A CANAL aqueduct, a mill chimney, three public houses, terraced houses, garden walls, a park fountain, a golf club house and a war memorial are among 40 new additions to the statutory listed buildings in Burnley.

Conservation architect Darren Ratcliffe in a report to Thursday's meeting of the planning and environment committee says Burnley is fortunate in having a rich diversity of historic buildings ranging from the 17th century lesser gentry houses and early farmsteads through to a rich legacy of industrial, commercial and residential architecture.

The new listings reflect the broader social in the architecture and history of the Victorian and Edwardian periods.

The garden walls are at the Castle, Manchester Road, a building designed by Edgar Wood around the turn of the century. Stanley Mill, Ashfield engine house and its chimney are notable industrial buildings to be added.

The list also includes three more pubs - the Bridge Inn, the Town Mouse and The Duke of York Hotel - the aqueduct, Manchester Road railway bridge and two canal bridges.

Burnley's soldiers who lost their lives are remembered in the listing of the war memorial at Towneley Park.

Other additions include a canal boundary marker above Gannow Tunnel, former stable block at Stanley Mill, Clifton Street railway bridge, garden walls in Manchester Road, fountain in Queen's Park, The Latin Quarter restaurant and Towneley golf club house.

The majority of the 52 structures which have lost their listing relate to terraces of properties in the Jib Hill Conservation area but include four churches, Palace House and Heasandford House, one of the Burnley's oldest buildings, downgraded to grade 11.

Mr Ratcliffe adds that the whole of Lowerhouse's 57 listed buildings are now felt to be marginal due principally to the erosion of character in the area through the removal over a period of time of traditional, windows, chimneys and other features.

Suggestions for preventing such erosion of character include service units consulting with planning before making grant offers, much clearer guidance to home owners and the possibility of prosecution.

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