As Historic England releases its annual report on heritage at risk, we look at the results and how heritage across Europe is analysed. Historic England has published its annual Heritage at Risk Register. The survey documents the historically important sites across England that are “at risk of being lost as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development.
” This year, 4,891 sites have been listed in the register, 31 more than were featured in last year’s list. The Heritage at Risk Register is an official statistic with the UK government alongside similar surveys done by Historic Scotland and the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society. The register covers important listed buildings, monuments, parks and gardens, historic battlefields, protected wreck sites and conservation areas.
155 new sites were added to this year’s list, including 69 buildings, 55 places of worship, and 24 archaeology sites. Some of the at risk sites included the oldest active places of worship across the country. The Friends’ Meeting House, in Come-to-Good, Cornwall was built in 1710 and is one of the oldest Quaker meeting houses in England.
Due to its thatched roof, the building needs regular repairs to stop rain damaging the supporting timber inside. Similarly, the St Pancras Old Church in London, which is on a site that has been documented for Christian worship since 314 AD, has suffered from cracking to its structure due to land movement. It’s one of the oldest sites of constant worsh.