ABSTRACT
In the English Heritage publication History Matters: Pass it On (2006) the importance of Britain’s historic environment is clearly set out as follows:
history matters … a society out of touch with its past cannot have confidence in its future. History defines, educates and inspires us and a better understanding of our shared history helps us solve the problems we face. … Our heritage – our historic buildings, landscape, archaeology and gardens, and the art, books and machines that they contain – is a set of essential landmarks to guide our journey from the past to the future.
The built environment is extremely complex yet may be read, by those experienced in doing so, as we would read a book or examine a piece of artwork. Learning how to read buildings is a crucial step for any professional in conservation. For example, major historical events such as the wholesale desecration of the English religious environment during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the mid-sixteenth century or, more recently, the Second World War, are reflections of the social, economic and political circumstances of the time. Buildings reflect those events, demonstrating both influence and response. These may overtly demonstrate a period, such as war-time bunkers dating to the Second World War, or more subtly as in the loss of statues in ecclesiastical buildings during the Reformation.