Yorkshire Dales NMP

The Yorkshire Dales project was carried out as a multi-disciplinary project by staff from the National Archaeological Record and the Air Photography Unit of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (now the English Heritage National Monuments Record and Aerial Survey sections). The project aimed to look at ways of rapidly enhancing the archaeological record for an upland area. It built on the methodologies derived for air photo interpretation survey from the mapping projects for Kent and Dartmoor, and was a pilot for the National Mapping Programme.

The project was carried out between 1988 and 1992, and an internal report on the aerial survey aspect was completed in 1995. The project covered all of the county of North Yorkshire west of the OS 420000 line (roughly a line running through Richmond and Otley), but was subsequently extended to include that part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park that lies within Cumbria (Howgills Project). The area surveyed was approximately 3000 square kilometres.

The National Archaeological Record (now the NMR) was enhanced by information taken from the First Edition of the Ordnance Survey 6" maps and the English Place-Names Society volumes, leading to an integrated database of 15,500 records for the project area.

All photographs available through the National Monuments Record, the North Yorkshire SMR and the Yorkshire Dales National Park were consulted. The air photo interpretation and mapping produced 143 inked plans at 1:10,560 to act as overlays to the available OS base maps. Additionally a database of 18,249 records was created; this data has not been integrated within AMIE the NMR database.

The information recorded covers all periods from prehistory through to the twentieth century with the extensive field systems and related settlements being the most striking features, along with major remains of the lead industry. Most of the features were recorded as earthworks, stoneworks or ruined buildings; only those structures that had clearly gone out of use (eg ruined barns, grassed over quarries) were recorded. An unpublished two-volume illustrated report summarizes the data resulting from the air photo interpretation and forms part of the project archive.

The adjacent area to the south of the Yorkshire Dales has recently been mapped as part of the Lower Wharfedale NMP project.

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.