Savernake Forest NMP

The Savernake Forest NMP project forms part of English Heritage’s National Mapping Programme (NMP) and is looking at the area of Savernake Forest to the south of Marlborough in Wiltshire. Although primarily desk-based the project is multi-disciplinary with input from English Heritage’s Archaeological Survey & Investigation team who have carried out some detailed ground survey. The Forest, as its name might suggest, is a largely wooded expanse of land managed by the Forestry Commission and as such might be considered an unpromising site for a survey based on aerial photographs. It was for this reason that the area was chosen as a further test area for the use of the relatively new remote sensing technique of lidar (Light Detection & Ranging), the details of which are described elsewhere.

Savernake Forest was used as an ammunition dump by both the British and US Armies during the Second World War and it was hoped that evidence of this activity might be visible on aerial photographs from the time. This was the case and sorties flown in the spring of 1944 proved particularly helpful as the leafless trees revealed evidence of the bunkers and storage areas beneath them.

The interpretation of aerial photos in the areas outside the woodland also revealed a number of sites visible as cropmarks that helped to place similar features within the wood in their context. Of particular interest were the remains of a villa which was known, but revealed significant details of its layout.

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.