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A Century of Ancient Monuments Legislation 1882–1982*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

A. D. Saunders
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Extract

In his Anniversary Address to the Fellowship on St. George's Day 1883 Lord Carnarvon commented on The Act for the Better Protection of Ancient Monuments of the previous year:

Gentlemen, I am sure you will agree with me that one of the first subjects on which I ought to congratulate both this Society and the archaeological world of England is the passing into law of the Bill for the Protection of Ancient Monuments to which successive Presidents of this Society have so often, during the last ten years, wished success from this place. Perhaps I ought rather to have said a Bill than the Bill, for we all know, and so knowing we all regret—no one more than Sir John Lubbock himself—in what a mutilated condition, shorn of many of its original provisions, crippled in its powers and limited in its scope that measure finally become the law of the land. For these untoward results we must thank the supineness of the public, the prejudices of Parliament and perhaps I may add the all absorbing pressure of Irish Measures.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 63 , Issue 1 , March 1983 , pp. 11 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1983

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References

Notes

1 Proc. Soc. Antiq. ix (1881–1883), 292.Google Scholar

2 Hutchinson, Horace G., Life of Sir John Lubbock, Lord Avebury (London, 1914), p. 150Google Scholar: ‘…fortunes of the Bill were so singular and so drawn out that they inspired some parliamentary joker to speak of it as the “monumentally ancient bill” before it actually passed a third reading for before doing so it had gone to a second reading no less than seven times.’

3 Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 (45–46 Vict. Ch. 73).

4 Pari. Pap. 1841 (416), vi. John Britton recommended to the Select Committee the setting up of a small commission to advise on the repair and preservation of national monuments. Crook, J. Mordaunt and Port, M. H., The History of the King's Works, vol. vi, 1782–1851 (London, 1973), p.641Google Scholar: ‘Although the Treasury referred the Committee's report to the Board of Woods and Works nothing came of Britton's suggestion.’

5 Kennet, Wayland, Preservation (London, 1972).Google ScholarHarvey, John, Conservation of Buildings (London, 1972)Google Scholar and ‘The origin of official preservation of ancient monuments’, Trans. Ancient Monuments Soc, n.s. ix (1961), 27–31.Google ScholarThompson, M. W., General Pitt-Rivers: Evolution and Archaeology in the Nineteenth Century (Bradford-on-Avon, 1977).Google Scholar Nicholas Cooper, lecture to the Society of Architectural Historians.

6 Lubbock first introduced his National Monuments Preservation Bill in 1873. It proposed to set up a National Monuments Commission. There would be a schedule of monuments (principally prehistoric earthworks and magaliths) and in the case of a scheduled monument it could, after giving the owner notice, assume a ‘power of restraint’. It could ultimately acquire monuments and spend money, with the consent of the Treasury, on compensation to owners and on preserving and investigating monuments. Wayland Kennet, op. cit., pp. 22–3.

7 Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882.

8 Kains-Jackson, Charles Philip, Our Ancient Monuments and the Land Around Them, with a perface by SirLubbock, John (London, 1880).Google Scholar

9 Not only were well-known monuments such as Stonehenge or Silbury Hill on the schedule, but lesser sites like the stone circles on Burn Moor, St. Bees Head and the ‘Devils Den’ near Marlborough; partly, it would appear, to obtain a wider representative sample and partly to give an even geographical spread.

10 Kains-Jackson, op. cit., p. iv.

11 Thompson, M. W., ‘The first Inspector ofAncient Monuments in the field’, J.B.A.A., 3rdser. xxiii (1960), 103Google Scholar and Thompson, op cit., (n. 5).

12 P.R.O. Works, 14/211, Stanton Drew.

13 P.R.O. Works, 14/20, Castlerigg Stone Circle.

14 P.R.O. Works, 14/128, Kit's Coty House.

15 Saunders, Peter, ‘General Pitt-Rivers and Kit's Coty House’, Antiquity, lv (1981), 51–3.Google Scholar

16 P.R.O. Works, 14/128.

17 Barry, T. B., ‘Two letters from the General,’ Antiquity, xlv (1971), 217–20.Google Scholar

18 Letter from Pitt-Rivers to Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, 20th April 1896, Ants. Corr. quoted by Evans, Joan, A History of the Society of Antiquaries (Oxford, 1956), p. 365.Google Scholar

19 Barry, op cit, (n. 17). The comment on travelling expenses was incorrect. Pitt-Rivers was entitled to £1 a night for subsistence and received expenses in the early years. He did not claim expenses after 1884, probably owing to a disagreement over expenses for his assistants: H.M.C. Catalogue of the Correspondence and Papers of Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers Lieutenant General, Anthropologist and Archaeologist, 1855–1899, listed by Thompson, M. W. (London, 1976).Google Scholar

20 P.R.O. Works, 14/20.

21 Evans, op. cit., p. 333, Ants. Corr. 30th June 1886.

22 Letter from Pitt-Rivers to the Duke of Wellington, 9th July 1889, transcribed by the late Francis Needham from the Apsley House archives.

