Heritage: A History of How We Conserve Our Past
James Stourton (Head of Zeus, £40)
WE crave the past. It delights us, comforts us, fuels our memories and gives substance to our identity. Yet for some reason, we let others be its custodian. We let others abuse and destroy ancient buildings and landscapes, as if sacrificing to the gods of the future. Only when the past is lost do we say with Betjeman: ‘It’s strange that those we miss the most are those we took for granted.’
Planners declared the past to be “obsolete”. Heritage was for wimps
James Stourton is a masterly observer of this phenomenon. His account of the wars of heritage preservation is gripping and often painful to read. He begins with Ruskin and Morris reacting to industrialisation’s destruction of past beauty. He moves on to Octavia Hill, the National Trust and the founders of the Office of Works, protesting the loss of open spaces and guarding such treasures as Stonehenge. With the Trust’s country-house scheme in 1937 came an acceptance of public responsibility to protect national monuments, even those in private hands.
The British Museum was stopped from demolishing Bedford Square, although London University casually smashed much of Georgian Bloomsbury.
Early campaigns were reactive and piecemeal. They did little to halt the loss of Mayfair’s aristocratic palaces or hinder
