> John Pickin drew attention to Sites and Monuments Records and asked how
> effective are we at passing information on to them. In the case of North
> Yorkshire and the Yorkshire Dales National Park (both holders of SMRs),
> since the early 1990s, most of the mining and quarrying records are from the
> Northern Mine Research Society's computerised Mine Site Index.
>
> He also asked how good are we at lobbying our councillors and other
> politicians and putting in objections to planning applications which
> threaten historic mining sites. Again, the NMRS and EMRG both responded to
> recent proposals to convert a mine shop into a dwelling. Neither group took
> the negative line that permission should be denied, however. Instead, we
> sought restrictions on the development which would maintain the character of
> the building and its immediate environs. There would also be a building
> survey and a watching brief by an archaeologist. This, at least, ensured
> the building's survival at a fairly small cost ot the public purse. We have
> used the same approach for other sites.
>
> Should we be working more closely with our county archaeologists? Obviously
> so. On Tuesday, I was at a regular meeting of the Yorkshire Dales
> Archaeology Group, hosted by the Yorkshire Dales National Park's
> Archaeological Conservator. Also present were the new NAMHO Secretary
> (Sallie Bassham) and the new Conservation Officer (Martin Roe). Last month,
> Martin and I were at a similar meeting for the Nidderdale AONB - with the
> County Archaeologist, Inspector of Ancient Monuments etc etc.
>
> As to the recent Draft Metal Mines Strategy for Wales representing something
> of a seachange - 'appen! (as we say in Yorkshire). Could other parts of the
> UK respond as effectively? A ha' ma doots... Well, again, NMRS responded
> to specific parts of the draft, which had some highly questionable
> statements, and the mining history was based on stuff published in the
> 1960s. For the environmentalists, it is a start though.
>
> Sadly, everyone's approach seems to be reactive. Why not try forcing the
> pace and head them off at the pass? NAMHO did it with underground
> Scheduling, and the Northern Mine Research Society is currently preparing
> "Research Objectives for Extractive Industries in the Yorkshire Dales and
> Adjacent Areas". This will cover all aspects of extraction (e.g. metal
> mining and smelting, stone quarrying, lime burning, coal mining and peat
> digging) and seek to link them to transport networks and social
> developments. The document will have a number of uses. It will help with
> the identification of sites worthy of detailed survey and consolidation. It
> will go beyond the MPP reports, which concentrated on nationally important
> sites, and identify sites which are of local or regional importance. It
> will also identify themes for future research, at levels ranging from
> amateur to professional, in those topics (for example peat digging) where
> our knowledge is thin. We are particularly interested in encouraging
> co-operation with people working in other disciplines (transport, vernacular
> architecture etc) to make our work more widely relevant (the Beyond Mining
> History theme of our conference).
Nice work Mike. *s*
Ian Cowburn
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