HC Deb 16 January 1986 vol 89 c678W
Mr. Terry Fields

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will list, by subsection and paragraph, the powers under which he acted in providing funds towards the cost of recovering the Mary Rose:

  1. (2)if he will list, by subsection and paragraph, the powers under which he acted in designating the Mary Rose as an ancient monument;
  2. (3) how many protected wrecks have also been designated as ancient monuments; and if he will list them;
  3. (4) what is his policy regarding the payment of public funds to private charities in connection with the preservation of ancient monuments; and if he will make a statement;
  4. (5) if he will list, by subsection and paragraph, the powers under which he paid grants to the Mary Rose trust;
  5. (6) whether any grant was actually paid to the Mary Rose trust prior to the designation of the Mary Rose as an ancient monument taking effect; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Tracey

The grant offered by my predecessor to the Mary Rose trust was within the powers of section 24(2) of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 which enables contributions to be made towards the cost of removing ancient monuments to another place for the purposes of preservation. Section 61(12) defines an "ancient monument" as either a scheduled monument (section I of the 1979 Act) 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". The Mary Rose fell within the definition of "monument" in section 61(7)(a) and the exclusion in section 61(8)(b) concerning protected wrecks does not apply to this subsection. The Mary Rose was clearly of public interest and a grant could thus lawfully be made. This conclusion was reached before the grant was offered; payments were not made until 1982. No protected wrecks have been scheduled.

The responsibility for making grants was transferred to the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission on 1 April 1984 and the present policy on aid to private charities is a matter for the Commission.