4 C O N T E X T 1 3 7 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 The Grade II listed Chorley Flying Railway Arches have been lifted back into place as part of railway improvements. The original arches, built in 1841 across the main line between Manchester and Preston to support the retaining walls in a cutting, have been replaced with the addition of a permanent steel brace under each arch to meet modern safety regulations. and Son’s carriages, only the shell of the building remains); the Grade II listed Pump House at Abbey Mills (Station B), London, dates from 1891 and forms part of a collection of late Victorian buildings associated with the main Pumping Station, designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette; and the State Cinema, Thurrock, Essex, Grade II*, on the register since 2002 (one of the best preserved of the ‘super cinemas’ of the late 1930s, so little of this building has changed that its survival is unique). Despite this being the most complete view of at-risk heritage to date, the state of the majority of the listed heritage, Grade II listed buildings, is still unknown. Currently with the exception of London, only Grade I and II* buildings are included on the register. English Heritage is sharing its expertise with volunteers, owners and local authorities to tackle this and is asking people up and down the country to survey Grade II buildings.With this information, a national picture can be built to see how many of these buildings are at risk and uncover underlying causes. Test surveys in Stockton, Cumbria, York, Derbyshire,Worcester, Birmingham, Essex, Hounslow and Aylesbury are laying the groundwork for volunteers to get to work when the project launches nationally in spring 2015. Last orders A historic pub of national importance has been the subject of a landmark High Court battle between the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and Bradford City Council. On two occasions CAMRA has succeeded in getting the High Court to overrule the decisions of Bradford City Council to grant planning permission and listed building consent for alterations to the Cock and Bottle – in connection with its conversion to a restaurant – including the tearing out of most of the historic interior. Much of the interior has already been stripped out. Taking the case to the initial judicial review was the first-ever such action by CAMRA. A second action was needed less than eight months later as planning permission and listed building consent was once again re-applied for and granted by Bradford City Council, prompting the second High Court battle. In neither High Court ruling did Bradford City Council contest CAMRA’s view that they had acted unlawfully in granting listed building consent and planning permission. The council duly consented to a quashing order and also agreed to pay CAMRA’s costs. The Cock and Bottle in Bradford: much of the interior has already been stripped out. Supporting Howsham Mill From Ian Lush, chief executive of the Architectural Heritage Fund It is disappointing that Martin Phillips (‘The restoration of Howsham Mill’, Context 135) fails to mention the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) as a key supporter of the project. Indeed, it was the AHF, as readily acknowledged by Mo MacLeod, which helped the owners to form the appropriate type of trust and, in 2004, offered the crucial early-stage funding for a feasibility study. This was followed by two further grants and a loan offer. It is likely that without this support the trust would never have reached the stage which enabled it to apply successfully to the Heritage Lottery Fund and other funders for the capital works. Ian Lush Letter ‘YEARS before anyone else I knew, he saw that the future would mean re-creating the past – that is, the rise of the heritage industry. In 1967 he wrote a deliberately teasing article headed ‘The great British history parkway drive-in’. He asked:Why not regenerate mid-Wales, then in a worrying decline, by using history, scenic beauty and a new-build skyline as the regenerator? Like so much of what he wrote, this sprang from his experience of the United States. He didn’t sneer at this heritage aspect of the future – which of course has come about. He tried to understand.’ Paul Barker remembering Sir Peter Hall, who died in July, in Town and Country Planning.
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