Monday, August 06, 2007


Aug. 6, 2007 (M2 Communications Ltd. delivered by Newstex) --

Culture Minister, Margaret Hodge, today announced that she is upgrading the Victorian prehistoric animal sculptures in Crystal Palace Park from Grade II to Grade I, and also amending the listing to include the geological strata and lead mine on the site.

The 1850s animal sculptures and surrounding landscape, known as the Dinosaur Court, were constructed in the grounds of the Crystal Palace after it was moved from The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. The sculptures were listed Grade II in 1973.

The sculptures will now join the exclusive 2.5 per cent of list entries which are Grade 1 - which include the Royal Albert Hall, Buckingham Palace and the Cenotaph on Whitehall.

Margaret Hodge said:

'The prehistoric animal sculptures and associated geological formations provide an insight into the mid-19th Century reconstruction of dinosaur species that had only recently been discovered. They are believed to be unique and are clearly of exceptional historic interest in a national and probably international context. I am delighted to upgrade their list entry to reflect their importance.'

English Heritage describes the sculptures as 'the first attempt to accurately reconstruct the three dinosaur species known to the scientific world in the 1850s within their geological environment'.

They were designed by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and were built out of brick and artificial stone on a framework of iron rods. The geological strata and lead mine were constructed at the same time, by James Campbell an engineer and mineralogist and were an 'integral part of the original scheme'. The strata were constructed from geological rocks.

Vegetation concealed much of the geological strata at the time of the re-survey of the London Borough of Bromley in the late 1960s. This meant the degree of survival of the original landscape would not have been apparent at the time when the original decision to list the sculptures was made in 1973. But following a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the London Borough of Bromley and its partners (including the University of Greenwich) to completely restore the Dinosaur Court in 2002 further investigation was undertaken.

1. The main purpose of listing a building is to ensure that care will be taken over decisions affecting its future, that any alterations respect the particular character and interest of the building, and that the case for its preservation is taken fully into account in considering the merits of any redevelopment proposals.

2. The total number of list entries is 372,905 which break down as: 9,137 Grade 1 21,009 Grade II* 341,894 Grade II

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