The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Saturday
Roller-coaster ride through English history
Hughes was the judge for the Leisure and Tourism category and was reminded fondly of the bucket-and-spade holidays of her childhood. “My parents were both actors and summers would be spent with my father performing in end-of-the-pier shows,” she says. “There’s something magical about the fact we still enjoy stepping across those wooden planks today.” Clevedon Pier and Dreamland Margate made her cut, along with Helvellyn and the Pump Room in Bath.
Architect and broadcaster George Clarke had final pick of the Homes and Gardens category, and aimed to capture the grandest and the quirkiest that England had to offer; from Windsor Castle to post-war prefabricated bungalows on Wake Green Road, Birmingham. Of the latter, he says: “I didn’t know about the prefab bungalows until I was given the list and within a millisecond I knew I needed to see them.”
It’s not only what they tell us about our past, but also our present that excites Clarke. “Lots of these places and buildings have seen their uses change multiple times. Some have had a grander past than they have today, and some will have a grander future,” he says.
Clarke wants us to be proud of our history in England. “We’re good at history. It’s why we’re invaded by tourists from all over the world.”
Whether your favourite place is missing or you discover a new treasure, hopefully Historic England’s list will inspire you to get outside and to engage with our rich and varied history. As Prof Hughes says: “It’s about taking a moment to pause and appreciate the stories around you.”
A History of England in 100 Places by Philip Wilkinson is published by Historic England (RRP £20). To order your copy for £16.99 plus p&p, call 0844 871 1514 or visit books. telegraph.co.uk
1 JODRELL BANK OBSERVATORY, MACCLESFIELD, CHESHIRE
This huge radio telescope dish has played a pioneering role in the history of radio astronomy, enabling astronomers to carry out important research on meteors, quasars, pulsars, and other phenomena. The site became worldfamous for its work in tracking early space probes, such as the Soviet Sputnik 1, and continues to play a role at the cutting edge of astronomical research. Much of the original structure and design remains.
2 WATER PUMP, BROADWICK STREET, LONDON W1
It is a modest monument: a pavement water pump without a handle. But it held the secret of one of the most deadly diseases of the 19th century – cholera. The man who unlocked the mystery was physician John Snow, a founder member of the Epidemiological Society of London.
Snow was sceptical about the theory of “miasma”, which held that disease was borne by particles in the air. When cholera broke out in Soho in 1854, he discovered that the victims all drew water from a pump in Broad Street (now Broadwick Street). Snow was convinced that the water from Broad Street was causing the disease. He went to see the local council, and persuaded them to make the pump inactive by removing the handle. When they did this, new cholera cases declined and the epidemic died out. A pub on the street corner now bears Snow’s name.
3 YE OLDE TRIP TO JERUSALEM, NOTTINGHAM
No one knows which is the oldest pub in England – several claim to be. One of the best-known of these is Nottingham’s Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, which is said to have been founded in 1189. There is no documentary evidence for this date, but if the pub’s date is legendary, the building is certainly very old and built into the crag below Nottingham Castle, with walls and ceilings of bare rock.
The small, white-walled building hunkered against the rock is eye-catching from outside, but with its succession of small, irregularly shaped rooms, some with cavelike walls and ceilings, it is unlike any other pub. The date 1189 marks the beginning of the Third Crusade, when forces from across Europe set out to conquer the Holy Land. The inn may have been used as a stopping point for men on their way to fight overseas. Pilgrims to Jerusalem may also have taken a break there in more peaceful times.
4 DREAMLAND MARGATE, KENT
At the oldest surviving amusement park in Britain, visitors still can enjoy a range of old-fashioned attractions. Dreamland’s story began in the 19th century, when visitors started to flock to the seaside on the newly built rail-