English Heritage

History

Non-departmental public body

Over the centuries, what is now called "heritage" has been the responsibility of a series of state departments. There was the "Kings Works" after the Norman Conquest, the Office of Works (1378–1832), the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues and Works (1832–1851), and the Ministry of Works (1851–1962). Responsibility subsequently transferred to the Ministry of Public Building and Works (1962–1970), then to the Department of the Environment (1970–1997), and it is now with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The state's legal responsibility for the historic environment goes back to the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882. The central government subsequently developed several systems of heritage protection for different types of assets, introducing listing for buildings after the Second World War, and for conservation areas in the 1960s.

In 1983, Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Heseltine gave national responsibility for the historic environment to a semi‑autonomous agency (or "quango") to operate under ministerial guidelines and to government policy. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission was formed under the terms of the National Heritage Act 1983 on 1 April 1984. The 1983 Act also dissolved the bodies that had previously provided independent advice – the Ancient Monuments Board for England and the Historic Buildings Council for England – and incorporated those functions into the new body. Soon after, the commission was given the operating name of English Heritage by its first chairman, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.

A national register of historic parks and gardens, (e.g. Rangers House, Greenwich) was set up in 1984, and a register for historic battlefields (e.g. the Battle of Tewkesbury) was created in March 1995. 'Registration' is a material consideration in the planning process. In April 1999 English Heritage merged with the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) and the National Monuments Record (NMR), bringing together resources for the identification and survey of England's historic environment. By adoption, that included responsibility for the national record of archaeological sites from the Ordnance Survey, the National Library of Aerial Photographs, and two million RAF and Ordnance Survey aerial photographs. Those, together with other nationally important external acquisitions, meant that English Heritage was one of the largest publicly accessible archives in the UK: 2.53 million records are available online, including more than 426,000 images. In 2010–11, it recorded 4.3 million unique online user sessions and over 110,000 people visited NMR exhibitions held around the country in 2009–10. In 2012, the section responsible for archive collections was renamed the English Heritage Archive.

As a result of the National Heritage Act 2002, English Heritage acquired administrative responsibility for historic wrecks and submerged landscapes within 12 miles (19 km) of the English coast. The administration of the listed building system was transferred from DCMS to English Heritage in 2006. However, actual listing decisions still remained the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who was required by the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 to approve a list of buildings of special architectural or historic interest.

Following the Public Bodies Reform in 2010, English Heritage was confirmed as the government's statutory adviser on the historic environment, and the largest source of non-lottery grant funding for heritage assets. It was retained on grounds of "performing a technical function which should remain independent from Government". However, the department also suffered from budget cuts during the recession of the 2010s, resulting in a repairs deficit of £100 million.

Charitable trust

In June 2013 the British Government announced plans to provide an £80 million grant to enable English Heritage to become a self-financing charity (roughly following the precedent set by the transformation of the nationally owned British Waterways into the Canal & River Trust). The national portfolio of historic properties remain in public ownership, but the new English Heritage will be licensed to manage them.

The change occurred on 1 April 2015 with the statutory planning and heritage protection functions remaining an independent, non-departmental public body, rebranded as Historic England. The care of the properties in the National Collection and the visitor experience attached to them were transferred to the new English Heritage Trust, although the English Heritage name and logo remains. The trust has a licence to operate the properties until at least 2035.

1066 March

In 2016, to mark the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of 1066, English Heritage organised the 1066 March from Clifford's Tower in York to Battle Abbey in East Sussex. A team of volunteers led by Nigel Amos and composed of Dominic Sewell, Brian Mahoney, Joshua Powell, William Ballance, Lucy Amos, Karlos Moir, Clive Hart and Matthew Clarke, completed the journey over 3 weeks, arriving at Battle Abbey on 14 October 2016.

Controversies

English Heritage sites in Cornwall

In 1999 a pressure group, the Revived Cornish Stannary Parliament, wrote to English Heritage asking them to remove all signs bearing their name from Cornish sites by July 1999 as they regarded the ancient sites as Cornish heritage, not English. Over a period of eleven months members of the Cornish Stannary removed 18 signs and a letter was sent to English Heritage saying "The signs have been confiscated and held as evidence of English cultural aggression in Cornwall. Such racially motivated signs are deeply offensive and cause distress to many Cornish people". On 18 January 2002, at Truro Crown Court, after the prosecution successfully applied for a Public Immunity Certificate to suppress defence evidence (these are normally issued in cases involving national security), three members of the group agreed to return the signs and pay £4,500 in compensation to English Heritage and to be bound over to keep the peace. In return, the prosecution dropped charges of conspiracy to cause criminal damage.

In 2011, George Eustice, Conservative MP for the Cornish constituency of Camborne and Redruth, stated that Cornish heritage "is not English" and that there is "a growing feeling that Cornwall should have its own heritage organisation, taking over from English Heritage". He suggested that English Heritage be replaced "with a Cornish Heritage group, just like they have for instance in Wales and Scotland". The then Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt was called upon to give cash to a new autonomous body in Cornwall by "top slicing" English Heritage's budget. The Cornish Heritage Trust manages a number of sites on behalf of English Heritage.

Fortress House

In 2006, the Secretary of State at the DCMS issued a certificate of exemption from listing for Fortress House, the then English Heritage headquarters. In 2009, it was demolished and the site redeveloped for a commercial office building.

Photography

In 2010 the organisation sent an email to open access photograph agency fotoLibra, attempting to ban the unauthorised commercial use of photographs of Stonehenge. A subsequent statement of regret was issued, clarifying that "We do not control the copyright of all images of Stonehenge and have never tried to do so." The organisation added that they request that commercial photographers pay fees and abide by certain conditions.