Selected projects
4.19.12 Protecting twentieth-century fortifications
The Monuments Protection Programme archive-based study of twentieth-century defence sites was described in Archaeology Review 1996-97. One important aspect not covered in the documentary sources, however, is their current survival. There is little information about the number of surviving examples of each class of site, their condition, and their national distribution. In order to begin to manage these sites as parts of the historic environment, and to protect them, whether through statutory designation, local development control, or their incorporation into local heritage initiatives, a rapid overview of survival rates is needed. For some classes of monument we must await the completion of the Defence of Britain Project before this information is available. In particular, the range of anti-invasion defences (including pillboxes) is so diverse, and the number so great, that, the project is now focusing its attention, wherever possible, on this group of monuments. For anti-aircraft defences, Operation Diver sites, and bombing decoys, however, the use of recent map cover and aerial photographs offers the best, most rapid, and most cost-effective approach.
This aerial photographic and map-based project began with a pilot study, undertaken at the RCHME by an Oxford In-service student. Maps and aerial photographs of sites in the Humber, London, Solent, and Leeds Gun Defended Areas (GDAs) were examined and their survival was recorded on a five-point scale: from complete (layout and all components), through partial survival (whether components, plan or both), to those cases where nothing at all survives. Cases where modern map cover and aerial photographs proved inconclusive were also recorded. The source information needed to undertake this task clearly varied by site type: decoys for example were largely ephemeral structures, with some earthwork components on occasion - here aerial photographs are always needed for the initial identification of surviving remains; heavy anti-aircraft gun sites, on the other hand, have a distinctive layout of built structures (documented in our archives-based study), and field visits to a selection of sites in Kent proved that some surviving examples at least could be predicted from Ordnance Survey map cover, even in some cases at 1:50,000 scale.
Work is underway to complete full national cover for the classes of defence site listed above, and 62% of the 2869 sites attributed grid references in the archive-based studies have been analysed. For decoys, the most recent available aerial photographs are consulted; for anti-aircraft and Diver sites, we start with modern map cover and move to aerial photographs where the maps are inconclusive.
Although it is too early to be precise, only a very small number of decoys appear to survive in anything like their original size and form. This is very much as expected. For anti-aircraft sites, the figures from the 62% of sites examined to date give an indication of how well preserved some of these more substantial sites can be. Of the 839 Heavy Anti-aircraft sites already examined, 162 (19%) survive, of which only 29 are in the top category (fairly intact). For Light Anti-aircraft sites, 800 have been examined, 26 of which survive (3%), but only one of which is in the top category. There are also indications of regional variations, reflecting differences in urban development and land-use regimes. This work therefore counters (for these monument types), the commonly-held view that World War II sites are still commonplace; well preserved examples are in fact becoming rare.
Once this work is complete we will extend the project to include coast artillery and radar, and the former will be linked with another English Heritage project concerned with mapping past coastal erosion and predicting its future effects. Other methods are being used to determine the survival of the remaining classes of twentieth-century defences examined to date. Where possible we are employing consultants who have specialist knowledge of certain types of site, such as surviving airfield defences. Many of the Operation Overlord preparatory sites are in urban areas, so we can incorporate this aspect of the study into one of our locally based urban survey programmes.
In early 1999 the Monuments Protection Programme will be consulting with our Ancient Monuments Advisory Committee on which surviving sites should be offered statutory protection through scheduling, and which additional sites can be defined as nationally important and managed locally under the provisions of PPG-16. It is intended that the first scheduling proposals will be prepared in 1999-2000.