Categories of risk

The Heritage Crafts Red List

Drawing on the conservation status system used by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust Watchlist, Heritage Crafts uses a system of four categories of risk to assess the viability of heritage crafts. A heritage craft is considered to be viable if there are sufficient craftspeople to transmit the craft skills to the next generation.

Extinct in the UK

Crafts classified as ‘extirpated’ or ‘locally extinct’ are those which are no longer practised in the UK. For the purposes of this research, this category only includes crafts which have become extinct in the past generation.

Lacrosse stick making

Mould and deckle making

Mouth blown sheet glass making

Cricket ball making (hand stitched)

Gold beating

Critically Endangered

Crafts classified as ‘critically endangered’ are those at serious risk of no longer being practised in the UK. They may include crafts with a shrinking base of craftspeople, crafts with limited training opportunities, crafts with low financial viability, or crafts where there is no mechanism to pass on the skills and knowledge.

Scientific & optical instrument making

Silver spinning

Sieve and riddle making

Silk ribbon making

Sporran making

Straw hat making

Spade making (forged heads)

Spinning wheel making

Watch dial enamelling

Wooden fishing net making

Piano making

Plume making

Horsehair weaving

Highlands and Islands thatching

Parchment and vellum making

Maille making

Metal thread making

Millwrighting

Northern Isles basket making

Orrery making

Paper making (commercial handmade)

Hat plaiting

Damask weaving (linen)

Devon stave basket making

Fair Isle straw back chair making

Fabric pleating

Engine turning (guilloché)

Encaustic tile making

Flute making (concert)

Chain making

Clay pipe making

Clog making

Coiled straw basket making

Copper wheel engraving

Coppersmithing (objects)

Basketwork furniture making

Bowed felt hat making

Bow making (musical)

Bell founding

Endangered

Crafts classified as ‘endangered’ are those which currently have sufficient craftspeople to transmit the craft skills to the next generation, but for which there are serious concerns about their ongoing viability. This may include crafts with a shrinking market share, an ageing demographic or crafts with a declining number of practitioners.

Side saddle making

Rush matting

Sail making

Shetland lace knitting

Shinty caman making

Shoe and boot last and tree making

Skeined willow working

Silk weaving

Woodwind instrument making

Sgian dubh and dirk making

Shoe and boot making

Straw working

Traditional wooden boat building

Spar making

Spectacle making

Type founding and manufacture

Slate working

Split cane rod making

Tanning (vegetable)

Umbrella making

Vardo art and living waggon crafts

Wheeling

Wheelwrighting

Wooden pipe making

Reverse glass sign painting

Rope making

Horn, antler and bone working

Percussion instrument making

Lacquerwork (japanning, coromandel and other lacquerwork)

Pigment making

Mechanical organ making

Hewing

Oar, mast, spar and flagpole making

Historic stained glass window making

Keyboard instrument making

Canal art and boat painting

Graining and marbling

Glove making

Brush making

Globe making

Free reed instrument making

Gauged brickwork

Glassworking (scientific glassware)

Fender making

Flintknapping (masonry)

Composition picture frame making

Coopering (non-spirits)

Coracle making

Corn dolly making

Fairground art

Falconry furniture making

Bagpipe making (Northumbrian pipes, smallpipes and bellows blown pipes)

Block printing (wallpaper and textiles)

Brass musical instrument making

Bee skep making

Currently Viable Crafts

Crafts classified as ‘currently viable’ are those which are in a healthy state and have sufficient craftspeople to transmit the craft skills to the next generation. They may include crafts with a large market share, widely popular crafts, or crafts with a strong local presence. A classification of ‘currently viable’ does not mean that the craft is risk-free or without issues affecting its future sustainability/viability.

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