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Battle of Fulford - A Parliamentary Question
Lord Faulkner of Worcester asked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they will take to prevent the destruction, through inappropriate commercial development, of the site of the Battle of Fulford, held on 20 September 1066. [HL1877]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: English Heritage, our statutory adviser, is closely monitoring the situation. It will continue to keep the Department for Culture, Media and Sport informed of any developments regarding this site.
Comment
English Heritage are in the process of developing a strategy to investigate, define and preserve the sites of important battle in England. Is it appropriate that the Fulford site that is accepted by all parties, including the developers, should have 700+ houses and a network of roads constructed before the English Heritage work is complete? Why have the developers not undertaken any appropriate investigation? Why will the developers not allow others to carry out some work?
In their initial study, the developer said: " The geographical details that the River was to the right (west) and the Ditch was on the left (east) suggests that the Ditch mentioned may refer to Germany Beck. This theory was adhered to by K Penn who wrote the report on the A64 Outer Ring Road evaluation in 1973.
"Without further field evaluation this issue seems likely to remain unresolved."
That is what the developers said BUT......they still want to bury the site without investigating it.
Is this sad or is it dishonest?
The developers have prevented relevant work!
It is untrue to claim that relevant work has been undertaken. Two thirds of what we now recognise as the main battle has not been investigated.
It is a scandal that this piece of heritage can be threatened without a full investigation of the battlefield being undertaken and that they can block our attempts to undertake the work.