Catalogue description Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME): Agendas, Minutes and Papers

The records are arranged in chronological order.

The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) was established by Royal Warrant in 1908. Sponsored by the Department of the Environment from 1970 to 1992, by the Department of National Heritage from 1992 to 1997 and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport from 1997 onwards, it had responsibility for identifying, interpreting, surveying and recording sites and buildings of archaeological and architectual interest in England and the adjacent territorial waters (including the statutory recording of threatened listed buildings). It also had responsibility for national standards in surveying, provided archaeological information for Ordnance Survey maps and, from 1986, had responsibility for the Survey of London. From 1963 onwards it had responsibility for compiling, coordinating and maintaining the National Monuments Record, an archive of architectural and archaeological records which developed from the National Buildings Record set up in 1940. RCHME, including the National Monuments Record, was merged with English Heritage in 1999, although meetings of the RCHME commissioners continued until 2002.