Fortescue Fields Norton St Philip, Somerset CLIENT: Lochailort Investments Limited
MASTERPLAN: ADAM Urbanism
SCHEME: 51 homes plus commercial
ARCHITECT: ADAM Architecture
SITE: 1.8 ha
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: Nicholas Pearson Associates
DATE: Completed in 2013
This scheme was built in the mid 2010s on the site of a derelict chicken-packing factory outside the Somerset village of Norton St Philip. The factory was not a thing of beauty, its presence detracting from what is otherwise a pretty village, with much of Norton St Philip lying within a conservation area. Nine miles from Bath, Norton St Philip is a medieval settlement, and having developed on a ridge, is visible for miles around. In the centre is a marketplace and most of the old buildings are constructed from the local limestone, although the upper storeys of The George inn are a fine example of timber-framing from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Established on a position where roads cross, the market would have been used to trade woollen cloth, with The George owned by the Carthusian priory at Hinton.
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This page, A wheatsheaf over the door of a house is visible as the road turns a corner. This is a reference to the part the village played in the Pitchfork Rebellion of 1685. Opposite, A view of the new public space entering from the main road. The circular colonnade acts as a focal point as the road forks and is backed by a varied terrace of houses and an arch giving access to rear parking. A new local shop to the left serves the whole village. 69
