Top tips for a Market Harborough Home Buyers Survey
The steeple of St Dionysius' Church in Market Harborough rises directly from the street, as there is no churchyard. It was constructed in grey stone in 1300 with the church itself a later building of about 1470. Next to the church stands the Old Grammar School, a small timber building dating from 1614. The ground floor is open, creating a covered market area and there is a single room on the first floor. It has become a symbol of the town. The upper end of the High Street is wide and contains mostly unspoiled Georgian buildings.
In 1883 a new system of sewers were laid and piped water supplied from wells at Husbands Bosworth. Additional residential areas were developed – the New Harborough estate off Coventry Road and the Northampton Road estate between Nithsdale Avenue and Caxton Street.
In 1919 there was an identified need for 300 new houses. Land to the north of the town was selected and a scheme for 98 homes for rent developed as the Bowden Fields Estate. Following the introduction of mortgage subsidy, over 100 private homes were built and a further development of 72 rented homes took place. By 1928 about 400 houses had been built since 1918, 164 by the Council. A major improvement took place from 1930 with the acquisition of land between Northampton Road and Farndon Road. This enabled the construction of Welland Park Road (which enabled east west traffic to bypass the town centre), provision of 100 homes for rent along Welland Park Road and 52 in Walcot Road to rehouse occupants of the old yard houses, plots for private housing, the layout of Welland Park and the construction of Welland Park School.
In the post-war period, the council developed a 100 dwelling extension to the Bowden Fields Estate and completed this in 1949. Around 150 dwellings were then built for rent with the remaining plots available for private building. The final phase of development occurred in the 1980s.
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A Local Authority Search provides information about local planning charges, among other matters, which might affect your enjoyment of a property you're thinking of buying. A recent one bought for a property in Shepherd's Reach, Scraptoft LE7 9XQ revealed not only that the property was situated in an area defined as 'an area of special control for the display of advertisements but more recently that various planning applications had been lodged and approvals granted for the siting and building of 178 new houses with all the associated services required for this.
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Some parts of Market Harborough are in areas where there is an elevated radon potential, with the highest being 3-5% above the action level. Streets such as Middledale Road and Stablegate Way are in this area. The Environmental Search provides details about the presence of radon in the area where a property you're looking to buy. Radon is a poisonous gas that can cause lung cancer and if the probability of finding it in an area is much higher than average, you are advised to carry out further investigations and your lender might insist up on it.
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Noise pollution from roads in and around Market Harborough's area is most pronounced in dwellings in close proximity to the paths of the A6 and the A304, particularly affecting streets between the two roads, such as Fernfield Crescent and Meadowvale Road.
Noise pollution from railways is most raised along the path of the route passing through Market Harborough Station and is likely to be more of a factor in dwellings in close proximity to the tracks including for properties in streets such as Bellfields Lane and Braybrooke Road.
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Leicestershire is in the East Midlands and Leicester is its traditional administrative centre, even though the City of Leicester itself is a unitary authority and administered separately. The county is bordered by Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire.
Leicestershire has 2 motorways running through it - the M1 and the M69. The county has 3 universities; the University of Leicester, Loughborough University and De Montfort University.
The county hosts the East Midlands Airport a hub airport for domestic, EU and international flights, which is located at Castle Donington. Castle Donington is also the location of Donington Park, which has many uses, ranging from motor racing to hosting large music concerts and festivals.
Other than Leicester, other large towns in the county include Loughborough, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Coalville, Hinckley, Market Harborough and Melton Mowbray.
Food associated with the county includes Red Leicester, Long Clawson and Stilton cheeses and pork pies, particularly Melton Mowbray Pork Pies.
For random facts, the original Hansom Cab - i.e. with a mechanical meter - was invented in Hinckley in the county (by Joseph Hansom) in 1834 and Thomas Cook organised the world's first package tour from Leicester in 1841.
Worth a paragraph on its own, the phrase 'painting the town red' originates from revelry which accompanied some loutish aristocratic hunters celebrating a good day's hunting in 1837 in Melton Mowbray: they daubed red paint on houses, pub signs and a toll-bar and apparently, some of the paint still remains on some of the older houses in the High Street.
Listed Building Survey Market Harborough