London’s Historic Character Thesaurus
Author(s): LUC
Historic England commissioned the 'London Historic Character Thesaurus' project (Project No. 7929) to provide a coherent and transparent framework of terms for use in recording and analysing character in Greater London. LUC worked on the project between July 2019 and March 2021. The outputs of the LHCT project consist of this project report, The London Historic Character Thesaurus (LHCT) database and The LHCT User Guide. Following completion of the project, the LHCT will be hosted by the Greater London Historic Environment Record (GLHER). Both the structure of the LHCT and the component types were subject to review and approval by key HE stakeholders. This was undertaken through a mixture of project meetings and phone and email communication. The LHCT database was developed as a relational MS Access database and populated with character types and associated scope notes. The database was configured to provide exports of all LHCT terms in spreadsheet, pdf or text file format to allow users to access it in a format which suited their needs, including for use in GIS applications. Character types in the LHCT cover both current historic character and aspects of previous character which may remain as an influence on the landscape. They were developed through critical review of pre-existing historic character thesauri and terms previously used in historic landscape characterisations of urban areas in England. Some pre-existing character types were modified slightly whereas others were adopted wholesale into the LHCT. These were supplemented by further character types to cover aspects of historic character present within Greater London which had not been grappled with in any detail by any previous historic characterisation initiatives. These character types were established through the project team's review of Greater London's current character and processes known to have been important in formation of the city, such as government, industry and maritime trade. Evidence for new character types was taken from historic mapping sources, aerial photography, Google Street View imagery and the project team's own experience of work in Greater London, including some targeted walkover survey. The User Guide consists of an introduction to the LHCT initiative, background to the principles of analysing and recording historic character, examples of use of the LHCT and the full listing of all LHCT character type terms. The final version of the User Guide developed by the project was created following comments from key HE stakeholders, the GLA and Westminster City Council.
- Report Number:
- 14/2021
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 20
- Keywords:
- Historic
