4.6 The archaeological work of the regional teams
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The majority of English Heritage's statutory and advisory work is carried out by the multidisciplinary regional teams of Conservation Group. These are made up of archaeologists, architects, planners, architectural historians, and administrators. Primary responsibility for archaeological casework by these teams rests with the Inspectors of Ancient Monuments. Reporting to them are the Field Monument Wardens, who are out-stationed archaeological staff responsible for monitoring the condition of scheduled monument through a programme of visits. The range of archaeological work undertaken by the regional teams is highly varied but can be divided into four main categories:
- casework on scheduled monuments (scheduled monument consent, repair grants, management agreements, and routine monitoring)
- advice to statutory agencies, local authorities, land owners, and members of the public
- contributions to the assessment, management, and monitoring of archaeology projects, supported through the archaeology budget
- participation in the development of corporate archaeological policy, through the Archaeology Strategy Group, and by specific policy initiatives and projects
During 1997-98 Inspectors of Ancient Monuments were increasingly involved in additional casework brought about by the role of English Heritage as a principal adviser to the Heritage Lottery Fund on requests for their grant aid. Lottery grants were not available in the year for purely archaeological projects but archaeological issues featured heavily in a number of lottery cases, particularly those involving the repair and/or reuse of scheduled or listed buildings.
Inspectors are required to liaise with other members of their regional teams to ensure that the archaeological component of the historic environment is adequately taken into account, for example in decisions affecting the development of a historic building or a site within a historic area. Archaeological casework can be complex and often requires liaison with specialist colleagues outside of the regional team. This includes the staff of Archaeology Division and with English Heritage engineers, legal advisers, conservators, and quantity surveyors. Inspectors also work closely with the Monument Protection Programme to consider how best to protect archaeological sites. When a monument becomes scheduled, it is the regional team that becomes responsible for monitoring its condition and handling casework arising from the site's status.
The advisory work of Inspectors requires frequent contact with a wide range of other bodies, including local government archaeological services, archaeological units, local planning authorities, and national agencies, such as English Nature, the Countryside Commission, and the Environment Agency, as well as Government Departments. For the latter, the main point of contact is the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport, which is responsible for scheduled monument matters, including consent, but also with departments that are responsible for major issues affecting the historic environment, notably those responsible for environment, transport, defence, and agriculture. Close liaison is also maintained with other statutory bodies, university departments, and the voluntary sector; indeed the range of such contacts is almost unlimited. The breadth of people with whom English Heritage must liaise, and the diversity of the archaeological issues facing Inspectors is seen as an indication that progress continues to be made towards an integrated approach for the protection and management of all aspects of the historic environment.
The regional teams also contribute to archaeological policy initiatives and have an essential role in bringing to bear the knowledge gained through casework and the contacts they have established through this, to the development of policy. Inspectors have continued to contribute significantly to initiatives arising from the survey of England's coastal and maritime heritage. They also have an important role in the Urban Archaeology Programme under which both intensive and extensive surveys of key historic towns and cities are gathering pace. During the year Inspectors were involved in two significant national initiatives concerned with assessing the state of the historic environment. These were the Buildings at Risk initiative that focused on listed buildings and standing scheduled monuments and the Monuments at Risk project that considered all aspects of the archaeological resource.
The following examples drawn from casework by regional teams in 1997-98 serve to illustrate the nature and variety of the work carried out.
