Mendip Hills AONB NMP Completion

English Heritage summaries 2008/2009

Gloucestershire County Council Archaeology Service completed an archaeological aerial survey project covering the northern Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in September 2009. The project used National Mapping Programme (NMP) standards. The project area lay within the unitary authorities of North Somerset and Bath & North East Somerset, the northern section of the Mendip Hills AONB. It completes the NMP survey of the AONB and immediate environs, as the AONB within Somerset was covered by an earlier project.

The NMP survey was part of a wider study by English Heritage in partnership with the Mendip Hills AONB and the relevant local authorities. This wider project combines analytical earthwork survey, architectural survey, documentary research and aerial survey to examine the archaeological and historical landscape and will result in a published monograph.

Most of the archaeological evidence identified in the project area was of the medieval and post-medieval periods. This included field systems, ridge and furrow, shrunken settlements and associated hollow ways. Industrial activities were a prominent feature with mineral extraction sites visible as distinctive ‘gruffy’ ground. The higher ground of the Mendip Hills within the project area was characterised by evidence of Iron Age and Roman settlement and agriculture, where substantial earthworks survive. A significant proportion of the recorded archaeology in the project area relates to Second World War military activity, particularly anti-aircraft sites and training camps.

The project identified 152 previously unrecorded sites and amended 162 existing records within the National Monuments Records (NMR) database (AMIE). Mapping and other data produced by the project has been provided to North Somerset and Bath and North east Somerset Council for inclusion within their HERs. A highlight report has been submitted to English Heritage and will be available from the English Heritage Aerial Survey web pages.

This page was published on 20/10/2009