Countryman
Diary - July 2008
What causes prehistoric burial mounds to disappear? What makes
ruined castles and abbeys crumble? What constitutes a serious
threat to a historic park or the site of a seventeenth-century
shipwreck?
English Heritage is about to find out by creating
the first all-encompassing register of the country’s neglected
or decaying historic treasures and introducing new ways to save
them. Its Heritage At Risk project, launched on Tuesday 8 July,
will make England the only country in Europe to have a comprehensive
knowledge of the state of its protected heritage and the analysis
to save this precious and finite resource for the future.
The initiative is based on the success of English Heritage’s
Buildings at Risk Register. Published annually since 1998, this
register has transformed the approach taken by English Heritage
itself, the other conservation bodies, local authorities and
owners to saving Grade I and Grade II* listed buildings. The
new register aims to extend this winning formula to Grade II
buildings, scheduled monuments, archaeology, historic landscapes,
parks and gardens, places of worship, conservation areas, battlefields
and even designated maritime wrecks, in fact any and every bit
of England’s protected heritage which is deemed to be at
risk of loss through decay or damage.
For the first phase of the project, English Heritage experts
have added to their knowledge of the country’s 30,687 Grade
I and Grade II* listed buildings an assessment of all 19,711
of the country’s scheduled monuments, all 1,595 of its
registered historic parks, gardens and landscapes, all forty-three
of its registered battlefields and all forty-five of the protected
wrecks off our coasts. They have come to a view on how many of
these national treasures are at risk and, most importantly, why,
and will publish the results on 8 July in the form of a summary
document and a register.
Dr Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, said: “Even
in its first year, our Heritage At Risk project will constitute
the most detailed picture ever gathered of the true state of
the nation’s heritage. Year on year we will be able to
see how much of this heritage has been rescued and how much is
still at risk. The project is at the heart of what English Heritage
does, identifying what is important and in danger and devising
ways to save it.
“This very ambitious systematic survey of heritage at
risk will enable us to prioritise the most urgent cases and save
more of them, more quickly. Seeing the whole picture, we will
be able to identify solutions which can be applied across the
whole country. The long barrow overgrown with brambles that you
saw on your last country walk, the Civil War battlefield under
threat of development, the broken war memorial in the village
square or the boarded-up old mill buildings that no one seems
to care about, these are all part of the rich backdrop of our
lives in England. But our heritage is a finite resource and if
we don’t act, these things won’t be here for our
grandchildren.
“Most owners of heritage sites in England do a fantastic
job of looking after them but it is a difficult task. Heritage
At Risk is not a name and shame exercise. The new register will
focus everyone’s attention on the neediest cases, bringing
the owners, councils and others together and harnessing the nation’s
huge enthusiasm for its rich, varied but sometimes fragile past.”
Horses in need
July is national Horses in Need and people are being urged to
help end the suffering of millions of working horses and donkeys
across the globe. The Brooke, the UK’s largest overseas
equine welfare charity, is appealing to the public to sign up
to Horses in Need 2008, its national fundraising campaign, now
in its second successful year.
The Brooke provides desperately needed care to many stricken
animals, and training for their poor owners. By ensuring these
animals are healthy and fit for work, the livelihoods of the
millions of poor people that are reliant upon them are also supported.
For more information or to register to take part please call
0845 367 0999 or visit www.thebrooke.org/hin
Barn owl boost
The Crown Estate’s barn owl and kestrel conservation programme
looks set to record the highest number of owlets in its seventeen-year
history. The barn owl is one of Britain’s best loved birds.
From being one of the most common in the 1900s their numbers
have declined rapidly to about 4,400 breeding pairs today. Such
was the concern for the future of the barn owl that it is specially
protected under the Wildlife and Country Act (1981), making it
an offence to disturb its nesting sites.
The Crown Estate is committed to conservation and wildlife friendly
farming and in 1991 recognised that modernisation of its agricultural
buildings was threatening the traditional habitat of barn owls,
particularly in the arable farming areas of the eastern coastal
counties. The Crown Estate took the initiative to team up with
the Wildlife Conservation Partnership (WCP) and began its barn
owl and kestrel preservation programme.
Alan Laidlaw, head of customer management at The Crown Estate,
said: “Many children today have only ever seen Hedwig the
owl in the Harry Potter stories, whereas once they were a common
sight in the British countryside. I hope that through conservation
programmes and encouraging wildlife friendly farming, The Crown
Estate can help ‘at risk’ native species such as
the barn owl to survive and flourish, at the same time as helping
provide a livelihood for modern farmers and supporting the rural
economy.”
“I am especially pleased that we have been able to install
the webcams in one of our nest boxes which mean we can share
the magic of watching these much-loved birds hatch and develop.”
Paul Jackson |
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