Inspector Of Ancient Monuments Research Articles

Conservation engineering and repair works at the Tower of London

This paper describes some of the various repair and conservation works carried out at the Tower of London, a World Heritage Site and Scheduled Ancient Monument, on behalf of Historic Royal Palaces. The works are generally managed on site by a surveyor from the Surveyor of the Fabric department and inspected by an Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Historic England, generally Jane Sidell.

Marguerite Wood and Margaret Simpson, two pioneering Scottish women

In the 1920s and 1930s Marguerite Wood and Margaret Simpson collaborated with James Richardson, Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Scotland, in writing guide-books to several medieval monuments in state care. The involvement of women in such activities was unusual for the time. The family histories and careers of these two pioneering Scottish women are investigated in order to explain their participation, and their activities are placed in the wider context of the emerging professionalism of women in history and archaeology in Scotland at this time.

A Review of The Architecture of the Scottish Medieval Church 1100–1560

If ever a book could be described as a ‘magnum opus’ it is this: indeed it is a summa. Richard Fawcett has been publishing on Scottish medieval architecture, mainly ecclesiastical, for three decades, ranging from articles on minute changes in Gothic mouldings (the subject of his doctoral research at the University of East Anglia) such as ‘Dunblane Cathedral: evidence for a change in the design of the nave’ (1982) to a survey of architecture between 370 and 1560, Scottish Architecture from the Accession of the Stewarts to the Reformation (1994). For much of that time he was an Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Historic Scotland, allowing him unfettered access to all the key monuments for most of which he has written authoritative guidebooks. However, besides Scotland, his knowledge of other European medieval architecture, especially in England, France and the Low Countries is encyclopaedic. His researches have made unsustainable the inferiorist attitude that Scottish medieval architecture was insular and backward, by pointing out countless foreign parallels, which demonstrate that Scotland’s patrons and masons were always aware of contemporary developments beyond its borders and shores. This monumental book brings together the fruits of these years of study into a rich synthesis. At last MacGibbon and Ross’ groundbreaking Ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland (1896-7) has been superseded.

Melrose Abbey (review)

Reviewed by: Melrose Abbey Neil Rushton Melrose Abbey. By Richard Fawcett and Richard Oram. Pp. 288. ISBN 0 7524 2867 5. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. 2004. £14.99. This account of one of Scotland's most important medieval monasteries has been written for the interested general reader and forms part of a series of occasional publications that aim to contribute to an increased awareness of historic monuments in the care of Historic Scotland. Melrose Abbey was a Cistercian house, filiated to Rievaulx in Yorkshire, founded in the Borders in 1137 by King David I. It was thus the earliest Cistercian house founded in Scotland and for most of its existence was one of the richest abbeys in the country with an extensive endowment of landed estates, based on a core of land between the River Tweed and the Eildon Hills, but which contained estates throughout lowland Scotland. From the 1560s a diminishing number of monks [End Page 340] carried out the monastic offices, but it was not until 1609 that the last monk, John Watson, died and the abbey was officially dissolved. This book splits the description and interpretation of the development of the abbey into three sections entitled: the history of the abbey, the architecture of the abbey and the estates and possessions of the abbey. The history of the abbey and the analysis of its endowment are written by Richard Oram. He first explores the existence of Old Melrose, a seventh-century monastic foundation in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Bernicia, but most of the discussion concerns the Cistercian house and its swift development into an important religious and political centre from the mid-twelfth century. Melrose's history was fundamentally affected by the endemic warfare between Scotland and England from the late thirteenth century onwards, and its location on one of the major routes north for invading English armies meant that it was not only of vital strategic importance but also suffered periodic attacks requiring reconstruction of the church and conventual buildings. The most damaging of these attacks was in 1385, when Richard II's army made a particularly thorough job of sacking of the abbey. Oram has produced an eloquent narrative, which demonstrates why Melrose Abbey played such an important part in the politico-religious medieval history of Scotland. The text is arranged into a chronological sequence rather than thematically, and benefits from such an approach, largely due to the lucid and approachable writing style. Particularly important is the examination of the way in which the abbey was affected by periods of both warfare and stability in the Scottish borders from the 1290s throughout the fourteenth century. The third section of the book includes a relatively detailed discussion of the landed endowment of the abbey, estate by estate. This integrates discussion of the ways in which a large Cistercian abbey was able to consolidate its landholdings with the realities of building up an endowment in the Scottish lowlands during the Middle Ages and the inevitable disputes with other large landowners such as Kelso Abbey and the bishopric of St Andrews. This section also includes a useful review of the urban properties of the abbey and its appropriated churches, important subjects that are often excluded from histories of monastic houses. This discussion of the abbey's estates and possessions allows us to understand Melrose within its socio-economic setting rather than simply as an isolated religious institution. The middle section is written by Richard Fawcett, Principal Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Historic Scotland. This details the architectural development of the abbey, concentrating primarily on the church but also discussing the other precinct buildings such as the claustral ranges, the abbot's house and the commendator's house. Fawcett's discussion is authoritative and well-illustrated, with almost 100 black-and-white photographs, sketches and plans. The sacking of the abbey by Richard II's army in 1385 resulted in the destruction of the church and most of the monastic buildings, so evidence for the plan and character of the pre-1385 church can only be retrieved through the results of the limited excavations carried out at Melrose in the first half of the twentieth century. However, for the...

