Buildings and structures which have no further use are, of course, more vulnerable to deterioration, decay and eventual disappearance. That is why a key part of any plan for the historic environment is always to try and promote sensitive new uses for historic buildings and structures.
In the North Pennines landscape, structures and buildings currently most at risk of redundancy include places of worship and structures related to farming such as field barns, farm buildings and field boundaries.
Methodist chapels, quaker meeting houses and so on, are numerous in the North Pennines, but only a handful are still regularly used. Finding new uses for these buildings is challenging as the needs of communities for different kinds of buildings are changing. They are often difficult to maintain and heat and often challenging to convert to another (even residential) use.
As farming changes the various structures which existed to support particular farming operations also change their use or become redundant. Past intensification of farming, including a move to silage rather than haymaking systems, means that small in-field hay barns which are so characteristic of parts of the North Pennines are often no longer needed. They are also too small for residential conversion and usually a long way from roads and services.
Conversely, a move to more extensive farming in the future – with lower intensity grazing over larger areas might, perhaps to larger farms, might bring with it its own redundancy challenges, especially for dry stone walls.
In the case of buildings, the time between becoming redundant and finding a new use is critical.
There are, perhaps, opportunities too. Larger farm structures and farm steads have potential future uses as residential properties, and support for more traditional farming methods and the restoration of haymeadows through schemes like ELMs and Biodiversity Net Gain, may lead to the restoration of some of the smaller hay barns.