Heritage at risk register: The 25 Midlands buildings added this year

Four buildings in a Derbyshire textile mill which helped spark the industrial revolution have been added to a list of sites in danger of being lost for good.

Buildings one and seven at Cromford Mill near Matlock, believed to have been built around 1780, have been added in the most serious category on the Historic England buildings at risk register, which shows them at “immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric” – with no agreed solution in place.

The entries are among a total of 25 Midlands sites to have been added to the organisation’s annual list of endangered buildings, published last Thursday.

The former mill complex built by Sir Richard Arkwright became the blueprint for international factory production, due to their pioneering use of water power to mass-produce cotton thread.

The listing entry includes the remains of the second mill at the site, which was razed to the ground by a large fire in 1890, with two grade-one listed cottages at the mill also considered to be under threat due to ongoing slow decay.

Among the most noteworthy churches added to the list was St Peter’s in Wolverhampton’s city centre, which Heritage England says is at immediate risk of further deterioration.

In June this year, a piece of masonry fell from the building which resulted in the building’s South door being fenced off, with a planned scheme of remediation works to the building yet to be implemented.

Also included was the grade-one listed Powick Old Bridge in Worcester, which suffered a partial collapse in 2024 – although councillors at Worcester County Council voted to approve a £5m repair project for the bridge last month, which secured its future.

Historic England says 129 sites have been removed from the register this year after being rescued.

Historic England chief executives Claudia Kenyatta and Emma Squire 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.”

The full list of Midlands buildings added to the list in the past year is as follows:

• St Johns Methodist Church and adjoining church hall, Saint Johns Street, Whitchurch

• Church of St John, Lea Marston

• Church of St Peter, Town Street, Clayworth

• St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church and presbytery, Thimble Mill Lane, Birmingham

• Church of St Peter, Lich Gates, Wolverhampton

• Southwell Baptist Chapel and adjoining house, Nottingham Road, Southwell

• Church of St Peter, Chesterfield Road, Calow

• Church of St Cyprian and St Chad, The Fordrough, Birmingham

• Church of All Saints, Church Road, Nailstone

• Church of St John the Baptist, Brampton Road, Bishop’s Castle

• Church of St Swithin, Lower Quinton, Quinton

• Wingfield Manor: a medieval great house, South Wingfield

• People’s Hall, Heathcoat Street

• Town Hall (Sessions House), Market Place, Sleaford

• Dunstall Hall and attached Orangery, Dunstall, Dunstall

• Outbuilding to the south west of Unthank Hall, Unthank Lane, Holmesfield

• Former Church of St Michael, Ranby Road, Market Stainton

• Cromford Mills, Buildings 1, 7 and the remains of the Second Mill, Cromford

• Buildings 26 and 21 at Cromford Mill, Cromford

• Powick Old Bridge, Powick