HERITAGE STATEMENT ST PETERS CHURCH THETFORD For THETFORD COUNCIL

6.0 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
6.1 This section seeks to indentify and assess the particular significance of St Peters Church within its
environment (its setting), the conservation area, as a listed building and in respect of its contents.
6.2 In English Heritage’s Conservation Principles, Policies and Guidance (Conservation Principles)
six ‘Conservation Principles’ are established to inform the approach to the management of the
historic environment. Principle 3 ‘Understanding the significance of places is vital’ includes the
statement that articulating the ‘values and significance of a place is necessary to inform decisions
about its future.’ This approach is underpinned by paragraph 128 of the National Planning Policy
Framework (NPPF) which guides applicants to describe the significance of the heritage asset: the
level of detail and analysis provided being proportionate to its significance and the works
proposed.
6.3 E H’s Conservation Principles establishes four main values which heritage assets can hold:
evidential, historical (illustrative and associative), aesthetic and communal. This significance
assessment sets out an appraisal of the heritage values of St Peters in three parts: its place in the
setting, the building fabric, and its contents.
6.4 Paragraph 69 of Conservation Principles directs that an assessment of significance will normally
require an understanding of how particular parts of a place and different periods in its
development contribute to, or detract from, the identified heritage values. The previous sections
have outlined the development of Thetford and that of St Peters within that setting, and it might
be expected that the requirement would be for a full analysis of St Peters within those contexts.
However given that the degree of development that is sought within this application is slight and
as indicated in paragraph 6.2 above the assessment should be proportionate to this we will limit
the assessment accordingly.
6.5 Identifying those values or parts that are of lesser significance is an important part of the
management process. The introduction to English Heritage’s ‘Constructive Conservation in
Practice’ (2008) states that using the four heritage values ‘allows a precise recognition of a site’s
varying levels of significance and offers an objective way of assessing the scope for new
intervention.’ It goes on to state that those parts ‘which have lesser heritage significance might in
some cases be adapted or replaced to encourage new or continued use.’ This methodology and
approach to breaking down the holistic values into relative significances is therefore based on best
practice as endorsed by English Heritage.
6.6 This approach therefore satisfies both an assessment of the site as a single entity and provides an
appraisal of the relative significances of the building and its setting. This approach is considered
to accord with Principle 3 of Conservation Principles, which guides that the significance of a
place embraces all the values associated with it (para 3.2), but that it is also important to look at
the relative importance of the different values (para 3.3).
It should also be noted that the assessments made below measure the significance of St Peter’s in
respect of the national scale, which is the context in which the application should be judged. In
terms of their local importance the assessments might reasonably be up rated.
Heritage Values
6.7 Evidential Value – derives from the potential of a place to yield evidence about past
human activity.
Medium Significance
St Peters from its 15 th C origins has been an important part of the daily lives and activities of the
people of Thetford. Its central position has ensured its survival as one of a handful of churches