The 2010 World Monuments Watch, a worldwide list of endangered heritage sites has named six world heritage sites in the British Isles that are in danger.
The Watch is a global call to action to protect buildings under threat from neglect, vandalism, disaster or conflict. The key theme of this year’s Watch is sustainable stewardship and the need to balance heritage concerns with other priorities on the social, economic and environmental agendas.
Sites nominated for the 2010 Watch are: Shobdon church in Herefordshire, Sheerness Dockyard in Kent, the Tecton Buildings at Dudley Zoological Park in Worcestershire, Edinburgh Historic Graveyards in Midlothian, Russborough in County Wicklow and Carlisle Memorial Methodist Church in Belfast.
Dr Jonathan Foyle, Chief Executive of World Monuments Fund Britain said: “We’ve become a world of city slickers, with urbanites now outnumbering their rural cousins. The knock-on effect of this mass migration on important heritage sites is two-fold: towns and cities are under greater pressure to make way for their new inhabitants resulting in sites of historic significance being torn down in the name of progress, whilst land and traditional historic buildings in the countryside are left untended and abandoned.”
Local stakeholders nominated sites which were selected by an international panel of experts at the World Monuments at the World Monuments fund in New York.
“The aim of the Watch is not simply to raise awareness of the sites most at risk; we endeavour to involve people in their regeneration and development,” continued Dr Foyle.
“What if the site is no longer suited to its original purpose? What else could it be used for? How could it be adapted in order to most serve the needs of the local population? We are not anti-progress, we’re in favour of sustainable stewardship – there is undoubtedly a need to balance heritage concerns and other priorities.”
Since the programme’s inception, more than 630 sites in 125 countries and territories have been included on the eight Watches. Nearly half the sites featured on the Watch lists in 2008, representing 79 countries, have received WMF support totalling $50 million. These WMF funds have leveraged an additional $150 million in assistance from other sources.
For more information on the UK sites go to the World Memorial Fund UK website and too see the entire worldwide Watch list go to the main World Monument Fund website
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history+%2526+heritage/historic+buildings/art72516
http://wmf.org.uk/wmf_watch/watch_2010_uk_sites/
http://www.wmf.org/watch/project-map?list=1
