Thousands of England’s historic sites and monuments are at high risk of neglect or decay, says a national survey.

Future generations may not see one in 12 of the nation’s archaeological landmarks, including prehistoric burial mounds, stone circles and medieval settlements, according to research by English Heritage.

Badgers, scrub and tree growth and natural erosion, as well as the plough, developers and vandals, are playing a part in wiping out history. The situation is so serious that England has lost one archaeological monument a day since the Second World War.

English Heritage sounded the warning yesterday in a “Domesday Book” of thousands of threatened sites.

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Heritage at Risk is an alarming read. Of the 70,000 protected sites assessed so far, one in five scheduled monuments — from burial mounds to castles and abbeys — is at “high risk”.

Similar numbers of protected wreck sites and registered battlefields carry the same stark warning, while one in 30 Grade I and II* listed buildings is also crying out for urgent attention.

Monuments and ancient sites are often the only record of human activity for millennia that lack any written history, yet they are crumbling away.

The 15th-century Gatehouse in Bolton Percy, Yorkshire, has fallen into decay, while the 3,000-year-old earthworks at Huggate, East Yorkshire, are under threat from plough damage.

The 13th-century Tarset Castle, near Bellingham, Northumberland, which played a key role in England-Scotland border disputes, faces a fresh and formidable enemy — erosion.

Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, spoke of the “scandal” of unstable abbeys, eroded Iron-Age hill forts, vandalised standing stones and overgrown country parks.

“These are places. . . that have the potential to shape the quality and even the course of our lives. Yet their future is uncertain. . .”

Heritage at Risk allowed experts to see the big picture for the first time, and would help them to prioritise the action they needed to take.

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