Under the rather ponderous headline ‘Revealing Misunderstandings about Stewardship of Our Ancient Churches’, Historic England has just published the results of its survey into public awareness of the crisis facing the nation’s places of worship. The results show that people are blithely unaware that many are at risk of closure and sale. Instead, they assume that these buildings are sustained in perpetuity by ‘national church authorities, local councils, or national heritage bodies’.
Commenting on the research results, Andy Brown, Analytics Director at Historic England, says the widespread misunderstanding about who is responsible for the care of such places is holding back wider engagement by members of the community, who might otherwise be willing to get involved in their upkeep and use.
Three quarters of respondents across all age groups, regions, genders, and incomes said that having access to ancient churches was important. Four in five said it was important for other people to have access, even if they themselves did not use them. This ‘option value’, much-discussed in heritage economics, was strongest among older age groups, with nine in ten people aged 55 to 64 rating access for others as ‘very’ or ‘quite’ important.
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