A Neolithic ring-mound at Midtown of Pitglassie, Auchterless, Aberdeenshire

In Autumn 1978, excavation took place on a small round mound at Midtown of Pitglassie where digging in the 1950s had produced Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery and lithics. The excavation was organized by the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate of the Department of the Environment, now Historic Scotland, with whose assistance this report is published. The excavation revealed an original annular mound, composed of circular banks of stone, earth and turf. The central area was filled with stone rubble, mostly disturbed and redeposited in the 1950s, but with one remnant of a possible central cairn. Pre-mound activity included turf-stripping and cremation, followed by the formal deposition in a number of pits of cremated bone (from, probably, one
 individual), accompanied by pottery and lithics, including a Neolithic leaf-shaped arrowhead. In addition to these specific deposits, pottery of Grimston Lyles Hill tradition, numerous quartz and further flint pieces were found within the mound and fragments of Beaker were recovered from the disturbed central area. Remnants of a possible circle of stone settings were found around the perimeter of the monument. Radiocarbon dates for charcoal from a cremation pit and the pre-mound surface provided dates of between 3964 and 3342 cal BC.

Excavations at Alstone Cottage, Caerleon, 1970

The excavations were sponsored by the then Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments (Wales) – now CADW: Welsh Historic Monuments – when permission was given to erect a new dwelling on land formerly occupied by an orchard attached to Alstone Cottage. The cottage dated from the seventeenth century and it was anticipated that no serious disturbance had occurred to the Roman deposits on the site since that date. The cottage grounds were known to overlie Barrack XII of the Prysg Field series, which flanked the western side of the via decumana . No previous excavation of the barrack had been undertaken. Thus the opportunity arose to check the validity of the conclusions arrived at by V.E. Nash-Williams, who had wholly or partly excavated ten of the twelve barracks in this area, as to the structural and occupation history of this quarter of the fortress. At the same time the opportunity was given to investigate the history of the via decumana itself.

Pitt Rivers. The Life and Archaeological Work of Lieutenant-General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers, DCL, FRS, FSA

1. Introduction 2. Progress in modern musketry 3 Married life 4. Ethnology and anthropology 5. Early archaeological fieldwork 6. The Inspector of Ancient Monuments 7. Excavations in Cranborne Chase 8. Public education 9. The father of scientific archaeology.

A question of national importance: approaches to the evaluation of ancient monuments for the Monuments Protection Programme in England

When General Pitt-Rivers was appointed as first Inspector under the 1882 Act, which first protected British Ancient Monuments, the Act's Schedule named just 50 sites nationally. Although many monuments have been added to the Schedule since then, the growth in knowledge of the long and intensive occupation of England has been such that the current total of nearly 13,000 scheduled monuments amounts to only 1 in 50 of the sites thought to exist.In matters of monument protection, Britain lies somewhere in the middle: well short of the promised land, as we see it, of Denmark where effective protection goes out from the spot site to include its environs; but well ahead of, for example, the USA where respect for a landowner's formal rights of property is so strong that there is still no Federal protection for monuments in private ownership.English Heritage feels that now is the time to put the Schedule of protected monuments, as it has grown over the years, into rational shape. The present Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments, Andrew Saunders, and his colleagues explain why and how.

The plan of Viroconium Cornoviorum

Most of the Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum at Wroxeter (Shropshire) was purchased for the nation in 1973 to protect its remains, which mainly lay in arable land, from further damage by the plough. This part of the city, beyond the limits of the Department of the Environments's Guardianship site, is known very largely from crop-mark photography, tracing the lines of buried foundations by corresponding patterns in a growing cereal crop (Frere & St Joseph, 1983, 162–6). This technique continues to yield results, for ploughing at Wroxeter is regulated rather than prohibited, and never to better effect than in the dry summer of 1975, when excellent marks developed to west and north of the Baths (PLS. XIV, XVI), and in 1976, which afforded new details to south and east of them (PL. xv). At the request of the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings vertical photographs were taken by the University of Cambridge to form the basis of a new plan of the known remains. The potential of air photography for reconstructing such a plan had been shown by Webster and Stanley (1964), using the photographs of Mr Arnold Baker, but much more had been learnt about certain areas both by Mr Baker and by Cambridge University since then.

