Inspector Of Ancient Monuments Research Articles

II.—The Dover Ring-sword and Other Sword-rings and Beads

In August 1951 skeletons were found during the building operations of the Buckland Estate, Dover, Kent, and were brought to the notice of the late W. P. D. Stebbing, who visited the site and supervised the excavation of one grave. The contents of this grave were sent to the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, and the writer supervised the remainder of the excavation under the auspices of the Inspectorate.

Winterton Roman Villa: An Interim Report

Winterton Roman villa (SE. 911182) has been known since the eighteenth century, when mosaic pavements from the site were recorded first by Charles Mitley and later by William Fowler. Only five miles north of Scunthorpe, the site (fig. 1) lies on the North Lincolnshire ironstone deposits, and the villa will ultimately be destroyed by opencast mining. In view of this threat, the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, Ministry of Public Building and Works, carried out a series of small-scale excavations between 1958 and 1961; in 1963 these excavations were resumed on a larger scale, and it is hoped that all the buildings will be excavated before the threat materializes. Much more remains to be done, but in view of the time already spent on the work it was felt that an interim report was called for.

The Chambered Cairn at Dyffryn Ardudwy

The chambered cairn at Dyffryn Ardudwy is one of the principal tombs in a group of six surviving monuments that stand at medium altitudes above the sea coast in this vicinity which lies midway between Harlech and Barmouth. The cairn stands close to the village school in Dyffryn Ardudwy, and the questionable safety of the capstone of the larger chamber was the principal reason for undertaking excavation and consolidation. The work was carried out by the Department of Prehistoric Archaeology of the University of Liverpool on behalf and with the close assistance of the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments for Wales. The monument has been well-known since Crawford's plan of 1920, and has been described by Grimes and Daniel in so far as surface inspection would allow.

IV.—The Palace of Westminster Sword

The sword was found in September 1948 in the course of deep excavations for the foundations of a new underground boiler-house for the Houses of Parliament, in Victoria Tower Gardens on the south side of the House of Lords. As the site lies within the precincts of the medieval Palace of Westminster, the sword has been given this title to distinguish it from other ancient swords found in the region. The sword is Crown property, and after cleaning and preservative treatment in the laboratory of the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate, it has been placed on exhibition in the Jewel Tower at Westminster by kind permission of the Lord Great Chamberlain.

Report on the Investigation of a Round Barrow on Arreton Down, Isle of Wight

On the open downland, at the crest of the central chalk ridge of the Isle of Wight, and overlooking the village of Arreton, there are to-day two round barrows, the larger, some 9 feet high, known locally as Michael Morey's Hump, and the smaller, nameless and less than half as high, the subject of the present report. The barrow lies 20 feet to the south-west on the bank of the artificial cliff created by the Down End Chalk Quarry (see fig. 1). The barrow, endangered by the quarry, was examined in August and September 1956 on behalf of the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, the Ministry of Works. The working party was composed of undergraduates from Cambridge and Durham Universities and volunteers from London and the Isle of Wight. Through the generosity of the landowner, Mr A. Brown, the objects found have been placed in Carisbrooke Castle Museum.

The First Inspector of Ancient Monuments in the Field

The First Inspector of Ancient Monuments in the Field

Quernhow: a Food-Vessel Barrow in Yorkshire

The excavation described in this paper was occasioned by the impending destruction of the Quernhow barrow in the course of construction of a new carriage-way on the Great North Road. Proposals for the preservation of the monument had been advanced prior to the last war, but these proving inexpedient, the complete investigation of the structure was requested by the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate of the Ministry of Works, at the instance of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, and the writer invited to supervise the excavation. A generous grant towards the cost of labour having been made by the Ministry and the Society undertaking to meet all other expenses involved, work commenced on 2nd May 1949, and continued for six weeks, four men being employed throughout this period. At no time was the weather ideal, alternating between an exceptionally long dry spell, which made the study of the barrow structure an extremely difficult task, and a period of continuous rain which unfortunately coincided with the investigation of the primary burial complex.

A Tour in Cyprus, 1934

A journey is only worth describing if the traveller's work has some exceptional significance. This condition was fulfilled when Sir George Hill and Sir Charles Peers toured Cyprus in 1934. On 18th March Hill first saw that island, the ‘Princesse lointaine’ of his studies thirty years before, and unlike Rostand's story the coming of Sir George as Rudel and Sir Charles as Bertrand had an outcome both happy and useful. The origin and purpose of the tour can be briefly stated.Desiring advice as to the best means of improving the island's law of antiquities and of assisting the Nicosia Museum, H.M. Secretary of State for the Colonies arranged that Sir George, then Director of the British Museum, should visit Cyprus. Shortly before this, Sir Charles, Late Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments in H.M. Office of Works, had accepted an invitation from the ‘Cyprus Committee,’ an unofficial Association formed in 1933 by Viscount Mersey, to investigate the methods of caring for the ancient monuments of Cyprus and to suggest such changes as might seem desirable. By fusion of these missions into one, duplication of work was avoided.

