Yorkshire’s “at risk” register
Plumpton rocks. (S)
A Knaresborough beauty spot once painted by JMW Turner is being badly damaged and is “at risk”, according to English Heritage.
Plumpton Rocks has been added to the organisation’s latest “Heritage At Risk” register, which was unveiled on Friday, October 12.
The 18th Century pleasure gardens inspired JMW Turner in 1798 but are now under threat by silting up in the lake, and invasive Himalayan Balsam, the report said.
Much of the Grade II* listed site’s original form is still in place, the report adds, but there are “significant localised problems” and its condition is declining.
This is the first year English Heritage has surveyed Grade II buildings, in a bid to protect the 29,000 Grade II sites in Yorkshire and the Humber.
English Heritage’s Trevor Mitchell said: “It isn’t just bean-counting. It really works. In London, we have included Grade II buildings at risk on our Register since 1991 and 96% of them have been saved.”
Almost 30 sites across the Harrogate district are “at risk”, according to the 2012 register, which lists buildings, scheduled monuments, parks and gardens, battlefields and even wreck sites that are in danger.
St Wilfrid’s Church in Monk Fryston, near Wetherby, has also been added to the list this year with urgent repair needs.
The church, which dates from the 13th and 14th centuries, is said to be in a “poor” condition, although grant funding has been awarded for repairs to the tower and roof.
But at Marton-le-Moor, near Boroughbridge, an ancient henge site has been rescued from danger.
The site near Cana Barn has been removed from the register after work was carried out to save the site.
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Saturday 18 May 2013
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