Bright Future for Tees Valley and Durham Sites

Tees Valley and Durham Sites On Course to be Removed from English Heritage's Heritage at Risk Register

North East - Holy Trinity Church © English HeritageThe future looks bright for several of the North East's most vulnerable historic treasures – including Holy Trinity Church in Stockton, medieval farm buildings at West Kepier in Durham and a 17th century farmhouse in Shildon. English Heritage expects that 2009 will see these and a number of other historic places removed from its Heritage at Risk register.

Heritage at Risk is an annual survey of the threatened heritage in our cities, towns and countryside. It includes listed buildings, historic parks, archaeological remains, battlefields and protected wrecks. This year’s register will be published in the summer but already English Heritage is confident that a number of sites across the North East region will be removed from the register as the result of a lot of hard work from a range of partners who are ensuring that the region’s historic environment has a future.
 
Carol Pyrah, English Heritage's Planning and Development Director in the North East, said: 'We have a real challenge to tackle the heritage at risk in the region but these examples show what can be achieved by owners, local authorities and English Heritage working together to secure the future of some of the region's most important and vulnerable historic sites. Our heritage makes a major contribution to our identity and quality of life.  Investing time and money in saving these special places can stimulate regeneration, encourage tourism and a sense of belonging. It also makes sense environmentally, why discard an old building if a new use can be found for it?  English Heritage is delighted to have helped the owners of these buildings to save and reuse them.'

One such example is the Church of Holy Trinity in Stockton-on-Tees. Built between 1837 and 1838, the Grade II* listed church was gutted by fire in 1991. The roofless ruin has been on the Heritage at Risk register for more than ten years but is likely to be removed in June thanks to an ambitious restoration project by Stockton Council. The local authority put together a complex financial package, including contributions from Neighbourhood Pathfinder and the Cleaner, Safer, Greener fund, to finance important repairs and the ruins will soon be accessible to the public. English Heritage provided expert advice on the repairs and bridged the final funding gap with a grant of over £100,000.

Durham is the site of another heritage success story. The Grade II* listed medieval farm buildings at West Kepier Hospital first appeared on the register in 2000 and a year later the walls and roof partially collapsed. English Heritage worked closely with the private owner and a recent grant of over £90,000 has helped reinstate the walls and roofs.  Use of the building by the local angling club will help to ensure the building’s long-term survival.
 
Middridge Grange Farmhouse in Heighington, which dates from around 1600, represents more work in progress. The once-abandoned Grade II* farmhouse has been on the register since 1997. The owner’s vision to re-inhabit the farmhouse signalled a change in its fortunes and English Heritage helped with phased grants of more than £200,000 to make the farmhouse weather-tight and repair the 17th century internal panelling. It is not expected to be removed from the Heritage at Risk register this year but the condition of the building has improved significantly and we look forward to the farmhouse being lived-in and taken off the register in future.
 
Visit Heritage at Risk for further information