Heritage centenary confirms importance of 1913 Act in protecting history

The Ancient Monuments Act 1913 was brought in to prevent American collectors buying historic houses and interiors, removing panelled rooms, staircases, fireplaces and even ceilings and shipping them across the Atlantic.

The Act provided protection for privately-owned monuments and effectively established a national collection of historic sites that ranges from Stonehenge and Hadrian’s Wall to a 1960s’ Cold War bunker.

The centenary events, announced at England’s youngest grade I listed building, the Lloyds Building in the City of London, will be marked with exhibitions at Wellington Arch, a BBC television series and a book about the heritage protection movement.

And as part of the year-long series of events, heritage body English Heritage says it will also complete restoration projects on two of its most important sites, Stonehenge and Kenwood House in London.

Chief executive Dr Simon Thurley said: “Imagine England without Stonehenge, imagine England without its great castles and abbeys, and imagine England without its great historic monuments.

“It is largely thanks to the 1913 Ancient Monuments Act that these stone, brick and iron eye-witnesses to our past survive today to tell their story.”

Lord Curzon, a key figure in passing the Act, said in 1912 that the country’s buildings set to be protected under the legislation were “documents just as valuable in reading the record of the past as any manuscript or parchment deed”.

The Act established statutory protection of historic structures that were privately owned, by bringing in “preservation orders” to prevent them being demolished and “scheduling” which listed monuments of national importance and made it a crime to damage them. It later developed through the listing system and planning measures.

The legislation also allowed the Government to collect or take into guardianship important monuments, with four sites acquired in 1913: Lindisfarne Priory in Northumberland, Yarmouth Castle on the Isle of Wight, 12th century Framlingham Castle in Suffolk and the ruins of Penrith Castle in Cumbria.

The Act also effectively established the National Heritage Collection.