From new hotels in London and Ipswich, to retail and office developments in Bristol and Yorkshire and converted industrial buildings in Derbyshire and Stoke-on-Trent, across the country there are businesses flourishing in historic buildings which have been repaired or adapted to enable them to have a more successful financial future.

An invaluable publication offering owners, developers and local authorities a toolkit of good practice for the use of historic buildings in regeneration.

A one day conference jointly organised by London Metropolitan Archives and English Heritage from 10.00 am - 4.30 pm on Friday 22 March 2013.

Archives and historic buildings offer important resources for uncovering the histories of disabled people. Come and share experiences with a range of research projects. Discuss ways in which disabled people are documenting their own histories.

A five day course introducing the full range of measured survey techniques will be run by English Heritage from 22-26 July 2013 at Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire.

Find out about the launch of the winter 2012-13 annual consultation for the National Heritage Protection Plan (NHPP), the latest progress report and the improvements to the web pages covering the Plan.

English Heritage has published England's Schools 1962-88 , its first major study of post war schools in the country.

By providing a clear account of how pedagogical ideas, construction technology and architectural trends prevalent in the decades following WWII have shaped the way different types of schools were built, the study aims to inspire the present generation of school designers and inform the current debate on investment across England's school estate.

The London Assembly is the latest organisation to support the country-wide programme to tackle heritage crime, led by English Heritage, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Association of Chief Police Officers.

English Heritage has launched the Heritage at Risk Register 2012 and announced an ambitious programme to find out how the one major element of our heritage not already covered by the Register - the nation's Grade II listed buildings - can be assessed. Adding those found to be at risk from neglect, decay, damaging alterations or dereliction to the national or local At Risk Registers would be a first step to securing their future.

Using the latest 3D laser scanning technology, an English Heritage analysis of Stonehenge has found new evidence of the importance of the two solstices to its creators, including that of the midwinter sunset.

English Heritage has today released its London List 2011, a compilation of all the sites awarded listed status in the capital last year.

The Department for Culture Media and Sport has consulted on proposed reforms to Listed Building Consent (LBC). The Government is keen to incorporate reforms into the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (ERR) Bill, which will get its 3rd reading in Parliament this Autumn. As a result, the consultation period for the reforms to LBC was set at 30 days in order to meet the timetable already established for the ERR Bill.

Experts are beginning an 18-month research project to unlock the secrets of the largest and most valuable Anglo-Saxon hoard ever discovered, after a £276,000 grant from English Heritage.

The Mercian Trail partnership, comprising Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Birmingham Museums, Lichfield District Council, Staffordshire County Council and Tamworth Borough Council, has also contributed £68,000 to the research programme.

More than 15,000 images from one of the earliest and most significant collections of aerial photography of the UK have been made freely accessible online to the public for the first time.

The Institute of Historic Building Conservation's (IHBC) 2012 Annual School, supported by English Heritage, runs from 21st to 23rd June at Winchester. It explores the vital concept of "significance", in the context of assessing degrees of importance for our heritage and thus deciding how best to manage it.

A five-year collaborative project between English Heritage and Cardiff University that aims to construct a more precise chronology of Neolithic civilisations in Europe has been awarded a grant of €2.5m from the European Research Council.

English Heritage has signed up to use the tools available through Historypin, to upload many of its historic images.

Twenty-four trainees have newly graduated from the £1.7m Traditional Building Skills Bursary Scheme, a pioneering work-placement programme that started four years ago to help address the skills shortage currently being encountered in the heritage sector.

The first comprehensive survey on the effect of crime on England's historic buildings and sites, commissioned by English Heritage, has been released. The survey shows a worrying rate of damage and estimates that:

An exhibition of one of English Heritage's major historic collections of photographs is now on. An Age of Confidence, Photographs by Bedford Lemere andamp; Co is on at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Wirral, until 7 May 2012.

English Heritage has secured the future of Harmondsworth Barn in west London - one of the great buildings of England. Grade I listed, the barn ranks alongside the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace for its exceptional architectural and historic interest.

