The Experts' View
UNESCO has six criteria for proving international cultural significance. At least one must be met for a site to be added to the World Heritage List. The government shortlist shows how Chatham meets three:
- Chatham Dockyard led the world in industrial design, naval architecture and military technology.
- The completeness and survival of the Dockyard and defences of the age of sail is unique.
- Numerous buildings are outstanding or unique examples of their type - in terms of design, or function
Chatham Dockyard and its Defences have been on the government’s World Heritage shortlist (the “Tentative List”) since 1999. The Tentative listing for Chatham Dockyard states: “Chatham Dockyard is the supreme example of a Royal dockyard largely unaltered from the age of sail, at a period when the Royal Navy was instrumental in Britain's global influence and when, before the full impact of the Industrial Revolution, dockyards were the largest industrial centres in Europe.”
English Heritage is the government’s statutory advisor on the historic environment and has described Fort Amherst as the most complete Napoleonic Fortification in the UK.
The Chief Executive of English Heritage, Simon Thurley, has noted: “Chatham’s supremacy spanned sail, steam and submarines, but it is for the 18th and early 19th centuries that its universal significance is most visible. It is for this reason that English Heritage wholeheartedly endorse Chatham’s merit on the international stage.”
