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[{TableOfContents title='Section Contents'}]
[{TableOfContents title='A: An Introduction to Historic Environment Records'}]
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!!!Section A: An Introduction to Historic Environment Records
!!A.1 What are SMRs and HERs?
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The historic environment includes all aspects of our surroundings that have been built, formed or influenced by human activities from earliest to most recent times. An Historic Environment Record stores and provides access to systematically organised information about these surroundings in a given area. It is maintained and updated for public benefit in accordance with national and international standards and guidance. An HER makes information accessible to all in order to:
*advance knowledge and understanding of the historic environment;
*inform its care and conservation;
*inform public policies and decision-making on land-use planning and management;
*contribute to environmental improvement and economic regeneration;
*contribute to education and social inclusion;
*encourage participation in the exploration, appreciation and enjoyment of the historic environment.
The information held in HER databases and collections thus provides a starting point for management processes, conservation, fieldwork and research into the historic environment and also informs local communities about their area. In turn, many of these activities generate new information which feeds back to HER managers in the form of reports and archives that are used to enhance the HER (Figure. 1).
[{Image src='fig1.gif' alt='Figure 1: The HER 'wheel' drives and is powered by an integrated approach to conservation and understanding of the historic environment.'}] ''Figure 1: The HER 'wheel' drives and is powered by an integrated approach to conservation and understanding of the historic environment.''
!!A.1.1 The information resource
HERs cover archaeological and historical features and finds, the activities of people involved in investigating the historic environment, sources of information about their areas and the conservation management process. However, in the same way that human activity varied from area to area in the past so too does the information contained in HERs today. This is partly a reflection of variations in past human activity and partly due to differences in the way in which individual HERs have developed, which is expanded on later in this section.
!The historic landscape
In general, HER databases contain information about all of the ancient and historic features and sites in both countryside and town that make up the historic landscape. They range in date from the earliest hominid settlement to the Cold War period. Many monuments and features survive in visible form, and both enrich the public’s appreciation of the contemporary landscape and contribute to tourism. Other remains lie buried but can provide valuable enlightenment for this and future generations. Some sites are interpreted from place name or other evidence from maps and historic documents. In addition to this, coastal HERs include a wide range of sites and features reflecting the complex interaction between man and the sea, from remains of vessels to quays and harbours, inshore fisheries and shellfish cultivation as well as submerged landscapes. Individual HERs vary in the extent to which historic buildings, 20th-century structures, parks, gardens, landscapes and finds are represented in their records, but the scope of each should be clearly set out in a recording policy.
!Fieldwork
HER databases contain information about fieldwork carried out in their area, from the earliest antiquarian investigations through to the present-day activities of archaeologists, architectural recorders, surveyors, photographers and others. This information is used to set the known sites and monuments in the area in the context of the pattern of investigation and discovery. It can be used to identify areas for new fieldwork - to fill in apparent 'blanks' in the distribution of monuments - and to inform new understanding or to suggest investigative techniques that may yield good results. On completion of field projects, contractors supply a summary for inclusion in the HER followed by a report on the work. In Scotland, in addition to submission of fieldwork reports to the SMR, summaries are provided to the Council for Scottish Archaeology for inclusion in Discovery and Excavation in Scotland, an annual publication. Fieldwork reports are archived in the NMRS. Similarly in Wales, in addition to their submission to the HER, it is usual for recent fieldwork results to be summarised in the Council for British Archaeology, Wales annual publication Archaeology in Wales. Since it is usually some time before the results are published, HERs are an increasingly important source of information about these projects In England, the development of the Online AccesS to the Index of archaeological investigationS (OASIS) project (See sections B.5.4, C.7.3) is enabling contractors and curators to complete online recording forms and should facilitate supply of information from field projects to HERs. OASIS has been introduced for use in England and many HERs and contracting units are registered and using the system. The OASIS pilot is being extended to Scotland in 2006-7. The role of OASIS in Wales is as yet undecided.
!Casework
A growing number of archaeological curators are maintaining databases of their recommendations, the decisions made by planning authorities and grant applications. In some cases, these databases are being linked to the main HER database itself. This information is used to track the progress of planning and other consultations within the wider Archaeology or Historic Buildings Service. Some HERs are beginning to record the processes involved in managing field monuments in their databases in order to plan and monitor the impact of changes in management regimes and repair work.
