This week the Gazette reports that Winterspring Cottage, in Alderley, known locally as Whitehall Farm, has been saved from demolition at a council hearing at which there was passionate debate over this 300-year-old property.

The building was under threat of being demolished and replaced by another dwelling following a planning application submitted by Alderley Farm Nominees Ltd in July.

One of the most interesting points raised at the meeting involved the issue of class.

Cllr Ashton said that as a country, in our approach to heritage, we have a tendency to preserve the homes of the wealthy, like Berkeley Castle, and reduce to rubble the homes of the poor, like Whitehall Farm.

It is difficult to disagree.

Recall, if you can, the last time you wandered through a castle or a country manor of some historical value. Now reflect on the last time you strolled through the home of an ordinary 17th century farmhouse. I imagine the former is easier.

As most of us probably share closer cultural connections with paupers than princes, should the lives of ordinary men and women not be of the highest value to us?

They say that history is written by the winners but perhaps it is also written by the rich.

And who better to preserve the heritage of the ordinary man and woman of the past than the ordinary man and woman of today, by fighting for those historical artefacts with the passion they deserve.