THREE historic buildings in Rossendale have been identified as ‘at risk’ in a new report – the only three in Lancashire to be added to the list this year.

The catalogue, by conservation charity Save Britain’s Heritage, details 100 buildings in England and Wales in need of urgent repair.

Waterside Mill, Bacup, Waterbarn Baptist Chapel, Stacksteads and Horncliffe House, Rawtenstall are all described as the Valley’s ‘crumbling gems’.

All three buldings are Grade II listed.

And the influential charity hopes that the list will inspire suitable people to help to restore them to their former glory.

Earlier this month the Waterbarn church, built in 1847, was described as ‘dangerous’ by concerned local residents.

Their concerns followed the collapse of its roof and a surrounding wall in eight months.

Rossendale Council said that little could be done because the liability for its upkeep was entirely up to its absent owner, who is thought to live in Switzerland.

Waterside Mill, a former 173-year-old cotton mill, is still reeling from a fire that struck the building in May 2003, which ruined its roof and three of its four floors.

Prior to the fire, planning permission had been granted by the council for its conversion into flats.

But the project never materialised.

The building is not currently on the market.

Horncliffe House, formerly a retirement home and hotel, was intended to be a family home.

But emergency repairs had to be carried out in 2010 as it remained unoccupied.

The council said that it is ‘keen to see the building reoccupied.

And the council will encourage the site’s ‘sympathetic development’.

Rhiannon Tracy from Save Britain’s Heritage, said: “We focus mainly on empty and disused buildings, mainly grade IIs, that we think can be restored through a bit of enterprise.”