The village’s facilities include a School, Shop / Post Office, Village Hall, Open Space and Pub. Roads are generally lined with continuous built form (buildings or stone boundary walls) giving a strong sense of enclosure. Although most buildings are parallel to the street, many are gable end on.
The agricultural heritage is clear: There are several former farmsteads and farm buildings in the village core, sometimes clustered together around yards. The farm buildings are generally behind or alongside the farmstead. This is a distinct characteristic of the village which does not have post enclosure farm/farmsteads outside the core in the open area of the parish.
The main building material in the historic core is ironstone, often in the 17thC coursed with lighter Weldon limestone giving a striped aspect. Red bricks, probably made nearby in Great Bowden/Market Harborough, appear in the late 19thC. Thatch was ubiquitous until the early 20thC but has been replaced by Welsh slate often in association with raising the rooflines. (Thatch remains on only one building). Pantiles are used on some subsidiary buildings and walls. There are many stone walls bounding the roads and curtilages; they are up to 2m in height. Stone walls are important to and characteristic of the historic core.
Views in Wilbarston combine an interplay between open expansive views of the landscape, particularly to the north and west, and tight controlled views along historic core village roads – for example Barlows Lane and Scots Lane.
Historic development of the core is fronting, or gable-end to the roads. Much has been lost in the second half of the 20thC often replaced by buildings set back. Newer development in the core is all set back.
Wilbarston has a Parish Plan which has been adopted by the Council as informal policy. However the Parish Council made a decision to shape what our neighbourhood will look like in the future by preparing what is know as, a ‘Neighbourhood Plan’ via the power of the Localism Act 2011. Once finalised, this will help ensure that important local green spaces are protected from development; that heritage assets are safeguarded and that any new housing or business development is controlled and meets local needs in terms of type, location and appearance. The Neighbourhood Plan, once approved, will be an important document that has to be taken into account by North Northamptonshire Council when determining planning applications.
