Providing Information to the Sites and Monuments Record

The Lancashire Sites and Monuments Record (SMR), contains information on known archaeological sites within the county, (including the Unitary areas of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen). It is managed by the County Council in Preston.

All information on a site is valuable and can be important in managing the future of a site, particularly when development is being considered. As planning applications and other development proposals are checked against the SMR, it is important that we have as much information on as many sites as possible. The SMR is also valuable to researchers, students and those who wish to know more about their local environment.

We are aware, however, that the sites on the SMR are only a small proportion of those that once existed or still survive within the county. Some of these other sites are yet to be discovered; others may have been subject to investigation or research that has not yet filtered down to the SMR. Sites may be discovered at any time or information gathered by the people who live and work in the county - this is not restricted to the professional archaeologist or academic and valuable work can be done by most people.Data may relate to new or well-known sites, sites of national importance or those of more local interest.

Providing Information to the Sites and Monuments Record

If you have knowledge of a site, or find something interesting that you feel would be useful or interesting to others, and it is located within the modern county of Lancashire then it may be added it to the SMR – if we do not know about it, we cannot consider it when looking at development proposals! We have developed the pages following to help you submit the information we need.

Please note, however, that you should not break the law, trespass, etc. to visit or record a site, please respect the Countryside Code and the privacy and rights of other people. Please do not dig into or otherwise damage any site you may come across - If you do this without permission of the landowner you will almost certainly be breaking the law and may well be destroying irreplaceable information. You should also note that Scheduled Monuments are specially protected against any disturbance, including metal-detecting.

Any objects that you may come across or find will normally belong to the landowner, and all land belongs to someone - even 'public' land like parks or open moorland. Removing items from a site can lead to prosecution or civil proceedings for theft or other offences. Special rules apply to any items that could be classed as 'treasure', which must be formally reported under the terms of the Treasure Act of 1996. The Portable Antiquities Scheme, a voluntary scheme to record archaeological objects found by members of the public, has a web site www.finds.org.uk which gives further details of the definition of treasure and the reporting procedures to be followed, as well as advice and information on the scheme itself and other useful links.

We Need to Know:

• Where the site is

• What the site looks like

• What you think it might be

• What its date may be

• Who recorded it and when

Some guidance follows, but do not be put off if you can’t follow it too closely, the principals are all you need to remember. After all, anything you can give us is better than nothing!

Where is it?

We need a national grid reference (NGR) for the site. There is guidance on NGRs on the bottom of the 1:50,000 maps, or you can look on the web – try www.finds.org.uk/learning/ngr.php.

Some computer mapping systems will give you the NGR directly, e.g. mario.lancashire.gov.uk

We prefer NGRs accurate to 1m if possible e.g. SD 47867 61615 is the NGR for the statue of Queen Victoria in Dalton Square, Lancaster (note that this is equivalent to 347867 461615 on the computer). If you can’t be so accurate then a six-figure reference – SD 479 616 – accurate to 100m is fine but anything less is not a lot of use. If you have just estimated the location or plotted it accurately using GPS then let us know.

What is the site called? Remember to give enough of an address for a stranger to find it – remember there is more than one ‘Chapel Street ’ in the county! A descriptive address e.g. ‘ 100m east of Winkley Barn, Aardvark Fell, Anglezarke Moor’ is also fine but one like ‘ Bowland Fells’ or ‘ near Chorley’ is too general.

Finally a very brief summary of the site is very useful at this point – e.g. ‘ Large stone, possibly a boundary marker ’ . Hopefully the name and summary together will be a clear indication of what the site is.

What Does it Look Like?

We need a description of the site, object or building you are reporting, with estimated or measured sizes as appropriate. Try to be brief but accurate and remember that you are recording shapes and sizes, not functions or interpretations at this point.

‘ Large grey stone, c.1m high and 30cm square, standing alone on the edge of a field 100m south east of Winkley Barn. The west face has the initials ‘AF’ carved deeply near the top, and the east face has the initials ‘BF’.

Sometimes you have to use a ‘functional’ word to describe the site, a ‘hexagonal concrete pillbox ’ is clear and obvious. It would be much more long-winded to describe the shape and appearance of such a structure, but in less clear-cut cases, it better to be descriptive than to assume what the site function was. For example ‘large round bowl-shaped mound ’ is better than ‘ barrow ’ as such a feature could have a number of origins, including natural erosion, quarrying and mining, haystack or cattle stands, etc.

Is the site part of a wider landscape or complex of features (such as a bell pit in a coal mining area)? Is it in good condition or ruined? Is there any active erosion or other threat?

We also need to know what sort of evidence was used - if you came across the site on a walk it might be an 'Earthwork', 'Find spot' or 'Built Structure' but a site you read about or found on a map may be 'Documentary Evidence'. References to any documents or maps that you quote or use would also be useful.

What do you think it May be?

