London, July 6 : Golf's growing popularity is posing a big threat to Britain's traditional landscapes, a new report has suggested.

Britons growing interest in the sport has led to dozens of important parks being turned into 18-hole courses, leading to what English Heritage claims is "irreversible damage to the historic environment".

The warning comes as the organisation prepares to launch the first comprehensive register of the country's neglected historic treasures this week.

Its "Heritage at Risk" report will identify listed buildings, monuments, churches, battlefields and even shipwrecks that it believes are in jeopardy, and discuss what can be done to preserve them, reports the Telegraph.

The survey, the first document of its kind to include parks, gardens and landscapes, will warn that golf courses are frequently being imposed on the landscape in an "alien and insensitive" way.

The report revealed that 116 historically important parks in the South East UK have been converted into golf courses since the 1980s.

The gardens and landscape of stately homes and country houses are particularly at risk.

"Heritage at Risk", to be published on July 8, includes an assessment of all 19,711 of the country's scheduled monuments, all 1,595 registered historic parks, gardens and landscapes, all 43 registered battlefields and all 45 protected shipwrecks.

ANI