Conservation Area: Lower Kinnerton Conservation Area (174)

Lower Kinnerton is one of five settlements which together make up the parish of Dodleston. These include Dodleston village itself, Rough Hill; Balderton, Gorstella and Lower Kinnerton. Standing some 12 to 15 metres above sea level, above what would have been the extensive marshes of the River Dee estuary prior to the canalisation of the Dee. Today, this can still be read into the landscape, as the land drops away to the flatlands of Saltney in the north, and the low lying marshy fields alongside Pulford Brook to the south. Lower Kinnerton has maintained physical and visual detachment from major conurbations, and is surrounded by open, rural landscapes, including the next village to the west and over the national border: Higher Kinnerton. The built character of the conservation area remains consistent and homogenous throughout its area, John Douglas, Grosvenor Estate’s architect having built almost all the houses in the boundaries of the conservation area in the end of 19th century. Another key feature of Lower Kinnerton is the linear disposition of the dwellings, along the main street with properties separated by small fields of pasture, highlighting the rural character of the area. The only exceptions are the 20th century developments outside the conservation area but which nevertheless impact on the visual appearance of the hamlet: in particular because they are built to a greater density. The Moor Crescent housing (possibly 1930), ranged around a modest green space, is well laid out whereas the development to the east of Gell Farm is dense and is ‘out of step’ with the visual appearance of the hamlet. Behind and between the dwellings, the land is in agricultural use. This area has until recently been used for dairy farming and the fields are all pasture. This gives a sense of unchanging farming landscape although in fact there are no functioning farmsteads remaining. All the farmhouses and their major outbuildings are now in residential use. Commuting out to work is likely to be the main pattern of use today. Extract taken from Conservation Area Apprisal 2008.