8 the Contribution of Aerial Photography to Medieval and Post-Medieval Studies

8 The contribution of aerial photography to medieval and post-medieval studies by Glenn Foard and Alison Deegan Introduction intensive photography, in many cases exploiting exceptional light and ground Northamptonshire lay at the heart of the conditions, by CUCAP and then from the region comprising almost solely nucleated mid-1970s by NCC, produced a detailed villages and open field in the medieval aerial archaeology record of the earthwork period. Although a significant number of sites, many of which are now levelled. This townships saw early enclosure by agreement campaign of photography in the 1970s in the late medieval and post-medieval, over onwards also recorded a small but increasing 50% of the land area remained as open amount of soilmark and cropmark evidence field until enclosed by the Parliamentary for these sites, as they were levelled, as well Enclosure Act in the 18th and 19th as limited, but very detailed, complementary centuries, the highest proportion of any evidence from surviving earthwork sites in county in England (Tate 1949). While most the form of parchmarks in grass. of the land was under open field, it also If one excludes the unique problems included two large tracts of woodland: the posed by the extensive landscapes of ridge royal forests of Rockingham and and furrow, 3,761 individual ‘sites’ that date Whittlewood/Salcey. The archaeology of the to the medieval or post-medieval have been period has been extensively investigated, mapped by the project. including ground survey of most of the Impressive though this figure is, it earthwork sites by the RCHME in the actually reveals very little about the 1970s and early 1980s (RCHME 1975, contribution the NMP data have to make 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985), ground survey of to the study of the medieval and post- the open field systems of the whole county medieval Northamptonshire. Working from by Hall (Hall 1995), and intensive cartographic, documentary and archaeo- investigation of settlement and landscape in logical sources, more than 500 settlements small sample groups of townships in both of probable medieval date have been the Raunds Area Project (Foard and identified in the county, comprising Pearson 1985; Parry 2006) and the approximately 11 towns, 430 nucleated Whittlewood Project (Page and Jones 2003). villages and hamlets and the remainder The general landscape history of being isolated farms, lodges, castles and so Northamptonshire between the 11th and forth (Foard 2004b). 18th centuries has recently been reviewed Aerial archaeology provides a poor (Foard 2004; Hall 2004). record of the medieval towns, because of a This NMP project has mapped a wide high level of settlement continuity and range of aerial archaeology evidence relating expansion. In contrast, approximately 200 to the medieval and post-medieval landscape of the other nucleated medieval settlements of the county. The vast majority of the are represented in the NMP data, although evidence is in the form of earthworks in some cases the actual features recorded because, as a result of the progressive ancient may prove to be later or, occasionally, and then parliamentary enclosure largely earlier. This evidence ranges from a few for conversion of arable to pasture, until the banks, ditches and house platforms late 1940s land use in the county was largely surviving in and around living settlements to pastoral. Many of the earthwork remains are the extensive remains of now wholly- well recorded on the RAF vertical deserted or extensively-shrunken or shifted photographs of the late 1940s, while villages, occasionally covering more than 136 THE CONTRIBUTION OF AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY TO MEDIEVAL AND POST-MEDIEVAL STUDIES 10ha or 15ha, mainly in the form of earthworks. Other site types include a small N number of the 100 or so known dispersed settlements, such as isolated farms, deer park lodges, moated sites and castles, and a wide range of other non-settlement remains, including fishponds, deer parks, post- Biggin Hall medieval gardens and landscape parks, and the remains of industrial or craft activity. Many of these lesser monuments have never been subject to earthwork survey, and so the Deer Park aerial data currently represent the only substantial record of these monuments. A good example is the site of Biggin near Oundle. This is the site of Peterborough Abbey, the largest monastic grange, with its associated deer park (Fig 8.1). In addition the county had in the 1940s one of the best preserved of all medieval Benefield Road open field landscapes in England. Since that date it has, however, been subject to rapid 0 100m 200 destruction (Hall 1993). The earthworks earthworks from air photographs were, to a varying level of clarity, recorded on the RAF verticals in the late 1940s, but Northamptonshire NMP for the medieval Fig 8.1 unfortunately these remains were not and post-medieval needs to take this into Extending from beneath the subject to the same intensive recording by consideration, as well as the