Scheduled Ancient Monument
P
art one of the Ancient
Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, as amended by the National
Heritage Act 1983
enables the Secretary of State for National Heritage to maintain a schedule
of nationally important sites. In practice this task is undertaken on his behalf
by local agencies, almost always County Councils or their successors. In some
areas, for example smaller unitary authorites, archeological provision is not
always very comprehensive.
For the purposes of the Act a monument is defined as:
• any building, structure or work, whether above
or below the surface of the land, and any cave or excavation;
• any site comprising the remains of any such building, structure or
work or of any cave or excavation; and
• any site comprising, or comprising the remains of, any vehicle, vessel,
aircraft or other moveable structure or part thereof which neither constitutes
nor forms part of any work which is a monument as defined within paragraph
a) above;
• and any machinery attached to a monument shall be regarded as part
of the monument if it could not be detached without being dismantled.
The Act further defines an ancient monument as "any Scheduled
Monument; and any other monument which in the opinion of the Secretary of State
is of public interest by reason of the historic, architectural, traditional,
artistic or archaeological interest attaching to it". In order to decide
which ancient monuments thus defined are of national importance and also deemed
best managed by scheduling there exist eight non-statutory criteria. The criteria
are survival/condition, period, rarity, fragility/vulnerability, diversity,
documentation, group value and potential (see the Lincolnshire Archaeological
Handbook Appendix 2 for further detail). The Act also indicates that monuments
may be protected not only by designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument but
also by being taken under ownership or Guardianship of the Secretary of State
or a local authority or by being in an area of archaeological importance.
Information on this page has been taken
from the Lincolnshire
Archaeological Handbook.
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Naturenet