Retrospective Application Statement

Mr & Mrs Martin

Retrospective Application for 2 Bed Tourist Accommodation West Craig, St Judes, Isle of Man

Background & Historical Information

August 2010

Mr & Mrs Martin

Proposed Retrospective application for creation of Tourist Accommodation, West Craig, St. Jude's, Isle of Man

1.0 Site History:

The site is an important one within the St Jude's area, being firstly as noted on the early 1869 County map the "The Old Marl Pit" dating back to the 15th century, where the marl was excavated for fertilizing the large areas of wheat production. This was an important activity and employer within the community. As other fertilizer products became available this process became non viable due to the labour required and ceased. However the old sections of the Marl pits remained. Subsequently the Marl Pit was found to contain a large area of suitable clay for brick manufacture and was developed as the West Craig Brick & Tile works, one of the first and most important brickworks on the Island at the time. The large clay pit was excavated and the produce brought out on trucks on a narrow gauge railway drawn by a stationary steam engine from 1889 onwards. The brickworks was a major employer in the area with 14 brick makers producing at its height 5,000,000 bricks per year for use throughout the Island. (a full history of the brickworks site is enclosed as appendix 1). It was found that the presence of lime in the clay made the bricks susceptible to cracking and weak face retention. This is apparent in the existing samples of bricks and tiles found on the site and still in the owners' possession. The brick production ceased in the early 20th Century.

The building in question was the old labourers' cottages adjacent the kilns which there was thought to be two as at Ballacorey, with the old drying house nearby adjacent the pit side. The brick kilns, chimney, pump building, steam engine base and associated stores have long been removed on closure of the works, however the original single storey labourers accommodation, large drying store and flooded clay pit, essentially a small lake remained. Also several of the old track sections have been recovered from the clay pit for reuse as part of the site history and large areas of cinders remain in the old kiln positions.

The Development Proposal:

The present owners, Mr & Mrs Martin on purchasing the West Craig started investigating the history of the site & surrounding area. They were intrigued at the information found concerning the brick, tile & clay pipe production and it was decided it would be a positive step, although requiring significant resources to preserve what they could of the old brick buildings & the pit site by the possibility of using it for Self Catering Guest / Tourist accommodation. Also from information uncovered fairly accurate assumptions can be made on the original brickworks site layout which adds to the information that would be available to visitors as part of the self catering experience in a lovely setting. This has been supported by the tourist authority, with the historical interest and character it adds to the self catering facility in the site in the North of the Island.

Sequencing of the works was first envisaged as, firstly, completion of landscaping of the old clay pit/lake, followed by the labourers cottages and then look to the drying sheds to create a small set of quality self catering units ancillary to the main house, next to the landscaped lake area. The landscaping of the lake was duly completed. In the meantime an application was prepared and submitted, following discussions with the Planning Department for the labourers cottages. This was approved on 5th January 2007 PA 06/01675/B under housing policy 11 for conversion of the first of the building, the existing single storey building to 2 No. guest/ tourist units to be used ancillary to the main dwelling, based on the retention and conversion of the building.

Following completion of the landscaping of the pit area pond, works then commenced on the labourers cottages, known as Kiln Cottages in July 2010. Following site commencement the contractors carefully removed the existing metal roof sheeting and old roof trusses. Unfortunately on removal of the trusses the main outer walls were found to be unstable, the main truss ends had decayed resulting in a destabilising of the supporting 9" brick piers and panels. The walls had come off the vertical and de-bonded these were taken back to a lower level for safety reasons. Following further site investigation into these problems it was found that the building had only a single brick foundation 150mm deep on an underlining clay layer which was just below the grassed surface. Thus this was followed by a ground trial pit investigation adjacent to the walls and internal floor areas, discussions where held with the Building Control and Structural Engineer. It was decided that the cottage could not in its present state be underpinned. It was therefore agreed that a wider /deeper foundation with a reinforced internal slab would be required to prevent future seasonal surges in the clay affecting the cottage structure. Therefore decided to implement these requirements and rebuild the walls on the existing footprint. All the existing bricks were put aside for reuse, it was found on sorting that many of these appeared to be a mixture of imperial seconds and their structural integrity had was in question. Also with the need for 15,000 usable bricks, with only approx 9,000 originals available, it was decided that brick matching as close as possible would need to be sourced for the main walls. The remaining old bricks could then be used in none structural areas such as internal feature clad walling, repairs to the drying house, path boundary / oil tank walls, paving and landscaping. A new matching colour texture hand thrown faced brick was found and works recommenced on rebuilding the structure using the old photographs for reference on the English garden brick bonding /features.

On the 11th August 2010 following a telephone call from the Planning Department the works had to be stopped. The basis that although being built on the existing footprint, the loss of the existing walls meant that the original approval under Housing Policy 11 Conversion of Existing Rural Buildings was no longer deemed valid. Works ceased immediately as instructed and the builders left the site.

Discussions have since taken place with the Planning Officer concerning the need for a retrospective application to seek approval to regularise the works and allow cottage as the

next phase of the ancillary self catering accommodation to be completed. It was agreed it could be proven the intention was to convert the existing building. Since only out of necessity, as a result of the occurring structural deficiencies had the cottage walls needed to be rebuilt. The same footprint had been utilised, with photographic reference and it was thereby acceptable to assume that the proposal could be deemed to be "previously developed land" which is or was occupied by a permanent structure including the curtilage of the developed land and any associated fixed surface infrastructure "as stipulated within General Policy 3 (c) 2007 Strategic Plan. This from the extensive evidence and historical data enclosed shows the buildings that existed on the site, even down to the reference to the labourers' cottages forming this application and the characters that worked / occupied them.

The rebuilding of the cottage as commenced is in accordance with the footprint size approved under planning application 06/01675/B, even down to the incorporation of the original English garden bond with its associated features. Although approximately 4 No.courses of the original wall height brickwork had been lost, as could be seen in the original photographs, the existing rusted tin roof as agreed with Planning was to be replaced in dark slate. An amendment was proposed to the original plan to incorporate the old cottage chimney stack found to be on the end gable. Originally there may have been another stack on the other gable but no heath or photograph evidence has been found to accurately replicate this feature. Site debris of bricks, clay tiles, pipes, etc and grubbed up footprints have indicated the positioning of the other kilns and some of the other buildings units. The cottages entrance, as originally proposed faces inwards towards the newly landscaped clay pit. The roadside elevation although hidden for the majority of its length by the high hedging has the appearance of the original cottage where the old bricked up openings were positioned as indicated on the photographs.

The cottage was originally proposed as 2 units, but it has been decided initially to make this one larger 2 bedroom unit. This follows on from discussions Tourism and with the Planning Officer for the overall site development /restoration to seek approval for conversion of the drying unit to additional self catering units all again facing inwards towards the lake.

We feel it has been clearly shown that there was no intention to deceive, the proposal is the same size single storey unit, on the original footprint and is part of an overall sensitive redevelopment of an existing site. The property will in our opinion and as stated in General Policy 3 result in improvements to the landscape and wider environment, create a thriving, much needed addition to good quality self catering accommodation in the North of the Island and in this case particularly, bring back to life the heritage of what is an important site in Manx Industrial Architecture and brick making of the late 19th - Early 20th Century.