Conversations

Conversations on the Green

For many people, residents and visitors, Sherfield Village Green is a special place. They have visited it frequently, have enjoyed those visits and have become utterly familiar with it. For them, the Green has a meaning and connection which contribute to a ‘sense of place’ and belonging, which are important to maintaining good health, mental wellbeing and being part of a community.
So, when some changes have been made to the Village Green, not only have these been viewed with disappointment, but they have contributed to the destruction of that ‘sense of place’.
Over the last four years I have had many conversations about the green with residents and visitors . Reviewing these really does bring home the level of quiet disappointment which many have.

An Older Resident

"It was wonderfully calming to be cut off from the busyness of life. It was so quiet on the Cricket Green: a green oasis. But many of the trees have been cut down. Without that wall of greenery, the traffic noise from the Reading Road is so much greater. You can see the traffic very clearly, not just glimpses, and with fewer trees the Green is not achieving as much in reducing pollution. The traffic is very intrusive. It’s not the Village Green that I grew up with and loved for so many years."

A Resident
“It’s amazing what the Parish Council has accomplished over the last few years, and I am sure many in the village admire that achievement. In a short space of time they have done what for centuries, local landowners longed to do. The old Common, Sherfield Green, preserved in the face of the Enclosures Act, has been fenced and hedged in a fervour of activity which has known no bounds. At a stroke, they have obliterated over 200 years of history and heritage. The Green, a continuous Common field crossed by Goddard’s Lane, has been divided into two. Centuries old views have been destroyed. The legacy of our forebears has been wrecked and the heritage of the village for our children and grandchildren has been lost.
Citing the need for gypsy defences, it chose to ignore those options which would have preserved both the heritage and ecological integrity of the Green, in favour of those methods and materials which have offered the biggest negative environmental impact that can be imagined, visually and in terms of carbon footprint. In the process the PC has created not just a suburban park, but in many areas a waste land where nobody wanders because they cannot be accessed easily.
I was asked recently by an overseas visitor, why would our village place such little value on its heritage that it preferred the Green to look a civic park. "

Another Resident
“It’s just like the Wild West. They are building fences everywhere, to keep out the locals as much as the gypsies. The Village Green Committee has made up its mind, don’t tell us what is happening, and, anyway, bugger what we think. They’re behaving just like an old Squire. The loggers in the Amazon would envy them, for the amount of timber that has been felled.”

Two Residents
A: “Have you seen the hedge that has been planted alongside the fence down Goddard’s Lane? What is it for? What does it mean?”
B: “It means that the PC was given some saplings by the borough council and they had to do something with them. What could be better than a hedge!”.
A: “Full marks for enthusiasm, but none for good sense. Soon the lane will look just like those down Wildmoor Lane, with no views at all. Pity those who use wheelchairs and buggies, even cars. They will not be able to see anything.”
B: “The same happened a few years ago. when they were given some young trees and couldn’t think where to put them. So, they decided to fill up spaces on the green. The cricketers were not at all happy. The hedge on the cricket green mucked up their view of the ball. They had to build a sight screen!”

The Historian
"Until recently, for centuries individuals have walked along the Cast Road (now Goddard’s Lane) crossing Sherfield Green (what was the Common, now the Village Green) to virtually the same unchanging views. The changes were few, small and very gradual. Walking up the road, they would have seen cattle and horses grazing, as well as ducks and geese; to their right they would have looked across the Common, with its scrub, a few trees, and drainage ditches, to a handful of houses in what is now Greenway, to which more were added, albeit very gradually. Then much of the Common connected directly with the open countryside: along the top part of Greenway, along the Bramley Road; along the Turnpike (the Reading Road), apart from the centre of the village. Slowly, the connection between the Common and the countryside was lost, first a few houses, then much later small estates inveigled their way into Sherfield landscape.
      To their left, travellers would looked-across some gravel pits and ponds to Bowling’s Farm (later Court Farm) and even further to Winton Cottage and its neighbours. Two hundred years ago Bowling’s farmhouse (now Court Farm House) was rebuilt, seventy years ago six houses in The Plantation were erected, and more recently the cricket green replaced the pits and ponds, followed by the Cricket Pavilion. However, the view was essentially unaltered. An open unhindered view across the Common, to houses bordering the countryside. Indeed, this part of the Common is the only part to have retained a strong connection to the countryside which through the large and green gardens joined up with the Green.
     That stretch of the Green is the only remaining link to the rich agricultural history of the village. Winton Cottage stretches back many centuries, but Court Farm (previously Bowling’s Farm) was a major feature in the life of the village until the mid-1980s, and in 1947 the Plantation was built for agricultural workers during the high point in British agriculture. So, the views of this part of the Green are especially important to the heritage of the village.
      Sherfield was fortunate in being successful in retaining its commons, of which there were several, in the face of the Enclosures Act 1773, and so it was both fitting and practical that the Green should be like an open pasture without permanent fences, hedges or barriers, apart from much needed drainage ditches. And it remained that way until four years ago when almost overnight the PC achieved what had been avoided for over 200 years, and enclosed much of the Green with post and rail fencing. The reason given was that these were Gypsy defences, although the pre-existing dragon’s teeth were quite adequate and the resulting post and rail offers little more security.
      As a result, the Green has been split into two, its essential feature of a continuous green space has been lost, the centuries-old views from Goddard’s Lane, both left and right have been severely impaired and in due course will also vanish. The construction of the post and rail fence from Goddard’s Lane to the Pavilion has created a de-facto car park in the middle of one of the most important heritage views of the village (from Court Farm House to Winton Cottage and beyond), which has been further impaired by the painting of the Pavilion and the concrete store."

