|
On 6th February 2008 Gail Falkingham from the County Council’s Historic and Environment Services spoke on the work of the North Yorkshire Historic Environment Record to the Skipton Civic Society.
In the presentation, Gail explained the work of the HER Service towards maintaining a detailed record of all historic buildings in the county (excluding the city of York, and the National Park area which are covered separately by the Park Authority’s and City’s own databases).
Based in Northallerton, the small but enthusiastic team collect and collate as much data and information as possible on all historic and archaeological sites and buildings that they can find or that is sent to them. This is being organised into a computerized database which provides a gazetteer for all known sites and buildings of interest. They are also involved in the Historic Landscape Characterisation project which is running from 2005 to 2009 (in partnership with the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors National Parks, Tees Archaeology and the City of York Council), as well as the volunteer scheme for the Monuments at Risk Survey.
Unfortunately they have no field team, so cannot carry out practical surveys themselves. However, they do act as an advisory body, with a particular emphasis on the assessment of planning applications and processes upon the historic environment. This consultation element of their work is very important as their recommendations have a significant influence upon building projects, affecting the historic environment. Last year around 11,000 planning applications were assessed by the HER office in Northallerton, with formal advice being given (under PPG15 and PPG16 guidelines) in 420 cases, and archaeological projects being instigated in over 150.
Recommendations from the Northallerton Office in response to planning applications can lead to one of the following actions:
- No action required
- Watching brief
- Further evaluation required
- Preservation in situ or Mitigation (modification of a building design or construction project to accommodate historic features)
- Refusal of planning permission
- Preservation through recording (field surveys, excavations, photography, etc)
Gail went into quite some detail about the database and how the records are structured and maintained. There are 100 HERs across the UK – North Yorkshire is one of 60 who use the Exegesis system which allows the individual records to be linked into digital maps.
With over 40,000 records on the HER database, plus many more non-computerised archives, the HER’s offices at Northallerton are pleased to welcome members of the public to search their collection (by appointment). It is hoped however, to launch the HER onto the internet at some time in the near future.
For further information see:
A Landscape strategy for Lancashire (which includes the Historic Landscape Characterisation survey for the Craven area:
http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/landscape/landscapefullstrat/contents.asp
with map at:
http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/landscape/landscapefullstrat/figure2.asp
North Yorkshire County Council – Heritage Service -
http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3075
North Yorkshire County Council – Archaeology and Development leaflet -
http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/m1807_0.pdf
PPG15 and PPG16 guidelines –
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.001002005009007
Council for British Archaeology – National planning policy -
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/conserve/planning/plansheet3.html
Yorkshire Dales National Park HER (Historic Environment Record) -
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/collections/blurbs/420.cfm
Back to top
|
