A photographic of a historic church underneath a blue cloudy sky, with gravestones in the foreground and the seaside town of Whitby in the background.
Parish Church of St Mary, Whitby. Grade I listed. © Historic England View List entry 1055865
Parish Church of St Mary, Whitby. Grade I listed. © Historic England View List entry 1055865

Missing Pieces Project: Contribution Terms and Conditions

These terms set out the basis on which you may post a Contribution to the National Heritage List for England. Please read these terms carefully.

1. Words used in these Terms and Conditions

In these Contribution Terms and Conditions, the following definitions apply:

Contribution means a written comment and/or photographs submitted for publication on the Website;

List means the National Heritage List for England available in electronic form on the Website at historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list;

Privacy Policy means the privacy policy set out at historicengland.org.uk/terms/privacy-cookies;

Registration means the Historic England Account and the Missing Pieces Project registration processes that you must complete to upload your Contribution to the List;

Terms means the terms and conditions set out in this document;

Username the unique identifier assigned to you upon Registration;

"We", "us" or "our" means Historic England, The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England whose principal office is at 4th Floor, Cannon Bridge House, 25 Dowgate Hill, London EC4R 2YA;

Website means the website historicengland.org.uk (or such other URL as we may specify from time to time); and

Website Terms of Use means the website terms of use set out in our Website Terms and Conditions.

  1. Headings shall not affect the interpretation of these Terms.
  2. Words in the singular shall include the plural and vice versa.
  3. A reference to us or you shall include that party's personal representatives, successors or permitted assigns.
  4. A reference to a statute, statutory provision or subordinated legislation is a reference to it as it is in force from time to time, taking account of any amendment or re-enactment and includes any statute, statutory provision or subordinate legislation which it amends or re-enacts.
  5. A reference to writing or written includes faxes and email.
  6. References to clauses are to the clauses of these Terms.
  7. Any phrase introduced by the terms including, include, in particular or any similar expression shall be construed as illustrative and shall not limit the sense of the words preceding those terms.

2. Terms and Conditions

These Terms set out the basis and process for submitting your Contribution for publication on the List. By completing the Registration process you agree that your participation in and any Contribution you make to the List will be subject to these Terms, the Website Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

You confirm that you are at least 13 years old.

3. Content of your Contribution

Your Contributions must:

  • relate only to a particular entry on the List;
  • not be defamatory, offensive, vexatious or unlawful;
  • not infringe anyone else's rights (including intellectual and privacy rights);
  • not include personal information about any living third party; and
  • not promote or further any business activities or with a view to commercial and/or personal gain.

4. Photography

It is your responsibility to ensure that any photographs submitted as part of your Contribution have been taken with the written consent of anyone who is identifiable from your photograph.

You must obtain the consent of any identifiable individual (or parent / guardian if the individual is under 18) to their image being used in connection with your Contribution and you must advise them that their photograph may be published as part of your Contribution in accordance with these Terms.

You must also obtain consent for any brand names, logos, signs, or car registration plates that appear prominently in your photograph. You must retain a physical and/or electronic copy of any such consent.

When taking photographs for your Contribution you must:

  • not trespass on private property. Should you wish to gain access to private property in order to take a photograph you must always obtain prior consent from the owner of the property and obtain prior consent from the owner of the property to submit such photographs as part of your Contribution;
  • immediately stop if the property owner communicates to you that they do not want you to photograph the property and not submit any Contribution containing the photographs taken by yourself at the property in question;
  • carry a form of personal identification (for example your driving licence) at all times in the event that you are asked to identify yourself and/or explain your presence when taking photographs to submit as part of your Contribution; and
  • not take any unnecessary risks or break any laws when taking your photographs or obtaining any material required for your Contribution.

Images submitted within your Contribution must comply with the Contribution guidance provided on the Website.

We have no responsibility for injury or death incurred by you or third party claims arising from your Contribution.

5. Ownership of your Contribution

You confirm that your Contribution is made in your personal (rather than business) capacity or in your capacity as an authorised representative of a business, public authority or voluntary organisation and that such Contribution does not actively promote or further any business activities and has not been contributed for or with a view to commercial and/or personal gain.

We reserve the right to publish, edit, crop, adjust or add our logo responsibly and fairly to your Contribution (at our sole direction) without notifying you and you agree to waive any and all rights to object to such actions undertaken by us in respect of your Contribution.

By submitting your Contribution (which for the avoidance of doubt includes photographs submitted by you) you grant to Historic England a non-exclusive, royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable world-wide licence together with the right to grant sub-licences, to publish and use your Contribution (or any part of it) on or in connection with the List, the Website, and on or in other Historic England websites and publications, in any media, in any context and at any time for commercial gain or otherwise.

