The author looks at current practice and attitudes to metal detector use and artefact hunting and collecting generally and the current and future role of the Portable Antiquities Scheme

RESCUE and metal detecting ; sets out RESCUE’s current views on the use of metal detectors

Wind farms: no greater threat since the Agrarian Revolution?by Ed Archer

RESCUE’s Scottish Correspondent looks at some Scottish sites recently threatened with windfarm developments

Agincourt : this time they win!

The village of Agincourt in northern France, the scene on 25 th October 1415 of the most famous battle of the Hundred Years War (1337–1453), its plans to establish a Medieval History Centre as a tourist attraction for as many as 50,000 British visitors each year. The aim is to generate income and to create jobs to replace the traditional agricultural economy which is in decline and has forced the French state electricity generator, Eléctricité de France (EDF) to cancel its plans to place four 459ft wind turbines half a mile from the battlefield.

New museum for Lincolnshire

The new City and County Museum , to be known as The Collection, opened in Lincoln in early October.

Archaeology teams under threat

Northamptonshire Archaeology Society reports that Northamptonshire County Council’s proposed budget for the next financial year released on 14th December; ‘ proposes massive funding cuts across Northamptonshire in response to challenges presented by the real-term cuts in funding from central government. These cuts are described as ‘just the start of the process with director’s still working on final plans to be revealed in the new year …

Thornborough update

Stonehenge update

Rose Theatre: Blue Plaque unveiled ; In mid-January Sir Ian McKellen unveiled a blue plaque at the site of the Rose Theatre (near Rose Court in Park St, London SE1 9AR) after it received almost 1000 votes in a competition, part of the Blue Plaque scheme run by Southwark Council.

The Rose Trust with Southwark Council and the Museum of London Archaeology Service are preparing an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for money to display the site to the public, and create a venue on Bankside for cultural, educational and public

British Archaeological Awards 2006 request for nominations

A Charming project : a new project: Analysis by Neutron resonant Capture Imaging and other Emerging Neutron Techniques: new Cultural Heritage and Archaeological Research Methods (ANCIENT CHARM) worth €2 million, funded through the NEST (New and Emerging Science and Technology) programme of the European Commission’s Specific Targeted Research Project (STREP) to develop and combine new and existing scientific research techniques to investigate objects of cultural heritage started on 1st January 2006 lasting 36 months.

Archaeology and Consultancy :

Call for papers for the 2006 Open meeting. Summaries of the papers delivered will appear in RN Number 99 (2006)

Book review: Archaeological Finds: a Guide to Identification

Norena Shopland

ISBN 0752431323, Tempus, April 2005, £17.99 248 pages

by The Finds Research Group AD 700–1700 and Roman Finds Group

For those looking for a book containing concise, accurate information on archaeological finds which might be recommended to students and new enthusiasts – this is not it. In the acknowledgements (p 8) the author wisely states ‘this is a vast subject and I apologise in advance for any errors which may have crept in. I would welcome any suggestions for improvements in future reprints’. The author should stand back because if anyone takes up the offer, she is in for an avalanche!

Obituaries

Professor Maurice Beresford 1920–2005, Pioneer of Deserted Medieval Village studies

Mary Kitson Clark (Mrs Chitty) 1905–2005, RESCUE Founder-Member and Archaeologist of Roman Yorkshire

Elisabeth Crowfoot 1914–2005,Textiles conservation pioneer

Charles Mundy1959 –2004, Former RESCUE Council member

Lady Aileen Mary Fox 1901–2005,Founder of modern archaeology in south-west England

On 20th September a meeting of NYCC planning committee accepted a request from Tarmac yet again to defer the application to extend existing quarrying operations into the setting of the Thornborough Henges complex. There has been a considerable campaign of opposition to the proposal, including more than 1,000 letters of objection, a petition of 10,000 signatures, statements of support and representation from The Landmarks Foundation, CIA, CBA, CBA Yorkshire, Yorkshire Archaeology Society and English Heritage. Elected representatives agreed to the deferment despite the advice of the CC planning professionals who had recommended refusal.

Stonehenge: the road to nowhereKate Fielden ( Stonehenge Alliance )

On 20 July, Roads Minister Stephen Ladyman announced a ‘detailed review of the options to ease congestion on the A303 and improve the setting around Stonehenge ’ before a final decision is taken on the Inquiry Inspector’s Report. It had been found that soft chalk and the high water table would complicate the tunnelling process and substantially increase the estimated cost of the scheme since it went to Public Inquiry – from £192m to some £470m if construction were to begin in 2005. The review, for which terms of reference are being drawn up (September 2005), will include consultation with relevant bodies, such as English Heritage and the National Trust. The Stonehenge Alliance (which includes RESCUE) will be consulted as the review progresses.

