Conservation Area around 12th-century Conisbrough Castle in Yorkshire to be amended - including Victorian lodge with links to Kilner jars and Jeremy Clarkson

Doncaster Council has completed a review of the boundaries around the 12th-century Norman castle, which inspired Walter Scott’s novel Ivanhoe, and proposed adding some newly-listed buildings into the protected area while removing others which ‘detract’ from its heritage.

The Conservation Area was first designated in 1974 to focus on the Anglo-Saxon settlement around the castle and Grade I-listed St Peter’s Church. The parish later expanded to become a mining town with the opening of the local colliery.

It includes eight listed buildings – but two more that are outside the current boundary have since been given protected status. There are numerous Georgian and Victorian buildings, including Ivanhoe Lodge, which was the home of members of the Kilner jar manufacturing family, who are ancestors of TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson on his mother’s side, until the 1930s, when their business was sold. There is also The Place on Castle Street, which was built as a gas decontamination centre during World War Two.

Among the buildings to be added to the Conservation Area are the newly Grade II-listed Wesleyan Methodist chapel, built in the 1870s, and the former Castle public house, which is now offices and has been proposed as a ‘bookend’ to the zone.

Other key buildings which have been identified as having historic value include The Terrace on Castle Avenue, which was the pit manager’s house for Denaby Main and is now a conference centre, and Castle Lodge, the custodian’s house built in the 1880s that has now become the castle visitor centre. Ivanhoe Lodge, which was the residence of George Kilner after he opened his glass jar factory in Conisbrough in the 1860s, is also unlisted but of importance, and a recent proposal to build a bungalow in its grounds was refused.

The Dale, a Georgian house with Victorian additions and a large garden, is an historic property that has been proposed to become part of the Conservation Area.

March Gate, near the chapel, has been proposed as the new ‘logical’ boundary and a car sales centre on the corner of March Gate and Doncaster Road has been recommended for removal.

Old Road and Church Road are also to be omitted due to the negative impact of modern commercial development.

The back yards of properties on Church Street and Well Head are to be added in, with the old well-head itself to become part of the Conservation Area.

Some bungalows considered to have a ‘neutral’ impact on the heritage are also to be removed.

Planners did consider omitting the Mill Piece, a woodland and pond near the castle mentioned in the Domesday Book, but it was decided to retain it because it provides a ‘buffer’ to modern development.

Concerns were also raised about the state of some of the period buildings within the zone, some of which are vacant and neglected; including The Priory, the former police station and an empty pub.

The proposed amendments will go before a planning committee later this month for approval.