!!A.1.2 HER collections
The information compiled in HER databases has been gathered from the wide range of sources that is summarised below. HER databases can provide catalogues of sources of information on the historic environment in their areas and refer enquirers to both their own reference collections and to material held in local museums, record offices and other repositories. Individual HERs will record the collections used to compile their records in a recording policy and create source/archive records to catalogue these collections within their database.
!Maps
Paper, film and digital copies of Ordnance Survey (OS) maps, supplied under licence, are kept in conjunction with the HER database. They are used to record the locations of monuments and finds, or to show archaeological constraint areas to highlight the potential implications of proposed development. Where paper maps are used, the map scales are normally 1:10,000 for rural areas and 1:2,500 or 1:1,250 for urban areas. Associated material includes map overlays, for example cropmark plots, and copies of historic maps, such as early editions of the OS or tithe maps. These may be held either as paper copy or digital mapping. The use of digital mapping and recording through GIS is increasing, and GIS standards are one aspect which is addressed more fully in this revision of the manual (See Section E).
!Published materials
Library collections based on local and national series of archaeological and historical society journals, specialist publications, gazetteers, catalogues and other reference works will normally be held within the HER office.
!Unpublished materials
These include fieldwork and other reports, dissertations, statutory protection documentation (for example scheduling notifications), notes and sometimes correspondence. Reports arise from archaeological work undertaken as part of development control or from planned research objectives, such as field survey or excavation of a particular class of monument. These reports may be held either as paper copy or digitally (or both).
!Photographic materials
Colour or black and white photographs and slides, digital photographs and videos may be kept by the HER. These derive from fieldwork, such as excavation, survey or planned site visits; or from the recording of finds in archaeological units, museums or specialist laboratories. This material will originate from both the host organisation and also from other organisations and private individuals who will retain title to its copyright. HERs are also recommended to maintain a collection of colour slides of illustrative materials for lecture and presentation purposes.
!Aerial photography and air-photographic transcriptions
Colour or black and white, vertical and oblique aerial-photographic prints, negatives and slides are all kept by HERs. Sources of photography include the National Monuments Records for England (NMRE), Scotland (NMRS), and Wales (NMRW), the Cambridge University Committee on Aerial Photography (now Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photographs (CUCAP), the Ordnance Survey (OS), the Royal Air Force (RAF) and regionally based individuals, including some HERs, taking aerial photographs of archaeological sites. Associated materials include flight traces and indexes. Air-photographic transcriptions may also be held on film, paper and digital map form. HERs hold copies of prints whose copyright (and often the original negative or slide) is retained by the photographer or commissioning organisation.
!Digital archives
These include floppy disks, CDs and DVDs, and other media holding digital data in formats which may include: databases, text files, image files, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Computer Aided Design (CAD) files, geophysical survey files. HERs may acquire this material from contractors following fieldwork and also create digital archive, through programmes of database and GIS compilation, data capture and scanning of slides, photographs or paper documents.
!!A.1.3 Informing services
!Strategic and local plans
HERs are used to help in the framing of strategic and local policies for conserving the historic environment. They are consulted to help determine the allocation of areas for development, although it is important to recognise that an apparent lack of archaeological features on an HER might reflect lack of fieldwork rather than absence of sites.
!Planning and development control
HERs play a key role in providing the information base for recommendations made by archaeological 'curators' in response to planning applications and other proposals. The scale of HER input will vary with the size of particular schemes: major infrastructure projects such as road and rail schemes require considerable numbers of records to be trawled and analysed. HERs are key sources of information for desktop assessments and provide background information used by archaeological contractors in the design of field projects. The results from developer-instigated fieldwork projects are then fed back into the HER.
!Managing monuments in the landscape
This is one area in which the information held in HER is becoming increasingly used proactively, for example as it has been recently in England in the the selection of monuments for consideration in English Heritage's Monuments Protection Programme (MPP). HERs formed a major source of information for the Monuments at Risk Survey (MARS) into the condition of field monuments in England (Darvill and Fulton 1998). HERs also form the basis for the selection of sites where improved management regimes or repair work would be beneficial. Whilst there has been no programme comparable to MPP in Scotland, Historic Scotland has in the past funded SMRs to compile Non-Statutory Registers of Monuments of Schedulable Quality. Under the terms of the Scottish planning guidance these are to be regarded as equivalent to scheduled sites in their treatment in development plans and the development control process. Non-Statutory Registers have been completed for most of Scotland. In Wales, Cadw sponsor a number of annual pan-Wales thematic surveys aimed at assessing the schedule of ancient monuments, making recommendations for new scheduling and identifying other monument and landscape management issues.
