The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1910 was an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

that aimed to improve the protection afforded to ancient monuments in Britain.

Details

The

Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (as it then was). It was introduced by John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, recognising the need for a governmental administrat ...

had begun the process of establishing legal protection for some of Britain's ancient monuments; these had all been prehistoric sites, such as ancient

tumuli A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...

. The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1900 had continued this process, empowering the government's Commissioners of Works and local

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irel ...

s to protect a wider range of properties. In 1908 a royal commission concluded that there were gaps between these two pieces of legislation, and in 1910 the Ancient Monuments Protection Act was passed, allowing the commissioners and councils to receive ancient monuments as gifts, and making damaging the wider set of ancient monuments described in 1900 legislation a criminal offence in the same way as those covered by the 1882 legislation.

Consequences

The operation of the combined legislation was felt to be unwieldy, and three years later the act was repealed, being replaced with the

Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act 1913 The Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act 1913 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that aimed to improve the protection afforded to ancient monuments in Britain. Details The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 had be ...

.Mynors, p.9.

Bibliography

*Mynors, Charles. (2006)
Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments.
' London: Sweet and Maxwell. .

References

{{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1910 Archaeology of the United Kingdom Archaeology law Conservation in the United Kingdom