Some suggested Draft Guidelines for co-operation between local societies and English Heritage, Historic Scotland, and CADW


English Heritage and its congeners have little co-operation with local amateur societies and rarely consults them about what it is doing in their areas. Thus major projects such as:

* Urban Databases
* Wetlands survey
* Coastal survey
* Birmingham’s jewellery quarter and similar surveys
* The Whitby project
* Surveys done by the former RCHM

all appear to be done with little co-operation with local societies.

Similarly, Monuments in care (guardianship monuments) are run without reference to local societies.

The CIA would like to suggest that a system should be established where, as a matter of course, local societies should always be consulted about work carried out by, or initiated by the State bodies in their area.

The State bodies (henceforward SBs- a term which will also include, for instance, the Royal Commissions in Scotland and Wales) should regard the independent local archaeological societies as the stakeholders for archaeology in their area. The SBs should always seek to co-operate with such societies, notably those that are long established and can demonstrate their independence.

We therefore propose:

A list of stakeholding societies should be established. This should perhaps best be done by the County archaeologists, and the SBs should include the preparation of such a list in the tasks for the County Archaeologists, and should be prepared to subsidise this if necessary.

Alternatively (or in addition) the county societies should be encouraged to act as the flagship for the local societies in their country (and the CIA will also be willing to help).

Management schemes. All schemes for the management of monuments should be referred to the stakeholders in the area. Where small scale explorations are needed, the stakeholders should be given the opportunity to carry out this work, and should be given the facilities to do so.

Survey projects. . The stakeholding societies should be consulted before the establishment of Urban databases or other survey projects in their area. Indeed it should be considered whether in some cases, it would be better to funnel grants for compiling urban databases through the local society, thus ensuring the closest local co-operation. This should also apply to the work of the Royal Commissions in Scotland and Wales, which should not undertake surveys without local co-operation.

Monuments in Care. Work on Monuments in care should not be carried out without consultation with the stakeholding society. Stakeholders should be encouraged to believe that they too have a major stake in the monument, and should be encouraged to research it



Caveat. Many, probably most, local societies do not wish to become involved in ‘politics’ or indeed in paperwork. It is essential therefore that any scheme put forward should be simple and straightforward, and should demonstrate to the societies the benefit to them of co-operating with the SBs.


Addendum. The Council for Independent Archaeology does not confine its interest to ‘amateur’ archaeologists, but seeks to include all 'independent' archaeologists - including for example universities, the Time Team, and projects funded by Trusts and other bodies, and by Earthwatch and similar schemes.

We should be prepared therefore to take up some of their concerns: this would include:

  • The simplification of Scheduled Monument Consent,
  • The recognition that MAP 2 (Management of Archaeological Projects, version 2) is not suitable for extension outside the civil service.
  • We also perhaps need to instigate a major discussion as to the purposes of ‘conservation’, noting for instance the damage done to many ‘scheduled’ monuments by e.g. the lowering of the water table. We should also emphasise that the legal protection of monuments is likely to be ineffective unless it is accompanied by local support.
  • We should also note the criticism in Scotland of the Scots Treasure Trove Laws


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