The roof on the Oxford University Museum of Natural History has long proved troublesome. In its 160-year history it has collapsed once, partially blown off twice and leaked constantly. All the while, it has poured sunlight onto the natural wonders within. Red butterflies are bleached white; the skins of stuffed creatures are cracked. This is an example of a problem faced by many of England’s historic buildings. Its roof is a striking period feature, rightly protected by law.
It is also, in effect, a greenhouse. As the building gets older—and the world outside it warmer—preservation of the building will become harder to reconcile with preservation of the collections inside it. England’s most prized buildings are “listed” as being of special architectural or historical interest; that makes it a criminal offence to alter them without permission. Administered by Historic England, the government’s heritage watchdog, the list is about 500,000 buildings long. For many, that is a nuisance. In Norfolk mobile-phone signals are often patchy because masts cannot be built near listed buildings