Historic England has recently pulled together a number of highlights from around 400 sites that have been protected through listing and scheduling across England during 2021 – https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/news/listed-in-2021/. These include 362 listings, 41 new scheduled monuments, and 13 new parks and gardens listings.

A number of these are industrial heritage sites such as Lelley Windmill in the East Riding of Yorkshire, the Old Blacksmith’s Shop in Knighton (Wiltshire), and the 1826 Skerne Railway Bridge in Darlington. Amongst these newly protected industrial sites are the unusual Selby Canal Tunnels in North Yorkshire. Created in 1778 be the eminent engineer William Jessop for the Aire and Calder Navigation Company, these four tunnels were designed to stop the canal flooding and have been listed Grade II. Although varying in detail, all of the tunnels consisted of a pair of roughly D-shaped collection ponds, or “sumps”, either side of the canal, which were linked by a tunnel or tunnels passing beneath the canal. Further details on the Selby Canal Tunnels can be found on the National Heritage List for England – https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1473825.