This is different from but related to the description, where you can provide an interpretation of the site. If you think a set of building ruins was once a field barn, then say so; or if a mound was a barrow, then that too is fine, but you should provide some information on why you think it is so. Separating ‘evidence’ and ‘interpretation’ like this should make it easier for other people to understand what you are reporting. If you have used a map, book or other evidence in this interpretation, then give it as a reference.

Continuing from the example above, we could write:

‘The stone is situated between the Aardvark Fell estate and that of Beeswax Fold. It has no hinge holes or other indications that it may have been used as a gate post, nor is it tall enough for this. It seems most probable that it represents a former boundary stone. The Beeswax estate was established about 1825 (Smith, A, 2001 ‘ History of Anglezarke’ p.23) so the stone must post-date this.’

There are a lot of resources on the web which may help you identify your site – try using one of the archaeology glossaries such as www.teesarchaeology.com/glossary/ or that on the Time Team site www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/uncovered.html A limited number of 'Monument Class Descriptions' are available on the English Heritage web site, and these provide a description of some of the more common types of field monuments - see www.eng-h.gov.uk/mpp/mcd/intro2.htm

What its Date may be? (and database fields)

As noted above, you may have evidence to show that an object or feature is of a particular date, or that it was built or made before (or after) a certain date. Equally it may be obvious from its type that it is of a certain date – we would all be happy to assign concrete pillboxes to 1939-1945 unless there was good reason to think otherwise!

Where it is not possible to assign a single date, it may be appropriate to use a more descriptive term, or just give a period. ‘Medieval’ or ‘Bronze Age’ may be as close as you can date the item. Beware though, some terms - e.g. ‘Viking’ - have a cultural as well as a date implication and a date range ‘C7-C9’ may be less misleading. It is also perfectly acceptable to put ‘Unknown’ - sometimes this is the only thing that can be said. Various ‘timelines’ are available to help you with this – try the BBC’s history site and play the timeline at www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/launch_tl_british.shtml or the Time Team version www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/uncovered.html

Database Fields -

There are an ‘official’ set of terms for site or object type, period and date, evidence, etc. which are used to make sure data entries are consistent. We use this data to complete a series of database fields which help with searching and record retrieval. The official lists can be accessed on the web at http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/thesaurus/newuser.htm but there is a lot of detail there and the data structures can be difficult to understand. We can fill these in for you – they do provide endless data for arguments though!

Who Recorded it and When?

We need to know who you are and when you recorded the site so that you get the credit for your work and we can get back to you if we need more details or to discuss the site with you. This information will NOT be used for any other purpose without your consent.

If you can supply them, a photo or two can also be useful.

NOTE Lancashire County Council respects your right to privacy. Our privacy policy ensures that any information about yourself that you give to the council will only be used for the purpose declared. It is the policy of the council to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 and good practice for the handling of personal data contained within that Act. To this end we will not process, store or publish photographs that:

• Allow a minor to be identified (without the written consent of their guardian);

• Breach copyright;

• Indicate trespass on property.

For further information on Data Protection Matters and Information Security, Lancashire County Council’s Data Protection Officer, can be contacted on 01772 263974/3997 or by email to dataprotection@lancscc.gov.uk

Summary

Site Number	If you are sending in details of more than one site, give them numbers.
Name	The name of the site including, where appropriate, the street, town and district.
Summary	A very brief summary of the site.
NGR	National Grid Reference as accurately as possible. A valid Lancashire NGR would be SD 6379718218. From a computer system the same reference could be written 33797 418218.
Description	A concise description of the site, with measurements or approximate sizes if available. Include the evidence for the site – e.g. ‘earthwork seen whilst walking’ or ‘item found while digging in garden’. Comments and interpretations should follow, as should references used.
Type	Site type, from thesaurus
Period	Period, from table.
Date	Date
Evidence	Evidence, from table.
Recorder & Date	Your name and contact details; Date site recorded.
Photos	Reference nos. or file name(s) of any photographs supplied.

Example

Site Number	1
Name	100m east of Winkley Barn, Aardvark Fell, Anglezarke Moor
Summary	Large stone, possibly a boundary marker
NGR	SD 6379718218 (GPS)
Description	Large grey stone, c.1m high and 30cm square, standing alone on the edge of a field 100m south east of Winkley Barn. The west face has the initials ‘AF’ carved deeply near the top, and the east face has the initials ‘BF’. Site seen during walk. The stone is situated between the Aardvark Fell estate and that of Beeswax Fold. It has no hinge holes or other indications that it may have been used as a gate post, nor is it tall enough for this. It seems most probable that it represents a former boundary stone. The Beeswax estate was established about 1825 (Smith, A, 2001 ‘History of Anglezarke’ p.23) so the stone must post-date this.
Type	Boundary Stone
Period	Post Medieval
Date	Post 1825
Evidence	Structure
Recorder & Date	A A Aardvark, 99 Marsupial Street, Accrington, AC1 2XY T. 0123 456789 E. AnnieAardvark@Dirigible.co.au Recorded 3 July 2004
Photos	OLY8765.jpg, OLY7654.jpg

Submit Information to the Lancashire Sites and Monuments Record