Conservation Areas in Harborough district - Burton Overy Conservation Area

Burton Overy village is set in a hollow amidst trees, some two kilometres from the A6 Market Harborough to Leicester Road.

 Although linked to other villages by very minor roads Burton Overy gives the impression of being a cul-de-sac village; indeed the northern part of the village is so. The village has a tapering linear form 0.8km long with a long loop at its northern end and two significant loops at the wider southern base forming backlanes. Granite kerbs and brick walls are a feature on many of the village streets. The building development runs along Main Street, around the loops and along short cul-de-sac lanes leading off the main thoroughfares.

The buildings of the village display considerable variety in age, style, building materials and relationship with the streets. Some are close against the road, as the range in Bell Lane and adjacent Main Street, others are set back with small front gardens, others are further back, often at a higher level. The slight curves in the roads and the changes in levels, as southwards from the church, result in attractive groupings and placing of buildings. There are several examples of the timber frame tradition of the 16th and 17th centuries with brick and mud infill panels and partitions; these are thatched and include South View standing high near the southern entrance to the village and the former butcher’s shop and cottage in the Main Street. Some of the older properties have lost their thatch which has been replaced by slate. Apart from the iron-stone and limestone church and the churchyard wall which is constructed in granite, stone (ironstone and river cobbles) is confined to the plinths and lower walls of some of the older buildings. The rest is red brick of varying ages, that of the later 19th century with interesting brick detailing such as The Springs in Carlton Lane. Roofing is of Welsh or Swithland slates. Some plots in the village have been infilled with later twentieth century buildings.

There are several significant open areas between the buildings. These include most of the southern most loop (an area of garden with mature trees subject to a Tree Preservation Order), the field in the centre of the village and an enclosed area of paddock within the loop of Scotland Lane and Elms Lane. At the end of Scotland Lane (deriving from the mediaeval scot or tax) are a number of assarts (medieval land clearances). Alongside the north churchyard wall is a small intimate area, Rectory End, which ends abruptly with an old cottage that serves as the front of the village hall; here is a mature clump of trees (Horse Chestnut, Lime, Sycamore and Scots Pine). A large walnut tree stands in Town Street and another about half way down Main Street opposite the field.

Farms are found at the entrances to the village. The Conservation Area not only includes the settlement along the roads but also some of the narrow fields at the back of the houses and gardens or roads. An example of such would be from Carlton Road and Elms Lane behind Main Street, or alongside Scotland Lane, which areas provide a setting for the built up area.

The churchyard itself forms an interesting space with the elegant former Rectory behind it and farm buildings flanking its southern side. Although not in the Conservation Area there is an area of field beyond Rectory End, crossed by a public footpath, which provides an important open space at the edge if the village alongside the village hall.

Burton Overy Conservation Area map