The monuments at risk survey: an introduction.

Darvill, Timothy ; Wainwright, Geoffrey

Another step has started in trying to figure out just what the collected archaeology of England amounts to -- this time, with its change in mind.

Background

England's archaeological resource is becoming increasingly well documented and recorded through the creation, curation and enhancement of local sites and monuments records and the RCHME's National Monuments Record. Upwards of half-a-million sites and monuments are catalogued (RCHME 1993: 34), and initiatives such as the Monuments Protection Programme have already gone a long way towards identifying and preserving the most important sites (Startin 1988). But as archaeological resource management moves into a more mature phase, information about the resource itself and the way it is changing needs to be gathered so that policies and approaches to conservation, curation, recording, analysis, research and investigation can be built upon the best current information. Yardsticks are also required to monitor the progress and efficiency of current and future conservation initiatives over the long term.

A number of recent studies have underlined the need for quantified, nationwide information (e.g. IAM 1984; Darvill 1987; English Heritage 1991; RCHME 1993), particularly as archaeological considerations become increasingly important in environmental assessment, land-use planning, development control and estate management.

MARS, the Monuments At Risk Survey, is the programme intended to fill the present gap in knowledge. The project has been commissioned by English Heritage from the Department of Conservation Sciences at Bournemouth University and is being undertaken in association with the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England.

MARS aims and coverage

The specific aims of the MARS Project are:

1 A systematic quantification by sample of England's archaeological resource in terms of:

* The changing state of knowledge about the scale and nature of the archaeological resource including: levels of archaeological recording for single monuments, archaeologically defined landscapes and historic urban areas;

* The scale and rate of physical impact on monuments since 1940, and the reasons and causes for this;

* The present condition and survival of the recorded archaeological resource and future projections of it; and

* The effect of measures introduced to improve management of individual monuments, especially the role of site-and area-specific designations.

2 An investigation into the implications of monument decay for different classes of monument, in terms of the information preserved at different states of survival.

3 The preparation of publications and presentational materials to convey information to a range of audiences.

Within these aims, MARS is concerned with all archaeological monuments in England, Scheduled or not, currently recorded in a national or local archaeological record. For ease of study, they will be sub-divided into five main groups -- small single monuments, large monuments, extensive monuments, linear monuments and standing structures -- further sub-divided by monument class. Historic buildings will be included where they have been incorporated on existing records, but not domestic dwellings constructed after 1700.

Approaches and methodology

For the estimated 600,000 records of archaeological sites and monuments in England, a national sampling strategy has been developed from a pilot study undertaken in Wiltshire. All the recognized monuments occurring within approximately 1300 sample units, each covering an area 1 km by 5 km, will be studied in detail. This will give a 5% sample of the land area of England, the individual sample units being selected as a gridded random sample to allow statistical comparison.

Data collection and analysis will proceed along three main, roughly parallel, lines of enquiry.

First, the accumulated records in the National Monuments Record and the local Sites and Monuments Records will be examined for records relating to the sample units. All the recorded monuments in the sample units will then be visited and key variables assessed to give a picture of the state of the resource at a single point in time (c. AD 1995). A team of 15 field-staff, working simultaneously in three regions (north, west and east) will carry out this work.

Second, aerial photographs, early descriptions, and previous field-survey records relating to the identified monuments will be collected and examined with a view to assessing the key variables as they can be determined for each of the last five decades, the 1980s back to the 1940s. A team of three specialists, based with the RCHME in Swindon, will carry out these studies which will assess the land-use changes visible on the archive aerial photographs.

The third area of data collection involves assembling general national statistics and researching detailed case-studies. These will examine changes to archaeological sites in twelve distinctive types of countryside (e.g. arable land, woodland, permanent pasture etc.) and a range of urban areas. Attention will also focus on the way different classes of monument change through time, and the kinds of data they retain at different stages of decay. A team of six, mainly based at Bournemouth University, will undertake this research.

For each monument examined in the field some 26 key variables will be recorded, ranging from monument form and class through to survival and decay. Special emphasis is being given to documenting land-use both on and around monuments. New ways of quantifying observable traits have been developed for some variables. The results of these studies will be used for wide-ranging analyses at national, regional and sub-regional level. Throughout, the aim is to develop general understandings of the dynamics of the resource rather than an attempt to identify particular monuments which are or might be at risk.

Project programme and management

The Project has been arranged in 10 main phases, following the pilot study in Wiltshire completed in 1991. The Project is based in the Department of Conservation Sciences at Bournemouth University, although for fieldwork there will be several satellite regional centres. A steering committee chaired by Professor Geoffrey Wainwright monitors the work of the project as a whole with day-to-day management in the hands of the project director, Professor Timothy Darvill, and the project manager Andrew Fulton. The overall cost of the work will be in the region of [pounds] 900,000.

The main phase of fieldwork and data-collection is scheduled to take place from late July 1994 through to January 1996. Assessment and analysis of this data is scheduled for the remainder of 1996 with completion early in 1997.

MARS in relation to other initiatives

A project of the scale and importance of MARS cannot stand in isolation; it is inexorably connected to other studies of land-use, landscape, and countryside change by central government (Barr 1986; Barr et al. 1993; DoE 1992a; 1992b), the Countryside Commission (1990) and English Nature (1993). MARS will help ensure that archaeological interests are well represented within the broad arena of environmental conservation by documenting and analysing the current situation. A bench-mark will also have been established for periodic studies in decades to come.

MARS also complements English Heritage work, especially the Monuments Protection Programme. In the short term, the results from MARS will assist in targeting the resources of MPP towards monuments and landscapes at risk. Work on the MPP for its part will provide data for monument classes and scheduled sites already covered by the long-term survey programme.

References

BARR, C.J., R.G.H. BUNCE, R.T. CLARKE, R.M. FULLER, M.T. FURSE, M.K. GILLESPIE, G.B. GROOM, C.J. HALLAM, M. HORNUNG, D.C. HOWARD & M.J. NESS. 1986. Landscape changes in Britain. London: Institute of Terrestrial Ecology.

1993. Countryside Survey 1990: main report. London: Department of the Environment.

COUNTRYSIDE COMMISSION. 1990. Changes in landscape features in England and Wales 1947-1985. Cheltenham: Countryside Commission. CCD 44.

DARVILL, T. 1987. Ancient monuments in the countryside: an archaeological management review. London: English Heritage. Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England Archaeological Report 5.

DOE. 1992a. Changes in land use in England in 1985 and 1986, Land Use Change in England Statistical Bulletins 6: (92)3.

1992b. Changes in land use in England 1987, Land Use Change in England Statistical Bulletins 7: (92)4.

ENGLISH HERITAGE. 1991. Exploring our past: strategies for the archaeology of England. London: English Heritage.

ENGLISH NATURE. 1993. Strategy for the 1990s. Natural Areas. Setting nature conservation objectives. Consultation paper. Peterborough: English Nature.

IAM. 1984. England's archaeological resource: a rapid quantification of the national archaeological resource and a comparison with the schedule of ancient monuments. Circulated typescript report. London: Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments.

RCHME. 1993. Recording England's past: a review of the national and local sites and monuments records in England. London: RCHME.

STARTIN, B. 1988. The Monuments Protection Programme, Conservation Bulletin 6: 1-2.