Issue 62

December 2001

Contents

news

Detectorists report thousands of new finds to archaeologists

Neolithic farmhouse found in Scotland

Lost Roman town abandoned 2,000 years ago found in Kent

Roman water-lifting machinery unearthed in London

Excavating a Scottish rebel’s luxurious stronghold

In Brief

features

Citadel of the Scots
Alan Lane on recent excavations at Dunadd hillfort

Reading the land
Peter Fowler on the antiquity of the British landscape

Great sites: Meols
David Griffiths on a once-great port now lost to the sea

letters

On black and brown rats, medieval crafts and cannibalism

issues

George Lambrick on Government policy on the heritage

Peter Ellis

Regular column

books

Prehistory in the Peak by Mark Edmonds and Tim Seaborne

Shadows in the Soil by Tony Waldron

Europe’s First Farmers edited by T Douglas Price

Landscapes of Lordship by Robert Liddiard

CBA update

favourite finds

Once lost, twice excavated. Richard Brewer’s came from a museum sub-basement.

ISSN 1357-4442

Editor Simon Denison

CBA update

Campaigns and reports from the CBA

Historic buildings

Between July and October the CBA received 1,626 notices of proposals to alter or demolish listed buildings, and responded in writing to 112, objecting firmly to 24 (writes Lynne Walker).

Two listed maltings have been proposed for domestic conversion, at Alne (right) and Boroughbridge (main picture) in Yorkshire. Victorian maltings are large, distinctive buildings with cast iron columns to the malting floor, upper floors with wooden storage bins, and striking pyramidal roofed kilns with perforated clay tile floors, furnaces and elegant brick arches. Both schemes propose destruction of the kilns, and the CBA particularly objected to the Boroughbridge scheme, which would destroy many other features and involve 50 new exterior openings, 10 dormer windows, and balconies, making the building delistable.

A large redevelopment scheme in Boston, Lincolnshire, includes the relocation and realignment of a timber-framed building, Pescod Hall, with demolition of several unlisted buildings of merit, including a former stables which partly originated as a timber-framed building, possibly 17th century. The CBA has objected. We also objected to the proposed demolition of Gilchrist's Fish Smoking House in Hull - a type of modest industrial building which is characteristic of the area and vulnerable to loss because of the decline in the fishing industry.

Other cases of interest include a late 19th century watchmaker's workshop in Preston, proposed for domestic conversion; and the conversion of Macintosh Mill, Manchester, into flats. This historic cotton mill was adapted in the mid-later 19th century for the development of rubberised cloth - hence the term 'macintosh'.

Future of farming

The CBA has made a written submission to the Farming and Food Commission, and also contributed to Wildlife and Countryside Link's team presentation of oral evidence on the future of farming and food (writes George Lambrick). Our key recommendations were:

• Adopt a cross-government approach to reform, involving better regulation; switch agricultural support for all farmers from production to environmental protection; more support for diversification and new markets; and more training and advice
• Recognise how historic patterns of farm structure underpin countryside character, and improve protection of non-renewable assets like soils and archaeology
• Maintain and enhance diversity through more holistic, integrated environmental management with more collaborative ways of working
• Develop local markets for food with more transparent guarantees of environmental quality and animal welfare.

Education and archaeology

The CBA has recently sent in responses to two government consultations (writes Don Henson). Proposals to change teacher training were welcomed in part, particularly the suggestion that graduates with a wider variety of degrees than just those in National Curriculum subjects should be accepted for pgce courses. Many archaeology graduates have been frustrated by colleges not accepting them onto courses unless they had a joint degree with history or geography.

However, the CBA strongly opposed a proposal that in-depth training for primary teachers should be restricted to English, maths and science, with only superficial training in a range of other foundation subjects.

The CBA welcomed parts of the White Paper on secondary education, but had strong reservations about proposals for greater flexibility in teaching the National Curriculum, as this would mean subjects like history loosing out to vocational subjects, and to literacy and numeracy.

This theme was also taken up at a meeting with Sir Patrick Cormack MP, Chair of the All Party Arts and Heritage Group in Parliament. The CBA led a group from English Heritage, the Historical Association and the School History Project (supported by the National Trust and the Royal Historical Society) to express concerns about how little opportunity there is to study pre-1700 history at 14+. Sir Patrick was fully supportive and promised to facilitate the campaign in the future.

Planning reform

As reported in the last British Archaeology (Issues, October), the Government intends to shake up the planning system and a Green Paper is due before the end of the year (writes Alex Hunt). The CBA has been working closely with our partners in Wildlife and Countryside Link to set out our aspirations for the Green Paper. In November the resulting Link statement, The Principles of Planning and our Agenda for Change, presented 32 recommendations. These include:

• Increase participation at a local level, building on initiatives like Village Design statements, Conservation Area appraisals, planning briefs and conservation plans
• Introduce a qualified right of third party appeal (eg, for planning applications that breach adopted policy or when a local authority grants itself planning permission)
• Require sustainability assessments, including Strategic Environmental Assessments, of all plans and programmes
• Require early assessments of both the need, and the environmental capacity for development proposals and their impacts, backed by incentives to conform to strategic plans
• Vary the deadline for authorities' determination of applications according to complexity; and provide resources to make the system work
• Make it a statutory duty for local authorities to provide and support environmental record centres such as Sites and Monuments Records, and to provide expert advice to inform the planning process.

Sea changes

Last year the Nautical Archaeology Policy Committee, of which the CBA is a member, published a document, Heritage Law at Sea, which proposed improvements in how the underwater cultural heritage is managed and protected (writes Alex Hunt). The CBA was therefore pleased in October to be able to reinforce some of JNAPC's key recommendations through signing a 'Marine Charter' jointly with 17 other environmental organisations. The Charter highlights how the marine environment, including its archaeological heritage, has long suffered from an uncoordinated and comparatively weak protective framework compared to the terrestrial environment. Amongst the key recommendations in the Charter are:

• Devolved but coordinated strategies, with clear objectives, for effective and comprehensive marine conservation throughout UK waters
• A new duty on all government bodies to protect the marine environment, whilst promoting good stewardship of marine resources
• The creation of a unifying marine planning system to manage activities affecting the marine environment
• A statutory requirement for Strategic Environmental Assessment of all government policies and programmes, and full environmental assessment of all new development proposals in the marine environment
• Better protection of sites and features of archaeological and cultural interest in the marine environment, and creation of special reserves such as Marine National Parks
• Creation of a general offence to intentionally or recklessly disturb, damage or destroy protected features of the marine environment, and powers to stop as well as penalise illegal activities.

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