Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register 2017 has been published, its annual snapshot of the state of England’s most valued vulnerable historic places, highlighting the sites across England that are at risk of being lost as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development, now including the world’s oldest gasholder, a Hawksmoor church, an 18th century Smock Mill and Brighton’s Royal Pavilion gardens by John Nash.
Historic England writes:
- The world’s oldest gasholder, a Hawksmoor church and ‘Little Dorrit’s church’, an 18th century Smock Mill and Brighton’s Royal Pavilion gardens designed by John Nash have now been classed as ‘at risk’
- A toll house, a former atomic bomb store, a bombed out church, J M W Turner’s retreat, and an entire conservation area have been saved
- A total of 387 entries have been removed from the Register this year – at least one entry per day. 328 new entries were made, meaning a ‘net saving’ of important historic sites this year
- Historic England reaches its target to rescue 15% of the sites that were on the 2015 Register, a year early
- In their 50th anniversary year, there are more Conservation Areas added (47) to the Register than removed (22)
Over the past year, a total of 387 entries have been rescued and removed from the Heritage at Risk Register – at least one site per day across the country and 328 were added making the total number on the Register 5,290.
Historic England has also met its target to reduce the number of sites on the 2015 Register by 15% (746 sites) in 2017 a year ahead of schedule.
The Heritage at Risk Register 2017 reveals that in England, 1257 Grade I and II* buildings, 2480 scheduled monuments, 937 places of worship, 96 registered parks and gardens, 4 battlefields, 4 protected wrecks and 512 conservation areas are at risk of neglect, decay or inappropriate change. There are 5,290 assets on the Heritage at Risk Register, 97 fewer than in 2016….
Our national leaflet provides an overview of the 2017 Register and statistics, and our regional leaflets contain some of these inspiring stories. You’ll also be seeing more of these stories in the press over the next few days.
Do also visit our website for our fully searchable database or to download regional PDFs.
Read more on the 2017 Register….
Read the article at BBC News and find out more about heritage at risk
