Editorial Richard

After the Second World War, up to the 1970s and, in some parts of the world 1980s, there was a cataclysmic mass destruction of our cultural heritage, especially in European and American countries. Perhaps historians will look back and see this as a major cultural event. Most parts of the world were concerned primarily with modernisation at a time when economies were weak. In the UK, a priority would be to ensure that all homes had inside toilets and running electricity and good heating. Thus post-war planners made major decisions that shaped the appearance of the majority of UK cities. In my city of Bristol, once the second city in England and a historic centre in the twelfth century for the claimant queen Matilda, with important historical influence through from the Anglo-Saxons, the English Civil War and the Victorian age, you may not appreciate from a first visit its huge historic importance: in 1334 lay subsidy records, Bristol is listed second only to London in size and importance in England, in 1337 for the purpose of the poll tax it lies third after London and York and even in 1750 it is estimated as the second most populous. Yet visit it now and most historic areas have disappeared completely and a casual visitor would not rate it as of exceptional historic importance. It is said that post-war planners destroyed more of Bristol than bombs in the war, with their vision of a concrete city spreading from the main railway station to the main shopping centre. Great regions of Victorian and Georgian houses were demolished to make way for roads, hastily built concrete shops, and tower blocks. Right up to the 1970s, this was regarded as progress. One of the most beautiful Georgian squares, Queen Square [1], had a main road driven through it in 1937, and buildings demolished to make way. Meanwhile many of the larger historic buildings were becoming expensive to maintain and so left derelict, some becoming so dangerous that they eventually had to be pulled down and the land sold for development. This destruction of heritage was widespread throughout much of Europe from the 1920s up to the 1980s. In the UK, readers may be familiar with the country house lifestyle of the 1920s. But in 1955 it is said that one