Scheduled monument

Under British law a scheduled monument is an archaeological site protected from unauthorised change. The schedule of monuments is a list of protected archaeological sites in England, Scotland, and Wales. The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 ensured legal protection for scheduled monuments, however sites in Northern Ireland]] are not included. Nearly 20,000 sites are scheduled; however, this is a small proportion of all the archaeological sites in England, Scotland, and Wales as in England alone there are around a million sites or find spots. Only sites which are considered nationally important are scheduled.