4.11 Archaeological recording in cathedrals and churches
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Our Cathedrals Repair Grant Scheme was introduced in 1991, initially for a three year period, but is now operated as an annual grant scheme. In common with other building-repair grant schemes, we promote programmes of investigation and recording 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 repairs, it will be eligible for English Heritage grant, usually as the initial phase of the wider repair programme, although recording will continue throughout the project.
The scope of grant-aided work is wide. Recent grants have been offered towards the costs of the recording of the polychrome, construction, and subsequent repair of the early thirteenth-century timber ceiling of Peterborough Cathedral, excavation of the nave floor at Chester Cathedral, and detailed recording of the surviving thirteenth-century roofs above the Lady Chapel vaults at Salisbury Cathedral. The grant scheme is run by our Cathedrals Team who coordinate and provide specialist advice on cathedral matters across English Heritage. The team also advise external bodies such as the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England, which is 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.
Our work with churches and chapels similarly requires various levels of recording to inform the works being grant-aided. The scale of repairs and intervention is usually much smaller than with cathedrals, and results more often in a simple record of the fabric being renewed. A few larger-scale projects, particularly with Joint Scheme grants, have resulted in a greater degree of analysis, for instance, of the roof structure at Bishopstone in Wiltshire. We also endeavour to notify others who might be interested in particular parts of the fabric of the availability of scaffolding.