My grandparents did something like this when they retired, and bought a property with a long-derelict 19th church on it. They kept the stone walls intact, and built a modern structure over and through it, which turned out to be stunning.

Early in the project a neighbor drove up and introduced himself as the great-(great?)-grandson of the founder of the church, and the last minister who had served in it. He was grateful for their care for the history of the space, and when my grandparents inaugurated the house they invited the few remaining members of the congregation to the party, and asked the former minister to offer a blessing. Their appreciation for the building gave them an entrée into a (famously insular) community, which became a source of happiness and support for the rest of their lives.

That’s an amazing story and often the thing that people overlook; respect and appreciation for the things that have gone before.

I would love to see photos if they are online anywhere.

Oh man I would love to see pictures of this.

It's nice to have a lot of money

I thought I’d be horrified by this, but when done tastefully and respectfully it can revive the sites as living history instead of dead ruins.

It's interesting how different people's perception of what is ancient or not.

From the title I was assuming something around about 0 BCE, but it turns out to be a 17th century factory.

Wikipedia lists the cutoff for ancient at 500AD so I don’t think this comes down to perception. Insofar as words have meaning, TFA is using “ancient” incorrectly. Then again, language always seems to slouch towards the extremes. If literally dead can mean slightly amused, maybe ancient can mean a couple hundred years old.

> Wikipedia lists the cutoff for ancient at 500AD

That's just the rough point at which historians stop referring to things as "ancient history", it's not some kind of definition for the word "ancient". Ancient just means really really old. You need to use the context to know exactly how old.

For example if I said "your dad is ancient" I obviously don't mean he was born before 500AD.

That said I think "ancient ruins" is so commonly used to refer to ruins from ancient history (i.e. before 500AD) that it is a pretty odd choice for the headline.

At what point does a long abandoned manure shed become worthy of being a listed building?

As soon as anyone proposes repurposing or demolishing the shed, it’s instantly transformed by the heritage industrial complex into an archetype of working class vernacular architecture.

Ancient? Most of the barns in my village are older than these "ancient ruines"