Stonehenge World Heritage Site NMP

The Stonehenge World Heritage Site Mapping Project was carried out to inform the Environmental Impact Assessment taking place in advance of proposed changes in the area as a result of the Stonehenge Master Plan, providing the most up-to-date aerial survey for the area. The whole of the World Heritage Site area was interpreted and mapped (using aerial photographs) at 1:10,000 scale. A core area was mapped at 1:2500 scale around the present route of the A303 to provide accurate information for the preservation and investigation of archaeological sites in advance of alterations to the road.

Large parts of the area had previously been mapped in a series of past projects using less advanced versions of rectification programs. Because of the importance and sensitivity of the area it was imperative that every site be plotted as accurately as possible, to better inform future management plans. This meant that each site has now been re-mapped, a process which sometimes moved a site a couple of metres, sometimes tens of metres, depending on the original source photography and the topography of the area. As a later extension of the project the area was also surveyed using lidar. This is a technique new to archaeology that uses an airborne laser to take very accurate height measurements.

In spite of the fact that the area has been mapped on several occasions in the past a number of new features have been discovered and significant detail has been added to others.

Amongst the new features were a group of small ring ditches on Normanton Down north of Springbottom Farm. These lie in close proximity to some extant earthwork barrows dating from the Bronze Age, but are considerably smaller and so could be somewhat later. Colt Hoare mentioned five small "mean" barrows in the vicinity in his "Ancient History of Wiltshire" and these may be some of them. Although some were previously known at least one was added by this survey.

One of the most interesting sites that was not new, but had significant new information added to it, actually lies outside the boundary of the World Heritage Site. In spite of this it is important because it lies at a point on the planned road alignment for the A303. It turned out to be an Iron Age enclosed settlement and is discussed in fuller detail below under the heading Scotland Lodge.

Also just outside the precise boundary of the World Heritage Site were a series of similar enclosures that may well be related to those recognised to the north, ringing Salisbury Plain. These are described in the recent English Heritage volume on the Salisbury Plain Training Area. Like those to the north these tend to be placed on the edge of scarps overlooking the river valleys.

Back from the edge of the scarp near Heale Hill is an interesting feature appearing as a double ditched square enclosure with a trackway leading up to it. Based on comparison with similar sites this could possibly be a temple site, though other interpretations are possible.

The NMP project has helped give a clear view of the landscape surrounding the monuments at the centre of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and shown that whilst there are still a number of extant monuments remaining as earthworks, the buried sites, visible only from the air, show that the landscape was intensively occupied from neolithic times to the present day.

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 NMR English Heritage's public archive.

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.