Cheltenham's lido and Bristol shipwreck added to National Heritage List 2019
A number of sites across the West Country have been added to the National Heritage List for England this year.
A shipwreck in the Bristol Channel, Cheltenham's stylish Sandford Park Lido,the Direction Stones in Somerset, and a Second World War Practice Bombing Range Indicator and Observation Post in Putsborough Sands all made the cut.
The sites are among 83 historic treasures added to the list for England this year.
Sandford Parks Lido is a 1930s lido in the Arts and Crafts style. It opened in May 1935 and survives with its filtration plant room still intact containing its original boilers and compressors, as well as fittings such as ornate turnstiles to the main entrance.
The café has winged covered terraces, showing the 1930s enthusiasm for outdoor leisure, particularly in spa resorts such as Cheltenham.
Spa resorts were popular during the inter-war years when fresh air and fitness were widely embraced by the public.
The remains of an Elizabethan theatre, a building used as a Monty Python set and wartime training sites are some of the other unusual heritage sites to receive protected status this year.
A vertical spinning tunnel for testing aerodynamics, two 19th century shipwrecks and a house with recently discovered 16th century wall paintings are also among the historic places which were listed or had their protection upgraded in 2019.
Government heritage agency Historic England has revealed its list of the top 21 unusual buildings and sites to have been given new or enhanced protected status this year.
The sites have been drawn from more than 500 historic places which have been added to the National Heritage List for England in 2019, along with new scheduled monuments, parks and gardens and protected wrecks.
They include the remains of the Curtain playhouse, built in Shoreditch in 1577 and where Romeo and Juliet was staged during Shakespeare’s lifetime, which was discovered in recent excavations.
The Porchester Centre in Bayswater, London, where the Mr Creosote sketch in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life was filmed in 1982, has been upgraded to Grade II*.
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First World War training trenches in Kent and Second World War practice bombing range indicator – formed of a large concrete arrow in the ground – and observation post in North Devon have also been protected this year.
An early telephone kiosk now in a field, a pedestrian tunnel for nursemaids to take children to the park avoiding a busy 19th century road and 18th century direction markers are also on the list of the top 21 unusual heritage sites highlighted.
Heritage minister Helen Whately said:
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Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England said: "A fascinating range of historic buildings and sites are added to the list each year, and 2019 is no exception."
The full list is:
The Curtain Playhouse, Shoreditch, London
Former Chemist Shop, High Street, Lowestoft, Suffolk
Vertical Spinning Tunnel, Former High Speed Laboratory Complex, Twinwoods Business Park, Milton Ernest, Bedfordshire
Piazza Fountain, Beetham Plaza, Liverpool
Second World War Practice Bombing Range Indicator and Observation Post, Putsborough Sands, North Devon
Sandford Parks Lido, Keynsham Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Porchester Centre, Queensway, Bayswater, London
The Seagull Shipwreck, Off Horsey Gap, Norfolk
The Xanthe Shipwreck, Off Horsey Gap, Norfolk
Nursemaids’ Tunnel, Regent’s Park, London
The Pearl Centre, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
Birmingham Children's Hospital, Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham
Cabmen's Shelter, Northumberland Avenue at the Junction with Embankment Place, London
Church House Farm, Wellington, Herefordshire
K1 Telephone Kiosk, Newsholme Dean, near Keighley, West Yorkshire
First World War Practice Trenches, Tolsford Hill, Saltwood, Kent
The South Australian Shipwreck, Bristol Channel
The Chapel of Rest, Brompton-By-Sawdon, North Yorkshire
Direction Stones near Middle Chinnock, Somerset
Lych Gate and Coffin Rest at The Church of St Michael and All Angels, Brampton Abbotts, Herefordshire
Fountains in Promenade Gardens, St Anne’s-on-Sea, Lancashire