Hunger for history trumps the cancel crowd
The rise in visitors to our monuments suggests the public appreciate the past, warts and all
Last year was a great year for castles. English Heritage, the charity responsible for more than 400 of England’s historic monuments, reports that we flocked to its ancient sites in record numbers. Visits to Mount Grace Priory in North Yorkshire, to take one example, were up 47 per cent on the previous year.
To some, this fashion for ancient ruins can be explained away as either post-pandemic bounceback or a desire for cheaper staycation activities over foreign holidays, but there is surely more to it. Ten English Heritage attractions recorded their highest ever visitor numbers. Visits to Aldborough Roman site in North Yorkshire were up 30 per cent on 2021 and hit levels not seen since 1999.
All these day trips suggest the public appetite for history is alive and well. Perhaps we want to understand our national story, or to feel a connection with our ancestors, or to have our imagination fired by stories of life through the ages.
Yet even as people are showing a desire to connect with the past, history is being erased from the public square. In the past two years a quarter of all statues considered to be controversial have been removed or flagged for removal or review. Figures connected to the slave trade — Edward Colston, Robert Milligan, Sir John Cass — are most likely to be lined up for demolition. Where statues to once-beloved national heroes such as Sir Francis Drake or notable local benefactors such as Sir Cecil Rhodes remain, they are often “contextualised” with plaques spelling out the sins they once committed.