English Heritage has revised and updated its highly regarded series of conservation handbooks, Practical Building Conservation (first published in 1988), for publication in 2012. The first five volumes of the ten-volume series will be launched at the Listed Property Show on 18 and 19 February at London’s Olympia (stand H20).

The past archaeological lives of the St Paul's Cathedral site have been revealed in a new English Heritage book.

The largest ever research project into the condition of England's industrial heritage was published today (Wednesday 19 October, 2011) by English Heritage together with its annual 'Heritage at Risk Register'.

Heritage groups provide a strong voice for local communities but more is needed to strengthen this work

Online checklist launched to provide advice and guidance to groups

English Heritage has today issued new guidance on theft of metal from church buildings in view of the intensification of the problem in some parts of England. The guidance offers greater clarity on when alternative materials might be appropriate and which ones are likely to be considered following theft of roofing materials.

Andrew Lloyd Webber Invites 16 Local Groups To Glittering Awards Ceremony

Sixteen local groups have been chosen to go forward to the finals of the English Heritage Angel Awards, supported by Andrew Lloyd Webber, in London on 31st October.

A detailed survey of every stone that makes up Stonehenge using the latest technology, including a new scanner on loan from Z+F UK that has never before been used on a heritage project in this country, has resulted in the most accurate digital model ever produced of the world famous monument.

Last Autumn English Heritage, and our partners the Royal Commissions on the Ancient and Historical Monuments for Scotland and Wales, were awarded £1.75m from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help conserve and catalogue part of the Aerofilms Collection and make the photographs available online. This iconic collection shows the changing face of Britain from the air and our project, called Britain from Above, focuses on the oldest part of the collection dating from 1919 to the early 1950s.

The third annual report on numbers of historic environment specialists in local authorities published today shows an accelerating drop at a time when there has been an increase in planning applications for them to manage.

Candidate for one of the English Heritage Angel Awards backed by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Plans to conserve the oldest and most important building on the Ickworth Estate in Suffolk, the medieval former St Mary's Church, the traditional burial place of the Hervey family of Ickworth since 1467, have taken a step forward thanks to the announcement of awards to the Ickworth Church Conservation Trust from English Heritage and Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

Uley Long Barrow, in Gloucestershire, a Neolithic burial site, also known as 'Hetty Pegler's Tump', has reopened to the public after a two year programme of urgent structural repairs overseen by English Heritage.

16 London Underground stations have today (26 July 2011) been listed at Grade ll by Tourism and Heritage Minister John Penrose, on the advice of English Heritage.

They include several of the tube stations designed by Leslie Green whose 'ox-blood' red tile facades pioneered the use of a strong and consistent corporate image which is recognised around the world. All the stations have historic and architectural significance, illustrating the development of the capital's Underground system.

English Heritage has charted the evolution of Dartmoor's rich archaeology and stunning landscape over millennia in a new book that emphasises the human activities that have shaped the landscape.

'The Field Archaeology of Dartmoor' by Phil Newman describes Dartmoor's landscape history from 4,000 BC to the present, analysing and summarising archaeological and historical studies from the 19th century onwards.

Dartmoor is southern England's largest tract of upland and its diverse natural qualities assured its designation as one of England's first National Parks in 1951.

Our latest photography acquisition is a beautiful photograph album dating from 1872. The leather album is covered in high quality filigree silver panels which are engraved with the names of Julius and Theodora Knoop.

Other engravings on the cover include their wedding date of 1847 in Cheltenham and their 25th anniversary date of 1872 in Bremen, Germany. Most likely a silver wedding anniversary gift, the album contains 30 large prints relating to the life of the couple showing their homes and workplaces in England.

A new book on the post war city is published today by English Heritage. English Heritage is calling for Plymouth's centre to be designated a conservation area.

Kevin McCloud is in Plymouth today (8 June) launching a new book Plymouth: Vision of a Modern City, published by English Heritage. The book challenges some deeply held views of the city and champions the post war architecture of the city.

