As sea levels threaten a number of historic properties, the United Kingdom government is considering ways to protect them to a 'more sustainable location' (Louise Gray, Daily Telegraph, 16 June 2009). The UK Government expects that sea levels could rise by as much as 80 cm around the British coast by 2100, causing the flooding of low lying areas such as Norfolk. Storm surge events around the coast could occur 20 times more frequently for some coastal areas making erosion damage worse. Historic monuments that are threatened with destruction could be moved in exceptional circumstances, while coastal defences should be improved in less severe cases and valuable assets recorded in case they are lost forever. Hundreds of monuments around the British coast are at risk of sea level rises and erosion and could be candidates for relocation. St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, currently reached by a causeway, could become permanently surrounded by sea, Westbury Court Garden in Gloucestershire could be flooded by the River Severn and Dunstanburgh Castle (Fig. 1) in Northumbria is under threat from erosion. There is precedent for historic buildings to be dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere. The seventeenth century Clavell Tower, at Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset was recently moved 25 metres inland at a cost of 898 000 pounds. At St Fagans National History Museum in Cardiff buildings a school, chapel, Workmen's Institute, farms and houses have been re-sited.
展开▼