23 P.R.O. Works, 14/90.

24 ‘I am at this moment arranging for the ancient cross at Llangan being put into the church for protection, the expense being borne by Lord Dunraven and not either at the expense or the responsibility of the Govt.’ Letter 20th December 1895 to George Payne: op. cit., (n. 17).

25 Ibid.

26 Murray, David, An Archaeological Survey of the United Kingdom. The Preservation and Protection of our Ancient Monuments (Glasgow, 1896).Google Scholar

27 Brown, G. Baldwin, The Care of Ancient Monuments (Cambridge, 1905).Google Scholar

28 A government archaeological survey of certain provinces of India was in progress during the 1860s. In 1881 the office of Curator of Ancient Monuments in India was created:Murray, op. cit.

29 The Irish Church Act 1869 led to the disestablishment of the Irish Church and responsibility for over 100 ecclesiastical ruins was transferred to the Commissioners of Worksin Ireland.

30 By Order of 30th October 1880, 137 structures were vested in the Irish Commissioners of Works and £50,000 provided for their preservation and maintenance. The Irish Ancient Monuments Act of 1892 authorized the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland to accept the guardianship of ancient monuments generally.

31 City of Chester Act 1884.

32 Inf. from Nicholas Cooper.

33 The Committee for the Survey of the Memorials of Greater London was formed in1894. ‘Its object is to watch and register whatstill remains of beautiful or historic works in Greater London, and to bring such influence to bear from time to time as shall save it from destruction or lead to its utilization for public purposes.’

34 Joan Evans, op. cit. (n. 18), p. 365.

35 Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1900 (63 and 64 Vict. Ch. 34). An Act to amend the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882, 6th August 1900. It was introduced by Lord Balcarres.

36 Town and Country Planning Act 1947 et al.

37 Iain Maclvor and Richard Fawcett, ‘One hundred years on! Ancient Monuments 1882–1982: a view from Scotland’, Popular Archaeology (November 1982), 17–25.

38 H. A. Doubleday and G. L. Gomme drew up a preliminary scheme in 1899. The first volume was Hampshire, 1 (1900); see Pugh, R. B. (ed.), The Victoria History of England, General Introduction (Oxford, 1970).Google Scholar

39 Annual Reports of the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland: 1903–6, Holy Cross Abbey, Co. Tipperary; 1906–7, Clonmacnois, King's County; 1909, Grey Abbey and Rock of Cashel; 1909–10, 1911–12, Glendalough; 1912–13, etc., Dublin.

40 The lack of a professional appointment was referred to in the Anniversary Address of 1902, Proc. Soc. Antiq. xix, 101, and in 1905, Proc. Soc. Antiq. xx, 294, and in 1906, the year that Council met the Prime Minister with the proposition that ‘The Government should either restore the full control of these monuments, a course which would be very unfortunate, or it should carry out loyally its part of the compact’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. xxi, 171, 447.

41 Anniversary Address 1907, Proc. Soc. Antiq. xxi, 431–54.

42 Reports on monuments by James Fitzgerald, D.A.M.H.B. Library MS., Fortress House, London W1X 2HE.

43 P.R.O. Works, 14/20.

44 Memorandum by the First Commissioner of Works, Report of the Inspector of Ancient Monuments for the year ending 31 March, 1911. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty (London, 1911).Google Scholar

45 List of Historic Buildings in care 1909. England: Carisbrooke Castle; Dartmouth Castle; Dover Castle (parts); Dover, Bredenstone and Knights Templar Church; Falmouth, Pendennis Blockhouse; Portsmouth town gates; Richmond Castle; Ludgershall Castle; Isles of Scilly, King Charles's Castle, Cromwell's Castle; Star Castle; Tower of London; Tynemouth Priory; Walmer Castle. Wales: Caernarvon Castle. Scotland: Arbroath Abbey; Dundrennan Abbey; Dunfermline Abbey; Earl of Mars Lodging, Stirling; Elgin Cathedral; Egilsay Church, Orkney; Fortrose Cathedral; Glasgow Cathedral; Haddington Abbey; Holyrood Palace; Linlithgow Palace; St. Andrew's Cathedral; St. Andrew's Castle; Dunblane Cathedral; Kinkill Church; Berwick on Tweed ramparts; Edinburgh Castle; Stirling Castle; Beauly Abbey; Brechin Cathedral.

