The UK loves to list its buildings, and for those reading this blog who are not on these fair shores, that is quite simple. Anything old, leave it alone. This is (part) of the reason why nothing works well in this country. We are not allowed to knock it down and start afresh. Of course, this makes for quite an unusual architectural landscape:
It is not just the pretty structures that are protected, but those which serve as some architectural tab of an era or event. Somewhere like the US or China is famed for knocking down anything that is past a certain date, but over here bricks & mortar, plus a lack of earthquakes, allows us to hold onto things that in reality would have been packed away in a museum a long time ago.
Now, as you know, I, via this blog, regularly visit various crossings (click for the list so far) over the Thames. Once a month I make a point to go out into the city and visit a place by the River where I take photographs, take in some local history and check out the fine cuisine on offer. Normally, this is not a food blog, so I keep the reviews down to a minimum. For the last 18 months I have kept up this steady stream of crossing points over London’s great divide, making a point to fit in one journey per month. I have had two deviations from my course along the Thames. One up in the far north (a photo fest) and one in the not so far north. I do this as it gives me a chance to explore my city, my inner geek and my own sanity.
But I deviate. Recently, a lot of these crossings have now received listed status. So that means that a lot of the crossings I have used and a lot of the crossings to be used cannot be knocked down. Technically. Well, they can, but it is bloody hard to do so. The reality is that many of these bridges could not be knocked down anyway as they are essential to traffic flow and to be honest, we really do not have the cash to rebuild.
But one thing that is interesting to note, is how much of London’s infrastructure is protected. It does show how good the engineering of the time was to allow them to be protected as well as utilised today. This city has far outgrown it design, but it is a testament to the work of today’s workers that this stuff still holds up. But one thing I have to ask. Would any other country conserve so much of its heritage in the face of modernisation. One of the problems in this country is that we do not modernise. It means that tasks are usually very slow to achieve here in the UK. However, we are very good at adapting, using our present facilities. It is a trade off, but in the effort to save a few minutes, countless areas of the world are loosing a piece of their own history. There is not much history on this little island, and so what is conserved for the future is worthwhile. London does not have the prettiest cityscape, but it is unique one, due to the heritage laws that are in place. And that makes for a far more interesting city, especially when compared to some of our European counterparts, which may look beautiful, but ultimately do not have the eclectic flavour of the Capital. Anyway, sometimes English Heritage gets it right:
(Next month, Vauxhall, another newly listed bridge)
