Plaiters' Lea conservation area - Luton historic area assessment

316 Pages·2011·19.12 MB·English

RESEARCH DEPARTMENT REPORT SERIES no. 69-2011 ISSN 1749-8775
PLAITERS’ LEA CONSERVATION AREA, LUTON
HISTORIC AREA ASSESSMENT
Katie Carmichael and David McOmish with David Grech

Research Department Report Series 069- 2011
PLAITERS’ LEA CONSERVATION AREA
LUTON
HISTORIC AREA ASSESSMENT
Katie Carmichael and David McOmish
with David Grech
NGR: TL 09232 21447
© English Heritage
ISSN 1749-8775
The Research Department Report Series incorporates reports from all the specialist teams within the English
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© ENGLISH HERITAGE 069- 2011

SUMMARY
The Plaiters’ Lea Conservation Area lies on the northern fringes of the commercial district
in central Luton, Bedfordshire. It is sandwiched between the railway station to the north
and the Arndale on the south and was, historically, predominantly associated with straw and
felt hat making. Although the integrity of the Conservation Area has been compromised
by more recent development, the majority of the surviving buildings are (or were) related
to the production, storage, sale and distribution of hats as well as related trades such
as dyeing and bleaching, ribbon making, box making or transport. Many are now being
used as business premises unrelated to hat making, others have been converted for
domestic use, but the area retains the character of an artisanal quarter in much the same
way as the Birmingham Jewellery quarter or the Northampton Boot and Shoe quarter.
Geographically, the Conservation Area covers a small area, just under 4.5 hectares, with
a hub at the crossroad intersection between Guildford Street and Bute Street - each
route hosting former hat factories and showrooms, many embellished with impressive
façades. This historic area assessment seeks to define the architectural and historic value
and significance of the Conservation Area and its immediate hinterland in order to place
it at the heart of current regeneration proposals for the town centre. The project has
been logged as RaSMIS number 6085 and fits SHAPE criteria as sub-programme number
11111.150 Understanding Place: Assessing Historic Areas.
CONTRIBUTORS
Fieldwork, research and report writing were undertaken by Katie Carmichael and David
McOmish. Kathryn Morrison provided guidance on the scope and content of the report
and edited the text. John Ette, Tom Gilbert-Wooldridge, David Grech, and Clare Campbell
provided additional guidance as part of the Project Board. Thanks are also due to Jacqueline
Veater and Gemma Pike, Luton Borough Council, for their support and advice. Graphics
were produced by Allan Adams and David McOmish. Photography was undertaken by
Steve Cole.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to extend our thanks to Stephen Coleman, Central Bedfordshire HER and
Nigel Lutt, Archivist, Bedfordshire County Council, for their help and support with this
project. Special thanks to Elizabeth Adey, Veronica Main and Chris Grabham at Wardown
Park Museum, Luton, for their guidance and generous offer to read and comment on the
text.
ARCHIVE LOCATION
National Monuments Record Centre, The Engine House, Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon, SN2
2EH. For further information see: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk
DATE OF ASSESSMENT
November 2010 to June 2011
CONTACT DETAILS
Katie Carmichael (nee Carmichael), Architectural Investigation, English Heritage, 24
Brooklands Avenue, Cambridge, CB2 8BU.
Telephone: [phone]. email [email protected]
© ENGLISH HERITAGE 069- 2011
© ENGLISH HERITAGE 069- 2011
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
PART ONE: OVERVIEW 7
LOCATION AND SETTING 9
THE HATTING INDUSTRY 11
i) Development of the industry 11
ii) The straw hatting process 13
iii) Felt Hat Manufacture 18
iv) Workers 18
Plaiting 18
Hatting 20
v) Organisation and trade 21
vi) Decline 22
PART TWO: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF LUTON AND THE PLAITERS’ LEA
CONSERVATION AREA 25
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF LUTON 27
i) Early History and Archaeology 27
ii) Luton in the post-Conquest period 28
iii) Town morphology and the development of Plaiters’ Lea Hatting Quarter 29
PART THREE: THE CHARACTER OF THE PLAITERS’ LEA CONSERVATION AREA 39
CHARACTER 41
i) Early factories and related premises; other industrial buildings c.1840 - 1880 44
ii) Continued expansion of the industry c.1880 - c.1905 52
iii) The Edwardian era and the First World War c.1905-1918 60
iv) Buildings of the inter-war years 63
v) Post Second World War developments 67
vi) Summary 69
PART FOUR: DISTINCTIVENESS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PLAITERS’
LEA CONSERVATION AREA 71
DISTINCTIVENESS AND SIGNIFICANCE 73
i) Speculation and Expansion 73
ii) The Arrival of the Railway in Luton 77
iii) The Bute Street – Guildford Street Intersection 80
iv) The Development of Large Factories 80
v) Inter-war Developments 81
vi) The Second World War and after 82
PROPOSALS 86
i) Impact 87
HERITAGE AND CONSERVATION: CONCLUDING REMARKS 88
i) Future work 90
ii) Summary 91
ENDNOTES 93
APPENDIX 103
© ENGLISH HERITAGE 069- 2011
INTRODUCTION
This report provides a detailed Historic Area Assessment of the Plaiters’ Lea
Conservation Area in Luton. This was established in 1991 – one of five Conservation
Areas in the town – and is flanked by the train station on the north and the Arndale
to the south (Figures 1-3). It contains the town’s most densely concentrated, and some
of the best preserved, surviving elements of the hatting industry and related trades,
as well as other industrial, commercial and residential components. The Conservation
Area lies to the north of the historic core of Luton and it is clear that development and
growth here was entirely contingent upon the health of the hatting industry – as the
industry flourished so did the numbers and variety of buildings connected to it. The
streets here – Barber’s Lane, Guildford Street, Bute Street and Cheapside, for example
– mostly follow earlier routes but they were reconfigured to accommodate purpose-
built factories, workshops and showrooms all related to the production, display and sale
of hats. Indeed, ‘Plaiters’ Lea’ as a name, is a modern invention and part of a successful
