North East Coast’s Hidden Past Revealed

Mysterious rectangular features surround St Cuthbert's hermitage Almost 1,000 new archaeological sites have been discovered along the North East coast, including ship wrecks, wartime defences and remains of medieval salt factories. A team of English Heritage-funded archaeologists examined thousands of aerial photographs of the coastline, stretching from the Scottish border to Whitby, and pieced together the most up-to-date record of the wealth of historical sites scattered along the coast. 

Surviving historic structures, cropmarks and earthmarks on more than 20,000 photographs were identified, interpreted, mapped and recorded for the project. Since March 2007, an area encompassing 560 km2 has been surveyed, covering the inter-tidal zone from the low water mark to one kilometre inland.

The majority of the newly recorded sites relate to World War 1 and World War 2, such as the anti-aircraft battery at Ryhope, in Sunderland whose four gun emplacements and the hexagonal shape of the radar station are all clearly visible on historic aerial photography. At Hartlepool, mounds of waste material from medieval salt production – evidence of one of Teesside’s earliest industries – were also uncovered during the survey.

The survey also revealed four wrecks on the mud flats at Amble, in Northumberland. Although their existence had previously been recorded, the actual location of the wrecks was not known until the English Heritage survey took place. It is not known from when the wrecks date, but they are clearly visible in aerial photography dating back to the 1940s.  In addition, a pattern of shallow rectangular features around the medieval St Cuthbert’s hermitage, on the Farne Islands, were identified during the survey. Although their exact origins are not known, it is thought that these unusual features may have more to do with the activities of the lighthouse crews than with the medieval use of the island. 

Understanding our coastline

Revealed: the exact location of four wrecks on the mud flats at Amble  David MacLeod, Senior Investigator with English Heritage’s Aerial Survey team, said: “Often, it’s only by looking at a site from the air that you start to understand its size and structure.

“Historic sites along the coast are vulnerable to the effects of both natural coastal change and human activities. Although erosion has actually helped to reveal a number of nationally important sites along the North East coast, such as Bronze Age burial mounds at Low Hauxley in Northumberland, too often it poses a threat. This project will help us understand not just the history of our coastline, but also the dangers it faces now and in the future.”

Dr Clive Waddington, from Archaeological Research Services, who carried out the survey, said: “We’ve always known that the North East coastline is rich in archaeological sites. However, we were really surprised not just at the number of new sites we found, but also the range and diversity. This survey has given us evidence for human activity in the region from prehistoric times right through to the modern day and helped us build up a much better picture of what activities have taken place along our coast over the last 10,000 years.“

Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Surveys (RCZMS)

The project is just one of several Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Surveys funded by English Heritage with the aim of increasing our understanding of the historic environment around the entire English coastline and help English Heritage, local authorities and other agencies assess the impact of erosion on archaeological sites. By 2010, the survey aims to have produced the most detailed picture yet of the threat posed to the nation’s heritage by rising sea-levels, coastal erosion and managed realignment of the coast. The results will allow decisions to be made about the best way to manage the coastline to preserve historical sites or, where nothing can be done, to ensure that they are recorded and understood before erosion takes its toll. 
 
As part of the English Heritage-funded project, Dr Waddington’s team is now working with experts at Durham University to feed the results into a computer-generated map, which will show not just the archaeological sites along the coastline, but also Ordinance Survey information and geological data to give a complete picture of the area. This will also be used as a predictive tool, for example to identify which sites could be under threat if there were a rise in sea levels.