The Stonehenge Alliance is a group of non-governmental organisations and individuals that seeks enhancements to the Stonehenge World Heritage Site (WHS) and opposes development that would cause it significant harm. 

The Alliance is a not for profit organisation that relies entirely on donations from campaign supporters and the voluntary efforts of activists.

Through its Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site campaign, the Alliance is concentrating its efforts on opposing the proposal for dualling the A303 including a short tunnel across Stonehenge WHS announced in December 2014, which would result in serious damage to the WHS landscape. This action includes our petitions to the Secretaries of State for Transport and Culture which continue to attract supporters from the UK and around the world.

The Stonehenge Alliance supported the Save Stonehenge WHS Ltd legal challenge to the road scheme and will continue to do so if necessary.

We raise awareness of the likelihood of Stonehenge’s loss of World Heritage Site status and its wider impact should UNESCO’s advice continue to be ignored.  
We have:

Hon Sec Dr Kate Fielden at National Trust AGM in 2017

- lobbied government at all levels and all relevant departments,
- held challenging dialogue with Highways England, the promoters of the road scheme,
- collaborated with over 90 members of the National Trust who object to the scheme, 
- engaged with campaign supporters from over 100 countries, represent all walks of life and backgrounds, hold a variety of beliefs or none and yet are united by the spirit of the World Heritage Site, and
- supported and helped to raise funds for Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site Ltd’s successful legal challenge to the Transport Secretary’s decision to grant a Development Consent Order for the road scheme in November 2020.

Together, our supporters and Alliance partners express the truth about the World Heritage Site’s Outstanding Universal Value. 

We believe that these actions are effective and have caused government to be concerned about our wide reach. 

The Vernacular Architecture Group was formed in 1952 to further the study of traditional buildings, originally those of the British Isles. In recent years, its membership and publications have also reflected a growing interest in buildings from other parts of the world.

Members are involved in all aspects of the recording and study of vernacular buildings including:

- Detailed local or regional surveys
- Studies of particular types of buildings including houses, farms, industrial and urban buildings
- Building materials
- Techniques of building, including carpentry and masonry
- Documentary evidence

The Group encourages communication between members in a number of ways:

- A four day conference held each spring in a different region
- A two-day winter conference with papers on one topic
- An occasional joint weekend school with Oxford University's Department for Continuing Education
- Publication of a journal
- A twice-yearly newsletter with notices of events and new publications
- A library of offprints for circulation to members (index available on Members' Area)

The Group produces a refereed journal of national standing - Vernacular Architecture - the authoritative voice on the subject. All members automatically receive a copy of Vernacular Architecture and are eligible for free online access to current and back issues. See the Publications page for full details.

Founded in 1978, the Urban Design Group (UDG) is a campaigning membership organisation with over 1000 members who care about the quality of life in our cities, towns and villages, and believe that raising standards of urban design is central to its improvement.

The UDG website contains a wealth of information for anyone interested in urban design including details of urban design practices, university courses, publications and job vacancies, as well as future urban design events. Our regular email newsletter Urban Update is a one-stop-shop for urban design news, articles and blog posts.

The Temple Trust is an historic buildings preservation trust for England and Wales. As a charity since 1994, our core activity has involved the rescue and preservation of our architectural heritage existing in the form of historic garden buildings and their settings. The Trust came into existence solely for the public benefit, and has since endeavoured to improve access to (and understanding of) these historic sites. For the purpose of saving those structures (and associated landscapes) deemed most at risk we aim to form partnerships with the owners of such buildings -- as well as with other national and local charities and community groups.

As a matter of priority we target particularly listed buildings within public parks and open spaces, and other sites with scope for continuous public access (for instance-- where there is a reasonable proximity to an established public footpath or other right of way) or where there is scope for negotiating managed public access. Since the inception of the Trust, our main role has been to initiate, promote, fund, implement, endow and generally act as a catalyst in various historic ‘buildings at risk’ projects. Projects have included The Gunnersbury Temple in London (1994 -1998), Garrick’s Temple to Shakespeare at Hampton (1996 -2004), and most recently the Cilwendeg Shell House in Pembrokeshire (beginning 2003). For more detailed information on The Temple Trust projects so far, or other historical background, please see below or you may wish to consult the following published sources:

SAVE Europe - Europe abounds in beautiful, historic buildings. Many are highly prized and well looked after. Others stand empty and slowly decay. Still others approach actual collapse or are threatened with demolition. Some are well-known, others deserve to be much better known.

