The Aerial Survey and Investigation team co-ordinates a national programme of specialist aerial reconnaissance. English Heritage staff fly from Oxford and Sherburn in Elmet while some fliers, funded by the Historic Environment Enabling Programme (HEEP), cover their local areas. These trained observers, flying in high-winged light aircraft, normally a Cessna 172, take oblique photographs with digital cameras. Digital technology has allowed us to experiment with developing a cheap set up for the capture of vertical photographs.
Discovering New Sites
The reconnaissance programme forms part of English Heritage’s national archaeological survey to discover and record new sites. The geographical scope is national but is targeted to meet specific priorities and allow the flexibility to respond to seasonal weather conditions. The targets for reconnaissance are selected within the priorities set by the NMP strategy, English Heritage national thematic/period research strategies and regional research agendas. New sites can be discovered in the form of cropmarks, soilmarks and occasionally earthworks.
Monitoring Protected Sites
An important aspect of the reconnaissance programme is the recording of scheduled monuments to assist colleagues in English Heritage regional teams with monitoring the condition of protected monuments. Aerial photographs taken at different periods can demonstrate how a sites condition can change over time.
Buildings
The reconnaissance team works closely with English Heritage’s architectural survey teams to photograph buildings and urban landscapes which have a high priority for thematic architectural recording projects or to document change.
Setting Standards
The setting of standards is an important element of the work of Aerial Survey. Currently there are a number of our guidance documents being revised including 'Good Practice for Taking Aerial Photographs', 'Code of Conduct for Aerial Reconnaissance' and 'Digital SLR Camera Guidelines for Aerial Reconnaissance'. For guidance on how to include an Aerial Reconnaissance element in an archaeological project see 'Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment – Project Planning Note 5 Aerial Reconnaissance'.
Further information
All the aerial photographs taken by EH reconnaissance team are available from the NMR’s Enquiry and Research Services. A selection of aerial images is also available to view via the NMR’s Viewfinder and some can be bought as framed prints.
For further information on a project or any other aspect of the work of the Aerial Survey team please contact us at: AerialSurvey@english-heritage.org.uk.