Preservation of Museums in Italy

REPLYING to questions in the House of Commons, Sir James Grigg, Secretary of State for War, stated that an adviser is being appointed to deal with archaeological questions such as measures for the protection and conservation of ancient monuments and works of art in countries occupied by British troops. Meanwhile British and American experts are already in occupied territory engaged in the supervision and protection of ancient monuments, museums, etc. The British officers sent or provisionally selected are from the British Museum, Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments (Ministry of Works), National Gallery and the Royal Institute of British Architects. Lists of aesthetic and ancient monuments have been prepared in Great Britain, and detailed instructions supplied to these officers regarding closing, guarding and, where necessary, repairing museums and similar institutions. Italian curators and their staffs, where suitable, are to be retained. In this connexion it is interesting to read Dr. G. B. Bidder's letter in The Times of October 14, in which he states that the aquarium in the Villa Nazionale of Naples, and so presumably the famous Stazione Zoologica Internazionale, is safe. Dr. Bidder adds that so lately as last August, the director, Dr. Reinhard Dohrn, was still in charge of the Station.

Sir Charles Peers, C.B.E., F.B.A.

THE gold medal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of London has been awarded to Sir Charles R. Peers in recognition of his services to archæology in Great Britain. This medal, generally accepted as the highest award in archaeology in Great Britain, has been awarded on three occasions only, the first recipient being Sir Arthur Evans, who was followed, by the Abbé Breuil and then Sir Aurel Stein. Sir Charles Peers, who was educated at Charterhouse and King's College, Cambridge, and is by profession an architect, was appointed inspector of ancient monuments under the Board (now Office) of Works in 1910. His appointment was the result of prolonged agitation by archæologists and others interested in the preservation of antiquities in Great Britain. It marks an epoch in the history of British archaeology. The inspectorship had been vacant since the death of General Pitt-Rivers in 1900, while the Ancient Monuments Acts, of which the first was passed in 1882, had long been virtually a dead letter. In 1913, three years after Sir Charles's appointment, a consolidating and amending Act was passed, which much enlarged the powers of the Commissioners, and he was given the standing and title of chief inspector of ancient monuments.

British School of Archæology at Rome

IT is announced that Mr. C. A. Ralegh Radford has been appointed director of the British School of Archaeology at Rome in succession to Mr. Colin Hardie, recently appointed fellow and classical tutor of Magdalen College, Oxford. Mr. Radford is a former student of the British Schools of Archaeology at both Athens and Rome; and by his excavations on prehistoric Roman and medieval sites in Britain and abroad has taken a prominent part in recent advances in archseological studies. He was appointed Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Wales and Monmouthshire in 1929, and is also a member of the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments of that area. As general secretary with Prof. V. Gordon Childe of the First International Congress of Pre-, and Protohistoric Sciences he was jointly responsible with him for much of the success of the session held in London in 1932. Mr. Radford's training and experience have been such as should enable him to preserve the necessary balance between the studies of the School in prehistoric, protohistoric and classical archaeology, to which the special circumstances of Rome are perhaps less conducive than those of Athens.

Roman Leicester

A FURTHER stage in the proceedings which will determine the future of Roman Leicester (see NATURE of August 29, p. 356) was reached on September 3, when an inquiry was held in the city by the Ministry of Health to examine the application of the Leicester Corporation to borrow £135,000 for the purpose of erecting baths on the site adjacent to the Jewry Wall, upon which archaeological investigations are being conducted by Miss Kathleen Kenyon. The application was opposed by the Leicester Archaeological Society, the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society and the Leicester Civic Society, bodies co-operating in the excavation. They were represented by Mr. Macgregor Clarkson; and Mr. P. K. Baillie Reynolds, Inspector of Ancient Monuments, was also present, representing the Office of Works. In the course of his evidence, Mr. Clarkson stressed the unique position which the site conferred on Leicester. The recent discoveries, he urged, made it possible to point to the civic centre of the city in three historic periodsthe Town Hall of Roman times, the Guildhall of the Middle Ages, and the modern Town Hall. Miss Kenyon's evidence dealt with the important archaeological features of the site added by her investigations, including part of the Forum and the ten feet depth added to the Jewry Wall, part of the Roman Town Hall, which, now standing at 35 ft. in total height, is one of the largest Roman walls in Britain. This wall is scheduled as an ancient monument.

