Historic Environment

The South West has a wealth of historic heritage and a large proportion of the nation’s historic resource can be found in the region.

The historic environment is a key component of the South West’s identity, important to the quality of life of those who live, work and visit the region, and essential to the key regional tourism economy.  This report looks at the ways people are learning from this remarkable resource, and considers the skills required for its sustainable future.

Table 7.2 Audit of the South West's Historic Heritage, 2007

Asset

South West 2007

Scheduled Ancient Monuments

7,021

World Heritage Sites

4*

Listed Buildings

88,449

Conservation Areas

1,518

Historic parks and gardens

285

Registered historic battlefields

8

Registered historic vessels & wreck sites

23
* Dorset & East Devon Jurassic Coast, Stonehenge & Avebury Stone Circles, Bath and The Cornwall & West Devon Mining Landscape
Source: English Heritage, 2007

    The Register of Buildings at Risk lists all Grade I and II* listed buildings and structural scheduled monuments at risk or vulnerable to neglect and decay in England. Protected by national policy, the majority of listed buildings are in good condition. There were 157 buildings at risk on the register as of October 2007, down from 160 in 2006. Of these, 28 were Grade I, whilst 111 were Grade II* and 3 Grade II. An additional 14 were Scheduled only, 8 were entries in World Heritage Sites and 27 were entries in Registered Parks & Gardens. 10 entries were removed during the past year, bringing the total number of removals since the baseline Register to 90 (or 48.9% of the original 184 entries). In a region with nearly a third of the country’s listed buildings, this is a significant achievement and above the national target (of 43.8%). (English Heritage, 2007).

    Around 74% of all adults in the South West attended at least one historic environment site in 2005/06, the second highest rate of all the regions in England.  Visitor numbers to South West historic properties have remained broadly unchanged since 2001/02,but gross revenue levels have risen by one fifth since then, demonstrating commercial growth in the heritage tourism sector in the region. (English Heritage, 2007).

    There were 10,300 volunteers in the National Trust in the South West in 2006/07, one quarter of the total number of National Trust volunteers in England. In 2001/02, there were about 6,700 volunteers; numbers have grown by more than half. (English Heritage, 2007).

    More information about heritage is available from the South West Observatory Environment website.  The impact of climate change on our historic environment and our historic building resource are also indicators used to monitor progress of the Regional Environment Strategy.