About the Sites and Monuments Record

The Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) is the most comprehensive available index to Herefordshire's historic environment. It is an integral part of the county archaeological service (Herefordshire Archaeology), maintaining over 31,000 records relating to the historic environment. The SMR consists of a paper and computerised record of all known archaeological and historic sites in Herefordshire, and spans the full range of human activity in the county, from earliest prehistory through to the 20th century. It aims to record everything significant about the historic environment, from a prehistoric burial mound, to a medieval town, to a railway line or important Victorian house. Records have been drawn from a wide variety of sources, including reports of archaeological fieldwork, books, journal articles, maps (including historic maps), aerial photographs, national lists and registers, student dissertations and field observations from antiquarian and modern recorders. New records are regularly added.

The SMR includes textual data in a computerised database, and spatial data both on paper maps and in digital form on a Geographic Information System (GIS). The SMR also holds supporting paper, map-based and photographic information, including site-specific paper files, photocopies of historic maps, a small library, some colour slides and a substantial aerial photograph collection. This information is publicly accessible at the SMR office, and much of it is also accessible through this website.

Herefordshire's SMR has been compiled by a number of different people over the past 30 years. It was originally held by the Museum service but since the 1980s it has been maintained by the archaeology service of the relevant local authority, first by the former Hereford and Worcester County Council and now, since 1998, by Herefordshire Council. The SMR is currently staffed by one full-time equivalent SMR Officer, on a job share basis. It seeks to inform the management and enjoyment of the historic environment by providing a documentation and information service for members of the public, professional archaeologists from external organisations, colleagues within Herefordshire Archaeology, and other staff within the Council who are carrying out historic environment-related work. The SMR is used to provide information for a wide range of purposes, including development control, agri-environment and other conservation schemes, academic research, local history, tourism, education and outreach. The position of the SMR within the archaeology service may become increasingly central as a result of the forthcoming Heritage Protection Reform legislation, which will introduce a statutory duty for local authorities to maintain or have access to Historic Environment Records (more fully-developed SMRs). These statutory HERs will have a crucial role in enabling the delivery of the new heritage protection system.

The job-share Sites and Monuments Record Officers - Melissa Seddon and Lucie Dingwall - are responsible for updating and maintaining the Sites and Monuments Record, as well as dealing with enquiries from the public and archaeological professionals. They completed an English Heritage-assessed audit of the SMR in 2006-7 and compiled a progress review report for English Heritage in March 2011, the first in a three-year cycle of audit reviews. An updated version of the SMR's Development Plan is being prepared, using the review results. The development tasks identified in this Plan will be carried out between 2011 and 2014, with the aim of relaunching the SMR as a wider-ranging Historic Environment Record (HER) in 2012.

The Herefordshire SMR is located in Blueschool House, Blueschool Street, Hereford. As Blueschool House is not open to the public, visits to the SMR can be made by appointment only; telephone 01432 260130 to make an appointment. At least 24 hours' notice is required for an appointment. The SMR is normally staffed from Monday to Thursday each week, plus alternate Fridays.