Hadrian’s Wall: Birdoswald Sector Survey
Author(s): David Knight
Birdoswald Roman Fort is an English Heritage Trust guardianship site and scheduled monument (National Heritage List for England 1010994) that forms part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire: Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site (WHS). The fort, together with the stretches of Hadrian’s Wall to either side (‘the Birdoswald Sector’), is one of the most significant and extensively studied parts of the WHS, certainly within Cumbria. In 2016, the English Heritage Trust (EHT) approached Historic England’s then Research Department, with a request to investigate the fort and its wider landscape and gather information that would enhance the public presentation and display of the property. The overall aim of the EHT project was to better tell the story of Birdoswald by emphasising the fort’s position and role within the wider WHS. In response to this brief, in 2017, staff from Historic England’s then Historic Places Investigation Team (North), in association with colleagues from the former Geospatial Imaging Team, designed and carried out a project to fly, model, map and interpret the archaeological landscape around the fort. This entailed the capture of new oblique aerial photography for 8.2sq. km, which was processed using the digital photogrammetric technique of structure from motion (SfM) to produce a digital surface model (DSM) and orthorectified photograph. This was the first instance of Historic England employing aerial reconnaissance photography to create digital surface models and orthophotographs on a landscape scale. The mapping and interpretation elements drew on the SfM outputs of the new aerial photography, but also looked at historic aerial photographs and lidar. A rapid walkover assessment was also conducted across much of the Birdoswald landscape in order to provide additional information and clarity on features identified and mapped from the air. The aerial investigation mapped and recorded archaeological features visible as earthworks, cropmarks and structures ranging from the later prehistoric to post-medieval periods. Mapped features dating to the Roman period included roads, camps, turrets, milecastles, signal stations, forts and the Wall. The post-medieval landscape is dominated by extensive land improvement and enclosure which has overwritten and masked much of the earlier archaeological landscapes.
- Report Number:
- 80/2023
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 132
- Keywords:
- Medieval Milecastle Post Medieval Roman Settlement Field System Enclosure Fortification
