But 155 sites added in updated 2024 list, including a 15th century school house which survived an arson attack by suffragettes
Historic England has removed Saltdean Lido from its Heritage At Risk Register following a restoration programme but named an additional 155 sites in need of attention.
The heritage advisor has published its annual roundup of historic sites deemed to be at risk due to neglect, structural deterioration or the risk of redevelopment.
Richard Jones’ streamline moderne lido in east Sussex, completed in 1938, is among 124 sites removed from the list due to being considered no longer at risk.
Added to the register in 2011, the grade II*-listed building has been restored by Conran & Partners and RHP, working for a local community action group, with the project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England. Conran & Partners worked on the project up to RIBA stage 3, with RHP taking over for later stages until completion.
It is now home to a café, restaurant, gym, public library, and multiple work and exercise spaces, and hosts a wide variety of events in its art deco ballroom.
Other buildings removed from the list include the grade I-listed Sherborne House in Dorset, which has been transformed into an arts venue by local architect Spase.
Built around 1720 for Henry Seymour Portman, it features a grand hall with murals by James Thornhill, the Dorset-born artist whose other works include the Painted Hall at the Royal Hospital in Greenwich and the inside of the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral.
The Sherborne House Trust acquired the building in 2018 and plans for its transformation into an arts venue were approved in 2021.
The grade II-listed Abney Park chapel and graveyard in Stoke Newington, London, has also been crossed off the list following a £5m restoration funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the National Lottery Community Fund, Hackney Council and Historic England.
The early 19th century site had been on the list since its creation in 1998, with Historic England describing its removal as a “major achievement”.
The graveyard boasts a new cafe, community room and workshop spaces, while the chapel now hosts events and has held its first ever wedding.
A total of 4,891 sites are on this year’s register, 20 more than last year. They include 1,442 buildings and structures, 969 places of worship, 103 parks and gardens, three battlefields and four shipwrecks.
Recently added sites include a rare Victorian windmill which, while still in working order and producing flour, has been found to be in need of urgent repairs due to water seepage and rotting timbers.
The mill is run by dedicated volunteers from the Waltham Windmill Preservation Society who regularly hold fundraising events to help pay for ongoing maintenance. Repair work is already underway, helped by a £63,000 grant from Historic England.
The early 15th century Kings Norton Old Grammar School in Birmingham has been added to the list despite winning a restoration award just 20 years ago.
Believed to have been originally built as a priest’s house, it was remodelled in the 17th century before surviving an intended arson attack by two suffragettes in 1913. The campaigners had left a note on a blackboard explaining that they had been so “charmed” by the building that they had decided to refrain from their “design of destruction”.
However, the building is now deteriorating as external panels are detaching from the frame, allowing in damp and rainwater.
The grade I-listed Tamworth Castle is also in need of further repairs after initial restoration work was completed last year.
> Also read: Save Britain’s Heritage adds 86 new entries to Buildings at Risk register
One of the best preserved motte and bailey castles in the UK, it has a history going back well over a thousand years, the site having been occupied by a palace for the Kings of Mercia before the 9th century Viking invasions.
It was rebuilt as a castle after the 1066 Norman Conquest, captured by Parliamentarians during the English Civil War and has been a museum since 1899.
Historic England said the site had “seen its fair share of battles and needs some attention before it is fighting fit once more”.
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