Heritage at Risk list adds knights' cave and Grimsby's Kasbah

Historic England register also adds Huddersfield’s first infirmary and ‘an almost perfect Victorian museum’

A centuries-old church that counted George Eliot as a worshipper and survived a devastating night during the wartime blitz is one of 242 new entries to England’s Heritage at Risk register.

The register also now includes one of the oldest purpose-built museums in England, as well as Grimsby’s Kasbah area, and the church in Salford where the suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst married in 1879.

The properties join the record run by Historic England that acts as an annual snapshot of the health of England’s historic places.

Historic England revealed a mixed picture. Over the course of this year 318 entries have been removed and 242 places added. In total there are 5,160 entries on the 2018 register, 94 fewer than in 2017.

The organisation’s chief executive, Duncan Wilson, said that over 20 yearsthe register had helped highlight places in need of care and attention for 20 years. “We have dedicated time, expertise and money to bring these special but threatened places back into use, and we are proud to have played our part in saving them from neglect. Despite the successes, other places continue to fall into disrepair.”

Holy Trinity church in Coventry city centre went onto the list because of the need for urgent roof repairs to keep the building weather-tight. It was the place where the 18th century superstar actor Sarah Siddons got married and where 19th century novelist George Eliot worshipped.

Perhaps the most remarkable story about the church was its survival during the Blitz. Almost all of Coventry’s centre was destroyed by Luftwaffe bombs, which were dropped on the city over a stretch of 11 hours on 14 November 1940. Holy Trinity survived thanks to the efforts of the vicar, Graham Clitheroe. Well-prepared with ladders and hydrants, Clitheroe and two or three others spent the night extinguishing fires and even pushing unexploded bombs off the roof.

Other additions to the register include:

  • The Kasbah in Grimsby: a labyrinth of factories, shops and warehouses in a corner of the town’s docks which were central to the town’s worldwide success as a fishing port. It was designated a conservation area in 2017.

  • Huddersfield’s first infirmary: the hospital opened in 1831, thanks to public donations, and was a response to a rise in industrial accidents. Its grand entrance is modelled on a Greek temple.

  • Royston Cave, Hertfordshire: a natural feature and scheduled ancient monument believed to have been enlarged as a chamber in the 14th century. One theory says it was used by the Order of the Knights Templar as a secret meeting place. Its walls are covered with religious and mystical carvings that are steadily deteriorating because of water penetration and worms.

  • Wisbech & Fenland Museum: the Cambridgeshire museum opened in 1847 and is described by Historic England as “an almost perfect example of a Victorian museum … still fitted out with its original display cases”.

  • St Luke’s Church, Salford: a neo-gothic church designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, which was built in 1859 and was the venue for Pankhurst’s marriage to the barrister Richard Pankhurst. It joins the register because of damage caused by its leaking roof.

Among the list’s removals due to successful interventions are:

  • St Cuthbert’s Island: the medieval chapel on this Northumberland site had been at the mercy of North Sea storms. Lottery-funded repairs helped in the stabilisation of the island against erosion.

  • Gunnersby Park mansion, London: the house was previously owned by the Rothschild banking family. It has been repaired supported by lottery funding but the landscape and eight other listed buildings remain on the register.

  • Asthall Barrow: an Anglo-Saxon burial mound in Oxfordshire, placed on the register in 2009 because of unmanaged trees and scrub, and damage caused by rabbits. The rabbits have gone and the site cleared apart from an impressive sycamore tree which makes the barrow visible from a roundabout on the A40.

Historic England said two-thirds of the buildings and sites on the original 1998 list had been rescued, often thanks to the determination of local communities, charities and owners. It had been a particularly successful year for archaeological sites with the number of entries removed, 104, almost twice the number (58) that had been added.

Historic England also highlighted success stories across the register’s 20-year history, including Morecambe’s Midland hotel, the first art deco hotel in Britain, the Granary Building in King’s Cross, London, now home to the University of the Arts London, and Tynemouth station, considered one of the best British examples of a railway station of the high Victorian period.

Contributor

Mark Brown Arts correspondent

The GuardianTramp

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