Irchester Roman Town Wall RN 96 reported that a stretch of the Roman town wall at Irchester Northants has been exposed during the construction of a new access road for the A45. RESCUE expressed concern as to how this could have happened. This issue reproduces the responses of Dr Bob Colenutt, Head of Sustainable Development, Northamptonshire County Council and Dr Glyn Coppack , Inspector of Ancient Monuments at English Heritage’s East Midlands Regional Office.

C ommunity Archaeology: The Greater Manchester Experience Norman Redhead,Assistant County Archaeologist ,Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit, The University of Manchester

Articles in RN96, prompted this article based on experience in Greater Manchester. Norman Readhead has worked on Greater Manchester’s archaeology for 20 years, and has seen many changes in funding sources, the quality and volume of archaeological work, and political and public support for the subject, but community archaeology is flourishing in the county and that there are reasons to look forward to greater public and political support for the archaeological profession.

Contract archaeology and the public: a look on the bright side Nina Crummy

Freelance Finds Specialist, Social Secretary, Friends of CAT, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Reading : Another response to the gloomy picture given in Chris Ellis’s article The Community Digs: Contract Archaeology and the General Public in RN 96 expressing a more hopeful approach to the issue.

Suffolk Garbology Project Duncan Allan, Garbology Officer, Suffolk CC

A joint venture between the County’s Archaeological and Waste Management Services funded for twelve months by The Heritage Lottery Fund. The project aims to extend the educational work of each, by introducing young people to ways of exploring their heritage by the study of what people threw away in the past and how changing patterns of rubbish disposal impact upon the environment. Schools and local communities will become involved in practical activities which excite the imagination, ask questions about present waste disposal policies, and stimulate an interest in archaeology generally.

DCMS Consultation: Principles of Selection for Listing Buildings; RESCUE’s formal response welcomes theGeneral Principles as an improvement in clarity and notes in particular that these revisions are the best expression of an holistic approach that we have yet seen from government.

MAP II Revision; RESCUE’s comments on the proposed revision and extension of Management of Archaeological ProjectsII (MAP II) (EH 1983). The full text of the comments can be seen on the RESCUE website (CHECK THIS)

All change at EH again; As English Heritage celebrated its 21 st birthday at the end of June Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of EH set out EH’s new, plans for the next five years. Driving this plan is a desire to transform the image of conservation using a new code of `constructive conservation’ based on respect understanding and consent’.it also launched a draft proposal:Towards a UK research strategy for the historic environment and its sustainable management ; the main points of which are reproduced.

Irchester Northants, a Roman walled small-town, covering an area of about 8 hectares, was recently severely damaged by developers who exposed long lengths of masonry while building a road access/exit visual splay at the entrance to a new huge ‘logistics’ park in the western suburbs on the Nene valley side.

The new political landscape: Labour Party Manifesto Promises

With New Labour back in government, RESCUE and other heritage bodies are busy writing letters to present their organisations to a new set of ministers. Meanwhile here are the promises to the Heritage sector on which they were re-elected.

Crisis at EH : Following articles in RN 95, RESCUE Council members have met Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of EH to discuss the prospects for English Heritage’s future, and have also written to a number of peoplerecently in connection with the crisis EH faces.

DCMS reassures EH over ‘You’re history’ story: The Sunday Times article (13 th March 2005) you’re history: Jowell in threat to English Heritage’ provoked immediate fury from both DCMS and English Heritage. The article alleged that the Culture Secretary was `threatening to dismantle English Heritage’ and pass its historic properties to the National Trust. The story has been denied by the Minister.

Thornborough Henges : Date set for planning hearing: Following the long awaited submission from Tarmac showing the results of their pre-application archaeological investigations and environmental impact assessment, North Yorkshire County Council will hold a preliminary hearing of the planning application at their planning meeting on July 17th. Tarmac’s archaeological reports cover both the area of their Ladybridge Application and also an Interim Report on Nosterfield Quarry.

Archaeological Archive Resource Centres by Jannicke Langfeldt

The Society of Museum Archaeologists (SMA) and the Archaeological Archives Forum held a one day conference at the Museum of London on 27th October 2004 on archaeological archive resource centres. There were around 140 attendees; predominately museum professionals rather than representatives from relevant government departments or archaeological contractors.

National Trust: Coastal Management Policy: Shoreline management is one of the most practical responses to long term climate change. The National Trust has published research showing that 60% of the 1,130km of coast it owns could be affected by coastal erosion within the next 100 years. It advocates an urgent need for coherent, long-term planning to address the massive impacts of future sea level rise. Its latest publication Shifting Shores is a wake-up call to recognise that planning for the inevitable, and potentially extensive, impacts of coastal change is now essential.

