Listed Buildings

Context

A listed building in the United Kingdom is a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance. It is a widely used status, applied to around half a million buildings.

A listed building may not be demolished, extended or altered without special permission from the local planning authority (who typically consult the relevant central government agency, particularly for significant alterations to the more notable listed buildings). Owners of listed buildings are, in some circumstances, compelled to repair and maintain them and can face criminal prosecution if they fail to do so or if they perform unauthorised alterations. Because of this, and because listing can limit the options available for significant expansion or improvement, the law allows for owners of listed buildings to object to the listing.

Although most structures appearing on the lists are buildings, other structures such as bridges, monuments, sculptures, war memorials, and even milestones and mileposts may also be listed. Ancient, military and uninhabited structures (such as Stonehenge) are sometimes instead classified as Scheduled Ancient Monuments and protected by much older legislation whilst cultural landscapes such as parks and gardens are currently "listed" on a non-statutory basis.

Why are there three grades?

Listed buildings are graded to show their relative importance:

  • Grade I buildings are those of exceptional interest
  • Grade II* are particularly important buildings of more than special interest
  • Grade II are of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve them

There are 370,000 or so list entries currently protected by listing, and of those by far the majority - over 92% - are Grade II. Grade I and II* buildings may be eligible for English Heritage grants for urgent major repairs.

Halewood

Halewood retains the character of a Victorian village with its open aspects, green areas and well spaced buildings. Halewood has numerous buildings of historical interest. There are many fine houses and farms, including The Hayes - the main house of which has a builder's stone dated 1867. Other historic houses include Wellcroft Cottages, Brook House, Harefield/Ashton Hey, Irelands Farm and many others.

St Nicholas Church is a Gothic style, Grade II listed building and displays pew boxes and stained glass designed by William Morris. The old rectory has an attractive late Georgian frontage and retains the original pattern of windows.

Presently there are only three buildings, plus a unique gravestone, deemed to warrant Grade II listed status:

Grade II

St. Nicholas Church

St.Nicholas was built in 1839 on land donated by the Earl of Derby, and built cheaply out of Woolton quarry sandstone for the grand sum of £900. Since then the church has been greatly altered, including the addition of impressive stained glass windows designed by the William Morris Company.

Foxhill House, Foxhill Lane

A Grade II listed Georgian house facing the former Halewood Common (or Halewood Green) and the surrounding North End hamlet. The village windmill once stood in the field facing the house.

Yew Tree Farm

The former moated Yew Tree House is now a private dwelling situated in Almond Close, at the junction of Higher Road and Wood Road. Part of the house was built in the mid 17th century, and may contain earlier fragments of a simple rectangular house of two rooms with a centre passage and a storey above.


War Horse Grave

In December 2017, the grave of 'Blackie' the war horse at Halewood Horse's Rest was granted Grade II Listed Status to protect the site. This came after a local campaign and application to Historic England, after fears it may be removed by developers of planned housing. This is the only site of its kind in the country with such status. This is the most comprehensive account of Blackie and his master, Lieutenant Leonard Comer Wall.



Halewood Conservation Area

Halewood conservation area appraisal. Appraisals re-assess the character of the areas and note any changes which have occurred since its designation such as new development, changes to specific buildings and streetscapes. However, appraisals are not intended to be fully comprehensive and any omission does not imply that something is of no interest. Click here for more detail.































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