Witton Park historical report - Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Assessment of Witton Park House, Witton Park, Blackburn
2. Assessment methodology
2.1 The overall impact of the development proposal was assessed in relation
to its direct and indirect potential impacts on any heritage assets and its
impact on the historic character of the area.
2.2 The baseline data was collected from a variety of sources. In addition to
published sources, the Lancashire Historic Environment Record was
consulted, research was undertaken at the Lancashire Record Office
(LRO) in Preston and a site inspection was made. The Fielden collection if
the LRO contains a number of plans, maps and other documents relevant
to the history and development of Witton House. Unfortunately, the
collection is not well catalogued, and it is possible that there are other
relevant documents that were not uncovered during the course of this
assessment. For example, an 1859 plan of Witton Park house was
catalogued, but not the 1886 plan of service buildings which was stored
with it. 3 Some documents were very fragile, in particular an 1890s plan of
the first floor of the house 4 which requires conservation before it can be
produced again, and others are missing. 5 Initially it had been intended to
visit Blackburn Library, but after visiting the Lancashire Record Office this
was no longer considered necessary for the purposes of assessing the
impact of the development proposals. Secondary sources relevant to the
history of Witton Park and this area of Blackburn were consulted along
with primary sources directly relating to the history and development of
Witton Park.
3. Designated status
3.1 The park is a modern country park, even though it is based on the
landscape park to Witton House. It is not registered by English Heritage as
a Park and Garden of Special Historic Interest. The original extent and
design of the park has been altered by the addition of sporting facilities to
the south of the site of the house and by the development of a school
complex within the eastern perimeter. The park was been credited with the
Civic Trust's prestigious Green Flag Award in 2003, which it still retains. 6
3.2 There is only one designated structure within the environs of the park,
which is the site of Witton Hall, a scheduled monument. 7 The scheduled
monument is owned by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council but is not
managed as part of the public park. It is managed by the authority’s
Property Management Group along with the adjacent allotments. At
present, there is no public access to the hall, even though it lies on the
3 LRO DDFd 11/107a
4 LRO DDFd 11/405
5 LRO DDFd 11/379
6 www.greenflagaward.org.uk/winners; Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council 2007, 3
7 Scheduled monument number 34981; LHER PRN 982
Egerton Lea Consultancy Ltd 2009 2