A ground-breaking scientific dating project led by English Heritage and Cardiff University has succeeded in dating prehistoric features down to a margin of decades instead of centuries. By applying this method to a type of early Neolithic earthwork called causewayed enclosures, it has revealed that Britain experienced a frenetic period of monument building in the decades after 3,700BC, with the country's first big monuments being erected some 1,000 years before Stonehenge was created.

Causewayed enclosures are known prehistoric features, but up to now it has been thought that they spread slowly across Britain over five centuries. But this research reveals that this new class of huge monuments spread rapidly all over southern Britain in a short span of 75 years, starting from the Thames Estuary through Kent and Sussex, and then west, on an intense scale that was not apparent before.

One of English Heritage's major collections of historic architectural photos will be on display at the V andamp; A this summer and also published in a new book.

English Heritage has launched The National Heritage List for England, a significant milestone towards achieving better understanding and protection for heritage in this country by opening up information which until now has not been easily accessible to the public.

Portico, an online resource dedicated to deepening the public's understanding of English history through the national collection of sites and monuments under the direct care of English Heritage, is now available with twelve properties as pilots.

Public Tours 1 June - 31 October of Birmingham Silver Factory. Little Changed in 100 Years.

In 2008 English Heritage stepped in and acquired JW Evans - an extraordinary piece of industrial heritage - for the nation. A family silverware factory founded in 1881 in the heart of Birmingham's historic Jewellery Quarter, Evans faced dereliction or sale to a developer who could have cleared its contents and erased more than 100 years of history.

After halting its decline, English Heritage are now opening the doors of this hidden treasure to the public for guided tours between 1 June and 31 October, 2011.

English Heritage is delighted to announce, as of 1st October 2011, that Heritage Open Days will be jointly run by the National Trust, Civic Voice and The Heritage Alliance.

These three organisations will take over the national coordination of the programme which English Heritage will continue to fund until March 2015. Between the three bodies, they offer a unique combination of skills, resources and experience and will build on Heritage Open Day's impressive track record. This new partnership will help to ensure the future of Heritage Open Days so volunteers up and down the country can continue to open their doors to the public for years to come. With the numbers of volunteers registered to take part dramatically up compared to last year, 2011's Heritage Open Days is set to be bigger than ever.

Over 230 school children descended on Launceston Castle today (Tuesday 17 May) to celebrate the launch of English Heritage's new traditional building methods resource. The first of its kind to be made available by English Heritage, the resource is aimed at highlighting the expert craftsmanship involved in traditional building techniques - skills which, according to recent statistics from the heritage organisation, are under threat and at risk of dying-out if not passed-onto today's generations.

One of the great British novelists of the twentieth century is honoured.

The writer Graham Greene (1904 - 1991) is to be commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque at 14 Clapham Common North Side, London; his home from 1935 to 1940 and where he wrote his masterly novel Brighton Rock. The plaque will be unveiled by his daughter Caroline Bourget at 11am on 1 April and marks the twentieth anniversary of his death.

English Heritage is supporting an international workshop in the School of History, University of Liverpool, to be held on 23-25 June 2011.

The subject of the workshop is 'The Social Life of Port Architecture: History, Politics, Commerce and Culture', and this Call for Papers invites contributions which examine how the architecture of historic ports reflects commercial culture and defines their character. Contributions are invited from those working on historic and contemporary architecture, social history and the regeneration of waterfront spaces.

English Heritage is embarking on a project to find out how much of the country's industrial heritage is at risk of neglect, decay or even demolition and to raise the debate about what needs saving and how. It will reveal the results of its Industrial Heritage at Risk research, including what the public think, in October this year at the launch of the annual English Heritage Heritage at Risk register.

Sir Basil Spence (1907-1976) has been commemorated today (23 March 2011) with an English Heritage blue plaque at his former home and office at 1 Canonbury Place, Islington, N1.

A successful and eclectic modern architect, with a prodigious capacity for work, Spence – best known for his ground-breaking design for Coventry Cathedral – was among the leading British practitioners of his generation.

