Untitled - Council for British Archaeology

37Historic Buildings Grants under the Local Authorities (Historic Buildings)Act 1962 have been given by the County Council for a number of years.Since 1974, the following grants have been made:1974-75: 28 1975-76: 30 1976-77: 37 1977-78: (21)Building Preservation Notices have also been served regularly since thecreation of the Conservation Section, usually by the County Council, but onoccasions by a District Council with County officer advice. The figuresfor this are:1974-75: 6 1975-76: 12 1976-77: 12 1977-78: (6)Grants have been given and grant-aid arranged in conjunction with theAncient Monuments Inspectorate, to deal with various major monuments in theCounty. In some cases the County Council has arranged for the execution ofnecessary works on behalf of the owner.Recent projects include:St. Thomas Chapel, Meppershall: collapse of a late Norman door was avertedand major repairs to walls and roof carried out;Warden Abbey:works;a grant was given to the Landmark Trust for their restorationClophill Old Church: a late medieval ruined church on a prominent hill-topsite was consolidated as a monument in County Council ownership following adeclaration of redundancy.Someries Castle, Hyde:Elstow Abbey and Mansion ruins:general repairs to late C15th gatehouse and chapel;emergency and general repairs in progress.Grants have recently been given and restoration arranged for three largelate C16th and early C17th wall paintings in Ampthill, Kempston and Dunstable.BUCKINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY MUSEUM - Mike FarleyThe presence of a DoE funded post to improve the County Sites and MonumentsRecord has meant that major advances have been made in this field andthe completion of a good basic index now becomes a possibility in the foreseeablefuture. Effective use of the Record in the planning process, whichshould be one of its major roles, would require that such a post become permanent.Nevertheless in the course of the year it has been possible to makesome progress in the planning field and to contribute to both Structure andLocal plans, as well as vetting mineral applications and certain other works.A reappraisal of categories of sites scheduled within the county has alsotaken place and new proposals are being put forward.The long-planned A5 diversion around Magiovinium becoming imminent, theCounty Archaeological Advisory Committee eventually decided to invite theDoE's Central Excavation Unit to handle the excavation in view of the scaleof work required and the critical timing. Work commenced in October underthe directorship of David Neal and is planned to continue until January orFebruary 1978. Despite the welcome bonus for the county that this largescale excavation provides, the continuing loss of smaller sites without excavationshows that the situation remains unsatisfactory.The assistance of the County Museum Archaeological Group enabled verygood cover to be provided for the natural gas pipeline crossing the countyduring the year. A number of flint scatters were located, four Iron Age