The correspondence relates to two separate press articles.
The first was published in The Times on 18th November 1957. This article was written by a member of the press who had visited the site and included several photographs by a local photographer. Neither the article nor the photographs were cleared with the Ministry of Works and some of the remarks made in the article and a photograph showing an amateur volunteer on the site dowsing in his spare time were deemed controversial. The three letters, two pages of internal memos and an extract from the minutes of an Ancient Monuments Board meeting held on the 13th December 1957 all relate to enquiries/complaints about the article. The archive records the complaints raised by Professor Grimes and the responses by members Ministry of Works to his complaint and a complaint by a Mr Root. These date from between the 21st November and the 13 December 1957.
The second article was to be published in The Field. This was submitted to the ministry prior to publication and the 2 items of correspondence and 2 pages of internal memo comment on and signify approval of this article. These date from between the 14th of December 1957 and 8th January 1958.
The archive does not contain copies of either article and has not been catalogued to item level
This is part of the Collection: RAH02 Rahtz, P And Musty, A W: Old Sarum, Wiltshire
© Crown Copyright. Historic England Archive
Correspondent: Grimes, W F
