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Westgate Study - Trust Annual Report 1970

The Committee of the Preservation Trust has submitted the following statement to the consultants preparing a scheme for the Westgate area.

In General. The Trust welcomes the appointment of two professional firms to advise on the Westgate area provided that the advice is sympathetic to the City's true nature and to its inherent environment.

A. Traffic

In our opinion the effect of the motor car cannot be pushed aside if the environment is to be truly improved.

  1. We consider that steps should be taken to minimise the effect of certain motor magnets in or near the area.
    • Southgate Street—Jewry Street. All heavy traffic should be excluded from these roads.
    • The Coach Station, Worthy Road. This is badly sited for today's needs and encourages heavy vehicles to come into Winchester. A coach station is needed, but if it cannot be moved, heavy vehicles should only be allowed to approach it from the north, via the By-pass, where they should return by the same route. The roads which would benefit from this include Chesil, St., North Walls, Jewry St., and Southgate St. The Planning Authority should be pressed to urge in its turn the proposed development of the heavy vehicle site and pull-in at Pitmoor (Chandlersford) for which planning permission was given some years ago. Why should Winchester suffer this unneccessary hardship ?
    • Ashburton Court. An eyesore, a major motor magnet and architecturally out of all proportion to the domestic side of the town. No large massive blocks should be constructed in future, and the County Council should be encouraged to decentralise some of its offices, those which do not have to be visited by many members of the public. The County Architects' Department could well be moved to office accommodation which has been allowed for at Badger's Farm. Perhaps the provision of a railway halt at Mead Road, St. Cross would improve or lessen the traffic congestion in your area of study?

B. The Area Should Remain One of Mixed Planning Use

  1. It is highly desirable that the centre of the City should remain a populated area, and not dead at nights and week ends.
    We welcome the decision of the City Council to build more accommodation for old people in Sussex Street, and we consider that small houses should be allowed to remain in this area. Connaught Terrace and Carter Terrace are both attractive groups, period pieces in their own way, and the group on the west side of Staple Gardens with pairs of doors under one containing arch are surely capable of rehabilitation. The houses south of this group seem too far gone, but we think they should be replaced on a similar small scale.
  2. We consider that the area could well include a new hotel. Consideration might be given to the desirability of a City like Winchester having some hotel accommodation in the High Street. God Be Got needs a replacement, and two hotels have been lost in Sussex Street. Trafalgar House seems a possibility or perhaps the Westgate Lodge (a good building) could be extended to include the insurance office etc. which we would not wish to preserve. There is a good site empty on the ground of No. 79 High Street where the City Council has promised a good building.
  3. We do not consider that provision should be made for any large new shops in the area. A new supermarket would only add to the congestion. Any new shops should be small, and there should be continued room for such local assets as the upholster's works in Staple Gardens, for Winchester needs this kind of small individual industry, employing only a few people and centrally situated.
  4. Some consideration should be given to providing (suitably hidden) lockup garages, in small numbers and perhaps even under some development.

C. Improvements

  1. The approach to Winchester from the Railway Station is poor aesthetically speaking. Much more needs to be done by British Rail to the actual station. The footpath to Upper High Street is bounded by a dirty littered area of unkempt grass. The trees on the side of the station approach do not appear to have regular attention, and the whole area needs landscaping.
    The Corporation's Gladstone Street car park ought to be screened, perhaps by substantial tree planting.
    The scale of the design of the new frontage to widened Sussex Street (west side) is of vital importance, and with Upper High Street, the prevailing effect needs to be of small scale domestic use. It is unfortunate that this small area of domestic use has to be separated from the City by a principal traffic route.
  2. Pedestrian movement in the area. The creation of new narrow alleys for pedestrians may lead to difficulties in the present climate of delinquency, and the tendency for undesirable group activity. The best answer to many of these related social problems is a lived-in town, where there are not areas empty at night and where there are narrow roads which can be used by pedestrians or local cars.
    We think that the interests of the pedestrian in the area would be furthered by:
    • The retention of existing street widths. The widening at the north end of Staple Gardens is out of keeping with the centre of the city.
    • Cross Street should be kept.
    • Better pedestrian access from the back of the Jewry Street car park.
    • Experiments in closing various parts of the area to cars, for short terms only are highly desirable but seem important if a principal traffic route is really to be carried through Sussex Street via Romsey Road. It is a pity that Upper High Street cannot be preserved for pedestrians.

Other improvements.