At the unveiling, Anthony Blee – proposer of the plaque, practice partner of Spence, and husband to Gillian, Spence’s daughter – spoke about the architect and his work, while Gillian unveiled the plaque.

The event took place on the 55th anniversary of the Foundation Stone laying by HM the Queen at Coventry Cathedral.

New isotope analysis and forensic facial reconstruction undertaken by a team led by English Heritage has shed new light on the doomed 1845 British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Sir John Franklin, in which all 129 people on board perished.

Analysis of the only surviving complete skeleton has offered new clues as to why the expedition was lost, a mystery that has sparked debate ever since. Some have suggested that scurvy or tuberculosis may have been causes of debilitation and death on the expedition, but no evidence of these diseases was found on the bones, and DNA tests proved negative for tuberculosis. Work is still ongoing on samples from the remains to analyse for lead to see if lead poisoning from the expedition's canned food or from their water supply was a factor.

The study has also revealed that the identity of the skeleton is unlikely to be Henry LeVesconte, a Lieutenant aboard one of the ships, a conclusion that has been widely accepted since the skeleton was first examined in 1872 by Thomas Henry Huxley, one of the foremost biologists of the age.

Welcoming the news of the listing of the former Strand Union workhouse in Cleveland Street today (14 March 2011), Simon Thurley Chief Executive of English Heritage said:

The 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day on 8th March 2011 is day for celebration and reflection. While the first International Women’s Day wasn’t recognised in England, it was a time when many women were actively fighting for women’s rights, particularly the right to vote. The buildings, sites and public spaces around us, as well as the memories of those which have gone, serve as reminders of these struggles and how women’s lives have changed since 1911.

Today it is a haven for stressed workers, eager to escape from the frantic pace of City life, but Bunhill Fields Cemetery, just off City Road, is also one London's most hallowed burial grounds, containing the tombs of some of England's greatest writers. It has now been afforded the highest level of recognition as a historic landscape, with a Grade I entry on the national Register of Parks and Gardens. In addition, some 75 individual tombs have been individually listed today (22 February 2011) by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, on the advice of English Heritage.

All seven Historic Environment Managers have succeeded in securing employment after completing English Heritage's Historic Environment Traineeship (HET) Scheme, set up to boost the next generation of heritage professionals.

2010 sees the 1600th anniversary of the nominal end of Roman Britain which lasted more than 350 years. In tribute to this anniversary we offer an introduction to some Roman sites as featured more fully in the News section of the Pastscape website and illustrate some of English Heritage's online resources to whet your appetite.

PastScape is an historic environment database and contains nearly 400,000 records of archaeological sites and buildings in England and its territorial waters. Among these are over 36,000 records relating to the Roman period such as information about…

Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage announce over £600,000 funding to preserve historic building

A new book on Silbury Hill published by English Heritage has shaken up some long held assumptions about the construction and purpose of this mysterious structure, the largest prehistoric man-made feature in Europe.

Buy The Story of Silbury Hill

The Shakespeare Centre, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's headquarters, library and archive in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon has been listed at Grade II by the Tourism and Heritage Minister.

English Heritage recommended the building be listed for a number of reasons including its cultural significance and the quality of the building.

It is culturally significant due to its connection with the heritage of William Shakespeare, being the headquarters of the International Shakespeare Society and The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which holds the Shakespeare archive and library as part of the Centre's collection.

English Heritage has part funded a feasibility study into the Grade II listed Plymouth Civic Centre.

This year's Heritage Counts report prepared by English Heritage on behalf of the heritage sector shows that investing in heritage does not just make us feel better, it makes sound economic sense, especially at the local level.

English Heritage and Mayor of London Mark 20 Years of Rescuing Heritage at Risk in the Capital

The legendary Camden Roundhouse, Wellington Arch, the Modernist Isokon Flats, the Albert Memorial, and Georgian masterpiece, Danson House in Bexley - these are just five London gems that would probably have been lost without the attention brought to them by inclusion on the English Heritage Buildings At Risk Register. They are among hundreds of other rescued landmarks, a selection of which are featured in Saving London - 20 Years of Heritage at Risk in the Capital published today (30 September 2010).

