ARCH on the march
The more we hear about ARCH, the Alliance to Reduce Heritage Crime, the better it seems. The plan is simple – to create “an England-wide series of effective partnerships between organisations and communities to protect heritage” and that’s what is happening. Conferences and training events have been held and English Heritage has tons of guidance for all concerned on it’s website. We noticed that “Guidance for sentencers” is coming soon – how good is that?! (“Maximum is there to be occasionally used Your Honour”!) The campaign appears to have struck a big chord with the public. Awareness events have been held in many cities and the latest one in Lincolnshire has been extended. (Incidentally, at that one the museum is running a Fakes & Forgeries competition where you can win a truly, truly irresistible Sherlock Holmes teddy bear!)
Sheep’s clothing in Wales
The Pembrokeshire Prospectors are the poster boys of responsible detecting, so full of rules Mother Theresa would find it hard to get in and they’ve even just published a second book of their finds. But they have a dirty little secret: nowhere in their rules, constitution or code of conduct do they require Members to follow the official Code of Responsible Detecting or report their finds to the Portable Antiquities Scheme! There’s only one explanation: they have Members that aren’t prepared to comply with the very practices that are supposed to distinguish responsible detectorists from the selfish remainder. What a scandal that Pembrokeshire landowners are being bamboozled in this way and that PAS doesn’t do it’s job by telling them.
(If PAS put up a web page warning farmers about this scam – which is hobby-wide with nearly every club doing the same – or if the Pembrokeshire Prospectors contact us saying they’ve made the necessary changes we’ll be happy to amend this article. What could be fairer?)
And in case you still can’t see an end to Winter…
Here’s a reminder of a bit of comfort we posted a couple of years ago
The Heritage Journal 
5 comments
Comments feed for this article
29/01/2013 at 11:35
Keith Macdonald
Police chiefs, English Heritage and the National Trust said yesterday they are concerned about a spate of illegal metal detecting activity at important sites on the western edge of Salisbury Plain – which are all ancient Iron Age settlements and hillforts.
See
http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Treasure-hunters-warned-important-ancient-sites/story-17994349-detail/story.html
30/01/2013 at 13:53
calmgrove
Had a quick look at the Pembrokeshire Prospectors website. Though it does link to the PAS I also couldn’t see any reference to it in the other pages, though this was only a cursory glance.
Also, curiously, although they give the time and place where they meet, they don’t appear to have any other way of contacting them, either by email, snailmail or phone. I particularly wanted to ask about their claim to “regularly assist archaeologists on excavations in and around Pembrokeshire”. Their meetings take place at a time when I have another commitment, so sadly I won’t be able to see them in person(s), as it were.
30/01/2013 at 14:32
heritageaction
You can contact them at secretary@pembsprospectors.co.uk
Presumably any regular assistance to archaeologists involves strict controls on behaviour. More concerning is giving exhibitions and talks and persuading landowners to let them onto their land despite the fact their rules don’t commit them all to responsible behaviour. Hence the reference to sheep’s clothing.
So far we have only found one detecting club in England and Wales that doesn’t use exactly the same trick.
30/01/2013 at 15:47
calmgrove
Thanks for the email address. Presumably you’ve tried to contact them already?
30/01/2013 at 16:31
heritageaction
No, we just happened to find their address.