UK’s first atomic bomb store, 100-year-old cinema and a rollercoaster among …

List includes mouments, battlefields, shipwrecks and places of worship
Grade II sites at
risk include an 18th century windmill in west Lancashire and an Edwardian
lido for women in Reading

By
Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED:

00:55 GMT, 12 October 2012

|

UPDATED:

15:49 GMT, 12 October 2012

Almost 6,000 buildings and historic sites are at risk of being lost, English Heritage has revealed.

The latest Heritage at Risk register revealed that 5,831 listed buildings, monuments, archaeological sites, battlefields, shipwrecks, places of worship, conservation areas and landscapes in England are under threat from neglect, decay and damage.

The figure includes heritage sites with the highest levels of protection, Grade I and II* listing, across the country but those with the lower Grade II listing have only been included in London.

A terrible loss: Grade I listed The Crescent, Buxton, High Peak, Derbyshire

At death's door: Grade II Frank James Memorial Hospital on the Isle of Wight

At death’s door: Grade II Frank James Memorial Hospital on the Isle of Wight

Curtain call: Grade II* listed Torbay Cinema in Paignton, Devon, which was licensed in 1912 and is a very well preserved example of an early purpose-built cinema

English Heritage also announced a
programme to assess England’s 345,000 Grade II listed buildings, funding
between nine and 15 pilot surveys with local authorities and other
groups to find out which such structures are at risk.

Grade II sites already known to be at risk include an 18th century windmill in west Lancashire, an Edwardian lido for women in Reading and the dramatic front portico of a Victorian Methodist Sunday school in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.

This year’s register shows that 318 Grade I and II* buildings and sites have been saved and are no longer at risk but 360 heritage structures and places have been added.

With just 13 per cent of those on the list considered to be economic to repair, English Heritage’s director of heritage protection Dr Edward Impey said that in the current climate, efforts to save buildings may have to focus on ‘holding’ measures.

Must try harder: Hill Top Sunday School in Burslem, Staffordshire is a Grade II building at risk

Lost and Foundry: Grade II Harvey's Foundry in Cornwall

Lost and Foundry: Grade II Harvey’s Foundry in Cornwall

Scrubs up nicely: Kings Meadow Baths in Reading, Berkshire

Boarded up: Wade Heath Pottery Works, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, is a Grade II building at risk

Buildings could be saved with innovative schemes by people to find ways to preserve and find new use for structures, he said, adding ‘there has never been a time when imagination and commitment has been more important’.

Other examples of heritage at risk are Grade II* listed Torbay Cinema in Paignton, Devon, which was licensed in 1912 and is a very well preserved example of an early purpose-built cinema but has been vacant for 10 years.

Margate’s Grade II* Dreamland rollercoaster was built in 1919-20 but was badly damaged by fire in 2008 and is on the heritage at risk list.

There are plans, supported by English
Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund, to breathe new life into the
Dreamland amusement park and scenic railway in the Kent seaside town,
and it is hoped the site has a future off the at-risk register.

A huff and a puff could blow this down: Grade II Windmill Hills in Gateshead

Grand Hotel Birmingham

Playbrick memorial gardens

Not so grand: The main stairway at the Grade II Grand Hotel in Birmingham (left) and Flaybrick Memorial Gardens, in Birkenhead, Wirral

Bitter Pil: Grade II building at Pilcher Gate, Nottingham

Had its ups and downs: The Grade II-listed Scenic Railway at Dreamland, Margate, Kent, is Britain's oldest surviving rollercoas¿ter

Had its ups and downs: The Grade II-listed Scenic Railway at Dreamland, Margate, Kent, is Britain’s oldest surviving rollercoaster

Britain’s first atomic bomb store on Thetford Heath, Barnham, Suffolk, a Grade II* scheduled monument, has been added to the at-risk register.

From the mid-1960s onwards, the site’s watchtowers were vandalised and they and the 66 kiosks used for storing nuclear components fell into disrepair.

English Heritage said it has worked with the owners to help refurbish the five watch towers and carry out restoration, but much more needs to be done.

Simon Thurley, chief executive of
English Heritage, said: ‘We launched a first-ever Buildings at Risk
register in 1998. We have expanded it over the years to include
archaeology, monuments, gardens, conservation areas, places of worship,
wrecks and battlefields.

For whom the bell tolls: Grade II Toll House in Illminster, Somerset

Taylor's Bell Foundry, Loughborou¿gh, Leicesters¿hire, Grade II*. Added to the Register (c) English Heritage

Kirkleatham Gate Pier

Mixed fortunes: While Taylor’s Bell Foundry (left) remains at risk, Grade I Kirkleatham Hall (right) in Redcar has recently been removed from the register

Ring the changes: Inside Taylor's Bell Foundry, Loughborough, Leicestershire

Ring the changes: Inside Taylor’s Bell Foundry, Loughborough, Leicestershire

Deteriorating: Grade II sites already known to be at risk include the dramatic front portico of a Victorian Methodist Sunday school in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent

‘Now with the economic climate putting more pressure than ever on Grade II buildings, it’s time to plug the one remaining gap.’

