“Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration.”

YESTERDAY, we reported that Wearmouth-Jarrow had formally submitted its bid for its twin monastery to be declared a World Heritage Site.

It is a great idea and we support the bid wholeheartedly.

The bid will make its local area feel good about itself, make it feel special about its unique past. It will, as the above quote from the bid website suggests, inspire people – we may be stuck in a recession at the moment, but our special surroundings prove that we can go on to produce something out of the ordinary.

The website also talks about the economic benefits of the bid – again crucial in the midst of a recession.

It says: “Tourism makes up ten per cent of the region’s economy and employs, directly and indirectly, 100,000 people. Evidence shows that a World Heritage Site has significant potential to increase visits to, and spend in, an area. These increases translate directly and indirectly into jobs being safeguarded and created.”

Just as it should with its railway heritage, the North-East should be able to offer a widespread and magnificent visitor experience with its religious history: from Holy Island in the north, through Durham to Whitby and Fountains Abbey in the south, via Wearmouth-Jarrow and, perhaps, Bishop Auckland.

On the one hand, the Church of England is in the forefront in supporting Wearmouth-Jarrow’s bid as it sees the importance of heritage in promoting the Christian message, yet on the other hand it is allowing the Church Commissioners to rip out the heart of Bishop Auckland’s “legacy from the past” by flogging off the Zurbaran paintings, and robbing the region of an “irreplaceable source of life and inspiration”?