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Mark Horton: Build here and you ruin our heritage, claims TV historian (Scotland)

HISTORIC monuments are being "swamped" by new developments, ruining their setting and destroying valuable archaeological information, TV historian Mark Horton warned yesterday.

As he joined a campaign to stop houses being built around a ruined abbey, the presenter of the BBC's Coast said Scotland's heritage was under threat.

His concerns were welcomed by heritage experts who said development was threatening other important Scottish sites.

"The concept of setting is pivotal to the historical value of a structure," Mr Horton said. "These buildings have survived down the ages, in some cases for thousands of years, then somebody comes along and swamps them with a bunch of horrible modern developments."

Mr Horton has joined the campaign to oppose plans to erect 11 houses in the grounds of 13th-century Balmerino Abbey.

In a letter to Fife Council, he claimed that if the development went ahead its effect would be "obliterating altogether the archaeological evidence" beneath the site, which he believes has a historical status similar to that of Fontrevauld in France or even Westminster Abbey.
Read entire article at http://heritage.scotsman.com