Meanwhile on land…: David Lovibond in an article in the Financial Times magazine of May 28 th 2005 , entitled Bad Manors? suggests that tenants of some of the more lowly properties in the National Trust’s portfolio are less than happy with their landlord’s management style.

Staff Redundancies here too: In February the National Trust announced that it would lose approximately 250 posts across its central departments as part of the need to increase the Trust’s operating contribution

Minerals: Latest Government Guidance by Tony Scrase

The government is reviewing and updating its planning policy guidance, replacing the old PPGs and MPGs with PPSs and MPSs. RESCUE has already commented on a draft for MPS 2 Controlling and Mitigating the Environmental Effects of Mineral Extraction in England . The final version has now appeared simultaneously with two annexes on noise and dust.

Mellor Hillfort by Kathleen Morris, Secretary, Mellor Archaeological Trust

Mellor, located on a prominent hilltop overlooking the Cheshire plain on the edge of the Peak District hills, now seems the obvious place for a hillfort, but nobody had looked there for one before. In the hot dry summer of 1995 most of the fields were parched yellow, but one showed a curved green line – the only sign that there might be any archaeology there.

Iraq : in May 2005 RESCUE received a response from Oliver Richards, Iraq Policy Unit, of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to our letter to Jack Straw, expressing our concerns at the continuing danger to Iraq ’s cultural heritage of the current political situation there. The main contents are summarised.

Ecclesiastical Exemption in Wales: While the results of the consultation over Ecclesiastical Exemption (the exclusion of places of worship from listed building and conservation area controls) is still awaited in England, over the border in Wales, the similar Review by Peter Howell  concludes that it would appear advisable for the exemption to remain for the immediate future.

Hadrian’s Wall Path: Hadrian’s Wall Footpath was finally opened in April 2003. Farming and tourism organisations had high hopes that the Path would become a major visitor attraction in an area which was in need of economic regeneration following general economic decline in the region and the effects of the disastrous outbreak of foot and mouth. Despite relatively low visitor numbers, monitoring showed damage by visitor erosion and other threats

Environmental Assessment Bill for Scotland: All public programmes will be `green proofed’ under legislation introduced to the Scottish Parliament. The Environmental Assessment Bill aims to put Scotland at the forefront of environmental protection by ensuring that all public sector plans, strategies and programmes are scrutinised for their environmental impact.

Papers from the 2005 Open Meeting Universities and Archaeology:  some personal reflections by John Collis

Dept of Archaeology, Sheffield University : One of the first things I advised my colleagues when I first arrived in Sheffield in 1972 was not to become involved in major rescue excavations …

Prehistory, Research and English Heritage by Jonathan Last ,English Heritage

English Heritage has a variety of responsibilities regarding prehistoric archaeology, as for other periods. One of these is to undertake and commission research. The policy document Power of Place: the future of the historic environment (2000) stresses the need for ‘continuous, thoughtful and well-targeted research’ to produce the understanding that will allow us to care properly for our heritage.

The Community Digs: Contract Archaeology and the General Public by Chris Ellis Wessex Archaeology: In the 15 years that I’ve been involved in contract archaeology I have been struck by a number of paradoxes within the industry, how it is structured and how it carries out its work, and how these practices affect/or not public perception of the profession. Personally, I think the most pressing paradox presently within the contract archaeology profession is the relative lack of physical and intellectual access, to the material we excavate for the general public

Managing Museum Collections : The Museum Documentation Association, the UK ‘s lead organisation on the management of information about museum collections, has published a revised edition of SPECTRUM, the documentation standard for museums.

