SNN112988 - Drayton Lodge Farm, Staverton Road, Daventry, Northamptonshire: Historic Building Record, 2021

The current report outlines the results of a programme of historic building recording (HBR) completed in September 2021 in respect of a series of residential and agricultural outbuildings at Drayton Lodge Farm, Staverton Road, Daventry, Northamptonshire. The study was prepared, under the terms of National Planning Policy Framework, at the request of Nick Cooke of RPS Consulting Ltd. working on behalf of developers Bellway Homes (South Midlands) Ltd. in response to a draft condition of planning consent for the large-scale residential development of the wider farmstead site (ref. DA/2019/1000). Drayton Lodge Farm occupies an isolated site on the south-western boundary of the town of Daventry in the East Midlands, close to the county boundary with Warwickshire, lying to the north side of the old Staverton Road, south of the A425 and cut off from the main residential suburbs of the town by the A45 Stefen Way. The farmstead is centred on NGR SP 55710 61935and lies at an elevation of c.162m AOD. The main farmstead comprises a series of buildings occupying a (modified) full, regular courtyard plan, with buildings arranged along the eastern, southern, western and northern sides of a central foldyard, with later elements extending to partially occupy the central yard area. Three principal structures of early date survive, viz. the main farmhouse, of two principal phases, and an adjacent two-storey outbuilding to the south thereof, with a further, former shelter shed to the south side of the yard, though the remaining traditional farm buildings, evident on historical mapping, have been largely remodelled or entirely replaced with modern, 20th-century utilitarian structures of no architectural merit or heritage interest. To the north of the main courtyard complex, a large 20th-century over-wintering shed and a smaller, ‘deep litter’ chicken shed are located within a second, subsidiary yard. None of the constituent buildings are statutorily or locally listed, nor are they located within a designated Conservation Area or included on the Northamptonshire Historic Environment Record, though the earlier elements of the complex were identified as ‘non-designated heritage assets’ at an earlier stage of the planning process. The evidence of available historical mapping and other archival sources has established that the buildings of Drayton Lodge Farm reasonably originated in the mid- to late-18th century, possibly as an ‘outfarm’ established within the former open fields of Drayton parish, enclosed in 1754, before being more formally established and developed in the early years of the 19th century and undergoing a subsequent, somewhat piecemeal and accretive evolution. Mid- to late-20th century developments have removed a large number of early, traditional ranges however, especially to the eastern side of the foldyard and within the northern subsidiary yard, while the introduction of a series of modern, utilitarian structures to the centre and east side of the main foldyard has impacted significantly both upon the historical plan form of the farmstead as a whole, and upon the setting of the surviving traditional ranges.