Thirty-one heritage sites at risk in South West
The annual Heritage at Risk register has been released, highlighting sites across England in need of saving
Last updated 14th Nov 2024
Historic England, has revealed 31 sites across the South West of England have been added to their annual ‘Heritage at Risk Register’ for 2024.
The ‘Risk Register’ means the plots are at risk of neglect, decay or inappropriate development.
Sites such as these are known to help with economic development for cities and towns, with Historic England saying they contributed £44.6 billion to the UK economy in 2022.
Historic England Partnerships Team Leader and Environment Planning Advisor for the South-West, Rohan Torkildsen, said: “It is a priority for Historic England to try and sustain our historic environment and do what we can to help.
“It’s a challenge but that’s our role as a government public body to really explore those creative solutions and get those buildings and places off of the register as well as finding the benefits of rescued places.”
The England-wide list contains nearly five thousand ‘Heritage assets’.
Types of sites included range from buildings and structures to battlefields and protected conservation sites.
South-West sites at risk include:
- Friends' Meeting House, Come-to-Good, Feock, Cornwall - Grade I listed
- Christchurch Priory, Dorset - Grade I listed
- St. Nicholas Priory, Exeter - Grade I listed
- 2 Market Street Crewkerne (former Nat-West bank), Somerset - Grade II* listed
- Helston Guildhall, Helston, Cornwall - Grade II* listed
- Tewkesbury Town Hall, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire - Grade II* listed
The organisation work to ‘save’ these structures and have ‘saved’ 31 across the South West region in 2024 including Bath’s Lansdown Cemetery and Beckford’s Tower.
Historic England rely on their own skills and expertise alongside funding from groups such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund, but also the communities around historic sites.
Torkildsen added: “I think our work can only bear dividends with the kind of support of local communities, passionate individuals to sort of rescue these places in need.
“There’s a really exciting project called Brunel's Other Bridge.
“It’s a swing bridge by Brunel that is really decaying and there’s the local, Avon Industrial Buildings Trust, which is made up of volunteers.
“They work really hard to find solutions to try and rescue this really special historic structure.”