PRESERVING ANCIENT BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 151, 22 March 1939, Page 15

PRESERVING ANCIENT BRITAIN

Government’s Proposals MONUMENTS TO BE PROTECTED Nearly 340 ancient monuments have just been scheduled tor protection by the British Office of Works, and will be included in the new list that is to be published shortly. This will bring the total number of historic landmarks preserved by the Government up to about 5500. Most of the scheduled laudmarks ate Roman or prehistoric earthworks or other remains, but the new list will include some notable buildings that were in danger of disturbance. Much has been done to preserve the ancient relics of Sandwich. Already the Fisher Gate and other bits of the old town had been scheduled. Now tue old walls, extending for about- a mile round the town, and the site of the fourteenth century Round House have been brought under official protection. Two Ancient Bridges. Clattern Bridge, Kingston - on - Thames, a twelfth century structure which the Surrey County Council recentlv proposed to demolish, is also in the list. This little bridge, spanning the Hogsmill River near the Market Place, was built in the time of Henry 11, who gave Kingston its first charter. Another interesting bridge is that of St. Bertram which spans the River Manifold and gives access to Ham Hall, now a pleasure resort in Dovedale, where many beauty spots are owned by the National Trust. It is an eighteenth century bridge, and was restored 100 years ago. The old Customs House at Peterborough is preserved as a relic of the days when little ships from Holland came all the way up from the Wash. It Is built of limestone and has a wooden octagonal erection on the roof. The most notable building scheduled in Yorkshire in the new list is the Bishops’ Manor House, Howden. Very little now remains of this structure, which dates from 1086, but the hall of the manor is still partly occupied. Seven seventeenth century dovecots have been protected by the Office of Works. The latest addition is that at Pateham Court Farm, Sussex, a fine example complete with rests and ladder. These dovecots, solidly built of stone or flint, were of great size and housed vast numbers of pigeons as food supplies. That at Patcham Court Farm probably accommodated from 800 to 1000 birds.

One of the protected relics in Scotland is the tower of Balquhain Castle, Aberdeenshire. The castle was the abode of Queen Mary on the night before the battle of Corrichie in 1562.