Gordon Parry's West Burra Survey

SummaryIn the course of casual fieldwalking during the early part of the Tougs excavations, Parry observed a number of field monuments on West Burra which were not included in the Royal Commission Inventory (1946), the Ordnance Survey Antiquity Cards (nd) or Colder's list of ‘neolithic’ houses, cairns and burnt mounds (1956; 1963). These sites included houses with field systems, spatially associated and seemingly unassociated burnt mounds, and dykes which appeared to partition the island. The recording of such a well preserved archaeological landscape was of obvious value and, as it was felt that this would add to our understanding of the site being excavated, the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments authorised a survey of West Burra as an integral part of the Tougs project. The survey was carried out over a three week period in April 1977 by Gordon Parry with the occasional assistance of R Barcham and R Wallace.

Excavation of two crop-marks at Huntingtower, Perthshire

In the 1940s and 50s Mr Eric Bradley, a flying instructor at Scone, noticed and described a series of crop-marks to the W of Perth during attempts to trace the Roman road, from the Gask Ridge, at its last known point near Dupplin Lake some 8-5 km to the SW of the fort at Bertha. In 1969 Dr J X W P Corcoran admirably summarized the evidence available from Mr Bradley's notes and maps, Cambridge University Committee for Aerial Photography (CUCAP) photographs and RAF vertical photographs in an unpublished note, now in the NMRS. In 1967 a valuable series of aerial photographs of the Huntingtower sites was taken by John Dewar Studios for the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments. Subsequently RCAHMS has photographed the area resulting in the discovery of further features.

A corn-drying kiln at Barbush Quarry, Dunblane, Perthshire

In November 1981 the discovery of an underground structure during the removal of sand at Barbush Quarry near the N edge of Dunblane (NGR NN 78355 02305) was reported to the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments. After a preliminary visit it was decided that the site, which appeared to be either a souterrain or a kiln, should be excavated.

The Making of the First Ancient Monuments Act, 1882, and Its Administration Under General Pitt-Rivers

The first Ancient Monuments Act was the first measure to protect part of the built and artistic heritage of the United Kingdom. Gives a full account, from the documentary sources, of the Act's genesis, as a private member's Bill of the Liberal MP Sir John Lubbock, baron Avebury, and its administration by General A.H.L. Fox-Pitt-Rivers, first Inspector of Ancient Monuments. Discusses Lubbock's and Fox-Pitt-Rivers's concern with prehistoric monuments of ethnological interest, and their reluctance to involve themselves in the matters of taste that arose in the protection of more recent buildings, especially ecclesiastical and medieval structures. Catalogues the sites involved in the 1882 act, with a summary of its consequences in each case. -- AATA

A ‘Head and Hooves’ Burial beneath a Round Barrow, with other Neolithic and Bronze Age Sites, on Hemp Knoll, near Avebury, Wiltshire

This barrow was excavated by the author for the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate of the then Ministry of Public Buildings and Works (now the Department of the Environment) in August and September 1965. The barrow was scheduled under the Ancient Monuments Acts by the Department of the Environment as Wiltshire 563, and all finds were accordingly thus marked at the time of excavation. In 1958 the barrow was observed by the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate as being 4½ ft high and the mound was spread by agricultural activity to a diameter of 75 ft. In 1965 this bowl barrow stood barely 18 in. high, having suffered much from the effects of ploughing. The barrow had been disturbed mainly in the centre of the mound by early, possibly nineteenth century, excavations. At least one slit trench had been dug into the side of the mound during the 1939–45 war and much other disturbance had been caused by rabbits.Residual finds from this site caused a particular problem. Where they seem to be dateable they have been inserted in their appropriate section, otherwise where there is a possible alternative date they have been cross referenced. All ranging rods and scales shown in the photographs of the site are marked in feet and inches, except where otherwise obvious.

Excavation of a cairn at Pitcairn, Glenrothes, Fife

A boulder strewn, overgrown enclosure, marked on early editions of the OS 1 : 10,560 map as a plantation, and situated on high ground to the E of Pitcairn House near Glenrothes in Fife (NGR NO 2732 0266) was tentatively identified as the site of a cairn reported to have been opened about 1770 (Statistical Account vi, 1793, 52; New Statistical Account ix, 1845, 116). The site was to be destroyed by the Glenrothes Development Corporation in the course of the construction of a housing estate and, as all the other small mounds in the area which might have been the remains of the cairn had been definitely identified as 19th-century mineshafts, the enclosure was excavated by the Central Excavation Unit of the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments in the spring of 1977.