• Work on Hadrian’s Wall by Paul Bidwell
  Looks at how WHS status has affected rescue and research work
• English Heritage: just a history theme park, by Phil Carpenter
  Prospect, the TU representing EH staff gives their view of recent developments
  English Heritage: a cause for concern
  Simon Thurley, EH Chief Executive, responds to Rescue’s letter of concerns
• Pay and Conditions in Archaeology by Phil Carpenter and Dave Allen
  Prospect’s negotiations with IFA and SCAUM to secure improved pay and conditions for the employees of all archaeological organisations
• IFA Diggers Forum by Paul Everill
  An appeal for members of the newly established IFA special interests group
• Invisible Diggers: Interim report by Paul Everill
  Preliminary results of survey reported in earlier editions of RN
• More heritage at risk by Jim Spriggs, and Idrit Narkis
  Head of Conservation, York Archaeological Trust and a Manchester Museum conservator express their concerns about the crisis of lack of available conservators and conservation facilities
• Stonehenge stalemate by Kate Fielden
  Reports worrying developments on the status of the A303 road scheme, which appear to ignore the need to take into account the overdue Inspector’s report of last years Public Inquiry
• Heritage Link and Archaeology
  RESCUE expresses its concern that the built environment appears to take precedence over archaeological considerations within Heritage Link
• Portable Antiquities Scheme
  Review and 14th March 2004 public meeting at the British Museum: contact details
• Combe Martin, North Devon, unique historic landscape destroyed by Permitted Development by Trevor Dunkerley
  Destruction of a sunken lane delimiting a unique survival of an ancient strip system under
• Care of historic human remains
  Summary OF RESCUE’s response to the recent DCMS working group report
• Book Reviews (by Mick Jones)
  Mitigation of Construction Impact on Archaeological Remains by JM Davis, KLA Gdaniec, M Brice and LWhite, MoLAS, EH, and
• Preserving Archaeological remains in situ, by Taryn Nixon (Ed) MoLAS and EH
• Tsunami also a cultural heritage disaster
  Preliminary report of the devastation to the cultural heritage of the affected areas, more will emerge as the more urgent human and economic problems are resolved
• You read it here first!
  At long last the national press and TV have shown that misgivings of the academic community expressed in RN 92, 92 and 93, are proved correct.
• AGM and Open meeting details
• Call for Nominations for new Council members for 2005–6

An eye-witness account of the situation in Iraq as it affects archaeological sites.  

Tarmac henges quarry plan delayed Consideration of the application by Tarmac Northern Ltd to open a new extraction area at their Ladybridge quarry, close to the Thornborough Henges has been deferred to 2005.

National Park watchdogs warn of ‘ticking time-bombs’ by Rachel Reeves ,

Senior Policy Officer , Council for National Parks, Old Mineral Permissions and National Parks (£10) and Ticking time-bombs: the threat of old mineral permissions (£5) can be obtained from The Council for National Parks, phone 020 7924 4077

Maritime Archaeology: A sea view by Jesse Ransley

(Formerly Wessex Archaeology’s Maritime Section, now with that of English Heritage ) Despite there being a separate maritime review the DCMS document A Review of Heritage Protection: The Way Forward fails to address terrestrial sites which are also partly submerged, and other issues of connected land/sea heritage. Even in the draft of the Marine Heritage Protection Review, the connections between terrestrial, maritime, and the transitional zone between, are not adequately considered.

Rolex Awards for Enterprise : US$100,000 each for two prehistorians

Prehistorians David Lordkipanidze, of Georgia , and Teresa Manera de Bianco, of Argentina , are each winners of the US$100,000 Rolex Award for Enterprise for projects that help redefine our understanding of human and animal history .

Rosehill Roman Tile Kiln, Reigate , Surrey by Phil Jones ,

During March and June 2004 the sub-structure of a substantial Roman tile kiln and associated features were excavated by the Surrey County Archaeological Unit.

Lifting the kiln structure by John Price (Conservation Consultant)

Just before the archaeological investigations on the Reigate kiln ended, Surrey County Council, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council and Surrey Archaeological Society agreed on a joint plan to retrieve, preserve and in due course, display as much of the kiln as it was possible. John Price describes the process.

ARCHAEOLOGY AT 14+ by by Don Henson

Many people are continuing to write in to AQA protesting at the decision to scrap A level Archaeology. Don Henson of the CBA discusses the issues

Stonehenge Update by Kate Fielden

In advance of any announcements from the Inspector of the recent Public Enquiry English Heritage has submitted a planning application for a new Stonehenge visitor-centre just outside the World Heritage Site (WHS) at ‘Countess East’, about 3km east of the Stones and close to the A303/A345 roundabout junction. Salisbury District Council invites responses to the application by 28 October (for details see www.salisbury.gov.uk).

Book reviews:

‘ Hill and Valley Shaking’ by Adrian Chadwick, University of Wales , Newport

The Research Framework for the Archaeology of Wales, published on the website of the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust

Body of evidence by Jennifer Wallace , a Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Peterhouse, the author of Shelley; Greece: Rethinking Romantic Hellenism (1997) and Lives of the Great Romantics: Keats (1997). Her latest book Digging the Dirt: The Archaeological Imagination engages with the work of philosophers and writers who have been stirred by the life below ground, while not losing sight of the pressing demands of archaeologists today. In a world of post-modern spin, Wallace calls for a renewed sense of the poetics of depth and shows how excavation can play a vital role in bringing powerful political forces to account.

Early post-medieval vessel glass in England c1500–1670 (CBA Research Report 132).

Dr. Hugh Willmott ( University of Sheffield )

A valuable addition to any archaeological bookshelf.