SAVE Europe’s Heritage was founded in 1995 as the sister organisation of SAVE Britain’s Heritage. SAVE Europe’s Heritage has published reports on endangered great houses in France and Hungary and a report on the threat to the landscape of the villas of the Veneto. With Moscow Architectural Preservation Society (MAPS) it has published a report on Moscow (now in its second edition) and another on the city of Samara titled Samara: Endangered City on the Volga . A new report Silesia: Land of Dying Country Houses was published by SAVE Europe in late 2009.

MAPS and SAVE Europe's Heritage published St Petersburg: Heritage at Risk in 2012. Published to coincide with the 34th Session of UNESCO that took place in St Petersburg in the summer of 2012, this bilingual, lavishly illustrated book, emphasises St Petersburg’s greatness as a classical city, but also shows the importance of the city’s industrial and Soviet heritage, much of which is shamefully undervalued today.

In October 2019 SAVE Europe published a new report about Tbilisi, Georgia. The report shines a light on the incredible architectural beauty of the 'Paris of the Caucasus' revealing surprises such as a strong constructivist and post-war modernist legacy as well as art nouveau and art deco of great majesty and delicacy.

SAVE Britain's Heritage is a strong, independent voice in conservation that has been fighting for threatened historic buildings and sustainable reuses since 1975. It is at the forefront of national heritage conservation and intervenes to help historic buildings and places in serious danger of demolition or decay. It stands apart from other organisations by bringing together architects, engineers, planners and investors to offer viable alternative proposals. Where necessary, and with expert advice, SAVE takes legal action to prevent major and needless losses.

RESCUE – The British Archaeological Trust is an independent non-political charitable trust dedicated to supporting archaeology and the historic environment in Britain and abroad.

As a charitable trust we do not receive any state support. We are entirely reliant on the contributions of our members to support our work as advocates of the historic environment, at a time of unprecedented threat. Members receive RESCUE News three times a year, details of meetings and conferences and discounted prices on our publications. Find out more about what we do with this money.

The seaside piers around the coast of Britain stand as a powerful reminder of the achievements of Victorian engineers and entrepreneurs. However, of the 100 piers that once graced our coastline, only half survive, and several of these face an uncertain future.

The National Piers Society is a non-profit making registered charity which was founded in 1979 under Sir John Betjeman, at a time when some of the finest piers were threatened with demolition. Over the years the National Piers Society has grown steadily and has become well established as the leading authority on seaside piers. Through the Society’s efforts several piers, that would otherwise have vanished, remain for the enjoyment of everyone.

The Society’s aim is to promote and sustain interest in the preservation, building and continued enjoyment of seaside piers.

The National Piers Society advises heritage bodies, local authorities, pier owners, national government, and the media on pier-related matters. The Society maintains links with the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions (representing pier owners) and the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society, whose vessels operate excursions from pier landing stages.

National Piers Society members (see the Membership page for further details) receive the quarterly journal ‘PIERS’ which is published by the Society and features all the latest pier news and events, historical features and richly illustrated articles which are of interest to pier lovers everywhere. The Society’s members choose a Pier Of The Year every spring and a triennial award for engineering achievement in pier restoration (The Peter Mason Award) is made by an advisory panel of experts. The Society also organises visits and talks and holds its Annual General Meeting in a different pier resort each year. In the longer term the Society wishes to establish a network of regional branches and a National Piers Museum.

The National Piers Society is run by a small number of volunteers. For more information about the Executive Committee members please see below. If you would like to contribute to the Society or join the Executive Committee then please do get in touch.

We’d like to receive any feedback you may have about the website or our society, please contact us.

Future for Religious Heritage (FRH) was founded in 2011 as an organisation dedicated to the safeguarding of Europe’s diverse and unique religious heritage. It is the only independent, non-faith, and non-profit network of charities and conservation departments of governmental, religious and university institutions, and other professionals working to protect religious heritage buildings across Europe, with over 170 members in over 35 countries.

MISSION

FRH works to ensure the promotion and safeguarding of Europe’s religious heritage, by bringing together organisations and individuals in a Europe-wide network and participating in forums and advocacy networks in order to bring the voice of religious heritage to relevant stakeholders and policymakers.

