table 2.1 below provides a simple
chronology of key stages in the village’s
historic development.
Plate 2.36 Old Photograph East Bergholt’s
Agricultural Heritage

34 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan

Historic Period Key Developments of the Village
Prehistoric Evidence of prehistoric activity in East Bergholt with prehistoric material finds
and a number of ring ditches and enclosures that are likely to be prehistoric
Roman The construction of the Roman Road, known today as The Pye Road

Evidence of Roman activity where the Roman Road crosses the parish boundary
to the north
Medieval and
Post-medieval
Earliest description of East Bergholt in the Domesday Book as ‘Bercolt’.

Late Saxon settlement of 54 households

A mill was present

Four manors in the village: Old Hall, St. John’s or The Commandery, Illaries and
Spencers.

A ford and mill were located at Flatford since the Saxon period

Origins of Flatford Mill as an Augustinian priory early 12
th
century, situated at
the favourable location at the lowest crossing of the River Stour

Earliest documentary evidence of the Old Hall from 1349

Mid-late 12
th
century Henry II granted part of this Royal Estate at East Bergholt
to the Knights Templars

Central part of the parish is dominated by open heathland (East Bergholt
Heath), criss-crossed by trackways

Core of the village grouped around the church and the principal manor house
(Old Hall) in the western part of the parish

Ribbon settlement stretched alongside the fringes of the Heath, particularly the
western and southern edges

Settlements grow from increasing population during the Medieval Period, where
the ‘End’ place names originate: Gaston End, Bakers End, East End, Gallows
End, Pitts End and Puttocks End

Triangular widening of streets north west of the church and site of two ponds
indicates areas of medieval and post-medieval village green in the village heart

East End has two small manorial sites from the end of the 12
th
century

Previously uncultivated common land around the margins of manors and
estates are brought into cultivation, often farmed from individual small
farmsteads or clusters of farmsteads around a common green (Ends) bey ond
the main centres of settlement

Burnt Oak is medieval in origin

By the 13
th
century, cloth making was established in the Stour valley where
East Bergholt beca me an important and wealthy centre

The Church of St. Mary has origins from the mid-14
th
century, the church and
tower dating from the mid-late 15
th
century

16
th
Century

Decline of the wool and cloth industry in Suffolk

18
th
century

First large-scale mapping of the Parish showing field names and landowners

Table 2.1 Summary of Key Historic Developments at East Bergholt

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 35

Historic Period Key Developments of the Village

18
th
century

First large-scale mapping of the Parish showing field names and landowners

New high status mansions built on the site of the old manor house at Old Hall
and West Lodge, both near to the church

Flatford Mill, four dry docks and Willy Lottt’s Cottage (known as Gibeons)

Old Parsonage is present at the top of Tunnel Lane (Flatford Lane)

Woodcote property is now used as a rectory on the north side of Rectory Hill
(The Old Rectory).

1733 map of East Bergholt heath shows a windmill on ‘Windmill Bank.’ The
heath is criss-crossed by tracks and ribbon development of settlement to the
perimeter. The Heath covers c. 140 hectares.

John Constable’s family acquire Flatford Mill in 1742

John Constable’s small studio (today known as Moss Cottage on Cemetery
Lane), was bought by his father in 1802

John Constable is born at East Bergholt House in 1776, his father Golding
Constable had recently bought the house at the centre of the village. Golding
Constable owns land to the rear of the house extending to the Rectory

19
th
Century

Early 19
th
century East Bergholt Common is enclosed (1817)

Landowners rationalise landholdings and create straight roads around the
common evident today

Previous common land is worked for arable farming

Creation of Old Hall Park, clearing fields, hop yards and orchards.

The village green in front of the former West Lodge (now Stour House) is walled
off, removing a large part of the village green

Little change in the settlement pattern and density between 1817 ans 1837

Dairy and cereal farming starts to replace sheep farming

Windmill on East Bergholt Common has disappeared by 1837

John Constable dies in 1837

1851 census shows only 16 houses between Tuffnalls at the north end of
Gaston Street and ‘Gothics’, the majority being near Richardson’s Farm

20
th
century

Flatford Mill Estate is bought in 1927 to save from dereliction and is acquired by
the National Trust in 1943

Mid-century housing development on the western side of Gaston Street and
infilling late medieval houses on the east side with relatively modern
development in a variety of styles

The dry dock at Flatford Mill was restored in 1988.

36 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan

The Landscape of The River
Stour and Vale
3.0

38 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
3 The Landscape of the River Stour
and Vale
Introduction
3.1 This section will describe the landscape
features and elements that characterise
the landscape surrounding East Bergholt
village and an appraisal of the village
character.
3.2
Chapter 2 outlines the historic evolution
of the village and this Chapter describes the landscape today in terms of the characteristics of the landscape and built environment. The landscape is described in terms of physical attributes, such as topography, hydrology, trees and vegetation and boundary features; and perceptual and experiential qualities such as landscape / village pattern and scale, degree of openness and enclosure, visual character and tranquillity and how these elements and characteristics combine to create areas of common character.
3.3 In order to understand the landscape
character of the River Stour and Vale as it is today, a review is provided here of published Landscape Character Assessments to provide the wider context, following by a more detailed parish level assessment. At the Parish level, land within and surrounding the village is divided into land parcels that display similar characteristics for the purpose of forming the baseline for the landscape and heritage sensitivity appraisal (see Chapter 5).
3.4 The landscape character assessments
describe the landscape features and elements of value and those that are particularly characteristic of the River Stour and Vale. The character assessments describe human influences on the landscape, the legacy of agriculture, settlement pattern and current pressures for change.
Landscape Context
3.5 The parish of East Bergholt is located
within the south-east part of Suffolk, just inside the Suffolk border in between the towns of Ipswich and Colchester and north of The River Stour valley. The River Stour valley is located approximately 1.5km and the County of Essex lies beyond.
Suffolk Landscape Character Assessment (LCA)
3.6
The Suffolk Landscape Character
Assessment (2008) was updated and
revised in 2011.
3.7
The County Landscape Character Areas
(CLCAs) within the Parish are shown on Figure 3.4 (Appendix 6), and Plate 3.1 opposite.
3.8 The relevant landscape character types are
as follows:
• 12. Plateau Farmlands (including East Bergholt Village).
• 18. Rolling Valley Farmlands.
• 26. Valley Meadowlands.
3.9 East Bergholt lies within the County
Landscape Character Area (CLCA) 12 Plateau Farmlands.
3.10 The Plateau Farmlands of East Bergholt are
surrounded by Rolling Valley Farmlands (CLCA 18) that follow the River Stour valley side to south and the Stamford Valley to the north east of the Parish. The Valley Meadowlands (CCLA 26) lies on the flatter valley bottom of the River Stour

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 39
Valley, approximately 1.5 – 2 km south of
East Bergholt.
3.11
CLCA 2 Ancient Estate Farmlands and CLCA
1 Ancient Estate Clayland form the wider context north of the Sutton Brook valley and these are detailed in Appendix 3.
3.12
The key characteristics of each County
Landscape Character Area is described in detail below.
12. Plateau Farmlands
3.13 The Suffolk LCA states that this character
type is a ‘plateaux of medium soils with a mix of ‘ancient’ and ‘planned’ countryside’. For the Plateau Farmlands character type, full description and guidance notes, can be found in Appendix 3.
3.14 The key characteristics of the Plateau
Farmlands character type are given as:
• Plateaux of land between river valleys.
• Loamy soils amenable to arable farming.
• Irrigated crops.
• Sinuous lanes and hedge lines.
• Substantial elements of planned landscape.
• Plantation woodland.
• Parkland and planting of exotic trees.
• Feeling of isolation and tranquillity.
3.15 The visual experience within this character
type is given as:
Plate 3.1 Parish Landscape Character Areas

40 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
“In the largest areas of this landscape
around East Bergholt, once away from
the transport corridors, there is a strong
sense of isolation and tranquillity
in a network of quiet lanes and tall
hedgerows….However in many of the
other parts, the experience is compromised
by the effects of the A12 and A14 trunk
roads.”
(Bold text by Author for emphasis).
3.16
The Suffolk LCA guidance notes for
character type 12, state that the: “enclosed heathlands and commons ,
which are at the heart of this regular
landscape pattern, make the Plateau
Farmlands locally distinct. There is
a scattering of plantation woodland
throughout the landscape as well as
several distinct parklands.”
18. Rolling Valley Farmlands
3.17
The key characteristics of the Rolling Valley
character type are given as:
• Gentle valley sides with some complex and steep slopes.
• Deep well drained loamy soils.
• Organic pattern of fields smaller than on the plateaux.
• Distinct areas of regular field patterns.
• A scattering of landscape parks.
• Small ancient woodlands on the valley fringes.
• Sunken lanes.
• Towns and villages with distinctive mediaeval cores and late mediaeval churches.
• Industrial activity and manufacture, continuing in the Gipping valley.
• Large, often moated, houses.
3.18 In terms of visual experience this character
type:
“..embraces some of the most famous
views and sites of Suffolk, East Anglia
and England. The Stour valley is
internationally renowned as ‘Constable
Country’, being the inspiration for
many of the landscape paintings of
John Constable. The landscape has also
inspired other artists, such as Thomas
Gainsborough, Sir Alfred Munnings, Sir
Cedric Morris and John Nash. This artistic
legacy led to its designation as an Area
of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1970.
The Constable-related complex at
Flatford Mill features on many tourist
itineraries, as do the timber-framed
buildings of Lavenham, the monumental
‘wool churches’ and picturesque villages
such as Cavendish, Kersey and Nayland.”
3.19
A full description and landscape policy
guidance notes can be found in Appendix 3.
26. Valley Meadowlands
3.20 As stated above this CLCA follows the River
Stour valley bottom in the southern part of the Parish. The key characteristics of the Valley Meadowlands landscape character type are given as:
• Flat landscapes of alluvium or peat on valley floors.
• Grassland divided by a network of wet ditches.
• Occasional carr woodland and plantations of poplar.
• Occasional small reedbeds.

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 41
• Unsettled.
• Cattle grazed fields.
• Fields converted to arable production.
3.21 In terms of visual experience, the
assessment states that within this
character type :
“landscapes often form wonderful
examples of pristine and picturesque
meadows in a wider arable landscape and,
if accessible, such as the meadows of the
Sudbury common lands, they can provide
an oasis of enclosure and confined views.
This is enhanced with the presence of
cattle grazing. On the drier sites or where
the valley is very narrow, such as south
of Bury St Edmunds, arable cultivation
is the dominant feature. Many of the
valleys were converted to arable in the
second half of the 20th century, but in
some places this has been replaced by
set-aside, or grassland recreated with the
aid of government environmental grant
schemes.”
3.22
The assessment states:
“developments within the adjacent
rolling valley landscape character type
can intrude on the sense of tranquillity
and isolation”.
The Dedham Vale AONB
3.23
The Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty (AONB) designation lies
immediately south of East Bergholt village
(refer to Figure 2.1, Appendix 6). The
northern boundary of the designated
area follows a line that approximates to
Hughes Road – Hadleigh Road – Gaston
Street, and then across the tributary valley
encompassing land parcel 8 to Gandish
Road and Straight Road.
3.24
Much of the AONB is associated with the landscape artist, John Constable, and many of the views he painted remain recognisable
today. Much of the middle section of the Stour Valley is associated with the nationally recognised artist Thomas Gainsborough. The wildlife and landscape views of the AONB and Stour Valley remain a nationally important asset.
3.25
The key components of the AONB are:
“A gentle and subtle lowland river valley with the River Stour gently meandering through it. The valley is cut down through boulder clays that overlay sands and gravels into clay deposits and Thanet and Reading beds. As the River Stour winds its way to the estuary the floodplain becomes dominated by grazing marshes that are made up of alluvium deposits and gravel terraces.
The settlements of the area are largely
historic and dominated by timber framed
buildings around the village centres.
Churches with impressive towers dominate
the surrounding countryside. The rural
character is further defined by scattered
agricultural farmsteads and the visible and
buried archaeology of the area’.
3.26
The AONB Management Plan sets out the
forces for change on the landscape and is afforded a high level of protection by the management plan policies (see Appendix 4).
The Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB
3.27 The Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB was
extended into the Parish in 2020 along the Samford Valley, a tributary of the Stour Estuary, and was extended further inland from the previous AONB boundary at Stutton Bridge east of the Parish.
3.28 The character of the AONB is described as:
“a product of the underlying geology and its associated natural habitats. It is shaped by the effects of the sea and the interaction with people on the landscape. It is a gently rolling landscape, with the estuaries a common and dominant feature. Where the land does rise, commanding

42 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
views across the landscape are rewarding..
Farmland dominates much of the AONB,
interspersed with picturesque villages…
Much of the area was once heathland,
known as the Sandlings. Although
significant tracts remain, much of the
heathland has been fragmented, converted
to farmland, planted for coniferous
woodland, or developed for housing or
military use.”
3.29
The AONB Management Plan sets out the
forces for change on the landscape and is afforded a high level of protection by the management plan policies (see Appendix
4).
East Bergholt Conservation Area
3.30
The East Bergholt Conservation Area
encompasses an area of land bordering
Gaston Street, The Street and Rectory Hill,
between the two main settled parts of the
village. The Conservation Area is wholly
within the Dedham Vale AONB and its
extent is shown on Figure 2.1.
Parish Scale Landscape Character
Assessment
3.31
The following appraisal describes the
landscape character of East Bergholt in greater detail.
Topography and Hydrology
3.32 The landform of East Bergholt and
the landscape setting of the village is
illustrated by Figure 3.1 (Appendix 6). The
village lies on a small plateau of elevated
land between the valley of The River Stour
to the south and the Stamford Valley to the
north east that follows a tributary of The
Stour named Stutton Brook.
3.33
The plateau is flat to gently undulating at
an elevation of approximately 40m AOD. Beyond the Parish, the plateau extends to Holton St. Mary approximately 1.4 km to the north west and to Brantham 2.4 km to the south east.
3.34 The plateau is surrounded by the more
complex and varied landform of the valley sides to the north, south and south west of the village. Elevation ranges from 40m AOD descending to the River Stour valley at below 5m AOD. The valley floor is approximately 1 km wide and widens to the River Stour estuary approximately 2 km to the east. The tributary Stutton Brook north of the village lies at an elevation of approximately 20m AOD a narrow shallow valley extends westwards into farmland north of the village into land parcel 13 near Cutlers Lane.
3.35 Beyond the River Stour Valley to the south,
more intricate varied rolling topography surrounds the village of Dedham, rising to a plateau around Dedham Heath and Langham at an elevation of approximately 40m AOD.
3.36
In the wider context beyond the Parish,
landform is steeper to the north side of the Stamford Valley, becoming more gentle in gradient and forming a raised plateau around Capel St. Mary in the north east and Raydon in the north west.
Geology and Soils
3.37 The solid geology of the Parish is chalky,
boulder clay plateau. The superficial geology, shown by Figure 3.2, shows that East Bergholt in underlain by the Lowerstoft Formations comprising sand and gravel and the Stour river corridor is overlain with alluvium comprising clay and silt.
3.38 Soils on the plateau and valley sides are
generally loamy deep soils amenable to arable farming, although drainage can be impeded through the central area of the Parish. The valley floor soils comprise
alluvium or peat.
Vegetation
3.39
The landscape surrounding East Bergholt
is generally well-wooded, with hedged and
tree lined field boundaries.
3.40
Plantation woodland scattered through
the landscape is characteristic. The valley sides west of the village has a strong

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 43
vegetative framework that is well-wooded.
Lodge Plantation, Foxhall Coverts and
The Common are located within 0.3 km.
Warren Wood forms a large block of
woodland approximately 1.1 km to the
south east.
3.41
Occasional carr woodland and plantations
of poplar, in addition to occasional reedbeds are typical within the Stour Valley.
Land-use and Settlement Pattern
3.42
Land-use is predominantly arable farming.
Pasture is common within the tributary valleys. Parkland is found at Old Hall, Ackworth House and East Bergholt Place.
3.43 Some fringe areas of the village are
horse paddocks, where fields have been subdivided.
3.44 Settlement at East Bergholt originated as
linear settlements surrounding the central former heath. These linear settlements have expanded significantly during the 20th Century, changing the settlement to nucleated villages, although a “horseshoe” settlement pattern is still evident around the former central heath. The place names of Burnt Oak and Gastons End acknowledge the origins of these former satellite villages that now form part of East Bergholt village.
Communications
3.45 The A12 corridor lies 0.8 km to the west,
being the primary road through the area
connecting East Anglia and London and
moving traffic has some influence on the
north west approach from the village. The
Great Eastern mainline railway is 2 km to
the east, connecting Norwich and London.
3.46
The B1070 is the main route into the
village from the A12, as Mill Rd / Heath Road passing east of the former common. Mill Road/ Heath Road and Straight Road extending to East End are straight in alignment typical of the enclosure period. Other lanes are more sinuous and organic in form; Flatford Road for example creates a loop connecting two parts of the village with Flatford Mill and is a characteristic
sunken lane.
Perceptual Qualities of the Landscape
Openness / Enclosure
3.47
Farmland north of the village along points
of the B1070 and the A12 corridor and
east of the village near Straight Road
has an open character. Other areas of
plateau farmland are partially enclosed by
hedgerows, small woodland blocks, field
boundary trees and occasional roadside
trees.
3.48
The southern and western parts of the
village have a high degree of enclosure owing to the varied landform and vegetation cover. Rectory Hill for example has a higher degree of enclosure with occasional open pasture along the Riber Valley. Farmland on the rolling valley side south of the village has an elevated open character with good prospect over the Stour Valley.
Landscape Pattern and scale
3.49 The landscape surrounding the village is
a mix of ancient countryside with sinuous
hedge lines contrasting with the more
rectilinear planned landscape resulting
from the late enclosure of heathland
around the village. Landscape north of the
village generally has an open larger scale
character. The landscape is smaller scale
in areas that have a parkland character,
areas of pastoral landscape in the tributary
valley and some areas on the southern
fringe of the village where fields have been
subdivided for equestrian uses.
Visual Character and Intervisibility with
Surroundings
3.50
Long views across former heath are an
important characteristic of the village
setting, particularly across the large scale
open farmed plateau north of the village.
Open extensive views are possible across
former heath east of the village east of
Mill Road and near Straight Road where
views are strongly rural in character, little
influenced by settlement.
3.51
Long views are possible from the high

44 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
points on the B1070 and the A12 north of
the village. Long open, broad views are
possible from the open character of the
A12 along the section between the B1070
and Woodgates Road. Views extend
across large scale fields of former heath,
dotted with occasional mature trees and
interspersed with woodland blocks. East
Bergholt village edge is viewed in the
distance, nestled in trees.
3.52
Locations north and north west of the
village afford long distance views towards the village edge near Hadleigh Drive and Beehive Close. Small woodland blocks in the middle distance or hedgerows obstruct or filter views in some locations.
3.53 Woodgates Lane and Cutlers Lane are
located on localised high points that afford views across the tributary valley north of the village. East Bergholt High School and occasional buildings are visible on the settlement edge from Woodgates Road.
3.54 Views out of the village to the west are
limited by the strong vegetative framework and complex rolling valley topography. The settlement edge has little influence
on the AONB west of the village owing to limited intervisibility. Beyond the village, attractive middle distant views are possible towards Ackworth House, viewed across rolling wooded pasture.
3.55
Views across the former East Bergholt
Common from the public footpaths that run parallel to Richardson’s Road and extend north-south along the footpath known as the Donkey Track, are characterised by open rolling farmland, occasionally filtered by mature field boundary trees, towards a wooded horizon and are shown by Viewpoints 3-6 (Figure 3.6).
3.56 The views are strongly rural in character
and views east and south east are towards a wooded horizon where settlement is not visible. Views north are influenced by the settlement edge of the 1960’s / 70’s housing on Chaplin Road and Richardson’s Road. Viewpoint 6 shows the edge of land parcel 8 and AONB designation where the settlement edge and doctor’s surgery on Mill Road / Heath Road intrude on the rural character. The rolling topography of the Riber Valley and the plantation around the Old Rectory are distinctive in the landscape.
Plate 3.2 Views and Viewpoint Locations

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 45
3.57 East of the village, views across the former
heathland on the farmed plateau are
open and extensive to a wooded skyline.
Views are occasionally interrupted by
woodland blocks or partially obstructed
by hedgerows. Occasional middle distant
views are possible from East End Road
and across the rolling valley landscape at
Bentley Road towards the Samford Valley.
3.58
To the south of the village, short or middle-
distance views are available into the more open aspects of the landscape south of Rectory Hill; views to the north are, in the main, blocked by mature vegetation or built form.
3.59 South and west of the village, Dedham
Vale can be appreciated in long distance views from Flatford Lane, Dazeley’s Lane and the western section of Cemetery Lane.
Tranquillity / Intrusive Features
3.60 Away from main roads there is a strong
sense of tranquillity and isolation in places.
3.61 Areas of the village subject to expansion
in the 1960s and 1970s (for example near
Richardson Road) has had some negative
impact on the setting of the Dedham Vale
AONB in areas of the former common,
where buildings form an abrupt and
exposed edge in places, intruding on the
rural character.
3.62
A high voltage power line runs north east
to south across the parish and crosses the field east of Mill Road and small fields west
of Orvis Lane and across the Stour Valley and is an intrusive feature in a landscape that is largely devoid of detractive elements.
3.63
The East Bergholt High School sports hall
and playing field with associated lighting, in addition to nearby mast are detractive elements in the landscape and notable in distant views.
Description by Area
3.64 The following description provides and
appraisal of landscape character by area,
with reference to the land parcels shown in
Figure 3.1 and Plate 3.1 above.
North of the Parish
3.65
Land parcel 13 is located on farmed
plateau, gently rising from 30-40m AOD
above the Stamford Valley to the east.
It is a large scale open arable field and
area of rough grassland located between
Woodgates Road in the west and the
AONB boundary of the Stamford Valley
to the east, traversed by Cutlers Lane, a
narrow rural lane. Kiln Farm is located
to the north in a well vegetated plot on
the tributary valley that extends east-
west across this land parcel. Open views
are possible from Cutlers Lane between
the intermittent specimen trees that line
the lane. This area has been subject to
field amalgamation post 1950 that has
eroded the historic pattern, although the
landscape has a strong rural character and
is within the setting of the Suffolk Coast
Plate 3.3 Viewpoint 2 from Woodgates Road across former heath

46 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
and Heaths AONB, located to the east.
3.66 Land parcel 14 is located on farmed
plateau landscape at 30-40m AOD and
extends to the A12 road corridor to the
north, including Lattinford Hill. Cutlers
Lane passes through this land parcel and
it is bordered by Woodgates Road to the
west. It comprises one large rectilinear
field between Cutlers Lane and Woodgates
Road and four large rectangular arable
fields east of Cutlers Lane. Fields are
bound by clipped hedgerows, woodland or
linear scrub lined ditches. The lanes are
the only means of public access through
this area. This land parcel is in the setting
of Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB, located
along the rolling valley to the east. A small
hamlet of houses adjacent the A12 are
visible across the open fields to the north.
Woodgates Lane is flanked by hedgerow
that is gappy or overgrown. The historic
field pattern dating to pre 18th Century
enclosure is evident.
3.67
Land parcel 12 is located on the farmed
plateau north of the village and includes several fields, extending between Woodgates Road to the east and the B1070 to the west and the A12 road corridor to the north and village fringe near High Trees Farm to the south (the farmhouse is Grade II Listed). The topography is relatively flat, rolling gently to a tributary valley along the centre, near Woodgates Farm. The fields have a rectilinear form typical of enclosed heathland and remain largely intact, dating to pre 18th Century enclosure. Field boundaries are open or defined by relic hedges with only occasional standard trees. The open character of the landscape affords some far reaching views , including from higher ground in the vicinity of the A12.
3.68 Land parcel 23 is bordered by the
B1070 to the west, Hughes Road to the south west, the village fringe along Hadleigh Road to the south east and A12 corridor to the north. It comprises three large rectilinear arable fields and a medium sized rectangular woodland block. Field boundaries are either open or well managed clipped hedgerows, with occasional mature trees. Views are open and far ranging across the large scale landscape from the B1070 towards the north settlement edge and eastwards from
Hughes Road. The skyline is wooded west of Hughes Road and passing vehicle are viewed in the distance across the fields to the north. The fields have a rectilinear form typical of enclosed heathland and remain largely intact, dating to pre 18th Century enclosure.
3.69
Land parcel 15 is plateau farmland located
at the northernmost extent of the parish north of the A12 corridor between Wenham Lane to the east and the B1070 that extends north of the A12 to the east. A localised high point lies at 45m AOD near Highfields property and land gently slopes northwards towards a shallow tributary valley, at 30m AOD. Settlement is sparse and typically dispersed farmsteads. Small to medium sized rectilinear and regular shaped arable fields, lined with standard trees with open and hedged field boundaries. Pasture extends along the tributary valley lined with trees and scrub with small woodland copse. The field boundaries date to pre 18th century enclosure and this area has a strongly rural character. This land parcel is adjacent the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB, located to the east, although Wenham Lane is flanked by scrub and there is limited intervisbility.
Central Areas of the Parish
3.70 Area 8 comprises the central core of former
common at the centre of the village,
located within the Dedham Vale AONB.
The landform falls from the northern
edge towards the tributary valley of the
Riber to the south, where the topography
changes from flat to generally rolling land
with steeper slope to the valley. The
northern area lies on the northern slopes
of the Riber Valley and comprises two
large fields and several smaller fields in
arable and pastoral use. Richardson’s
Road and Chaplins Road lies to the north
and Richardson’s Farmhouse on the west
boundary is Grade II Listed. The southern
area comprises a narrow arable field in
the floor of the Riber tributary valley
and smaller irregular fields of scrub and
grassland.
3.71
Land to the south east of Parcel 8
comprises two medium to large fields bordered by the back gardens of properties on Gandish Road, bordering the Grade II Listed Old Rectory to the south west.

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 47
Land falls towards the north west towards
the Riber Valley. Recent plantations
are located south of this land parcel.
Mature and standard trees line the Riber.
Incidental mature trees line the field
boundaries with some hedges defining
boundaries. The Pre-18th Century
historic fields boundaries are evident,
although some subdivision of fields has
occurred in the northern fields. The east
edge of this land parcel is defined by Public
Footpath 38, known locally as the Donkey
Track, and public footpath 40 runs along
the northern edge adjacent Richardson’s
Road. This landscape is in good condition
and separates the two parts of the village,
having a strong sense of character.
3.72
Land parcel 9 is located east of the Donkey
Track and includes fields to the rear of properties on Gandish Road extending to B1070 Mill Road / Heath Road on the east boundary. Landform is flat, sloping gently towards the Riber valley. The south western area contains small scale fields that retain the historic field pattern, used for arable, rough grassland and horse grazing. A recent plantation extends centrally through the land parcel east of the Donkey Track. These fields are separated from the eastern field by the Grade II Listed Old Mill House, set in mature vegetation. The most easterly field was the location of Constable’s Windmill, although now crossed by electricity pylons and has strong boundary hedges, although the historic field pattern has been eroded. The two northern fields are arable and rectilinear in form and a small copse of native planting is located to the west of the parcel. Vegetation along B1070 Mill Road / Heath Road comprises a poor gappy hedgerow and semi-mature standard trees. Other boundaries are in varying condition and contain standard trees. Land parcel 9 is outside of the Dedham Vale AONB, although located within the setting of the AONB.
3.73 Land parcel 10 abuts residential
development in Richardson’s Road and Heath Close and Constable Country Rural Medical Practice is located north of this land. It is a large flat arable field and its visual character is influenced by the settlement edge to the west and north. The east boundary is defined by intermittent stand trees along the B1070 Mill Road / Heath Road, with occasional
large mature trees and line of young/ early mature standard trees along the southern boundary. South of this field sloping land within the tributary valley is evident. Land parcels 9 and 10 contribute the separation of the two parts of the village and were
formally East Bergholt Heath.
3.74 Land parcel 22 is located at Gaston’s
End and was formally one of the satellite hamlets of the medieval East Bergholt Village (see Chapter 5). The triangular green, known as the Box Iron, is bordered by Mill Road / Heath Road, Quinton’s Road and Woodgates Road. Gaston’s End formed the north western tip of the former East Bergholt Heath surrounded by medieval/ post medieval properties located on Quinton’s Corner on the northern tip and several cottages originating from the 16th Century are located on Quinton’s Road, including the Smithy and Blacksmith’s Cottage.
3.75 The western side of the green has been
infilled by modern houses and the rear gardens of modern houses border the southern side of the green, in addition to infilling older properties on Woodgates Road on the eastern side. The road boundaries are flanked by overgrown or gappy hedges of poor condition, with intermittent mature standard trees and younger trees. The green is rough grassland with groups of standard trees and contains a pond in the north east that
is visible from Quinton’s Road.
South of Parish
3.76
Land parcels 1-4 in the southern part of
the Parish are located in the flat low-lying
Valley Meadowlands LCA, within the valley
floor and are located within the Dedham
Vale AONB.
3.77
Parcels 1 and 3 are extensive areas of
pasture grassland, divided by a network of ditches and grazed by cattle. Parcel 2 includes the sensitive site of the Flatford Estate is protected by ownership and trusteeship of The National Trust. Listed buildings include Flatford Mill, Bridge Cottage and Willy Lot’s Cottage and this is an important tourist attraction owing to the association with some of John Constable’s most famous works.

48 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
3.78 Public Access follows the route of the
Stour Valley where the Stour Valley Path
(East Bergholt Footpath 22) connects
Flatford Mill to Manningtree Road in the
east on the north bank of the River and
follows the south bank as Footpath 44 from
Bridge Cottage westwards. Footpath EB32
connects the Stour Valley Path in the west
and the valley slope to Flatford Lane.
3.79
Land Parcel 5 is distinguished by the
complex and in places steep slopes of the north valley side and lies within the Dedham Vale AONB. The rural lanes on the valley side are distinctive; Flatford Road is a narrow lane that forms a loop connecting the historic village core and Burnt Oak. The lane descends from the village located on the higher plateau down the valley side, offering uninterrupted picturesque views southwards across Dedham Vale. Part of Flatford Road is a sunken lane where flanking vegetation forms a tunnel. Dazeley’s Lane in the east part of this land parcel is a narrow lane that descends from the village to the Stour Valley and offers prospect over Dedham Vale.
3.80 Much of the land in the western part
of Parcel 5 is under the ownership and trusteeship of the National Trust, where views across Dedham Vale have been immortalised by Constable. Land-use is varied, with pasture and arable land in regular field patterns, tourist car park and some medium scale woodland blocks. A sewage works is located north of Flatford Lane in the west part of this parcel. Some field boundaries are demarcated by streams that run southwards to the River Stour. Residential properties are scattered along the lane and range in age from post mediaeval to the 20th Century. This area has a small to medium scale grain, retaining historic patterns of pre-18th century enclosure and historic parkland on the fringes.
3.81 Land parcel 6 includes East Bergholt
village, and the built character is described in greater detail in the following section that focusses on the village character. The landscape areas bordering Rectory Hill link the two settled parts of East Bergholt and all of this area lies within the Dedham Vale AONB. Topography is distinctive, descending to the central valley of the
Riber, a tributary of the River Stour. This area displays a variety of land-uses, including residential properties (many listed) with extensive and mature gardens, woodland and parkland.
3.82
The landscape grain is small to medium
scale, with much evidence of historic cultural patterns in the field boundaries, woodland blocks, wood pasture and parkland character around Old Hall. Public access is limited away from roads and lanes.
3.83 The character is eroded in places by the
recent introduction of paddocks and timber structures, although overall, this area has a strong character and is in good condition.
3.84 Visibility varies where public viewpoints
are limited in places by the high level of screening, in other areas short-medium views are possible in a southerly direction into the landscape from Rectory Road.
3.85 Land parcel 18 lies south of Gandish Road
and is bordered to the east by the B1070 (Mill Road) and to the south by the rear gardens of properties on along White Horse Road and Notcutts. The topography of this land is flat. The eastern half of this land parcel is a large arable field, with occasional field trees. The western area comprises two fields; the northerly field is pasture and the southerly field accommodates recreational uses, partly use by the local cricket club and includes a trim trail, bowls green, cricket green, batting cage and three tennis courts. An electricity pylon is located nearby in a small area of scrub. A low native hedge and some standard trees line the northern and eastern boundaries
3.86 Some public views into the area are
possible from Gandish Road and Mill Road where there are gaps in the roadside vegetation. The straight line of Mill Road to the east is typical of 19th century enclosure and whilst the historic field pattern is still evident, it has been somewhat eroded by changing land-use and the presence of the overhead power lines. However, this area has historic significance as former East Bergholt Heath and played a role in defining the settlement pattern of the village.

