Anger over plans for barn conversion in Burnham Thorpe

The socialite, who served as maid of honour at the late queen's coronation in 1953, is leading opposition to the proposals to create a luxury home from the building at Burnham Thorpe, near Burnham Market.

The scheme includes a six-bed property in the main barn at Church Farm, on the Walsingham Road, with a guest annexe, swimming pool and changing rooms also proposed for the site.

One of the barns which could be converted at Burnham Thorpe (Image: Chris Bishop) A planning statement says the development offers the most viable way of restoring and preserving the barns, which have not been used for decades and are falling into disrepair.

But locals have compared the proposed home to the Southfork Ranch from 1980s TV soap Dallas.

They have fired off a broadside of objections to the local council because the site is next to the village's Grade I listed All Saints' Church, where Nelson's father was the rector at the time of the sailor's birth in 1758.

WHY ARE VILLAGERS UP IN ARMS?

Lady Anne Glenconner says the character of Burnham Thorpe must be preserved (Image: Denise Bradley) Lady Anne Glenconner, who lives nearby, is leading the charge.

"Nelson expects that we shall rally to protect the church where he grew up and his father was rector," she says.

"This very special place of national importance is under threat from a planning application to change the use of historic barns immediately adjacent to the church which provide the quintessentially English rural setting to this most special of places."

The barns are next to the church at Burnham Thorpe (Image: Chris Bishop) Lady Glenconner, who was lady-in-waiting for the late Princess Margaret and a childhood friend of the late Queen Elizabeth II,  fears the "unspoilt" setting of the village would be "changed forever" if the plans are given the go-ahead.

"Those seeking peace and prayer in the churchyard will be presented with a swimming pool, car parking area and terrace with large picture windows," she adds.

"There are other positive uses the barns could be put to [as a] means of conserving them which do not produce just another large, ostentatious and exclusive residence which achieves nothing for the local community or its environment."

The church at Burnham Thorpe (Image: Chris Bishop)

Another local likened the development to the home of oil barons the Ewings from Dallas.

They posted on the council's planning portal: "Attractive older buildings are replaced with a large and unsettling Southfork Ranch type new-build development, out of keeping with its Grade I setting and with the conservation area.

"Sue Ellen would feel more at home than Nelson."

A bust of Nelson in the church at Burnham Thorpe (Image: Chris Bishop) One said: "This is a totally inappropriate development that will affect our national heritage.

"This village is special and a development on this scale will destroy the historic and cultural legacy of one of Britain's greatest sons."

And another added:  "It is entirely contrary to both the history and the ethos of the site. It will do nothing to enhance the surrounding area.

"On the contrary, it will simply shout its presence as a playground for the wealthy. It shows a complete lack of sensitivity to the quality of life in the village."

WHAT DOES THE DEVELOPER SAY?

One of the barns earmarked for development (Image: Chris Bishop) In a planning statement, the developer - named only as Dunstone in the documents - said: "As the main barn is in a very poor structural state, the main driver for the development is to find a viable option to allow the significant expense required to repair the group of barns and bring them back into use.

"This itself must be acknowledged to represent an important enhancement to the site and the setting of the listed church, in respect of both visual setting and noise, comings and goings."

A viability statement filed by the developer says a large development "generates the resources to justify the investment" in renovating the buildings.

It adds: "There is a strong market for residential development of this status in the area, given the proximity to Burnham Market."

VILLAGE'S PROUD LINKS TO NELSON

A portrait of Nelson which hangs in Blackfriars Hall, in Norwich (Image: Archive) Nelson was born in Burnham Thorpe on September 29, 1758. He was baptised at All Saints Church, where his father Edmund was the rector.

He learned to sail in the nearby creeks before joining the Royal Navy in his teens and taking over his first command at the age of 20.

An ensign from the Battle of Jutland in the church at Burnham Thorpe (Image: Chris Bishop) He lost an eye and an arm as he captained warships which fought the Spanish, French and Danes before the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805, where he was fatally wounded by a French sniper as he commanded his fleet to rout the French and Spanish on the deck of HMS Victory.

Today the church contains a number of memorials including an oak lectern donated by the Lords of the Admiralty in the 1880s made of wood from HMS Victory.

The village sign at Burnham Thorpe (Image: Chris Bishop) A bust of Nelson erected by the London Society of the East Anglians in 1905 to celebrate the centenary of Trafalgar looks down from the wall.

The names of some of the famous battles that Nelson took part in, and the ships on which he served, are also shown on the village sign at Burnham Thorpe.

A carving of Nelson stands a stone's throw from the proposed development (Image: Chris Bishop) He would sometimes frequent the pub which is now named after him beside the River Burn, while a life-sized carving stands near the church overlooking the village.