A significant phase of the High Street 2012 programme - an ambitious regeneration project focused on the heritage led regenerating the thoroughfare (A11/A118) that links the City of London to the Olympic Park in Stratford - has been completed with stunning results.

English Heritage is delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has agreed to support the conservation and digitisation of one of the earliest and most significant collections of oblique aerial photography of the United Kingdom with a grant of £1,755,772.

Commemorative plaques, which can be found on buildings of all styles and dates, are one of the most effective – and visible – means of celebrating history and the historic environment. Today there are at least 300 plaque schemes across the country, as well as countless individual plaques. While many schemes are long-established, such as those in Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester, new plaque initiatives are being launched all the time.

English Heritage – which has run the London-wide plaque scheme since 1986 – is active in providing advice to all those who are interested in putting up commemorative plaques and has now published practical and detailed guidance on every aspect of plaque work, including design, historical research and the gaining of consents.

The popularity of commemorative plaques as a means of connecting us with our past is undoubted, but their simplicity can be deceptive. How should one go about undertaking the historical research needed for a plaque? Whose consent is required before a plaque can be installed? What design is appropriate, and what colour and material should be used to ensure that plaques are adornments to the historic environment? These are just some of the questions that ‘Celebrating People andamp; Place' will answer for those interested in embarking on a plaque project of their own.

The document has drawn on English Heritage's experience of managing the London-wide scheme and on the advice and information provided by administrators of other plaque schemes, many of whom attended the Commemorative Plaques conference held in London in February 2010. Local authorities, civic societies, history groups and other bodies and individuals involved in commemorative plaques have been consulted on the document, which is available to download on the side of this page.

Emily Cole, Head of English Heritage's Blue Plaques Team, said:

"A successful commemorative plaque initiative can be a real asset to buildings, towns and cities. We hope that this guidance document, which has been so well informed by many experienced individuals and organisations involved in schemes across the country, will prove useful for anyone seeking more detail on how to go about erecting a commemorative plaque."

Others have described the new guidance document as 'a mass of interesting and informative details, with excellent images' (Newcastle-under-Lyme Civic Society), 'eminently readable and amazingly comprehensive' (Hidden Heritage), and 'a gold mine of useful information' (Lancaster Civic Society). Melton Mowbray andamp; District Civic Society has noted that 'Every aspect of setting up a scheme is covered in a way that is easy to follow and also very encouraging – definitely a "we can do it" book'.

In order to strengthen the links between the many groups and organisations which are involved with commemorative plaques, English Heritage is in the process of carrying out an audit of existing schemes. It is hoped that, in due course, the information about such initiatives will be placed on the English Heritage website.

The presence of long past civilisations is being uncovered in amazing detail thanks to the exceptionally dry early summer weather and the Icelandic ash cloud. Throughout the summer, hundreds of cropmark sites from Neolithic long barrows to World War II military remains have been recorded from the air by English Heritage.

English Heritage has awarded a grant of £200,000 towards vital restoration work on an important Italianate Garden in the heart of South Devon which has suffered from neglect and vandalism in the past ten years.

A monument which for many represents the centre of London has been repaired and restored and can now be removed from the English Heritage At Risk register.

EM Barry's majestic and intricate memorial cross, which has adorned the forecourt of Charing Cross station for 145 years had, inevitably, suffered from city pollution and weathering. Over the past ten months, a team of master carvers and stonemasons have painstakingly cleaned, repaired and restored the ornament, stone floral decoration, statues and crests.The result is a gloriously refreshed monument which demands the attention of even the most distracted of commuters.

The doors of one of England's great country houses - Apethorpe Hall in Northamptonshire - are open this summer and people are invited to tour its magnificent interior, discover its past and view the conservation and repair works which have secured the Hall's future.

English Heritage is inviting the heritage sector to comment on three of its draft thematic research strategies : Prehistoric Archaeology, the Historic Industrial Environment and the Urban Historic Environment.

