Scheduled Ancient Monuments

P

Peter Burgess

New member
You may be interested in a hitherto neglected aspect of site protection and conservation.

This relates to the scheduling of Ancient Monuments, administered by English Heritage, or CADW in Wales.

In Reigate there are a number of old sand mines and tunnels in the town centre. Much of them underlie Reigate Castle which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. In discussion with English Heritage, we raised the question about whether the protection offered to the surface features would apply to any underground features or structures as well. EH more or less said they had never really thought about it, but did confirm that this is the case.

So if any natural cave/mine/tunnel system underlies a SAM, the level of protection offered to the surface features will apply equally to the underground stuff as well.

In practice, this means obtaining consent for any alteration, excavation, conservation work etc from Eh/CADW beforehand.

Thoughts?
 
C

cucc Paul

Guest
This does seem logical in some aspects as many old castels etc used wells for water supply and underlieing mines/tunnels could have been used as escape passages etc so although the features are underground they could be integral to the surface structure.

Also digging under the foundations of a crumbling castle wall.... mmm might not be such a bright idea :LOL:
 
P

Peter Burgess

New member
That's correct. One system in Reigate is the only surviving 'structure' of the old castle - the buildings disappeared centuries ago. Other systems are sand mines - probably the only scheduled sand mines in the country, but only because of where they are - directly beneath the precincts of the old castle. When we had to clear up thousands of broken bottles from the caves in order to allow public tours, we had to conduct a sample excavation to prove that none of the bottles predated 1900 before going ahead. EH then gave us SAM consent to clear the glass. We have left some areas fenced off and full of glass to 'preserve' this aspect of the mine AKA a rubbish dump. And all the glass we cleared remained in the system, moved to an area away from the tour route.
 
Johnny

Johnny

New member
A similar system of designation exists for SSSI's.
Derbyshire has SAM's that are mines and Derbyshire cavers work with both English Heritage and English Nature to monitor such sites.
The help of cavers is extremely valuable to these organisations as they would not be able to monitor such sites without them.
There is therefore a good relationship with governmental bodies charged with protecting sites an permissions for exploration can be negotiated openly.
 
P

Peter Burgess

New member
Johnny

Were the Derbyshire SAMs created primarily to protect the surface features, or was the value of surviving underground features taken into consideration? Are there any SAMs that exist solely on the grounds of what survives underground?
 
Johnny

Johnny

New member
Both. Cop Rake on Bradwell Moor is a SAM due to the surface features but I believe, I will have to check, that Ecton Copper Mines are also designated.
 
J

Jagman

New member
Not sure on this one, Nenthead Mines are classified as a World Heritage Site (on a par with the Great Wall of China!) and as such classed higher than Ancient Monuments.
MAny digs are in progress underground and no permision is deemed necessary :?
No active preservation work is taken underground by the "Trust" which seems to me defeat the purpose, they do have a show mine but the remaining hundred plus miles of tunnels and stopes have no maintenance other than mine explorers.......
 
graham

graham

New member
Jagman said:
Nenthead Mines are classified as a World Heritage Site (on a par with the Great Wall of China!) and as such classed higher than Ancient Monuments.
Click to expand...

Are you sure? This is the list on the DCMS website:

The UK currently has 26 World Heritage Sites:

Durham Cathedral and Castle (1986)
Fountains Abbey, St Mary's Church and Studley
Royal Park (1986)
Ironbridge Gorge (1986)
Stonehenge, Avebury and associated sites (1986)
Blenheim Palace and Park (1987)
Palace of Westminster, St Margaret's Church and Westminster Abbey (1987)
City of Bath (1987)
Hadrian's Wall (1987)
The Tower of London (1989)
Canterbury Cathedral (with St Augustine's Abbey and St Martin's Church) (1988)
Castle and Town Walls of Edward I in Gwynedd (1986)
St Kilda (1986) (natural site)
Giant's Causeway and Causeway coast (1986) (natural site)
Henderson Island, South Pacific Ocean (1986) (natural site)
Edinburgh Old and New Towns (1996)
Gough island Wildlife Reserve, South Atlantic Ocean (1996) (natural site)
Maritime Greenwich (1997)
Heart of Neolithic Orkney (1999)
Historic Town of St George and Related
Fortifications Bermuda (2000)
Blaenavon Industrial Landscape (2000)
Dorset and East Devon Coast (2001) (natural site)
Derwent Valley Mills (2001)
New Lanark (2001)
Saltaire (2001)
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2003)
Liverpool Maritme Mercantile City (2004)
Click to expand...
 
M

Mine Explorer

Guest
Jagman said:
Not sure on this one, Nenthead Mines are classified as a World Heritage Site (on a par with the Great Wall of China!) and as such classed higher than Ancient Monuments.
MAny digs are in progress underground and no permision is deemed necessary :?
No active preservation work is taken underground by the "Trust" which seems to me defeat the purpose, they do have a show mine but the remaining hundred plus miles of tunnels and stopes have no maintenance other than mine explorers.......
Click to expand...


The area around Nenthead is part of one of these new fangled "Geopark" type things - but that's different to SAM/WHS.

Certainly the main part of the Nenthead site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, hence why the trust are currently negotiating permissions for certain projects, at least one of which has an underground element.

The owner of the mineral rights doesn't permit mineral collecting at the Nenthead mines, but unfortunatley that doesn't stop some people ignoring the fact and hacking the place apart, often quite openly. <shrug>

The NPHT do organise occasional clean-up sessions underground to remove rubbish, and they sometimes try to remove the graffiti that numerous visitors feel the need to leave underground - most notably in the Ballroom flat. Usually the best they can acheive is to cover it over with mud so it's not so noticable for a while.
 
J

Jagman

New member
They were talking WHS last year, perhaps this Geopark thingy is their alternative. Apologiese if I was mistaken
Mineral collectors are having a severely detrimental affect in a lot of the metal mines up here but nothing seems to disuade them :roll:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top