Bedford Borough: Aerial Investigation and Mapping project
Author(s): Amanda Adams, Steve Crowther
The Bedford Borough Aerial Investigation and Mapping project combined the mapping and interpretation of vertical and specialist oblique aerial photographs, as well as airborne remote sensing data (lidar), to identify, map and record archaeological remains dating from the Neolithic to the mid-twentieth century. The project was carried out to provide comprehensive information from aerial sources to inform local and national planning and research. The project covered the whole of Bedford Borough and a contextual area. This was an area of 875 square kilometres and extended southwards from Raunds in Northamptonshire to just north of Ampthill in Bedfordshire and from Olney in Buckinghamshire in the west to Great Gransden in Cambridgeshire in the east. The Bedford Borough aerial investigation and mapping project, in combination with Historic England’s oblique aerial photography programme, has significantly increased the evidence base and understanding of the historic landscape, particularly the extent and form of buried Iron Age and Roman settlement seen as cropmarks on the claylands. The project also recorded widespread medieval field systems and settlements, along with significant twentieth century military airfields, camps and depots. This report summarises the project results by broad chronological periods, with a more in-depth analysis of features related to the Iron Age and Roman landscape, as well as a discussion on the purpose and dating of an extensive complex of earthwork embankments associated with the medieval field system, but elements of which may have much earlier origins. Scheduled monuments were also rapidly assessed using aerial photographs and lidar (where available), to review interpretation, location and potential management issues. The project added 1,275 records to the National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE), and provided enhanced information for a further 1,383 records. This represents an increase of records within the project area in the NRHE of 48% and enhances information on 52% of extant records. The project data was also provided to the relevant local authority Historic Environment Record (HER) to inform heritage protection.
- Report Number:
- 91/2019
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 141
- Keywords:
- Aerial Photograph Interpretation Aerial Photography
