ENG LI SH HER I TAGE ANN ANNUAL REPORT U JOIN US A L For information on how to become a Member: RE 2016/17 P ORT ehjoin.org.uk 0370 333 1182 2 016/ 1 HELP US 7 To find out more about volunteering: www.english-heritage.org.uk/volunteering 01793 414752 SUPPort US To find out more about supporting English Heritage: www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us 020 7973 3797 Registered Office: 1 The Engine House, Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon SN2 2EH 020 7973 3000 www.english-heritage.org.uk Registered charity no. 1140351 (England). Registered company no. 07447221 (England). English Heritage cares for over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places – from world-famous prehistoric sites to grand medieval castles, from Roman forts on the edge of an empire to a Cold War bunker. Through these, we bring the story of England to life for over 10 million visitors each year. Cover image Tintagel Castle. Inside front cover images (from left) Wedding at St Mawes Castle; Great Tower at Dover Castle; branded café merchandise; artefact at Helmsley Archaeology Store; Home of Charles Darwin – Down House; conservation work at Iron Bridge; Medieval Falconry event, Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Gardens; Archer Pavilion, Wrest Park; Illuminated Abbey event at Whitby Abbey; 2016 blue plaque, Feltham; English Heritage hot air balloon at Stonehenge; Tynemouth Priory and Castle; English Heritage volunteer, Audley End House and Gardens; Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Garden event. CONteNts Chairman: Reflection on 2016/17 4 Chief Executive: Building for the Future 6 Annual Report of the Trustees Objectives and Activities 9 Strategic Report ■ Achievements and Performance 10 ■ Financial Review 18 ■ Principal Risks and Uncertainties 22 ■ Future Plans 23 Structure, Governance and Management 24 Statement of Board of Trustees’ and Accounting Officer’s Responsibilities 26 Reference and Administrative Details 27 Independent Auditor’s Report 28 Financial Statements 29 Notes to the Financial Statements 33 Trustees’ Biographies 59 Supporters 61 English Heritage’s first female jouster, Nicky Willis, prepares for battle 4 | CHAIRMAN: REFLECTION ON 2016/17 REFLECTION ON 2016/17 These improvements have been We have also made significant progress warmly welcomed. In Yorkshire, on the conservation of our properties. we carried out a £1.8 million Examples include restoring the redevelopment project at Rievaulx flood-damaged walls of Shap Abbey Abbey and saw a significant increase in Cumbria and repairing the grand in visitors rating the site as ‘excellent’ window shutters of Brodsworth Hall in our 2016 Visitor Survey. At Tintagel in Yorkshire. Our efforts will help Castle in Cornwall, a creative outdoor preserve these and many other historic interpretation scheme attracted 29,000 places for generations to come. more people to the site. Overall, our visitor experience score has Wherever possible, we have opened risen from 8.72 to 8.82 out of 10. our conservation projects up to visitors, so they can see for themselves 2016 marked the 950th anniversary the care and expertise involved. And of the Battle of Hastings, and gave us through our training and apprenticeship In our second year as a the opportunity to bring this pivotal programmes, we are helping to event in England’s history into people’s preserve the traditional skills required charity, we have made lives. At Battle Abbey, we opened to maintain our unique properties. further good progress, up the rooftop of the Gatehouse building on the strong for the first time. Visitors can now We are reaching out through digital enjoy a panoramic view of the 1066 media too, where we can share foundations laid in the battlefield, where new carved oak our work with the widest possible previous year. We made figures evoke the Saxon and Norman audience. Our new blue plaques visiting our sites more armies. Further afield, we launched a mobile app was downloaded over nationwide hunt for 1,066 arrows and 10,000 times, and our Instagram rewarding, have invested in staged a dramatic re-enactment of King account acquired 28,000 followers. vital conservation work, Harold’s march from York to Battle Digital initiatives such as these have reached out to the in East Sussex. The project engaged provide exciting opportunities to people of all ages across the country, engage people with their heritage public in new, imaginative both directly and through social media. and fulfil our charitable purpose. ways and have delivered a financial performance better Our work is receiving widespread In summary, we are making steady industry recognition. At the 2017 progress towards the financial, than the Launch Plan for the Hudson’s Heritage Awards – a conservation and educational strategic second year running. benchmark of success in our sector goals that we set out when the – several of our properties were English Heritage Trust was established Once again, we are most grateful to highly commended. Our most famous two years ago. I want to conclude by our Members, visitors, supporters, site, Stonehenge, received a Special expressing my profound gratitude to donors and