Category: bridges

The Industrial Sites Saved as Historic England Publishes 2025 Heritage At Risk Register

The Industrial Sites Saved as Historic England Publishes 2025 Heritage At Risk Register

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Historic England has published the 2025 Heritage at Risk Register. There are 4,891 entries on the Register which covers archaeology, battlefields, buildings and structures, conservation areas, parks and gardens, places of worship, and wrecks. This year, 129 buildings and gardens were taken off the list for positive reasons such as grant funding and/or being repaired. However, 138 were added. 12 of the sites taken off the register are industrial structures.

Claudia Kenyatta CBE and Emma Squire CBE, Co-CEOs of Historic England, said: “The heritage we see all around us impacts how we feel about our local places. The annual Heritage at Risk Register gives us the opportunity to celebrate the many benefits of bringing our historic buildings back into use.”

“The best way to protect our buildings is to reuse them, turning them into places of local connection and joy. The sites that have been saved and have come off the Register this year really highlight the benefits of working together in partnership, and with communities, to create positive, sustainable change. Together we can safeguard our heritage for future generations.”

Industrial sites removed from the ‘At Risk Register’ include:

  • Augill Smelting Mill, North Pennines
  • Bower Spring cementation furnace, Sheffield
  • Etherley Incline, Stockton & Darlington Railway, County Durham 
  • No. 7 Bottle Shop, St Helens
  • Long Shop Museum, Leiston
  • John Taylor & Co Bell Foundry, Loughborough
  • Kingston Telephone Exchange, Ashdown Road, Kingston upon Thames
  • Newland Blast Furnace (Blacking Mill only) in Egton with Newland
  • Papplewick Pumping Station, Nottingham
  • Rockingham Kiln (Swinton Pottery), South Yorkshire
  • Temple Works Gatelodge, Leeds
  • The Triangular Crane and Bumble Hole Boat Yard in Netherton

Industrial sites added to the ‘At Risk Register’ include:

  • Cromford Mills Buildings 26 and 21 (cottages)
  • Teesside Transporter Bridge 

The full updated list for 2025 can be found here: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/heritage-at-risk/findings/

Guidance on adding a site to the Herrtitage At Risk Register can be found here: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/heritage-at-risk/suggest-addition-to-har-register/

The Rockingham Kiln (Swinton Pottery), South Yorkshire, has been removed from the ‘At Risk Register’ in 2025. Image courtesy of Historic England.
The Teesside Transporter Bridge was added to the ‘At Risk Register’ in 2025. Image courtesy of Historic England.
Canal & River Trust to Use AI to Protect Historic Canal Bridges from Vehicle Strikes 

Canal & River Trust to Use AI to Protect Historic Canal Bridges from Vehicle Strikes 

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The Canal and River Trust (CRT) have announced how they are trialling an innovative AI CCTV system on the Lancaster Canal to catch hit-and-run motorists damaging 200-year-old stone bridges. Annually, vehicle strikes on CRT bridges cost up to £1 million in repairs, diverting vital funds away from work waterway conservation. 

The new system is controlled by AI using a mobile phone signal and doesn’t continuously record but takes a few photos when it detects vehicle movement. The AI then assesses if the bridge has been impacted. If there is no strike, the photos are deleted and if damage has been caused, Trust staff receive a notification, allowing them to identify number plates to track down the offenders and claim full repair costs on their insurance.

Andy Dobson, CRT asset engineer, said: “Hump-back bridges, an iconic part of Britain’s canal network, were built for the passage of horse-drawn carts, not for today’s modern vehicles and HGVs. Due to the large number of rural, narrow roads crossing the Lancaster Canal, it has more bridge strikes than any other. The bridges are part of the canal’s special character and heritage, and each time one is hit a small piece of history is lost.”

More details of the experimental scheme can be found here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/artificial-intelligence-helps-to-protect-historic-canal-bridges-from-vehicle-strikes

A typical humped-back bridge on the Lancaster Canal near the city of Lancaster
Clifton Suspension Bridge Visitor Centre Launches Crowdfunder Appeal to ‘Light the Night’

Clifton Suspension Bridge Visitor Centre Launches Crowdfunder Appeal to ‘Light the Night’

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Staff from the Clifton Suspension Bridge Visitor Centre have launched a Crowdfunding campaign to illuminate the bridge with a special light show. This is part of the Museums Association’s #SupportOurMuseums campaign, a new UK-wide initiative to support museums as they face the huge challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. The Clifton Suspension Bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was built between 1831 and 1864.

Clifton Suspension Bridge lit up for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

‘Light the Night’ is intended to create a special moment to surprise and delight the people of Bristol whilst raising funds to support the Suspension Bridge Visitor Centre, which has missed out on more than eight months of income and essential visitor support due to the 2020 lockdowns. The Visitor Centre is reliant on visitor donations, shop sales and tour ticketing as all toll income is used for the preservation and maintenance of the bridge itself. Chair of the Trust, Chris Booy said “illuminating the bridge will provide a moment of joy and light during the darkest months of the year whilst ensuring that the Visitor Centre is open for everyone to enjoy for years to come. The project will be the first time that the Trust has illuminated the bridge in this way, and every person supporting the Crowdfunder is invited to cast a vote and help choose the colour.”

Although the bridge is illuminated every evening with signature white LEDs, the bridge is rarely lit with colour as this requires additional equipment such as floodlights and generators to be installed. The scheme will only go ahead if a funding target of £10,000 is reached – but if it is exceeded additional elements such as lasers or projections are also planned.

Visitor Services Manager Laura Hilton said “we’ll only find out the results of the vote when we hit the fundraising target, so it’s an exciting project for the whole visitor team. We would normally have spent the year welcoming visitors and working with local schools so the project is an innovative way for us to connect with the local community and make people smile as well as keeping us hard at work during a quiet period as we plan and manage the project.”

The date of the display has yet to be announced because of uncertainties around coronavirus, but the Visitor Centre team are going to ensure that careful planning can mean it goes ahead in a COVID-secure manner.

To donate to the Crowdfunder and view the rewards on offer, visit
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/light-the-night