attempt to brand the heartland of hat production in the town and give it a focus in future
urban and commercial regeneration.
In this sense, the area now known as Plaiters’ Lea can be regarded as an artisanal
quarter in the manner of the Birmingham Jewellery quarter or the Northampton Boot
and Shoe quarter and despite degradation in the second half of the 20th century, and
more recently, the surviving fabric within the Conservation Area retains a level of
integrity and coherence that is both significant and visually impressive. By any measure,
Luton’s industrial legacy is remarkable, dominated by the development of the Vauxhall
car plant to the east of the town centre from 1905, but this was built on the strength
of engineering success that had already been created by the industry for which Luton
became famous – hat making.
It is apparent that within the Conservation Area development and growth took place
over a very short period of time – the period between 1860 and 1880 witnessing the
most intensive and widespread development. This may well be associated with the
establishment of Luton’s first railway station at the relatively late date of 1858 which
greatly improved upon the poor existing transport links. An earlier proposal by George
Stephenson for the Leighton Buzzard line to loop south-east through Luton and on to
London wasn’t realised due to local objections about destruction of the ‘Great Moor’.
Indeed, at a potential shareholders meeting at the George Hotel on 11th May 1844,
Stephenson left ‘in a very bad mood, vowing that Luton would not have the railway
as long as he lived’.1 Stephenson’s line was built in 1848 but terminated at Dunstable
and consequently, Luton’s residents seeking train travel were obliged to go by coach
to Watford and then by train to London. A decade later £20,000 was raised in order
to build a rail connection to Dunstable but the site of the station was much disputed:
eventually, a suitable site at the northern end of Bute Street was selected. The maiden
journey to Dunstable on 3rd May 1858 was notable in that the train, with 22 carriages,
broke down and many passengers had to walk home. The extension to Welwyn, which
created a link to London via Hatfield, was completed in 1860 and the Dunstable, Luton
and Welwyn Railway later became part of the Great Northern Company. In 1862
the Midland Railway started to develop its own line through Luton to London with
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construction moving apace and a full passenger service to the capital was in operation
by 13th July 1868. This meant that there were excellent transport links in place for
both finished goods and raw materials and that buyers’ and wholesalers’ agents could
visit the town regularly and easily. Railway goods yards developed on the south side
of the station and development along the Bute Street/Guildford Street axes reflected
the desirability of a location within easy reach of the trains. For the next century or so,
hatting and related industries flourished in Luton with the majority of firms and workers
concentrated in specific production centres close to the town centre and train stations.
At present, there is huge economic pressure in favour of regeneration in Luton and the
Plaiters’ Lea Conservation Area plays a central role in these plans. The Town Centre
Development Framework, published in 2004,2 highlighted the potential of the area
and sought to establish a clear role and identity for it within the implementation of the
‘Northern Gateway’ initiative – that is, development of the area between the Arndale
and the railway station whilst attempting to retain some of the historic fabric. More
recently, the Pre-Submission version of the Luton and southern Central Bedfordshire
Core Strategy (November 2010) identified Luton town centre as performing a pivotal
role in delivering sustainable development within the Borough and southern Central
Bedfordshire too.3 Redevelopment, it is hoped, will create a centre that provides scope
for employment, retail and leisure opportunities for town residents and others further
afield. The Core Strategy explicitly draws upon the historical and geographical character
of the area in order to shape new growth and the intention is to integrate high quality
existing structures with new buildings in a complementary way that enhances the
experience of visiting, shopping, working or living in the Plaiters’ Lea Conservation Area.
This historic area assessment has followed an established methodology that began with
a basic familiarisation of the Conservation Area followed by more detailed analysis of
the buildings within it. The analysis, however, was confined exclusively to the visible
external fabric, style and function of individual structures, i.e. no internal observation
was undertaken at this stage. In addition, documentary and cartographic research in
support of the fieldwork was carried out and this was supplemented by discussion with
local agencies and individuals. The resultant report contains sections that outline the
historical development of Luton and its wider context, the value of early cartographic
sources for the area later called Plaiters’ Lea, and the current character of the area.
This incorporates a commentary on the form and types of buildings surviving within
the Conservation Area, as well as their significance and value. In addition to this, the
setting of the Conservation Area is assessed in light of the proposed re-development of
the town centre: this is augmented by a discussion of the Arndale (variously called the
Arndale Centre or The Mall, for ease of reference it shall be referred to throughout as
‘the Arndale’) and the adjacent civic complex including the library and the Strathmore
Hotel. The report concludes with a gazetteer of buildings within the Conservation Area
as well as significant structures on its periphery.
The strategic drive for this Historic Area Assessment then is to ensure that a proper
assessment and analysis of the historic buildings and street pattern within Plaiters’ Lea
underscores the area’s role and value within the town centre redevelopment proposals.
Consequently, this report has a number of strategic aims:
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