VISION

Unite – FRH consists of over 70 organisations and 100 professionals coming from 35 countries, seeking to promote and enhance good practice sharing, project-building and professional collaboration with all those interested in safeguarding Europe’s rich historic places of worship as well as intangible religious heritage.

Promote – FRH promotes the value of religious heritage by raising public interest and encouraging community engagement in the conservation and safeguarding of Europe’s religious heritage.

Protect – FRH works closely with EU policymakers and relevant cultural heritage stakeholder forums, sharing relevant information and recommendations regarding the implementation of legislation that promotes community engagement, sustainability, cultural preservation, and innovation around religious heritage. This includes finding creative ways of preserving historic places of worship including extended use and reuse, to avoid demolition or abandonment.

VALUES

Engagement – reaching out to relevant communities, professionals, policymakers, and the public.

Sustainability – working towards the sustainability of religious heritage to ensure it can be passed on to future generations.

Protection – safeguarding Europe’s tangible and intangible religious heritage; avoiding the abandonment and destruction of this invaluable European heritage.

Innovation – finding new and innovative ways to protect historic places of worship.

Friends of the Earth is a major environmental pressure group operating at a local level, with over 220 local groups, and a national level in the UK and globally with almost one million supporters across five continents.

For building conservationists the organisation represents an invaluable ally where the historic landscape is in any way threatened and a useful source of information on sustainable development, sustainable timber and other environmental issues.

Friends of Friendless Churches was set up in 1957 to save disused but beautiful old places of worship of architectural and historical interest from demolition, decay and unsympathetic conversion. It is an independent, non-denominational charity which cares for 60 redundant places of worship across England and Wales, and has helped hundreds more.

Over the centuries, churches have fallen out of use for many reasons. But we believe that these buildings represent the spiritual and artistic investment of generations, that they belong to all of us, and should be preserved for the future. We currently care for 60 places of worship in England and Wales

The Friends of the City Churches are an architectural heritage charity dedicated to preserving the beautiful and unique churches found within the square mile of the City of London. As part of our work we:

- bring together the many interesting people who love and value the City churches
- assist in the conservation and repair of these historic buildings through small grants and services
- help to keep churches open and welcome weekday visitors and worshippers through the work of our volunteer Church Watchers
- enrich our members’ knowledge through events including walks, talks, visits and tours
- advertise forthcoming services, concerts and events in our regular listings guide, City Events
- explore the heritage and the modern life of the churches in our quarterly magazine, Skyline

Part of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), the group aims to raise awareness and appreciation of pub interiors of historic and architectural importance, supports campaigns to ward off threats of closure or unwanted alterations to historic pub interiors; and it seeks additional protection for these buildings through the planning system.

The group compiles and maintains the national inventory of historic pub interiors as well as regional inventories, and it is always looking for other posible candidates for inclusion.

A particular joy of the UK's 50,000 or so pubs is their sheer variety.

They range from simple rural pubs to late-Victorian extravaganzas, from the genuinely old to the aggressively modern, from urban back-street boozers, through suburban estate pubs, to picture-postcard rural idylls. All architectural styles are represented, be it Art Nouveau or Art Deco, high Gothic or post-war Brutalist.

What is saddening, though, is how very few of our pub interiors are the same now, or nearly so, as when built. More often than not, you enter a pub with an unspoilt 'period' facade only to find the interior trashed or compromised. CAMRA is wholly committed to protecting our dwindling stock of truly historic pub interiors. Our Pub Heritage Group is made up of CAMRA members passionate about protecting and promoting these interiors. Some Group members are recognised architectural and pub historians. Here is a history of CAMRA's campaign to protect historic pub interiors.

CAMRA places these historic pub interiors in two categories.

Firstly, there is the national inventory of historic pub interiors. This lists those interiors which we regard as being in the 'first division' when it comes to pub preservation priorities. Work on the Inventory, which currently comprises 285 pubs, started in 1991. Entries fall into three categories:

- pubs whose interiors have remained wholly or largely intact since before 1945 or, in some exceptional cases, before 1970.

- interiors which, though altered to an extent, retain exceptional rooms or features which are of national historic importance.

- outstanding pub-type rooms in establishments like hotels or station buffets.

The Regional Inventories of Historic Pub Interiors are the next tier in the pub preservation hierarchy. They list interiors which still have significant historic or architectural value despite the alterations to them.

