Mary Rose chosen for Historic England 100 Places Campaign.

The Mary Rose is among the 10 places chosen today by Mary Beard for Historic England’s campaign A History of England in 100 Places

The campaign, sponsored by specialist insurer Ecclesiastical, aims to find the 100 places which best represent the history of England.

Mary Beard has judged the Loss & Destruction category from a long list of public nominations. Some of the places she has chosen have witnessed devastating events in our collective history, and each has an important story to tell about our past, present and even our future society.

Mary is one of a panel of expert judges, including Professor Lord Robert Winston, George Clarke, Tanni Grey-Thompson and David Olusoga, who have been asked to choose their top 10 places in a range of different categories from a long list of public nominations.

Mary said “It has been a pleasure, but also very hard and sometimes distressing to select ten places out of the nominations in this category. It has reminded me how important it is to remember and to memorialise tragedy”.

All 10 places picked by Mary will be explored in new episodes of the recently-launched podcast series.

A transcript of the podcast is available here

The 10 places in the Loss & Destruction category of A History of England in 100 Places are:

Hillsborough Football Stadium, Sheffield
Wreck of the SS Mendi, 11.3 nautical miles off Saint Catherine’s Point, Isle of Wight
Farfield Inn, Sheffield
The Crystal Palace, Crystal Palace Park, London
The Monument, Pudding Lane, London
Must Farm Bronze Age Settlement, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire
Ruins of Greyfriars Monastery and the village of Dunwich, Suffolk
The Mary Rose, Portsmouth
Euston Arch, King’s Cross, London
Ruins of Whitby Abbey, North Yorkshire

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England said “This category has given us ten striking examples of places that have been lost or destroyed, or those that have been witness to loss and destruction. Some of these have been the sites of terrible tragedies, which for better or worse have shaped us as a nation, or taught us how to confront the past, present and future and make progress from what we have learned.”

Mark Hews, Group Chief Executive of Ecclesiastical Insurance, said “Loss, recovery and compassion are at the heart of what we do. These 10 places mark times of tragedy but they also remind us of the triumph of hope and renewal that mark our humanity, and will continue to do so.”

The campaign continues

Historic sites across the country have shaped England. Historic England and Ecclesiastical still need the public’s help to create a list of the 100 buildings and places which best tell the country’s story and how it has shaped the world.