Heritage hugs and selling the ground from under our feet

Have to share this fab video of an amazing group of people who are battling to support and conserve the most complete Iron Age Fort in Britain at Oswestry. They have been valiantly battling the developers and Shropshire Council to protect the fort from the encroachment of planned housing on the foothills of the fort. So much for setting and sense of place? This obviously resonates with our own battle for the setting of our own heritage site-Furness Abbey. So it was fantastic to see this little video showing a Heritage Hug! Over 400 people climbed the hill and joined hands surrounding the summit! It signals a sea change in people's attitudes. The little man is standing up to the big business developer and the intransigent council. These people are from all ages, backgrounds and are definitely not Nimbys-which is usually the cry when people stand up for heritage or green field. Nobody benefits directly from opposing the encroachment onto a historical site. So you can guarantee that the motivation is genuine and not a conspiracy against the capitalist society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8GUockp3BA&feature=youtu.be

It looks as though we may have a bigger fight on our hands. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse-the Lake District National Park decide that it is a good idea to sell off bits of land -previously donated or gifted to the nation, to preserve and conserve. So what happened? Does this mean that despite good-intentioned people in the past who had the foresight to save our landscape from the march of urbanisation have suddenly become irrelevant. When did the National Park get the nod from the "nation" the common people whom this park was created for, to sell off tarns and lakes? Bad enough that local aristocrats begin to sell off mountains, but a national body too? This has got to be one step too far! People will not stand for it-they will join together and oppose these high handed moves. Power to the people and more of it!

Here is the petition to start the ball rolling

https://www.change.org/p/david-cameron-mp-stop-the-sale-of-national-parks-lake-district?

Boudicca rides again!

There has not been much blogging going on over here recently. To say I have been busy is an understatement. It hasn't been all work either-no- I have added yet another campaign to my timetable. This one is even more consuming than the others and totally unexpected and unwanted. I had a premonition last year when the government decided in their wisdom to loosen the red tape on the planning regulations fro green field sites. It was not pleasant and I worried that some of our lovely local countryside would vanish under a sea of houses and concrete. However I did not imagine that this would be proposed so close to our beloved Furness Abbey.

I seem to be turning into a cross between Boudicca and Emmeline Pankhurst as I get older and I am not altogether pleased with the effect! I can't help myself -if I see injustice, suffering or liberty threatened I'm on my soapbox rallying the troops! Maybe it's an age thing-or maybe I realise now that if you are the silent majority you are unable to influence anything and it's no good moaning after the deed is done.

So what's the problem you might ask? Well a not so local developer called Story Homes of Carlisle has begun a speculative development in a field just a stone's throw from Furness Abbey. The plan is to build 50 houses on the field on Manor Road-the main approach to the abbey and within the conservation area. You might think-well in a conservation area they won't be able to do this...maybe once over-but not now with deregulation. You only have to look at the plight of Oswestry Hill Fort-an iron age fort-"Oswestry Hillfort is one of the greatest archaeological monuments of the nation." English Heritage"
Has this stopped the developers-not on your nelly! It matters not that this is a hugely important historic site-nor does it seem to matter to Shropshire Council who have granted planning permission on the foothills of the site. Can you imagine this happening in the USA? Or any other country with any sense?

Our plight is not dissimilar. Furness Abbey is a hugely significant historic site-in fact even Henry Vlll knew exactly how important it was-as he made it the first large abbey to be dissolved. So within 200 yards there is a field-agricultural land undisturbed and not of great note at first appraisal. But look closer and there is a Grade 1 listed precinct wall and the West Gate...rather too close for a modern housing estate to be built on it. Next we have a river-which overflows-often and flows into an underground channel beneath the road and into the abbey. Two years ago this stream broke its bank and flowed over the road creating a swimming pool in the cloister.

Mill Beck full to brimming 2012 (S Hillman)

                                           A flooded cloister-from Mill Beck 2012 (S Priss)

If the building is allowed to go ahead the idea the developer has put forward to offset any future flooding arising from the excess water from a built environment is to provide a 30 foot pond to act as a sump to drain the estate. The excess will then be diverted into Mill Beck. Now the above flood happened without 50 houses above the valley-so what can we expect if this goes ahead? A Cistercian Atlantis?

The plans a re ludicrous and one of the issues apart from flooding is the effect on the aesthetic approach to the abbey-which will damage the visitor experience massively. Then the placing of homes-and people so close to a delicate Grade 1 listed wall and arch is a disaster waiting to happen. The developer will not be able to guarantee the safety and preservation of either wall or environment once the houses are sold-and any damage done will be irreversible. We can only hope that the Barrow Borough Council Planning Department, English Heritage and the Environment Agency will see the folly in this and help to reverse it.

 Manor Road

 

Furness Abbey is the major visitor attraction in the area apart from the Dock Museum-and of course is more significant historically. With the work that the local Furness Abbey Fellowship have done alongside EH it would be foolhardy and destructive to allow this to happen-particularly as the prize of the century is returning soon to the abbey-the crosier and ring. These amazingly important artefacts will be the jewel in the crown of Barrow and Dalton's heritage and could with some more work be a boost to the local economy through visitors and tourism. 

If you want to support our efforts to stop this thoughtless and reckless idea please visit the website, twitter and Facebook below: and sign the petition

http://www.stopmanorroadhousing.org/  https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/jason-hipkiss-refuse-planning-permission-for-building-50-houses-on-land-near-furness-abbey