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 49
3.87 Land parcel 7 comprises rectilinear fields
to the rear of properties on White Horse
Road, Orvis Lane and Dazeley’s Lane.
Clapper Farm is located to the south-west
corner. Although located on the upper
valley slopes, this parcel is relatively flat
and is visually influenced by the settlement
edge, comprising mainly 20th century
properties and some older Victorian semi-
detached cottages on Dazeley’s Lane. An
electricity pylon passes across the central
fields. The west part of this land parcel
is partly used as a playing field and the
remainder for arable and pasture. The
eastern part of the land parcel is used
for a variety of uses including equestrian
uses, scrub and garden plots in addition to
arable and possibly grazing. The eastern
and central parts have well vegetated
boundaries and the fields have retained
their historic pattern.
3.88
A network of public footpaths run along the
southern edge of these fields connecting bridleway 42 on Dazeley’s Lane to footpath 29 and 28 running east-west and connecting to footpath 26 at Clapper’s Farm in the south west. Short views across the landscape are possible from the Public Footpath. This whole area lies within the Dedham Vale AONB, although the character lacks unity in places and is influenced by disparate land uses and
development.
West of Parish
3.89
Area 11 Lies south of Hughes Road and
west of Hadleigh Road within the Rolling
Valley Farmlands LCA, with Plateau
Farmlands to the east and north, lower
lying valley meadows to the south. This
land parcel is located in the Dedham Vale
AONB.
3.90
Topography is complex, comprising the
upper slopes of the Stour Valley and is defined by having a strong mature vegetation framework. A variety of land uses are evident, including residential properties, that are frequently set in extensive grounds, for example, Ackworth House. Pasture, woodland, farmsteads, and tourist car parks are present in this area.
3.91 The landscape scale has a small to medium
grain and the landscape has retained the historic patterns of pre-18th century enclosure. Footpath East Bergholt 1 links Cemetery Lane from the village to the valley in the east. This area has a strong character and is in good condition. Public views into the landscape are limited due to vegetation cover, although occasional glimpsed views are possible from Hughes Road and Hadleigh Road.
East of the Parish
3.92 Land parcel 16 is the Stamford Valley
located to the eastern extent of the parish,
extending north beyond the A12 corridor
and is located in the recently extended
Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB. The
topography is complex and rolling ranging
from an elevation of 15m AOD in the valley
floor of the Stutton Brook, rising to c. 35m
AOD on the upper valley side to the south
and west. The predominant land use is
pasture, with some medium sized mixed
woodland blocks and medium to large
scale arable fields on the elevated upper
slope. The valley is crossed by four Public
Footpaths and Bentley Lane.
3.93
A tributary valley extends west towards
Cutlers Lane in the northern area of this parcel, flanked by scrub and woodland. The landscape has a strong rural character and the historic field pattern is evident in the landscape, the majority dating to Pre-18th Century enclosure. The site of Manor Farm to the fringe of the northern detached part of East End was a medieval manorial site on the edge of the former East Bergholt Heath.
3.94 Land parcel 17 is located on the elevated
farmed plateau north and south of Straight Road/ East End Road, east of B1070 Mill Road and is cut across by Putticks Lane. The landscape is characterised by large rectilinear arable fields and has an open character, although mature tree lined hedged fields boundaries are frequent and farmland is interspersed with occasional small-medium woodland blocks.
3.95 Settlement is limited to dispersed
farmsteads, including Rookery Farm (Rookery Farmhouse is Grade II Listed), Elm Farm, Home Farm, Woodlands Farm and Park House. Orchard House

50 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
on Cutlers Lane is Grade II Listed. The
grounds of East Bergholt High border the
west boundary. The landscape is in good
condition with a strong rural character.
Historic field patterns are evident, dating
from later enclosure generally post 18th
Century where the straight roads are
typical characteristics. Land west of
Putticks Lane includes smaller fields with
more organic field boundaries. Land parcel
17 was formerly East Bergholt Heath.
3.96
Land parcel 21 is located on the farmed
plateau generally above 35m AOD with local variation associated with the tributary stream valley in the southern part of Warren Wood. Extensive woodland covers this area, including Warren Wood and the mature vegetation associated with East Bergholt Place. Woodland is deciduous and mixed with some small and medium scale arable and pasture fields.
3.97 Land north and east of Warren Wood
is crossed by several Public Footpaths, including Toucheys Lane (footpath 17/19/21) which is flanked by several veteran oak trees. The northern part of this area was former East Bergholt Heath and the historic pattern is evident in the landscape as pre-18th Century enclosure field pattern. This area has a strong rural character and settlement is limited to
ribbon development along East End Road to the north and large detached properties on the west boundary of this land parcel. Land parcel 21 is located within the Dedham Vale AONB.
3.98
Land parcel 19 is a small area outside
of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB designated landscape. It is located on farmed plateau lying at an elevation of c.35mb AOD and comprises part of a large flat arable field on the parish boundary, influenced by the settlement edge of East End, located north of Slough Road. The west boundary of the parcel is demarcated by garden vegetation on property
boundaries.
3.99 Land parcel 20 is located on the farmed
plateau on gently undulating or flat land and is characterised by a dispersed pattern of settlement, that includes the detached northern part of East End forming ribbon of buildings along Straight Road and East End Lane, interspersed with small pasture fields, mixed small woodland copse and scrub. This area has expanded significantly during the late 20th century.
East Bergholt Village Character
3.100 The following appraisal of village character
Plate 3.4 Historic Village Character Areas

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 51
focusses on those parts of the village of
historic interest and is shown by Figure
3.5 and Plate 3.2 below. This appraisal
references the findings of the 2016 East
Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan.
Area A – Historic Village Centre
3.101 Area A is the functional centre of the
village, including The Street and top of Cemetery Lane.
3.102 This area is primarily defined by the strong
building line defining the character of the street scene, fronting directly onto the footpath and the tight knit cluster of buildings. The buildings are orientated to respond to the road junction and the Barclays/ Beaufort Cottage would have fronted onto the north side of the former village green, now within the curtilage of Stour House. The occasional building is set-back with a small front garden or gravel drive. Garden boundaries are typically a low wall or wall with railing or a clipped hedge.
3.103 The majority of this area lies within the
Conservation area and is highly valued as the historic core of the village. The small scale of the buildings and small curtilage to buildings along The Street creates an intimate character with a high level of enclosure.
3.104 Buildings typically date to the 16th
century, albeit with later additions and modifications. Buildings are predominantly two storey, with the occasional single storey building and two storey with hipped roof, such as the Red lion Public House. Buildings are typically timber frames and rendered or part rendered with red brick. Roofs are pitched with plain tiles roofs and some roofs are steeply pitched.
3.105 The built form and architecture strongly
contribute to the character of this area and vegetation and trees to a much lesser degree. However where vegetation is present in small gardens it is quite architectural, being clipped or well maintained.
3.106
As the functional centre of the village,
buildings provide a range of retail
and commercial functions, mixed with residential properties.
3.107
The view north from the village centre is
much greener, contrasting with the village centre and the unfinished tower of St, Mary’s Church provides a focal landmark in the distance.
Area B – Historic Village Approach Gaston Street
3.108
Gaston Street is the main village street
connecting to the historic village centre.
It has a strong historic character,
particular south of the Elm Road junction
which demarcates the boundary of
the Conservation Area. Richardson’s
Farmhouse (43 Figure 2.2) is a notable
landmark here, as an impressive detached
timber framed building rendered pink
and having mature pine trees within its
relatively small front curtilage.
3.109
This residential street displays a diversity
in terms of age, architectural design, where the built form is the focus of views. The street has a feeling of space owing to the varied built line, where some properties are set back in substantial plots whilst other have a small front curtilage. The boundary features including walls, railings and hedges are in good condition and along with well-tended established gardens, positively contribute to the street scene and the sequential views along the street are varied and pleasant.
3.110 Architecture varies in age and style, dating
from the 15th century to 20th century, although modern infill buildings are limited. Notable buildings include the 15th and 19th century Lambe School (26, Figure 2.2), a one storey building, located on the roadside and 19th century Gaston House, a timber framed rendered two storey
building set back from the road.
Area C – Historic Village Heart
3.111 This area is defined by significant buildings
that form the historic origins of the village
at Old Hall and is characterised by a more
dispersed settlement pattern and varied
building line compared to the village
centre. This character area includes the

52 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
southern end of The Street and the top of
Rectory Hill near the junction to Flatford
Lane encompassing the Church Plain and
Old Hall.
3.112
The churchyard and Church Plain creates
an open area around the church with houses facing onto the Plain. The south side of the road has a high degree of enclosure owing to the high convent walls and hedges of the Old Hall and mature trees and historic parkland character of Old Hall.
3.113 The character area centres around the
historic core of the village at The Old Hall and St. Mary’s Church (Chapter 2, Plate 2.19), dating back to the 14th century (refer to Chapter 2). Buildings are generally of a larger scale and massing compared to the village centre. The church and Old Hall are key landmark buildings forming focal points, in addition to the war memorial at the junction with Flatford Lane. Stour House and Little Court are large single dwellings that are three storeys in height. Churchgate House; thought to have been a religious guild hall has origins in the C15th.
3.114 The building line to the street is typically
set-back behind well vegetated front gardens, creating a green setting to the street scene. The footpath on the east side and green verge on the west side of The Street create a rural character to the street scene. Other green elements make a strong contribution to the overall character, including the tall yews in the churchyard, the triangle of green space surrounding of the war memorial and mature specimen trees. At the junction with Flatford Lane, the war memorial, the Church and Old Hall form distinct focal points.
3.115 The combination of important historic
buildings, historic boundary walls and mature vegetation combine to create a special highly valued character. All of this area lies within the Conservation Area and AONB designation.
3.116 The built character is varied in scale,
detailing and materials and have differing functions. The Old Hall (Chapter 2, Plate 2.20) is now a communal living community and farmed smallholding) and residential
uses.
3.117
The views are generally contained by
buildings, boundary walls and vegetation, with an occasional glimpsed views into the grounds of Old Hall. A long view into the Vale is possible at the top of Flatford Lane.
Area D – Rectory Hill
3.118 This character area includes Rectory Hill
up to the Church Plan in Area 2 extending
east to the edge of Burnt Oak. Rectory Hill
links the two settled parts of East Bergholt.
3.119 This character area has distinctive
topography; landform descends into a central valley of the Riber, a tributary of the River Stour.
3.120 This character area is defined by the rural
setting of Rectory Hill, a narrow rural lane flanked by varied built character in architectural style and origin, dating from the C16th to C20th century. Many residential properties are listed and are set within extensive mature gardens.
3.121 Topography drops to a central valley of the
tributary valley of the Riber.
3.122 The view up the hill flanked by Dairy
Farm Cottage and Gissings (Chapter 2, Plate 2.25) stepping up the slope is very distinctive, with the mature cedar tree backdrop. This view has great aesthetic appeal and makes an important contribution to the character of Rectory Hill.
3.123 The older properties date to the C16th
century, with a few latter additions including the Old Rectory dating to 1714 and White House that dates to the early to mid-C19th. The historic properties have a tight building line to the road edge and make an important contribution to the historic character of Rectory Hill. There is limited infill between the historic properties with detached houses that date to the 20th century, although these are set back further from the road and have little influence on the overall character.
3.124 The C16th properties are timber framed

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 53
and rendered, with parts underbuilt in
brick with red clay tiled pitched roofs.
Render is frequently white and this is
particularly distinctive at Burnt Oak. White
brick is used to the front of Gissings dating
from the late C16th-early C17th and is
the main construction material used for
White House, dating from the early-mid
C19th. Different styles of roof add to the
architectural variety with some properties
having hipped roofs and dormers. Red
brick and grey tile roofs are also common
materials used for the construction of
the Old Rectory, with origins in 1714 and
latter additions in the early C19th and
these materials are typical of the C20th
buildings. Dwellings are commonly two
storeys in height.
3.125
Rectory Hill offers a varied sequence of
views and degree of enclosure along its length. In some parts the area is enclosed by a tunnel of trees or hedges; The Old Rectory has a wooded character and this building is not visible from the road. Along the central part where the route descends into the Vale, views open up to the south. Hedges, road banks and property fencing encloses the road along the west end before opening up at Burnt Oak.
3.126 Views south of the Vale are characterised
by a traditional pastoral scene of small scale fields enclosed my mature trees, with intermittent views at a close to mid range. Rectory Hill has no street lighting, further reinforcing the rural character and dark skies. The combination of the historic built character, the distinct topography, mature trees and rural character create a special quality and sense of place that is protected by the Conservation Area status and AONB designation.
Area E – Ribbon Settlement around the Former Heath
3.127
This area encompasses Burnt Oak, Gandish
Road, Mill Road/ Heath Road and Putticks
Lane. As stated in Chapter 2, these
properties originate as post-medieval
ribbon settlement on the periphery of the
former heath as described for land parcel
18.
3.128 Burnt Oak was a satellite village located at
the western extent of the former heath and
a number white rendered historic buildings
dating from the 16th and 17th century
form a distinctive cluster at the junction of
Rectory Hill and Gandish Road. The former
Kings Head Public House (73, Figure 2.2)
is set back from the road whereas the
building line of the 16th century building
The Town House is tight up to the junction
and draws the eye.
3.129 The northern side of the triangular land
of former heath would have been largely
rural in character with exception of a small
amount of ribbon development at the
east end and the southern extent of the
road is now infilled with large detached
houses in large plots set back from the
road. The older properties are located
east of Constable Hall and still over look
undeveloped parts of the green to the
south. The 16th century Gandish House
(22 Figure 2.1) and 17th century cottages
(75) are located nearby. Gandish House
is set back behind a vegetated frontage,
although the cottages have a smaller
curtilage to the road, of clipped hedge and
well maintained gardens. The cottages
have an open aspect over the fields of
former heath and retain a rural setting.
Field boundaries are well maintained,
although the pylons in the opposite field
are a detractive to the historic character.
3.130
Much modern infill development during the
20th century has occurred on the south side of the fields along White Horse Road between older buildings.
3.131 Settlement is sporadic on the east side of
the former heath near Mill Road/ Heath Road. White Horse Cottage, is distinctive white rendered building at the junction of White Horse Road and the B1070. Old Mill House (22, Figure 2.1) is set back from the road in a vegetated plot and does not contribute to the street scene. The junction with the B1070 Mill Road/ Heath Road is very rural in character with little settlement.
3.132 Putticks Lane is very rural in character
with a few dispersed properties such as the 17th century Rookery Farmhouse (28, Figure 2.1) and 18th century orchard
house.

54 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
Area F – Quinton’s Area
3.133 This area, formerly the satellite village at
Gaston’s End is described in detail above
for land parcel 22 and in Chapter 2. The
buildings surround the triangular green
known as Box Iron. Historic properties,
including The Hare and Hounds Pub and
Chaplains and Gascoigne Cottages are
located on the south side of Mill Road /
Heath Road and would have historically
had aspect over the green. Now 20th
century bungalows infill the opposite side
of the road and this visual connection is
lost. The Hare and Hounds is a distinctive
white rendered timber frames two storey
building set back slightly from the road.
Chaplains and Gascoigne are distinctive
pink rendered timber framed two storey
cottages and form a tight building line with
the roadside and make a notable positive
contribution to the village street scene.
3.134 Settlement along Quinton’s Road has
developed in a similar way, with the older
properties on the north side of the road
opposite the green. Modern 20th century
housing has extended part way along
the southern side from the junction with
Mill Road / Heath Road and again, the
visual connection between the historic
buildings and the green has been partially
lost. Recent development is intruding and
further eroding this historic association
with the green. The street scene has a
green character and the building line of
older properties on the north side is varied.
Notable properties include The Hermitage
(31, Figure 2.1) that has a small curtilage
against the roadside whereas High Tree
Farmhouse 32 Figure 2.1), dating to
the 15th century and is set back behind
roadside trees and a large front garden.
Boundary treatment is mixed but of good
condition, including brick walls, clipped
hedges and trees. The Smithy (now
named The Forge) is a distinctive single
storey two bay timber framed cottage with
of 16th century origins that has an open
frontage to the road that punctuates the
clipped hedge boundaries either side (82,
Figure 2.1).
3.135 The historic buildings Quinton’s Cottage
(Plate 2.28 Chapter 2 and no.70 Figure
2.1) and Quinton’s House (81 Figure 2.1)
form a distinctive corner at the junction
of Quinton’s Road and Woodgates Road
opposite the Box Iron and are described
in Chapter 2. Quinton’s Cottage forms a
tight building line adjacent the roadside
and is the focal building on approach from
Quinton’s Road, with the whitewashed
Quinton’s House set back slightly behind,
framed by roadside vegetation.
3.136 Whilst the historic visual connection has
been weakened and lost in places and
modern development has further eroded
the historic character, the many historic
buildings are of interest in terms of the
historic development of the village and
for their special architectural qualities.
The frequency of historic buildings in this
location gives this part of the village a
special character.
Area G – East End Lane, Straight Road, Park
Road and Mission Lane
3.137
Tudor Cottage (71, Figure 2.1) is the only
notable historic building in East End, which
has been extended extensively during the
20th century along East End Lane and
Mission Lane. Some Victorian worker’s
terraces are also located nearby. Tudor
Cottage is set back from Mission Lane
and is a distinctive large detached timber
framed pink rendered building originating
to the 16th-17th century. Dispersed
infrequent 19th century farm buildings
are located on Straight Road and Park
Road, overlooking former heath. The 19th
century Royal Oak Pub is notable.
Summary
3.138
The landscape around East Bergholt
comprises three distinct landscape types:
the plateau farmlands in the immediate
context of the village, the rolling valley
farmland on the Stour and Stamford Valley
sides and the valley meadowlands along
the Stour valley floor.
3.139 The plateau farmlands lie on elevated land
between the two valleys of the Stour to the
south and Stamford to the north and north
east. The enclosed heath and commons
and regular landscape pattern associated
with 19th century enclosure makes this
landscape type locally distinctive. Away
from transport corridors this is a tranquil
landscape, with a strong sense of isolation
and network of tall hedges and quiet
lanes. Long views across the heath are

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 55
an important characteristic of the village
setting, particularly across larger scale
landscape to the north of the village.
The southern part of this landscape
character type, including the former heath
immediately east of the village centre
is lies within the Dedham Vale AONB
designation.
3.140 The rolling valley farmlands encompasses
the gentle valley sides and some more
complex and steep slopes and sunken
lanes are characteristic. The Stour valley
slopes afford extensive views across the
Dedham Vale made iconic in Constable’s
work and lie within the Dedham Vale
AONB. The Samford Valley lies within
the recently extended Suffolk Coast and
Heaths AONB designation.
3.141 The valley meadowlands landscape
character type is generally unsettled with
exception of the Flatford Mill Complex and
comprises pasture divided by wet ditches,
with occasional wet woodland. It has a
tranquil picturesque character, protected
by the Dedham Vale AONB designation.
3.142 The modern day village has evolved from
the historic origins around the Old Hall
and several medieval satellite villages;
Burnt Oak, Gaston’s End (Quinton’s Area),
Puttocks End, Baker’s End and East End
(refer to Plate 3.5 below and Figure 2.5).
The village is very rich in buildings of great
historic and architectural value, evident
today. As the village expanded it formed
ribbon development between these sites
to form a distinct horseshoe shape around
the central former common and this is
an important characteristic of the village
today.
3.143 Areas of the village were subject to
expansion in the 19060s and 1970s
resulting in some negative impact on the
rural setting of the former common and
heath, including some parts of the Dedham
Vale AONB. This is particularly evident at
the settlement edge along Richardson Road
and land east of the Donkey Track near the
surgery on Mill Road/ Heath Road. Other
areas of intrusion include the high voltage
power line east of the village and the
sport hall and lighting associated with the
school.
Description:
1733 Map of East Bergholt Heath, superimposed on
the modern OS map, showing Listed Buildings
Date:
18/05/2020
Figure 2.5
Project:
Historic Landscape study of East Bergholt
Plate 3.5 1733 map of former heath overlaid
onto modern OS map

56 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan

Appraisal of John
Constable’s Paintings
“… I associate ‘my careless boyhood’ with all that lies on the banks of the Stour;
those scenes made me a painter, and I am grateful; that is, I had often thought
of pictures of them before I ever touched a pencil…”
4.0

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 58
4 Appraisal of John Constable’s
Paintings
Introduction
4.1 This section will provide an overview of
John Constable’s historical body of work
and associations specifically with East
Bergholt and the Dedham Vale, with the
purpose of assessing East Bergholt’s
significance in national heritage terms.
4.2
John Constable, internationally renowned
English Romantic Landscape Painter (1776- 1837), is best known for his paintings representing the rural character of Dedham Vale surrounding East Bergholt. Constable was born in East Bergholt and it is here that he grew and developed from amateur to iconic artist. During his lifetime he struggled for recognition and his reputation was perhaps held in higher esteem in France, where his use of colour in his landscape paintings were considered quite radical for the time and is thought to have influenced the Impressionists.
4.3 In current times however, his work is
the highest valued British Art on the international market. His paintings Dedham Vale (1820) and The Haywain (1821), are perhaps the most popular and valuable works of British Art. The painting Dedham Vale with the River Stour in Flood was rediscovered in a private collection and was valued by Sotherbys in 2017 with an estimate of £2-3 million. It was painted from the grounds of the Old Hall in East Bergholt with the view extending across the Stour towards Dedham. The cultural association of Constable with the scenery of Dedham Vale, the River Stour and Flatford Mill, the scene of The Haywain, is well recognised. The Haywain is one of the most iconic paintings in the history of British Art and is on permanent display at The National Gallery.
4.4 The complex of buildings in the Flatford Mill
series, including Bridge Cottage, Willy Lot’s Cottage and Flatford Mill itself, are in the ownership and stewardship of the National Trust and their national importance is further demonstrated by various Listed Building designations (refer to Chapter 2). Furthermore, the Dedham Vale AONB designation protects the landscape and key views represented in Constable’s paintings from any inappropriate future pressure from change. The southern part of East Bergholt Parish within and across Dedham Vale and associated with the Stour series of works is therefore already afforded a high level of protection. This area is lovingly referred to as “Constable Country.”
4.5 One objective of this appraisal is to
highlight the less well known locations in the village and surrounding area that have strong cultural associations with Constable as an important part of his life story and legacy, to identify areas where it may be justified to afford a higher level of protection from future inappropriate change. This appraisal will review those
Plate 4.1 John Constable (1799-1804) © The
National Portrait Gallery

59 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
works associated with the village and its
setting, with the objective of inferring
the extent that the scenes depicted in
Constable’s art are visible in the current
day. Landscapes by their nature are
dynamic and change over time, so it
may be questioned why it is important
to conserve the landscapes that were
represented in Constable’s art.
4.6
People naturally want to experience the
places that have inspired Constable as an artist throughout his life, with a desire to be able to read the aesthetic and perceptual qualities of the landscape in a similar way, perhaps to reach the same level of feeling and inspiration. Chapter 2 explored the historic evolution of the village; its landscape setting and historic character and it is important for future generations to have the opportunity to read and interpret traces and imprints of the historic landscape character to experience it for themselves. In the context of Constable’s legacy, the historic landscape characteristics that were once studied by the artist may be evident in the landscape today. Recognising these qualities creates connections where the landscape is the means to continually identify and celebrate the work and life of Constable and his many associations to
East Bergholt.
Village Locations in John Constable’s Art
4.7
Constable found much inspiration on his
doorstep and there is an opportunity for
the village community today to further
recognise and celebrate this as part of
their heritage.
4.8
An analysis of his works has been
undertaken to categorize by location and is provided in Appendix 5 and whilst not exhaustive, it does demonstrate how prolific John Constable was in representing the rural charms of his village and its immediate surrounds; the village centre, the former common and heath.
4.9 Constable’s works are referenced by
location to identify key views within the Parish that are associated with Constable. These locations are shown on Figure 4.1, an extract is shown by Plate 4.2 below. If the location is unknown but the work is attributed to East Bergholt or Dedham Vale, these are included here and ordered by subject.
Plate 4.2 John Constable Artist Locations

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 60
4.10 The contribution of these places to
Constable’s life and legacy are described
further below along with an analysis of
what components of the landscape remain
evident today.
4.11
There are several works of art listed
under miscellaneous in Appendix 5 that are attributed to East Bergholt although the specific locations are unknown. Furthermore, several depictions of clouds during the summertime are likely to have been completed at East Bergholt. Although John Constable moved to London in 1799, he returned regularly to East Bergholt, where he sketched out of doors in the spring and summer months, returning to London to finish and exhibit his canvasses (‘6-footers’).
East Bergholt Common and The Heath
4.12 At least three or four significant paintings
were located at East Bergholt Common
and the Heath in addition to at least three
paintings towards the Old Rectory across
the common and paintings and drawings
from his family home that show the edge
of village character with views across the
common. East Bergholt did not undergo
enclosure until 1816, the year that
Constable permanently settled in London.
4.13
Constable’s earlier surviving work comes
from the period when he was be coerced to take up his father’s business. As discussed in Chapter 2, the windmill was owned by Constable’s father and was a landmark in several of his artworks. The book John
Constable by William Vaughan identifies a signed and dated image of his father’s windmill, incised with a knife on board dating from 1792, held by Colchester Museums, a possible “form of resistance…. rather akin to graffiti scored by prisoners in their cells.” That said, Constable was thought to have a deep respect for the family business and reference is made in Ann Bermingham’s “Landscape and Ideology” that Constable’s work may reflect symbolically of him working his father’s land.
4.14
Constable is renowned for his atmospheric
paintings of clouds and skies. It is probable that his preoccupation with observing the sky and the weather is attributable to his period of working at East Bergholt windmill, as it was essential to observe the skies and forecast the weather closely both to ensure efficiency in keeping the sails trimmed and, importantly, to have warning of impending gales. Describing the painting ‘Spring on East Bergholt Common’ (Plate 4.3) he wrote: ‘The clouds accumulate in very large masses, and from their loftiness seem to move but slowly: immediately upon these large clouds appear numerous opaque patches, which are only small clouds passing rapidly before them, and consisting of isolated portions detached probably from the larger cloud. These floating much nearer to the earth may perhaps fall in with a stronger current of wind, which as well as their comparative lightness causes them to move with greater rapidity; hence they are called by wind-millers and sailors, messengers, and always portend bad
Plate 4.3 Spring: East Bergholt Common. (1814) Oil on Panel. © V&A

61 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
weather.’
4.15 David Lucas, who made an engraving
of Spring: East Bergholt Common for
Constable commented upon the artist’s
observations of changing skies and
weather conditions which he made in
the course of working at the windmill:
‘From this mill his earliest observations
on atmospheric phenomena were made,
and his deep knowledge acquired that so
materially contributed to his successful
practice’.
4.16
Spring: East Bergholt Common, dating
from 1814, is now within the collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). The painting depicts a view across the heath, where a windmill frames the right
extent of the view and although loosely depicted as an oil sketch, it is likely that the Old Mill House, that dates back to the 17th century frames the left extent of the piece as a white building and vegetated boundary is visible. The open landscape character of the heath is emphasised by the large sky, which occupies a large proportion of the composition. The painting depicts a working agricultural scene, where a figure and horse are at work ploughing the field shortly following enclosure. It is an oil sketch and other features are loosely depicted, although a spire and wooded skyline may be detected in the distance.
4.17
The viewpoint is just west of the B1070 Mill
Road / Heath Road, looking north shown by
Plate 4.4 East Bergholt. (1813) Oil on Cardboard. © Yale Center for British Art
Plate 4.5 View of the Riber valley today

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 62
location 8 on Figure 4.1 and Plate 4.2. The
Old Mill House and vegetated boundary
are still present, although the windmill has
been replaced in a similar location by an
agricultural shed. A high voltage overhead
line crosses the field and along with the
shed, are modern detractive influences
in the landscape. However, the open
character of the fields of the former heath
remain.
4.18
Constable has undertaken many paintings
and drawings of the view over East Bergholt Common from both his family home (known as East Bergholt House or Golding Constable’s House) and also from locations on or near the “Donkey Track” across the former common looking across the tributary valley of the Riber and towards the Old Rectory.
4.19 The views across the Common towards the
Rectory takes on greater significance in the context of the story of Constable’s love affair with Maria Bicknell, captured in the book Constable in Love: Love, Landscape, Money and the Making of a Great Painter (Gayford, M 2009). Maria was the granddaughter of the formidable Rector of East Bergholt and he regarded Constable an unsuitable match due to his insufficient income before he found success. No doubt this landscape between him and his love must have taken on some significance during the seven difficult years before they were able to marry, as the much longingly overlooked landscape that separated them as well as the romantic setting for their courtship.
4.20 When writing in 1812, Constable states
Plate 4.6 East Bergholt. (1808) Oil. © Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Plate 4.7 Current day view from the Donkey Path towards the Rectory

63 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
“From the window where I am writing I
see all those sweet fields where we have
passed so many happy hours together. It
is with melancholy pleasure that I revisit
those scenes that I once saw is so happy
– yet it is gratifying to me to think that
the scenes of my boyish days should have
witnessed by far the most affecting event
of my life.” The painting “View towards
the Rectory, East Bergholt” (1810) displays
an early Autumn sunrise and as Vaughan
states in his book John Constable, “it is
tempting to see a romantic interest in this
boldly painted representation of a dawn.”
The sloping field between the Rectory and
the Donkey Track was referred to as “The
Great Field” on Brazier’s 18th century map,
and is still intact today.
4.21
Two paintings are thought to have been
studies from locations along the “Donkey Track” shown by Location 3 on Figure 4.1. The painting East Bergholt (1813) now in the Yale Center for British Art (Plate 4.4), is taken from the most southerly point in
the valley of the Riber with distinct rolling fields either side, towards the plantation woodland surrounding the Old Rectory to the south east. A building is glimpsed through the trees on the opposite valley side to the right of the image; this white building is likely to be a cottage Gaston Street, as the threshing barn visible from the end of Golding Constable’s Garden was timber. Plate 4.5 shows the view in the current day. The essential composition of the valley landform and vegetation structure is very similar and the tranquil nature of the view remain.
4.22
The second painting, also named East
Bergholt (1808) is in the Fitzwilliam Museum collection in Cambridge (Plate 4.6) and is thought to have been located further north on the Donkey Track from a more elevated spot. This view is focused on the Old Rectory and the surrounding plantation on the hill in the distance across the Riber Valley. The current day view, shown by Plate 4.7 shows a very similar
Plate 4.8 View Towards the Rectory East Bergholt. (1813) Oil. © Public Domain

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 64
composition, where the landform on the
far side of the valley is more rolling than
the foreground and the vegetation pattern
is similar, notably the plantation around
the Old Rectory. The stream is more
wooded today, screening any view towards
the building. Views toward the Rectory
from the common was a reoccurring
theme, during different times of the day,
with atmospheric clouds. The essential
composition of these views is evident
today. Views south east and east across
the common still retain a high level of
tranquillity and are protected by the AONB
designation, although the fringes and
wider context of these views are somewhat
compromised by the intrusion of housing
associated with the late 20th century
expansion of the village.
4.23
The views across the common from
the family home were very important to Constable, demonstrated by many pieces that include the drawing View at East Bergholt over the Kitchen Garden of Golding Constable’s House (1812-1816) and the oil paintings Golding Constable’s Kitchen Garden (1815), shown by Plate 4.9
below, Golding Constable’s Flower Garden (1815), View towards the Old Rectory, East Bergholt (1813) and East Bergholt House from East Bergholt (date unknown). The pieces show the same vegetation structure of the plantation around the Rectory, on Rectory Hill and the poplar trees on the edge of the village. These works clearly show the undulating landform of the common, the tributary valley near the field pond and the windmill on the horizon in the distance to the north west and the painting East Bergholt House from East Bergholt depicts grazing cattle on the common.
4.24
The Constable landscape is still evident on
this former common land, evident in the landscape pattern of the small and medium sized fields, large trees on the fringe of the village, vegetated field boundaries, woodland copse surrounding the Rectory and trees to the edge of the village. The characteristic undulating landform of the tributary valley is evident today. As noted previously, Constable’s windmill is no longer present. The eastern rural edge to the village with the former Heath
Plate 4.9 Golding Constable’s Kitchen Garden. Oil on Canvas. 1815 © Ipswich Museum

65 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
clearly has strong cultural associations with
Constable and his work.
The Village Heart
4.25
Constable produced many works associated
with East Bergholt House, his family home
and buildings in the immediate vicinity, the
most prolific works being associated with
the Church of St. Mary, some dating to
early period in his career. He also depicted
the grounds of the Old Hall, various
attractive buildings in the village and
village street scenes. Constable captured
in the old village green that was in front of
West Lodge (now Stour) in the painting “A
Village Fair, probably East Bergholt” before
it disappeared, which was in the setting of
East Bergholt house.
East Bergholt House
4.26
East Bergholt House was located on Church
Street in the centre of the village, built by John Constable’s father and John was born
here.
4.27 Although the house no longer exists (it was
pulled down in 1840 or 1841), the stable block and an outbuilding survive. Constable painted views from the front and back of the house on many occasions and chose it as the frontispiece for English Landscape (1832). He wrote in the accompanying inscription:
‘This place was the origin of my Fame’.
4.28
The house no longer exists but the artist’s
brother Abram described it in some detail
in a draft advertisement for its sale after
Golding’s death:
‘To be sold in the delightful pleasant village
of East Bergholt, a Capital Brick Mansion
Freehold, with about 37 Acres of Land,
pasture an arable in excellent condition,
communicating with excellent roads- The
Mansion consists of 4 very good rooms
& spacious entrance hall on the ground
floor, 4 excellent Sleeping Rooms, with
light clossets & spacious landing on the
second floor, & the Same 4 exceeding
Plate 4.10 East Bergholt House. Oil on millboard. 1811 © V&A. The
V&A description of this painting is as follows: “This panoramic view depicts Constable’s birthplace, with East Bergholt church to the left… Constable recalled with delight the scenes where his ‘ideas of Landscape were formed’ and ‘the retrospect of those happy days and years’”.