implications 18th century Biggin Hall are CUCAP and NCC as were the individual of the remit and strategy of the NMP the irregular earthworks monuments. Only in the later stages of the generally and of the Northamptonshire remains of Biggin monastic rapid destruction of this resource did the project in particular. grange, covering a rectangular significance of this failure become apparent, area encompassed by the pale when it was realised the contribution that Earthworks of the associated deer park, intensive aerial survey might have made as a which can be seen running complement to the countywide mapping of There is a small number of prehistoric and south west from the grange the resource by Hall’s ground survey. Roman monuments in the county that still and then south eastward Overall the medieval and post-medieval survive or are recorded on earlier aerial alongside the modern road. landscape raises a number of distinct photographs as earthworks, including a problems for the NMP programme. A simple handful of round barrows, four hillforts, mapping exercise from the aerial archaeology and a few areas of fields with associated data is justified, to provide a basic record of settlement enclosures, the latter all within the presence of features and their general woodland or in former woodland areas. The form. However, it is not realistic to expect remainder, the vast majority of earthwork the specialised level of interpretation of the sites mapped by the project, as in much of evidence that is required to enable the lowland England, are from the medieval mapping itself to be in any way definitive. and post-medieval, with a handful of even One is dealing with specialised aspects of later date. The RCHME inventories of the landscape, where there is substantial Northamptonshire include ground survey other data available: documentary (in both plans of many of these earthwork sites that written and historic map form) and survived into the 1970s or beyond, surveyed archaeological (earthwork ground survey at a large scale and published at a variety and, where now ploughed, potentially field- of scales from 1:7 500 to 1:1 500 (RCHME walking) for many if not most of the remains 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985). In being recorded. If the aerial data are to be addition, others have surveyed sites not fully exploited, and the significance of dealt with by the RCHME and in a few much of the detail understood, then it is cases have conducted more intensive essential for a specialist in that period or re-survey of individual sites already dealt theme to undertake the detailed mapping with by RCHME (for example Brown and analysis, combining all the relevant 1991); a small number of paced surveys datasets. The assessment of the approach have also been undertaken (for example taken and of the datasets it produced in the Hall and Nickerson 1969). 137 MAPPING ANCIENT LANDSCAPES IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Air photographs, particularly the RAF for current NMP projects (Y Boutwood verticals from the 1940s, have long been pers comm). With regard to earthwork exploited as a record of medieval and later survey, the NMP policy was adhered to in earthworks, particularly for those that were the Northamptonshire project until 1998, levelled or destroyed before ground survey with existing earthwork surveys being used could be undertaken. At Daventry, for in preference to independent mapping from example, Brown mapped medieval the air photos. settlement remains associated with the With hindsight, it was a significant village of Drayton, which was engulfed by mistake to have integrated earthwork development in the 1970s: the southern area ground survey data directly into the NMP was recorded by field survey, but the dataset, especially as it was then already northern part was mapped from aerial known that substantial additional data for photographs (Brown 1991, 38). The NMP many sites was available from the aerial has recorded the same areas, but has photographs. Thus for many sites mapped mapped more extensive detail on the in NMP prior to 1999 there is additional northern area and varies in detail on the information to be retrieved from the air southern area. In the absence of any record photographs than is present on the NMP as to which aerial photographs were used by data taken from the RCHME plans, while Brown, the discrepancies may merely reflect on some other sites there is a hybrid NMP’s access to additional photography. dataset combining information from both Aerial photographs were also used in ground survey and air photo, but not the RCHME inventory to assist in the distinguishing the two. production of plans of levelled medieval and The review of the project undertaken in later sites, but, like their mapping of 1999 led to a modification of this policy and prehistoric and Roman cropmarks and for the data generated thereafter, which soilmarks, these were sketch plans with a fortunately encompasses the area of the low level of positional accuracy and limited county with the highest density of earthwork detail.

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