English Heritage

A couple of times on this board I have brought up an organisation called "English Heritage" or to give them their proper title, The Royal Commission for the Historic Monuments of England, and I thought I would give people here a heads up on who they are and what they do.

EH is a QUANGO (Quasi Autonomous Non Governmental Organisation) that was set up and funded by the central government but is not managed by it. Most of their funding comes from central government (about 75%), granted to the organisation from the Department of Media and Sport. As they are English Heritage, equivalent bodies exist in Scotland (Historic Scotland), Wales (Cadw) and Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland Environment Agency). The other 25% of their funding comes from membership, admission fees and retail sales.

They are responsible for the upkeep, management and protection of a large number of monuments in England and directly own a good number. They are the governmental advisory body for the historic environment and that includes archaeological monuments and landscapes. In that advisory capacity, they recommend to government the process of "listing" historic buildings (which is legal protection of a historic building according them special rights and protections against development and demolition). Their full list of responsibilities and powers are set out in The National Heritage Act (1983).

In the public sphere, they promote and protect the monuments in their care, are responsible for their upkeep and revenue generation. They are more often than not involved in the archaeological excavation of important sites. A good number of their sites are free to visit but most change an entrance fee (entrance always free to members).

They are also actively involved in research, education and archiving. They publish research volumes of their work and provide public access to resources on their monuments. Some of their services:

Images of England photographic library
Pastscape access to research records and archive
Heritage gateway access to records available across England
Heritage Explorer online teaching resources

They have a national archive in Swindon (NMRC) that anybody can visit, a national aerial photography archive and a programme of proactively encouraging school visits.

And of course every year is the Festival of History

Aren't these the same buggers now claiming all photos of Stonehenge is automatically their property?

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/10/19/english-heritage-cla.html

lol, I had no idea they were doing that.

It's these damn budget cuts, they have to find new and devious ways of making money!

We just got 16 months for the price of 12 on EH membership... they can't be that short of cash!

Also, they will have to pay for the bottomless pit of cash that is the constant back and forward about what should happen to the site. Between English Heritage, National Trust and The Forestry Commission they have made such a hash of it they have to make their money back somehow.

BecMacFeegle wrote:It's these damn budget cuts, they have to find new and devious ways of making money!

Bit like on Watchdog earlier this afternoon on the government departments now switching to the "08" numbers in order to charge people ringing them up for information...