46 Radford, C. A. Ralegh, ‘Sir Charles Reed Peers 1868–1952’, Proc. Brit. Acad, xxxix (1953), 363.Google Scholar Anniversary Address 1910 by Sir Charles Hercules Read: ‘One event of the past year can be regarded by the Society as entirely satisfactory. I refer to the appointment of our Secretary, Mr. Peers, to the important post of Inspector of Ancient Monuments. … Now, however, not only have we an inspector appointed, but the fact of his being an officer of the Society will save the trouble of our passing resolutions with regard to the duties of his office, as he will be always with us to furnish any explanations that may be called for, and it may be that we shall point out to him from time to time, where in our view his duty lies. It is, however, a matter for real satisfaction that an officer of the Society should hold this responsible post, and that he should be a man so thoroughly competent as Mr. Peers.’ Proc. Soc. Antiq. xxiii, 180.

47 Report of the Inspector of Ancient Monuments for year ending 31 March 1911 (H.M.S.O., London, 1911).Google Scholar

48 The Hon. SirMcDonnell, Schomberg K., ‘The protection of ancient buildings and monuments’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. xxiv (1911), 15–32.Google Scholar

49 ‘In order to ensure a closer and more constant supervision, the arrangement by which the carrying out of all work on the monuments has hitherto been shared between a number of the Board's architects has been terminated, and a special staff, under Mr. Frank Baines, M.V.O., has been appointed to deal exclusively with this work’: Report of the Inspector of Ancient Monuments for the year ending 31 March 1912 (H.M.S.O., London, 1912).Google Scholar

50 Anthony Salvin was invited to survey Newark Castle in 1844 and repairs were carried out the following year, also to Salvin's instructions, at Caernarvon Castle. Salvin also carried out repairs at Carisbrooke Castle in 1845–8 and Lanercost Priory in 1847/8. See The History of the King's Works, vi, 1782–1851, ed. Crook, J. Mordaunt and Port, M. H. (London, 1973) pp. 642–3.Google Scholar

51 A detailed specification for the use of lias lime mortar was drawn up with the advice of John Bilson, F.S.A., and circulated widely: Report of the Inspector of Ancient Monuments, 1911.

52 Report of the Inspector of Ancient Monuments. 1912.

53 ‘Report upon and results of rough tests undertaken with various stone preservatives’, Frank Baines; ‘Report on the use of limes and sands for pointing’, Frank Baines; ‘General instructions to foremen in charge of the works ofpreservation’, Frank Baines: appendices to Report of the Inspector of Ancient Monuments … 1913.

54 P.R.O. Works, 14/131 ff. 3 et seq.

55 P.R.O. Works, 14/13.

56 Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act 1913 (3 and 4 Geo. 4 Ch. 32).

57 Minutes of the Ancient Monuments Board for England, D.A.M.H.B. Fortress House, London W1X 2HE.

58 At the first meeting of the Ancient Monuments Board for England membership was as follows: Lionel Earle, Chairman, Lord Crawford, Sir Aston Webb, Reginald Blomfield, Sir Hercules Read, P.S.A., C. P. Trevelyan, M.P., Professor Haverfield, Reginald Smith, C. R. Peers, Chief Inspector, Harry Sirr, F.R.I.B.A., Inspector, secretary. Lords Burghclere and Beauchamp and Professor Lethaby apologised for their absence.

59 F. J. E. Raby was not only the Assistant Secretary responsible for the Ancient Monuments Division, contributor to official guide-books, but also author of A History of Secular Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages and A History of Christian Latin Poetry. ‘He was a staunch and good friend to archaeologists and to this Society’, Professor Francis Wormald's Anniversary Address 1967, Antiq. J. xlvii (1967), 159.Google Scholar

60 William George Arthur Ormsby-Gore, fourth Lord Harlech, First Commissioner of Works 1931–6. He wrote four volumes in the series Guide to the Ancient Monuments of England: D.N.B. 1961–70, p. 812.

61 A review of the care of monuments, its philosophy, strengths and weaknesses is available in Vale, Edmund, Ancient England. A Review of Monuments and Remains in Public Care and Ownership (London, 1941).Google Scholar Papers by Peers, C. R., ‘The treatment of old buildings’, R.I.B.A. Journal, 3rd ser. xxxviii (1931), 311Google Scholar, and Baines, F., ‘Preservation of ancient monuments and historic buildings’, R.I.B.A. Journal, 3rd ser. xxxi (1923), 104 and 165Google Scholar, put the official point of view. Powys, A. R., putting the S.P.A.B. viewpoint in From the Ground Up (London, 1937)Google Scholar, described the very able staff who get in touch with public authorities who contemplate changes to an ancient monument and by ‘persuasion rather than autocratic power of veto’ influence decisions. He emphasized the ‘great knowledge and persuasive widsom of Sir Charles Peers’.