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 66
good atticks, most capital cellars & offices,
Brick Stables & Coachhouse, & every
convenience that can be thought of–&c.’
(JCC I, p.136).
4.29
The house was sold to a family friend,
Walter Clerk of East Bergholt, and was vacated by the Constables after a sale of the contents in March 1819. Clerk died on 26 October 1839.
4.30 The following summer Leslie visited
the area and found that the house was not tenanted. It was pulled down soon afterwards. In 1841 Edward Cook, estate agent of Stratford St Mary, sold the site to Edward Godfrey of Old Hall, East Bergholt. The deed of transfer, 2 dated 25 November that year, refers to ‘the Mansion-house late of the said Walter Clerk and since of the said Edward Cook but now pulled down and wasted’. The document includes a plan which shows only the stable block and one other outbuilding still standing. These survive today in altered form, the stables having been converted into houses and the other outbuilding incorporated in a later
house. The long wall which separated the stables from the Constables’ flower garden, and the gate-posts and railings on the street side, also remain.
4.31
Constable painted and drew his father’s
house on many occasions. Other oil studies of the back of the house; the side seen in Plate 4.10, are in the V. & A.
4.32 Pencil drawings of the back of the house,
seen from a distance, are in the 1813 sketchbook (V. &.A), and the collections of Richard Constable and H.A.E. Day. Drawings of the front are also in the 1813 sketchbook; other drawings of this side of the house are on in the V. &.A. collection, and Courtauld Institute, Witt Collection.
Church of St. Mary
4.33 Constable’s works depicting the Church
of St. Mary are named “East Bergholt Church.” At least ten studies of the church are within the V&A collection, demonstrating a variety of media including chalk, watercolour and a mix of
Plate 4.11 East Bergholt Church North Archway of
the Ruined Tower. Pen and Watercolour. c.1805 © V&A.
Plate 4.12 Current view of the north archway

67 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
watercolour and pencil, in addition to oil
and therefore these drawing hold special
interest. The church appears virtually
unchanged from Constable’s images (Plates
4.11 and 4.12).
4.34
Old Hall and Old Hall Park
4.35 Constable depicted the elm trees in old Hall
Park in a pencil drawing dating to 1817. The V&A description states “Inscribed in lower left corner in pencil by the artist…. This noble Elm–stood in the Park of Peter Godfrey Esq–called “Old Hall” Park at East Bergholt–Suffolk it was blown down April 1835. it broke even with ground–it measured when standing upright[?] 10 x d having [?] formerly ]?] lost the large arm on the Right J.C. This drawing was made 1816. in Autumn”.
4.36 Old Hall Park was also a location for the
painting “Dedham Vale with the River Stour in Flood from the grounds of Old Hall, East Bergholt.”
East Bergholt Cottages and Street Scenes
4.37 Other known locations in the village include
Beaufort Cottage that was located opposite the village green from East Bergholt House and appears very similar today. Constable produced many charming drawings and sketches of within the village that were unidentified, although one of these has a well and another timber framed.
Village Lanes
4.38 A number of Constables paintings,
including one of his most famous works “The Cornfield” which shows a winding lane into a Cornfield based on Fen Lane (Flatford Lane) where Constable had often walked as a boy from East Bergholt to his school in Dedham. The lane remains but it is acknowledged in this painting that the countryside beyond was largely invented.
4.39 Fen Lane (1817) in the Tate’s Collection
depicts a broad view over Dedham Vale Plate 4.13). This was the last time he painted directly in oils in the vicinity of East Bergholt, whilst on a long holiday in Suffolk with Maria. The composition of the landscape in this view across Dedham Vale is still recognisable today (Plate 4.14).
4.40 Constable produced several oil paintings
along Fen (Fenbridge) Lane between 1809 – 1817 within collections at the Tate, The National Gallery, Yale Center for British Art and Museo Lazar Galdino.
Landscape and Agricultural Fields Surrounding the Village
4.41
Views across the Stour Valley played the
theme of many of Constable’s works,
including views towards Stratford St. Mary
and views from the valley looking back
towards East Bergholt.
4.42
Several works that depict rural scenes,
Plate 4.13 Fen Lane, East Bergholt. Oil on
Canvas. 1817 © TATE
Plate 4.14 View from Fenbridge Lane today

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 68
cottages and landscape features, such as
wheat sheaf and trees are attributed to
East Bergholt as the location. Many of
these works are within the V&A Collection.
Flatford Series
4.43
Flatford Mill was operated by the Constable
Family for nearly a hundred years and the cottage appearing in his pieces was occupied in Constable’s time by tenant farmer Willy Lot. The river, the mill stream, Flatford Lock and these buildings were all common subjects in Constable’s most famous works.
4.44 Flatford Mill (Scene on a Navigable River)
is Constable’s largest exhibition canvas dating to 1816 and was to be painted mainly outdoors and was the forerunner of the series of six ‘six-foot’ canvases of River Stour subjects, exhibited from 1819. It is owned and on display at Tate Britain in London. The Constable views are identifiable today and Flatford Mill remains a popular tourist attraction under the stewardship of the National Trust.
Summary
4.45 John Constable was born in East Bergholt,
it was his family home and formed a
source of inspiration throughout his life. It
is here that he grew from amateur to iconic
artist of international acclaim.
4.46
Whilst best known for his work associated
with Dedham Vale and Flatford Mill, the former common and heath surrounding his family home and the village were important subjects in his work. This study highlights these works and the underlying importance these places played in his life. An analysis has been undertaken to identify the likely viewpoints located in and around the common and the village that are represented in Constable’s work.
4.47 These works represented the rolling
landscape of the Riber Valley, Rectory Hill and the Rectory, his father’s windmill and the setting of Golding Constable’s house on the edge of the common. The views across the common perhaps take on greater significance in the context of Constable’s love affair with Maria Bicknell. Views towards the Rectory from the common were a reoccurring theme in his work.
4.48
The essential components of the landscape
of the rolling tributary valley, hedged fields and trees represented in these views are still evident today, particularly from public viewpoints along the Donkey Track.

Landscape and Heritage
Sensitivity Appraisal
5.0

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 71
5.0 Landscape and Heritage Sensitivity
Appraisal
Introduction
5.1 This section of the study considers the
significance and extent that the historic
environment and cultural heritage
associations should influence judgments on
sensitivity to built development within the
village.
5.2
This builds on the findings of the 2015
East Bergholt Landscape Sensitivity and Capacity Appraisal (referred to as the EB LSCA), undertaken by The Landscape Partnership. This appraisal, gave some consideration to the strength of historic landscape pattern that is still evident today, although heritage setting effects, cultural heritage associations and archaeological interest was not within the scope of the appraisal. Furthermore, the extent of the study area for this appraisal was focussed on the capacity of land in the immediate setting of the village for future housing development whereas this study includes all areas extending to the Parish boundary.
5.3 The recent extension to the Suffolk Coast
and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) to encompass the Samford Valley in the north east part of the Parish was subsequent to the 2015 appraisal. This appraisal will consider the implications of the boundary extension on judgements of landscape value and sensitivity.
5.4 The first part of this Chapter outlines
particular areas of archaeological and heritage sensitivity within the Parish. These findings inform the overall appraisal of landscape sensitivity in the following section.
Heritage and Archaeological Sensitivity
5.5 Heritage and Archaeological Sensitivity
considers change to the physical or setting change as result of potential development.
5.6 The importance of heritage assets within
the historic core of East Bergholt village itself and extending both northwards on the east side of Gaston Street, and eastwards as far as Burnt Oak, has been recognised in the designation of the Conservation Area and the AONB which covers the whole of the south western half of the parish. Plate 5.1 shows areas of potential archaeological and historical sensitivity beyond these core areas.
Area A
5.7 The most sensitive area archaeologically
lies within the northern tip of the parish, where the A12 Ipswich Road follows the line of the Roman road from Colchester to Baylham. The discovery of Roman pottery sherds, coins, metal objects and brick fragments on both sides of the modern road at Lattinford Hill, approaching the bridge over the Stutton Brook, together with the two pits or wells infilled with burnt clay and pottery sherds indicates the presence of a Roman roadside settlement. Remains of timber buildings fronting the road may be anticipated, together with roadside cemeteries sited just beyond the settlement edge.
5.8 The underlying superficial geology
(sand and gravels) are conducive to the formation of cropmarks indicative of former land-use which can often be observed on aerial photographs.
5.9 The Suffolk HER has identified areas of
cropmarks which may be attributable to field systems associated with this settlement. However, the ground is too heavily patterned with geological features such as ‘ice-cracks’ to confirm an archaeological origin from aerial

72 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
Plate 5.1 Areas of Potential Archaeological and Historical
Sensitivity (Areas A-E)
photographs alone. The discovery of
pottery vessels associated with what is thought to have been a Roman cremation cemetery during the construction of Ackworth House in the 1840s, c.800m south of the modern road line, and two metal detecting finds in the vicinity of Woodgates Farm confirms potential Roman activity in the northern part of the parish, although on present evidence it is difficult to quantify. Consequently, on present evidence, the potential for encountering archaeological remains of very high, high or medium significance from this period within the Site is considered to be medium.
Area B
5.10 Gastons End is one of the satellite hamlets
to the medieval village of East Bergholt, its medieval and later houses bordering a triangular green, at the north western
tip of East Bergholt Heath. Although the western tip of the green is infilled with more modern houses, and there are later houses particularly on its north west side, the grouping of the historic listed buildings, with its smithy and blacksmiths house and several later medieval and post-medieval cottages and houses is nevertheless legible as a small medieval hamlet focused on the green, and is historically significant and sensitive to further encroachment.
Area C
5.11
The presence of the extensive East
Bergholt Heath covering up to c.140ha within the northeast and east of the parish has played a significant part in the development of the settlement pattern within the parish.

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 73
5.12 Although enclosed at the beginning of
the 19th century into small fields and
its sinuous tracks straightened out and
rationalised into the present road system,
the openness of the landscape and lack of
built form within this part of the parish still
reflects its medieval origins.
5.13
On first sight the number of late medieval
and post medieval listed buildings appears randomly dispersed in the landscape. As shown on Figure 2.4 Historic Landscape Character (see Appendix 6) they represent the pattern of medieval and post-medieval ribbon settlement on the periphery of the former heath: starting from Burnt Oak and moving in a clockwise direction around the former heath edge these buildings include: Gandish House (21), Cottages east of Yew Tree Cottage (75), Old MillHouse (22), Gastons End, Rookery Farmhouse (48), Orchard House (66), Elm Farmhouse (89), Meadow Cottages (74), Tudor Cottage (East End) (71), Park House (30), Garden & White Horse Cottages (39) and Orvis Croft (20). This edge of former settlement
is sensitive to change.
5.14 The detached northern part of the modern
East End is historically significant as the site of two medieval manorial sites, one on the site of Manor Farm and the other the site of Tudor Cottage.
Area D
5.15 Although not identified as an
archaeological asset by the Suffolk HER, East Bergholt windmill played an important part in the development of John Constable as an artist. Consequently it is considered an important site which should be protected from development, although it is recognised that the site is currently occupied by an agricultural building.
Area E
5.16 It is possible that Flatford was not only
the site of the late Saxon mill, but also an early medieval manorial site with a church and moated manor house. Consequently the fields surrounding Valley Farmhouse to the north and east and the site of the moat to the south are of potential archaeological and historical importance. However, these sensitive sites are not at risk of development as the Flatford Estate
is protected by ownership and trusteeship of The National Trust.
Table 5.1. Assessment of Archaeological Potential
Potential Definition
High Undiscovered heritage assets of high or medium importance are likely to be present.
Medium Undiscovered heritage assets of low importance are likely to be present; and it is possible, though unlikely, that assets of high or medium importance may also be present.
Low The study area is highly unlikely to contain undiscovered heritage assets of any level of importance.
Negligible There is no possibility of undiscovered heritage assets existing within the study area.
Review of the East Bergholt Landscape Sensitivity and Capacity Appraisal
5.17
The East Bergholt Landscape Sensitivity
and Capacity Appraisal (EB LSCA)was commissioned by East Bergholt Parish Council in May 2015 and undertaken by The Landscape Partnership to assess the landscape’s sensitivity to change resulting from future housing development.
5.18 Within the Introduction to the Landscape
Sensitivity and Capacity Appraisal document it states that “It is recognised that Topic Paper 6 (‘Techniques and criteria for judging capacity and sensitivity’, Countryside Agency published guidance) refers to a wider range of factors within what is termed ‘Landscape Character Sensitivity’. However, in the context of this study these are not considered to be relevant and would be picked up as part of other evidence base work, e.g. nature conservation or cultural heritage.” In addition the appraisal states that considerations such as potential access was not within the scope of the study.

74 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
5.19 As part of the methodology, parcels of
land with common characteristics were
identified around East Bergholt. Each of
the parcels were assessed for a range of
landscape and visual criteria, to evaluate
each respective parcel’s sensitivity and
capacity to accommodate development.
5.20
The EB LSCA established the ‘relative
capacity and no absolute conclusion should be drawn from the numerical totals. The influence of individual criteria in a given parcel and in the context of the wider landscape character should also be given due consideration.’
5.21
The rating for the parcels ranged from
‘Low’ to ‘High’.
5.22 Plate 5.2 above illustrates the landscape
capacity judgements for each parcel of land within the scope of the EB LSCA. It should be noted that low capacity means that the landscape has a high sensitivity to development and vice-versa. No parcels were identified with a ‘High’ capacity to accommodate development. However five parcels (F, Q, R, S and T) were considered to have a ‘Medium’ capacity to accommodate development. The areas include:
• A group of three fields to the south
of Mill Road / Heath Road, which have a close connection to the existing settlement edge and which could be a natural extension of the village’s development,
i.e. settlement has developed around the central heathland core.
• Part of the grounds of East
Bergholt High School; whilst this parcel forms a strong connection to the existing settlement edge and is relatively well screened from view, it is recognised that since this land forms an integral part of the school grounds, it is unlikely to be considered for future development
• Three parcels of land to the rear
of properties within White Horse Road. “Whilst these parcels are within the AONB, they form a strong connection to the existing settlement edge and afford relatively little visual influence on the wider landscape.”
5.23 A further eleven parcels around the
northern, north-eastern and eastern sides of East Bergholt are considered ‘Low to Medium’ capacity to accommodate development. These include areas of former heathland with a very open visual character where development is considered to have potentially significant effects on visual amenity. Areas to the east have a more enclosed character but the low- medium capacity assessment is due to these areas having little connection to the settlement edge of the village.
5.24 The Appraisal also considers land in the
Gandish Road area as ‘Low – Medium’
Plate 5.2 The Landscape Partnership
East Bergholt Landscape Capacity Appraisal Map

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 75
capacity, but suggests that sensitivity
associated with the AONB designation was
a significant consideration.
5.25 Other parcels within the AONB, (to the
south and west of East Bergholt, and within the ‘core’ between the two settled portions of the village), consequently have ‘High’ landscape value as a significant consideration against development. The appraisal also points out the potential damage to public and private views, especially to the south of the existing settlement. Other detrimental impacts include the potential for historical coalescence resulting from future development within the central heathland area around which the settlement is located.
Visual Context
5.26 The visual context and character of the
village is outlined in detail in Chapter 2. In
summary, the EB LSCA notes the following
in term of visual capacity of the landscape
character:
• The open nature of land parcels of the former heath north of the village (A,B,N) and occasional long-distant views to the settlement edge from the north east (C,D) and open character of land to the east (E,F) dictates that development is likely to have a significant influence on visual amenity and the visual setting of the village.
• The settlement edge viewed west of the village (parcel O) is less sensitive to visual change as the strong vegetative framework combined with complex landform mean the existing village exerts little influence on character (although low capacity owing to other highly valued criteria of the AONB).
• Parcels M and P south of the village play a very important role in preventing the coalescence between the two parts of the village, although Parcel M has a more open character public views that are more susceptible to change. Parcel J has an open character that is clearly visible from the road network and is susceptible to changes in the visual character of the settlement edge.
• Parcels K, G, H and I are less open to public views and less susceptible to visual impacts.
5.27 To the south-east, Q, R and S are
visually contained from public views, with exception of local views from one public footpath. These areas make less of a contribution to the visual character of the settlement edge and are less susceptible to change.
5.28 The above visual context focuses on land
within the parish boundary and views towards the settlement, and within the settlement. However the AONB to the south and west of the village can be appreciated in long distance views from the
south of the Parish, from Flatford Lane and
the western section of Cemetery Lane for instance. These views of the settlement
edge have a higher susceptible to change.
Landscape and Heritage Sensitivity
Appraisal of East Bergholt
5.29
Determining landscape sensitivity can
be a complex exercise and requires combining judgments of susceptibility of the landscape to a type of change and the value attached to the landscape.
5.30 The Landscape Institute defines a number
of attributes that can identify value in landscapes. The following criteria are of particular relevance to this study:
• Art and literature: value attached to the identity of particular areas i.e. ‘Constable Country’.
• Cultural heritage elements such as historic landscapes, archaeological sites, special historic or cultural heritage sites.
• Landscape condition: the extent that the cultural pattern of the landscape (such as field boundaries and hedges) is intact and still legible in the landscape.
• Strength of character: the degree to which the historic pattern and historic built character contributes to the overall

76 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
qualities of the landscape character.
• Representativeness: whether a landscape
contains a particular character and or
features or elements which are considered
particularly important examples.
• Scenic quality and perceptual aspects attributed to historic character.
5.31 The Landscape Institute recognises the
complexities of judging landscape value, stating that ‘there cannot be a standard
approach as circumstances vary from place to place’ and that judgments may be
needed about ‘which particular components
of the landscape contribute most to its value.’ The scoring method used in the
EB LSCA was a transparent and sound approach to determine relative value on a general scale, although had its limitations in terms of reflecting value of undesignated landscape and value criteria that was outside of the scope of that study.
5.32
A limitation of the EB LSCA in determining
landscape value was that the only criteria used was the presence or absence of designations. This study will focus on those areas where the contribution of heritage, archaeological and cultural associations are thought to provide further bearing to the previous judgements of capacity in the EB LSCA, with justification. Whereas this study provides a critically reflective review of the 2015 appraisal, this study is not a full update of the capacity appraisal, it highlights those areas of particular concern where a higher level of protection at a local level is recommended.
5.33 The European Landscape Convention
(ELC) recognised the importance of all landscapes, whether designated or undesignated, based on a landscape character based approach to evaluate sensitivity to change.
5.34 It is recognised that the Parish contains
undesignated landscapes that have local value in that they make an important contribution to the understanding of the historic evolution and setting of the village and the cultural associations that East Bergholt is so well known for. East Bergholt is a heritage village with a special
distinct character. The purpose of this study is to identify those areas that make an important contribution from a heritage and historic landscape perspective, and for these areas to be afforded an appropriate level of protection or development control with appropriate guidelines to inform the Neighbourhood Plan.
5.35
As noted above and the previous Chapter,
East Bergholt Heath has a strong cultural association with Constable. In light of the international importance of his work and important contribution of Constable to the identity of East Bergholt village, this association is recognised in the landscape value appraisal below.
5.36 Table 5.2 below outlines the methodology
for assessing landscape value with reference to heritage, archaeology and cultural association criteria. Other value criteria, such as recreational and access can also be used as criteria for judging value, although not the focus of this study. The parts of the village that are characterised as being densely built-up residential areas, developed in the late 20th century are shown on Figure 5.1 and are inherently of low sensitivity.
5.37 To some degree the value of the landscape
is reflected by landscape designations and levels of importance, however these are not the sole indicators of value. Table 5.2 sets out the value criteria for landscapes that make an important contribution at a community level to the historic and cultural context of the village. For example, areas of the former East Bergholt Common that contributes to the distinctive ‘horseshoe’ settlement pattern or the medieval origins of the hamlets that formed the village today. The association with Constable is well recognised and represented at Flatford Mill and Dedham Vale, although there is a great opportunity to recognise the contribution of the village setting made to his life story and body of work.
5.38 The importance of a heritage asset is
the overall value assigned to it based on its heritage significance, reflecting its statutory designation. Historic England guidance also refers to an asset’s ‘level of significance’ (GPA2, paragraph 10), which in this usage has the same meaning as importance / value.

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 77
Landscape
and
Heritage
Value
Definition
High
(National
Level of
Importance)
Landscape and heritage designations of National Level of importance: Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) / Grade I and II* Registered Parks and
Gardens, Scheduled Monuments, Registered Battlefields, Grade I and II* Listed
Buildings, Grade II Listed buildings, Grade II Registered Parks and Gardens; and/
or
Archaeological Assets: Undiscovered heritage assets of high or medium
importance are likely to be present; and/or
Direct art associations with John Constable, an internationally renowned artist
with very strong associations with East Bergholt. A known artist location or view
expressed in his art that is legible in the landscape composition of today; and/or
Unique and rare characteristics that are not easily replaceable.
High level of visual unity.
Tranquil character.
Patterns of early enclosures which provide a sense of time depth, i.e. legible Pre-
20th century fieldscapes and enclosure patterns and wooded plantations that have
remained unaltered since the 19th century
.
Makes a very important contribution to the historic settlement pattern.
Medium-high
(District/
Community
Level of
Importance)
Conservation Area; and/or
Heritage assets on local lists and undesignated assets of equal importance; and/or
Archaeological Assets: Undiscovered heritage assets of high or medium
importance are likely to be present; and/or
Patterns of early enclosures which provide a sense of time depth, i.e. legible Pre-
20th century fieldscapes and enclosure patterns and wooded plantations that have
remained unaltered since the 19th century; and/or
Direct art associations with John Constable, an internationally renowned artist with
v
ery strong associations with East Bergholt. A known location or view expressed
in his art, although the landscape composition/ character is not as clearly evident
today owing to landscape changes over time.
Unique and rare characteristics that are not easily replaceable.
High level of visual unity.
Tranquil character.
Makes some contribution to the historic settlement pattern.
Table 5.2 Criteria for Determining Landscape and Heritage Value

78 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
Landscape
and
Heritage
Value
Definition
Medium
(Local
Level of
Importance)
Archaeological Assets: Undiscovered heritage assets of low importance are likely
to be present; and it is possible, though unlikely, that assets of high or medium
importance may also be present.
Landscape buffer adjacent to AONB or Conservation Area.
Undesignated heritage assets of lesser importance.
Other cultural associations of local interest.
Coherent visual unity and/or unusual elements and features that are locally
distinctive.
Insignificant historic landscape pattern.
Moderate tranquillity.
Low Archaeological Assets: The study area is highly unlikely to contain undiscovered
heritage assets of any level of importance.
No listed or undesignated heritage assets.
Insignificant historic landscape pattern.
Land not within the influence of designations (Conservation Area or AONB).
No known cultural associations
Incoherent visual unity.
Common/ ordinary characteristics.
Discordant tranquillity.
Negligible Archaeological Assets: There is no possibility of undiscovered heritage assets
existing within the study area.
Insignificant historic landscape pattern.
No listed or undesignated heritage assets.
No known cultural associations.

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 79
Table 5.3 Criteria for Determining Landscape Susceptibility to Change Arising from Built Development
Susceptibility
to Change
Definition
High Open character / low level of enclosure by vegetation.
Open public views.
Previously undeveloped landscape, or low influence of development/ very
dispersed isolated small scale development.
Strong rural character- little influence of existing development, tranquil, little or
no visual detractors, visually unified.
Good landscape condition – land cover characteristic or landscape character type,
displaying insignificant land cover change, good age structure of trees, extensive
semi-natural habitats.
Makes an important contribution to the historic settlement pattern of the village /
land that prevents further coalescence of the village.
Varied distinctive natural landform.
Little scope for mitigation that would prevent harm to existing landscape character
/ historic character/ setting of designated assets or designations.
No relationship with existing settlement.
Medium Some level of vegetation enclosure.
Intermittent / occasional public views.
Moderate rural character – may be influenced by development to a degree, but
typically small scale with limited influence on the overall rural character of the
landscape, may display some detracting features, moderate tranquillity with some
interruption, predominantly characteristic land cover.
Moderate landscape condition – localised land cover change, mature or young tree
cover, scattered semi-natural habitats, coherent visual unity.
Natural landform characteristics, although indistinct/ minor contributor to
landscape character.
Some scope for mitigation, whilst protecting the defining characteristics of the
landscape.
Land has some relationship to existing settlement.

80 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
Low High level of vegetation enclosure.
Few / limited public views.
Poor rural character – rural character has been compromised by intrusive
development that might be widespread, likely to display detractive features, low
level of tranquillity, incoherent visual unity.
Previously developed land and typically impacted by high-medium density
development.
Strong relationship to existing settlement.
Table 5.4 Determining Overall Landscape
Sensitivity
Landscape Sensitivity
Definition
High A landscape of high value with a high susceptibility to change, or high value and a medium susceptibility to change, or medium-high value and a high susceptibility to change.
Medium-High A landscape of medium-high value and a medium susceptibility to change, or medium value and a medium-high susceptibility to change.
Medium A landscape of medium value and a medium or low susceptibility to change, or high value and low susceptibility to change, or medium-high value and a low susceptibility to change.
5.39
Susceptibility to change means the
ability of the landscape character to accommodate the type of change without undue consequences for the maintenance of the existing baseline situation or the achievement of planning policies and strategies. The EB LSCA referred to a range of criteria for judging susceptibility of the landscape to change in relation to residential development that comprised landscape features (slope analysis, vegetation enclosure, complexity/scale and condition) and visual characteristics (openness to public view, openness to private view, relationship to the existing settlement, prevention of coalescence of settlement and scope to mitigate development).
5.40 The criteria for assessing susceptibility to
change, resulting from built development is provided in Table 5.3 above. The criteria references the Landscape Capacity Analysis for each land parcel in the EB
LSCA to provide consistency and ease of interpretation between the two studies.
5.41
Overall landscape sensitivity is then
determined by considering both the landscape value and susceptibility to change in combination, in accordance with Landscape Institute Guidance, as summarised in Table 5.4 above.
Landscape and Heritage Appraisal and Comparison with Previous Capacity Appraisal
5.42 This landscape and heritage sensitivity
appraisal broadens the value judgments made in the ES LSCA, to take into account value associated with archaeological and cultural heritage interests and art associations as indicators of landscape value. A judgement is then made as to the overall landscape and heritage sensitivity, highlighting where these

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 81
findings differ from the capacity appraisal,
for example highlighting areas that have a
higher sensitivity that previously thought.
5.43
Plate 5.3 above illustrates 16 land
parcels of varying landscape sensitivity (Area 1-16). For each parcel of land a judgement was made regarding value and susceptibility to change, with consideration of the physical character, historic character and the perceptual and experiential qualities of the landscape. Judgements of value were made against the criteria in Table 5.2, judgements regarding susceptibility were made against the criteria in Table 5.3 and both factors were combined with reference to the criteria in Table 5.4 to assess overall landscape
Plate 5.3 East Bergholt Landscape and Heritage Sensitivity
sensitivity.
5.44 In terms of the appropriate scale of any
development in relation to landscape and heritage sensitivity the following broad assumptions are made (to be consistent with the EB LSCA):
• High sensitivity – it is unlikely that any development, save for individual plots in very specific locations, would be appropriate;
• Medium-high sensitivity – anything but very localised, small-scale development is likely to have significant adverse effects

82 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
on the landscape / village character and/
or visual amenity, even with mitigation
measures in place.
• Medium sensitivity – suitable as potential locations for development, accompanied by suitable, often significant mitigation measures such as planting to assimilate the development in the surrounding landscape (which is of medium-high or high sensitivity. Level of development would be subject to further detailed assessment, but may range between 15 units on small sites under 1ha, to 25 units on sites up to 2ha. In addition, significant areas may need to remain undeveloped as landscape buffers to features or to maintain separation.
Broad Recommendations
5.45 The ‘High’ sensitivity of land parcels 1-8
are consistent with the EB LSCA parcels of low landscape capacity, with the exception that land parcel 8 extends to the boundary of the AONB designation to the rear of properties on Gandish Road, encompassing two fields that were assessed as having low-medium capacity in the EB LSCA (parcel K) and land parcel 9 (EB LSCA parcel F) is afforded a higher level of sensitivity.
5.46 The field within land parcel 8 display
a legible pattern of pre-18th century enclosure. The fields form an open setting to the wooded surround of The Old Rectory and contribute to the setting of the tributary valley of the Riber, components represented many times in Constable’s pieces depicting the Common, with a similar vegetation structure that is legible today. Several views along the public footpath known as the “Donkey Track” on the border between land parcel 8 and 9 were depicted by Constable in his paintings and these areas should continue to function as a rural edge to the village with opportunity for these associations to be appreciated and “read” in the landscape.
5.47 Land parcels 9 and 10 were assessed
as having a medium sensitivity to development in the EB LSCA (Parcel F), although the findings of the landscape and sensitivity appraisal is that this area can be subdivided in terms of recommendations
(into parcels 9 and 10) and the sensitivity for parcel 9 should be higher.
5.48
Parcel 9 lies west of Mill Road / Heath Road
and encompassing fields in the immediate setting of the AONB and “the Donkey Track.” Parcel 10 is the field immediately east of 20th century development on Richardson’s Road, bordered by the B1070 Heath Road to the north. Parcels 9 and 10 display a legible 19th century enclosure pattern, with straightened line of Mill Road / Heath Road.
5.49 Land Parcel 9 is considered to have a
medium-high value, having association with Constable’s windmill, although the landscape pattern of has been subject to change from Constable’s time: an agricultural shed now occupies this area and recent native planting defines the west of the parcel and further separates the fields.
5.50 However, Parcel 9 makes an important
contribution to the historic settlement pattern and the southern part contributes to the setting of the AONB and the Donkey Track. As former areas of East Bergholt Common, these fields form the open land that defines the historic “horseshoe” form of the village settlement pattern around the core of the former common and is clearly visible from the B1070 and the public footpath.
5.51 The continued separation between these
two areas of the village is an intrinsic part of its character and is crucial to being able to ‘read’ its historic settlement pattern; how the settlement developed around the “core” of the common and how the village relates to its immediate landscape context. Parcel 9 therefore considered to have a high susceptibility to change and is particularly sensitive to potential coalescence of the village that would result from further development on this land.
5.52 Land parcel 10 has a stronger connection
to the settlement edge and makes less of a contribution to the gap in the settlement pattern or setting of the AONB. Any mitigation associated with small scale development here has the opportunity to create a softer transition between the development edge and boundary with the AONB.

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 83
5.53 Land parcel 18 (EB LSCA parcel K) was
identified as having a low-medium capacity
for future development. The historic
evidence suggests that this area should
be considered as being of high sensitivity
to any further encroachment of open
space. The historic interest lies in the
area as former heath and relationship of
the pattern of medieval and post-medieval
ribbon settlement on the periphery of
the former heath, as represented by the
following buildings: Gandish House (21)
and Cottages east of Yew Tree Cottage
(75) on Gandish Road (refer to Appendix
1). Furthermore, Gandish House was he
residence of John Constable’s sister Anne
and the house was represented in the
painting “Gandish Cottage”.
5.54
Land parcel 11 encompasses Gaston’s End,
an area described at the beginning of the Chapter as being of particular heritage sensitivity as one of the satellite hamlets to the medieval village of East Bergholt. This area was not included in the scope of the EB LSCA. Whilst this area has been subject to encroachment and change over the years, the grouping of the historic listed buildings, is legible as a small medieval hamlet at the north western tip of East Bergholt Heath focused on the green, and is historically significant. The triangular green should not be subjected to any further encroachment and additional recommendations are made below.
5.55 Land parcel 16 corresponds with the
newly designated Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB extension encompassing the Samford Valley. The designated area follows the varied landform of the rolling valley farmland landscape character area, although the designated land excludes the plateau farmland landscape character areas that formed part of the former East Bergholt Heath. The majority of this historic landscape character displays time-depth as Pre-18th century enclosure and the north east valley side is within the setting of Dodnash Priory Scheduled Monument, lying just outside the Parish Boundary. Overall this landscape is judged to be of high value and a high or medium susceptibility to change, therefore these areas are judged as having high sensitivity overall.
5.56 Land parcel 18 near Willow Farm south
of Gandish Road and west of Mill Road /
Heath Road lies within the Dedham Vale AONB and is identified as former East Bergholt Heath. This open space defines the pattern of medieval and post-medieval ribbon settlement on the periphery of the former heathland. The contribution to the historic settlement pattern and location with the AONB makes this land parcel considered to be of medium-high value with a high susceptibility to change and a high sensitivity overall. This is a slightly higher sensitivity than identified in the EB lSCA (area J).
5.57
Land parcel 21 was outside the scope of
the EB LSCA and is a large area within the Dedham Vale AONB, the north part alongside East End Road also lying within the former East Bergholt Heath. The fields show time-depth to Pre-18th Century enclosure and Touchey Lane is thought to have been the previous route known as Procession Lane as shown on the East Bergholt Heath map of 1732. Remnant historic oaks still line this footpath and semi-natural woodland is extensive in this area. Overall this land parcel is judged as having a high value and a high or medium susceptibility to change and a high sensitivity to development overall.
5.58 The findings of the heritage and landscape
appraisal for land parcel 7 are consistent with the EB LSCA (parcels Q, R and S), assessed as having a medium sensitivity overall. These fields are within the AONB on the southern edge of the village and the historic field pattern is evident, showing time-depth to Pre-18th Century enclosure and are considered to be of medium-high value. These fields are relatively flat, with a high level of vegetation providing enclosure and are overall considered to have a low susceptibility to change and have a medium sensitivity overall. The historic field pattern should be retained and reinforced with new planting where necessary. The fields south of the Public Footpath should remain as green infrastructure to soften the transition to the AONB.
5.59 The land parcels north of the village,
extending to the A12 (land parcels 12, 13, 14 and 15), are all considered to be of medium-high sensitivity overall. The fields show time-depth to Pre-18th Century enclosure and are within the setting of private views from listed properties,

84 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
including Grade II Listed Woodgates Farm
west of Woodgates Road and High Trees
Farmhouse. As identified in the EB LSCA,
these fields have a medium and high
susceptibility to change owing to the open
character, potential far-reaching views and
strong rural character. As noted earlier in
this chapter, parts of these fields within the
corridor of the A12 are within an area of
archaeological potential.
5.60
As highlighted at the beginning of this
Chapter, the majority of land parcel 17 lies in the former area of East Bergholt Heath (refer to Plate 5.4 below) and played a significant part in the development of the settlement pattern within the Parish. Whilst the field pattern was affected by 19th Century enclosure, its historic pattern is evident and the open character and relative lack of built development still reflects its medieval origins. Furthermore, this area now has value as a buffer to the newly extended AONB designated area and is considered to be of medium-high value overall. Land parcel 17 has an open character with broad views across large fields from public roads. These areas have little relationship with existing settlement, although interspersed small hamlets and farmsteads are characteristic. Land parcel 17 is judged to have a medium susceptibility to change and a medium- high sensitivity overall.
5.61 Land parcels defined as existing
predominantly modern development have a low sensitivity to change.
Summary
5.62 The heritage and landscape sensitivity
appraisal recommends the following areas are afforded a higher level of sensitivity, compared to the EB LSCA, owing to their contribution to the historic settlement pattern and/or art association with Constable’s work:
• Land parcel 9 east of the “Donkey track” and west of Mill Road / Heath Road;
• Land parcel 10, located west of Mill Road / Heath Road on the east edge the settlement; and
• Land parcel 18, south of Gandish Road and west of Mill Road / Heath Road near Willow Farm.
5.63 The following parcels of land were not
within the scope of the EB LSCA, with recommendations as follows:
• Land parcel 17 east of Mill Road / Heath Road, lying in area of the former East Bergholt Heath and is considered to be of medium-high sensitivity.
• Land parcel 15 and northern areas of 12, 13 and 14 near the A12 corridor are judged to be of medium-high sensitivity and lie within an area of medium archaeological potential.
5.64 Land parcel 16 lies within the extended
Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB, containing varied rolling valley topography and is of high sensitivity.
5.65 The historic settlement pattern of the
triangular green at Gaston’s End (land parcel 22), known as the “Box Iron” and interrelationship with surrounding historic buildings should be better recognised with origins as a medieval hamlet. The green should be protected from further encroachment and landscape management to strengthen the visual connection into the green and if possible be made publicly accessible.
5.66 Additional landscape guidelines are
recommended as follows to safeguard the intrinsic qualities of the historic landscape and protect from inappropriate development of encroachment.

