Chysauster : Exploring a Cornish Gem
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Discovery, innovation and science in the historic environment Chysauster : Exploring a Cornish gem Issue 05 | Spring 2017 As a Commissioner of Historic England, and a member of its Historic Estate Conservation Committee, I am delighted to introduce this issue of Historic England Research. My involvement with Historic England, and with historic buildings and landscape, makes me keenly aware of the challenges that face our heritage. In this issue the exploration of climate change in relation to historic buildings and archaeology, highlights unexpected opportunities but is also a timely reminder of the potential hazards; the article on historic urban parks describes a threat of a different nature. On a contrasting note, the research at Croxdale Hall throws light onto the experimental influences of the Kennedys – an intergenerational family of gardeners and nurserymen. This and other articles serve to illustrate the great breadth of work undertaken and funded by Historic England and the partnerships it builds across the heritage sector and beyond. I am delighted, although not surprised, that the magazine has a robust and diverse readership and that it is stimulating much interest in Historic England’s series of Research Reports. I hope you enjoy this latest addition to the series, or indeed previous issues of the magazine which are available to download from the Historic England website. Victoria Harley Commissioner, Historic England In this issue... Historic urban parks under threat ......3 Crossing the Cam ..................30 Experimentation in Climate change and the historic 18th-century horticulture ............9 environment ......................34 Nice and the English seaside .........13 Historic England and development-led archaeology .......39 Rendlesham, Suffolk ...............18 Historic England publications ........45 Contextualising Chysauster .........24 2 | Historic England Research | Issue 5: Spring 2017 Historic urban parks under threat New research in support of public open spaces. Since 2010 hundreds of local authorities have The future of public parks also matters to Historic drastically cut their parks budgets, some by 50 per England, which has made the subject a priority in its cent or more. In July 2016 the Parliamentary Select urban heritage research strategy. This article looks Committee for Communities and Local Government at research commissioned by the organisation, the announced that it was to hold an inquiry on the Heritage Lottery Fund and others in the sector, and future of these vital open spaces. The extent of considers the contribution such research makes to the public concern about parks is reflected in the volume debate about the future of these important open spaces. of evidence submitted to the committee: nearly 400 formal submissions, over 13,000 survey responses, Concerns hundreds of #myparkmatters tweets, and a petition According to the Audit Commission, government calling for protection for parks signed by over funding to local authorities reduced by nearly 20 per 322,000 people. cent between 2010/11 and 2013/14, with cumulative further cuts planned (Audit Commission 2013). Cuts to parks budgets are often disproportionately greater because the service is non-statutory. The development comes after a 20-year period in which local authorities have invested in public Examples of tweets from the House of Commons select committee. parks. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has been an importantParks are source of support, giving £850 million On 11 February 2017, as this edition of Historic England invalued grants byto thesuch projects.£50m Alarmed by the threat,57% communities estimated to be raised by park Research was being prepared for publication, the thethat HLF use published them the researchfriends groups report The State of adults use their each year. parks at least once £20m from 2014 committee published its report. The parks sector is taking of UK Public Parks 2014: Renaissance to Risk?a month (HLF or more. 3% from 2014 stock of the resulting findings and recommendations, 2014).This showed that there was a serious risk which include the warning that ‘parks are at a tipping of 5,900decline as local90% authority cuts deepened. of households £70m point and face a period of decline with potentially with children under five visit estimated value severe consequences unless their vital contribution to Such estimatedcutbacks number affect capitaltheir local parkinvestment inof facilitiesvolunteering of park friends at least once hours given by park areas such as public health, community integration and such andas userplay groups areas and atoilets month or more. as well as maintenance.friends and user across UK. 7% from 2014 groups each year. climate change mitigation is recognised’. They have 1,100 from also 2014 led to the loss of two organisations £30m from 2014 Parks are … but their valued by the £50m 57% future may not 53% communities estimated to be be so bright 27% raised by park of park managers that use them friends groups report their parks of adults use their each year. of park managers to be in a good parks at least once £20m from 2014 report their parks have condition. a month or more. been improving over 7% from 2014 3% from 2014 the past three years. 