Heritage News 19 - South Derbyshire District Council

REJECTED!
Some would-be listed
buildings that didn’t
make it...
head is an individual structure and is not of sufficient
architectural or historic interest to merit listing.”
Beehive Kiln, Hepworth’s, Swadlincote
Requests to have buildings “listed” are sometimes
rejected even when the District Council has
considered that there have been good grounds for
listing them. Examples include:
65, Main Street, King’s Newton.
•A Cruck Truss at 65, Main Street
An unspoilt cruckframed
cottage
between two
h e a v i l y
modernised
properties. The two
cruck frames, wellpreserved
and
p o s s i b l y
mediaeval, are
good examples.
This is the only
known example of
a cruck-framed
building in South
Derbyshire which is not a listed building. Nevertheless,
the Department for Culture, Media and Sport declined
to list this building in 1999, saying it was part of a terrace
of cottages, disqualified for listing by the heavy
alterations to the other properties in the row.
Wellhead, Top Farm, Ticknall.
•The well head near Top Farm,
Ticknall, built in 1871.
This wellhead, restored a
few years ago by the
Ticknall Preservation and
Historical Society, was
built in 1871, preceding
the well-known, greenpainted,
cast iron “taps”
of 1914 that are so much
a feature of the village.
English Heritage, via the
Department for Culture,
Media and Sport, has
been approached twice
with a request to list this
building, but has declined
to list it on both
occasions. They say “It does not contain a pump and
was not part of the installation of the listed pump system
in 1914. English Heritage have concluded that the well-
This is the last remaining downdraught or “beehive” kiln
in the Swadlincote area, which once had score upon
score of them. Used for firing bricks and pipes etc.,
modern technology and the decline of the local clay
industry has accounted for their destruction. This final
example, albeit in a very poor condition, had therefore
become valuable.
Nevertheless, English Heritage via the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport considered that it was unworthy
of listing on its own. They said: “The kiln is of
indeterminate date, since the nature of the industrial
process results in a continuous rebuilding programme
as kiln linings deteriorate. Much of the surviving fabric
is probably of the late 20 th century, while its design is
representative of the technology of the late 19 th century.
Its associated chimney is listed, but the kiln is now an
isolated component in a much altered surrounding area.
English Heritage have concluded that the building is not
of sufficient architectural or historic interest to merit
listing.”
Consent has been given for the demolition of the kiln,
subject to detailed prior recording for posterity, as part
of the scheme for the new Morrison’s Supermarket.
Steam Mill, Smisby
This building is completely unremarkable on the outside,
but the interior contains conventional mill machinery for
grinding oats, barley and wheat, powered by steam
instead of wind or water. The machinery was apparently
installed within the shell of an earlier farm building at
some point in the 19 th century. The machinery is crudely
put together and assembled using a jumble of materials,
including an old wooden two-holer privy seat!
Unfortunately, English Heritage deemed it to be too
rustic, makeshift and crude for listing.
Heritage News - 9
•Firing a beehive kiln, from the Donisthorpe
Colliery Co’s brochure 1951.