One of North Yorkshire's most beautiful stately homes appears on an English Heritage register of historic buildings which, it says, are at risk of crumbling away.

Castle Howard, where the television series Brideshead Revisited was set, is among the 2,000 Grade I and Grade II listed buildings, which make up the first register of England's Historic Buildings at Risk to be published by English Heritage tomorrow.

Nicholas Hawksmoor's mausoleum on the estate is top of the neglect list, despite restoration work done in the 1970s.

The building, which was featured in the television adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel, is suffering from crumbling balustrades around its massive dome.

A host of other buildings in the county are also expected to appear on the register. A spokeswoman for English Heritage confirmed that Castle Howard did appear on the register and said: "We don't name owners and there is no criticism implied to any of the buildings which appear on the registers.

"Many owners have been doing all they can to save their buildings and the register was drawn up simply to allow English Heritage, the owners and local authorities to prioritise what needs to be done."

An estimated £2million is needed to complete the restoration of the Hawksmoor mausoleum and other buildings in Castle Howard's extensive grounds are also in need of repair.

Castle Howard estate manager, Paul Nicoll, said: "The main work to ensure the stability of the mausoleum was carried out in the 1970s.

"The repairs which have now been identified certainly need to be done, but they do not put the building in any danger of collapse. We have been talking to English Heritage about a major programme of work on the estate since the 1980s and we are currently undertaking a rolling programme of restoration work.

"For the last three or four years we have been spending a quarter-of-a-million pounds each year, but the cost of carrying out all the repairs would be substantial and we would need to find additional sources of income."

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