I'm a bit miffed about this. Not so much the addition of Gracehill to the UK T-list (though it does seem to be an add-on to the more historically-significant Herrnhut and the well-conserved Bethlehem) but if this means no full review of the UK T-list. Once Flow Country nomination is decided there are only 7 sites left on the T-list. I reckon Shetland, St Helena and Chatham should have good chances at inscription. But others like Jarrow-Wearmouth, Creswell Crags and Down House don't seem likely to progress to me. So when are we going to see a fuller review of the UK T-list? According to this 2020 paper (https://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/documents/s50071131/Birkenhead%20Park%20Heritage%20Project%20Review%20and%20Update.pdf) from the working group supporting a nomination for Birkenhead Park (the world's first publicly-funded municipal park doncherknow?) a new T-list was to be expected / hoped for in December 2022. So keep eyes peeled for any announcements on this matter by the UK this year. Or, alternatively, Brexit Britain may just ride on the coat-tails of the USA for Moravian Settlements (Gracehill) and of Ireland for its Royal Sites (Navan).

I am also very glad


And this looks extremely promising!

A few years ago I was working in the UK heritage sector, and our parks specialist came back from a meeting with the team at Birkenhead, and (knowing of my WHS obsession) was excited to tell me about this propossal.

I must admit it seemed like a long shot back then, and I'm not fully convinced it would come to much, but nearly a decade later they are still plugging away, so it looks like there is some dedicated work going on.

It does look like a very lovely park though, and if royal hunting estates can get their way on to the list I can't see why this form of landscape design, which has influence and public interaction, shouldn't at least be considered of equal merit.

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The UK list tends to get updated after about 15 years, so I imagine we may start to see some early activity on a new set of sites now. Unlike some other countries we don't tend to put forward 2 or 3 sites every year, so current pace seems to be in keeping.

The Flow Country looks promising, none of the others particularly excite me to be honest (though I will admit there is a partial reluctance on my part to get fully behind Chatham as that would stop a bid from Portsmouth, which I think has an opportunity to make a better WHS, and it is also my home town :)).

Cresswell Crags still feels like it is on the t-list by mistake.
I can't even pin it to some minister in the revolving door at DCMS trying to get a local site propossed for their newsletter, as the local MP was Dennis Skinner. With the best will in the world I doubt he would have had much sway with the Conservative led department at the time of the update.

Oh, nice, golf courses!

I would encourage you to check out Chatham if you have the opportunity (and the money). The history is almost on a par with Portsmouth, the site itself is absolutely of the period, it just maybe suffers a little from its displays occasionally being disjointed in a "right, we have this site, what can we fill it with to attract punters?"

I'm not full of hope for Birkenhead Park either. It's nice enough (and very convenient to my in-laws). The key will be a good nomination document focusing on the democratisation of green spaces and provision for the windustrial working classes, so who knows? They need to get it in before the US submits Central Park though- even if Birkenhead did serve as a model for New York it doesn't really have the wow factor of Central Park.

Plus the good folk of Birkenhead would absolutely love to sit in their World Heritage Site, thumbing their noses across the Mersey at their delisted Liverpool neighbours.

To remove:

Darb Zubayda (Pilgrim Road from Kufa to Makkah) (2015) (Saudi Arabia)

... Not concurring. Scotland great, Flow country mhew.


Can't compare, but I really enjoyed Chatham. And I only did the core with several outer components also looking promissing.


And the money... 20 quids... And yes, they try to "offer" some "amusement" when the original historic building would suffice.

I saw the Dockyard from the outside (on the way to a Gillingham match, and had to postpon a planned swift visit as I was taken back by how expensive it was :) ), and will admit the historic ensemble of the dockyard specifically does seem to be better than the equivilent in Portsmouth.

The benefit of a Portsmouth propossal would be in the wider naval defence landscape around Portsmouth harbour and the Solent, which ranges from a particularly fine Roman fort (certainly bette than 95% of the Roman limes that got 2 sites inscribed last year), through a ring of defences from the height of the British empire, (Sea Forts, Hill Forts and urban bastions), through to 20th century usage, e.g. as the launch pad of the D-day invasions.

I will certainly admit to an inherent bias, (though I am by no means one eyed on this, I know Portsmouth has its fair share of flaws), and think Chatham would make a decent WHS, just that I think Portsmouth would be a better one and add something more interesting to the list.

Anyway, I am meeting my friend from Chatham at the weekend so will plan my next trip out there, and properly pay it a visit.

Oh my comment way more about it's prospects of being inscribed rather than it's appeal to me personally. Natural sites are note my forte, and the prospect of some bog lands is not going to see me jumping in my car for a 24 hour round trip drive :)

Chatham is more about the dockyard to me. Why not have a) Chatham as dockyard and b) Portsmouth as Naval Fortifications from Antiquity to WW2? Fine for me.


I enjoy Nature sites and I still dont like flow country ;) Why not the Hebrides Islands? Scottish Highlands ? ...

Sierra Leone
Gola-Tiwai complex (31/01/2022)

Spain
Sigüenza and Atienza Sweet and Salty Landscape (20/01/2022)

Sweet & salty landscape?????

Gabon
Parc National Moukalaba-Doudou (25/01/2022)
Grottes de Lastoursville (25/01/2022)
Le site fossilifère de Moulendé et la pile nucléaire de Bangombé (25/01/2022)
Parc National des Monts Birougou (25/01/2022)
Parc national des Plateaux Batéké (25/01/2022)
Parc National de Loango (25/01/2022)

(mostly revisions)

The architectural legacy of Rogelio Salmona: an ethical, political, social and poetic manifesto (Colombia)

In addition to this new one (which is a refurbished version of the Virgilio Barco Library), Colombia has removed:
- Buritaca 200 - Ciudad Perdida - Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
- Cultural Landscape of Salt Towns
- Cultural Landscape of the Lower Basin of the Chicamocha River
- Tatacoa Desert