Blake's Jerusalem cottage 'at risk of being lost forever'

It's one of the sites added to the Heritage at Risk Register

Author: Ryan Burrows and Helen William, PAPublished 4th Nov 2021
Last updated 4th Nov 2021

The thatched cottage in West Sussex where poet William Blake wrote the words to the hymn Jerusalem is among historic sites at risk of being lost forever.

Decay and problems with the thatch, roof and masonry of the grade II-listed cottage in Felpham, near Bognor Regis - which Blake and his wife Catherine called home in the early 1800s, has seen it placed on the register.

The building was placed into trust for the nation in 2015, while a fundraising appeal has been launched for the site's restoration.

It's one of 130 deteriorating venues to have been added to Historic England's register in the last year.

Marion Brinton from Historic England said:

"We're particularly worried about the thatched roof and the structure that's underneath, the rafters that support the roof - some of those have cracked.

"It's safe in a temporary sense because it's propped, but clearly the building needs some really substantial repair."

Among the others added to the list is the former Bursledon Brickworks in Swanwick in Hampshire.

However, 233 other sites in England have been taken off the register after being saved from neglect, decay or inappropriate development, such as the E-Magazine at Priddy's Hard in Gosport, which has been converted into a microbrewery.

There are now 4,985 sites on the register - which is 112 fewer than in 2020.

Historic England said that among the places at risk are 1,459 buildings or structures, 2,001 non-structural archaeological locations, 923 places of worship, 104 parks and gardens, 491 conservation areas, three battlefields and four protected wreck sites.

Marion Brinton added:

"If you imagine our history to be written as a book, if we lose these buildings, which are all part of our story, it's like losing whole sentences out of that story.

"It makes less sense and it's harder and harder to understand."

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