To call English Heritage a “less-glamorous cousin” of the National Trust (Editorial, 3 February) is an insult to the history of heritage protection in England. English Heritage has a portfolio of more than 880 historical places collected by the government from the 1880s to the 1970s to form a national collection of built and archaeological heritage.
This amassing of places represents the state’s efforts to ensure the protection of the nation’s most significant prehistoric and medieval sites, which were often in great disrepair or at threat of demolition. The places managed by English Heritage remain in state ownership, but the charity is responsible for their operation and maintenance.
The national museums of the UK look after similar “national collections” of objects. To do so, they receive grant-in-aid funding from the UK government. To not commit similarly to our collection of prehistoric and medieval sites is dishonourable and shortsighted.
Dr Scott Allan Orr
UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage
• English Heritage is looking at its structure, but we are proud of our in-house expertise and committed to it – under our proposals we will continue to have a large team of curators, historians and conservators. We are certainly not replacing them with managers. To be exact, we will still have “collection managers” but the “only” thing they manage is our more than 1m artefacts and we – and everyone from specialist researchers to the public – would be lost without them.
These are difficult times for the culture sector as a whole, and we have seen a significant fall in income this year. It would be irresponsible if we did not respond to that.
Dr Nick Merriman
Chief executive, English Heritage
• The proposed cuts and changes to English Heritage sadly are not surprising – the wider landscape is just as concerning. Churches, chapels, meeting houses and cathedrals form a huge part of our nation’s tourism offer; 9.35 million people visited English cathedrals in 2023, a 17% increase from 2022, many of them visitors coming from abroad. But these buildings face a huge challenge, with 969 places of worship on Historic England’s heritage at risk register – more than 60% of MPs in England have at least one of these buildings in their constituency.
The government’s recent cuts to the listed places of worship grants scheme are devastating for churches: any major work is bound to cost more than the government’s new cap. It’s overwhelmingly local people who need to find the money to replace the roof or repair the stonework, and they will now have to find 20% extra to pay VAT on top of everything else. If we want to save our nation’s heritage, and keep tourists coming, the government must come up with a plan to see these buildings properly funded, so they will be there for future generations.
Philip Rutnam
Chair, National Churches Trust
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