An Older Resident
“I recall the effort which went into creating the Cricket Green and the Cricket Pavilion. Many of the villagers, few are left now, contributed so much. There were raffles, square dances, jumble sales and so on, to raise the funds. Before then Court Farm House was the changing room. The Pavilion was magnificent, in what it offered and its appearance. Its design was deliberately understated, to blend with the nearby farm buildings: a rural building not a municipal pavilion. In recent years, although it has been neglected, it has aged gracefully. That it was painted white shows how little the Parish Council and Cricket Club respect the history of the Pavilion, the effort that went into raising the funds for it, the careful judgements about its appearance, and for those who were involved. The new concrete store alongside adds further insult to injury.”

A Builder/Carpenter from Rotherwick
“I used to ride my pushbike everywhere and meet up with friends in the village. Most had commons. Unlike others, Sherfield Green didn’t have a main road running across it. It was so large we could mooch around and get lost.
      There were three large houses which fascinated me. By the pond was a fairly new Arts and Craft style house (Wheeler’s Court); across the green was the timbered Tudor House (Winton Cottage), and there was the farmhouse just off the Cast Road (Bowling’s Farm later Court Farm). With its light cream walls and green canopy, it reminded me of a railway station. Later, with its white walls and blue canopy and reveals, it was more like a colonial house from an American movie, especially when a flag was flying.
      I used to work frequently in Sherfield, so would always look across to that house. The barn conversion and the houses now in the farmyard, which are well back from the Green, preserved the old appearance of the place, although much tidier than it had been.
      A while ago I was taken on a ‘spin’ and was very sorry to see that hedges had been planted along Goddard’s Lane, the Cricket Pavilion had been painted white, destroying the look of that corner of the green, and a car park installed in front of the farmhouse. A much-loved view of the village and of one of its lovely old houses – gone for ever!”

A Visitor (from overseas, possibly an architect)
“What on Earth has happened to the village green? Typical of North Hampshire, quiet, understated and matured over many ages, it is now muddled and incoherent, a complete mess. It’s like a down-market developer’s version of a town park in Kentucky, or what someone might do in their own backyard, but wished onto the village. If you must have post and rail fencing, then there are lovely materials on your doorstep. For posts, Natural Oak, Chestnut, for example, and for rails, even the timber felled on the green. That would be more typical of North Hampshire. But much better to do without them, the bars are so visually intrusive and completely out of place. The white-painted pavilion and the concrete store are ghastly. Suburbia comes to Sherfield! Brits will just put up with anything, rather than save their heritage.”
Subsequent estimates of the initial cost of posts and rails using local materials, untreated hardwood, was not significantly greater than using treated softwood, mostly imported, and the environmental footprint substantially lower. Life-time cost was estimated to be considerably smaller due to better durability and fewer replacements.

The Conservationist
"The conservation agenda has completely passed by the PC, quite unnoticed and ignored. The loss of habitat for flora and fauna, a result of massive clearance of trees and scrub, in proportion probably exceeds that of the Brazilian rainforest. Of course, the trees will grow back, and if left alone, so will the scrub, but the unfamiliarity of the PC with a modern approach to conservation has other major impacts. Whenever it is faced with a choice, it does the first thing that comes to mind, usually the least effective in terms of conservation and with the largest carbon footprint. Despite felling plenty of timber on the Green, it doesn’t then use it to make the fences that it has erected everywhere. Rather, it buys timber most likely imported and certainly treated with very aggressive chemicals. These posts and rails are alien to the locality in terms of both providence and appearance.
Another example is rather than erect a wooden shed by the Pavilion, the natural choice in terms of appearance, footprint and conservation, it bought a concrete structure. There is no excuse for that.
The list goes on. At a time when to facilitate a healthy environment the use of motor vehicles should be curbed, the PC seeks to encourage the use of cars by providing more parking on the Green. Yet, in the main that provision is being made for visitors and those villagers who think that exercise is just for their dogs. Yet, most villagers can easily walk to the Green, as they did during the Covid-19 Lockdown."

An Older Resident
"At this time of year, as a child, then with my children and more recently my grandchildren, we used to watch many pairs of ducks going around the Green and even further, looking for nesting sites. With lots of quacking they would look at this or that ditch and under a tree, but then, having not found anything suitable, they would return to the pond to nest. Everyone, young and old used to enjoy this annual pilgrimage. It was part of our Spring - all was well with the world. Not any more. There is no undergrowth. This is no longer a place of residence for any self-respecting duck! They have been frightened away by the so called 'improvements'."

A Young Local
"It’s unreal. The Parish Council has spent five years destroying the natural habitats of insects, invertebrates, and small mammals only to offer compensation by dumping a builder’s skip full of rubbish on the Green and calling it a Bee Hotel; pallets, plastic pipe, bricks and so on. Just what we need on the Green. This is what might be expected on an urban regeneration site but surely not on an ancient village green. Even more amazing is that many villagers think that this, and the Parish Council, are just so wonderful, in the way this is saving the planet!"

Peter Lansley 27th April 2021.