You (or the copyright owner) remain the owner of copyright in your Contribution but in addition to clause 5.3 (see paragraph above) you agree that users of the Website may copy, modify, edit, reproduce, display, publish or otherwise make use of all or part of your Contribution on a royalty free basis.

6. Review and publication of your Contribution

We will review your Contribution before it is published on the List and we reserve the right at our sole discretion to withhold publication, refuse publication or edit any Contribution that you submit.

In the event that your Contribution breaches the requirements of clause 3 your Contribution will not be published on the Website. The decision as to whether or not your Contribution breaches the requirements of clause 3 will be at our sole discretion. 

In appropriate circumstances and at our sole discretion, if your Contribution is withheld under these Terms you may be given the opportunity to resubmit a suitably amended valid Contribution. In such cases you will be contacted using the email address provided during the Registration process.

Unless we invite you to resubmit a Contribution, a declined Contribution may not be resubmitted.

Whilst we aim to publish valid Contributions on the List within 48 working hours, there may be instances where it could take longer. You will not receive a notification of publication.

By submitting your Contribution you do so at your own risk. We will not anonymise any Contribution that you make and you understand and acknowledge that individuals, businesses, public authorities and voluntary organisations will be able to access your Contribution and to associate it with you (including but not limited to your name, profile picture and photographs).

Your Contribution will be made publicly available on the Website and you will be identified as the author of it.

We will not be responsible for any adverse attention that you may receive as a result of your Contribution.

7. Removal of your Contribution

Contributions will remain published on the Website for as long as they are considered by us to remain relevant.

We reserve the right to remove your Contribution without notice.

You can request for your Contribution to be removed or amended by contacting [email protected]. In order to verify your identity, you may be required to confirm your name, Username and the email address provided at the time of Registration.

8. Suspension and blocking

If you repeatedly attempt to submit Contributions in breach of these Terms or if you repeatedly breach these Terms we may (in our sole discretion) suspend or permanently block your ability to submit a Contribution.

The decision as to whether you have persistently breached the requirements of these Terms will be at our sole discretion.

9. Your liability

If you submit a Contribution in breach of the publishing criteria set out in clause 3 above, these Terms and/or the applicable provisions of our Website Terms of Use, whether or not your Contribution is published you will be responsible for any losses, expenses or other costs incurred by us as a result of any claims brought by a third party against us arising out of or in connection with the content of your Contribution.

10. No reliance on information

Contributions displayed on our Website do not represent the official position of Historic England and do not form part of the official List.

Publication of your Contribution on the Website is not an endorsement of your Contribution by Historic England.

Any Contribution is not intended to amount to a representation, advice or authority on which reliance should be placed. We make no promise and give no assurance that any information displayed on the Website is accurate, complete or up to date.

11. Our liability

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, or our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by English law.

We will not be liable to any user of the List or the Website for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with:

  • use of, or inability to use, the List or the Website; or
  • use of or reliance on any content, including any Contribution displayed on the List or the Website.

12. Privacy

We will use personal information provided by you in connection with your Registration and Contribution.  Please note that our privacy policy is set out in the Historic England Privacy Policy a copy of which is available at Privacy and Cookies page.

13. Freedom of information

You acknowledge that we are subject to the requirements of the Code of Practice on Government Information and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Further details of how to make a FOIA request of Historic England are available from our Access to Information pages.

14. Updates to these Terms

We reserve the right to change these Terms from time to time without prior notice by changing them on the Website. The Terms applicable to the submission of your Contribution will be those in force at the time you submit your Contribution.

15. Additional terms

In the event of a conflict between these Terms and the Website Terms of Use these Terms shall prevail.

We may sub-license, assign or otherwise dispose of our rights under these Terms in whatever way to any other legal or natural person on whatever terms we deem appropriate in our sole discretion.

Each of the paragraphs of these Terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.

If we fail to insist that you perform any obligation under these Terms, or if we do not enforce rights against you, or if we delay in doing so, that will not mean that we have waived our rights against you and will not mean that you do not have to comply with those obligations. If we waive a default by you, we will only do so in writing, and that will not mean that we will automatically waive any later default by you.

Nothing in these Terms and no action taken by us or you under these Terms shall create, or be deemed to create a partnership, joint venture or establish a relationship of principal and agent. 

The Terms shall be governed by the law of England and Wales and the parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales. 

These Terms were last updated on 15 May 2023.