
Historic England released its Heritage at Risk 2019 list on the 17th October. A register has been collated each year since its inception in 1998 when 1,930 buildings and structural scheduled monuments were featured. The HAR programme identifies sites that are considered to be “most at risk of being lost as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development.” The register serves to raise awareness of buildings that require urgent assistance before irreplaceable historic fabric is lost forever.
This year the list has 5,073 entries, 87 fewer than in 2018. The report highlights 310 buildings and sites have been saved and reused for a wide range of purposes, but all now able contribute in making places special and distinctive. Since 1998 Historic England has contributed around £50 million to HAR projects, which includes not only buildings, but also scheduled monuments, places of worship, parks, archaeology, battlefields, wrecks and conservation areas.
As part of the selection criteria buildings must be Grade I or Grade II* listed, Grade II listed buildings of worship in England, and if in London, also Grade II listed buildings.
A regional register is available here and a map search for buildings across England can be accessed here.
Of local interest: in Reading the remains of the scheduled monument of Reading Abbey – a Cluniac and Benedictine monastery – is still on the register, as is the Grade I listed Chazey Farm Barn, The Warren.
In Henley-on-Thames the Grade II* listed Park and Garden Fawley Court and Temple Island is identified, as is the Grade II* listed Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin.