English Heritage National Inventory now included in ArchSearch
English Heritage National Inventory now included in ArchSearch
In April this year, in collaboration with the English Heritage National Monuments Record (EHNMR), we were able to include the `National Inventory' for England within ArchSearch. This single data set has expanded the amount of data available to users by about 50 percent overnight.
The National Inventory is the primary record of England's archaeological and architectural sites held by the National Monuments Record and contains over 400,000 records. It encompasses the whole historic environment, including archaeological, architectural and historical sites from earliest times to the present, covering England and its territorial waters.
The data set provides basic information about each site together with sources, archive and activity details as appropriate. Core elements are presented within ArchSearch, with links for more information to PastScape, English Heritage's easy-to-use online resource that provides access to the National Inventory and related information. In addition, the new data set provides contact details and reference numbers for specific items of information held in the National Monuments Record Centre in Swindon.
The National Inventory records the whole of England's historic environment: from Avebury, Wiltshire (above) and Maiden Castle Dorset (right) ...
This is the third and largest national data set that English Heritage delivers to researchers through ArchSearch. The others are the already popular Excavation Index for England and the Index to Microfilmed Archaeological Archives. Whereas the National Inventory is concerned with monuments and buildings, the Excavation Index describes `events': occasions when researchers have studied specific monuments. The Index to Microfilmed Archives is a catalogue of holdings in the National Monuments Record, so it helps students plan trips to the National Monuments Record by showing what their holdings are. These data sets are complementary and are intended to be used together.
Because ArchSearch allows users to search many databases simultaneously, researchers can follow up multiple leads or pull together resources that might otherwise be impossible to find together. As an example, it is now possible to interrogate the EH National Inventory and `CANMORE', the online National Monuments Record of Scotland, for sites and monuments along the Anglo-Scottish border.
William Kilbride
wgk1@york.ac.uk
The National Inventory is online at two locations:
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue
http://pastscape.english-heritage.org.uk/homepage/
... to Pithead and housing at Easington, Co Durham (above) and Windsor Castle, Berkshire (right)
Images by kind permission of English Heritage NMR
