16 CONTEXT 188 : JUNE 2026 Tonbridge School chapel, Kent. Sometimes listings speak with forked tongue. This is still down as ‘c1900–1909 by Campbell Jones’. Yet everything seen here was rebuilt by Donald Buttress after a devastating fire. It is listable as one of the last triumphant throws of the gothic revival, yet it is down as its lost predecessor. Is County Hall at Trowbridge (PD Hepworth, 1938–40) really unlistable? It is on the local lists but local authority owned, which means that the council would be judge, jury and owner if ever there were a threat. among the general public, government and the development community. As the number of listings has risen, that of applications to demolish has plummeted. There were 693 applications for listed building consent for complete destruction in 1979, at a time when the total of listings was 265,000, whereas there were only some four last year, at a time when the grand tally of listings was 382,000. The threat has retreated in dramatically inverse proportion to the total given protection – a truly remarkable success story. I am really grateful to Debbie Mays, who commissioned me, and Charles O’Brien, her successor, each of whom amplified publication of the report on the Historic England web, with successive glosses laying out reactions to the recommendations. I do not underestimate the seriousness with which the report was greeted: no metaphorical gathering dust in a bottom draw in this case. Yes, the two most significant recommendations have been rejected: a nationwide resurvey to update the ‘minimalist’ listing descriptions (still the majority) and to capture those presently unlisted, but which yet meet current criteria (and therefore face real threat). Am I surprised? Hardly. The political and financial climate militates against both. Each one had to be said and to be said emphatically, but I knew that if they ever saw the light of day this was likely be a slow-burn. As it is, current practice is creeping forward on an individual basis, which is some comfort. There were 181 new or refreshed listings (and 69 certificates of immunity) last year. Three of my ‘salon des refusés’ pictured in the report have been listed since – the two banks at Gainsborough and Tonbridge, and Eller Howe in Cumbria. But that lazy phrase ‘interior not inspected’ still appears on hundreds of schedules written decades ago. My heart goes out to the hard-pressed development control or conservation officer endeavouring to save the medieval timber frame and undercroft, and the Georgian staircase, where the listing schedule is mute on any interest they might have. Agricultural and industrial structures remain under-represented and often slackly described. The thorough thesaurus of
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