  1. Trees and Street decorations. There are important trees near Tower House, and some replanting ought to be done, in order to preserve a number of vistas.
    No attempt has been made to landscape Ashburton Court. Trees are needed along Tower Street, not flowering shrubs, plane trees would be suitable, to help remove the horizontal emphasis.
    The main Jewry Street crossing of the High Street is very ugly. The centre islands there should not set the pattern for what may happen in Sussex Street.
    The Jewry Street carpark is also ugly. In general more trees are needed on the north side of the High Street.
  2. Buildings which appear neglected. Wider publicity should be given to the grants which are obtainable by the owners and on traffic routes some small additional financial help might well be provided to allow for necessary frequent cleaning and repairs and for the provision of double glazing for noise protection.
    We feel that it is desirable that Winchester should make a good impression and be well kept.
  3. Open Spaces. We are not in favour of a large open space area being provided, but some small additional space which would help to relieve pressure on the Cathedral Close, could provide an attractive lunch time rendezvous for office workers, and be of use to residents without gardens. The gardens of Tower House seem the obvious suggestion.

Our general conclusions

Our general conclusions, and it is our most important point, the area should be rehabilitated and not rebuilt. On the north side of the High Street the mid twentieth century is already represented by a variety of architectural forms, and the massive redevelopment of the Assize Court area and Tower Street make a sufficient contribution. We do not feel that some of the buildings in the area for example Staple Gardens, are suitable for Winchester.

Finally we add a number of small points relevant to individual buildings and roads

Jewry Street, west side

  1. It is desirable for many reasons, that the Theatre Royal be kept.
  2. Murray's Corner, has been carefully designed. It needs uniform painting and no more brick stall boards as in the butcher's shop.
  3. The Public Library should be upgraded to Grade I of the Listed Buildings groupings. The entrances to the car park are ugly. Could they be improved ?

Tower Street

  1. Tower House. Ideally we consider this house to be worthy of preservation as the only large example of Victorian Gothic (1851) left in Winchester. If it cannot be kept, then the site should be used for residential purposes or a small open space. The trees are important.
  2. Some properly designed buildings for auctions are obviously needed somewhere. What is the future use of the land behind Tower house and the four porticoed houses ? The new fence here is too low.

Newburgh Street

We consider that steps should be taken to improve the very derelict north east corner, which gives an unfortunate appearance to a street which has attractive small houses.
Newburgh House. (T.A.V.R.) Incorporating some material from the former prison in Jewry Street, should be put to communal use if not required by the army.
Would it provide a youth centre? There is plenty of land behind.

Sussex Street

We draw your attention to Nos. 80, 82, 84 and 86, two good pairs with iron work decoration.

Upper High Street

We consider that this is full of good small houses. Ideally the hairdressing intrusion (No. 24) should go. We are horrified at the poor design of the fascia boards on the west side of the road. Wavy Line Foodstores and the estate agents nearby we consider most unattractive and unsuitable with their garish colouring. The traffic notices on the Plague Monument should be removed.

Tower Street (High Street end)

Trees should be planted here and along the side of Ashburton Court. Another large tree needs to be put in near the corner of the site of No. 79 High Street if there is not going to be any development there in the forseeable future.

Staple Gardens

The old Bank building now a solicitor's office, and completed in 1860 should be retained but the shop window should be removed. Trees should be planted in the front of the N.F.U. building and S.C.A.T.S. We suggest silver birches here, and we are not in favour of any further widening. It is important, too, that this road should continue to act as a relief service road to to the west side of Jewry Street, but there is some wasted land where lock up garages in small groups could be hidden away. The flint wall (dated 1846 J.C.) should be carefully kept but at this end of the street, known locally as Five Corners, the new brick wall opposite is unfortunate and it is too low.

High Street north side, to Jewry Street crossing

This is an important entrance to Winchester and the domestic scale should be kept. All the buildings should be kept except that the insurance office could be redeveloped into a more pleasing form. No. 86 is an important house with the only door casing of its kind left in the High Street and good bow windows. We consider it to be in urgent need of rehabilitation.

High Street, south side

All the buildings should be kept above the Black Swan group, where we should welcome demolition, and a development in a more suitable Winchester manner.
Nos. 75, 77 and 78 need repainting, but presumably the County Council will attend to this when they have tidied up the backs of the buildings. The old photographer's case should be removed and the shop front of No. 76 would not be a loss; that at No. 75, designed by Thomas Stopher the younger should be kept.
No. 78 is a carefully designed corner building, finished in Roman cement and like Nos. 76 and 77 the work of a local architect Henry Carey Browne Stopher's father in law.

St. Clement's Street—Trafalgar Street

We consider it will be unfortunate if all indications that St. Clements Street was or is a street lost. It should not be widened. Trafalgar House must be retained, if only as a shell, to provide some balance between the mass of the Assize Courts and the rest of Winchester. The flint houses at the top of the north side of St. Clement Street are unusual. They should be retained and the south side of the street re-built in a suitable domestic manner, to fit in with the modest but well designed Southgate Street corner (newsagents) with its distinctive trophies.

Southgate Street—west side

We feel sure that we need not recommend to you the fine individual buildings of this particular road. We endorse the action of the County Council in taking over St. Thomas Church as a County Record Office.
We hope that these comments and suggestions may be of some use to you. We must reserve the right to make further representations if we consider them necessary but in the meantime we are grateful to have the opportunity of sending you this preliminary note.



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