Woodlands conservation area

Woodlands was designated a conservation area on 29 June 1979.

A draft appraisal of the conservation area was carried out with consultation in 2006, however due to work on the open spaces in Woodlands and other planned improvements this was not finalised at the time. It is expected that the draft appraisal will be made available once it is updated to take account of changes that have since occurred.

To view the location of the conservation area, please go to the Heritage Map.

The village provides one of the Borough's earliest examples of a garden city layout which was modelled on Ebenezer Howard's 'Garden Cities of Tomorrow'. The intention was to create a bright, healthy living environment for the mining community which was at the heart of the village's economic prosperity and this was considered to be a highly innovative planning/design concept for a mining village.

Woodlands contains good examples of early 20th century domestic suburban architecture including architectural details and facing materials characteristic of an Arts and Crafts style e.g. multiple gables, roughcast render, red brick, tile dripmoulds, timber casement windows and red brick chimney stacks. In an effort to combat drab uniformity, the village contains 19 different house designs. House types include semi-detached houses or short terraced block of 3, 4 and occasionally 5 houses. Block frontages are generally symmetrical, often featuring steep double gables with swept eaves and prominent chimney stacks.

Open space is one of the defining characteristics of the conservation area, most notably the public open green space in The Park, but equally important are eleven other open 'squares' formed within the housing layout of the northern part of the model village. There are wide tree-lined avenues with broad grass verges which add to the spaciousness of the area and are part of the original concept of a 'garden city', most notably Central Avenue and West Avenue. Beck Hill and Middle Plantations cover the escarpment west of The Park and provide a well treed rural backdrop to houses on The Park's west side.

A natural stone wall with rounded coping bounds the north and east perimeter of the model village. A similar wall, running east-west, divides The Park from the central community area. Low natural stone walls with a rustic cock-and-hen coping form the boundary of front gardens in the northern residential part of the conservation area, giving the area a cohesive and distinctive local identity.

Within the conservation area there are 26 listed structures. These can be viewed on the Heritage Map which gives the address, grade and reference number of the listed building. The reference number can be used to find the listing description for any individual listed building using the Historic England database. There are also two listed buildings nearby which are also shown.

The above description of the conservation area is only a brief overview subject to a full appraisal that will consider in more depth the features that make up the significance of the area.

Further Information

Further Information about Conservation Areas can be found at Conservation Areas in Doncaster.

If you have any queries about the conservation area contact: conservation@doncaster.gov.uk
Doncaster Council, Civic Office, Waterdale, Doncaster, DN1 3BU
Tel: 01302 734922 or 735199

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