The Midlands Regions

WORK CARRIED OUT IN THE WEST MIDLANDS, EAST MIDLANDS AND EAST OF ENGLAND REGION

National Mapping Programme (NMP) projects in progress

NorfolkA11 thumbnail
This Norfolk NMP project covers the historic urban centres of Norwich and Thetford, which are connected by the A11, one of the region’s principal road transport links. As well as significantly enhancing the archaeological record for the area it covers and making its results available to a wide range of researchers and local interest groups, the project will also feed into the planning system, enabling better-informed decisions to be made regarding the historic environment of a part of Norfolk that faces significant pressure from development.

Completed National Mapping Programme (NMP) projects

  • Harwich Redoubt (NMR 23161/11) 22-JUL-2003 © English Heritage. NMR
    The Essex NMP project completed the mapping and recording phase in 2003 and staff are now working on a publication to highlight the findings.
  • Moat at Bozen Green (NMR 4713/27) 2-AUG-1991 © Crown copyright. NMR
    The Hertfordshire project was one of the pilot projects for the National Mapping Programme (NMP) and as a pilot survey, the methodology differed somewhat from that subsequently developed for the NMP in so far as it recorded only cropmark sites and omitted earthworks.
  • Lincs NMP thumbnail
    The Lincolnshire NMP project examined the archaeology of most of the county of Lincolnshire from the air and the findings were published in a series of thematic articles in Lincolnshire's Archaeology from the Air, R Bewley (Ed) 1998.
  • Looking north along the Malvern ridge (NMR 18838/09) 14-DEC-2000 © English Heritage. NMR
    The aerial survey of the Malvern Hills formed part of an archaeological survey of the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) carried out by survey staff of English Heritage, Swindon.
  • Caer Caradoc (NMR 15060/21) 01-SEP-1993 © Crown copyright. NMR
    The Marches Uplands project was designed to support the Marches Uplands Survey (MUS), a multi-disciplinary, ground based survey carried out under the direction of the Archaeology section of Hereford and Worcestershire County Council and funded by English Heritage. It forms part of the National Mapping Programme and covers the western parts of Herefordshire and Shropshire to the Welsh border.
  • The crater of the Fauld Gypsum Mine explosion in 1944 (RAF/106G/LA/69 1009)
    The National Forest Project was undertaken in 1993 to provide a high quality, reliable and accurate archaeological database for the area of the proposed National Forest. This is an area that cuts across a number of different geographical regions and landscape types including the cores of two ancient forests, low-lying rural landscapes and part of the Midland Coalfield.
  • An Iron Age/Romano-British farmstead at Heacham (Photograph by D A Edwards) © Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service
    Norfolk NMP is one of the most recent of English Heritage's NMP projects having only begun towards the end of 2001. In line with one of English Heritage's priorities the coastal zone of the county is the first area being mapped.
  • NorfolkA11 thumbnail
    This Norfolk NMP project covers the historic urban centres of Norwich and Thetford, which are connected by the A11, one of the region’s principal road transport links. As well as significantly enhancing the archaeological record for the area it covers and making its results available to a wide range of researchers and local interest groups, the project will also feed into the planning system, enabling better-informed decisions to be made regarding the historic environment of a part of Norfolk that faces significant pressure from development.
  • Norfolk ALSF thumbnail
    The Norfolk ALSF NMP formed part of the Norfolk Aggregates Assessment Project (5241). The main impetus behind the project is the proposed alteration to patterns of future aggregate extraction within Norfolk in the next fifteen years and the consequent need to plan for the archaeological impact of this changed approach.
  • Panoramic view of the Nene Valley looking north-east photographed on 22-OCT-1976. (NCC colour slide SP9776/10 NCC copyright)
    The results of the Northamptonshire NMP project are now available in a variety of digital, web-based and published formats. This was the first NMP project to operate in a totally digital environment.
  • Suffolk thumbnail
    Funded by the Aggregates Levy Sustainabilty Fund (ALSF) the Suffolk ALSF NMP project assessed the archaeological resource in potential mineral extraction areas. The first area that the project team looked at was the sand and gravel rich Felixstowe peninsula.
  • Martello Tower near Bawdsey
    The Suffolk Coast project grew out of the Suffolk County Council Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey of Suffolk (RCZAS) the aim of which was to assess the archaeology of the coastal zone so that information could feed into strategic coastal planning policies. The mapping phase of the project is complete and a book "Suffolk's Defended Shore" that illustrates the history and development of military defences on the Suffolk coast is available.
  • Warwickshire ALSF thumbnail
    The Warwickshire NMP project sampled areas within the county that have known potential for aggregate extraction and those that could have.
  • NMR_17822_2_thumbnail
    The Witham Valley National Mapping Programme (NMP) project was part of a wider multi-disciplinary and multi-period project, Lincoln and the Witham Valley Project, designated one of a series of ‘Beacon Projects’ planned by English Heritage for 2003-2005.

Detailed Survey Work and Flying

Flight traces for English Heritage aerial surveys - Click for a more detailed map. Please note that the lines show the route taken by the aircraft and do not necessarily mean that photographs were taken.
English Heritage carries out a regular programme of flying from bases in the north of the country at York, and in the south at Kidlington, near Oxford.

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.

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