GHF-E152 — Cadw letter to the Minister concerning spot-listing, 1988 (awaited original)
Wiki catalogue reference: GHF-E152 · Custodian / source URL: Buckler family evidence repository
Evidence preview
Preview not embedded. As at 10-10-2026, no inline image or document preview was identified in the evidence section of this page. Use the custodian/source link below to inspect the item.
1. Evidence object / placeholder
Object ID: GHF-E152
Working title: Cadw letter to the responsible Minister concerning spot-listing / listing consideration for Great House Farm, 1988
Expected form: Letter or departmental correspondence, potentially with a minute, covering note, enclosure or reply
Likely institutional chain to test: Cadw / Welsh Office ministerial correspondence / predecessor department records / later Wales Office or Welsh Government custody, with the National Archives and RCAHMW as possible referral points rather than presumed holders.
Exact date, author, recipient, file reference, enclosures and present custodian: not yet verified from the original item.
PLACEHOLDER — ORIGINAL NOT YET ATTACHED. Replace this paragraph with the unaltered scan or a stable archival copy, the archive/custody reference, file-level metadata and a checksum when obtained. If the original is unavailable, retain the placeholder and add each authority’s precisely dated search outcome, scope, searched repositories, transfer/retention explanation and reference to the response. Do not describe the item as destroyed unless a source establishes destruction.
Catalogue UID: GHF-E152 · Custodian/source copy: bucklerfamily.estate. Preview and provenance status as at 10-10-2026.
Description
5. Retrieval checklist and acceptance test
2. Provenance and chain of custody
Catalogue status — as at 10-10-2026: This page reserves a dedicated catalogue record for the reported 1988 Cadw-to-Minister letter concerning spot-listing of Great House Farm. The original letter has not been attached to this catalogue page at publication. This is a statement about the evidence currently catalogued here, not a finding that the letter never existed or that no authority holds it.
- Origin: presumed departmental correspondence only as a research lead; confirm through letterhead, signature/role, file code, registry stamp or a contemporaneous citation.
- Recipient: the responsible Minister or ministerial office is part of the item description to be checked against the document, not inferred solely from the subject line.
- Custody: not established by this placeholder. Record each body’s exact statement separately: “held”, “not held”, “not found in the specified search”, “transferred”, “destroyed under a named schedule”, or “not yet obtained”.
- Integrity: when obtained, preserve the original filename, every page and enclosure, email/registry wrapper, date metadata and SHA-256 checksum. Do not silently normalize or replace the source.
- Obtain the exact reference or source statement that first identifies this letter; record its author, date and wording.
- Ask Cadw/Welsh Government for the 1988 listing/spot-listing file, ministerial correspondence, submissions, decision minutes, diary/registry indexes, file movement and any transfer or destruction schedule.
- Ask the successor records custodian and The National Archives to test transfer/custody using those exact references; request the relevant classmark and retention/disposal metadata rather than a broad “no record” assertion.
- Cross-check the 1988 paper trail against the two 29 July photographs and all dated correspondence; identify the named authorising and decision-making roles only where documents support them.
- Close this placeholder only when the original/copy and provenance are catalogued, or when a dated, search-scoped negative-search record explains what repositories and references were checked. A negative search never proves universal non-existence.
Assessment date: 10-10-2026. Update this entry when new material arrives. Keep historical source wording intact; put interpretation in this separate section.
Transcription
Open transcription
No verbatim transcription is included in this entry as at 10-10-2026. Where the source contains legible text, transcribe it faithfully and mark illegible or uncertain words rather than silently reconstructing them.
Interpretation and wider context
4. Interpretation: why the letter could matter
3. Related evidence and records
- GHF-E144 — Cadw inspection photographs dated 29 July 1988 and the missing listing-decision file.
- Cadw — Forensic Critique v8.0.0.
- Welsh Government — Forensic Institutional Review.
- Welsh Office / Wales Office — Forensic Institutional Review.
- FOI & Public-Authority Reply Register, including Cadw/Welsh Government requests and replies, particularly ATISN 27021 and ATISN 27589, and the R42 / R37 / R04 entries where cited.
- Source Conflicts Register, including the caution that 5 December 1988 is presently a press-reported date rather than a date independently confirmed by a located Cadw decision document.
Conditional significance, not a conclusion: If authenticated, the letter could establish what Cadw communicated to a Minister in 1988, when the communication occurred, the information and options put before the Minister, and whether a ministerial decision or awareness can be traced in the same file. It may help test the chronology between the 29 July 1988 inspection photographs, any later listing or spot-listing consideration, the press-reported 5 December decision, and the demolition on 6 December 1988.
The letter alone would not prove that a formal listing decision was made, that the Minister personally read it, that it changed a decision, that a refusal was unlawful, or that any person acted improperly. Those propositions require the complete file, the applicable legal/administrative process, decision reasons, any response or minute, and comparison with the surviving sources. The absence of a file is a records question; it is not proof of concealment.
Interpretive assessment date: 10-10-2026.