The Sleeping Beauty of England's Landscape Gardens – Wrest Park in Bedfordshire – will awake from its slumber next year, thanks to a major grant of £1.14m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

For many decades, Wrest Park was part of an agricultural research centre, its treasures overgrown and largely unknown. The HLF grant gives the green light to the plans by English Heritage to restore one of Britain's finest landscape gardens to its original splendour.

"We are delighted to receive this generous grant and vote of confidence from the Heritage Lottery Fund," said Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage. "Wrest Park and its outstanding collection of historic garden buildings is one of the finest surviving eighteenth century landscapes in Britain. It is also one of our best kept secrets and few know of its magnificence. Our restoration will reverse years of neglect and bring this once famous and beautiful landscape back into the limelight."

English Heritage archaeologists have uncovered a ceremonial building, thought to be 4,500 years old during a 6-week archaeological excavation at one of Britain’s most important but least understood prehistoric monuments, Marden Henge in Wiltshire.

English Heritage is supporting the first ever UK Landscape Award to look for the best landscape in the UK.

Good landscapes, wherever they are, help make great communities. A new town square, a restored coastal path, a regeneration scheme with public space at its heart, all make a contribution to how well a community works.

Historic building rescues slowed by recession, plus shipwreck to be saved for nation.

The Heritage at Risk Register 2010 published today (Wednesday 7 July) by English Heritage shows a significant slow-down in the number of Grade I and II* buildings being saved from neglect and decay prompting fears that England might lose the very thing which makes it most special in the eyes of the world and could help to underpin economic recovery.

Between 1999 and 2007 the number of Grade I and II* buildings on the Heritage at Risk Register fell by 17% but since then there has been no percentage change in the number coming off the Register after being rescued. In 1999, one in six buildings on the "at risk" register was fully economic to repair. Now, 11 years on, it is just one in eight. The "conservation deficit", the difference between the cost of repair and the end value of the 1,218 buildings and structural scheduled monuments on the Register, is now estimated at £465 million, a 10% rise from 2009.

Dr Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage, said: "In the current uncertain climate, English Heritage has two vital contributions to make. First is our Heritage at Risk programme itself. It gives communities – local people, local authorities and the larger community of both official and voluntary heritage groups – accurate information about the condition of local neighbourhoods. It encourages them to become actively involved in restoring what is precious to them, and it reassures them that any public funding goes to the most needy and urgent cases.

Archaeological sites at risk reduced by 4% but still harder to save than buildings in tough times. English Heritage Heritage at Risk Register 2010 Shows Success of Partnerships with Owners and Local Authorities.

The Heritage at Risk Register 2010 published today (Wednesday 7 July 2010) by English Heritage shows that the number of scheduled monuments at risk has fallen by 140 to 3,395, but the Register also confirms that the proportion of scheduled monuments at risk is still high at 17.2% (one in six), with the South West, Yorkshire and The Humber, and West Midlands having the highest share.

Damage from cultivation is still the greatest cause of risk, with degradation and decay as a result of natural processes such as scrub and tree growth, erosion and burrowing animals, a close second.

Scheduled monuments are our most cherished, nationally important archaeological sites and landscapes. They include prehistoric burial mounds, stone circles and hill forts, Roman towns and villas, medieval settlements, castles and abbeys and the industrial structures of our more recent past. They are a unique inheritance that tells the story of many generations of human endeavour and life. They create our sense of time and place, and add greatly to the distinctiveness of our towns and countryside.

The new Minister for Tourism and Heritage, John Penrose MP is to speak at the annual English Heritage/Local Government Association conference next month.

A number of archaeological projects funded by English Heritage through the Historic Environment Enabling Programme have been shortlisted for the 2010 British Archaeological Awards.

Keys to the historic Low Lighthouse, built on the ramparts of Hurst Castle in Lymington, Hampshire, were ceremoniously handed over to English Heritage last week (10 June 2010) by current owners Trinity House.

The lighthouse was last used to safeguard shipping in the Solent in 1997 and is now protected as a Scheduled Monument.