English Heritage said Grade II buildings account for 92 per cent of all listed buildings and include houses, shops, inns, offices, schools, town halls, libraries, farms and mills which make up the character of England’s towns and country.

Dr Thurley said: ‘Grade II buildings are the bulk of the nation’s heritage treasury. When one of them is lost, it’s as though someone has rubbed out a bit of the past; something that made your street or your village special will have gone.’

The number of Grade II listed buildings is not large in relation to all the buildings in England but it is too many for English Heritage to survey on its own, he said.

The heritage body is funding the pilot surveys to work with local people to find out what historic buildings and sites most need scarce resources.

Under repair: The store tower has recently been added to the heritage at risk register

Atomic tower

Atomic Bombstore Tower

Up and atom: Former top secret Ministry of Defence atomic bomb store site at Thetford Heath, Barnham, Suffolk, has recently been considered ‘at risk’ and is undergoing repairs

Spy in the sky: The MoD atomic bomb storage site was once top secret

Looks like a bomb has hit it: Britain's first atomic bomb store on Thetford Heath, Barnham, Suffolk

Looks like a bomb has hit it: Britain’s first atomic bomb store on Thetford Heath, Barnham, Suffolk

Upholland Windmill

Atomic Bomb Store

Trouble at mill: Grade II windmill in the garden of Mill House, Upholland, West Lancashire (left), and a bunker at the atomic bomb Store on Thetford Heath, (right)

Needs a bit of work: Grade II Wharncliffe Works, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Worn out: Wharncliffe Works in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, has seen better days

Raise a toast: The toasting gate at Kirkleatham Hall, Redcar, has been removed from the register after repair work was carried out

The comments below have not been moderated.

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I wouldn’t touch anything that English Heritage are involved with with a barge pole. It would be a nightmare.

–

Cloud 9
,

Persepolis, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba,
12/10/2012 23:24

Interesting collection of buildings. Many good,some bad, some ugly. perhaps EH should revisit their decisions on some of them and decide if we should preserve them only in pictures and plans, so that good use can be made of the sites or let some gently subside into ruins for the benfit of poets painters and novelists. Alternatively I feel sure that good use can be made of some of them if the rules are relaxed sufficiently to allow innovative modernisation. Think of what was done with the many Thameside warehouses, the old Bankside power station, and more recently Lots Road power station, Brsitol and Liverpool docks etc. I would be happy to live in part of the old hospital or the toll house (modernised inside).

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nosugarpill
,

London,
12/10/2012 22:50

Stately homes derelict because of death duties instead of agreements to keep them in good order along with their treasures, Factories derelict, historic buildings derelict, how long before the country is derelict. I bet Whitehall and all the council offices will never become derelict. Yes the lottery was to save some of these buildings but went to “politically correct’ groups instead. The Countrys’ heritage is not politically correct.

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Toubab
,

Ipswich,
12/10/2012 22:16

Shockingly bad photo captions.

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xxx
,

xxx,
12/10/2012 22:16

I would have thought that the little hospital on the IoW would have potential for sympathetic conversion and modernising into desirable accommodation without losing those gorgeous chimneys and the clocktower. Would it really be the worst thing in the world if modern, efficient windows were installed and the interior layouts altered? EH should bear in mind that many of our finest houses, churches, etc. have been subject to much alteration in their time as fashions changed over the centuries, but we still have much affection for them and hold them in high regard. Hesky97 15.53 – So pleased with your info on the Buxton crescent. I don’t know it but it looks a peach, finest Georgian spa town architecture viz. Bath! Matt voyager 17.48 – Why bother with EH? Because, like many unelected quangos, they have colossal and unappealable POWER, given to them by lazy Governments. This is why so many G1 2 owners or potential buyers are put off by their fanatical demands.

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Robineff
,

Hampshire,
12/10/2012 22:12

Historic places should be being created all the time. The ONLY reason that a number of these properties are important is because we build such dire buildings now. We have no artisans, we are losing our culture.

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EUSSR
,

London,
12/10/2012 22:09

clueless britain at its best,sack all council workers and things may get done ,theres always a fool with plenty of money but officials always get in the way

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c lodge
,

guildford,
12/10/2012 21:58

Get Sarah Beeny on the case ….

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jayne
,

warwickshire,
12/10/2012 21:55

The Crescent in Buxton, Derbyshire, is currently undergoing development to turn it into a 5* hotel. Maybe if the government reduced VAT on building work, more of these glorious buildings could be saved for future generations.

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CarolineinEngland
,

Manchester,
12/10/2012 21:55

I thought there was supposed to be a housing shortage in this country? At least 8 of the buildings pictured above look suitable for conversion to housing. Of course it would need to be done sympathetically but making some concessions to modernity in order to save a building which would otherwise disappear is a small price to pay. English Heritage need to get down off their high-horse and support schemes to make this happen. Building saved, homes created – two birds, one stone.

–

CJ
,

Sheffield, United Kingdom,
12/10/2012 21:43

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