4.11 Archaeological recording in cathedrals

Although specifically excluded from the Government's 1977 Repair Grants Scheme for Places of Worship, it became evident that major repair programmes were rapidly becoming necessary for many of England's cathedral churches, but that the costs of these would be significant. Our Cathedrals Repair Grant Scheme was therefore introduced in 1991, initially for a three year period, but subsequently as an annual grant scheme. By the end of 1996-97 grant-offers totalling over £19.5m had been made. In common with our other building repair grant schemes, we recognise that programmes of investigation and recording must be undertaken at Cathedrals, both to inform the design of conservation strategies and to provide mitigation where disturbance is unavoidable (whether to fabric or to below-ground deposits). Where such work relates to urgent repair schemes, it may be eligible for EH grant, either as stand-alone projects or as one element of the wider repair programme.

The scope of grant-aided work is wide. Recent grants have been offered towards the costs of the preparation of a fabric/archaeological database for the cathedral close at Norwich Anglican Cathedral, recording and interpretation of fragments of reused stonework relating to the pre-Wren Cathedral at St Pauls, photogrammetric survey in advance of stonework repairs at Exeter, Lichfield and Wells, and towards the costs of excavation and recording of below-ground deposits under the crossing floor at Ripon. The grant-scheme is run by our Cathedrals Team who coordinate and provide specialist advice on cathedral matters across EH. The team also advise external bodies such as the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England who are responsible for granting permission for major works under the Care of Cathedrals Measure. In such cases, advice might range from the appropriateness of a proposed repair scheme to whether a proposed archaeological strategy (whether for mitigation or research) is appropriate and properly resourced.