Great Easton Conservation Area Appraisal

6.0 Definition of Special Interest

6.1 White's Directory of Leicestershire in 1846 described Easton Magna (Great Easton) as 'a neat and well-built village, on the banks of a rivulet…' ^[3] A century later the quality of this 'neat and well-built village' was recognised by historian W.G. Hoskins who described it as a 'good village for stone building' in his 1957 work, Making of the English Landscape.^[4] This special architectural and historic interest of Great Easton was formally recognised through designation as a conservation area in 1974.

6.2 The development of Great Easton is intertwined with the farmland surrounding it. This is evident in the relationship between the farms, fields and traditional housing and farm buildings and from the working farm at the heart of the village. Vehicular access into the village is via country lanes lined with hedgerows. The relationship between the built environment of the settlement and the natural environment both within it and surrounding it are integral to its rural character (as evidenced above in Fig. 2).

6.3 Great Easton conforms to Natural England's description of villages in High Leicestershire where traditional churches act as distinctive features in settlements and in villages to the east 'ironstone becomes prominent for all buildings' so that 'cores of settlements are dominated by its tawny colours'.^[5] Regardless of the modern developments from the 1960s onwards, Great Easton has retained a quiet, remote and rural character.