A listed historic monument in Dockyard was knocked down for road widening — and never put back.The Bermuda National Trust said a pillar for the South Gate in Dockyard was supposed to be restored, but instead ended up forgotten in the flurry of demolition and reconstruction at the West End site.The removal of the South Gate pillar came to light following the outcry over the West End Development Corporation (Wedco) demolition of walls bearing historic naval crests.One Bermuda Alliance candidate for Sandys North Ray Charlton said the demolition had prompted him to check with the Department of Planning, where he learned that the walls had been taken off a list of register of historically important buildings, at Wedco’s request.At the same time, Mr Charlton said, he learned that the South Gate pillar had still been on the list as a protected feature, at the time it was taken down.“In 2008, Wedco quietly delisted several buildings and walls, including the wall with the crests,” Mr Charlton said. “But the gate itself was never delisted.”A Department of Planning spokesman said Planning couldn’t comment on the works in Dockyard.Asked how historic buildings get demoted from the list of monuments, the spokesman said: “Currently there is not a formalised process for removing buildings that appear on the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historical Interest. The Department of Planning is considering options to formalise such a process.”Unappeased, Mr Charlton called the response “very concerning”.“They can quietly do things and the general public has no idea,” he said. “If that’s the case, what’s the purpose of having that list there?“As someone attached to that area, I find it incredible that we’re destroying history. We’ve already got the Royal Malabar buildings in Dockyard looking very run down, with trees growing out of the roof. It seems Wedco think they’re a law unto their own.”Wedco Chairman Walter Lister confirmed that the structures bearing the naval crests had been delisted.However, he added: “I’m not sure why people are jumping up and down over this. I think people dig up history for a political agenda. Quite frankly, we have plans to use those spaces for projects that will be far more valuable than the walls. We want to run a line in to the water treatment plant, and a line up to the housing at Boaz Island.”The paintings on the Dockyard walls were recently termed “transient art” by National Museum Ed Harris, who said they likely wouldn’t survive being dismantled and put back up elsewhere.Mr Lister also pointed out that the crests on the walls had been preserved photographically.As for the South Gate, Mr Lister said it had been part of a road widening undertaken about three years ago, when the Department of Works and Engineering also took down the nearby Dockyard Gate as part of a road widening project.“It’s nothing new, and nothing to do with Wedco,” he said.The Dockyard Gate, which stands at the entrance to Pender Road on the way into Dockyard, was widened in 2009, its western pillar taken down and replaced.The move came in response to increased heavy traffic, as buses and trucks clipped past the landmark.A similar widening was undertaken with the South Gate, at the entrance to Freeport Drive — but the pillar taken down was never replaced again.Expressing alarm that a designated monument could be partially demolished, Bermuda National Trust Executive Director Jennifer Gray called for the gate to be “restored, as was the intention at the time of temporary removal”.She said: “The purpose of listing a structure as architecturally and historically important is to give them protection so that their significance can be taken into account when consideration is given to any development that could affect them. This is why adherence to the Planning process is so vitally important.”The Trust spokeswoman also voiced “extreme concern” at the number of listed buildings and landmarks in the West End that had been allowed to deteriorate.“Sadly, what we have seen in Dockyard, over the last 50 years, is a steady loss of many important buildings,” Ms Gray continued.“Many, such as the hospital, were demolished soon after the Navy moved out, and in some cases, as in today’s creation of a Nature Reserve in the Lodge Point area, Bermuda has benefited by the resulting open space. But buildings such as the Grade I listed Parsonage have been allowed to deteriorate terribly in just in the last few years.“We also find it extremely hard to accept that a number of historic structures have actually been removed from the list of architectural and historical important buildings, removing the protection once afforded to them. For instance, Bedenham Cottage on Boaz, the only pre-Dockyard Bermudian cottage remaining in the area, was allowed to fall to into disrepair and then levelled to a height of two feet.“It was a charming historic cottage which undoubtedly could have remained functional with minimum maintenance.”As a case in point, Ms Gray said that parts of the abandoned Faith Tabernacle on Boaz Island had recently “collapsed through neglect”.She added: “The Trust would like to stress that there is a strong economic case for regenerating historic buildings and landmarks.”Instead, she said, Bermuda’s architectural heritable was often perceived as “a barrier to growth and development”.“A huge amount of waste is generated by demolition and reconstruction of buildings. It is always better in sustainability terms to use and recycle old buildings rather than to demolish them and build new ones,” Ms Gray said.“Reinvestment in historic places not only ensures that the legacy of the buildings, spaces and places is retained and maintained for the benefit of future generations, but also allows us the opportunity to add a new layer of history, reflecting the aspirations, talents and creativity of our own time, and adding to the legacy we leave for the future.”