In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation used for legally protecting heritage assets from damage and destruction are grouped under the term ‘designation’.
The protection given to scheduled monuments is given under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979,[1] which is a different law from that used for listed buildings (which fall within the town and country planning system).
[3] Of the tens of thousands of scheduled monuments in the UK, most are inconspicuous archaeological sites, but some are large ruins.
A protected historic asset that is occupied would be designated as a listed building.