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 85
Landscape Recommendations
5.67 Recent planting within land parcel 9 has
further reduced intervisivility between the
village edge and area of former heath. It
is recommended that some key long views
from the Donkey Track to Mill Road / Heath
Road and the wider rural setting is retained
with an open character and vegetation
is managed appropriately to retain the
perceived village around the “core” of the
former common / heath.
5.68
It is recommended that historic field
boundaries and field trees are protected and retained and that the pattern is reinforced by the vegetation structure with additional hedgerow and hedgerow tree planting where necessary.
5.69 Development in the 1960s and 1970s
has eroded the edges of the former East Bergholt heath in localised areas. In some areas buildings and their associated suburban character intrudes on the historic landscape character of the Riber valley and opportunities should be sought to enhance green infrastructure to mitigate these effects and soften the built edge.
5.70 The green known as “Box Iron” at
Quinton’s Corner / Gaston’s End should be enhanced to strengthen the visual connection between the surrounding historic buildings and the green. The overgrown hedges and brambles should be managed to open up views from the perimeter, with occasional clear stemmed trees planted to enable views under and between canopies. Opportunities to enable public access should be explored to enable this space to once again function as a
village green.
5.71 The village community could explore ways
to further celebrate John Constable’s life works associated with key locations within the village centre and the former common/ heath, as a cultural resource. This would further recognise the importance of Constable’s birthplace and home, the buildings that inspired him in his everyday environment and his deep emotional connections to the former heathland and common.

Summary
6.0

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 88
6 Summary
6.1 East Bergholt is a special English
village that is incredibly rich in heritage
assets. It is a village that has a special
architectural character, set within a varied
rural landscape with contrasting distinct
character areas of former heathland, rolling
valley slopes and valley floor. This special
place was not only Constable’s birthplace
and area where he spent his early life, but
a place where he found so much inspiration
on his doorstep and continued to return
to throughout his life. East Bergholt and
the Stour Valley has been the inspiration
for an extensive body of work that is of
international importance.
6.2
This study has given greater emphasis
to Constable’s works associated with the former common and heath as well as the village architecture and street scenes that were on Constable’s doorstep and he held in such high regard. This special landscape was the setting of Constable’s family home and the significance of views from East Bergholt House towards the Old Rectory had particular significance in his life story. The rolling landform and rural landscape of the Riber Valley is still central to the village, where large skies are viewed over the former heath and once formed cloudy skies over Golding Constable’s windmill.
6.3 This study had provided an in depth
overview of the historic development of East Bergholt Village, from Pre-historic times to the present day. Its origins were as a manorial estate, the principal manor being Old Hall, located opposite the Church of St. Mary. By the Medieval Period the central Parish was dominated by extensive open heathland and ribbon development stretched along the fringes mainly on the west and south sides. Several ‘End’ place names appear at this time indicating a growth in population, associated with growing prosperity at this period owing to the success of the textile cottage industry.
6.4 The next significant period in terms
of landscape history was the period of enclosure during the early 19th century. East Bergholt Heath was enclosed at 1817. This amalgamated smaller landholdings into larger farms and straightened some of the rural lanes along the new field boundaries, as seen by Straight Road and Heath Road / Mill Road.
6.5 The village expanded significantly during
the 20th century and the settlement pattern became more nucleated, in effect joining the previous satellite hamlets at Gaston’s End and Burnt Oak and amalgamating into one settlement; into East Bergholt Village. East Bergholt is incredibly rich in heritage assets, concentrated in the village heart, the former satellite villages of Gaston’s End and Burnt Oak and former ribbon development of the fringe of the heath, such as Gandish Road. The village retains the distinctive “horseshoe” shape to this day, of settlement surrounding the former common.
6.6 Whilst much of the landscape in the Parish
affords a high level of protection from the AONB designation and from being located in the Conservation Area, the historic setting of the village and historic landscape on the fringes or outside of the designated areas have been subjected to change that has eroded the character. This is evident from the rapid significant expansion that occurred in the late 20th century and some most recent development on the edge of the former common and Quinton’s Area. The purpose of this study is to fully understand and appreciate the historic environmental baseline to inform future planning decisions.

89 | Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt – East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan
6.7 The study has identified the following
areas of archaeological and landscape
sensitivity:
• The former heathland north of the village has archaeological potential.
• The historic landscape pattern is still evident across former heathland north of the village and is highly susceptible to visual impacts, owing to long views across this area.
• Area of the former East Bergholt Common / Heath at the centre of the village on the fringe of the AONB at the settlement edge is sensitive to encroachment and erosion of historic character and weakening of the distinctive “horseshoe” settlement pattern.
• Furthermore, the strong cultural associations with Constable’s body of work and the former East Bergholt Common / Heath is recognised. The Donkey Track provided key viewpoints for his paintings of the heath and the Riber Valley and the Donkey Track remains an important public route for the village today.
• Therefore, it is recommended that the landscape on either side of the Donkey Track is protected, particularly the land next to the surgery of Heath Road / Mill Road and the Great Field at the rear of the Rectory.
The historic association of the
medieval satellite hamlets and village greens has been weakened or lost due to encroachment. This is applicable to the following areas:
• Quinton’s Area and the historic “Box Iron” green has been subject to encroachment and unsympathetic management.
• Land of the former heathland and now in part playing fields, south of Gandish Road.
6.8 Landscape and development
guidelines are proposed to protect the historic environment from inappropriate encroachment or from erosion of character.
6.9 Greater recognition of the important
association with Constable and close associations with the village and the former common warrants a higher level of protection to the central former common. The historic landscape character can be strengthened and enhanced for future generations.

References
7.0

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 92
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Paterson, T.F. 1923. East Bergholt in Suffolk.
Privately printed.
Pevsner, N. 2000. The Buildings of England:
Suffolk. 2nd. Edition revised by Enid Radcliffe.
Penguin Books: London.
Sanders, A. 2007a. The Landscape of East
Bergholt in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth
Centuries. Suffolk Review 48: 7-23.
Sanders, A. 2007b. East Bergholt in the
Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries. Part
2: The Industrial Landscape. Suffolk Review 49:
12-19.
Skeat, W.W. 1913. The Place-Names of Suffolk.
Cambridge Antiquarian Society: Cambridge.
St. John, I. 2000. Flatford. Constable Country.
Suffolk Walker.
Stanley, W. with Farrow, M. 2014. The Stour
Valley Heritage Compendia: Artistic Heritage
Compendium. Managing a Masterpiece: The Stour
Valley Landscape Partnership.
Venning, B. 2004. Constable. Life and
Masterworks. Parkstone Press Ltd.
Maps
1731 William Brasier. Survey of the parish
of East Bergholt with part of Stratford St Mary, Higham, Holton, Brantham & Bentley. (Suffolk Records Office FB191/A/8/1).
1733 William Brasier. A Survey of Several
Mannors in the County of Suffolk. (Suffolk Records Office V5/5/3.1).
1783 Joseph Hodskinson. Map of the County of
Suffolk.
1805 William Mudge. Ordnance Survey 1st
Edition 1-inch map (Old Series): Essex.
1805-1874 Cassinni Old Series map.
1816 East Bergholt Parish Survey (Suffolk
Records Office FB191/A/8/2).
1817 East Bergholt Enclosure Map (Suffolk
Records Office B150/1/4.2).
1837 East Bergholt Parish Tithe Map (NA IR
29/33/41).
1884 Ordnance Survey 1st Edition 6-inch map.
1899 Ordnance Survey 2nd Edition 6-inch map.
1902-5 Ordnance Survey 3rd Edition 6-inch
map.
1925-7 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map.
1953-8 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map.

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 94
1966-7 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map.
1982 Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 map .
2001 Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 map .
2010 Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 map .
Documents
Transcripts and extracts from East Bergholt
Court Rolls and Books (Suffolk Record Office
FB191/N/3/1).
Internet Sources
Dedham Vale AONB Management Plan 2010-2015:
http://www.dedhamvalestourvalley.org/assets/
Publications/Management-Plan-Docs/DV-
AONB7996ManagementStrategyPlan.pdf
Suffolk County Council website: http://www.
suffolklandscape.org.uk/landscape_typology.aspx
Flatford & Constable:
http://www.flatfordandconstable.org.uk/flatford-
an-introduction/
http://www.flatfordandconstable.org.uk/valley-
farm/
http://www.flatfordandconstable.org.uk/willy-
lotts-house/
East Bergholt in Old Photographs and Documents
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/
groups/EBinOldPhotos/
A Survey of Suffolk Parish History: https://
heritage.suffolk.gov.uk/parish-histories
Stour Landscape Partnership. Managing a
Masterpiece:
http://www.dedhamvalestourvalley.org/managing-
a-masterpiece/
You Tube film: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=i6L3V0FdSN8
The National Trust:
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/flatford/
features/flotfordmelle
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/flatford/
features/flatford-mill-under-the-constables
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/flatford/
features/flatford-mill
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/flatford/lists/
history-of-flatford-mill

Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 95

Appendix 1
Listed Buildings Gazetteer

Listed Buildings
No. on
Map
Historic
England
List Entry
No.
Name Listing Text
Grade I
1 1033437 MILLERS HOUSE AND COTTAGE

Millers house and cottage, now Field Studies Centre.
C17 origins, altered C18 and later. Possibly timber-
framed, cased in red brick, mainly in Flemish bond
but central section in English bond. Plain tiles. 2
storeys and attic. West front: Millers house to left,
cottage to right. Millers house of 3 bays, the 3rd bay
being in English bond. 2 cross casements under
segmental gauged arches, French windows to right.
First floor band. Iron tie ends. Cross casements
above. Wooden eaves cornice. Hipped dormers with
C20 windows. Ridge stack, further stack to ridge
right contains brick dated 1619 but this stack has
been rebuilt since painting by John Constable of
1812 showing stack in alternative position. Cottage:
central staircase projection under pent roof contains
door. Casement window under segmental arch to
left. First floor band. Iron tie ends. Stepped and
dentilled eaves. Small flat -roofed dormer. End ridge
stack. East front: Millers House has 2- storey
staircase extension in angle with mill of late C18 –
early C19 date with a wooden doorcase of Gibbs
surround with fanned keyblock and pediment. 12-
pane sash in flush architrave under flat gauged brick
arch and C20 cross casement under segmental arch.
Plinth to part. 4-course first floor band. C20 window
above. Wood eaves cornice. Cottage has plank door
under segmental arch and wide cambered arch to
left, partly blocked, containing later window. C20
window above. Stepped and dentilled eaves.

Interior of house: staircase hall with cut-string stair
with carved tread ends, stick balusters, slender
column newels and ramped handrail. Domed light
above. Early C19 fireplaces. One transverse beam
with run-out chamfer stops. Flatford Mill came into
the possession of the Constable family in the mid
C18. This house m ay have been the birthplace of
John Constable as records appear to show that the
family house in the village centre was not built until
1779 (Jennings). The latter was sold after the death
of Golding Constable, father of John, in the early
C19 and Abram and Mary, John’s brother and sister,
returned to this house. The Grade I status reflects
its significance in the life and work of John
Constable. Leased by the National Trust to the Field
Studies Council.
2 1033438 WILLY LOTTS COTTAGE

Farmhouse, now accommodation for Field Studies
Centre. Late C16-C17. Timber-framed, rendered.
Plain tile roof. Red brick stacks and brick plinth.
Single- storey and attic range of 2 bays with 2-
storey, 2- bay cross wing to left and single-storey
cross wing to right. To centre range a plank door in
ovolo and hollow-chamfered surround. Cross
casement with leaded lights to left. Cross casements
to ground and first floor of cross wing and a further
similar window to left return of single storey range
which has a 3- light diamond mullion window to
gable end. Further cross casements and plank door
to rear. Stack between centre range and 2- storey
range, further stack to right gable end of centre
range. Interior: centre range has red brick inglenook
with chamfered bressummer with bar stop.
Chamfered spine beam with lamb’s tongue stop and
exposed joists. Room to right has deep chamfered
beam and roll-moulded spine beam and exposed

rear
joists. Further red brick inglenook with chamfered
bressummer, 2-storey range has moulded beam and
exposed joists. Closed-string newel stair with onion
pendant. First floor shows jowled posts. Grade I
listing reflects the importance of this building as part
of the Flatford Mill group and its significance in the
work of the artist John Constable. Leased by the
National Trust to the Field Studies Council.

3 1033473 VALLEY FARMHOUSE

House. Late C15 open hall with cross wing
incorporating C14 features. Rear range probably
C17. Small later addition to left. Renovated and
restored to original form C20. Timber-framed. Plain
tile roof. Red brick stacks. Open hall with 2- storey,
2-bay jettied cross wing to left and through passage
and 2- storey service wing to right. Close studding
with middle rail. Plank door under chamfered Tudor
arch. 6- light diamond mullion hall window. Small 2-
light mullion window to left of entrance. 4-light
mullion window to service range. 3-light cross
casements with leaded lights to cross wing with
jettied gable end and tension braces to first floor.
Pent roof to upper window. Roof hipped at right.
Ridge stack to left of entrance and further stack to
left return of cross wing. Further diamond mullion
windows and plank door under chamfered Tudor
arch to rear. Rear range heightened and altered,

underbuilt in brick. Interior: framing exposed. Open
hall has pair of chamfered posts with arch braces to
chamfered cambered tie- beam supporting octagonal
crown post with moulded base and capital, braced to
purlin and collar. Down braces to end walls. Shutter
groove to hall window. Through passage to right
with paired doorways to service range with plank
doors under Tudor arches. Original stairs to service
range along rear wall. Inglenook fireplace with
cambered moulded bressumer containing moulded
brick arched recess at left, massive stepped stack.
To first floor of service range to hall side a blocked
elliptical-arched moulded brick fireplace. Jettied
range: exposed framing including wall plate showing
edge- halved scarf joint. Blocked diamond mullion
window. To centre, pair of posts with arch braces to
cambered tie beam which supports a short octagonal
crown post with capital of 3 convex mouldings of
probable mid C14 date. (Attic floor inserted). C14
roof structure in combination with later features in
walling suggests a probable C15 reconstruction of
this wing. Grade I status reflects the historic interest
of the building and its extra significance as part of
the Flatford Mill group. Leased by the National Trust
to The Field Studies Council and used as the
Warden’s House.
4 1193803 CHURCH OF ST MARY Church. Chancel C14 with C15 alterations. North and
south chapels mid C15 with later alterations. South
aisle later C15, incorporating C14 south door. 1525
date- stone on tower. North aisle, clerestory and
nave arcades c1530s – 40s. Restoration 1850s – 60s.
Further alterations and additions of early C20 by T G
Jackson. Perpendicular style. Tower of brick and flint
faced with knapped flint. North aisle mainly brick
with some septaria and roughly-dressed stone.

South aisle brick and snapped flint. Later stucco to
aisles, now removed. Ashlar clerestory. South porch
and chancel rendered above plinth. Ashlar dressings
throughout. Plain tile roofs. West tower with passage
through, 5-bay aisled nave, south porch with
parvise, 2- bay chancel with single-bay chapels to
north and south. Tower: incomplete, raised only to
single stage. 5- sided angle turrets, ashlar plinth with
encircled quatrefoils containing shields. Much
weathered flushwork above. Wide north and south
arches to passage. 2-centred moulded arches on
inner responds with continuously moulded jambs
under square label containing encircled quatrefoil
with shields and mouchettes to spandrels. Date
plaque above south arch now illegible. Passageway
retains vault shafts. West doors have linenfold
panelling and enriched central baluster. West front
has C20 paired traceried windows and is surmounted
by C18 octagonal bellcote. South aisle: plinth, flush-
work band, flushwork buttresses with niches and
truncated pinnacles. Tudor- arched 3- light
Perpendicular windows. Battlements throughout
enriched with carved shields. South porch of 2
storeys with domed stair turret to west. Flushwork
plinth and diagonal buttresses with niches. Pointed
arch, the inner order on responds, with continuously
moulded jambs enriched with shields. Hoodmould
surmounted by square label with encircled
quatrefoils and mouchettes in the spandrels. Single-
light window to parvise under square label. Parapet.
North aisle: plinth, flushwork offset buttresses with
brattishing. Large 4-light windows with
Perpendicular tracery. Polygonal 3- stage stair turret
to east surmounted by finial, with the mullet device
of the De Veres, Lords of the village manor of Old

Hall from 1425. North door: linenfold panelling with
central baluster in continuously moulded surround
enriched with niches and shields. Square moulded
surround with outer colonettes and decorated
spandrels. Clerestory his 3 -light segmental-pointed
windows with Perpendicular tracery. Chancel and
Chapels have 3-light windows with Perpendicular
tracery. Diagonal buttresses to chancel and 5-light
east window. Embattled parapets. Interior: nave
arcade of 2- centred arches on piers of section four
shafts and four hollows with moulded capitals to
shafts. Pointed chancel arch on triple responds.
Original roofs to south aisle and chancel. Nave roof
of 1854. Angle corbels to south chapel, reroofed
1866. Easter Sepulchre with C15 wall painting. Wall
monuments to William Jonar 1636, and to Edward
Lambe d.1617 with niche containing kneeling figure
flanked by angels and surmounted by entablature
with hatchment and obelisks. Early C18 marble
chest tombs to Chaplin and Parker families in south
chapel. Memorials to Maria Constable, Wife of John
Constable, and her grandfather Dr Rhudde.
Pevsner N, Suffolk 2nd Ed 1974 pp 195-196
Paterson T F, East Bergholt in Suffolk, 1923 pp 52-
90.
Riches A, Victorian Church Building and Restoration
in Suffolk 1982 p 366.
Elam J F, St Mary’s Church East Bergholt 1986.
5 1351931 FLATFORD MILL Watermill, now Field Studies Centre. 1733
datestone, incorporating possibly earlier but altered
former granary range to rear and further C19 range
adjoining granary. Later alterations. Red brick in
Flemish bond with weatherboarded lucam and
granary range. Plain tile roofs. Main range 2 storeys
and attic. South front: 4 first floor windows, central

gable to attic. Door to right with overlight in tall
opening which breaks the first floor band. 24-pane
segment-arched sash to right. Low plank door to
centre. 4 round- arched windows, 2 with iron glazing
bars with radial glazing to heads and two C20
wooden replicas of these. Small 2-light windows to
first floor. First floor band of 3 courses, similar to
gable. Lucam to right gable end. Rear: two blocked
wheel arches. Door under segmental arch
surmounted by datestone. 4-course first floor band.
Pitching door above and 2 small windows under
segmental arches. Stepped eaves. Attic gable glazed
early C20. Wheel arrangement altered C19, wheel
house added to right. No wheels left in situ. Range
attached to rear left, former granary now
incorporated into accommodation. Single storey and
attic. Extension under pent roof to mill pond side,
C20 casements. Gabled dormers to mansard roof.
Further brick range at lower level with gabled
dormer to mill pond side. Interior of granary range
shows timber-framing with some chamfered jowled
posts, studded walls, massive beams of apparently
inserted ceiling. The mill was in the possession of
the Constable family from the mid C18. Its Grade I
status reflects its significance in the life and work of
John Constable. Leased by the National Trust to the
Field Studies Council.
GRADE II*
6 1033451 BELLCAGE TO NORTH SIDE OF CHURCHYARD Bellhouse. Probably late C16. Timber-framed on red
brick plinth. Plain tile roof. Rectangular on plan.
Plank and muntin lower wall with open lattice work
above. Door to left with long strap hinges.
Overhanging steeply-pitched hipped gableted roof.
Interior contains bell frame with five bells, one dated

1450. Some wall posts jowled. Posts to centre of
each wall with knees support tie beams. Roof of
lower level of butt purlins with clasped purlins
above. Built to house the bells after the erection of
the west tower of St Mary’s Church (qv) was
abandoned. Said to have been resited from the east
side of the church in C18 at the request of Joseph
Chaplin of Old Hall (qv).
Paterson T F, East Bergholt in Suffolk 1923 pp 90-
95.
Pevsner N, Suffolk 2nd ed 1974 p 196.

7 1033454 CHURCHGATE HOUSE House, probable former religious guild hall. c1500,
later additions to rear and later remodelling
including late C18 – early C19 refronting. C20 single-

storey addition to right of no special interest.
Timber- framed on brick plinth with brick front and
right gable wall. Roughcast. Plain tile roof. Left bay
originally of 3 jettied storeys with probable lower
range to right. Now 2 storeys with single-storey
cross range to rear right and 2-storey cross wing to
rear left. Central 6-panel door in pilastered doorcase
with frieze and dentilled cornice, panelled reveals
and soffit. 12-pane sashes with thick glazing bars,
asymmetrically placed. Wedge lintels. First floor
band. Swept roof. Rear external stack to right with
probable former stair projection under pent roof to
right. 2 gabled wings have ridge stacks. Interior: 2
bays, with later staircase hall inserted into wider left
bay which was formerly jettied as indicated by
dragon beam. Fine ceiling with leaf-scroll moulded
beams and moulded joists. To gable wall a blocked
pair of 6-light ovolo and cavetto moulded mullion
windows flanking large central opening now blocked
with sash window. Brick inglenook with some
herringbone and stepped brickwork to rear wall
under mutilated chamfered bressummer. Projection
adjacent to inglenook may indicate position of
original newel stair. Staircase hall with early C1 9
stair with column newels, stick balusters and carved
tread ends. Section of C17 panelling with H hinges.
Studded partition wall to right has central chamfered
post with fine carving to jowl representing demi-
angel with shield bearing crown emblem. To rear of
partition wall a blocked Tudor-arched chamfered
doorway. Room to right shows reverse of this
doorway and has fine ceiling with leaf-scroll moulded
beam with leaf stops and moulded joists. Further
blocked Tudor-arched doorway to right gable end.
First floor: large chamfered jowled central post. Left

bay has studded walls and moulded beams and
joists. Dragon beam indicating further jettied storey
above, now removed. In the right bay adjacent to
the studded partition wall is a crown post braced
front and rear to tie beam and with further mortice
to outer face indicating probable lower range
adjoining 3-storey jettied left bay. Access to roof
above right bay not possible at time of resurvey.
Small section of hand painted plaster. Early C19
grates to both rooms. Undergoing renovation at time
of resurvey.
East Bergholt Society Looking at East Bergholt 1981
Text by J Elam.
8 1033472 BRIDGE COTTAGE

Cottage, now National Trust information centre and
shop. Probably late C16 with later alterations.
Timber- framed, rendered. Red brick stack. Thatched
roof. One storey and attic. 3½-bay frame with lower
addition to right. To left a board door and bow
window. Central fire window. Further board door and
casement to right. Gabled half dormer to right with
casement window forms a post C18 addition. Central
stack. Lower extension to right under hipped roof.
Rear: board door and 2-light window with horizontal
glazing bars and further board door to right with 2-
light casement adjoining. 2 gabled half dormers with
casement windows. Interior: chamfered spine beam
and cross beams with run-out stops. Jowled posts,
wall plates with some arch braces and wall studding
exposed. Collar rafter roof, clasped purlins to part.
II* grading reflects the importance of the cottage as
part of the Flatford Mill group and its significance in
the work of John Constable. Undergoing restoration
at time of resurvey.
9 1285872 THE GABLES House. Late C16 with probable early C16 rear wing
to hall range and later rear range to cross wing. C19

additions to rear. Renovated 1970s. Timber-framed,
part rendered. C19 sections in painted brick. Plain
tile roof. Red brick stacks. Two storeys, attic to front
range. Hall with jettied cross wing to left with
attached gabled ranges to rear. C19 extensions in
Tudor style. Front range: close studding. C20 Tudor-
arched entrance under hood adjacent to cross wing.
C20 mullion and transom windows with mullioned
side lights, largely in original openings throughout.
C20 moulded bressummer to first floor. Cross wing
has C20 oriel window with mullioned side lights.
Jettied first floor with moulded bressummer. Similar
first floor window and 5- light mullion window to
jettied gable with moulded bressummer, C19
bargeboards and finial. Swept roof. Paired octagonal
ridge stacks to rear. Left return underbuilt in painted
brick. Range to rear of hall slightly lower. Close
studding. Restored mullion windows. Large ridge
stack adjacent to front range with 6 octagonal
shafts. Range to rear of cross wing rendered with
large C20 stair window. Interior: front range,
moulded beams and exposed joists. Chamfered brick
Tudor-arched fireplace to hall flanked by Tudor-
arched doorwlays
to rear wing. Further chamfered basket-arched
fireplace to cross wing. Rear wing: inglenook with
chamfered bressummer. Studded walls, moulded
beams and joists. Probably inserted C17 panelling.
5-light ovolo mullion window to original rear wall
now backing onto stair hall. Stair hall range:
studded rear wall of cross wing with C20 painted
decoration exposed in stair hall. C20 staircase. First
floor: chamfered beams and exposed joists.
Fireplace with painted basket arch with ovolo
moulding in chamfered square surround with

stepped stops. Similar fireplace to rear wall of cross
wing which has probably inserted C17 panelling with
cornice and some strapwork panels. Rear range has
C20 replica crown post roof. Clasped purlin roof with
wind braces to front range. Several moulded and
studded plank doors. Small chamfered basket-
arched fireplace to attic of cross wing. Extensively
renovated and restored 1970s, the house contains
several other imported features.
10 1286124 THE LODGE House. Core 1505 (owner’s date), remodelled C18
and enlarged and further remodelled early C20.
Alterations to exterior of C20 in Tudor style. Timber-
framed, part cased in brick. Rendered. Ashlar porch
and detailing. Plain tile roof. Red brick stacks. Two
storeys, 9 irregular bays, section to right of porch
forms early C20 addition. Off-centre 2-storey gabled
porch with off- set angle buttresses surmounted by
pinnacles. 4-centred entrance arch beneath oriel
window. Parapet and pinnacle to gable. To left, 3
sashes with glazing bars in architraves with
hoodmoulds to each floor and staircase oriel. To
right a square pilastered bay with mullion and
transom window and similar sashes, 4 to first floor.
Parapet with band. Hipped double- span roof with flat
dormers. Grouped octagonal corniced stacks in C16
style. Interior remodelled early C20. Entrance hall
with C17 style panelling, chimneypiece and
staircase. Some .016 moulded joists. First floor
ceiling of hall 3 bays of C16 moulded beams and
joists incorporated into later scheme. Room to rear
of stair hall shows moulded joists. Other ground
floor rooms remodelled in C18 style. Photograph in
owner’s possession shows house previous to C20
enlargement as remodelled C18 with 5 symmetrical
bays.

11 1286166 CHAPLINS

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list- entry/1286166

House. Early C16 with later alterations and
additions. Timber-framed with attached range to
right rendered at front, weatherboarded to rear.
Rear extensions rendered. Plain tile roofs. Red brick
stacks. Originally open hall with jettied 2-storey
cross wing to right, through passage to left but
former service wing to left no longer extant. Single-
storey range to right and 2-storey gabled addition to
rear. 2- bay hall and 2-bay cross wing. Close
studding with middle rail. Plank door to left with long
strap hinges in Tudor-arched entrance. 6- light
diamond mullion hall window with oriel of probable
C19 date inserted below. Gabled dormer above.
Inserted stack to right of entrance. Cross wing:
cross casement with leaded lights. Brattished middle
rail below jetty. Cross casement oriel window above
flanked by original 6-light windows with ovolo
principal and diamond subsidiary mullions. Studding
and down braces to gable. Swept roof, ridge stack.
Interior: through passage contains paired Tudor-
arched, cavetto-moulded service doorways (now
blocked) with moulded spandrels. Jamb of original
rear entrance survives. Hall contains inglenook fire-
place with bressummer. Beam above inglenook with
merchant’s mark carved in relief. Wall posts to front
and rear have attached chamfered shafts
surmounted by short, half-octagonal posts with
moulded capitals. Deep beam with ovolo moulding
to outer face, plain stopped chamfer to other face.
Longitudinal beam with ovolo mouldings, moulded
joists. Two C18 corner cupboards with shaped
shelves. Cross wing: framing exposed including wall
posts with arch braces to chamfered beam. Studded
walls. Exposed joists. Remains of wall painting with
lattice-work in white containing fleur- de-lys motif on

red background. Further section with white paterae
on green background. Painted rail with frieze above
with black foliate design on white back-ground. First
floor: hall range, chamfered jowled posts with large
chamfered arch braces forming arch beneath
chamfered, cambered tie beam. Foot of crown post
visible, moulded base and cavetto-moulded post.
Crown post visible in roof space, moulded capital
and braces to collar purlin. Further unmoulded post
at junction with cross wing. Wall plate with edge-
halved scarf. Moulded plank door of probable C16
date adjacent to stack. Cross wing; posts to stop-
chamfered tie beam, mortices for missing arch-
braces. 2 crown posts in roof space, unmoulded with
braces to collar purlin.
12 1351932 CLAYCOTTS

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list- entry/1351932
House. Early C16, two builds, with further range of
c1600. Later alterations and additions including
dovecote range attached to south and C20 addition
of no special interest to west. Restoration of early
1980s. Timber-framed, rendered, part under-built in
painted brick, with red brick stacks and other
additions. Dovecote range weatherboarded. Plain tile
roofs. Two storeys, truncated former hall range with

slightly higher cross range to right, range of c1600
at right angles to cross wing. Dovecote range
adjoins former hall range to left. Entrance now by
C20 range. Former hall (now kitchen) and cross
wing: jettied, underbuilt in brick, carved posts and
capitals, that to left of cross wing gable end
particularly fine with ‘linenfold’ motif to post and
floral motifs to square capital and abacus and arch
brace. Foliate scroll to bressummer of cross wing,
moulded to hall range. C20 cross casement
windows, that to cross wing in angle with other
range replacing an entrance with C19 doorcase

(NMR). Rendering to first floor conceals close
studding and blocked 3-light mullion windows
(owner’s photographs). Close studding and collar to
cross- wing gable with bargeboards and finial. Swept
roofs. External stack to gable of range to left.
Adjoining dovecote range single-storey with 2- storey
central dovecote, original openings to rear and
doveholes and shelves to gable. In angle with later
range is brick projection under pent roof with 3-light
brick ovolo mullion window with hoodmould and
cogged cornice. Range of c1600: on plinth, jettied
gable end. To ground floor French windows flanked
by blocked 3-light ovolo mullion windows. C20 cross
casement to first floor. Close-studding to jettied
gable with bargeboards and finial. Swept roof. To
right return a large external off-set stack (upper
part rebuilt). Brick staircase projection under pent
roof. Interior: former hall and cross wing have
moulded ceiling beams to ground floor, blocked
mullion window to front wall of kitchen. Later range
has plastered brick basket-arched ovolo-moulded
fireplace and studded walls with down braces. Newel
spiral stair adjacent to stack somewhat remodelled.
First floor: framing exposed including chamfered
jowled posts with arch braces and moulded beams
and joists to earlier ranges. Close studding. Rafter
seatings in wall plate at right of former hall range
apparently indicate hipped roof predating erection of
cross wing. Roof rebuilt incorporating early timbers.
GRADE II
13 1033415 THE CHEMIST House, now shop. Early C19. Brick, colourwashed.
Slate roof. Two storeys, 3 bays with central
breakforward and angle pilasters. Central glazed
door in pilastered surround with pediment on

corbels. Large plate glass windows. Sashes with
glazing bars above with sills. End stacks. Interior not
inspected.

14 1033416 IVY COTTAGE AND COTTAGE ADJOINING TO RIGHT Pair of cottages, Ivy Cottage now hairdresser’s
salon. Late C18 – Early C19. Timber- framed,
rendered. Slate roof. Brick stacks. Two storeys, two
first floor windows to each cottage. Ivy Cottage:
central pilastered doorcase with mutule cornice
containing half-glazed door. Sashes with glazing
bars and margin lights. Cottage to right: half-glazed
central door in pilastered doorcase with cornice.
Sashes with glazing bars and margin lights. Round-
arched through passage to right. Overhanging roof
with corniced stacks. Interior not inspected.

15 1033417 CONSTABLES House. Mid C19. Red brick in Flemish bond. Slate
roof. Two storeys, two bays. Central 4- panel door
with overlight in architrave with cornice. 16-pane
sashes throughout with cambered gauged brick
arches to ground floor. Overhanging roof, corniced
end stacks. Included for group value. I nterior not
inspected.
16 1033418 COTTAGE TO NORTH OF THE RED LION Cottage. C18. Timber-framed, plain tile roof. Rebuilt
brick stack. Two storeys, three bays. Central lobby
entry. Thin- studded walls with middle rail, straight
posts and down braces. C20 door and cross
casements. Pointed 2-light casements above. Swept
hipped roof and central stack. Rendering described
on earlier list now removed. Interior not inspected.

17 1033419 CHAPEL HOUSE, POST OFFICE & OLD MANSE

Pair of houses and Post Office. Probable C17 core,
remodelled early C19. Timber-framed, cased in
white brick with plain tile roof and red brick stacks.
2-storey, 2-window centre range with gabled cross
wings to each side, that to left incorporated into Post
Office which is partly housed in single-storey
extension to left of no special interest. To main
range, 6-panel doors under radial fanlights with
round arches. 16- pane sashes in reveals with sills.
Cambered brick arches to ground floor and wings.
Steeply- pitched roof. Centre stack to main range
and ridge stacks to cross wings. Part undergoing
renovation at time of resurvey. Interior not
inspected.

18 1033420 WEST LODGE COTTAGES

Pair of cottages, now one dwelling. Late C18 – early
C19. Red brick in Flemish bond. Plain tile roof.

Single storey and attic, 2 bays. Paired central
entrances have 6- panel doors in panelled reveals
with architraves under flat gauged brick arches. C20
casements under flat gauged brick arches. Stepped
and dentilled eaves. Mansard roof. Two flat dormers
with C20 casements. End stacks. Interior not
inspected.
19 1033421 WEST LODGE STABLES

Coach-house and stables, now in commercial use.
C17 origin with C18 and later alterations and
additions. Red brick in English and Flemish bond.
Possible timber-framed core to part. Plain tile roof.
Two storeys. Originally L-shaped, gabled cross wing
to rear left now truncated. Front: brick in Flemish
bond. Mainly C20 inserted doors and windows. Roof
hipped at right. Right return is rendered with
casement windows with arched lights in similar style
to Stour Cottage (qv). Rear: somewhat rebuilt stack
to gable end cross wing. To centre, double plank
doors with long strap hinges under segmental
carriage arch. Plank stable door with long L-hinges
to right with pitching door above. Formed service
range to Stour House (qv). Undergoing renovation
at time of resurvey. Interior not inspected.

