Further Guidance and Worked Examples: Stage 3

Stage 3: Determine the significance of the distinctiveness

At Stage 3 you should consider how distinctiveness of the subject informs and contributes to its wider heritage values and overall heritage significance.

If the subject already has a ‘statement of significance’ it may be helpful to use this as a starting point. These statements are often produced in designation or HER records. They can also form part of formal heritage assessments. These may be spatial plans, conservation area, historic area or archaeological assessments. Make sure that the themes themes outlined in Stage 2 have been identified. Add them in if they have not been.

Alternatively, this section will help you write such a statement of significance from scratch.

By significance we mean the sum of the heritage values of a place. you can find more information here; ‘Conservation Principles’ (English Heritage 2008). There are many different ways of expressing heritage values. Heritage values encapsulate the ways that people value a place beyond the everyday. Conservation Principles gather these into four heritage values:

• Evidential value
• Historical value
• Aesthetic value
• Communal value

Stage 3 will be most successful when undertaken in consultation with a range of people. It is important to consider a full range of views and perspectives.

Some assets may have little or not particularly obvious ‘Cornish distinctiveness’. But they may have meaningful heritage significance. If this is not recorded elsewhere then include it in a Stage 3 assessment.

Heritage values can be better expressed when applied to the 5 themes of distinctiveness. (Approach 2) identified in Stage 2.

Parts 3 and 4 of the PDF 'Distinctively Cornish' provide examples. These show how these stages work together to determine both distinctiveness and significance.

Evidential value

• Derives from the potential of a place to yield evidence about past human activity.
• Includes the slightly narrower concept of ‘archaeological value’. This relates to material evidence produced by human activity.
• Evidential value refers to the primary evidence source used to describe the asset. This can also describe an asset or landscapes evolution over time.
• The evidence provided by a place can include archaeological deposits. These are the residues left by human activity. They can include evidence of architectural design and adaptation. They can also include impacts on natural environmental components (plants, peats, soils, geological formations etc.). Analysis of these can provide a context for other types of evidence.

Historical value

• The ways in which past people, events and aspects of life connect through a place to the present.
• Illustrative historic value is where an asset helps interpretation of the past.
• Associative historic value. Where an asset is linked with a notable family, person, event or movement.

Aesthetic value

• Derives from the sensory and intellectual stimulation gained from a place.
• Includes the ‘design value’. This is often found in the architecture of buildings and landscapes. Also, the craft skills evident in artefacts.
• Includes the aesthetic results of the action of nature on human works. This can be (‘the patina of age’) or the fortuitous combination of the components of a place. These coalesce to contribute to its character and appearance.

Communal value

• Derives from the meanings of a place, or for its role in collective experience or memory.
• Strongly contributes to the weight applied to all other heritage values.
• Includes the social values associated with places. Often linked to identity, distinctive social interaction, and coherence. Can also have spiritual values connected with religious or other belief systems.

Worked example

Further Guidance - Draw conclusions to inform actions: Stage 4