Definition: The connections the asset has to important events or people, or to movements or cultural expression. It may be important for its ties to a single point in time, or for how it documents the evolution of a place.

Examples could include notable individuals interred in a cemetery, local landowners associated with the construction of housing for their estate workers, a sculpture by a particular artist, or the location of a demonstration or rally.#

Factors that might affect the level of the value include:

• rarity, as an example of a specific person’s work or as the only place or starting point of a movement/chain of events
• contribution to the wider body of work or understanding about a person
• survival of the historic fabric or design, as a physical element that can help us understand and connect to intangible attributes
• a place or asset as inspiration for works of art and literature

For example, the significance of the war memorial pictured below lies principally in its historic associative value, through its association with lives lost in World War II. It serves as a permanent record and is accessible to all relatives and visitors.