HERs in England have been a source of information for the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, a grant scheme which was first pilotted in 1991. It aims included the conservation of archaeological sites and historic features, by adapting land management practices. This scheme is now being replaced by a new agri-environment sceme, Environmental Stewardship, with two tiers – the Entry Level Scheme (ELS) and the Higher Level Scheme (HLS). HERs supply information on the archaeology of the area, together with recommendations as to the optimum method of land management. English Heritage is helping local authorities to employ Countryside Archaeological Advisors, whose role is to extract information from the HER and advise farmers and landowners on land management.
SMRs have been used in Scotland since 1997 as a source of archaeological information in connection with agri-environment grant application schemes, initially the Countryside Premium Scheme superseded in 2000 by the Rural Stewardship Scheme. Chargeable desk based archaeological audits are supplied by the Scottish SMRs for inclusion in farm conservation plans required as part of grant applications.
Since 1999 Tir Gofal, the all Wales agri-environment scheme, has promoted the conservation and sympathetic management of individual monuments and the wider historic landscape through the introduction of whole-farm management plans tied to annual payments. The historic environment of each farm entering the scheme is assessed, using information in the HER and targeted field visits, and specific management recommendations produced for indivudual monuments and the historic landscape in general. In addition to advice on the management of individual features the scheme also funds landowners to undertake a range of captial works to improve the condition of archaeological monuments and historic buildings.
!Education and presentation of sites to the public
Alongside their role in informing the planning and management process, HERs make a contribution to education through the use of their information and resources by schools, universities and the general public. HERs provide information for use on display panels at monuments and also for booklets, guides and trails aimed at a 'popular' audience.
!!A.2 How and why did SMRs and HERs develop?
Systematic records of archaeological and historic monuments began to be created in 1908 when the Royal Commissions (RCHME, RCAHMS, RCAHMW) were set up and instructed to make an inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of their respective countries. For example, the warrant for the RCHME required the Commission 'to make an inventory of the Ancient Monuments and Constructions connected with or illustrative of the contemporary culture, civilisation and conditions of life of the people in England covering the period from the earliest time to the year 1700’. The remit also included identification of ‘those which seem most worthy of preservation’ (RCHME 1992). In Scotland the cut-off date was initially set at 1707, the date of the union of the English and Scottish parliaments.
In fact, the OS had been depicting antiquities on maps since 1791. From the 1920s, its Archaeology Division developed a card-index system and a network of local correspondents provided this with information. Local records of field monuments and finds, often based on information collected by these correspondents, began to be developed by many museums.
During the 1960s there was a growing awareness of the rate at which archaeological sites were being damaged or destroyed and a need for the information amassed by the Royal Commissions and the OS to be available to the local-authority planning svstem. The Committee of Enquiry into the Arrangements for the Protection of Field Monuments (the 'Walsh' Committee, which covered England, Wales and Scotland) recommended the strengthening of existing legislation for the protection of ancient monuments, and concluded that the local-authority system could in future play a vital part in identifying and moderating threats to the historic landscape. It recommended that county planning authorities maintain a record of field monuments and that county councils should consider appointing archaeological officers to provide professional archaeological assistance (Walsh 1969). Following publication of the Walsh report, national networks of archaeological officers and SMRs began to emerge in England and Wales in the 1970s. Oxfordshire is generally credited with establishing the first SMR (Benson 1974). Similarly in 1974-75, SMRs were established in the four newly formed Welsh Archaeological Trusts thereby providing a national coverage across Wales.
In Scotland the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland produced a document in 1974 entitled “Archaeology and Local Government” in advance of the re-organisation of Scottish local government in 1975. The first local authority appointment was in Stirling County Council in 1974, before transfer to Central Regional Council in 1975, and the first direct appointment to a Regional Council was at Grampian Regional Council shortly thereafter.
In 1983 the OS's Archaeology Division was transferred to the Royal Commissions. The OS card index became part of the national archaeological records in the three national areas. The card index provided an essential source of information, which was used to establish many local SMRs.
During the 1980s and 1990s, the respective government departments, Royal Commissions and national agencies were concerned with the structure, content and development of local SMRs. In England, English Heritage (and earlier the Department of the Environment (DoE)) and the RCHME) supported enhancement projects and initial computerisation based on the AN32 recording form for scheduled monuments and the 'Superfile' database program. In 1989 the RCHME was given the lead role in respect of SMRs (continued by EH following merger) and subsequently supported fieldwork and recording projects in SMRs, and the development of data and recording standards (such as RCHME 1993). During the 1990s the RCHME assisted in the development of software for SMRs. This culminated in the launch in 1998 of an SMR software package (Historic Buildings, Sites and Monuments Records (HBSMR)) jointly developed with the ALGAO and exeGesIS SDM Ltd.