20 1033422 ORVIS CROFT House. Probably late C16. Timber-framed, rendered
in part. Plain tile roof. Red brick stacks. L-plan. Two
storeys, 4- bay frame with rear cross wing. Off-
centre C20 gabled timber porch. Casement to right.
C20 square bays to outer bays. Three casements
and one single-light window to first floor. Close-
studding, straight down braces. External stack to
right gable end. Off-centre ridge stack. Low
extension to right of no special interest. Interior not
inspected.
21 1033439 GANDISH HOUSE House. Probable C17 cross wing with former hall
range rebuilt early C19. Timber- framed cross wing,
rendered, otherwise painted brick. Plain tile roofs.
Rebuilt red brick stack. 2 storeys, 2-bay cross wing
to left. Projecting square entrance porch with
panelled door. C19 sashes with arched lights and
casements. Double span roof to right range with
ridge stack with 4 detached octagonal shafts.
Interior: cross range framing concealed. Chamfered

beam with bar stops. Clasped purlin roof. Early C19
interior features include fireplaces and grates,
staircase with ramped mahogany handrail, column
newels, stick balusters and carved tread ends.
Cornices. The home of Anne Constable (sister of the
artist John Constable) in the early C19, who is said
to have carried out alterations and extensions.
Was the subject of John Constable’s painting
“Gandish Cottage, Suffolk” where the cottage is
depicted in winter.
22 1033440 OLD MILL HOUSE

House. Probably C17 with early C19 and later
alterations and extensions. Timber-
framed, rough rendered, partly underbuilt in brick.
Plain tile roof, red brick stack. 2 storeys, 4- bay
frame. Central lobby entry. Projecting gabled porch
with plank door. 16 and 24-pane sashes in flush
wood architraves. French windows to left. Roof
hipped to left. Central ridge stack. Interior: framing
exposed. Chamfered jowled posts, section of close
studding.
23 1033441 STUARTS House. C16 – C17 with later alterations and
additions. Timber-framed, rendered in part, brick
extension to rear. Plain tile roof. Red brick stacks. 2
storeys. Off-centre lobby entry range with cross
wing to right. C20 door and casements. Close
studding above middle rail. Swept roof. Cross wing
has large C20 bow replacing a shop front and
casement window. External stack to right return.

C20 extension to rear. Interior not inspected.
Included for group value.
24 1033442 CHAPLAINS COTTAGE & GASCOIGNES

House, now two dwellings. Probably C17. Timber-
framed, rendered. Plain tile roof,
red brick stacks. L-shaped range with gabled range
in angle. 2 storeys. 4-bay frame to front range
which has extensive alterations to exterior. C20
porch and large bay to left, two casement windows.
Two casements, fixed light and top opening window
to first floor. Off-centre and end stacks. Large
external stack to range in angle. Interior: framing of
front range exposed including beams and joists and
studded walls to ground floor. To first floor, jowled
posts, chamfered cambered tie beams with arch
braces.
25 1033443 WISTERIA COTTAGE House. c1830. White brick, creamwashed. Slate
roof. 2 storeys 3 bays. Central half-glazed door in
doorcase with patterned jambs, frieze and hood.
Panelled reveals and soffit. Sashes with glazing bars
in reveals with sills under cambered wedge lintels.
First floor band. Sashes with glazing bars and similar
details above. Blocked central window. Overhanging
hipped roof and later red brick corniced end stacks.
Interior not inspected.
26 1033444 THE LAMBE SCHOOL School, now village hall. Founded 1594 by Edward
Lambe. Two builds, the earlier section to the right is
probably the original building although much
altered, with early C19 range to left. Restored
1970s. Early section: timber-framed, front and right
gable cased in red brick in Flemish bond, rear

© Google Earth
weatherboarded. Slate to front roof pitch, plain tiles
to rear. One storey, 2 bays of frame. Sashes with
glazing bars in reveals. Present entrance through
later range. Roof gableted to left. External stack to
right. 4-light restored diamond mullion window to
rear. Later range: white brick, slate roof. C20
weatherboarded extension to rear. One storey. Four
16-pane sashes in reveals with sills under shallow
pedimented lintels. Angle pilasters. Original entrance
to left gable end. Present entrance by rear
extension. Later linking wall to older range. Interior
of early section: exposed framing consisting of
ground rail on plinth, studded walls and jowled posts
with mortices for arch braces. Replaced tie beams.
Rebuilt inglenook with chamfered timber
bressummer. Studded wall above contains blocked
restored 3-light diamond mullion
window. The school was originally endowed by
Mistress Lettice Dykes in 1589, the foundation by
Edward Lambe (Lord of the village manor of Illaries)
is recorded by a deed of Sept 25th 1594.
Patterson T F, East Bergholt in Suffolk, 1923 pp 96-
113.
27 1033445 FUSCHIA COTTAGE Cottage. Probably C17 with later alterations. Timber-
framed, cased in painted brick. Plain tile roof.

Rebuilt red brick stack. Single storey and attic.
Gable
end to street. Central lobby-entry. C19 half- glazed
door in reveal with architrave flanked by 16- pane
sashes in flush architraves. Further C20 window to
right. Swept roof, ridge stack. 2 small- paned
casements and band to gable end. Interior not
inspected but some framing, beamed ceiling and
inglenook visible.
28 1033446 ACKWORTH HOUSE House. c1840. White brick. Slate roof. 2 storeys, 3
bays with low service wing to right. Plinth. Projecting
paired pilasters supporting pediment to central bay.
Angle pilasters. Central entrance. 6-panel door with
jamb lights under radial fanlight. Sashes with
glazing bars in reveals with cornices. First floor
band. Similar windows above. Cornice. Hipped roof
with corniced stacks. Full-height bow to left return
with pilasters and sashes with glazing bars. Interior
not inspected.
29 1033447 THE HARE AND HOUNDS Public House. C16 with later alterations and
additions. Timber-framed, rendered, part underbuilt
and part cased in painted brick. Plain tile roof.
Single- storey and attic with gabled cross wing to
right and later a dditions to right and rear. Range to
left: cased in brick, 4-panel door to left. Tripartite
sash with glazing bars to right. C20 canted bay to

left gable end. Cross wing underbuilt in brick. Half-
glazed door with C20 casement to right. 8-pane sash
above. Range to right projects and under a catslide
roof. Interior: left range has fine plaster ceiling
divided into 4 panels by ovolo-moulded beam and
longitudinal beam with run-out stop. 3 of the panels
have scrollwork borders with mythological beasts
and a central square boss flanked by large fleur-de-
lys and Tudor roses. The panel adjacent to the
present entrance from the cross wing contains 4
parallel strips of scroll decoration. Ground floor of
cross wing has large chamfered beams with run -out
stops. Inglenook fireplace with bressummer. Original
rear wall studded and contains Tudor-arched
doorway. To first floor some framing visible including
chamfered jowled post, chamfered tie beam and
studded walls.
30 1033448 PARK HOUSE House. Probably C17, remodelled early C19. Timber-
framed on brick plinth, rendered. Plain tile roof, red
brick stacks. L-plan. 2 storeys, 3 first floor windows.
Central lobby-entry. C19 panelled double doors in
pilastered doorcase with lions head capitals and
cornice. 16-pane sashes. Hipped roof, central ridge
stack. Addition to left under pent roof. Further
external stack to rear of cross wing. Interior not
inspected.
31 1033449 THE HERMITAGE House. Probably C16 with C17 and later additions
and alterations. Timber-framed, rendered and partly
cased in painted brick. Plain tile roof. Red brick
stacks (mainly rebuilt). Central 1½-storey, lobby-
entry range with 2-storey cross wings. Further 2-
storeys gabled wing to left. 6-panel door under
gabled porch. Tripartite sashes with arched upper
panes. 2 gabled dormers with unequal sashes and
barge- boards. C19 stack. Cross wing to right

underbuilt in brick, sash window with glazing bars
under cambered arch. Stepped first floor band.
Unequal sash with glazing bars above. Bargeboards
to gable. To right return, sashes with glazing bars,
stack to rear. Left cross wing underbuilt in brick,
similar sashes to right wing. External stack to left of
gable end. Stepped first floor band. Jettied gable.
Studding and bargeboards to gable. Gabled wing at
left at higher level
has 2- storey bay. Interior not inspected.
32 1033450 HIGH TREES FARMHOUSE

House. Open-hall house of c1500 remodelled C18,
later alterations and additions including some
interior remodelling of 1932 by Raymond Erith.
Timber- framed, front cased in red brick in Flemish
bond, rear underbuilt in brick and rendered above,
gable ends rebuilt in brick. Red brick stacks. Plain
tile roof. 2 storeys and attic, 5-bay frame. Original
central open hall, floored over C16. 7 irregular
window bays. Off-centre half-glazed door in C20
timber porch. Sash windows with glazing bars in
flush wood architraves under flat gauged brick
arches. One inserted
window with Gothick glazing to right. Steeply-
pitched roof. End and off-centre ridge stacks. Rear:
C20 extensions of no special interest. Two C19
sashes with glazing bars and C20 casements. Two
gabled dormers with casements. Interior: entrance
hall has moulded ceiling beams and joists. Section of
moulded and brattished dais beam exposed to right.

Remodelled by Erith in C18 style with panelling and
staircase. Plaster cornices to ground floor rooms.
Further stair to rear of stack. Framing exposed in
part to first floor including wall plate, jowled post
with hollow chamfer with mortice for arch brace to
hollow- chamfered cambered tie beam. To attic: hall
crown post to 4th bay – octagonal post on base with
moulded capital, braced to purlin and collar.
Somewhat damaged due to later partition wall (now
removed). Studded partition to left incorporating
unmoulded crown post, beyond this wall the collar
purlin is truncated. Unmoulded crown posts to
remaining bays to right.
33 1033452 TOMB TO JOHN LEWIS IN CHURCHYARD OF ST MARY Tomb chest. Late C18. Commemorates John Lewis
(d 1777). Red brick with ashlar slab. Rectangular on
plan. Square moulded brick panels flanked by fluted
pilasters with moulded strapwork friezes. Cornice.
Slab with inscription now largely illegible.
34 1033453 TOMB TO GOLDING AND ANN CONSTABLE IN
CHURCHYARD OF CHURCH OF ST MARY
Chest tomb. Early C19. Commemorates Golding
Constable (d 1816) and his wife Ann (d 1815).
Ashlar. On low splayed plinth with shallow
pedimented cover bearing inscriptions to Golding
and Ann. Inscriptions to other later members of the
family to sides. Golding and Ann Constable were the
parents of John Constable. The tomb was originally
surrounded by railings.
Drawing by John Constable reproduced in Elam, J F,
St Mary’s Church, East Bergholt 1986.
35 1033455 RECTORY HILL COTTAGE NUMBERS 1 AND 2 AND ST
MARYS COTTAGE
Range of cottages. Rectory Hill and St Mary’s
Cottage probably C16 with later alterations and
additions. Nos 1 and 2 probably early C19 replacing
earlier structure. Timber- framed, rendered. Part
underbuilt in painted brick and brick additions. Plain
tile roof. Red brick stacks. U-shaped group, Rectory
Hill Cottage stands gable end to street with range to

right forming Nos 1 and 2, except for the end bay to
right which now forms part of St Mary’s Cottage
which occupies a rear cross range. Later additions to
rear of cross ranges. Two storeys, attic to Rectory
Hill Cottage. Rectory Hill Cottage: 4-bay frame,
underbuilt in brick. Canted bay under tiled roof
containing small-paned casements. 3-light small-
paned casement above and 4-pane sash to gable.
Steeply- pitched swept roof. Stack to rear gable, now
incorporated into later range. Left return has central
half-glazed door with C20 bay window to left and
unequal sash with glazing bars to right. 8-pane
sashes above. Nos 1 and 2: half- glazed doors under
bracketed tiled porch. Horned sashes with glazing
bars. First floor string course. Two ridge stacks. St
Mary’s Cottage: 2- bay frame. Right return has C20
door in porch and C20 other openings. Rear
extension of probable C17 date. Interior: Rectory
Hill Cottage shows some framing including jowled
posts and studded wall to first floor. First floor front
wall has pair of blocked 6-light windows with ovolo
principal mullions and diamond subsidiary mullions
flanking C20 window. Clasped purlin roof. St Mary’s
Cottage: exposed framing. Originally jettied to rear.
Inglenook fireplace with stop-chamfered
bressummer. Studded walls. 2-light blocked window
to jettied wall showing section of ovolo and cavetto
chamfered mullion. Spiral newel stair adjacent to
stack. First floor: fireplace with chamfered elliptical
arch. Jowled posts with down braces and studded
walls with extensive surviving wall painting. Strap-
work and floral motifs in red and blue surmounted
by a frieze with hatchments, scrollwork and figures
in Renaissance style in black on a white background.

36 1033456 GISSINGS

House. Late C16 – early C17, two builds, with later
alterations including early C19 refronting. Timber-
framed, rendered. White brick front. Plain tile roof.L-
shaped plan with cross wing at rear left. 2 storeys.
Front range of 3 bays with jetty to right gable end.
Rear wing 4- frame bays. Front range. Pilasters
define bays. Half- glazed double leaf doors to centre
in architrave with pediment supported on consoles.
16-pane sashes in reveals under wedge lintels.
Unequal sashes to first floor. Off-centre ridge stack.
Left gable end has 12-pane sashes and bargeboards.
To rear a C19 shallow addition under pent roof.
Cross range: gabled porch in angle with front range
contains half-glazed door. 16-pane sash window to
centre and garage doors and fixed window to left.
Three C20 casements above. Large ridge stack
adjacent to front wing. Rear, oval plaque with
plasterers date 1708. Interior: C19 features include
staircase to central hall with short twisted balusters.
Kitchen, to right, shows a chamfered post, deep
chamfered beam and exposed joists. Further steep
staircase behind stack. Further framing exposed to
first floor including massive chamfered jowled post
with arch brace, cambered tie beam. Studded walls
and two 4-light blocked diamond mullion windows.
Wall plate with edge-halved scarf joint and
chamfered beam with lambs tongue stop. Rear
range: 4-bay frame with jowled posts. Clasped
purlin roof with assembly numbers and wind braces.

37 1033457 THE OLD RECTORY Rectory, now house. 1714 with additional wing of

1820s. Red brick in Flemish bond, front rendered,
rear painted. Slate roof to front, plain tiles to rear.
Two storeys, attic and basement. 4 bays with lower
range of 1820 to left. Steps to off-centre original
entrance (present entrance to rear). 12-pane
sashes. Parapet. M-shaped roof with gabled dormer
windows. Rear: later porch containing half- glazed
door. 12-pane sashes (some with thick glazing bars)
in flush architraves under flat gauged brick arches.
Eaves band and parapet. Gabled dormers with
sashes. Later wing: 12-pane sashes in reveals under
segmental arches. Interior: entrance hall has paired
arches to staircase with pilasters supporting keyed
archivolts. Closed-string stair (possibly somewhat
remodelled) with column-on-vase balusters
with square knops. Column newels and ramped
moulded handrail. Newels have square pendants
with finials. Dado panelling with pilasters follows line
of stair. Other features include a good carved
chimneypiece to the drawing room, another to the
entrance hall, 6-panel doors in architraves and
cornices. The home of Dr Rhudde, grandfather of
Maria Bicknell, wife of John Constable.
38 1033458 THE OLD HALL House, including former service range to north, now
divided into dwelling units. Range of 1713 (on
rainwater head) with later C18 – C20 additions and
alterations. Slid C19 conventual ranges and chapel
not of special interest. Service range probably C17.
1713 house for Joseph Chaplain. White brick with
red brick dressings.Red brick later C18 addition, part
lime washed. Plain tile and slate roofs. 1713 range
of 3 storeys, 7 bays with single-storey C18 addition
to south, raised to 3 storeys early C20, 2- storey C18
range to north, raised to 3 storeys C19. Extensive
conventual buildings to north incorporating earlier

service range. 1713 house, west front: outer bays
recessed. Plinth, quoins. Later Ionic porch with
dentilled pediment. 6-panel door with patterned
fanlight in panelled reveal. 18-pane sashes in
architraves with aprons. Gauged brick flat arches
and jambs in red brick. Floor bands. Similar first
floor windows and 12- pane sashes to second floor.
Moulded cornice and parapet. Recessed bays to each
side with similar detailing, that to right has
rainwater tread dated 1713 JCM. East front: 5-bay
range with 6th bay brought forward at right, similar
detailing to west front but no porch. Library range to
left originally single-storey has 3 tall 15-pane sashes
with cambered gauged brick arches. C20 addition
above, bowed front to south altered and raised
at the same time. To right, an originally 2-storey
range with sashes with glazing bars, some replaced
by casements. Second floor band with later addition
above. Interior: 1713 range has staircase hall with
panelling retaining fine dogleg stair-case with 3
twisted balusters per tread, carved tread ends,
Corinthian newels and ramped moulded handrail.
Panelled dado follows line of stair. Staircase window
in pedimented surround. First floor has two fully
panelled rooms with original doors and window
shutters. Remains of original panelling elsewhere
with dentilled cornices and doorcases. Library range
retains decorative scheme with dentil andmodillion
cornice and plasterwork ceiling. Service range to
north: C19 encasingof earlier timber-framed
structure which may relate to the original hall; red
brick in Flemish bond with plain tile roof; sashes
with flat gauged brick arches, (some later windows);
iron tie bar ends; hipped roof. Interior much altered,
but shows remains of frame with stout scantlings.

Posts with large chamfered knees with iron bolts,
one tie beam and other beams. Double span roof of
butt purlin construction, much altered, with former
window concealed beneath present roof. Old Hall
was the principal manor of East Bergholt. It was
acquired in 1701 by Joseph Chaplain, wine cooper
and High Sheriff of Suffolk, who built the house to
replace an earlier structure. The painting of the
house by John Constable was commissioned by the
owner, John Reade, in 1801. The house became a
Benedictine nunnery in 1856, at which time the
conventual ranges were added.
‘An Unknown Constable’ The Connoisseur Dec 1956
p 249.
39 1033468 GARDEN COTTAGE & WHITEHORSE COTTAGE House, now two dwellings. Probably early C16 with
later alterations. Timber-framed, rendered. Garden
Cottage partly underbuilt and cased in painted brick.
Plain tile roof. Red brick stacks. 2 storeys, L-plan,
Garden Cottage forms cross wing.Whitehorse
Cottage: central door under bracketed tiled porch.
C20 casements under hoodmoulds to each floor.
Steeply- pitched roof, hipped and gableted to left
with large ridge stack to right and later stack to left.
Garden Cottage: tripartite sashes with glazing bars
under hoodmoulds. Studded gable with bargeboards.
Right return low central projecting gbled porch
surmounted by date plaque 1904. Interior of
Whitehorse Cottage framing concealed. Roof not
inspected. Garden Cottage not inspected. Formed
the White Horse Inn previous to subdivision.
40 1033469 THE HAYWAIN Cottage, now shop and cafe. Probably C17 with C18
and later alterations. Timber- framed, rough
rendered. Front cased in brick. Plain tile roof. One
storey and attic. Central C20 shop front, with further
shop window to left and plank door and casement to

window to right. Attic jettied to left. 3 flat dormers.
Off-centre ridge stack and later stack to left end.
Rear cross range with dentilled eaves. Former list
recorded plasterer’s date of 1780 with the initials C
and S S. Included for group value.
41 1033470 GABLE COTTAGE & PEACH COTTAGE House, now 2 dwellings. C16 with later alterations
and C19 addition. Timber-framed, rendered, part
underbuilt in brick. Brick C19 range. Plain tile roof.
L-shaped with main range (Peach Cottage) gable
end to street with cross wing to left, with projecting
single- storey C19 addition. 2 storeys. Main range:
jettied front. Off-centre C20 door and casements.
End and ridge stacks. Interior: chamfered beam and
exposed joists. Blocked 3-light diamond mullion
window. Jowled post with arch brace to tie- beam.
42 1033471 THE TOWN HOUSE

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1033471
Burnt Oak Cottages on OS Map. Range of cottages.
3 builds. Early C16 range to Flatford Road, later C16
range to Main Road with probable C17 addition to
right. Later alterations. Timber-framed, rendered.
Plain tile roof. Red brick stacks. 2 storeys, L-plan.
Flatford Road front: 4 1st floor windows. Two C20
doors, small-paned casements. Steeply-pitched
hipped roof. To Main Road: 5 1st floor windows,
irregularly spaced. Range to left is jettied to rear.
Steeply- pitched roof. Range to right is slightly lower
with lobby-entry plan with half-glazed door and
further entrance in gabled porch to gable end.
Interior: Flatford Road range: chamfered beams and
exposed joists. No 2 shows jowled posts, cambered
tie-beam. Unmoulded crown post with mortice for
missing brace to collar purlin with splayed scarf.
Roof not fully inspected. In 1654 this building was
bought by the Parish Overseers for housing
paupers.
East Bergholt Society, East Bergholt 1981, Text J

Elam.
43 1193464 RICHARDSONS FARMHOUSE

© Google Earth
Farmhouse. Probably late C16 – C17 with later
alterations and additions. Timber-framed. Plain tile
roof. Red brick stack. 2 storeys, 4 -window front. Off-
centre door in C20 porch. C20 cross windows. Thin
timber- framing with long straight braces. Outshut
under pent roof to left. Hipped roof ridge stack.
Interior: hollow chamfered beams and moulded
joists with run-out stops. Bressummer with roll-
moulding.
44 1193465 ST MARTINS House. c1830. Red brick with white brick front. Slate
roof. 2 storeys, 3 bays with further ranges set back
at rear. Slight central breakforward and
anglepilasters. Central 4-panel door with overlight in
pilastered doorcase with cornice. Tripartite sashes
with glazing bars under patterned lintels with
anthemion motifs. Sashes with glazing bars above.
Overhanging hipped roof. Interior not inspected.
45 1193473 GASTON HOUSE INCLUDING FRONT GARDEN RAILINGS
AND GATE
House with railings and gate. c1840. House: timber-
framed and brick, rendered. Plain tile roof, red brick
stacks. Tudor style. 2 storeys and basement. Central
range flanked by cross wings. Centre range: to left
steps to gabled porch containing half-glazed door
with Tudor-arched entrance under hoodmould.
Mullion windows with pointed lights under

hoodmoulds. Left wing gable end has crenellated
square bay with mullions and transom window with
pointed lights. Similar 2-light window above under
hoodmould. External stack and a single casement
window to gable end of right wing. Bargeboards and
eaves course. Octagonal stacks. Iron railings and
gate with white brick wall and piers. Railings and
gate with Gothic motifs on dwarf wall with polygonal
piers. Interior not inspected.
46 1193497 THROWERS House. Late C18 – early C19. Timber-framed,
rendered. Plain tile roof. One storey and attic.
Central door with 2 upper panels glazed in doorcase
with attached reeded columns, frieze and dentilled
hood. 4- pane sashes in flush architraves. Flat
dormers with 4-pane sashes. Mansard roof, red brick
end stacks. Interior not inspected.
47 1193513 GATTON HOUSE House. 1809. White brick. Slate roof. 2 storeys, 6
bays. Doric porch to left containing C20 door under
patterned overlight. 3 tripartite French windows with
glazing bars under cambered arches, one small
canted oriel window and one casement. First floor
band, pilaster strip to bays 2 and 5. Three tripartite
windows with glazing bars in reveals with painted
sills. Otherwise 4- pane horned sashes in reveals
with painted sills. Hipped roof. Rendered stack rising
through eaves to left of entrance and two further

corniced stacks. In a letter of 26.6.1809 John
Constable’s mother wrote to him concerning this
house ‘it is a great improvement to the entrance of
our pretty village, and so you will think’. Interior not
inspected.
48 1193563 ROOKERY FARMHOUSE Farmhouse. C17, extensively restored c.1985.
Timber- framed, rendered. Plain tile roof, red brick
stack. 2 storeys and attic, 4-5 bay frame. Original
lobby entry now blocked, off-centre plank door to
right under tiled bracketed ho od. 2-light casement
to right. Restored ovolo mullion window to left of
door. C20 fixed light window to original lobby.
Bracketed C20 oriel to left. To first floor, restored
diamond mullion windows and fixed light window
against stack. All mullion windows glazed externally
with plate glass. Steeply-pitched roof, off- centre
ridge stack to left. Interior: frame mainly exposed,
chamfered jowled posts, wall plates and studding.
Arched down braces to angle post at first floor level.
Renewed staircase in original position to rear of
stack retains part of original newel. Room to left of
stack has inglenook with chamfered bressummer.
Cambered cross beam and longitudinal beam with
tongue stops. First floor open to roof in part. Tie
beam with replaced arch braces. Clasped purlin roof.
Further inglenook fireplace to bedroom and restored
window retains original shutter groove with replaced
shutter.
49 1193768 BLACKSMITHS COTTAGE House. Probably late C16-C17 with later alterations
and additions. Timber- framed, rendered. Plain tile
roof, red brick stack. Single storey and attic. Off-
centre l obby entry. Vertical panel door. 16-pane
sashes, that to right a replacement of c1985. Gabled
dormer with 16-pane sash. Tall ridge stack. Interior:
studded walls. Chamfered beams, some with tongue

stops and exposed joists. Room to left has fireplace
with elliptical arch under hoodmould in moulded
orange brick. Newel spiral stair behind stack. Former
kitchen to right has inglenook with timber
bressummer. Clasped purlin roof. Undergoing
renovation at time of resurvey.
50 1193779 THE LINNETS House. Probably late C16-C17 with later alterations
and additions. Timber-framed, partly
underbuilt/cased in red brick in Flemish bond. Part
rendered. Plain tile roofs. Red brick stacks. Range
gable end to street. 2 storeys, 2-bay frame. Single-
storey and attic range to left of single bay with later,
lower extension at left. Single-storey and attic range
front cased in brick, door under soldier arch to right.
C20 casement to left. Gabled dormer above end
ridge stack. 2 storey range: ground floor and first
floor of gable end cased in brick. C20 casements.
External stacks to gable ends. Swept roof. Interior:
studded wall with jowled post. Beam with tongue
stop. Inglenook fireplace to single storey range.
Reputed former service range of High Trees
Farmhouse (qv). Included for group value.
51 1193884 TOMB TO JOHN DUNTHORNE IN CHURCHYARD OF
CHURCH OF ST MARY
Tomb chest. Early C19. Commemorates John
Dunthorne and his son of the same name. Ashlar.
Rectangular on plan. To long sides, pair of basket-

arched panels with carved spandrels divided by
narrow round- arched panels. To roadside, panels
contain inscriptions. Cornice and domed cover.
Probably erected by John Dunthorne with assistance
from his friend John Constable in memory of his son.
52 1193939 PAIR OF TOMBS TO REVANS FAMILY IN CHURCHYARD OF
CHURCH OF ST MARY
Pair of tombs. Early and mid C19. Commemorates
James and Sarah Revans and their son and daughter
of the same names. Ashlar. Pair of sarchophagi with
head stones and low slabs at feet. James Revans
d1823. Sarah Revans d 1844. Sarah daughter of
above d 1843, James son of above d 1848. The
Revans family were closely associated with the
Constable family, James Revans senior being the
Steward of Golding Constable and this relationship is
reflected in the close proximity of the family tombs.
53 1193966 OLD CHAPEL HOUSE

House. C16 origins, C18 alterations, refronting of
1818 and C20 extension to left. Timber- framed,
rendered, partly cased in painted brick. White brick
front. Plain tile roof. 2 storeys, 3-bay front with C20
extension of one bay recessed at left. Angle
pilasters. Off-centre 6-panel door in p ilastered
doorcase with panelled reveals and soffit. Radial
fanlight with keyed elliptical archivolt. 12- pane
sashes in reveals, painted sills, cambered cement
arches. Narrow 8- pane sash to right of door.
Parapet. Roof hipped at front. C orniced ridge stacks.
C20 extension to left return with flush 12-pane
sashes. Interior: entrance hall withchamfered beam
and exposed joists, dragon beam at left indicates
former jetty. Room to right of door shows beam and
joists with hollow chamfers and pyramid stops,
kitchen to rear, chamfered beam, exposed joists,
studded walls, one with reused moulded joists.
Moulded beams to drawing room which also has
early C19 features including Adam style fireplace

and door architrave. 6-panel doors. Staircase, treads
replaced, closed-string, fluted column- on-twist
balusters. Fluted square newels with turned and
fluted newels to first floor. Arched string above stair
at first floor level. Moulded ramped handrail.
Panelled dado with fluted pilasters follows line of
stair. First floor: bathroom with inscribed date 1776.
Beams with deep roll mouldings separated by hollow
chamfers. Small section linenfold panelling. Bedroom
to right shows studded wall, moulded front wall
plate and section of moulded cambered tie beam.
East Bergholt Society, Looking at East Bergholt
1981. Text by J Elam.
54 1193984 WHITE HOUSE

House. Early – mid C19. White brick. Slate roof. Two
storeys, 5 bays. Central recessed Doric porch
containing double- leaf doors. French windows to
ground floor under painted lintels. Pilaster strips
define bays. First floor band, 4-pane sashes with
side lights with sills under painted lintels to first
floor. Over-hanging hipped roof. Interior not
inspected.
55 1193992 COACH HOUSE TO THE OLD RECTORY Coach-house. C18. Timber-framed, weatherboarded.

Plain tile roof. One storey and loft. Pointed studded
door with diamond panels and long strap hinges.
Casement with single opening light. Hipped gableted
roof. Said to appear in painting by John Constable of
Old Rectory. Included for group value.
56 1194049 HATTERS & THE OLD HOUSE

Two cottages. Two builds, probably C18 and early
C19. Timber-framed, Hatters rendered, whitewashed
brick to Old House. Plain tile roof. Brick stack.
Single- storey and attic. Hatters: 3-cell plan. Shop
window with glazing bars and half-glazed door to
left, 2 casements with shutters to right flanking
painted inscription ‘DEALER IN HATTS’. Large, off-
centre ridge stack to right. Mansard roof. The Old
House: shop window with glazing bars and door to
left. Mansard roof. Under-going renovation at time
of resurvey. Interior not inspected.

57 1194064 THE COURT Coach-house and stable block, now cottages. C18
with additions and conversion to cottages early –
mid C19. Red brick in Flemish bond. Plain tile roof.
One storey and attic. L-plan. Range to left: off-
centre pilastered and pedimented doorcase to
through passage of which the left wall has been
reconstructed in C20 brick. To left a blocked
cambered gauged brick arch with inserted glazed
door in pilastered surround and a casement window.
To right two flat gauged brick arches of blocked
entrances with inserted casement windows. Cross
wing to right: 2 builds. Left side a C20 door in trellis
porch flanked by a C20 pane sash under a cambered

gauged brick arch to right and by a fixed window
with glazing bars under a segmental arch to left.
Small casements with glazing bars above. To right a
C19 addition with 6-panel door in trellis porch with a
16-pane sash under a segmental arch. Further
addition to right. Dentilled eaves throughout. Roof
hipped at left. Interior not inspected.
58 1194077 RAILINGS AND GATES TO FRONT GARDENS OF
CONSTABLES AND FIVE FIRS
Railings and gates. Late C18. Cast iron and red
brick. Dwarf wall supporting railings with spearhead
standards, arrowhead bars and dogbars. Bottom rail
with quatrefoil motif. Matching double gates to left
and single gate to Constables. Formed the railings to
the Constable family house built late 1770s and
demolished C19. Included for group value.
59 1194113 THE RED LION Public House. Probable C17 origins with later
alterations and additions. Timber-framed, rendered
with colourwashed brick front and stacks. Plain tile
roof. Two storeys, three window front with single-
storey projecting addition to left of entrance. Single-
storey gabled cross wing to rear left and 2-storey
gabled cross wing to rear right. Off-centre entrance
under segmental arch. 4-light cross case-
ment window to right under segmental arch. Canted
projecting bay to left, tripartite sash with glazing
bars to front and 16-pane sashes to sides. To first
floor, three C20 cross casements. Cornice. Swept

roof with three gabled dormers with casements. End
stack to right, later stack rising through front roof
pitch to left. Rear: single-storey wing under steeply-
pitched roof. Gabled dormer to main range. 2-storey
wing with large ridge stack and addition under pent
roof.
60 1194133 MOSS COTTAGE Cottage. Probably C17 restored C20. Timber-framed,
rendered, part underbuilt in brick. Plain tile roof. Red
brick stack. Single storey and attic. Gable end to
road u nderbuilt in painted brick has C20 windows, 3-
light to ground floor, 2-light above. Right return has
2 C20 doors. Half-hipped mansard roof with central
stack. Used as a studio by the young John
Constable. Restored by the East Bergholt Society.
Interior not inspected.

61 1194143 BARCLAYS BANK & BEAUFORT COTTAGE Cottage incorporating bank premises to rear wing.
Early C19 with probable C17 rear wing. Timber-
framed, rendered, rear range, part cased/underbuilt
in whitewashed brick. Plain tile roof. Front range
whitewashed brick with slate roof. 2 storeys, 3 bays
with 2-storey rear wing gable end to street. Front
range (Beaufort Cottage): central 6-panel door in
doorcase with fluted pilasters, frieze with roundels
above pilasters and cornice. Panelled reveals.
Flanked by canted bays with sashes with glazing
bars with cornices. Unequal sashes with glazing bars
and sills above. Hipped roof, end stacks. Rear range
(Barclays Bank): to gable end C20 door to left and
C20 casement windows. Steeply-pitched roof.
Interior not inspected.

