8409 Stonehenge & Avebury World Heritage Site Archaeological Condition Survey

Descriptions

The international importance of the prehistoric landscapes around Stonehenge and Avebury was recognised by UNESCO in 1986 by their inscription on the World Heritage List as Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites. The World Heritage Site (WHS) comprises two discrete areas which lie approximately 30km apart, with each characterised by a dense clustering of prehistoric ritual monuments with a stone circle and henge complex at their focus. The condition of the monuments within the WHS is periodically monitored, and these Condition Surveys are one of the most important key monitoring indicators for the WHS and provide a valuable tool for prioritising targeted management and conservation work. In 1999 a condition and management survey was undertaken in the Avebury part of the WHS by Oxford Archaeology. A similar survey was undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in 2002 within the Stonehenge part of the WHS. The purpose of these surveys was to assess the condition of the WHS as a whole and to inform existing management plan objectives and provide an indication of future priorities for conservation within the WHS. In 2010 English Heritage (as was) then commissioned Wessex Archaeology to undertake a further monument condition survey of the Stonehenge and Avebury WHS as a whole, one of the objectives of the 2009 WHS Management Plan. The aim of the 2010 survey was to repeat and update the results of the previous surveys to provide an indication of condition change across the WHS landscape as a whole, and for specific monuments. Some 1,002 monuments were surveyed during the 2010 survey (341 Avebury & 661 Stonehenge) and reviewed against the two earlier condition surveys for Avebury (1999) and Stonehenge (2002). As set out in the current iteration of the WHS Management Plan 2015-2021, an archaeological Condition Survey should be carried out at least every 10 years in order to provide monitoring information on the condition of the archaeological remains within the WHS over time. One of the actions in the WHS Management Plan therefore is to undertake a repeat WHS Condition Survey using as a basis the methodology developed for the 2010 survey. The survey was intended to be carried out during 2020, however its delivery has been delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this Condition Survey will inform future management plan objectives and provide an indication of future priorities for monument management within the WHS. The Condition Survey must therefore be complete before the next iteration of the WHS Management plan, which is due to be published by the end of 2022. This project aims to combine the skills, knowledge, and expertise of the public, private, and voluntary sectors, and in response to the governments Public Value Framework, the underlying principle of Historic England's corporate strategy, it is intended that the project builds capacity in the heritage sector by recruiting, training, and coordinating a ...