Archaeology and the State

The interest of the State in the ancient monuments and civilizations of Britain is recent in origin and limited in extent. It is the purpose of this paper to trace in outline the growth of State interest, the limits of State control at the present time, and the main lacunae which appear to exist in the mechanism for the preservation of our national antiquities. Before embarking on this topic it might be well to point out the two chief reasons why, before 1882, the State undertook little or no responsibility within a sphere now generally recognized as the proper concern of any civilized state. In the first place the study of British Archaeology has only within the last fifty years reached a degree of accuracy and discipline worthy of the expenditure of public funds; it is of the utmost significance in this connexion that the first scientific British archaeologist, General Pitt-Rivers, was appointed as first Inspector of Ancient Monuments under the Act of 1882.

Announcements

MR. J. P. BUSHE-FOX, inspector of ancient monuments for England, has been appointed chief inspector of ancient monuments in succession to Sir Charles Peers, who has retired on attaining the age limit.

The Ancient Monuments of England

POSSIBLY few of the public who visit our ruined castles, abbeys and other historic sites are conscious of the extent of their indebtedness for their esthetic enjoyment or the satisfaction of their intellectual interest to the activities of the Office of Works in the exercise of the powers conferred upon it under the Ancient Monuments Acts. The Friday evening discourse on “The Ancient Monuments of England” delivered by Sir Charles Peers, the Inspector of Ancient Monuments, at the Royal Institution on January 27, served a double purpose by demonstrating the various forms of activity of the Office of Works in carrying out this branch of its duties, and in reminding his hearers why these duties should have come to be accepted as the responsibility of a government department functioning at the charge of the State.

THE ANCIENT BRIDGES OF THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND. By E. Jervoise A.M. INST. C.E., on behalf of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. With an introduction by C. R. Peers, Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments. The Architectural Press, 1930. pp. XVI, 128, with 79 illustrations. 5s 6d.

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Stonehenge : Interim Report on the exploration

After the death of Sir Edmund Antrobus of Amesbury Abbey, certain properties, including Stonehenge, were in 1915 sold by his representatives. Fortunately for all students of archaeology, Stonehenge was purchased by Sir Cecil Chubb of Bemerton, who generously presented it, together with some thirty acres of adjoining land, to the nation. The acquisition of this additional land has made it possible to set back an unsightly fence and divert a cart-track some distance from the monument. It was at once recognized by H.M. Office of Works that the monument required immediate attention, and it was therefore decided, by the advice of the Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments and the Ancient Monuments Board for England, that a careful examination of it should be made, and work for its preservation taken in hand. It was decided that the stones which were in a dangerous state should receive attention first, and then that those which had fallen in recent times should be re-erected, care being taken that all appearances of restoration should be avoided. By the courtesy of the Office of Works, the Society of Antiquaries was given every facility for carrying out a scheme of archaeological research on the site during the progress of the work, and the writer was appointed the representative of the Society. Preparations were begun in September 1919, but were much retarded owing to difficulties of transport and the delay in erecting two huts and the assembling of the large equipment necessary. It was not until the end of the year that work was actually begun.

The Protection of Ancient Monuments

THE last report of the Inspector of Ancient Monuments, Mr. C. R. Peers, with an introduction by the First Commissioner, Earl Beau-champ, describes the limitations under which the work of the Department is conducted at present. The existing Acts are merely permissive, and the State can exercise no supervision, except with the consent, and indeed by the desire, of the owner. Earl Beauchamp believes that his Department should be invested with the power of intervention when monuments are suffering from neglect, or are threatened with actual damage or destruction, a view in which all antiquaries will concur.

Report of the Inspector of Ancient Monuments for the Year Ending March, 1911. London: H.M. Stationery Office, Cd. 5690. 2½d.

Report of the Inspector of Ancient Monuments for the Year Ending March, 1911. London: H.M. Stationery Office, Cd. 5690. 2½d.

The Preservation of Ancient Monuments

THE report of the Inspector of Ancient Monuments for the year ending March 31, 1911, is the first by the new inspector, Mr. C. R. Peers. There are 104 monuments under the care of the Commissioners of Works, forty-eight in England and Wales and fifty-seven in Scotland. During the last year fifteen monuments have been placed under the protection of the Ancient Monuments Acts, ten in England and Wales and five in Scotland. Eight of the newly-protected monuments are situate in Anglesey, all prehistoric monuments, three of which have recently been astronomically surveyed by Sir Norman Lockyer and others. Of the two prehistoric Orkney monuments now under protection, the Chambered Mound of Maeshowe has received the attention of the same authority.