Historic England's National Heritage List: Former maternity ward and rare electricity junction box added to Yorkshire's protected list

Historic England has added 256 locations to its National Heritage List in 2024, granting them special rights including Grade I, II* or II listing when it comes to their preservation under the UK's planning laws.

Also included this year are 17 more “remarkable and unusual” structures, standing out as heritage treasures which are just that little bit different.

In Huddersfield, the old maternity ward at Princess Royal Community Hospital is Grade II-listed, with its ‘bungalow style’ design and emphasis on infection control from the late 1920s.

And a rare electricity junction box, left over from the dawn of Huddersfield’s electrical age, is also Grade II-listed.

Heritage Minister Sir Chris Bryant said this list is a celebration of 12 months of work to protect and preserve some of the nation's places that help shape our cultural history.

"Like all ‘best of’ year lists worth reading, I implore you to pour over these 17 wonderful places and go and experience some of them for yourself in the new year," he said.

Some of the listings make for fascinating reading.

There are practice trenches from the First World War, the tomb of a woman believed to have lived to 119 and a brutalist church in the heart of Bristol’s Broadmead shopping centre.

The listed places have been granted protection status, meaning any changes that might affect their historical interest in the future will undergo rigorous scrutiny.

The Browndown practice trenches, in Gosport, were rediscovered via aerial photos in 2011 and are believed to be one of the best preserved examples in England of their type.

The site had several purposes – to teach recruits how to dig, reinforce, repair and adapt the trenches, as well as how to live and fight in them. 

They are part of a scheduled monument, that also includes a prehistoric round barrow, Second World War anti-aircraft battery and a series of grenade ranges.

Three “exceptionally rare” 17th century tombs in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, joined the list, one of them honouring the long-lived Mary Ellis, who is known to have never married or had children.

A second tomb, in the churchyard of St Clement’s Church, was built in 1688 and is that of Mary Haddock, whose son Admiral Richard Haddock inspired the character of Captain Haddock in Herge’s Adventures of Tintin comic book series.

The list notably features the former maternity ward at Princess Royal Community Hospital in Huddersfield.

Built in 1928 after the 1918 Maternity and Child Welfare Act, the ward “reflects a pivotal moment in the development of public healthcare for women”, Historic England said.

The “bungalow ward”, designed in the Arts and Crafts style, was one of the first to include single occupancy rooms – a progressive departure from the traditional communal wards of the era.

This design reduced the risk of contagious diseases and potentially fatal “childbed fever”, also known as puerperal fever, a bacterial infection affecting women after childbirth. A spokesman for Historic England said: “Alongside communal pavilion rooms and patios to enhance the wellbeing of recovering mothers, the ward represents a revolutionary progression in British healthcare, at a time when mortality rates for new mothers were very high.”

It remained a maternity hospital for 56 years.

The last baby was born there in October 1984, after which it became the Princess Royal Community Hospital.

Also on the list is an electricity junction box installed on Fitzwilliam Street in Huddersfield in 1895 – only three years after consumer electricity first arrived in the Yorkshire town.

Historic England described it as a “remarkable preservation of Victorian engineering”, and a "relic from the dawn of Huddersfield’s electrical age".

It stands at the corner of Fitzwilliam Street and John William Street, and is also known as a feeder pillar.

Painted in blue, it features a low pyramid top and customised badging to read 'Huddersfield Corporation Electricity Department’.

Designed to distribute electricity in the neighbourhood, it is said to have played a "crucial" role in the utility’s development.

"This box is a quirky relic from the early days of electrical infrastructure in the country," the spokesperson said.

"With the rapid pace of technological and urban development, such electricity junction boxes are becoming increasingly scarce nationwide.

"This example in Huddersfield is a remarkable preservation of Victorian engineering, offering a fascinating glimpse into the early development of electricity distribution and the infrastructure that powered Britain’s electrical revolution."

Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, said: “From rare 17th century chest tombs to a post-war church above the shops to a revolutionary former maternity ward benefiting new mothers, these remarkable places granted protection in 2024 show the diversity of England’s heritage.

“This festive season, we invite you to explore the historic places on your doorstep, add your stories and photos to our Missing Pieces Project and help us to celebrate what makes these places so special.”