Protecting our national treasures

AS 2025 draws to a close, Historic England is celebrating five remarkable and unusual historic buildings and places that have been granted protection in the South West over the past year.

- IAN LEWIS

The Quaker burial ground at Lower Hazel, South Gloucestershire

(Historic England Archive)

Newly listed historic gems added to the National Heritage List for England over the last 12 months include two Arts and Crafts style buildings - the Devon home of landscape artist Thomas A Falcon, whose art formed a key part of the interior design, and a summerhouse designed by celebrated architect Arnold Bidlake Mitchell for his own garden overlooking Lyme Bay in Dorset.

Others include one of England's earliest Quaker burial grounds in South Gloucestershire, an exceptionally rare shipwreck known as the Pin Wreck off the Dorset coast, and a storm tower in Cornwall, which has been relocated twice to avoid coastal erosion.

In total, 27 historic buildings and sites have been added to the National Heritage List for England in the South West in 2025. Nationally, 199 places have been added to the list over the past year.

Of the five sites in the region of particular interest that are now under protection, the imposing Bude Storm Tower at Compass Point in Bude, Cornwall, has been saved from the risk of falling into the sea for a second time in its history through a major conservation project, partly funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and local people.

The Victorian tower was inspired by the ancient Tower of the Winds in Athens and known as "the Pepper-pot" due to its distinctive shape. The tower has been saved from the threat of coastal erosion and its list entry has been amended to reflect its new location.

Built in 1835 and designed by renowned architect George Wightwick, it was moved inland from its original clifftop location in 1881 due to cliff collapse.