Heritage assets review

Have your say on potential new sites listed by council

TWO old village water pumps look set to be among more heritage assets listed by West Berkshire Council.

Heritage assets within the district that have been considered by the public and the council as having special local architectural or archaeological merit go on the list.

Eight more sites are up for inclusion, such as 6 Northbrook Street, Newbury; Crabtree Community Centre, Hermitage; the Village Pump, Compton Road, East Ilsley; White Lodge, Donnington Grove; a post box in Welford; another water pump at School Lane, Burghfield Common; the Well House, The Wells Recreation Ground; and Marlston Stile, Brockhurst School, Marlston, Hermitage.

The council is asking for public views on the selection, and has published some detailed information about the sites.

The building at 6 Northbrook Street was built in 1886 for the draper William Clark, who occupied the previous shop on the site since at least 1861.

The architect was Walter Henry Bell (1860-1932) of 31 Cheap Street, Newbury.

By the late 1890s the building was occupied by another draper, Alfred Camp, who already had a shop at 8-9 Northbrook Street known as Alfred Camp’s Drapery Bazaar.

In 1920 the business was merged with adjoining shops to create the department store Camp Hopson which opened in 1921.

Of the Crabtree Lane Community Centre – a former Second World War military hospital building for injured American serviceman – it says the building has historical and architectural significance and should be considered of major interest to the residents of Hermitage and Curridge both for its original role in the Second World War camp and for its continuing role as a surviving representative of the now-vanished camp buildings.

It says the flywheel water pump and well house, near the pond in East Ilsley, dates to at least 1934.

Local knowledge suggests the pump was fitted in 1934 during a drought.

The pump has an 80 foot borehole.

At this time outlying villages in West Berkshire probably still depended on wells or pumps for their water supply.

The fact the pump has been maintained and continues to work recognises its significance to the local residents.

The council information on the sites describes the Welford postbox as an iconic item of late 19th-century street furniture.

This box is of a particularly scarce type from an era before standardisation of design took hold.

Smith & Hawkes was one of the earliest contractors for manufacturing postboxes, and produced a number of innovative postbox designs during the period before standardisation resulted in a small set of nationally implemented designs for pillar, wall and lap boxes.

And it says the style on a footpath near Brockhurst School in Marlston was made by Hedges, a well-known local foundry based in Bucklebury.

It produced a range of surviving local metal structures including pumps and grave markers.

This is the only known stile. To take part in the decisionmaking process, complete the survey by midnight on Sunday, May 12.

Visit https://westberks. gov.uk/local-list-heritageassets