Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979

The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 (c. 46) or AMAAA was a law passed by the UK government, the latest in a series of Ancient Monument Acts legislating to protect the archaeological heritage of England and Wales, and Scotland. Northern Ireland has its own legislation.

Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to ancient monuments; to make provision for the investigation, preservation and recording of matters of archaeological or historical interest and (in connection therewith) for the regulation of operations or activities affecting such matters; to provide for the recovery of grants under section 10 of the Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Act 1972 or under section 4 of the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 in certain circumstances; and to provide for grants by the Secretary of State to the Architectural Heritage Fund.
Citation	1979 c. 46
Territorial extent	England and Wales, and Scotland
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act 1913 Ancient Monuments Act 1931 Field Monuments Act 1972
Amended by	Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The law is administered in England by Historic England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in Scotland by Historic Environment Scotland and formerly by Cadw in Wales.

Provisions

Ancient monuments

Section 61(12) defines sites that warrant protection due to their being of national importance as 'ancient monuments'. These can be either scheduled monuments or "any other monument which in the opinion of the Secretary of State is of public interest by reason of the historic, architectural, traditional, artistic or archaeological interest attaching to it". If an ancient monument is scheduled then it gains additional legal protection.

A monument is defined as:

any building, structure or work above or below the surface of the land, any cave or excavation; any site comprising the remains of any such building, structure or work or any cave or excavation; and any site comprising or comprising the remains of any vehicle, vessel or aircraft or other movable structure or part thereof...

— Section 61 (7)

Damage to a scheduled monument is a criminal offence and any works taking place within one require scheduled monument consent from the Secretary of State.

The Act also provides for taking ancient monuments into the care of the Secretary of State – the concept of 'guardianship' where an ancient monument remains in private ownership but the monument is cared for and (usually) opened to the public by the relevant national heritage body.

Areas of archaeological importance

The Act (in Part II) also introduced the concept of areas of archaeological importance (AAI), city centres of historic significance which receive limited further protection by forcing developers to permit archaeological access prior to building work starting. As of 2004 only five city centres, all in England, have been designated AAIs (Canterbury, Chester, Exeter, Hereford and York). Part II of the Act was never commenced in Scotland.

As the provisions in AAIs are limited compared with the requirements that can be made of developers through the NPPF, and formerly its predecessors in PPS5 and PPG16, AAIs have fallen out of use.

Replacement in Wales

The act no longer has effect in Wales, its provisions having been repealed and replaced there by the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023.

See also

• Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882
• Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1900
• Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1910
• Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act 1913
• Ancient Monuments Act 1931

External links

• Text of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
• Historic Scotland Website – a page about Ancient Monuments of Scotland, which also includes a downloadable copy of the Act.