In Scotland equivalent roles were played by the Scottish Development Department’s Historic Buildings and Monuments Division, later Historic Scotland, and the RCAHMS. Currently Historic Scotland helps fund SMR development and the RCAHMS provides technical assistance. The Scottish bodies have not led software development for SMRs, but instead concentrated their efforts on trying to extend the geographical coverage of the Scottish SMRs by provision of pump-priming grants, firstly from the RCAHMS and later Historic Scotland, with the RCAHMS providing basic data from the national record. Now that the geographic coverage of SMRs in Scotland is almost complete, the focus of attention of both the national bodies and the local SMRs has switched to securing a national strategy for SMR development through the auspices of the Scottish SMR Forum. In Scotland SMRs have not yet achieved comprehensive recording of the archaeological potential of the country. Fieldwork and research results in significant SMR enhancement through new discoveries each year for large areas of Scotland, particularly in the upland zone.
In Wales the four HERs are owned and managed by the Welsh Archaeological Trusts (WATs) and thereby provide a uniform coverage across the whole country. From 1980 the original paper records underwent computerization, and considerable enhancement, although here the process was led by individual Trusts, following the ‘Oxford model’ and using a variety of software and hardware, with funding and support from various private initiatives and government agencies (such as job creation and employment training schemes). Latterly Cadw, and since 1989 RCAHMW under the oversight role for local HERs identified in its Royal Warrant, have taken a more formal role in Welsh HERs, with initiatives now coming from the Extended National Database for Wales partnership and the Strategic Framework for Historic Environment Records in Wales working group.
The WATs are independent charitable trusts, part funded by the Welsh Assembly Government to provide regional archaeological services. Some additional financial support is provided by a number of the local authorities. The Royal Commission for Ancient and Historic Monuments in Wales provides task specific grant aid for maintaining and enhancing the HERs, while funding to support public enquiries is provided by Cadw.
Following the publication of This Common Inheritance (DoE 1990b), government planning guidance was issued in the national areas. The DoE's Planning Policy Guidance Note 16: Archaeology and Planning (PPG16) appeared in 1990 (DOE 1990a), for England, in 1991 (Welsh Office 1991) for Wales and for Scotland National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 5 (SDD 1994a) and Planning Advice Note (PAN) 42 in 1994 (SDD 1994b). These recognised the importance of archaeological sites and emphasised both that archaeology is a material consideration in making planning decisions and the key role of SMRs in providing information for decision-making. Following the publication of the planning guidance, the 1990s saw a significant rise in the number of archaeological projects carried out in response to development proposals. This increased both the amount of information entering SMRs and the demand for that information from users. These changes sometimes gave rise to backlogs as SMR staff fulfilled the dual roles of planning advisor and also SMR manager. Another consequence of the planning guidance was competitive tendering for archaeological projects and it is now normal for a number of archaeological contractors (whether local authority units or independent companies) to compete for work in any area. This has emphasised the importance of SMRs as a central access point for information.
Until the mid-1990s in England most SMRs were operated by county councils or, in the former metropolitan counties, were jointly funded by district councils. In Scotland they were operated by the Regional Councils, in one region with joint funding from the district councils after 1994. This pattern changed after local government reorganisation following Local Government Acts, of 1992 for England and 1994 for Scotland. This resulted in England in the creation of a number of unitary authorities, mainly in urban areas with high population densities, with the two-tier system of county and district councils continuing elsewhere, and in Scotland in a system of unitary authorities. Some of the new unitary authorities have chosen to establish their own archaeological services and SMRs, whilst others have contracted out archaeological services under a joint arrangement, often with a neighbouring county council, under the terms of service-level agreements. In Scotland there are several joint arrangements and three unitary authorities buy in a service from a local heritage or amenity trust.
The Welsh SMRs, being operated by the WATs and therefore outside local authorities, have kept the same geographical boundaries since their inception in the 1970s. Originally concieved to cover the then newly created counties of 1974 the SMRs have continued to provided services to sucessive county, district and, since 1996 unitary authorites, under partnership arrangements and with each authority adopting the relevant SMR by formal resolution. Dislocation due to local government re-organisation has therefore been largely avoided in Wales.
