Bernard,
Wake up to the realism of this issue. The 'best' do not deserve special
treatment. It is the average and the mundane sites that need more protection
or better recording. It is the average and the mundane which represent the
day to day reality of the past. Just preserving and presenting to the public
the biggest and best sites, the most technologically advanced etc, just
distorts the historical record. Take as an example Magpie Mine in
Derbyshire, a fine example of a preserved cornish engine house and now
presented as an icon of Derbyshire mining. But the reality is that the sough
was the main form of mine drainage adopted in the area and steam pumping was
relatively rare. Magpie is therefore not typical, but the public now
consider that it is(apologies to those of you from Derbyshire).
As to your comments about those making decisions you opinion would be a
little different if you were more aware of how the various bodies operated
and the demands on their resources. All to often no action is taken because
they are not aware of a problem. So once again i will stress it is a
question of education.
There is now legislation in England (and probably Wales) to protect
archaeological sites threatened with development, Planning Policy Guidelines
15 (standing structures) and 16(buried features) (PPG15 and PPG16). These
force contractors to pay for an archaeological assessment as part of the
initial site investigation, that is before any work is carried out, as well
as a watching brief during development. As English Heritage consider
anything before 1945 and occasionally sites after that date 'archaeology'
then most mine sites will be covered. This is not totally foolproof as the
planning authorities need some prior indication of the archaeological
potential of the site before they can act on the legislation. This is where
the amateur mining historian can play a major role. It is important to have
some detail of a site (no matter how important or mundane) in the public
Sites and Monuments Records. Schemes such as the ISIS site recording program
are aimed at providing just such a basic record and is definitely aimed at
the enthusiast. Once this record exists it should come to the attention of
the planners in cases of redevelopment.
Just some further food for thought.
Martin Roe
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