Till Tweed NMP

 This project is one of four main strands of the Till-Tweed Geoarchaeology Project that together form a coherent body of research and assessment. The Till-Tweed Geoarchaeology Project is funded by the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) and operated by Drs Clive Waddington and Dave Passmore, University of Newcastle. The other strands of the parent project are geoarchaeological evaluation, field-walking and public outreach. Together they will be used to direct future research and management of the project areas and to inform on the content of the interpretative material designed for widening access to the archaeology and environmental history of the area.

For the Till-Tweed ALSF/NMP (3325) Project, blocks of landscape around the rivers Till and Tweed were surveyed to National Mapping Programme standards. Digital maps, at a nominal scale of 1:10,000, and supporting records were created by a small team of aerial investigators. This team was contracted by WYAS Advisory Service and based with English Heritage's Aerial Survey (North) in York. The project was started in March 2003 and completed in September 2003.

New records were created in AMIE (the English Heritage database of monuments) for 254 sites and a further 218 enhancements were made to existing records, but perhaps a more significant outcome is the final graphic output. This project has collated the information from over four and a half thousand photographs with the information of the existing records and drawn on the local expertise of Tim Gates to produce an accurate digital map of the visible archaeology for large areas of Northumberland. Moreover this map is enhanced by layers of data containing information on dating, function, form and the source photographs source that can be interrogated. This is a powerful tool, not just for the planning of ground survey investigations but in achieving the overarching objectives of the Till-Tweed Geoarchaeology Project. Furthermore this data will be invaluable to the Northumberland SMR and English Heritage in exercising their responsibilities in the management and protection of our heritage.

This project has also provided an opportunity to experiment with 3D modelling as a tool for understanding archaeological landscapes, as can be seen in the image to the left.

A brief overview of the project's results is available in the Till-Tweed NMP/ALSF Project Summary Report (Aerial Survey Report Series AER/6/2003) avaialble from the NMR.