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The South Gloucestershire Historic Environment Record David R

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The South Gloucestershire Historic Environment Record David R The South Gloucestershire Historic Environment Record David R. Evans The South Gloucestershire Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) provides a dynamic digest of archaeological and historical sites, structures and find spots which are recorded in the area. It should be regarded as one component of an Historic Environment Record (HER), which includes other, appropriate, data relating to Conservation Areas, Historic Landscape, Listed (and unlisted) structures and related environmental features such as semi-natural woodland. The function of the HER is to provide educationaL general and planning advice and information to the people of South Gloucestershire. The South Gloucestershire Council Historic Environment Record originated in the records maintained by Avon County Council. Its development was quite complicated, but a rough summary is as follows. The initial record was based on a series of record cards and maps which in themselves were based to some degree on the Ordnance Survey Archaeological Service records, supplemented by limited parish survey records. Compilation of the computerised SMR using a Database Manager called SuperFile was begun in 1983 and Manpower Services staff completed much of the initial input of data by 1985/6. A major survey of Marshfield parish was carried out during this period and should have established a standard by which the record could be measured but the opportunity was missed. This said, however, the SMR data for Marshfield was the most comprehensive in the database. Between 1988 and 1993 further records were added mainly, but not entirely, based on projects such as the Severn Barrage Survey, preliminary work for the Second Severn Crossing and early developments at Bradley Stoke. A full time SMR officer partly funded by what is now English Heritage was appointed in 1993. A considerable backlog, especially of archaeological assessment reports (archaeological grey literature), had accumulated by that time. A major task was therefore to eliminate as much of this backlog as was possible. Local and national journals had also to be examined. Local government reorganisation quickly became an issue when it became apparent that a joint provision for the four successor unitary councils would not be feasible. It was quickly realised that although the database manager was fit for purpose, due to the haphazard construction of the database much data cleaning would be required. It was also accepted that a relational database, which better fitted the event/monument structure becoming the standard for SMRs, should be introduced. The database was transferred to MS FoxPro and considerable data cleaning was undertaken. Upon local government reorganisation in 1996 the paper background material of the SMR was divided between the four successor unitary authorities. Each gained a full database for the former county of Avon with the intention that this would facilitate data exchange. In 1996/7 data were migrated from Super File (via MS FoxPro) to Microsoft Access. At this time a crude link to a Geographical Information System (GIS) was developed. Such a link allowed basic data to be displayed on a computer map base. Two projects initiated under Avon County CounciL the Extensive Urban Survey and the Historic Landscape Character Assessment, continued under the successor authorities. Looking back it was the progress of these two projects, which saw the first stage of the transformation of the SMR into a Historic Environment Record (HER). Both began as a paper map-based exercise but it soon became clear that only a computer map-based system would be able to handle and manipulate the data so that they could be presented in a usable format. At this stage it was realised that although most of the major inconsistencies in the data had been eliminated, a major rethink about how the SMR was structured and how it was developed 237 D AVID R . EVA N S was required. Therefore, in 1998 a data audit of the existing record was undertaken which resulted in the formulation of a five-year plan for a major overhaul of the database. Although some of these aspirations were overtaken by events and others are still a hope for the future, the main themes of the audit - improving the quality of the data and a full parish-by-parish review of the information - were successfully completed in 2004. All of the main features which appear on First Edition Ordnance Survey maps (c.1880) are now recorded. One aspiration was to have the HER available on the Web. Although a South Gloucestershire based website has not, yet, been established a version of the data can be viewed via the Archaeology Data Service (http:/ fads.ahds.ac.uk). Although not directly connected with the development of the HER the appointment of an archaeology promotions officer in 2000 funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund made it possible for a greater involvement for the community in the recording and enhancement of the local heritage. Amongst projects generated by this initiative the construction of a list of buildings of local distinctiveness and a survey of pumps, wells and springs can be highlighted as directly benefiting the HER. A twice-yearly archaeological newsletter was also published, and this continues after the end of the project. A limited amount of fieldwork was also possible within the remit of the project. Three major villas have been sampled and a Saxon burial recorded. Despite reduced staff, limited projects are still being undertaken. Work to improve the presentation of the important coal-mining site at Ram Hill, Westerleigh, is being carried out with considerable local involvement. What does the HER comprise? All historic and archaeological data contain some element of geographical information and a major change has been the move from a data-centred system to a map-based system. HER data can now be viewed via a series of map layers covering SMR sites (archaeological core data); Scheduled Ancient Monuments; Listed Buildings; Locally Listed Buildings; Registered Parks, Gardens and Battlefields; and settlement cores and excavation sites. But this is not all. A series of digital Ordnance Survey maps, dating approximately to 1880, 1905, 1915 and 1936, together with later Ordnance Survey maps and aerial photographs, forms part of the resource. A separate HER study room which contains considerable amounts of background material, which is not readily available on either the maps or the database, has been established. Where are we now and where are we going? Although development as outlined above appears to be akin to linear growth, it is in fact much closer to an exponential explosion of data. Although numbers do not tell the whole story, the database has three times the numbers of entries that it had on the establishment of South Gloucestershire in 1996. In many ways the HER appears complete but there is much to do with new data sources to be tapped and new opportunities for exploiting the educational potential of the resource to be explored. 238 Archaeology in Gloucestershire: Looking Backwards but Mostly Forwards Alan Saville It was a very considerable privilege to be invited by Neil Holbrook to participate in the 2004 celebration of Gloucestershire archaeology, 25 years after the conference on the same theme which I organized as part of the Prehistoric Society's summer excursion to the Cotswolds in 1979. Acting as Chairman for the morning session and delivering a summing-up at the end of the day was extremely enjoyable and gratifying, as was the opportunity to hear at first hand the up-to-date accounts of what archaeological work had been taking place in the county over the last two and a half decades. The day brought back pleasant memories of the previous occasion, as indeed did meeting up again with some veterans of that 1979 conference who were still involved in, or at least still interested in, archaeology in Gloucestershire. The conference in 1979 also took place in The Park in Cheltenham, in what was then the College of St Paul and St Mary but which by 2004 had become part of the University of Gloucestershire - an auspicious sign of change. Just as the 1979 meeting generated a publication - Archaeology in Gloucestershire (Saville 1984a) - so has the 2004 conference for which I am penning this minor and confessedly self­ indulgent contribution. As I said on the day at the conference, to review the whole wealth of new information presented by the speakers would be unrealistic, and it is now unnecessary since their contributions will be found in the present volume. Instead I will focus on a few themes which struck me at the meeting, or have occurred to me since, that are worthy of further exploration and comment in the context of this volume and its predecessor. In doing so as a non-Gloucestershire resident since 1989 I realize I risk the criticism of being out of touch with local detail, but equally as an interested external observer I have the luxury of expressing my opinions without the constraints of being directly involved. Whilst in his talk Tim Darvill was able to report a few isolated discoveries from the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods, it seemed to me that these earliest phases of prehistory are still very much the 'Cinderella' periods for archaeology in the county and it is perhaps the single category in which we are little further forward than in 1984. Admittedly there have recently been some encouraging national and local prospects for progress in terms of the Lower Palaeolithic. In the far north of the county, the work of the new National Ice Age Network (www.iceage.org.uk), which has grown from the Shotton Project/Midlands Palaeolithic Network based at the University of Birmingham (Buteux and Lang 2002), could lead to new discoveries from the Avon and Severn gravels to expand on previous exciting discoveries from the Twyning area (Whitehead 1988).
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