62 1194193 STOUR

Large house. C13 with C19 and C20 additions and
alterations. Red brick in Flemish bond. Slate roof.
Three storeys, the upper floor possibly being an
addition. Garden front: full- height 3-window canted
bays flank 3-bay centre. Central Ionic doorcase with
entablature contains glazed door. Further glazed
doors to canted bays flanked by 15-pane sashes.
Otherwise 12-pane sashes in reveals with sills under
cambered gauged brick arches. Moulded second
floor band. Cornice. Hipped roof. Road front: 7 bays,
later range adjoins at right. Central square
projecting Doric porch with double leaf doors, of
probable C20 date. Sashes with glazing bars under
cambered gauged brick arches. Interior: dining room
retains wall panelling, eared bolection- moulded
fireplace, 6-panel doors and panelled shutters.
Central staircase hall, originally 2 rooms, retains
some wall panelling. Somewhat remodelled, cut-

string staircase with 3 barleysugar-on-vase
balusters per tread, fluted Corinthian newels,
ramped handrail and carved tread- ends. Panelled
dado follows line of stair. Drawing room to south,
originally 2 rooms has some wall panelling and
carved pine eared fireplaces. To first floor, one fully-
panelled room with 2-panel doors with L-hinges and
several other rooms with original cornices. Known
originally as West Lodge, this house was renamed
Stour by Randolph Churchill, who lived here 1954 to
his death in 1968. The house may be seen in East
Bergholt Fair of 1811 by John Constable.
63 1194209 WOODGATES FARMHOUSE Farmhouse. Cross wing of probable later C16 date
with hall range rebuilt C17. Later alterations and
extensions to rear end left. Timber-framed,
rendered. Plaintile roof, red brick stacks. Two
storeys, cross range lower. Main range, lobby-entry
plan, 3 window bays. Large C19 porch under hipped
roof contains double doors flanked by 4- pane
sashes. C20 cross casements throughout front. Off-
centre stack and further eternal off-set stack to rear
(upper part rebuilt). Interior: framing mainly
concealed. To main range a pair of jowled posts and
rear wall plate with diamond mullion mortices.
Clasped purlin roof to cross wing which is said to
have some brick nogging.
64 1198508 VALE FARMHOUSE Farmhouse. Probably early C17 with C19 addition
and alterations. Renovated C20. Early range timber-
framed cased in red brick in Flemish bond. Gable
rendered. Brick C19 addition. Plain tile roof. Red
brick stacks. Single- storey and attic range with 2-
storey addition forming cross range to left. Early
range 3 bays with end lobby- entry to left. 4
casement windows under segmental arches. Gabled
porch to left. Further C20 door under segmental

arch to end room at right. 3 gabled dormers. Ridge
stack to left. C20 brick addition to rear under slate
roof.
2-storey range has casement windows under
segmental arches. French windows under C20
conservatory to left return. Interior of single- storey
range; somewhat rebuilt inglenook with timber
bressummer. Chamfered beam and joists with
tongue stops. C18 door to centre room with plain
beam and exposed joists. Although remodelled
externally, the house retains enough of its character
to be of interest as a surviving example of the once
common single storey and attic type.
65 1221606 K6 TELEPHONE KIOSK BY THE RED LION PUBLIC HOUSE

Telephone kiosk. type K6. Designed 1935 by Sir
Giles Gilbert Scott. Made by various contractors.
Cast iron. Square kiosk with domed roof.
Unperforated crowns to top panels and margin
glazing to window and door.
66 1221615 ORCHARD HOUSE House. Late C18. Timber-frame, rendered and
colourwashed, with pantile roofs and left centre
ridge and rear stacks. 2- unit plan. Single storey and
attic; 4- window range of 3 2- light and single-light

casements with blocked door to centre right. 2-light
dormer above. On left end a lean-to and porch with
present entrance. On right end a 2-light attic
casement over 2 small windows. Later full-length
outshut to rear. INTERIOR. Large panel framing of
light scantling visible together with closed central
truss and fireplace hood. 2 staircases in front
outside corners and plank doors.
67 1285819 STOUR COTTAGE

Cottage. Probable C17 core, refronted late C18 –
early C19. Timber-framed, with brick front,
rendered. Plain tile roof. Brick stack. Two storeys, 3-
bay front. Central entrance under ogee arch flanked
by pointed 3-light casements with Gothick glazing.
2-light pointed casements above. Steeply-pitched
roof. Section of wall containing arched entrance links
with West Lodge stables (qv) to left. Rear: catslide
roof. Single-storey range with large ridge stack.
Interior not inspected.
68 1285875 WREN COTTAGE Cottage. Late C18 with earlier origins, C17 rear
range. Timber- framed part cased in brick, rendered.
Plain tile roof. Two storeys, 3 bays. Central half-
glazed door in pilastered surround with entablature.
6-pane sashes in flush wood architraves. Stepped
eaves course. End stacks. Rear range single-storey
and attic with C20 casements and rebuilt ridge
stack. Interior: framing of rear range exposed,
studded walls, chamfered longitudinal beam with
plain stop and exposed joists. Inglenook fireplace.

© Google Earth
Clasped purlin roof.

69 1285896 DAIRY FARM COTTAGES

Two cottages. C16-C17. Timber-framed, rendered,
part underbuilt in painted brick. Plain tile roof. Red
brick stack. Two storeys. Two first floor windows.
Door to end right, present entrances to rear. C20
casements. Centre ridge stack. Steeply- pitched
swept roof. Interior of cottage to right, framing
mainly concealed, one large chamfered beam,
moulded beam of C16 form and some moulded
joists, otherwise interior not inspected.

Dairy Farm Cottages on the right hand side
70 1286029 QUINTONS COTTAGE

Cottage. Probably C17. Timber-framed core. Cased
in brick in English bond. Walls partly rendered. Plain
tile roof. Brick stack. One storey, two cells. Half-
glazed off-centre door under soldier arch flanked by
2-light casements. Iron tie-bar end. Steeply- pitched
roof. External stack to right gable end. Interior not
inspected.
71 1286129 TUDOR COTTAGE House. C16 – C17 with cross wing reconstructed
early C20. Later alterations including rebuilding of
right gable end wall and addition of porch. Timber-
framed, part underbuilt or infilled with brick, part
rendered. Plain tile roof. Red brick stacks. 2 storeys.
L-plan with jettied cross wing. Close-studding,
arched down brace above middle rail to right.
Reused timber to cross wing. C20 casements. C20
porch to left return. Steeply-pitched swept roofs.
Rebuilt chimney with paired diamond stacks to cross
wing and further stack to rear. Interior: rear range
has inglenook with bressummer. Chamfered beams.
Blocked 4- light diamond mullion window to first
floor. Jowled posts and studded rear wall. Stepped
range brick stack. Clasped-purlin roof with wind

braces. Included for group value.
72 1286137 COMMANDREE , LITTLE GOTHICS & THE GOTHICS

House with additional ranges, now forming 3
dwellings. Late C15 house with probable C17
additions and mid C19 remodelling. Timber-framed,
rendered. Plain tiles, red brick stacks. Original house
had open hall range with jettied cross wing to left
and service wing to right. Projecting added cross
wing to each side, that to right of 2 builds. Further
additions to right and rear. Mid C19 remodelling in
Tudor style. 2 storeys, except for former hall range
which is now one storey and attic. C15 range:
internal evidence for original cross passage entry to
right, remodelled to form lobby- entry to left
adjacent to jettied wing. C20 door. C19 mullion and
transom windows throughout, square bay to ground
floor of jettied wing. 2 gabled dormers. Upper part
of ridge stack rebuilt. Gabled added cross wings are
jettied to front and have similar detailing.
Bargeboards to gables. Rear section of right wing
has mansard roof. Interior: Little Gothics now
occupies the hall range and ground floor of service
range to right. Framing exposed including studded
walls. Original cross passage doors and paired
service doors (one renewed) with chamfered Tudor
arches. C16 ceiling with moulded beams with leaf
stops and moulded joists. Inglenook, somewhat
remodelled, with chamfered bressummer. Section of
inserted C17 panelling. Kitchen in former service
range retains cross beam with mortices for original
partition wall. Attic: the hall crown post and tie
beam have been renewed but a C20 post has been
inserted to support the original capital and braces
which survive together with the rest of the roof.
Front wall plate shows diamond mortices and shutter

groove of original hall window. Interior of The
Gothics not inspected.
73 1351909 THE KINGS HEAD Public House. Probably C17 with later alterations and
additions. Timber-framed, cased in painted brick.
Red brick stack. Plain tile roof. 2 storeys with single
storey stable range to left and addition under pent
roof to right. 3 bays. Central lobby entry. Half-
glazed door, 3-light casements, segmental arches to
ground floor, first floor band. Central ridge stack.
Interior: little framing exposed. Chamfered beams.
C18 corner cupboard with raised and fielded
panelling to doors, keyed round arch on pilasters
and shell hood and shaped shelves.
74 1351910 NOS 1 & 2 MEADOW COTTAGES House subdivided into two cottages. C17 with C19-
C20 alterations and additions. Timber- framed, cased
in red brick with plain tile roof and red brick stack.
Two storeys, probably originally two cell lobby-entry
plan, possibly extended at right. Patched brickwork
indicating blocked doorway to front probably relating
to C19 conversion. Entrances now to gable ends,
with single-storey addition to right under pantile roof
containing door. Two 3-light casements under
cambered arches, a single light in fire window
position and two further single lights at right. Two 2-
light casements to 1st floor. Steeply- pitched roof.
Partly reconstructed off-centre stack. Interior not
inspected.
75 1351933 COTTAGES TO EAST OF YEW TREE COTTAGES House, now two cottages. C17-C18. Timber-framed,
brick fronted, rendered. Plain tile roof, red brick
stacks. 2 storeys, 2 bays. Paired plank doors to
centre with C20 pane sashes to sides and above.
Iron tie bar ends. External end stacks. Single- storey
ranges to each side under pent roofs. Interior not
inspected.

76 1351934 CARRIERS ARMS Public House. Probably early C15 with later
alterations and additions. Timber-framed, rendered.
Plain tiles, red brick stacks. Single-storey and attic.
Original open hall converted to off-centre lobby-
entry plan. This entrance indicated by plain doorcase
now containing cross window. Present entrance by
low brick addition at left. C20 cross casements.
Canted bay to left. Centre Say projects slightly and
is surmounted by a gabled dormer. Swept gableted
roof. Large ridge stack and further external stack to
end left. Low extension under pent roof at right.
Late C18 – C19 range incorporated to rear left under
mansard roof. C20 extension to rear. Interior: C16
moulded beams. Framing exposed at attic level,
jowled chamfered posts, centre bay shows long arch
brace to cambered tie beam and base of square,
chamfered crown post. To front wall of centre bay
the wall plate has diamond mortices and shutter
groove of former hall window. Crown post roof, not
fully inspected but those posts visible unmoulded
with braces to purlin and collars, some missing.
77 1351935 TUFFNELLS INCLUDING GATEPIERS TO FRONT GARDEN House. C17 with later alterations and additions.
Timber- framed, rendered. Refronted in painted
brick. Plain tile roof. Red brick stack. 2 storeys, five
first floor windows. Off-centre lobby entry. Square
projecting brick porch with keyed archivolt
containing glazed double doors. Canted bay with
cross windows to left. 2-light mullion window and
one cross window to right. Unequal sashes above
and blind panel above porch under wedge lintels.
One gabled dormer. Swept roof with ridge stack.
Rear wing to right with mansard roof. Interior:
entrance hall has chamfered beam with tongue stop
and moulded joists. Little framing visible except
front and rear wall plates. Staircase with twisted

balusters of probable C19 date. Pair of C19 red brick
gatepiers with moulded cornices and stone ball
finials to front garden.
78 1351936 SHORT ACRE House. Early – mid C19. Brick,whitewashed. Slate
roof. 2 storeys. 3-bay section to right with central
entrance. 4-panel door with patterned overlight.
Pilastered doorcase with hood on consoles and
paterae in the frieze. 30-pane sashes with shutters.
Unequal sashes with glazing bars to first floor.
Section to left has half-glazed door with overlight
and casement windows. Low extension under
catslide roof to left. Roof hipped to left. Interior not
inspected.
79 1351937 TUDOR COTTAGE House. C16 – C17 with cross wing reconstructed
early C20. Later alterations including rebuilding of
right gable end wall and addition of porch. Timber-
framed, part underbuilt or infilled with brick, part
rendered. Plain tile roof. Red brick stacks. 2 storeys.
L-plan with jettied cross wing. Close-studding,
arched down brace above middle rail to right.

Reused timber to cross wing. C20 casements. C20
porch to left return. Steeply-pitched swept roofs.
Rebuilt chimney with paired diamond stacks to cross
wing and further stack to rear. Interior: rear range
has inglenook with bressummer. Chamfered beams.
Blocked 4- light diamond mullion window to first
floor. Jowled posts and studded rear wall. Stepped
range brick stack.Clasped-purlin roof with wind
braces. Included for group value.
80 1351938 THE LODGE COTTAGE House. Late C16. Timber-framed on red brick plinth,
front underbuilt in red brick in English bond, west
end pargetted. Plain tile roof. Red brick stack. 2
storeys, 2 bays. Door to left, 2 C20 casement
windows. C20 porch added at right. Close-studding
with arched down braces above middle rail. Blocked
original window to centre. Restored 3- light mullion
window to right. Roof gableted to right (west).
Off-centre stack. Rear: close studding with arched
down braces above middle rail. 3-light and 2-light
restored mullion windows under hoodmoulds. West
end: 4-light ovolo mullion and transom window
flanked by 3- light ovolo mullion side windows. C20
casement above. East end: jettied first floor and
gable. Close-studded except gable. 4-light ovolo
mullion and transom window with 4-light side
windows. Similar window above probably originally
had central oriel as indicated by mortices in soffit of
cornice. Interior: framing exposed. Beamed ceilings
with exposed joists. Jowled posts. Original newel
spiral stair adjacent to stack with horn ball finial to
newel. Fireplace to first floor with elliptical ovolo-
moulded arch.
81 1351939 QUINTONS HOUSE House. Probably late C16 with C17 rear cross wing.
Timber- framed, rendered. Part underbuilt in brick.
Plain tile roof. Red brick stacks. Two storeys. Front

range:5-bay frame of unusual width. Gable end to
road. Off- centre plank door flanked by casement
windows under timber lintel. 20-pane flush sash and
small fire window to left, further casement window
to right. To first floor, single-light fire window and
one casement. Steeply-pitched roof and large ridge
stack. C19 low brick extension to right gable end
which is underbuilt in brick and has rebuilt external
stack. Left gable end has flush sash window with
glazing bars to left otherwise C20 window. Rear
wing underbuilt in brick, studded above on right
return, external stack to gable.
INTERIOR: much framing exposed. Ground floor
shows studded walls. Room to left of stack has
Tudor-arched fireplace, cross beam with tongue stop
and exposed joists. Kitchen to right has cambered
bressummer with jewel stop. Corner cupboard with
raised and fielded panelling and cornice. First floor:
centre bay shows massive jowled posts with long
wavey arch braces to cambered tie beam. Studded
partition wall. To rear wall evidence of wide arch of
uncertain purpose. Edge-halved scarf to rear wall
plate. Large stepped stack. Blocked 4-light diamond
mullion window. Bedroom fireplace with chamfered
elliptical arch. Moulded plank door of probable C16
date. Roof: two levels butt purlins. Rear wing has
jowled posts with arch braces to chamfered tie
beams and studded walls.
82 1351940 SMITHY Smithy. C16 origin, later alterations. Timber-framed,
part cased in brick and part weatherboarded. Pantile
roof. Brick stack. Single storey, 2 bays. Stable door
to left, multi-paned window to centre and 16-pane
sash to right. Dentilled eaves to part. Extended to
right. Interior: studded walls, pair of jowled posts

Smithy to the right of Blacksmiths Cottage
with arch braces to cambered tie beam supporting
unmoulded crown post with braces to purlin. In use
as working Smithy at time of resurvey.
83 1351948 OAK COTTAGE Cottage. Probably C17 with C18 and later
alterations. Timber-framed, rendered. Painted brick
front in Flemish Bond. Plain tile roof. One storey and
attic. 2-cell plan. Central 4-panel door in pilastered
doorcase with dentilled frieze and cornice. 8-pane
sash under segmental arch to right, 6-pane window
in pilastered former shop window with cornice to
left. Jettied to right, probably to form access to rear.
Half-hipped mansard roof. 2 flat dormers with
casements. Low brick range with later stack to rear.
Interior not inspected.
84 1351960 FOUNTAIN HOUSE

House and cottage, now restaurant. 3 builds, central
section C16 with probable C17 section to left and
C18 cottage to right. Timber-framed, rendered. Plain
tile roof, red brick stack. Two storeys and attic with
single- storey cottage projecting to right gable end to
street. Section to left has 3- light windows with
central casements. Jettied central range has 2½-bay

frame. Porch to left with elliptical arch and 6-panel
door. 3-light window with central casement and 16-
pane sash to right. Added porch to right. Three first
floor casements. Gabled dormer, off-centre ridge
stack to right and roof gableted to right. Cottage has
C19 door and window with glazing bars to gable
end. Interior: jettied range shows jowled posts,
chamfered tie beams with arch braces, wall plates
and studding. Central half-bay contains large
stepped stack. Chamfered spine beam and exposed
joists to ground floor. Chamfered beams with run-
out stops. Rebuilt inglenook retains Tudor-arched
bressummer to rear. The cottage was the home of
John Dunthorne, village plumber and artist
companion of John Constable.
85 1351961 LITTLE COURT INCLUDING RAILINGS AND GATE TO
FRONT GARDEN

House, including railings and gate. House: C18
remodelling and refronting of C16-C17 core. Timber-
framed, rendered, refronted in red brick in Flemish
bond. Plain tile roof. Front range two storeys and
attic, 7 bays 2:3:2. Gabled cross wings to rear.
Central 6 -panel door in pedimented doorcase with
consoles. Sashes with glazing bars in reveals with
sills under cambered gauged brick arches. Eaves
band and parapet. Flat-roofed dormers with sashes
with glazing bars. Large off-centre ridge stack and
further stack to right, said to be flanked by mullion
windows on gable end, now concealed. Rear cross
range (to south) 2 storeys with C20 square bay,
unequal sashes with glazing bars and a modillion
cornice. External stack to gable. Two low gabled rear
ranges, that to left containing staircase has sash
window with thick glazing bars. Further lower gabled
range to north, incorporating later buildings. Single-
storey C20 linking range runs between cross wings.

Interior: C18 features include entrance hall with
paired arches with keyed archivolts on fluted
pilasters leading to staircase with ramped dado
panelling and twisted balusters to first floor.
Panelled room to right with fireplace with eared
surround with Greek key ornament, dentilled cornice
and panelled overmantel Further panelled room to
first floor right. Replica of clasped purlin roof of front
range
which was destroyed in a fire of 1982. Railings and
gate: C18. Red brick and wrought iron. Dwarf wall
supporting railings with spearhead bars and
standards with urn finials. Matching gate with dog
bars.
86 1351962 COTTAGE ADJOINING PAPER SHOP TO WEST Cottage, now also petrol garage premises. Early
C19. Brick, colourwashed. Plain tile roof. Two
storeys and attic. 2- window front. Central 6-panel
door in wood surround. S -pane sashes in flush
frames. Stepped and dentilled eaves. Mansard roof,
stack to rear. Rear range: 1 storey and attic under
mansard roof. Interior not inspected.

87 1351963 WEST LODGE COTTAGES Cottage. Late C18 – early C19. Red brick in Flemish
bond, rendered in part. Plain tile roof. One storey
and attic. Stands end on to drive. Two C20
casements. Right return C20 door in architrave.
Stepped and dentilled eaves. Half-hipped mansard
roof with stacks to end and rising through roof pitch
to left. Included for group value. Interior not
inspected.

88 1389147 WAR MEMORIAL War memorial. 1921. By FC Eden. Clipsham ashlar.
The memorial is in the form of a wayside cross with
a small gabled crucifix supported on an octagonal
shaft with carved foliage band at the top. The shaft
rises from a stepped base and pedestal on which
there are inscriptions to those who died in both
World Wars. Forms a group with the Church of St.
Mary the Virgin (qv).

89 1401377 ELM FARM, EAST BERGHOLT No information.

Appendix 2
Suffolk HER

Suffolk Historic Environment Records (HER) within East Bergholt Parish

MonUID Record
Type
Name Summary MonTypes
Prehistoric
MSF5059 FS Flatford Lane, East
Bergholt,
(Palaeolithic). Pointed implement in Colchester Museum.
Formerly recorded as EBG MISC
FINDSPOT
MSF18823 FS ‘Woodgates’,
Lattinford Hill (BA)
Metal detector find of blade end of
socketed axe from mainly Roman scatter
(S1). FINDSPOT
MSF23150 FS Prehistoric flint
scraper, Football
Pitch Patch, Old Hall
garden
Flint scraper. Formerly recorded as EBG
MISC
FINDSPOT
MSF36442 ALL OUTLINE RECORD:
Iron Age and Saxon
metalwork (PAS) Archaeology in Suffolk 2016 Prehistoric &
Saxon
Roman
MSF5053 MON Lattinford Bridge Sherds, brick fragments, animal bone. ARTEFACT
SCATTER
MSF5054 FS Findspot of a Roman
domed lead spindle
whorl.
Domed lead spindle whorl (S1). FINDSPOT
MSF5055 MON Lattinford Two pits, said to be 4 feet rectangular, circa
22 feet deep.
WELL
MSF5056 MON Homestead,
Latinford.
Bronze coin of Trajan, samian. BUILDING
MSF5058 MON Ackworth House
(Rom)
Roman cremation cemetery and pottery
scatter
ARTEFACT
SCATTER;
CREMATION
CEMETERY
MSF5063 FS Findspot of a Roman
pottery sherd
Sherd, Rom ? Formerly recorded as EBG
MISC
FINDSPOT
MSF5106 MON Lattinford Bridge Settlement area: part. SETTLEMENT;
ARTEFACT
SCATTER
MSF14966 MON The Meadows,
Lattinford Bridge
July 1994: Large sherds of Rom pottery
recovered during (funded) watching brief
for single dwelling at The Meadows,
Lattinford Bridge (S1).
FEATURE;
OVEN
MSF15171 MON A12; London Road Length of Rom road, Pye Road, Margary 3c,
under existing (mainly A12) roadline.
ROAD
MSF16301 MON Findspot of a Roman
bronze sestertius
coin, possibly of M
Aurelius. And a
possible Du pondius.
(ROM)
Bronze sestertius, possibly of M Aurelius,
found metal detecting (S1) within area of
Undated field system cropmarks. And a
possible dupondius.
FINDSPOT

MSF17673 MON Lattinford Hill Metal detector finds of bronze coins:
sestertius, C1/C2; AS, C1; ?Dupondius,
C1/C2. ARTEFACT
SCATTER
MSF17674 FS Lattinford Hill (Rom) Metal detector find of bronze coin, AS of
Vespasian of AD 71.
FINDSPOT
MSF17675 FS Findspot of a Roman
bronze coin,
sestertius of
Commodus
Metal detector find of bronze coin –
sestertius of Commodus (AD 180-192), rev
illegible, very corroded. Possible Late Saxon
decorated bone comb
FINDSPOT
MSF17975 MON Roman artefact
scatter of pottery
and a small lead
figurine.
1997?: Scatter of Rom pottery (not seen,
date?) found with a small lead figurine
(metal detected?).
ARTEFACT
SCATTER
MSF18824 MON ‘Woodgates’
Lattinford Hill (Rom)
Metal detector finds of one silver and six
bronze coins, a spoon, a box(?) fitting in the
form of a cast horse’s head on a Polden Hill
type brooch
ARTEFACT
SCATTER
MSF23168 MON Foxhall Fields (Rom) Low level of Roman pottery and
LMed/PMed tile scatter identified during
watching brief.

Early medieval/Saxon
MSF15486 MON Findspot of an
Anglo- Saxon bronze
strap union. (Sax)
1994: Metal detector find of LSax/EMed
bronze strap(?) union.
FINDSPOT
MSF27156 MON East Bergholt
historic settlement
core
Indicative area of the historic settlement
core of East Bergholt.
VILLAGE;
MARKET
MSF36442 ALL OUTLINE RECORD:
Iron Age and Saxon
metalwork (PAS) Archaeology in Suffolk 2016
Medieval
MSF5050 MON Medieval moat,
unoccupied.
Moat, unoccupied, wet (on banks of R
Stour).
MOAT
MSF5066 MON Reputed chapel site,
Church Field (1731)
Reputed chapel site said to be visible as
cropmark at TM 078 334 (S1). Not
substantiated. Formerly recorded as EBG
MISC
ARTEFACT
SCATTER;
CHAPEL
MSF9996 MON Dodnash Priory (site
of) of the B lessed
Virgin
Dodnash Priory, Augustinian, founded 1188,
dissolved 1525.- Scheduled Monument
PRIORY;
FISHPOND
MSF13474 MON Church of St Mary
the Virgin
Church, churchyard and separate bell cage
of St Mary the Virgin. Possible Domesday
minster site.
CHURCH;
CHURCHYARD;
BELL TOWER;
MINSTER
MSF16302 MON Findspot of a
Medieval square,
flat bronze mount
with enamelled
front. (Med)
Square, flat, bronze (copper? – reddish
metal) mount with enamelled front.
FINDSPOT

MSF23144 MON Near Fishers Lane
(Med)
Two metal detected coins of Edward IV
(1461-1483).
ARTEFACT
SCATTER
MSF23168 MON Foxhall Fields (Rom) Low level of Roman pottery and
LMed/PMed tile scatter identified during
watching brief.

MSF34156 MON Medieval and Post
Medieval features at
Land north west of
Moores Lane
Medieval and Post Medieval finds and
features identified during a metal detecting
survey and trial trench evaluation at Land
north west of Moores Lane.
DITCH;
ARTEFACT
SCATTER;
DITCH; PIT;
POST HOLE;
DITCH
Post-medieval & Modern
MSF7876 MON Flatford Dock Flatford Dry Dock & Barge. BARGE; DRY
DOCK; BOAT
YARD
MSF15827 MON Post Medieval
bridge shown on a
map of 1783. Bridge shown on Hodskinson’s map of 1783
(S1).
BRIDGE
MSF17973 MON Old Hall Old Hall, formerly St Mary’s Abbey (founded
1598 in Brussels, moved to East Bergholt
circa 1857 until 1974), on site of Hall (R1). HOUSE; PARK
MSF23145 MON Flatford Mill Watermill on River Stour, famed for
connections to (and paintings by) John
Constable. listed building WATERMILL
MSF23146 MON Post Medieval
bridge over the River
Stour shown on a
map of 1783.
Site of bridge over the River Stour shown on
Hodskinson’s map of 1783.
BRIDGE
MSF23147 MON Fen Bridge,
Fenbridge Lane
Site of bridge shown on 1880s OS map
where named Fen Bridge. Crosses tributary
of River Stour. BRIDGE
MSF23149 MON Dazeleys Farm,
Dazeleys Lane
Farm buildings shown on 1880s OS map. FARMHOUSE;
FARMSTEAD
MSF24701 BLD Wren Cottage, East
Bergholt
Mid 19th C Outbuilding – 3 existing
compartments: stable, enclosed shed &
open shed
HOUSE;
OUTBUILDING
MSF24862 BLD Barns at High Trees
Farm, East Bergholt
Two 19th century threshing barns. THRESHING
BARN;
THRESHING
BARN
MSF24989 MON Dovecote, Claycotts,
Flatford Lane, East
Bergholt Timber framed pigeon loft built over Gothic
style Victorian kennels, therefore Victorian?
8 ft square, 8 ft above ground. DOVECOTE
MSF25780 BLD Agricultural
buildings at Park
Farm 19th C granary containing re- used 16th C
timbers and a 19th C brick cartshed, shelter
shed and cowhouse
GRANARY;
CART SHED;
SHELTER SHED;
COW HOUSE
MSF27157 MON Old Hall Park ‘Old Hall Park’ shown and named on early
OS maps as large area to SE of Old Hall (see
LANDSCAPE
PARK

EBG 023) with numerous trees.
MSF36919 MON Land east of
Constable Country
Medical Centre,
Heath Road
Post-medieval and modern features and
finds.
DITCH; PIT;
KILN?; FIELD
BOUNDARY;
PIT; PIT; DITCH
MSF38293 BLD Manor Farm, East
End
Late 19th and 20th century complex of
timber- framed and weatherboarded farm
buildings.
THRESHING
BARN; STABLE;
SHELTER SHED;
MILKING
PARLOUR
MXS20393 MON Post Medieval flood
defences, visible on
aerial photographs.
A flood defence bank of probable Post-
Medieval date is visible on aerial
photographs of East Bergholt parish FLOOD
DEFENCES
Undated
MSF5051 MON Rectilinear ditch
systems, trackways
and a ring ditch of
unknown date,
visible as cropmarks.
(Un)
Cropmarks of rectilinear ditch systems,
trackways, ? ring ditch, circa 16m in
diameter (S1)(S2).
FIELD SYSTEM;
RING DITCH;
ROAD;
TRACKWAY
MSF5052 MON Rectilinear
enclosure or field
system of unknown
date. (Un)
Traces small rectilinear enclosure or field
system, S of ?Rom road, EBG 002 (S1).
FIELD SYSTEM;
RECTANGULAR
ENCLOSURE
MSF5057 FS Findspot of a human
skull of unknown
date. Human skull found in road widening spoil
opposite the Carriers Arms.
FINDSPOT
MSF5069 MON Extensive cropmark
pattern of ditches
etc, cut by “Dead
Lane”.
Extensive cropmark pattern of ditches etc,
cut by “Dead Lane”.
FIELD SYSTEM
MSF12192 MON Groups of inter-
related, curvilinear
ditches of un known
date.
Groups of inter -related, curvilinear ditches
(S1).
FIELD SYSTEM
MSF12289 MON Three linear ditches
forming three sides
of a rectangle,
probably a
rectangular
enclosure of
unknow n date,
visible as cropmarks.
Single cropmark feature comprising three
linear ditches forming three sides of a
rectangle, probably field, possibly
rectangular enclosure (S1).
FIELD
BOUNDARY
MSF12290 MON Complex of ice-
wedges and linear
marks foring a field
system, of unknown
date, visible as
cropmarks.
Cropmarks of complex of ice-wedges and
linear marks forming former ?field system
on different alignments to present system. FIELD SYSTEM

MSF12643 MON Causewayed ring
ditch of unknown
date. Ring ditch, circa 30m diameter, open on S
side (S1).
RING DITCH;
CAUSEWAYED
RING DITCH
MSF14811 MON Rectangular
enclosure or toft of
unknown date,
visible as a cropmark
complex.
AP of cropmark complex forming
rectangular area of small connected
enclosures/tofts? (S1). ENCLOSURE;
TOFT
MSF17408 MON Ring ditch of
unknown date with
at least one internal
feature.
Ring ditch, circa 15m in diameter, with at
least one internal feature(?)(S1).
RING DITCH
MSF17409 MON Curving trackway cut
by a modern
reservoir or lake,
visible as a
cropmark.
Curving trackway cropmark (S1) W end cut
by modern reservoir/lake but probably led
to moat EBG 001.
TRACKWAY
MSF17974 MON Old Hall Bank circa 6-7 feet high to E of `Old Hall’,
semi-circular, close to being circular.
BANK
(EARTHWORK);
CIRCULAR
ENCLOSURE
MSF23170 MON Ackworth House
garden (Un)
Earthwork banks 2m high surrounding 55m
by 35m enclosed oval area.
BANK
(EARTHWORK);
OVAL
ENCLOSURE
MSF26596 MON Anglia Water B1070
Replacement
Scheme, East
Bergholt
Monitoring revealed two small undated pits
that contain burnt flint.
PIT
MSF35367 MON Linear features,
Land East of the
Constable Medical
Centre, Heath Road
Geophysical survey identified ditch type
features, possibly an enclosure and
anomalies identified as ploughing activity. Unknown
MSF36443 ALL OUTLINE RECORD:
Copper-alloy circular
strap fastener (PAS)
Archaeology in Suffolk 2016
MSF38087 MON Cropmarks of
rectilinear ditch
systems, trackways. Cropmarks of rectilinear ditch systems,
trackways.
FIELD SYSTEM;
TRACKWAY

Appendix 3
Landscape Character Guidelines

The Suffolk LCA guidance notes for character type
18, state that:
“These south Suffolk valleys are locally distinctive
and even the areas outside “Constable Country”
such as the villages of the Brett valley, have some
of the highest national profiles of any Suffolk
landscape.
The surrounding landscapes are rolling,
sometimes steeply in the west of the county, with
blocks of ancient woodland being a consistent
feature. This woodland frames the valleys and is
often present on the upper slopes”.
The spatial relationship of this landscape to the
adjacent valley floor means that change and
development here can have a profound visual
impact. In addition, some of this landscape is
adjacent to or within the Dedham Vale Area
of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). This is
an additional sensitivity in a landscape that is
already highly sensitive because of the landform
and the particularly rich built heritage.”
The key forces for change are given as:
-Expansion of settlements.
-Construction of large agricultural buildings.
-Expansion of garden curtilage.
-Change of land use, especially the creation of
horse paddocks.
-Impact of deer on the condition of woodland
cover.
-Mineral extraction.
Land management guidelines for this landscape
character type are given as:
-Reinforce the historic pattern of sinuous field
boundaries.
-Recognise localised areas of late enclosure
hedges when restoring and planting hedgerows.
-Maintain and increase the stock of hedgerow
trees.
-Increase the area of woodland cover; siting
should be based on information from the Historic
Landscape Characterisation and in consultation
with the Archaeological Service.
-Maintain and restore the stock of moats and
ponds in this landscape.
The Suffolk LCA guidance notes for character type
26 Valley Meadowlands states that:
“These are flat valley floor landscapes that are still
largely dominated by grazing land, punctuated
by small carr woodlands and willow plantations.
There is an occasional scattering of farmsteads
and other notable features, such as Court Knoll
in Nayland, on the few areas of higher land found
here.
These landscapes are mostly narrow and enclosed
by the valley sides. They can be profoundly
affected by changes to the management of land
and the construction buildings on the valley sides.
Changes in land use, the loss of grassland and the
creation of small horse paddocks and associated
structures, can significantly degrade the quality
and condition of this landscape.
New woodland plantations and the loss of grazing,
leading to the spread of scrub can also adversely
affect the balance of woodland and grassland.”
The key forces for change are stated as:
“Development and land use change adjacent to
this landscape type.
-The loss of grazing by cattle.
-The creation of new woodlands.
-The introduction of horse grazing.
-Neglect of the characteristic ditch and hedgerow
networks.
-The conversion of grassland to arable
production.”
In terms of development management, the
guidance strongly recommends that construction
on the valley sides is of the upmost design quality,
using sympathetic and unobtrusive materails, with
effective mitigation. Developments must not affect

the existing skylines.
Land management guidelines for this landscape
character type are given as:
-Support the continuation of traditional economic
activities
-Restore and maintain the grazing with cattle and
sheep. The continuation of traditional agricultural
practices is integral to the character and condition
of these landscapes and grazing is often critical to
the successful management of important wildlife
sites in this landscape.
-Restore and retain the pattern of drainage.
-The pattern of meadows divided by ditches
and dykes area a characteristic feature of
this landscape and should be maintained with
sympathetic management. This will also deliver
ecological benefits.
-Maintain levels of grassland.
-Arable reversion though agri-environment
schemes, or with the expansion of livestock
enterprises, can help maintain the character of
this landscape and also deliver ecological benefits.
-These landscapes contain a proportion of wet
and plantation woodland, and it is important to
maintain the appropriate balance of grassland and
woodland. While wet woodland is an important
part of the habitat mix in this landscape excessive
creation of plantation woodland should be
avoided.