These Inventories are constantly evolving. Sadly, some pubs currently listed will either close or be ruined despite our best efforts to stop this. Other pubs are known to be at risk – see our list of Historic Pub Interiors in Peril.

More happily, we continue to discover previously unreported interiors deserving inclusion (and we're always eager to hear from anyone who feels a particular pub is worth considering – please email [email protected] which is also the address for any updates or comments you might wish to share with us)

Historic pub interiors can be accessed on this website in the following ways:

- Search for pubs with historic interiors in a given location, complete with descriptions.

- Select a mini-guide, suitable to be printed, of all historic pub interiors in a particular county

- View a complete list of all pubs in the national inventory of historic pub interiors, suitable to be printed, as a quick reference guide.

Nine Real Heritage Pubs guides have so far been published – for London, East Anglia, North East England, Scotland, Wales, Yorkshire, Midlands, North West England, and South West England. You can purchase copies from the CAMRA bookshop. Further guides will be published in due course. You can also view some Real Heritage Pubs guides for some parts of the UK on this website.

Another of the Group's aims concerns Pubs as Listed Buildings; getting pubs statutorily 'listed' as being of special architectural or historic interest affords them significant protection from insensitive development.

Our website also contains a glossary of architectural terms which commonly arise in pub descriptions plus suggestions for further reading about historic pubs. 'Architrave', 'Corbelling', 'Terrazzo' – what do they mean? Find out in our glossary of architectural terms relevant to pubs.

If you want to be kept regularly up to date on the changes to the status of the national inventory of historic pub interiors, then please join our email mailing list. Monthly bulletins are sent out each month, and are also posted here on this web site.

Since 1928, CPRW has been standing up for the people and places of rural Wales and protecting our unique landscapes. From defending wild spaces from destructive development to creating sustainable rural communities, we are passionate about creating a countryside which works for everyone.

The only independent organisation standing up for rural Wales, our community-based members hold decision-makers to account and ensure that local people get their say. Every day we take action to ensure that the extraordinary beauty of our country is preserved for the next generation – and beyond.

Those who live in or visit Britain’s unique heritage of small historic towns and villages value them as an irreplaceable national asset. In each region they have their own special character and setting.

Can we afford to lose this precious inheritance because of unsympathetic, unsuitable and out-of-scale development? Surely every effort must be made to preserve the essential character of these towns and villages for future generations. Their conservation is far more than a local matter. It touches the whole population, as well as visitors from all over the world. Indeed, the attractiveness of Britain’s historic towns and villages is an impor tant economic asset as well as an environmental issue. Our concern is for the buildings, many of them listed, in their setting in the countryside, and for maintaining the harmony of materials, design and scale which form the overall character of each place. There must be care for detail – shop fronts and signs, window-frames and doors as well as street furniture which fit the local scene and add to, rather than detract from its harmony.

Unlike national bodies and regional authorities, which have wider responsibilities, ASHTAV, through the lo cal societies, groups and councils which are our members, possesses a wealth of local knowledge and commit ment. Our members, working together with other like-minded organisations are well placed to care for the vast wealth of architecture, history and community life which surrounds them.

We concentrate on the particular needs and concerns of small historic places. We co-ordinate and encourage mutual support amongst our members, facilitating the exchange of experience and expertise and providing opportunities through seminars and lectures for increasing knowledge of conservation issues and the planning process. We also provide a corporate national voice on matters of concern to our members generally.

ASHTAV’s objectives are:

- Uniting Amenity Societies and Groups, Parish and Town Councils in small historic towns and villages in a common effort for the preservation, protection and, where appropriate, sensitive adaptation of their features of historic and public interest.
- Encouraging high standards of architecture and planning.
- Stimulating the public interest and care for the beauty, character and fabric of small historic towns and vil lages in the context of an understanding of the social and economic changes which affect them.

ASHTAV recognises the many social and economic changes affecting town and village life – the growth of industry and tourism, the migration from large towns and cities to the countryside, the decline of traditional agriculture and demographic change. These changes inevitably alter the pattern of life in rural Britain. They cannot be resisted but they should be introduced with respect for existing patterns and values.

New developments can take place with sensitive consultation and respect for the existing scene and community life. Our aim is to ensure that wherever change is thought to be necessary, those whom it most directly affects are equipped to take a full and effective part in the decisions involved.

ASHTAV receives grants from English Heritage and other bodies, but is otherwise self supporting and relies on the commitment and voluntary effort of its members and Fiends.