partners. Their wonderful Award for Heritage Achievement both our staff and volunteers. Their support enables our work, and inspires in recognition of ‘truly outstanding’ hard work, ideas and enthusiasm us to achieve the highest standards in improvements in the visitor experience truly bring our properties to life, everything we do. Our membership and the Map Room project at and enable us to tell the story of numbers are a key measure of our Eltham received the award for Best England more vividly than ever. success, and now stand at a record New Discovery. Our educational 918,000 Members. programmes have also been recognised with RICS, RIBA and Sandford awards. Over the year, we invested in the visitor experience at a number of sites, introducing new facilities and cafés, Sir Tim Laurence, Chairman and better historical interpretation. “We have reached out to the public in new, imaginative ways” 1066 Arrow Hunt, commemorating 950 years since the Battle of Hastings 6 | CHIEF EXECUTIVE: BuiLDinG FOR THE FUTurE BUildiNG FOR the FUTUre In particular, we are building closer As well as preserving the old, we ties with local communities. We are pioneering the new. Visitors already welcome over 357,000 to many of our sites will enjoy educational visitors to our sites each fresh interpretation and interactive year, and we are now investing more experiences in 2017 – a temporary in our award-winning education battlement slide at Framlingham programmes. All children love Castle, digital storytelling at stories. So we want to ensure that St Augustine’s Abbey and a new every primary school child in the museum at Hailes Abbey, among country visits an English Heritage others. At Stonehenge, our innovative site, and comes away inspired by Human Henge project is helping their local heritage. We will be people with mental health issues working more closely with teachers relate better to the world around to support the national curriculum them – a wonderful example of the and relate the lessons of history in therapeutic power of ancient places. The year ahead is one of memorable ways with a sense of fun. Initiatives such as these will help tremendous opportunity. Volunteers provide another invaluable us connect in fresh ways and with In the past two years, we link with our communities. We have different audiences. England’s story have successfully established now had over 2,700 local people is for everyone, whatever their own working with us, bringing enormous background and history. In our third ourselves as a charity, enthusiasm and a wide range of skills. year as a charity, we are committed set out our priorities and Volunteers are helping us catalogue to sharing our inspirational heritage made great strides towards collections, preserve our gardens, with more people than ever. and bring history dramatically to life our strategic goals. We for visitors – for example, with the have bold ambitions, and weekly firing of our First World War with the commitment of gun at Dover Castle. Their dedication greatly strengthens our capacity our staff, volunteers and as an organisation and, crucially, supporters, we are on track helps make our sites community Kate Mavor, Chief Executive to achieve them. assets as well as visitor attractions. The year ahead will also see us Our mission is to keep the story of conduct our largest-ever conservation England alive, for visitors today and project, the £2 million restoration of for future generations. In times of the Iron Bridge in Shropshire, as change and uncertainty, that is more well as major projects at Wrest Park, important than ever. Historic sites can Hurst Castle and further work offer people a sense of perspective, at Brodsworth Hall. These belonging and well-being – their stories properties all have highly specialised provide inspiration for the future as conservation needs, and our well as a guide to the past. To bring industry-leading conservators are their history to life, we need to engage uniquely qualified to meet them. and involve people of all ages and from Keeping historic sites in good all walks of life. condition means the public can safely explore them – around 70% are open to visitors free of charge. “As well as preserving the old, we are pioneering the new” Reconstructed Neolithic home, Stonehenge Restoration of the Perseus and Andromeda fountain, Witley Court and Gardens ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES: OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES | 9 OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES English Heritage started of smaller sites that would not have performed against these priorities normally qualify for commercial is set out in the Strategic Report. operating as an independent capital investment (£28 million). charity on 1 April 2015 and Public benefit its objectives, set out in its This funding will be supplemented In shaping the objectives for the year by tapering annual subsidies Articles of Association, are: and planning the Charity’s activities, until 2021/22 to support the Trustees have considered the English Heritage in its transition to Charity Commission’s guidance on ■ To conserve the National Heritage a financially self-sufficient model.