'Urban' Areas

This section will explore the key settlements within Uttlesford. Saffron Walden, Great Dunmow and Stansted Mountfitchet are the biggest settlements in the district, each with a town centre and a variety of facilities that sustains life within the town and encourages visitors from near and far.

This chapter will explore:

Saffron Walden
Great Dunmow
Stansted Mountfitchet

Uttlesford’s 'urban' areas highlighted in orange.

Saffron Walden

The Parish of Saffron Walden is located in the north of the Uttlesford District and is home to some 16,000 people. Saffron Walden is a market town of exceptional heritage interest. The town retains a strong medieval character with the street pattern formed around the castle established after the Norman Conquest. It was particularly prosperous between 1400 and 1700 with its growth based on the wool trade.

The prosperity of the combined wool and saffron trade is evidenced by what is considered to be the finest surviving collection of timber framed buildings in Essex and there are numerous examples of C15 and later town-houses illustrating the development of this building type. The church is also one of Essex’s largest parish churches and one of the most lavishly designed; standing in a commanding position on a hill, it is seen prominently around the town.

Saffron Walden built form design cues

Two storey Almshouses differ in architectural style, while overlooking and enclosing public space in Saffron Walden.

Traditional pargetting on Gold Street with colourful palette.

Timber framed and pargetted Timber framed terraces on Bridge Street.

Red brick Victorian terraces with exterior chimneys, Ashdon Road.

Pleasing terrace of C19 houses with prominant chimneys, elaborate decorative brickwork and patterned bargeboards.

Building height decreasing in line with topography along South Road.

Modern interpretation of barn typology on the Avenue - Black weatherboarding and stone cladding.

Arched windows and flint wall positively addressing London Road.

Timber framed terraces with varying rooflines leading out onto Castle Street.

Victorian terraces with peg tiled roofs and central chimney stacks on Gold Street.

Artisan’s dwellings terraces along Tanners Way.

Saffron Walden public realm design cues

Market Square shared space with focal landmark and strong variation of design.

Street trees, strong building frontage, historic lighting and key landmark within view along the High Street.

Bridge End Gardens compliment and reflect surrounding green space character.

Informal encounters along pedestrianised front gardens and doors on South Road.

Grass verges and green space integration on B1052.

Varied roof forms and architectural styles creating a distinctive streetscape on Myddylton Place.

Informally pedestrianised King Street, with an intimate sense of enclosure.

Pedestrian footway lined with trees and overlooked by parallel homes in The Avenue.

Lined with trees, properties along Castle street animate the space with an undulating roofline and varied form.

The Common is an accessible open space, enclosed by a soft boundary of mature trees.

Intimate mews street at Gold Street Surgery.

Door leading out to the street and informal shared space on Church Road.

Great Dunmow

The Parish of Great Dunmow is located in the south of the Uttlesford District and is home to some 8,800 people. The town is more usually known as Dunmow and has two quite separate parts: the market town and Church End. The market town grew around the junction of two Roman roads, one of which is Stane Street (the main road westwards from Colchester), with the other leading south to Chelmsford. Church End was a secondary Roman settlement located half a mile north of the market town and is today a ‘sylvan suburb’ (White’s Directory of Essex 1848).

Church End today has a much more rural/village character as a result of its separateness from the main commercial centre of the market town to the south. It is dominated by the handsome church, but also contains a mixture of building types from the C14 to C19.

The market town incorporates Roman, medieval and post-medieval heritage which is reflected in the surviving built form and is an important collection of historic buildings. The prosperity of the town in the C16 and C17 as a result of the establishment of cloth and tanning industries is reflected in the number of houses built in this period.

Great Dunmow built form design cues

Peg tiled roof, casement windows, and historic detailing on Market Street.

Colourful Victorian terraces establish a distinctive area of character.

Dormer windows and central stack chimneys create strong character for red brick terraces.

Former shop retains pargetting and bay windows to enhance ornate character of new terrace home - High Street, Great Dunmow.

Shops integrated into pargetted and symettrical timber framed semi-detached properties.

Consistent rooflines of Victorian terraces along Station Road create strong character.

Thatched roof, dormer windows and hedged boundaries Cottage on Stortford Road.

Built form along Church St retains key views of St Marys Church.

Edwardian paired semi-detached houses with red brick and arched doorways on Station Road.

Overlooking open space from the Georgian inspired veranda on The Downs.

Strong continuous built form frontage reinforces hierarchy of character and use along High Street, Great Dunmow.

Essex Police Station on Chelmsford Road uses materials to reflect neighbouring industrial and landscape uses.

Great Dunmow public realm design cues

Accessible public space with North to South connections along the River Chelmer.

Jubilee Allotments provide a central community space in Great Dunmow.

Focality at the junction of High Street with New Street where the War Memorial is located.

Positively addressing Doctors Pond from Star Lane.

Shared space with good surveillance and overlooked parking on Hannam’s Yard.

Parsonage Downs open space with its changing levels, mature trees and water feature makes an important environmental contribution to Great Dunmow.

Curved Market Street with level change adds intrigue with a wide pavement for pedestrians.

Church End traverse over a narrow band of countryside to the backdrop of historic buildings.

Threaders Green contains an important batch of thatched properties with key pedestrian links to local assets.

Consistent character without repetition along Church Street.

Homes on Newton Hall Lane integrate positively with open space and overlook the public realm.

Adjoining green spaces lead to focal blue infrastructure along Star Lane.

Stansted Mountfitchet

The Parish of Stansted Mountfitchet is extensive and is one of the largest parishes in Essex. The town has developed from three centres of historic settlement – Castle/Lower Street, Silver Street and Chapel Hill – with Bentfield End and Green, small historic settlements, on the western side of the town.

Lower Street is overlooked by the remains of the Norman Castle and is the centre of the village where the medieval market place was located and contains some well-preserved vernacular post-medieval timberframed houses from the C15 to C18. Silver Street/ Cambridge Road is the secondary historic core at Stansted and there are remnants of burgage plots still in evidence. Its post-medieval and Victorian character is highlighted by C17 and C18 houses and C19 commercial buildings.