Deputy Master of Trinity House Rear Admiral Sir Jeremy De Halpert presented a set of antique lighthouse keys to Dawn Postlethwaite, Head of Visitor Operations for English Heritage in Hampshire, at an event attended by guests including Friends of Hurst Castle and members of the Association of Lighthouse Keepers.

Chiswick House Gardens is a site of international importance both as the birthplace of the English Landscape Movement, and as the setting for one of the most beautiful houses in London. The regeneration of the gardens is a result of many years of campaigning, four years of fund-raising and two years of work on the site.

English Heritage (manager of the House) and the London Borough of Hounslow (owner of the Gardens) established The Chiswick House and Gardens Trust as an independent charity to drive forward an ambitious rescue plan for the Gardens and secure its future for the 21st century.

The National Heritage Training Group (NHTG) has been awarded the largest single amount of funding (£932,000) of the 54 successful projects in the new £17million Heritage Lottery Fund Skills for the Future programme.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is seeking to appoint individuals with expertise in i) Education/Community Engagement, and ii) Local Authority Representation as Commissioners of English Heritage.

English Heritage was established by the National Heritage Act 1983 as the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England. It is the Government’s statutory adviser on the historic environment. This public body receives around three quarters of its income from the Exchequer in the form of Grant in Aid (£131.1 million in 2009/2010). The remainder (£54.6 million) is self generated from commercial activities and fund raising. English Heritage’s role is to champion and care for the historic environment

The Commission is the governing body of English Heritage and comprises the Chair and up to 16 Commissioners.

For these posts, applications are invited from people with an understanding of English Heritage’s work and of the wider environment in which English Heritage operates, and a commitment to its aims and objectives supported by an ability to think strategically and exercise sound judgment.

Suburbs, villages and hamlets, town centres, and other local areas will benefit from undertaking historic area assessments in the face of increasing pace of change, says English Heritage who has published guidance today (9th June) to help local authorities and others to conduct such assessments.

On Tuesday, 26 May 2010 a reception was held at Westminster Abbey to mark the completion of the repair and conservation of the exterior of the Chapter House. English Heritage's Chief Executive Dr Simon Thurley delivered the following speech, touching on the significance of the building, the craftsmanship involved in the project, the publication of a new book on the Chapter House as well as the current economic climate and as announced recently by the Government, the cuts to the public sector.

English Heritage (EH) and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) have today (Monday 24 May 2010) announced funding of just under £7million to help restore 68 historic Grade II listed places of worship in England. Places of worship from a range of faiths and denominations are set to benefit from the organisations’ joint Repair Grants for Places of Worship programme.

For the first time the public will be able to search online a catalogue describing more than a million historical photographs and documents relating to England's historic buildings and archaeological sites held by the National Monuments Record (NMR), English Heritage's public archive.

The artist and art critic Roger Fry is to be commemorated today (Thursday 20 May 2010 at 11.30am) with an English Heritage blue plaque at 33 Fitzroy Square, Bloomsbury, London, W1. It was at this address that Fry set up the influential Omega Workshops (1913 – 1919), to enable young artists to make a living by making and selling items of decorative art designed for the home. Through this venture, Fry may be said to have brought the avant-garde into British living rooms; the art historian Kenneth Clark hailed him as 'incomparably the greatest influence on taste since Ruskin ... in so far as taste can be changed by one man, it was changed by Roger Fry'. The plaque will be unveiled following speeches by the historian Sir David Cannadine and Frances Spalding, Fry's biographer.

The future of one of London’s oldest buildings and a meeting place for the early House of Commons – the Chapter House at Westminster Abbey – has been secured following a major English Heritage - led repair and conservation project. Over the past 18 months, a team of 20 master carvers and stonemasons have painstakingly cleaned, repaired, and conserved the badly weathered gargoyles, stone floral friezes, flying buttresses and stained glass windows. This month, the colossal scaffolding has come down to reveal the majestic exterior completely refreshed, revived and weather-tight.