'Never has there been a more important time to publicise great Victorian and Edwardian buildings in peril': The importance of saving our historic buildings

There is a new mythology stalking the land. This is that heritage and old buildings are holding up growth. 'It’s desperate stuff, but gaining traction,’ says actor, comedian and Victorian Society president Griff Rhys Jones on the launch of the society’s Top Ten Endangered Buildings campaign. ‘Recently, this government has been turning down requests from Historic England and the Victorian Society for new listings — more in the past eight months than in the past eight years. Never has there been a more important time to publicise great Victorian and Edwardian buildings in peril.’

For the 16th year, the Victorian Society is calling on the public to nominate Victorian or Edwardian buildings and structures in England and Wales, which were built wholly or largely between 1837 and 1914, and are preferably listed, that have fallen into a state of disrepair and are in need of saving. Rhys Jones adds: ‘Please nominate. Please alert. We need your active support.’

Among the buildings nominated in 2024, and featuring in the Victorian Society’s 2025 Top Ten released in May, is the Grade II*-listed Aldermaston Court in Berkshire, a Tudor Revival-style Victorian house commissioned by Daniel Higford Davall Burr, who kept exotic pets. Designed by architect Philip Charles Hardwick (of Euston Station Great Hall fame), its formative years may have been grand, but, by the 1930s, the estate had been broken up and, during the Second World War, an airfield was installed and nearby barracks housed the Women’s Land Army and the USAAF HQ XIX Tactical Air Command.

Post-war, the first commercial scientific reactor, the Merlin, was installed in the grounds and, later, the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, the continued presence of which means that the site is still wrapped up in red tape today. Subsequently playing host to a school, hotel, conference centre and office buildings, Aldermaston Court was abandoned in 2012 and has been on the market for several years.

Another 2025 Top Ten edifice is Edgerton Cemetery Chapel in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Marie Clements of the Victorian Society says of the Grade II-listed James Pritchett creation with its soaring arch and spire, which has been subjected to repeated arson attacks: ‘This is so typical of the plight of cemetery chapels across England and Wales. There is hope, however, and some cemetery chapels have been handed over by councils to local people to maintain and develop.’

The Victorian Society is seeking nominations for buildings such as these by January 5, 2026.

This feature originally appeared in the November 5, 2025, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.