The Hampshire South Downs is a landscape of recognised and designated natural beauty. The results of the current National Mapping Programme (NMP) project will be used as a curatorial tool to facilitate decisions regarding strategic planning, management and research of archaeological sites and historic landscapes. It is one of a number of projects carried out by English Heritage within the new South Downs National Park.
The Historic Environment
The variety and extent of the archaeological remains of the South Downs represent one of the richest cultural landscapes in England. Much of this landscape, however, is masked by current land uses and the incomplete knowledge of the archaeological resource is identified as a key issue in the South Downs Management Plan consultation draft.
The Hampshire South Downs NMP project is being carried out as part of English Heritage’s National Mapping Programme (NMP) covering that part of the new South Downs National Park that lies within the county of Hampshire. The project has been funded by the Historic Environment Enabling Programme (Project No 5174).
Mapping began in December 2007 and is being carried out by the Historic Environment Service of Cornwall County Council. Data resulting from the survey will be incorporated into the National Monuments Record and the Hampshire Archaeology and Historic Buildings Record (AHBR) database and Geographic Information System (GIS).
A hidden landscape
The archaeological survey is being undertaken principally as a curatorial tool and its key aim is to facilitate decisions regarding strategic planning, management, preservation and research of archaeological sites and historic landscapes within the Hampshire South Downs, which will assist in the implementation of the historic environment elements of the South Downs Management Plan.
The landscape is mostly intensively farmed arable with very little unimproved downland. Amongst the various archaeological features found so far there are a considerable number and wide range of possible Iron Age ‘banjo’ enclosures. This class of monument is so called because of the distinctive plan of a large circular enclosure with an attached funnel shaped entrance forming a plan similar to a banjo or frying pan. The function of these sites is unclear but in many cases it is likely to represent remains of a settlement. Hampshire has a number of fine earthwork and cropmark examples.
Elsewhere there are extensive remains of what are assumed to be prehistoric fields. In several cases where there are gaps in the field systems there is evidence for settlement as at Worthy Park (above) where there are a series of complex settlement enclosures.
The images used on this page are copyright English Heritage unless specified otherwise. For further details of any photographs or other images and for copies of these, or the plans and reports related to the project please contact the English Heritage Archive.
For further information on a project or any other aspect of the work of the Aerial Survey team please contact us via email using the link above.
