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Bowes Railway placed on 'at risk' list
ONE of Sunderland's notable historic sites, Bowes Railway, which was partly built by George Stephenson, is on this year's English Heritage list of buildings at risk.
English Heritage has completed the first phase of a modern Domesday Book of the threatened parts of our cities, towns and countryside.
Entitled Heritage At Risk, the project's first annual report, launched today, reveals that in the North East, there are more than 120 Grade I and Grade II listed buildings and structural monuments at risk.
Bowes railway and Springwell Colliery at Springwell Village, Washington – the only working preserved standard gauge rope hauled railway in the world – are included.
Springwell Colliery was sunk in 1824 as the hub of Stephenson's system of rail and tramways. The railway was one of the world's first modern railways, and at its peak handled more than 1 million tons of coal per year, remaining virtually intact until 1968.
Under the new extended register, 11 sites are added, while seven have been taken off after remedial work.
Among this year's additions are a wall at Monkwearmouth Museum, Doxford House in Silksworth, Castle Wall behind North Bailey, Durham City, and Harbour House Farm at Plawsworth, near Chester-le-Street.
Other sites at risk in the North East include: Tarset Castle, near Bellingham in Northumberland; Dunston Staiths on the River Tyne; the site of the battle of Newburn Ford in Newcastle and Woolsington Park on the outskirts of Newcastle.
The new Heritage At Risk project extends the winning formula of English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register.
During the next few years, conservation areas, listed places of worship and Grade II buildings will be added to make England the first country in the world to have a comprehensive picture of every bit of its protected heritage at risk and the analysis to save it.
Lord Bruce-Lockhart, chairman of English Heritage, said: "We hope that our Heritage At Risk Register will galvanise the nation into action before it is too late and help us save the best of the past for the future."
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Weather for Sunderland
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Heavy sleet
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -0 C to 3 C
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