Sites & Monuments Record

The Greater London SMR contains over 60,000 unique records of archaeological sites, artefacts and listed buildings from across Greater London, making it the largest resource of its type in Europe. The data was compiled by a number of organisations during the early 1980s including the Passmore Edwards Museum and the Museum of London and is now maintained by the Greater London Archaeological Advisory service in English Heritage, London Region.

The data held in the London SMR has come from a wide range of sources. When it was originally compiled information was collected from existing surveys of archaeology (such as the Ordnance Survey card index files and Royal Commission Surveys), the Victoria County Histories, registers of protected sites and buildings (English Heritage list descriptions and the Register of Scheduled Ancient Monuments) documentary sources such as Anglo-Saxon and later charters and the Domesday Book, museum accession lists and the results of archaeological excavations. The SMR is still updated with the results of archaeological excavations, building recording and chance discoveries making it not only the largest but also the most up to date and comprehensive resource of its type within London. Wider research is also carried out when the SMR team run enhancement projects, collecting information on types of sites that are under-represented within our database.

The main role of the London Sites and Monuments Record is to provide information on known archaeological sites in order to inform decision making in the planning process. This means that a range of consultants, contract archaeologists and archaeological planning advisors, all of who require rapid delivery or accurate and up to date information, accesses the data. It is therefore essential that not only is our data easily accessible in a variety of mediums but also that the results of new archaeological investigations are integrated back into the database as quickly as possible.

The London SMR charges commercial enquires at £35 per search. Non commercial enquires are free. The London SMR is a public resource and we would like to encourage access to this invaluable source of archaeological information for academic or private research. Our contact details are as follows:

smr@english-heritage.org.uk

Greater London Sites and Monuments Record
English Heritage
1 Waterhouse Square
138 - 142 Holborn
London EC1N 2ST

Telephone: 020 7973 3731 / 3779

^{(Last Updated: 12th June 2006 - S. Ellwood)}