Appendix 4
AONB Management Plan Policies

Suffolk Coast & Heaths
Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty
Management Plan
2013 – 2018
Suffolk Coast & Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – Management Plan
2013 – 2018

5555
Section 4
Vision statement

56
4.1. 20-year Vision
statement (2033)
4.1.1. This 20-year Vision builds on
that published as part of the previous
Management Plan (2008–2013) and
has been updated to refl ect the current
environmental, economic and social
context. It has been divided into two
sections; aspirations that relate to the
AONB as a whole, and those that relate
to particular landscape areas.
4.1.2. AONB designation aims to conserve
and enhance natural beauty and this
Vision imagines and projects how that
objective can be achieved. It also takes
account of the needs of people who live,
work in and visit the area. The objectives
and actions contained in Section 5 of
this Management Plan are intended
to work towards achieving the vision
presented here.

57
20-year Vision statement (2033) – Section 4
The 2013–2033 Vision can
be summarised as:
• Special wildlife, landscape, seascape
and heritage qualities are conserved
and meet the needs of people who live,
work in and visit the AONB
• Local communities are fully engaged in
the care of the area
• A high-quality landscape and
infrastructure exists to support
sustainable access, tourism and business
4.2. Suffolk Coast & Heaths
AONB in 2033
4.2.1. ‘A high-quality landscape
and seascape, their special qualities
retained and enhanced’
As a result of strong leadership and
effective Partnership action, the area’s
natural beauty has been successfully
maintained and, wherever possible,
enhanced. The landscape and seascape,
while dynamic and changing, maintain
the character recognised in the original
designation. Wildlife areas are in
favourable condition. Changes generated
by climate change and sea level rise have
been embraced through adaptation and,
where necessary, any adverse impacts
have been mitigated. New development,
particularly major infrastructure,
has been sympathetic to the area’s
landscape, seascape and scenic beauty
and complements the existing built and
natural environment. Residual impacts
are appropriately offset. The AONB
designation has been extended to include
the Stour estuary and its southern shore.
4.2.2. ‘Local communities are
passionately and actively engaged
with their environment’
Local people have a deep appreciation
and understanding of the area’s special
qualities. Local communities are at
the heart of decision making and by
developing community led plans and
activities are fully engaged and supported
in the management of their environment.
There is a range of opportunities for
people to get actively involved in caring
for their landscape. The challenge of
sustainable living and carbon emission
reduction has been embraced by
communities and local businesses.
There is support for people affected by
the impacts of climate change.
4.2.3. ‘A thriving economy:
a landscape of opportunity’
New and established enterprises use
the area in an informed, sensitive and
sustainable way, fl ourishing in a beautiful
environment. Within a broad-based local
economy, sustainable tourism is widespread
and tourism businesses are increasingly
involved in careful stewardship of the area.
Local food and drink is a key attraction
of the area and good sales outlets
are commonplace. Energy production
infrastructure does not detract signifi cantly
from the landscape and scenic beauty of
the AONB and the impact of industrialised
outdoor farming is minimised.
4.2.4. ‘High-quality facilities and
integrated transport give everyone
the opportunity to enjoy the AONB’
Excellent visitor facilities, information and
infrastructure enable the public to appreciate
the area and enjoy the many opportunities
for outdoor recreation, without damaging
the area’s many special qualities. Flexible
and integrated transport options are readily
available and meet the needs of both
residents and visitors. Walking and cycling
across the area are key, practical choices
within a sustainable transport network.
Residents, visitors and tourism businesses
are aware of their responsibilities, actively
helping to retain the area’s special qualities.
4.2.5. ‘Tranquillity has been retained
and undesirable intrusion prevented’
The importance of peace and tranquillity
to the character of the AONB is fully
recognised and sources of noise and visual
intrusion have been resisted or mitigated.
The area’s dark night skies are valued as
an important feature and continue to be
retained. Low-voltage power lines continue
to be buried underground.

58
4.3. Our vision for the key
landscape areas
4.3.1. ‘An outstanding lowland coast,
managed for people and wildlife’
An integrated approach to managing the
coastal zone has enhanced its value for
people and wildlife. A careful balance
has been struck between the need to
safeguard communities and develop key
infrastructure while ensuring that the
character and special qualities of the
dynamic coastline are retained. Improved
public awareness and active management
has improved the declining condition
of coastal habitats and provided better
protection for coastal wildlife, particularly
from recreational disturbance. The loss
of freshwater wetlands to coastal erosion
or fl ooding has been prevented where
sustainable to do so and managed,
planned for and alternative sites sought,
where protection is not possible. The
erosion of maritime cliffs and slopes
continues to replenish sand and shingle
beaches along the coastline. Coastal
farmland is managed with particular
environmental sensitivity and landowners
receive fi nancial subsidies for doing
so. Public access is encouraged but is
consistent with the high conservation
value of the coastline. Water bodies
are in good to high status by 2015.
4.3.2. ‘The estuaries retain their
character and special qualities for
both people and wildlife’
The estuaries are proactively managed
to balance the many demands placed on
them whether from recreation, commerce,
agriculture, wildlife or the aspirations of
local communities. Rich intertidal feeding
grounds have been retained while existing
areas of eroding saltmarsh are restored
and protected to provide natural defences
to river walls. Freshwater wetlands have
been protected from the sea where it is
sustainable to do so. Where protection is
not possible alternative sites have been
identifi ed, and management has started
to provide continuity of habitat.
4.3.3. In principle, managed retreat
to create new intertidal areas would
be welcome where landowners are in
agreement. However, realignment of the
river walls can have signifi cant impacts on
the wider estuary and so it is important
that multiple benefi ts to people and
wildlife can be delivered by any scheme.
Where retreat is planned, heritage features
should be protected in context or, where
this is not possible, rescued and recorded.

59
20-year Vision statement (2033) – Section 4
4.3.4. ‘The Sandlings heaths have
increased in size and forest areas
have diversifi ed’
Active management has expanded
the area of Sandlings heath, reducing
fragmentation and safeguarding
biodiversity. Grazing has increased and
spread into adjoining forest and grassland,
creating open vistas with scattered trees
and varied textures. The Sandlings forests
are managed for the benefi t of wildlife
and people as well as for their timber,
creating a richer, more diverse landscape
with high levels of public access. Local
communities are fully consulted on
projects to restore heathland and are given
the opportunity to infl uence management
decisions, where appropriate.
4.3.5. ‘Farming remains economically
viable while enhancing biodiversity
and landscape character’
Farmers and land managers are supported
to make extensive use of agri-environment
schemes to help wildlife, improve access,
restore landscapes and retain heritage
features. Grazing continues to maintain
the open fi elds and produce diverse
habitats. Unsustainable farming practices
and diffuse pollution have been phased
out. Farming activities which have a
particular impact on the special qualities
of the area meet the highest standards of
best practice and are appropriately located
so as not to have a cumulative impact on
the landscape. Farmers are recognised
as vital contributors to conserving and
enhancing the natural beauty of the
landscape and have adapted to climate
change. The loss of farmland to coastal
erosion and fl ooding has been prevented
where sustainable to do so and managed
and planned for where protection is
not feasible.
“An outstanding lowland
coast, managed for people
and wildlife”

Section 5
Aims, objectives
and action plan
6161

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Objectives Actions
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2013
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2015
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2016
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2017
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Theme 1 Coast and estuaries
1.1 Landscape and
seascape are taken into
full account in Integrated
Coastal Zone Management
1.1.1 Develop a seascape character assessment
of the Suffolk Coast, both from and back to
the coastline to support marine development
decision-making
SCC, AONB team
*
1.1.2 Produce a report that assesses landscape
and visual impacts of different coast defences
to support decision-making processes
AONB team, TtT
Board
*
1.1.3 Act as the local champion of the Heritage
Coast’s seascape character
AONB Partnership
*****
1.2 Shared learning
and decision-making
processes for management
of the Suffolk Coast
involve and include
statutory duties of regard
to the AONB
1.2.1 Actively engage with the Suffolk
Coast Forum
AONB team,
AONB Partnership
*****
1.2.2 Clarify the governance of coastal erosion
management in the Stour and Orwell Haven
EA, SCC, Babergh
DC
*
1.2.3 Support the conservation of the special
qualities of the Suffolk coast and estuaries
EA, LPAs, NE,
MMO
*****
1.3 Coastal and estuarine
habitats at risk of loss are
conserved and enhanced
1.3.1 Encourage and deliver projects to restore
intertidal habitat, particularly saltmarsh, in the
Plan period
NE, EA, AONB
Partnership
*****
1.3.2 Protect important designated habitats in
situ where possible, and where not possible,
provide compensatory habitat
EA
*****
1.3.3 Increase involvement in bait-digging
management to reduce disturbance to
SPA features
AONB team, Estuary
Management
Groups
*****
1.4 Communities are
encouraged and supported
to deliver projects that
support AONB objectives
across the area
1.4.1 Facilitate, support and encourage Estuary
Partnerships and Forums and community-based
project delivery
AONB team
*****
1.4.2 Encourage a co-operative approach
to managing commercial, recreational and
environmental interests on the Stour and
Orwell with the Stour and Orwell EMG and
Regulators group
S&O EMG
*****
1.4.3 Encourage a co-operative approach
to managing commercial, recreational and
environmental interests on the Deben, Alde
& Ore and Blyth estuaries working with the
estuary partnerships as necessary/appropriate
AONB team
*****
1.4.4 Sustainable, local and small-scale
activities on the estuaries are supported
AONB Partnership
*****
Priority actions are highlighted
Key to acronyms
Babergh DC Babergh District Council
CLA Country Land and Business
Association
EA Environment Agency
EH English Heritage
EIFCA Eastern Inshore Fisheries
and Conservation Authority
ESWAG East Suffolk Water
Abstractors Group
FC Forestry Commission
GtGC Creating the Greenest County
IDB Internal Drainage Board
LPAs Local Planning Authorities
MMO Marine Management Organisation
NE Natural England
NFU National Farmers’ Union
NPA National Pig Association
RSPB Royal Society for the Protection
of Birds
SCC Suffolk County Council
SGP Suffolk Geodiveristy Partnership
S&O EMG Stour and Orwell Estuaries
Management Group
SPS Suffolk Preservation Society
Suffolk FWAG Suffolk Farming
and Wildlife Advisory Group
SWT Suffolk Wildlife Trust
Tendring DC Tendring District Council
TtT Touching the Tide

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1.5 An understanding of
recreational capacity and
disturbance of sensitive
coastal and estuarine
areas has been developed
and negative impacts are
minimised
1.5.1 Support the LIFE+ funded shingle access
management work on NT Orford Ness and
promote good practice throughout the AONB
AONB Partnership **
1.5.2 Co-ordinate a shingle and little tern
strategy across the area
AONB Partnership
**
1.5.3 Produce interpretation for schools,
decision-makers and the public to raise
awareness of coastal change in local context
AONB team,
AONB Partnership
*
1.6 Awareness of local
commercial fi shing
industry in building local
distinctiveness is improved
1.6.1 Develop information with inshore
fi shermen, to raise awareness of their industry
as part of the character of the AONB
AONB team, EIFCA
*
1.6.2 Support the EIFCA in the management
of sustainable fi shing in the Stour and Orwell
estuaries, including any review of bye-laws,
to enable the estuaries to act as a nursery for
fi sh stocks
S&O EMG
*****
1.6.3 Support fi sheries moving to sustainable
fi sheries accreditation
AONB Partnership,
EIFCA
*****
1.7 There is a reduction
in the effects of pollution
on sea, coast and
estuary environments
1.7.1 Analyse Beachwatch results locally and
take forward any local action to prevent litter,
as appropriate
AONB team,
AONB Partnership *****
1.7.2 Engage with future consultation and
decisions regarding Ship-to-Ship oil transfer
off the Suffolk coast
AONB Partnership
***
1.8 There is a range
of opportunities for
communities and visitors
to get involved in and
better understand the
conservation and special
qualities of Suffolk’s
Heritage Coast
1.8.1 Deliver HLF Touching the Tide project TtT Board
***
Theme 2 Land use and wildlife
2.1 Understanding of the
distinctive characteristics
of the local landscape is
improved and relevant
guidance produced
2.1.1 Complete the revision of the Suffolk
Coast & Heaths National Character Area
description (NCA 82) in consultation with
AONB Partnership
NE
*
2.1.2 Carry out LCA work across the wider
AONB and project area to the same scale and
methodology as for Touching the Tide work on
the Heritage Coast
AONB team
*
2.1.3 Actively promote LCA work covering the
area to inform decision-making, such as
www.suffolklandscape.org.uk
SCC, AONB team
*****
2.1.4 Develop and articulate the concept of
tranquillity as an important part of the character
of the area, and test through consultation
SPS, AONB team
***
2.2 Features that detract
from landscape quality are
removed where possible
and feasible to do so
2.2.1 Deliver low-voltage undergrounding
schemes already in programme for DPCR5
(2010–2015)
AONB team
***
2.2.2 Develop new low-voltage
undergrounding schemes with local
communities to deliver within DPCR6
(from 2015)
AONB team
***
2.2.3 Engage with Ofgem and National Grid
over potential to underground high voltage
lines in protected areas
AONB team
***
2.2.4 Engage with other utility providers to
seek a reduction in the impact of infrastructure
on landscape (e.g. telecommunications)
AONB team
***

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2.3 Awareness of the
range and importance of
the AONB’s cultural and
natural heritage and the
sustainable use of the area
is improved
2.3.1 Explore the potential for Biosphere
Reserve status for the area
AONB team
**
2.4 Awareness of the
links between landscape,
human activity, geology,
landform and natural
processes is improved
2.4.1 Develop accessible landscape character
narratives from LCA work to clearly articulate
why the landscape looks as it does
AONB team
***
2.5 River catchments that
start outside the AONB are
recognised as infl uencing
factors in the AONB and
managed accordingly
2.5.1 Develop river corridor projects in the
AONB, engaging communities with monitoring
and care for their rivers/estuaries (WFD, BAP,
CSF targets etc)
AONB team
***
2.6 Areas of high
landscape importance
adjacent to the AONB are
designated as AONB
2.6.1 Achieve AONB status for the proposed
boundary extension of the Stour estuary and
its southern shore in Tendring District
Tendring DC,
AONB team
**
2.6.2 Assess the potential for future potential
boundary extensions (or at least project area
extensions) which meet natural beauty criteria
and NE Designation Strategy, from updated
LCA work
AONB team
**
Planning
2.7 There is a consistently
high standard of
development control
decision-making. This will
prevent signifi cant adverse
impact on the landscape
and scenic beauty of the
AONB, as set out in the
National Policy Planning
Framework (the NPPF
states that landscape and
scenic beauty of AONBs
should be given ‘great
weight’).

2.7.1 Develop closer working through
workshops, seminars, 1:1s and CPD on AONB
conservation issues, to support Development
Control Committee Members, planning
offi cers and other partners involved in
planning decisions
LPAs, AONB team
***
2.7.2 Undertake a review of design guidance
in the AONB and update/produce as necessary
to ensure the distinctive built character of the
AONB and its market towns is conserved
and enhanced
AONB team, LPAs
*
2.7.3 Assess visual impacts of developments on
landscape and seascape character and scenic
beauty, either through LVIA as part of EIA or
through less formal visualisations (photographs
etc) of minor developments where visual
impacts are unclear, both within and adjacent
to the AONB
LPAs, MMO,
AONB team
*****
2.8 The special qualities
of the AONB are
consistently taken into
account and enhanced by
the planning process
2.8.1 Review and as necessary develop
guidance for planners on how to deliver
improvements to ecological networks through
the planning process
AONB team, RSPB,
NE
**
2.8.2 Review and as necessary develop
guidance on the conservation of geodiversity,
to support the planning process
AONB team, EH,
SGP
**
2.8.3 Review and as necessary develop
guidance on tranquillity, and its main
detractors, to support the planning process
AONB team, SPS
**
2.8.4 Review and as necessary develop
planning guidance for the conservation of
historic parks and gardens
AONB team, EH
*

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2.9 Avoid, mitigate and
offset impacts from
major infrastructure
developments within or
adjacent to the AONB
2.9.1 Work closely to ensure that major
infrastructure developments that go ahead
within or adjacent to the AONB (i.e. that pass
the tests set out in National Policy Statements)
causing signifi cant impacts, are appropriately
mitigated and any residual impacts offset
LPAs, NE, MMO,
AONB team
*****
2.9.2 Ensure new high-voltage power lines
associated with major infrastructure energy
developments on or off shore are placed
underground
LPAs, NE
*****
2.9.3 Develop and administer amenity funds
to mitigate and/or offset major infrastructure
development in the AONB
AONB team, LPAs
*****
2.10 Small-scale renewable
energy developments are
supported in the AONB
where they are in keeping
with conserving and
enhancing natural beauty
and do not detract from
landscape character, either
individually or cumulatively
2.10.1 Support and advise planning offi cers,
as appropriate, on a case-by-case basis, on
the scale, location and design of renewable
energy installations
AONB team
*****
2.11 Neighbourhood Plans
prepared by communities
in the AONB help to
conserve and enhance
natural beauty
2.11.1 Develop an ‘AONB toolkit’, including
conservation of AONB special qualities,
to support communities developing plans
AONB team
*
Wildlife
2.12 A thorough audit of
wildlife across the AONB
is established
2.12.1 Complete biodiversity audit using UEA
methodology developed for the Brecks
AONB team
*
2.13 The implications
of climate change on
priority species and
habitats in the AONB is
better understood, to
enable conservation
and enhancement
2.13.1 Develop and promote a project to better
understand the species and habitats winners
and losers of climate change in the AONB
AONB Partnership
*
2.13.2 Ensure well promoted landscape-
scale conservation strategies and targets are
adequate to meet the requirements of priority
species and habitats and the management of
invasive species
AONB Partnership
*
2.14 Conservation
management helps
wildlife to adapt to climate
change, enabling greater
connectivity for dispersal
across the landscape
2.14.1 Develop and promote ecological
networks in the AONB through various
mechanisms including agri-environment,
planning gain and conservation land acquisition
AONB Partnership
*****
2.14.2 Support land acquisition through a
partnership approach, where opportunities arise
AONB Partnership
*****
2.14.3 Improve integration, support and advice
for land owners adjacent to nature reserves,
and in the wider countryside, to buffer and
extend the area available for wildlife
RSPB, SWT, NE,
Suffolk FWAG
*****
2.14.4 Deliver phase 2 of the South Sandlings
Living Landscape project
Sandlings Group
***
2.14.5 Develop an AONB Partnership Position
Statement and Strategy on ecological networks
AONB Partnership
*
2.15 Protected sites are
managed effectively
2.15.1 Support targeted action to ensure SSSIs
in the AONB are in favourable, or favourable-
recovering, condition
AONB Partnership,
NE
*****

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2.16 Habitat management
helps to conserve
distinctive landscape
character
2.16.1 Safeguard and manage characteristic
habitats, particularly diminishing areas
of grazing marsh and larger river valley
meadowlands, through HLS
NE
*****
2.16.2 Pursue habitat restoration opportunities
(heathland particularly) in close consultation
with local communities
Sandlings Group
*****
2.16.3 Engage with golf courses as important
custodians of semi-natural habitat in the AONB
(400 ha, 1% of land area)
AONB Partnership
**
2.17 Wildlife management
has ensured a sustainable
balance between deer
numbers and the
wider ecosystem
2.17.1 Establish deer management groups, as
appropriate, particularly to manage red and
muntjac deer in the Dunwich, Minsmere area
FC, RSPB, NE
*
Farming and Forestry
2.18 Farming in the
AONB is profi table,
but sustainable and
appropriate to location
2.18.1 Promote climate change adaptation
on farms using toolkit developed through the
Future Landscape project
NFU, AONB team
*
2.19 There is support and
advice available to farmers
particularly on sustainable
farming in the AONB
2.19.1 Provide support to farmers entering Agri-
Environment schemes and integrate landowner
advice on offer from multiple organisations
NE, Suffolk FWAG,
RSPB, SWT
*****
2.19.2 Provide advice to farmers about
Catchment Sensitive Farming to reduce diffuse
water pollution and thereby to protect the
Water Framework Directive environmental
status of water bodies
NE, EA
*****
2.19.3 Work together to develop and source
funding for farmland advice offi cers to facilitate
HLS applications across AONB
AONB Partnership
*****
2.19.4 Develop a best-practice guidance note
on outdoor pig farming in the AONB
AONB team, NPA
(NFU), CLA, NE
*
2.20 Building on Future
Landscapes, there is an
increased understanding
and appreciation of
the impacts of climate
change on farming and
appropriate adaptation
techniques
2.20.1 Manage licences to ensure no sub-
catchments are classifi ed as ‘over-abstracted’
in the East Suffolk Catchment, by 2015
EA
*****
2.20.2 Explore opportunities for better use of
surplus fl ows of water to reduce the burden on
over abstracted points during the dry seasons
EA
***
2.20.3 Incorporate soil organic matter (SOM)
improvements in all AE schemes, to help water
retention, as part of CSF and as long-term
economic sense
NE
*****
2.20.4 Reduce the practice of de-stoning of
soils, resulting in long-term loss of structure
and soil organic matter, through AE schemes
and the dissemination of advice
NE, Suffolk FWAG
***
2.20.5 Work with relevant organisations to
identify ways in which excess winter water
could be stored for summer irrigation and other
uses, whilst also delivering ecosystem services.
EA, NFU, ESWAG,
IDB, SCC, AONB
team
*****
2.21 Increase the area of
land in AONB that is in
agri-environment schemes,
with a particular focus on
classic schemes moving
across to ELS / HLS
2.21.1 Increase the area of land under HLS
particularly through conversion of old CS and
ESA schemes
NE
*****
2.21.2 Ensure that the conservation of the
AONB’s landscape is a priority in
agri-environment scheme targeting
NE
****
2.22 Sustainable, local
food and drink production
in the AONB is championed
and celebrated
2.22.1 Maintain AONB category in Suffolk
Food and Drink Awards, encouraging more
producers and retailers to participate and
celebrate the local distinctiveness of the area
AONB team
*****

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2.23 Commercial farming
and forestry helps to
support the special
qualities of the area
2.23.1 Carry out an assessment of the
cumulative impact of small-scale developments
and changes in farming practice on the AONB
since its designation in 1970
AONB team *
2.23.2 Inform the development of the next
Forest Design Plans for Rendlesham and
Tunstall forests to deliver landscape and
wildlife enhancements
AONB Partnership
***
2.24 Multi-objective
management of the
Sandlings forest helps
to improve landscape,
biodiversity
and recreation
2.24.1 Increase the development of ecological
networks in the Sandlings forests, particularly
through expanding and linking heathland sites
FC *****
2.24.2 Manage and develop the Sandlings
forests as a key recreational resource (within
the context of their nature conservation
designations), helping to relieve pressure at
more sensitive coastal and estuary locations
FC
*****
2.25 The AONB’s ecosystem
services and their value are
clearly defi ned
2.25.1 Commission work to highlight and
quantify the various ecosystem services
delivered by the key characteristics of the
AONB’s landscape
AONB team
**
Theme 3 Enjoying the area
Tourism
3.1 Tourism in the AONB is
inclusive, sustainable and
supports the conservation
of the area
3.1.1 Increase by 25% the number of tourism
and other business that are signed up as
‘AONB Supporters’ and contribute through
visitor payback to the AONB Community and
Conservation Fund
AONB team
*
3.1.2 Develop annual campaigns to promote
sustainable tourism within businesses
Suffolk Coast Ltd
*****
3.1.3 Develop a joined-up package of nature
reserve destinations on the Suffolk Coast
(eco-tourism)
Suffolk Coast Ltd,
NE, SWT, RSPB,
NT, LAs
*
3.1.4 Develop opportunities for
volunteering/heritage exploration holidays
with accommodation providers
Suffolk Coast Ltd
*****
3.2 Good practice
examples of sustainable
tourism in the AONB are
championed
and celebrated
3.2.1 Participate in initiatives to celebrate
sustainable tourism, e.g. award schemes
Suffolk Coast Ltd,
AONB Partnership
*****
3.3 There is a strategic
overview of tourism and
its future development and
management is planned
3.3.1 Complete the AONB (BALANCE) tourism
strategy together with Suffolk Coast Ltd and
develop the action plan into BALANCE phase 2
AONB team,
Suffolk Coast Ltd
**
3.4 Local marketing of
the AONB as a tourism
destination is consistent
and improved, and footfall
increased but only when
there is capacity
3.4.1 Organise annual training days for front
of house staff in key visitor locations and
businesses (‘AONB Supporters’) on what
is special about the AONB, to support a
consistent message
AONB Partnership,
Suffolk Coast Ltd
**
3.4.2 Increase marketing of the area for winter
and shoulder-season visitors
Suffolk Coast Ltd
***
3.4.3 Install boundary signage to mark the
AONB boundary but also the Suffolk Coast
as a destination in its own right
AONB team, LPAs,
SCC
*
3.4.4 Build links with Heritage Coast Market
Towns Initiative in order to improve businesses’
understanding of the AONB
AONB Partnership
***
3.4.5 Reduce proliferation of signs within the
AONB, particularly in sensitive locations
AONB Partnership
*****

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2015
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2017
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Access
3.5 Public rights of way
and wider access networks
across the AONB are
maintained and enhanced
3.5.1 Develop sensitively located off-road cycle/
horse routes in the AONB
AONB team
***
3.5.2 Develop an informal network of ‘quiet
lanes’ in the AONB
AONB team, SCC
Transport team
*
3.5.3 Support the Shotley Peninsula
Community Path project: aiming to develop a
new, largely traffi c-free community path from
the edge of Ipswich to Shotley Gate
AONB team,
SCC transport
team and Access
Development
team, LAs
*****
3.5.4 Implement Coastal Access in Suffolk
using the Suffolk Coast Path and Stour and
Orwell walks as its basis
AONB team, SCC
**
3.5.5 Update PRoW signage to show long
distance routes and destination
SCC, AONB team
***
3.5.6 Encourage greater access from a diverse
range of people
AONB team,
Partnership
***
3.6 The AONBs long-
distance walking routes are
seen as key assets to the
area and managed as such
3.6.1 Promote and support the 3-year review of
the Cicerone long-distance route guide
AONB team
**
3.6.2 Undertake 2-yearly surveys of
long-distance routes with volunteers
AONB team
*****
3.6.3 Maintain and improve information and
way-marking (such as distance markers) on the
long-distance routes
AONB team
*****
3.6.4 Identify opportunities to improve access
in the AONB and seek inclusion of schemes in
the Rights of Way Improvement Plan
AONB team,
SCC Access
Development team
**
3.6.5 Raise awareness of the social and
economic value of the long-distance routes
AONB team
****
3.7 Sustainable transport
and associated linkages are
maintained and improved
3.7.1 Develop a project that draws together
all the sustainable transport options into a
coherent package for the visitor, including rail,
demand responsive bus services, cycling
and walking
AONB team
*
3.7.2 Support communities in preventing
deterioration of local road network by HGVs
SCC Transport
team
***
3.7.3 Support communities wishing to
implement road safety measures for walking
and cycling
SCC Transport
team
***
3.7.4 Support communities in the management
of visitor-hotspot car parking
AONB team, SCC
Transport team,
LAs
*****
3.7.5 Promote all existing foot ferries in the
AONB and support the development of
new services
AONB team
*****
3.8 Responsible access
is actively encouraged
to ensure recreation and
access does not damage
the area’s special qualities
3.8.1 Manage recreation and access to avoid
confl icts with conservation objectives
AONB Partnership
*****
3.8.2 Develop the responsible dog behaviour
campaign to reach a wider audience and more
land managers
AONB team
*****
3.8.3 Promote information regarding Open
Access areas and restrictions during bird
breeding season (1st March–31st July)
NE
*****
3.8.4 Protect eroding dune and shingle systems
and other ‘soft’ sea defences from recreation
as necessary
LAs, AONB
Partnership
*****
3.8.5 Develop a Responsible Access Position
Statement for the AONB
AONB Partnership
*

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Information
3.9 People are aware
of the AONB, its special
qualities and the issues
it faces
3.9.1 Champion the area by publicising major
issues affecting the protected area
AONB team
*****
3.9.2 Produce position statements to articulate
the collective view on major issues affecting
the area
AONB Partnership
*****
3.9.3 Produce and distribute a range of
AONB communication materials (newspaper,
newsletters, leafl ets, reports, website, social
media etc) to promote the special qualities of
the area
AONB team
*****
3.9.4 Undertake regular reviews of the
AONB website and publications portfolio
and revise and update to ensure they provide
quality information
AONB team
*****
3.9.5 Engage young people in the conservation
and understanding of the area by working with
Suffolk Environmental Education Network
AONB Partnership
*****
3.9.6 Undertake targeted interpretation
programmes on key sites to foster
understanding and support for their special
character (e.g. heathland)
AONB team
**
3.10 High-quality,
sustainable, outdoor
recreational opportunities,
infrastructure and
information is common-
place within the AONB
3.10.1 Maintain and develop the series of
interpretation boards and walking and cycling
guides in the area
AONB Partnership
*****
3.10.2 Develop guidance and contacts
for responsible recreational use of vulnerable
areas to disturbance within the AONB, such as;
estuaries, shingle beaches and heathland
AONB team
*
3.11 The geodiversity of the
AONB is better understood
and appreciated
3.11.1 Develop a factsheet on geodiversity
as part of the suite of coastal knowledge
factsheets
AONB team, SGP
*
3.12 The historic and
cultural assets of the AONB
are better understood and
appreciated
3.12.1 Develop and promote a register
of undesignated heritage assets to increase
understanding
EH, SCC
*
3.12.2 Develop a factsheet on the historic
landscape as part of the suite of coastal
knowledge factsheets
AONB team, EH,
SCC
*
3.12.3 Record key archeological, cultural and
heritage assets before they are lost to the sea
SCC Archeological
team, EH, AONB
team
*
Theme 4 Working together
AONB Partnership
4.1 AONB Partnership
representation is regularly
reviewed
4.1.1 Develop strong links with new
Partnerships in the area: Local Nature
Partnership, Local Enterprise Partnership and
the East Suffolk Partnership, to maximise the
effective use of resources
AONB Partnership
*****
4.1.2 Review membership to ensure the right
community, agency, local authority, private
sector, NGO representation is in place and
co-opt new members as necessary
AONB Partnership
***
4.2 AONB Partnership has
position statements on all
priority issues affecting
the AONB
4.2.1 Develop a position statement on ecological
networks to support activity by partners
AONB Partnership *
4.2.2 Develop a position statement on
responsible access to support conservation
of natural beauty and the importance of the
Sandford Principle
AONB Partnership
*

70
Objectives Actions
Lead
organisation/s
2013
/14
2014
/15
2015
/16
2016
/17
2017
/18
4.3 There is clarity and
consistency in AONB
messaging
4.3.1 Develop a short paragraph of common
wording about the AONB for Partnership to
use as appropriate, to ensure references to the
AONB are consistent
AONB team,
AONB Partnership
*
4.4 AONB Partnership
acts as a key focal point
connecting business,
communities, organisations
and authorities in the area
4.4.1 Hold AONB public forums as required,
to engage with a range of communities and
stakeholders on topical issues
AONB team
**
4.4.2 Hold biennial seminars on topical issues
for Partners and wider stakeholders
AONB Partnership
**
4.5 Progress on the
implementation of the
Management Plan is
monitored and reported
4.5.1 Develop and adopt annual AONB
business plan
AONB JAC
*****
4.5.2 Hold 2 x formal AONB Partnership
meetings each year focussing on Management
Plan delivery
AONB Partnership
*****
4.5.3 Undertake a mid-term review of the
AONB Management Plan
AONB Partnership
*
4.5.4 Produce a summary at the end of the
Management Plan period summarising the
outcome of actions undertaken by
the Partnership
AONB team
*
4.6 The Partnership is fully
engaged with national
protected landscape issues
4.6.1 Maintain membership and active
engagement with National Association of
AONBs, through annual NAAONB conference
and ongoing work between protected
landscape offi cers
AONB team *****
4.6.2 Hold an annual meeting of Partnership
Leaders, CEOs, Directors to discuss strategic
AONB issues
AONB Partnership
*****
4.7 AONB governance is
responsive to change
4.7.1 Review AONB structures as necessary AONB JAC
*****
4.7.2 Maintain current levels of Defra and
Local Authority core funding enabling the
development of 3rd-party funded
project activity
AONB JAC
*****
4.7.3 Oversee AONB budgets, team structures
and performance quarterly
AONB JAC
*****
4.8 Awareness and
profi le of the AONB
and its importance and
vulnerability is maintained
and enhanced
4.8.1 Continue to champion the area both as a
nationally important protected landscape, but
also as an area much identifi ed and valued by
local people
AONB team
*****
4.8.2 Ensure that AONB materials refl ect the
national protection and local importance of
the area
AONB team
*****
Communities
4.9 AONB grants support
local activities to meet
AONB objectives
4.9.1 Promote and administer Community
and Conservation Fund grants, generated
from visitor payback income from AONB
Supporter businesses
AONB team
*****
4.9.2 Promote and administer Sustainable
Development Fund grants to appropriate
projects in the AONB, ensuring projects make
a difference at the community level
AONB team
*****
4.9.3 Promote and administer Amenity
and Accessibility Fund grants (and similar),
generated from major infrastructure
development (mitigation & offset) within
the AONB.
AONB team
*****

71
Aims, objectives and action plan – Section 5
Objectives Actions
Lead
organisation/s
2013
/14
2014
/15
2015
/16
2016
/17
2017
/18
4.10 There is a range
of opportunities for
individuals, communities
and businesses to get
actively involved in caring
for the AONB
4.10.1 Continue to develop volunteering
schemes in the area enabling people to get
directly involved, particularly at the weekends
AONB Partnership
*****
4.10.2 Ensure communities are engaged in and
fully aware of sensitive site management issues
AONB Partnership
*****
4.10.3 Increase AONB volunteer numbers by
100 by the end of the Plan period
AONB team
*****
4.10.4 Maintain and expand Beachwatch
and adopt-a-beach schemes particularly in
Tendring District
AONB team
***
4.10.5 Continue to develop the coastal and
estuarine warden scheme to improve people’s
enjoyment of the coast (incl. habitats and
access management, surveys and recording,
interpretation and information)
AONB team
*****
4.10.6 Raise the profi le of the Suffolk
Association of Local Volunteering Organisations
register of volunteer opportunities, for people
to fi nd out about opportunities
AONB team
*
4.10.7 Respond to community requests and
opportunities, drawing in other Partners as
appropriate
AONB team
*****
4.10.8 Promote carbon reduction in local
communities. Use the Creating the Greenest
County (CtGC) project and Greenprint forum
to underpin the concept of sustainable living
and promote the landscape and biodiversity
category in the annual CtGC awards
CtGC, Greenprint
Forum, AONB
Partnership
*****
4.10.9 Increase by 25% the number of
businesses who are signed up as ‘AONB
Supporters’ and contribute to the AONB
Community and Conservation Fund through
the Plan period
AONB team
*****
4.10.10 Develop the Community Conservation
Fund Supporters Scheme and make it an
effective way for businesses to engage with the
AONB whilst raising money for conservation
AONB team
*****
4.10.11 Increase opportunities for young
people to become more involved with the
AONB through volunteering, grant schemes
and other projects
AONB team
*****
4.11 Mechanisms are
developed that enable
individuals and groups to
join a network of support
for the AONB
4.11.1 Develop a ‘Friends of’ group for
the AONB
AONB team
***

Dedham Vale AONB
Natural Beauty and Special Qualities
and Perceived and Anticipated Risks

Final Report

July 2016

Alison Farmer Associates
29 Montague Road
Cambridge
CB4 1BU
01223 461444
af@alisonfarmer.co.uk

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
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July 2016

3.2 Natural Beauty Factors and Special Qualities Evidence Table

Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
Landscape
quality

Intactness of the
landscape in visual,
functional and
ecological
perspectives

Lowland river
valley i.e. intact
valley unit
Valley profile and form:

Gentle valley slopes and steeper tributary
valleys with woodland give rise to a subtle but
legible landscape. Distinction of land uses
associated with the valley side (arable,
woodland and settlement) and valley floor
(pastures and grazing marsh) reinforce the
legibility of the valley form.