Flour or bread in a Roman military ditch at Bearsden, Scotland

Dr James H. Dickson and Mrs Camilla A. Dickson, Department of Botany, University of Glasgow, and Dr David J. Breeze, Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, Scottish Development Department, Edinburgh, examine the possibility that cereal debris found in a Roman military ditch at Bearsden may be wholemeal flour or even bread.

Anniversary Address

May I take this my first opportunity to thank the Fellowship for their kindness and confidence in electing me President of this ancient and eminent Society, a Society which, after at least two centuries of existence, remains fully involved and influential in all the different disciplines and endeavours that are our concern? I had the privilege of taking office from Dr. A. J. Taylor, a scholar of high repute, particularly in the field of medieval strongholds, to whom all antiquaries, and many others, remain indebted for his achievements in difficult times while Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments. He watched over the affairs of our Society with awareness and devotion, to the end that he left a sodality in good heart, unburdened by anxieties. For this, naturally I am grateful to him, and in such context it is a pleasure to me to record that during Arnold's Presidency, an eminent and respected historian, whom we all know but shall be nameless, remarked that he believed the reputation of this Society never stood higher than it does in this present decade. Let us not be coy about accepting credit given, and I think due! Looking at the Treasurer, I suggest it bears interest!

The Defences of the Iron Age Hill-Fort at Winklebury, Basingstoke, Hampshire

This report should be read in conjunction with the report on the excavations in the interior of the fort (previous paper in these Proceedings).The site of the hill-fort lies on the north side of the North Downs Trackway (National Grid Reference SU/614528). It is also on the southern edge of the Lower Thames valley. In this area there is a gap through the Hampshire Downs which connects the Thames valley with that of the River Test.The derivation of the place name Winklebury is not entirely clear. Medieval spellings, e.g. Wiltenischebury, c. 1290; Wyltenysshbury, 1407; Wynnyshbery and Wynlysbery, 1443, suggest that the name may be of Anglo-Saxon derivation and mean the ‘fort or stronghold of the people of Wilton’, i.e. the fort owned, occupied or built by the Wiltshiremen. However, Wiltonish occurs as a surname in Romsey in the 1289 Assize Rolls, in Walter le Wyltenysshe, and thus the site name may have evolved in the 13th century through associations with this family.Building development threatened the north side of the hill-fort in 1959. Excavations were accordingly carried out by the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate of the then Ministry of Works (now the Department of the Environment), under the direction of the writer in July and August of that year.

Soldiers' Burials at Camelon, Stirlingshire, 1922 and 1975

On 11 January 1975 a stone cist containing two inhumation burials and a series of iron objects was found in gravel-working at the Cairnmuirs Gravel Pit, west of the Roman fort at Camelon, Stirlingshire, now in the Falkirk district of the Central Region of Scotland (NS 860810). The two boys who made the initial discovery, David Vause and Wallace Wright, took a collection of bones and ironwork home, and their parents informed Camelon constabulary. The police took the matter up with Mr. J. M. Sanderson of Falkirk Museum and he asked the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland and the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate of the Department of the Environment for assistance in excavating the grave. Because of the risk of sandfalls, the excavation of what turned out to be the burial of two soldiers accompanied by their weapons was undertaken the following day by Dr. J. Close-Brooks, National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Dr. D. J. Breeze, Department of the Environment, and Dr. J. N. G. Ritchie, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Under Scottish law, objects of archaeological importance (not necessarily of precious metal) may be claimed as Treasure Trove, and the finders appropriately rewarded; accordingly the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer claimed the weapons for the Crown and Mr. Vause and Mr. Wright have been rewarded for their prompt reporting of the cist. A second sword found by a bulldozer driver in the gravelworkings at a rather earlier date was handed over at the same time, and also claimed by the Crown. Two other deposits, one of them in a cist, were found at Camelon in 1922 on the south-east side of the site, and the opportunity has been taken here to publish new illustrations of these finds. This report comprises a discussion of the known history of the fort, a description of the excavation of the most recent cist and of the deposits found in 1922, a discussion of the mode of burial, the status of the soldiers and of the weapons, and finally a detailed description of the individual objects.

A revolution in British archaeology?

It is by now an open secret that the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments (IAM) of the Department of the Environment (DoE) is proposing dramatic changes in the organization of rescue excavations. A corner of the veil was lifted on 22 February 1973; at the time of writing, at the end of May, the shape of the structure is tolerably clear; and sometime in June we may expect a grand unveiling ceremony. Meanwhile steps are already being taken to implement the proposals, although no paper on the new scheme has been seen by any archaeologist outside DoE. Despite the uncertainties which arise from this secrecy, it seems reasonable that readers of ANTIQUITY should receive a critical account of the scheme as it appears at the end of May. Doubtless the official announcement will appear elsewhere in these pages at the earliest possible date, and statements of fact in that must be taken as superseding similar statements here.