Kelmscott Manor Secured for the Future with a £4.7 million Grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund

John Cattell FSA, Head of the Investigation and Analysis Department at Historic England, tells us about a survey with an imminent deadline, which can be found online.
 
‘Historic England is seeking to improve its understanding of what England’s historic environment receives from the European Union. To help with this it is inviting organisations to fill in a short survey. This information will provide an important baseline from which to identify the impact on business and to plan for the future.
 
‘The deadline for responses is Friday 16 September, and the results of the survey will inform the advice Historic England provides to central government.’

Stephen Johnson FSA, Chair of the Society’s Policy Committee, has written this important piece, below, about potential changes in UK law governing contemporary burial and cremation. Fellows will know that ancient and historic human remains are not only an absolutely key component of archaeological research, but that they have also been a focus of public and academic debate, much of it thoughtful and well informed, and of some controversy. The Ministry of Justice recently introduced changes regarding how archaeologists in Britain excavate and study human remains, which included an unprecedented shift towards an assumption of reburial. These changes were mostly abandoned in the face of archaeological objections. The image is from artwork prepared for a front cover of British Archaeology magazine in 2010; key concerns then were later addressed by the Ministry.
 
Now the Law Commission, a statutory independent body created to keep the law under review and to recommend necessary reform, is considering wider matters of burial and cremation. As Johnson says, the Commission has contacted the Society to ask us for our views.
 
‘The Law Commission’, he writes, ‘has asked the Society to comment on a possible project to reform the law governing burial and cremation. The Commission is particularly interested to hear what current problems in the law are, any information the Society can provide about the scale of those problems, and what we consider to be the likely public benefits of reform (for example, economic, societal and environmental gains). Facts, statistics, and indications of time spent or money lost, as well as the non-financial impact of problems with the law, are all helpful. The Commission needs this information to build the case for reform, and to assist in discussions with government departments about the priority that potential projects should be given.
 
‘A background note states that:
 
"The current legislation governing burial is inconsistent and spread across various Acts and Church Measures, some of which date back to the 19th century. Difficulties arise in its application to modern conditions. Space is limited and increasingly expensive yet, with a growing population, there is a high demand for burial sites; it has been estimated that half of the 25,000 burial grounds in England and Wales will be full by 2030. Further, societal attitudes to the disposal of bodies have evolved; the law should be flexible and accommodate different religious and cultural beliefs and alternative burial arrangements.
 
“Various organisations – including religious and other belief groups, local authorities, cremation authorities, funeral directors, and archaeologists – as well as bereaved families are affected by the law governing burial and cremation. The law may be preventing sensible activities and causing inefficiencies with a financial as well as emotional impact. A project could:
 
“(1) examine how the law should facilitate efficient use of burial grounds, and the circumstances in which burial grounds can be closed and built upon;
 
“(2) consolidate and update the different statutory provisions applying to burials in churchyards, cemeteries, and private burial grounds;
 
“(3) review and codify the duty to dispose of a dead body, and consider whether individuals’ wishes concerning the disposal of their bodies should be legally binding; and
 
“(4) examine whether the Cremation Act 1902 confers sufficient powers to make regulations concerning cremation.
 
“Government consulted on reform to burial law in 2004, but announced in 2007 that primary legislation was not a priority; a similar announcement was made in 2012. Government is, however, currently considering changes to the Cremation (England and Wales) Regulations 2008 and changes to cremation practice.
 
“[The Commission] is interested in consultees’ views on the impact of these issues and whether they would be suitable for review by the Law Commission. [It] would also like to hear about any specific aspects of burial and cremation law that consultees suggest require modification, simplification or reform.”
 
‘Readers of Salon with experience – primarily from an archaeological standpoint – who can provide evidence of the sorts of problems encountered with the current legislation governing burial, are invited to submit their views, or, as an initial approach, to contact the General Secretary John Lewis FSA at the Society (jlewis@sal.org.uk). The deadline for our reply to the Commission is 31 October this year. The Society would appreciate responses from the Fellowship in early October.’ See the Society's webpage.

 
The second round of the Cultural Protection Fund is now open. The £30 million fund, delivered in partnership with the Department for Culture Media and Sport, is designed to help create sustainable opportunities for economic and social development through the fostering, safeguarding and promotion of cultural heritage. Organisations working with local partners in one or more of the Fund’s target countries within the Middle East and North Africa region are invited to apply.
 
In this round of funding, organisations can apply for up to £3 million for projects focusing on the protection of cultural heritage at risk due to conflict. Full details of the application process (including timelines and eligibility) can be found on the webpage. For Large Grants, the call for Expressions of Interest opened on 1 September, and closes on 28 October 2016. Small grants applications are now available; decisions will be made quarterly, in December, March, June and September. Photo shows remains of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan.
 

The W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research (AIAR) offers one to nine month Fellowships in Jerusalem. The current deadline for most awards is 15 October 2016, with some later exceptions. All nationalities are eligible for at least some Fellowships – and any open to European citizens will continue to include those of the UK. Albright Fellows, primarily from the United States, Canada, Europe, China, Israel and Palestine, exchange ideas with other researchers, students and the public, in the US and locally.
 
The AIAR, based in Jerusalem, is the oldest American research centre for Near Eastern studies in the Middle East. Founded in 1900 as the American School of Oriental Research (ASOR), it was renamed in 1970 after its distinguished director and father of American archaeology in the region, William Foxwell Albright (1891–1971). For 116 years, the Albright has advanced its mission to engage in and facilitate research on the history and cultures of the Near East, to document and preserve evidence from the ancient world as a cultural resource, and to educate the public about the history and cultures of the region. Full details can be found online.
 
Picture shows Fellows on a field trip to Montfort Castle, a Crusader castle in northern Israel.

For its next round of grants the Castle Studies Trust has been able to increase the maximum amount it can award per grant by 50%, to £7,500. Grants will initially focus on new work on castles, such as architectural and geophysical surveys or scientific analyses such as radiocarbon dating, as well as projects to enhance public understanding of castles, such as reconstruction drawings. Applications are now open, and close on 15 December 2016. The Trust has also broadened its criteria for sites for which it will award grants. These now include sites managed by major heritage bodies, subject to caveats. Applications are assessed by a team of experts, among them Jeremy Ashbee FSA, John Kenyon FSA and Richard Oram FSA. For further information see online, or contact the Chair of Trustees, Jeremy Cunnington at admin@castlestudiestrust.org.

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