Important part of our heritage

It was rather sad to see that the future of the Drill Hall was up for discussion yet again at a council meeting on January 28, whilst at the same time I received the latest issue of HDC’s Winter 2021 ‘Our District’ publication.

The good news was that the council’s heritage team had produced 20 new trails for us to follow.

It also proudly showed a picture of one of the refurbished heritage trail plaques outside the museum. There’s no doubt that the new trails are a job well done and congratulations must go to everyone involved in their production. Unfortunately, there is one serious omission.

The Drill Hall in Denne Road proudly displays its heritage trail plaque (pictured) from an earlier list. So what’s changed? Why’s it been omitted? Why is an important part of our heritage being considered for demolition? It doesn’t make any sense.

I can understand buildings coming to the end of the use for which they were designed. This is a problem that’s been faced by many local authorities over the years. Some councils see demolition as the simple route to follow and seem to believe that an iconic building can be replaced by a plaque stating, ‘on this site stood..’.

Other more forward thinking councils realise that heritage should be visible and they embark on a strategy to retain the external façade of important buildings, whilst changing the interior of the building to meet current needs. One good example of this approach can be seen in Chancery Lane in London.

It would be far more sensible to discard the approach the Vandals took in Rome in 455 and realise that modification with retention is a far better approach to take. Once it’s gone, it can’t be replaced and the soul of an old town will continue to be destroyed.

Let’s hope that commonsense prevails. All HDC needs to do is to look at its own website as well as its heritage plaques to remind it of why the external façade of the Drill Hall is an important part of Horsham town’s heritage.

DAVID MOORE Swindon Road Horsham