Background to the MPP

Origins and Objectives.

The MPP originated in response to the urgent need to speed up the rate at which statutory protection was being extended to nationally important ancient monuments. This followed a rapid assesment by the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commision for England of the country's archaeological records (England's archaeological resource, 1984), which showed that only 2% of archaeological sites (estimated at 635,000) were scheduled, and that this sample was unrepresentative.

The programme was established in 1986 to run for ten years in the first instance. One of its principal aims was to identify monuments for scheduling on the grounds of importance and conservation need. It was also intended to provide a comprehensive reassessment and a better understanding of the country's archaeological resource, using a new classification system, in order to improve conservation, management and public appreciation. We were also to consider forms of management or designation other than scheduling.

The improved understanding which would arise from the process of evaluation was a goal in itself.

The MPP had four principal objectives:

• to review and evaluate the existing information held in county Sites and Monuments records (SMRs) or collated by MPP national projects in order to identify sites of national importance
• to recommend to the Secretary of State which monuments of national importance should be protected by law, notably by scheduling
• to collate information on the condition of nationally important monuments to provide a guide to priorities and resource requirements for conservation
• to use the MPP's national perspective to help frame an improved response to the problems of managing inadequately documented and poorly understood areas of the archaeological record