Brafferton and Helperby Cobbles Restoration

The Parish Council’s Land and Maintenance Committee has been charged with the responsibility to investigate, plan, specify and manage the work to restore our cobbled areas to their former glory. This newsletter is to bring you up to date with the project.

You may remember in May 2019 there was a considerable amount of sweeping and cleaning of the cobbles, particularly but not exclusively on Main Street. This work was to enable the record of the existing cobbles to be documented, using a process called photogrammetry. This requires multiple photographs to be taken of the cobbles,(hence the cleaning) which are then stitched together using software for which we have generously been granted a free licence by a company called Agisoft.

Prior to the cleaning we had made contact with Historic England who have been extremely helpful in providing general background information and contacts as well as actual work on scanning of the village and training on Photogrammetry to a group of interested villagers.

We have made progress with the photogrammetry project on Main Street and have taken in excess of 2000 photographs. We have now had the opportunity to check this output for quality and completeness. There is still much to do and we will be starting the process again early this year when the weather improves and the cobbles are dry. The output from the photogrammetry will provide us with a baseline showing the layout and patterns in the existing cobbles and will provide the basis for the restoration plans.

In addition to the photogrammetry project, the main thrust has been to establish clarity around the ownership of the cobbles to enable restoration to progress. It appears that the cobbles are owned by the Lords of the Manors of Helperby and Brafferton respectively in each of the original parishes. We are using a grant from Hambleton District Council’s ‘Making a Difference’ Fund to pay for the legal costs associated with arranging a transfer of title and interest in the cobbles. This process is underway, and we expect an outcome soon. It is very important that the Parish Council holds title to the cobbled areas to enable restoration to be undertaken and for our cobbled streets to be preserved.

You may have noted the barriers around a small area of the road and channel on Main Street. In order to stop the water flowing off the Village Hall driveway, bringing with it chippings and creating additional damage to the cobbles, a cut off drain is required across the entrance to the driveway.

The outfall point of the proposed drain is at the channel where the barriers are located. The cut-off drain works are being funded through a NYCC environmental fund that was generously granted to the Parish Council by Councillor Peter Sowray. These works will be carried out by NYCC in the coming couple of months. There may be some disruption around access to the Village Hall, and briefly on Main Street whilst this work is undertaken. We will keep any disruption to a minimum as far as possible.

A Cobbles Restoration Plan is currently being drafted with the assistance of Historic England and specialist material suppliers. The Plan will incorporate a specification for the restoration of the cobbles and a plan for the long-term management and funding of the cobbles. A condition survey will be undertaken shortly to identify the priority areas for repair. The area around the War Memorial will be the first area to be addressed as it is at the centre of the village is in poor condition and will require restoration after the cut-off drain is installed.

This is a huge project with over 5000 sq. metres of cobbles in the village and will take quite a number of years to complete. We believe that we have made significant progress to date and will continue to move things forward. It will be worth it, to save and restore our village’s unique streetscape.