14% from 2014 5,900 90% 92% of households £70m 55% with children 95% under five visit estimated value of park managers report cuts to their estimated number their local park of volunteering of park managers revenue budgets over of park managers of park friends at least once hours given by park expect their park the past three years. expect their revenue and user groups a month or more. friends and user revenue budget to be budget to be cut over across UK. 7% from 2014 groups each year. 6% from 2014 cut by 10-20% over the next three years. 1,100 from 2014 £30m from 2014 the next three years. 8% from 2014 17% from 2014 03 HLF’s State of UK Public Parks report (2016): key findings. … but their future may not 53% be so bright 27% of park managers Issue 5: Spring 2017 | Historic England Research | 3 report their parks of park managers to be in a good report their parks have condition. been improving over 7% from 2014 the past three years. 14% from 2014 92% 95% 55% of park managers report cuts to their of park managers revenue budgets over of park managers expect their park the past three years. expect their revenue revenue budget to be 6% from 2014 budget to be cut over cut by 10-20% over the next three years. the next three years. 8% from 2014 17% from 2014 03 Historic urban parks under threat which championed the sector, CABESpace (a Over 300 public parks are now registered on the National non-departmental government body) and GreenSpace Heritage List for England as designed landscapes of (a charity). special historic interest. The list also includes such urban green spaces as garden squares, public walks for There is a real danger that parks will slip back into the promenading, and detached town gardens (for further poor condition they were in a generation ago. In 1999 information see Historic England 2013). Many more parks a select committee ‘was shocked …about the extent are of local interest; and many also include buildings, of the problems parks [had] faced in the [previous] 30 statues, gates and railings that are listed in their own years’ … ‘we have inherited an infrastructure of parks right. Some even include scheduled monuments, or are of priceless value and their documented and visible important features of conservation areas. decline represents a wasted opportunity of tragic proportions’ (Environment, Transport and Regional Research Affairs Committee 1999, 181). People’s Parks: The Design and Development of Victorian Parks in Britain (Conway 1991) remains the seminal These sentiments were echoed in 2016, when the HLF volume on the history of public parks. Curiously, and in re-ran its State of UK Public Parks research (HLF 2016). spite of the importance of parks to urban social history Likewise the Gardens Trust, which had produced an and the development of civic infrastructure, there has important report on public parks (Conway and Lambert been little further academic study of the subject. The 1993), has voiced its concerns anew, publishing Heritage Lottery Fund Parks for People projects, as well Uncertain Prospects: Public Parks in the New Age of as various initiatives by friends’ groups, have generated Austerity (Layton-Jones 2016b). significant research on individual parks, but much of this is grey literature and often hard to access. These publications confirm the downward trend in the condition of parks. Although parks are popular and Three years ago, responding to the lack of any hugely valued, and friends groups are helping with some substantive research in this area, Historic England of their maintenance, the budgets available to them are (then English Heritage) published a review of research continuing to fall, and staff and skills alike are being priorities for public parks (Layton-Jones 2014). The lost. The implications are significant not only for the author, historian Katy Layton-Jones, also wrote the public benefits which parks offer but also for the historic 2016 Gardens Trust report; she highlighted some of the environment. challenges involved in raising the profile of the heritage significance of public parks, ‘including the difficulty of Historic significance engaging academic interest,’ a significant issue in its Many of our public parks date from the 19th century. own right. The review also provides a comprehensive list Often overlooked as historic features, they were, of references, including research and guidance carried nevertheless, important elements of Victorian civic out over the last 20 years. infrastructure, sitting alongside town halls, museums, libraries, roads and sewers as key developments in the Historic England has followed through on the findings of improvement of towns and cities.