62 Bushe-Fox, J. P., Report on Excavations at Hengistbury Head, Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries. No. III (1915).Google Scholar

63 Bushe-Fox, J. P., Excavations on the Site of the Roman Town at Wroxeter, Shropshire, 1912, 1913, 1914, Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries Nos. 1, 11 and iv (1913, 1914, 1916).Google Scholar

64 SirWheeler, Mortimer, Still Digging (London, 1955), p. 67.Google Scholar

65 An incident which is said to have inspired the detective story by Casson, Stanley, Murder by Burial (Harmondsworth, 1938).Google Scholar

66 The excavated moats of Helmsley Castle are a good example of the visible results of theserelief schemes.

67 Examples included Netley Abbey, Hampshire; Nunney Castle, Somerset; and Colchester Dykes, Essex.

68 One of Peers's first tasks was to inspect the destruction of parts of Hadrian's Wall. In his first (1911) report he said ‘The destruction is not now rapid, but may at any time become so …’. On 21st May 1930 the English Ancient Monuments Board sent a memorandum to the First Commissioner advising him that the Wall was seriously threatened by new quarries and urging him ‘to preserve the historic area intact’. Ancient Monuments Act 1931 (12 and 22 Geo. s Ch. 16).

69 Joan Evans, op. cit. (n. 18), p. 399.

70 Chettle, G. H. read a paper on excavations on the site of Whitehall Palace: Antiq. J. xix (1939), 358; unpublished.Google Scholar

71 White, Lawson Scott and Gardner, George Anthony, Government Offices, Whitehall Gardens. The Special Problem of the Re-siting of an Historic Building, The Institution of Civil Engineers Paper No. 5765 (London, 1950).Google Scholar

72 Hawkes, Jacquetta, Mortimer Wheeler, Adventurer in Archaeology (London, 1982), p. 219.Google Scholar

73 On 13th January 1944 Wheeler read apaper to the Society on ‘Archaeology in the warzone: facts and needs’: Evans op. cit. (n. 18), p. 430.

74 Resulting from the amalgamation of the Ministries of Public Building and Works, Transport and Housing and Local Government into the Department of the Environment in 1970 came the Directorate of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings which fused those divisions of the Department concerned with all aspects of preservation and conservation of the man-made environment.

75 The main statutory provisions relating to listed buildings and conservation areas are: The Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953, The Local Authorities (Historic Buildings) Act 1962 and The Town and Country Planning Act 1971 as extensively amended and extended by the Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Act 1972 and the 1974 Act.

76 Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 (Ch. 46).

77 Clark, Graham, ‘Archaeology and the State’, Antiquity, viii, no. 32 (1934), 44.Google Scholar

78 Sutton Scarsdale (1971), Hill Hall, (1975), Witley Court (1972) and The Grange (1975) came into the Department's care either by deed of guardianship, transfer or by Preservation Order.

79 I. R. Gow and P. J. Drury, Audley End, handbook (forthcoming).

80 Hamilton, J. R. C., Excavations of Jarlshof, Shetland, Ministry of Works Archaeological Reports No. 1 (Edinburgh, 1956).Google Scholar

81 The Ancient Monuments Laboratory was started by J. F. S. Jack single-handed in 1931. Previously the comparatively small number of finds were treated in the British Museum Laboratory, but as the numbers grew Dr. Alexander Scott at the British Museum could no longer undertake this work. MS., ‘History of the Antiques Laboratory’, Ancient Monuments Laboratory, Fortress House, London W1X 2HE.

82 ‘One of the most serious obstacles to the adequate protection of ancient buildings is the fact that up to the present time the prevention of decay in stonework is for the most part in the experimental stage only, the many factors which have to be taken into account making it unlikely that the discovery of a royal road to this most desirable end will be made at an early date’: Inspector of Ancient Monuments Report… 1912.

83 Thompson, M. W., Ruins. Their Preservation and Display (London, 1981).Google Scholar

84 ‘The educational value of our national monuments has too long been overlooked by the State but it only needs demonstration to be generally appreciated’: Inspector of Ancient Monuments Report… 1912.

85 Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953, Pt. III, Section 17.

86 In December 1948 a Committee was appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir Stafford Cripps) under the chairmanship of Sir Ernest Gowers to suggest ways of safeguarding the historic houses of the country. The Committee reported in March 1950: Houses of Outstanding Historic or Architectural Interest (London, 1950).Google Scholar

87 Organisation of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings in England, Department of the Environment, Consultation Paper (London, 1981)Google Scholar; Organisation of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings in England. The Way Forward, Department of the Environment (London, 1982).Google Scholar

88 My warmest thanks are due to many colleagues, past and present, who have assisted me in the preparation of this paper. Photography for pls. III and IV was carried out by Miss Eliza Lawler of the Ancient Monuments Laboratory.