In the 1990s a joint English Heritage-RCHME initiative created a series of Urban Archaeological Databases (UADs) in England. Some are effectively HERs for major historic towns, for example Chester; others are the enhancement of part of an existing HER such as Northampton. There is no such equivalent in Scotland but since 1977 Historic Scotland has funded the production of the Burgh Survey series which summarises the historical and archaeological evidence for Scotland’s medieval burghs. These are available to the Scottish SMRs but practice differs in respect of the incorporation of relevant data into the SMRs. There has been no systematic incorporation of the Burgh Survey information into the relevant SMR.
In 1999 the RCHME and English Heritage were merged to create a single organisation, English Heritage, concerned with the recording, protection and management of the historic environment in England. As the Government's statutory advisor on heritage conservation, archaeology and the management of the historic environment, English Heritage remains concerned with the effective application of HERs to heritage management at both local and national levels and has continued the former RCHME’s lead role. Its NMR continues to work to support inter-interoperability between local and national heritage information records.
This has not been paralleled by similar mergers in Wales or Scotland. In Scotland, Historic Scotland and the RCAHMS remain separate bodies. Historic Scotland provides some SMR support grant and relies on the RCAHMS for technical advice in this respect. To facilitate co-ordination of SMR development, a Scottish SMR Forum, comprising Historic Scotland, the RCAHMS, the Scottish SMRs, and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), was formed in 2000. The Forum has produced an unpublished report of the Operational Roles of SMRs and published a Co-Operation statement between Scottish SMRs and the [RCAHMS|http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/RCAHMS_smr.doc]. Within the Scottish SMR Forum, the SMR Technical Working Group discusses information related issues. At the end of 2004 the SMR Forum participants agreed in principle to work together to incorporate online SMR data into [Pastmap|http://www.pastmap.org] which currently provides access via the internet to GIS data on scheduled ancient monuments, listed buildings, the records of the NMRS (Canmore), and Historic Gardens and Designed Landscapes provided by Scottish Natural Heritage. SMR information began to be incorporated in Pastmap from late 2005 with more SMRs due to add their data in due course.
In February 2000 English Heritage was asked by the Government - jointly by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) - to co-ordinate an important and wide-ranging review of all policies relating to the historic environment. This was published as Power of Place: The future of the historic environment (English Heritage 2000). In its response, The Historic Environment: A Force for Our Future (DCMS 2001), the Government commited itself to holding a consultation on the future of HERs. This was carried out in 2003 and included a draft two-stage benchmarking standard Historic Environment Records: Benchmarks for Good Practice (Chitty 2002). The results were published together with the findings of the Heritage Protection Review as Review of Heritage Protection: The Way Forward (DCMS 2004). The results showed support for statutory status and standards. In parallel English Heritage commissioned a report assessing the resources required to bring all the HERs in England up to the 1st stage benchmark (Baker, Chitty and Edwards 2004).
There has been no equivalent support for statutory status for SMRs from the Scottish Executive, but the issue of standards is being covered by the Scottish SMR Forum and a report, which will set out digital standards for data submission to SMRs by archaeological contractors, has been prepared with the assistance of grant aid from Historic Scotland and is available via the internet ([ASPIRE|http://www.aspire-resource.info]).
The Welsh Assembly Government, through Cadw, has encouraged the Welsh Archaeological Trusts to secure the HERs as publicly accessible records should any Trust cease to operate. Alongside this Cadw, through the Strategic Framework for Historic Environment Records in Wales, has recognised the HER Benchmarks for Good Practice (Chitty 2002) and funding for the HERs from the RCAHMW is currently being targeted to enable Welsh HERs in the first instance to achieve the stage one benchmarks. Despite this there has been no statement from the Welsh Assembly Government in support of statutory status of HERs.
The development of SMRs and HERs is more fully described elsewhere (for example in Baker 1999a, 1999b, Benson 1974, Burrow 1984, Gilman 1996 and 2004, RCHME 1993. Hunter and Ralston 1993 and 2006, and Robinson 2000).
A.3 Who manages HERs?
Local authorities and most National Park authorities maintain records of the archaeological, built and natural environment. Specialist staff are employed to curate these records and also to provide specialist advice for land-use planning and public information services. Some major landowners, such as the National Trust and the Ministry of Defence, also maintain similar records, which are used to manage their landholdings for conservation, but not for development control purposes.
This page (revision-37) was last changed on 17-Sep-2012 12:00 by Alison BennettTop