English heritage sites at risk

9:29am Friday 11th July 2008

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In every corner of England, our heritage is at risk. But how much of it? Where? What from? And what can be done to save it?

To answer these questions English Heritage has completed the first phase of a Domesday Book of the threatened parts of our cities, towns and countryside - including Wiltshire.

Entitled Heritage At Risk, the project's first annual report, reveals that overall, of the 70,000 protected heritage sites assessed so far, no fewer than 1 in 12 is at high risk of neglect of decay or inappropriate change.

Heritage At Risk, launched today at long-standing Building at Risk The Walronds in Cullompton, Devon will make England the only country in Europe to have a comprehensive knowledge of the state of its protected heritage and the analysis to save this precious and finite resource for the future.

Amongst sites identified in Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain, where burrowing animals are causing irreversible damage to fragile archaeological deposits. Protective rabbit-proof wire mesh is now covering the Bronze Age barrows, following experimental research by Defence Estates and English Heritage.

The Heritage At Risk initiative is based on the success of English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register. Published annually since 1998, this Register has transformed the approach taken by English Heritage itself, the other conservation bodies, local authorities and owners to saving Grade I and Grade II listed buildings. The new Heritage At Risk Register aims to extend this winning formula to cover every bit of England's protected heritage which is deemed to be at risk of loss through decay or damage.

The total number of Grade I and II listed buildings and scheduled monuments on the regional register is now 162, along with four protected wreck sites and one registered battlefield at risk which are included on the South West register for the first time.

In the past year two notable buildings at risk were removed from the regional register and seven were added. Those removed from the register include Tithe Barn at Place Farm, Court Street, Tisbury. The thatch on the building has been repaired but some timber defects remain. A full repair programme including renewal of the thatch is proposed to restore the barn.

The South West region also contains a large number of scheduled monuments - nationally important archaeological sites and landscapes.

These include prehistoric burial mounds, stone circles and hill forts, medieval settlements, castles and abbeys. A survey of the South West has shown that 3,988 (57%) of its 6,958 monuments are at risk from damage, decay or loss - unless action is taken.

Andrew Vines, South West Regional Director of English Heritage, said, "The main threats to our scheduled monuments are ploughing for arable crops and invasive plant growth. Significant numbers of monuments are also at risk from erosion by livestock, neglect, vandalism and animal burrowing. Damaged or lost scheduled monuments cannot be replaced and careful management is required if we are to pass them on to future generations.

"The fact that scheduled monuments will now start to be officially listed on the register will give weight to their importance to our heritage and help identify ways in which partners can work together to save them.

Andrew Vines continued, "Along with the historic landscapes, parks and gardens, scheduled monuments, battlefields and wrecks that will also now begin to be included on the register, we will be able to build up a comprehensive picture of the state of our protected heritage and take steps to save these precious resources for the future."

Lord Bruce-Lockhart, Chairman of English Heritage, said: "The results of our first Heritage At Risk report show that everybody must live near, walk past or know of a heritage treasure at risk near them. We hope that our Heritage At Risk Register will galvanise the nation into action before it is too late and help us save the best of the past for the future.

"The Victorian schools and town halls threatened with closure, the near derelict railway stations, unstable remains of ruined abbeys, the eroded Iron-age hill forts, the vandalised standing stones, the crumbling pill box on the beach, the overgrown country park, and the rusting colliery winding gear against the sky: neglect and decay are sadly familiar to us all. These are places, buildings and landscapes that have the potential to shape the quality and even the course of our lives. Yet their future is uncertain.

"That is why we have launched the Heritage At Risk register, to save this precious and finite resource for the future. England's scheduled monuments and archaeological remains provide the only record of human activity for millennia during which we had no written history. Our historic parks and gardens embody one of our greatest passions as a nation. England's battlefields are, as Sir Winston Churchill said, 'the punctuation marks of history' and very many of us will have ancestors who fell on them and whose bones still lie beneath. And the protected wrecks off England's coasts bear unique and fragile witness to our great maritime past."

The launch of Heritage At Risk is sponsored by Ecclesiastical Insurance. Ecclesiastical has been working with English Heritage for more than 20 years across various initiatives and will collaborate with us to see where shared research and data can give greater depth to the Heritage At Risk project.

BUILDINGS AT RISK REMOVED Tithe Barn, Place Farm, Court Street, Tisbury Listed Grade I, Scheduled Ancient Monument This C15 tithe barn has defective stone and timber. A full repair programme including the renewal of the thatch is proposed. A Section 106 agreement for the repair of the barn, tied to the development of adjacent farm buildings is in place.