Financial shortage in the present leaves traces of past facing an uncertain future

With important historical sites across Yorkshire in need of investment, could our link with the past soon be severed for ever? Sarah Freeman reports.

In the shadow of Sheffield’s Meadowhall there is a mystery which has baffled even the most eminent archaeologists.

To the untrained eye it looks little more than a dirt track which wends its way through woodland. To mountain bikers it has been a natural playground. To those whose job it is to dig into the country’s past, it could well be a vital piece of evidence of how we lived more than 2,000 years ago.

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Only fragments remain of the prehistoric earthwork which once stretched from Wincobank, the site of an Iron Age hill fort, to Wath upon Dearne and beyond.

Known as the Roman Ridge, but actually predating the arrival of the Romans in Britain, no-one is exactly sure what it was for. It may have been a territory marker or possibly a grazing area for cattle, but while opinions differ, the one thing experts all agree on is that having survived the centuries, and the mass industrialisation which turned Sheffield into a manufacturing giant, it has to be preserved.

While much of the ridge has fallen victim to the passage of time, one of the most significant stretches can be found in woodland near Swinton owned by Richard and Sue Fulbrook, who were recently offered a £2,000 grant by English Heritage to help repair the damage to the earthwork caused by years of use by mountain bikers.

“Part of the reason for buying the wood was to maintain public access and also to protect the monument,” says Richard. “This is a very important yet fragile earthwork and really we are incredibly fortunate that it has survived for so long. Everyone can play a part in ensuring it is protected and this is our way of just doing our bit.”

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The couple admit to having a passion not just for prehistoric earthworks, but wildlife and trees, all of which is music to the ears of Trevor Mitchell, who as regional director of English Heritage has the job of preserving and maintaining Yorkshire’s most important historical sites.

Some projects are an easy sell, but convincing developers and the public the county’s industrial buildings are worth saving is often a little trickier. Fortunately, Trevor is a man who likes a challenge and recently has notched some notable successes. Back in the late 19th-century when half of the population in Hull earned their living from the fishing industry, the city was awash with smokehouses. About 50 dotted the streets around the quayside, but despite being as much a part of Hull’s story as the trawlers, precious few have made it to the 21st-century.

“One of the few smokehouses which has survived intact is in Wellington Street,” says Trevor. “It was built in 1934, but recent years have not been so kind. It stood empty for some time, the roof had decayed and to many people it looked ripe for demolition.

“However, it’s a building which has not only local, but national significance. Because Hull and Grimsby were once locked in fierce competition as fishing ports, they each developed their own distinctive designs when it came to building the smokehouses. Architecturally they were chalk and cheese, even the metal rods on which the fish were hung were called ‘spekes’ in Grimsby and ‘banjos’ in Hull, but together they tell an important story about our industrial past.

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“We are determined to find a new use for the Wellington Street structure and I truly believe that if we restore some of the period details like the distinctive metal chimney cowls it could easily become a landmark for the city, helping attract people to the Fruit Market conservation area.”

Trevor is a man with boundless enthusiasm when it comes to the importance of restoring even the most tumbledown-looking buildings, but at a time when both local authorities and the private sector are counting every penny and shelving expensive projects, he’ll need to pull on all his powers of persuasion.

However, Trevor has never been one to shy away from difficult decisions and says aside from financial investment sometimes all it takes to bring buildings back into use is a little lateral thinking and a lot of vision. “Yorkshire’s textile buildings represent some of England’s boldest industrial architecture. They hark back to a day when cash was plentiful and textile barons outdid each other to build statements of progress, power and pride.

“Manningham Mills in Bradford and Dean Clough in Halifax are two fine examples of how they can be given a new life, but sadly there are many more which are facing an uncertain outlook and finding new uses for these iconic buildings before they are damaged beyond repair is one of our main priorities.”

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In Halifax a plan has been drawn up to redevelop the Grade II listed Shaw Lodge Mill into a kind of urban village with housing, offices, shops and a medical centre. On paper it seems like a much-needed lifeline for the factory complex which was a working building until 2006, but when it comes to restoring the past, nothing is easy. The site’s 64m tall chimney, built in 1855 and now a landmark for miles around, has begun shedding masonry. The iron straps holding the structure together have decayed and the recent harsh winters have done little to help the situation.

“Once water penetrates gaps between the stonework it freezes and expands making the masonry even more unstable,” says Trevor. The building’s owner St James Securities has been given an emergency grant by English Heritage to design a blueprint for repairing the structure likely to cost in the region of £27,000. “Replacing the rusted metal braces, removing the loose stonework and repointing the damaged mortar is a highly skilled job, but if it is to stand proud for decades to come, it’s vital work.”

Securing the future of sites which have no clear economic use is a much bigger challenge, particularly in areas which are already a magnet for tourists. While the Yorkshire Dales has a reputation as one of the greenest and most idyllic parts of England, its past tells a very different story. A hub of large-scale leadmining, one of the most impressive sites is the Keld Head lead mine and smelt complex, which was forced to close in 1888 when flooding and a fall in the market of smelted lead proved a fatal combination.

Eleven years ago, the scheduled ancient monument was put on English Heritage’s Building at Risk Register, but finally there is hope that its slow decay may be stemmed.

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“Mining at Keld Head began after the Norman Conquest and by the 13th-century it was an incredibly prosperous operation, providing the lead for the roofs at Jervaulx Abbey,” says Trevor. “It was regarded as the most advanced mine in the country, but nature and economic conspired against it. While the stonework is crumbling it is still remarkably well preserved and it has enormous potential to tell the story of the area’s lead mining industry.

“Last year we helped protect another Dales lead mining relic on Grassington Moor by pledging £50,000 to help safeguard its future and we are keen to do the same for Keld Head.

“These are very special places. You can stand on exactly the same spot where 100 years or more ago men, women and children toiled in the rubble, sorting and breaking lead ore out of stone.

“It is these places which make the tapestry of Yorkshire so rich and colourful, but in many cases if we don’t act now they will be lost to future generations forever.

“Heritage isn’t about preserving the past in aspic, but about ensuring the continuous history of the county is kept alive.”