Heath and acid grassland occur in places
reflecting the underlying geology and soils.

Conversion of pasture on the valley floor to arable – this
undermines the traditional land use patterns and visual
definition of the vale comprising distinct valley sides and
floor.

Planting of poplar and willow plantations on the valley floor –
these can mask the characteristic riparian trees and the
course of the river and can alter the character and habitat
value of traditional meadow areas.

New woodland planting in significant blocks which screens
valued views and does not emphasise subtle landform
changes and traditional woodland patterns.

Development on the valley sides which is visually
conspicuous or which extends uncharacteristically onto the
valley floor – this undermines the predominately rural
character of the vale and historical positioning of settlement
on the valley sides.

Decline of heath and acid grassland in last 100 years and
missed opportunities to re-create and connect heath/acid
grassland in association with land management or new
development.

The condition of the
landscape’s features
and elements

Traditional land
use patterns
Continuity and intactness:

Sense of continuity in management over time
giving rise to time depth and a visual unity.
Changes in land uses which may disrupt the pattern include
plantations of cricket bat willow within the valley floor which
creates enclosure and reduces legibility of drainage ditches.

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
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Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
High degree of integrity – although there are a
range of different spatial scales there are
repeating elements within them.

The presence of features including:
 Church towers
 Parkland trees and wood
pasture/majestic oaks
 Small woods on the steep slopes
 Coppiced hazel
 Hedgerows and hedgerow oaks
 Rural barns nestled into folds in
landform
 Sunken lanes

The high concentration/frequency of these
features and their distribution is grounded in
the traditional management of the valley and is
remarkably intact but highly vulnerable to loss.

Fragmentation of biodiversity habitats across the AONB
due to hedgerow loss, lack of woodland management inc.
coppiced hazel woods, loss of veteran trees, loss of elms.

Development which disrupts the landscape patterns in
terms of the loss of existing features or introduction of new
features which can be unsympathetic.

Extension of gardens into areas of former pasture can
cause a domestication of otherwise rural character and the
extension of urbanising influences.

Development with inappropriate, non-native curtilage
planting or boundary treatment and signage which
domesticates rural lanes, verges/hedgerows and former
pasture/arable fields.

The influence of
incongruous features
or elements (whether
man-made or
natural) on the
perceived natural
beauty of the area

Agricultural
landscape free
from
incongruous
development
Managed landscape created by traditional
farming practices captured in paintings of
landscape artists and remarkably intact still to
this day.

Where development occurs it is predominately
rural and traditional in character.
Piecemeal changes resulting in loss of features due to lack
of management and or the introduction of new elements
which undermines the ‘ruralness’ of the area. It is often not
the individual effects of a specific change but the
cumulative effect with other changes in the vicinity which
are most keenly felt for example temporary enclosures for
grazing, temporary animal shelters, fencing, concrete road
edges and night lighting.

Development which introduces most significant effects
includes new infrastructure (road and
communications/services) and inappropriate designed or
poorly located housing development.

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
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July 2016

Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
Agricultural or large scale industrial buildings(e.g.
Anaerobic Digestion Plants), where they may be visible
across valley slopes, or on the valley floor, or breaking the
skyline such that they draw the eye, may appear out of
scale, and effect the patterns between other landscape
elements.

Scenic quality

A distinctive sense of
place

Iconic lowland
river valley
Appeal to the senses:

A small scale, domesticated landscape with a
sense of traditional management which is the
epitome of lowland English countryside.

Familiar and idyllic, intimate and domesticated,
subtle and harmonious balance of land use
and features.

Land use changes and development which does not
contribute to and may undermine local details and features.

Large scale developments which are out of character with
the small scale and intimate qualities of the vale.

Gradual ad hoc introduction of elements such as signage,
new buildings, storage of materials, night lighting etc. which
may be associated with small scale commercial ventures or
agricultural diversification and may fragment the current
harmonious balance of traditionally managed lowland
countryside.

Valley Bottom
Grazing
Marshes
Scale, colour and texture:

Green and luxuriant pastures, with grazing
cows and sheep, river meandering lazily amid
stout but graceful willows.

Valley floor wet meadows and arable rolling
valley sides contrast with each other in terms
of scale, colour and texture.

Marshes near Manningtree have a simple
character which is open and expansive with
occasional buildings which add interest and
Loss of grazing marshes/pastures to arable land uses or
poplar/willow plantations.

Extension of development on to the valley floor altering
historic settlement pattern.

Increased tree planting and field enclosures on the valley
floor which undermine a sense of openness and contrast
with the valley sides and which blocks valued views.

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
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Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
colour amid a sea of reeds.

Visual Interest in
patterns of land
cover
Assemblage of
features
Visual Interest:

Dedham Vale is not a dramatic expansive
landscape but a small scale domesticated
landscape where the juxtaposition of features
including the riverside meadows grazed by
cows and sheep, graceful willows, meandering
watercourse, rolling farmlands – cornfields at
harvest, fine oaks, picturesque villages and
distinctive valley topography offer visual delight
and interest.

Leafy lanes often with wild flower verges
(many are ‘Protected Lanes’ in Essex or
Roadside Nature Reserves in Suffolk) link
nucleated villages of great charm and vibrant
colour.

Isolated farms or barns sit in hollows in the
hills while church towers stand proudly at the
top of slopes and act as local landmarks.

Introduction of new built form which may disrupt the
predominate small scale and rural character of existing
buildings and features and the relationships between them.
Aspects which may affect the ability of a new development
to ‘fit’ include height, mass, arrangement and size of
windows, pitch of roof, detailing and colour.

Introduction of new agricultural buildings on the skyline and
with no vegetated or land backdrop can be visually
intrusive. Consideration should also be given to colour,
orientation, and ridge height.

New development which visually competes with the
landmark character of church towers.
Enclosure and
views
Sequence of views:

Woodlands and trees and overlapping lines of
vegetation enclose lanes, enhance landform
and frame views such that there is an
unfolding sequence of views.

Steep tributary valleys contain a high
Lack of consideration of the landscape and visual effects of
development both on the immediate environment but also
longer distance views from across the valley when making
land use and management decisions.

Inappropriate design and location of new woodland on the
valley sides – new woodland should emphasise rolling
flowing lines of topography, should have sinuous edges and

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
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Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
concentration of woodland which creates an
enclosed and intimate landscape with high
degree of seclusion.

generally occur on steep slopes/in the depressions in
landform.
Wooded skyline:

Wooded skyline including woodland on the
surrounding plateau which defines the vale.

Development on the upper valley slopes which breaks the
skyline or appears prominent.

Loss of wooded skyline due to lack of management or
development or introduction of inappropriate species of
planting on the upper slopes/skyline e.g. Leylandii.

Appeal to the senses John Constable was inspired by the subtle and
harmonious balance of all the ingredients of
the classical English Lowland and he wrote the
following:

“The gentle declivities, the luxuriant meadow
flats sprinkled with flocks and herds, and well
cultivated uplands, the woods and rivers, the
numerous scattered villages and churches with
farms and picturesque cottages, all impact to
this particular spot an amenity and elegance
hardly anywhere else to be found”.

“The sound of water escaping from mill dams
often rotten plants, slimy moss and
brickwork….”

“Painting for me is another word for feeling and
I associate my careless boyhood with all that
lies on the banks of the Stour”.

Retaining the intactness of the landscape which so inspired
John Constable and has the ability to appeal to the senses
of people today is unique. Understanding the detail
Constable perceived, captured and so loved is fundamental
to retaining the cultural heritage interest we place on this
landscape in the present day.

Threats and issues noted above are all relevant to this aim.

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
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Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
Relative wildness

A sense of
remoteness

Remoteness Perceptions of being away from it all:

Sense of remoteness is readily perceived on
the open and exposed grazing marshes near
Manningtree where the call of marshland birds
(Redshank, Lapwing and Oystercatcher) add
ambience and are evocative of a remote and
natural area Inland the deeply rural
countryside at Wiston and Boxted can also feel
remote.

Significant sections of the valley landscape
remain relatively inaccessible with roads
crossing the river only at infrequent intervals
giving rise to a greater sense of remoteness.

Increased footpath/cycle or road access to areas which
currently retain a sense of remoteness.

Development which requires increased access to areas
currently with relatively limited accessibility.

Increased frequency of trains, new infrastructure, phone
masts, increased traffic etc can all undermine perceptions
of remoteness.

A relative lack of
human influence

Agricultural
landscape
Managed landscape created by traditional
farming practices . This is not a strongly
‘natural’ landscape but one which portrays land
management practices established in the
middle of the 20th century.

Piecemeal changes resulting in loss of features due to lack
of management and or the introduction of new elements
which undermines the traditional land management patterns
of the area. It is often not the individual effects of a specific
change but the cumulative effect with other changes in the
vicinity. For example the loss of veteran trees or individual
pollarded willows along the Stour or the loss of wood
pasture or grazing meadows and replacement with arable
farming or development.

A sense of the
passing of time and a
return to nature

Evidence of
human
habitation over
previous
millennia
Passing of time:

In places there are dilapidated barns with
bulging and sagging weatherboarding which
engenders romantic qualities and the passing
of time.

Loss of features which enhance perceptions of time depth
and are reminiscent of Constable’s day. These features
can be vulnerable to small scale incremental loss.

Balancing the retention of the best through listing and
inclusion on heritage at risk register but also the accepted
decay of others all of which add to the qualities of the area.

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
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July 2016

Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
Relative
tranquillity

Contributors to
tranquillity

Relative
Tranquillity
Factors which contribute to perceptions of
tranquillity:

Familiar idyllic images
Lack of overt signs of development
Natural sounds
Presence of water along the banks of the Stour
Minimal noise and light intrusion
Ability to enjoy/walk lanes with minimal traffic
Local electricity distribution networks and communication
masts within, and in the setting of, the AONB.

Light pollution can affect the area’s dark skies and should
be kept to a minimum including the use of full cut off lighting
and directional light to control spillage for development
within the AONB and also within its wider setting.

Aircraft noise can significantly intrude into the rural
tranquillity of the vale.
Development which introduces/generates unacceptable
levels of traffic on minor roads or leads to the need for
general highways ‘improvements’ or interventions, i.e.
kerbing, lighting, and signage which can introduce
inappropriate materials and be out of scale with the intimate
small scale qualities of this landscape.

New infrastructure crossing the valley floor may result in
physical fragmentation and loss of tranquillity.

Consensus:

Emotional responses to this landscape are
reflected in the draw of artists and writers and
the expression of a ‘quiet idyll’. Dedham Vale
because of its lowland rural character can
have a wide appeal to many sections of
society. People visit the area and feel safe in
the lowland rural scene – here they have the
opportunity to feel inspired.

The Dedham Vale landscape has a propensity
to satisfy people’s expectation of a classic
Recreational activities which result in an increase in the
numbers of people perceived in the landscape, or activities
which are not directly tied to quiet enjoyment can
undermine opportunities to be inspired by the environment.

Increased parking providing improved access to the rights
of way network may undermine the qualities of the ‘quiet
idyll’.

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
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July 2016

Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
English lowland landscape.

Detractors from
tranquillity

Some intrusions
of human
activity
Factors which detract from perceptions of
tranquillity:

Visibility and noise intrusion from A12
Peripheral or linear housing development
Electricity pylons
High concentrations of visitors around ‘honey
pot’ sites.
Recreational activities which are not regarded
as quiet outdoor recreation e.g. organised or
motorised sports.

Pressure for new housing and improved infrastructure that
alters the traditional pattern of settlement such as the
expansion of nucleated villages or infill development
resulting in linear development along lanes.

Increased night lighting and signing.

Increased numbers of people evident in the landscape and
noisy sports.

Natural heritage
features

Geological and geo-
morphological
features

Geology and
Geomorphology
Land use patterns:

London Clay and sand and gravel deposits
exposed on valley sides are reflected in quarry
sites, remnant and past heathland e.g. Tiger
Hill.

Distinctive pattern of vegetation reflecting
underlying soils – elm, thorn, oak, hazel and
field maple in hedgerows on the lower slopes
with holly, pine and ash becoming more
common on the upper slopes. Within the
valley floor alder and willow are commonplace.

Lack of understanding of underlying geology/soils when
undertaking new planting resulting in a loss of the otherwise
distinctive patterns of vegetation where there is a change in
soil and therefore weakening of local landscape character.

Wildlife and habitats

Functioning
River Stour and
Tributaries
Concentration of valued habitats:
Sites of Special Scientific Interest and County
Wildlife Sites are primarily associated with the
River Stour and tributaries.

Loss of native trees associated with the riverside.

Changes in land use and new development which have an
adverse effect on water quality and may affect the nature
conservation value of habitats associated with the river and

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
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Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
Alder and black poplar and pollarded willow
along the watercourses.

Rough grassland gives rise to ideal hunting
ground for barn owl.

Iconic scenes along the river e.g. Flatford Mill
derived from traditional management which
over time has created valued habitats.

Bluebells clothe the banks of narrow lanes in
spring and buttercups carpet the meadows.

its tributaries.

Lack of traditional grazing management resulting in over
grazing or under grazing and loss of grassland species
diversity.

Inappropriate mowing regimes for grass verges and
planting of garden plants/bulbs within verges adjacent to
properties can undermine species diversity of verges.

Semi Natural
Ancient
Woodlands
Appealing woodland patterns and woodland
habitat networks.

Ancient woodland on the valley sides e.g.
Boxted Hall and alder carr along the valley
floor.

Juxtaposition of acidic sandy soils and clay
soils results in a range of habitats in close
proximity e.g. Arger Fen.

Fragmentation of woodland habitat, resulting from changes
in land use or development.

Missed opportunities to undertake off site planting in
association with development where there may be
opportunities to improve habitat networks and reinforce
local landscape character with the introduction of typical
landscape features and re-introduction of traditional
management techniques.

Cultural heritage

Built environment,
archaeology and
designed landscapes

Historic Villages Intact settlement pattern:

Saxon/Medieval settlement pattern – distinctive
settlement form clustered around small
triangular greens or ‘tyes’. The small scale of
traditional villages, built form and layout and
the relationship between the village and the
wider landscape setting remains predominately
Development pressure on the fringes of existing
settlements, altering settlement form and relationship to the
landscape.

Incremental development such as infill development along
lanes resulting in linear settlement form and gradual
urbanisation of the wider landscape.

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
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Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
intact. Many of the settlements are
conservation areas and contain buildings
which reflect major phases of prosperity
associated with the cloth trade in the 13th
century.

A dispersed pattern of individual rural
dwellings occurs throughout the area and
along roads.
Replacement dwellings, of inappropriate scale, form,
dominance, which do not respecting vernacular
architecture.

Loss of traditional settlement form and relationship with the
wider landscape such as at Stratford St Mary and East
Bergholt.

Where new development is proposed care should be taken
to understand the effects on the perceptions of the
traditional form of the village, how it may affect perceptions
of the settlement when viewed from the wider landscape
and how it sits within its landscape context and effects on
the sense of arrival and departure from the village. In the
case of the latter care should be taken to avoid traffic
calming measures or roundabouts on the outskirts of a
settlement which alter its character and sense of arrival.

Building orientation and position in the landscape are
significant considerations.

Historic sites
and landscapes
Significant collection of visibly tangible historic
features, structures and buildings including
limekilns, 2 Norman Motte and Bailey castles,
historic navigation, great halls and estates,
including Registered Parks and Gardens – (e.g.
Tendring Hall, Giffords Hall).

Erosion of above ground archaeological sites e.g. Motte
and Bailey Castles.

Loss of veteran trees and parkland landscapes.

Lack of understanding of these historic features such that
they are undervalued and yet have huge potential to
increase enjoyment and appreciation of the time depth of
this landscape.

Historic influence on The working Landmark features/eye catchers: New development which draws the eye either detracting

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
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Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
the landscape

landscape Landmark churches built of knapped flint
reflecting period of prosperity (woollen trade
1300-1600) but built on the sites of former
Saxon churches. Their landmark qualities
reinforce identity and visual coherence of the
area.

Traditional barns clad in stained weather
boarding – these buildings are characteristic of
Dedham Vale and reinforce its rural roots.
Their organic character and way in which they
sit in the landscape add time depth, visual
interest and have been an inspiration to artists
such as Nash.

Visual interest in range of buildings styles
and types:

Range of building styles including Medieval
timber framed dwellings, grander brick faced
18th century houses, modern buildings from
20th and 21th centuries. Occasional
‘pargetting’ on buildings and colour of buildings
reflects traditional lime washing with a mixture
of lime and tallow colour from locally derived
earth pigments resulting in pinks, apricots and
buffs.

from an existing valued landmark or introducing a new
uncharacteristic feature which has a poor dialogue with the
wider landscape. A new development may inadvertently
become a landmark feature due to poor siting, use of
uncharacteristic materials, colours or due to high reflectivity.

Conversion of barns resulting in a significant change to their
character and setting. These features are highly valued
structures reflecting the agricultural roots of this landscape
and provide local interest and add to scenic qualities.

Use of traditional building material, (the colour, texture and
type of which contributes to local character), is preferable
over new materials. Introduction of inappropriate colours,
texture or building material can undermine and detract from
the strong unity of traditional built form. However, in some
instances new materials may be appropriate. Where this is
the case they should be of a dark/subdued colour and non
reflective and should fit their wider context and establish a
positive relationship with other buildings around them.

Characteristic land
management
practices

Evidence of
management
practices
established in
Tangible history:

Ditches and banks and coppiced hazel stools
marking former park and woodland
Lack of management of small remnant areas of heath
habitat and missed opportunities to restore heathland
fragments and connectivity between historic heathland
sites.

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
Final Report
July 2016

Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
middle of 20th
century
boundaries. Many of the sinuous lanes date
back to early patterns of livestock movements
from valley floor to valley sides.

Place names associated with former heathland
– Dedham Heath, Polstead Heath and
Levenheath.

Engineered channels/sluices relate to a time
when the Stour was navigated between
Manningtree and Sudbury (post 1705) and
when mills developed along the route
producing mainly corn which was transported
by barge.

Traditional orchards associated with the small
villages e.g. Polstead Cherry.

Artistic evidence demonstrating traditional
landscapes and people working the land.

Modern orchards are also characteristic of the landscape
around Levenheath and export local produce nationally.
However care needs to be taken that the scale of such
commercial farming and associated infrastructure does not
have adverse landscape and visual effects.

The characteristic management practices were depicted in
paintings in the middle of the 20th century and reflect labour
intensive and small scale enterprises. Today pressure for
land uses and activities which are larger in scale,
demonstrate increased automisation and the introduction of
new mechanised features, can appear out of place and
undermine the tangible traditional management of the area.
Activity which increases traffic and the erosion of sunken
lanes can have a similar effect.
Associations with
written descriptions

Association with
Ronald Blythe
and Many Other
Writers

Present day landscape connects people to
past writers and to expressing emotions
associated with place:
The AONB contains an assemblage of
features captured in the writings of Ronald
Blythe. The similarity of the landscape today
to that depicted in historic writing reinforces the
timeless quality of this landscape.

Changes as a result of development, land management or
recreation which adversely affect the landscape quality,
scenic quality and tranquillity of this landscape (described
above) will all adversely affect its cultural heritage value
and the appreciation and enjoyment of its literary
associations.

Associations with
artistic
Association with
Constable and
Present day landscape connects people to
past artists and to expressing emotions
Changes as a result of development, land management or
recreation which adversely affect the landscape quality,

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
Final Report
July 2016

Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
representations

Many Other
Artists
associated with place:

The AONB contains an assemblage of
features captured in the paintings of John
Constable, Sir Alfred Munnings and John Nash
which are still evident today. The similarity of
the landscape today to that depicted in historic
paintings reinforces the timeless quality of this
landscape.

Dedham Vale provokes a remarkably strong
emotional response which is readily expressed
in the works of artists and writers. It is not just
the association of this landscape with artists
and writers that is of value but rather the
opportunity to experience first had the
landscape qualities noted above which are so
well captured by such artists and writers. It is
this combination that sets this landscape
above the ordinary as a national treasure and
provides visitors with such inspiring
experiences.

Dedham Vale deeply resonates with visitors as
a classic English landscape – this ‘Englishness’
is reinforced by its association with artists such
as Constable who are synonymous with our
sense of who we are and cultural identity.

scenic quality and tranquillity of this landscape (described
above) will all adversely affect its cultural heritage value
and the appreciation and enjoyment of its artistic
associations.

Over commercialisation of associations e.g. Constable but
also other artists and writers. Over exploitation may give
rise to potential ramifications such as increased signage,
increased activity and visitor numbers which may
undermine the very qualities people are seeking to
experience.
Associations of the
landscape with
people, places and
events
The legend of the dragon in Wormingford
Mere.

Tangible historic sites including above ground
Associations of the landscape with people, places and
events are by their very nature hard to geographically
pinpoint and therefore are prone to a lack of, or
inappropriate, management.

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
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July 2016

Natural Beauty
Factors/
Considerations
Special
Qualities
noted in
Management
Plan
Supporting Evidence Current, Perceived and Anticipated Risks to These
Qualities
and below ground archaeology e.g. cropmarks
which have association with particular periods
in history and increase peoples enjoyment and
perceptions of changing landscape patterns
over the centuries.

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Dedham Vale AONB: Special Qualities
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4: Conclusions

4.1 Why Dedham Vale is Unique within the Family of AONBs

4.1.1 As noted in paragraph 3.1.3 above Dedham Vale is particularly valued for its
landscape quality, scenic qualities and cultural and artistic associations.

4.1.2 The Designation History of Dedham Vale (2010) notes in para 80 that:

“the fact that the area still contains the scenes made so familiar to a wide audience
by Constable’s portrayal of its landscape centre around Dedham and Flatford Mill has
meant that to many the AONB is particularly valued as ‘Constable Country’.
Constables’ scenes of vibrant working landscapes have come to represent the
epitome of England’s lowland countryside, and much of this landscape is still
recognisable in the AONB today. The dominance of this association has made
Dedham Vale a special, one-off AONB’.

4.1.3 While the Dedham Vale 1996 Landscape Assessment document states that:

“Dedham Vale is a landscape full of subtleties….The context of Dedham Vale in an
exposed plateau helps to emphasise the more intimate and special qualities of the
Vale. Although it lies in relatively close proximity to other Essex and Suffolk river
valleys , it stands out from them because of its concentration of interesting and
historic buildings, the scale and dominance of the river, and the fact that it is
remarkably free from industrial development and suburban sprawl, retaining a sense
of the classic East Anglian rural lowland landscape. Its focus is inward, leaving a
lasting impression once experienced”.

4.1.4 All of the above serves to encapsulate why Dedham Vale is designated an AONB
and sits unique within the national family of AONBs.

4.2 Protecting Qualities Going Forward

4.2.1 Whilst this report summarises the natural beauty factors and special qualities it
should be used in association with the documents listed in para 1.3.1 above and not
used in isolation.

4.2.2 It is anticipated that this document will be used by the AONB Partnership in their work
with local landowners and in commenting on planning applications. It is also hoped
that this report will be used by local planning officers as a checklist of the special
qualities and ‘natural beauty factors’ which are relevant to this AONB and therefore
will inform their advice to developers and will assist in determining planning
applications. It should also be helpful to landscape professionals engaged in
assessing landscape and visual effects of proposed development and also those
involved in advising on land management initiatives.

Appendix 5
John Constable’s East Bergholt
Works by Location

John Constable East Bergholt Works by Location Locations

Location Associated Paintings/ Drawings Media Date Source
East Bergholt
Village
View of Beaufort Cottage by Golding Constable’s
House
Oil 1811 Private Collection
The House of Mr Golding Constable at East
Bergholt
Pencil 1814 V&A
Golding Constable’s Flower Garden Oil on canvas 1815
Ipswich Borough Council
Museums and Galleries

Golding Constable’s Kitchen Garden Oil on Canvas 1815 Ipswich Museum
Golding Constable’s House 1809 Yale Center for British Art
Golding Constable’s House, East Bergholt Oil on millboard
laid on panel
1811 V&A
Mr. Golding Constable’s house, East Bergholt

Oil 1811 Ipswich Museum
View at East Bergholt over the Kitchen Garden of
Golding Constable’s House
Pencil 1812- 1816 V&A
East Bergholt House Oil on Canvas 1809 TATE
A Village Fair, probably East Bergholt Oil 1811 V&A
East Bergholt Street, East Bergholt Drawing 1796-9 V&A
East Bergholt House from East Bergholt Oil
View of East Bergholt House Oil 1811 Private Collection
East Bergholt
Common/
Heath East Bergholt 1808 Fitzwilliam Museum,
Cambridge
Spring on East Bergholt Common Oil on Panel 1814 V&A
East Bergholt Oil on cardboard 1813 Yale Center for British Art
Landscape with a red tiled cottage, a windmill
and a rainbow
Oil 1819- 25 Private
Church of St.
Mary
East Bergholt Church
East Bergholt Church: Part of the West End Seen
Beyond a Group of Elms
Chalk on grey
paper
1812 V&A
East Bergholt Church: the exterior from the south
west
Pen &
watercolour
1796-9 V&A

Location Associated Paintings/ Drawings Media Date Source
East Bergholt Church: the exterior from the east Pencil &
watercolour
1805- 11 V&A
East Bergholt Church: part of the exterior from
the north side
Watercolour 1805- 11 V&A
East Bergholt Church: the south archway of the
ruined tower
Pencil
&watercolour on
paper 1806 V&A
East Bergholt Church: the south archway of the
ruined tower
Pencil on paper 1812- 16 V&A
East Bergholt Church: church of the ruined
archway
Oil on canvas 1810 V&A
East Bergholt Church: view from the east Watercolour 1806 V&A
East Bergholt Church: the archway of the ruined
tower
Pencil and
watercolour on
paper 1805- 1811 V&A

The Old
Rectory
East Bergholt Rectory

Landscape with Clouds showing the Rectory
View Towards the Rectory, East Bergholt Oil on canvas on
board
1813 Yale Center for British Art
View towards the Rectory, East Bergholt Oil on canvas 1810
West Lodge West Lodge, East Bergholt Oil on paper laid
on panel
1813- 16 Yale Center for British Art

The Old Hall

The Old Hall
Gardens

Elm trees in Old Hall Park, East Bergholt Pencil with slight
grey and white
washes 1817
Fen Lane/
Flatford Lane
A Lane near East Bergholt 1809
A Lane near Flatford (Fen Lane) Oil on Paper on
canvas
1810- 1811 TATE
Fen Lane, East Bergholt Oil on Canvas 1817 TATE
The Cornfield Oil on Canvas 1826 The National Gallery

Location Associated Paintings/ Drawings Media Date Source
Fen Lane Oil on paper on
canvas
1811 Yale Center for british Art
The Lane from East Bergholt to Flatford Oil 1812 Museo Lazar Galdino
Collection
Flatford Mill

The Mill Stream, Willy Lott’s House Colchester and Ipswich
Museum Service: Ipswich BC
Collection

The Hay Wain The National Gallery
Flatford Mill ‘Scne on a Navigational River’ Oil on canvas 1816- 17 TATE

Flatford Lock

Willie Lot’s Cottage with a Rainbow Oil Private Collection

Boat Building near Flatford Mill Oil 1815 V&A
Leaping Horse Oil 1825 V&A
A country road with trees and figures, Willie Lott’s
House
Oil 1830 V&A
Flatford Lock Oil on paper on
canvas
18-10-1811 Yale Center for British Art
Willie Lott’s House near Flatford Mill Oil on Paper 1810- 1815 V&A
Views over
Stour Valley
View towards Stratford St. Mary Church Oil 1805 TATE
The valley of the Stour looking towards East
Bergholt
Watercolour 1800 V&A
Dedham Vale with the River Stour in Flood from
the Grounds of Old Hall, East Bergholt

Oil on canvas 1814- 17 Sotherbys / private collection
Summer Evening: View near East Bergholt
showing Langham Church, Stratford Church and
Stoke-by-Nayland Church’ 1811,1812 V&A
Miscellaneous A Lane at East Bergholt Pencil 1815 V&A
A Hayfield near East Berholt at Sunset Oil on Canvas 1812 V&A
A Landscape near East Bergholt: Evening Oil on Canvas 1812 V&A
Trees at East Bergholt Pencil 1917 V&A

Location Associated Paintings/ Drawings Media Date Source
Cottages at East Bergholt Watercolour 1832 V&A
Wheatsheafs Pencil 1815 V&A
A Lawn at East Bergholt Pencil on Paper 1815 V&A
An Autumnal Landscape at East Bergholt Oil on Canvas 1805- 1808 Yale Center for British Art

HCUK Group is a multi-disciplinary environmental practice offering expert advice in archaeology,
heritage, landscape and arboriculture, and planning. It began life in 2010 as Heritage Collective LLP,
before becoming Heritage Collective UK Limited in 2014 In the coming years diversification saw the
addition of Archaeology Collective, Landscape Collective and Planning Collective, before all strands
came together to be branded under a single umbrella: HCUK Group, based on the acronym for the
original company. A home working company since the beginning, we are pleased to employ a talented
workforce of consultants and support staff, who are on hand to advise our clients.

This report is co-authored by Claire Browne BSc. (Hons) DipLA CMLI and Dr Anne Johnson BA (Hons),
PhD, FSA, MCIfA. Reviewed and edited by Dr Jonathan Edis BA MA PhD MIFA IHBC.
Claire is a Chartered Landscape Architect with 20 years’ experience, in landscape planning, assessment
and design. She gained her qualification in Landscape Architecture at the University of Sheffield and
works across a r
ange of sectors that includes heritage parks and estates, green spaces, residential,
leisure, education and mixed-use. Her work has required special consideration of development
impacts on designated and non-designated landscapes and heritage features, in both rural landscapes
and within a townscape context. Most recently Claire undertook historic analysis and landscape
masterplanning for the Greenwich Park Revealed project, prior to joining HCUK.
Claire’s approach to placemaking seeks to reflect the distinctive qualities of the landscape character, to
draw on a site’s special qualities and to make places engaging for people, with positive outcomes for
the environment. For this project, Claire was delighted to draw upon her landscape expertise and her
personal interest in landscape art and art history.
Anne has worked for over 30 years as an archaeological consultant, at Oxford Archaeological
Associates prior to HCUK Group. She also draws on extensive experience project managing over 300
geophysical surveys. This experience provides valuable context for Anne’s historical research. In her
role as Researcher Anne scours record offices and online repositories for documentary and cartographic
sources to analyse and interpret. Her work adds depth, context and understanding to the sites,
buildings, features and landscapes we appraise.
Director and co-owner of HCUK Group Jonathan and his co-Directors guide the strategic direction of the
Group. Jonathan reviews a good deal of its output and is still involved in heritage consultancy, drawing
on 37 years’ experience of change affecting heritage assets and their settings. He has been involved
in major enabling developments, 300+ appeals (of which 125+ have been public inquiries), strategic
urban extensions, infrastructure, regeneration, commercial, retail and mixed use developments.
Listing and curtilage cases, enforcement and prosecution.
All have enjoyed bringing their collective forces to bear on the Historic Landscape Study of East
Bergholt.