Records of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England)

AE

1908-1991

Records of the Records of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments recording ancient and historical monuments in England: surviving minutes are in AE 1, correspondence and papers in AE 2, royal warrants of appointment in AE 3, and annual reports in AE 4

Many of the commission's records were destroyed by a fire at Cambridge in 1945.

Public Record(s)

English

4 series

Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated

Topics

Ancient Monuments and Historical Buildings

The commission was established by royal warrant in August 1908, at the same time as similar bodies for Scotland and Wales, to make an inventory of all buildings, earthworks and stone constructions in England up to 1714. A new royal warrant of 1943 abolished the date limit, and the commission set itself a limit of 1850 with discretion to record later buildings of outstanding significance.

It is a recording body which may recommend the preservation of particular buildings but has no power to implement its recommendations. Powers to protect and repair monuments belonged to the Works Departments, working through the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate, until 1970, and were then exercised by the Department of the Environment.

The results of the commission' s work are made available to the public as the National Monuments Record. Since 1963 this has included the National Buildings Record, which was established in 1941 to photograph and record buildings liable to be destroyed by enemy action.