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Heatwave reveals hidden archaeological sites across England

Dry weather provides the perfect conditions for aerial archaeologists to ‘see beneath the soil’ with the help of marks in crops and grass.

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The summer heatwave has revealed new secrets of England’s buried history to archaeologists surveying the countryside from the air, Historic England said.

Evidence of neolithic ceremonial monuments, Iron Age settlements, square burial mounds and a Roman farm have been spotted for the first time in patterns in crops and grass by aerial archaeologists.

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These differences in colour or height of crops and grass can reveal the layouts of buried ditches or walls which once marked out settlements, field boundaries or funerary monuments.

The dry spell has revealed archaeology such as this Iron Age round at St Ive, Cornwall (Damian Grady/Historic England/PA)
The dry spell has revealed archaeology such as this Iron Age round at St Ive, Cornwall (Damian Grady/Historic England/PA)

They are long rectangles thought to be paths or processional ways which are one of the oldest monument types in the country, usually dating from 3600 to 3000 BC.

Neolithic cursus monuments have been seen near Clifton Reynes, Milton Keynes (Damian Grady/Historic England/PA)
Neolithic cursus monuments have been seen near Clifton Reynes, Milton Keynes (Damian Grady/Historic England/PA)

Experts have also spotted Iron Age square burial mounds or barrows in Pocklington, Yorkshire, a Bronze Age burial mound and a ditch and series of pits that could mark a land boundary in Scropton, Derbyshire and a settlement or cemetery at Stoke by Clare, Suffolk.

Different phases of activity can be seen at a Roman farm, Bicton, Devon (Damian Grady/Historic England/PA)
Different phases of activity can be seen at a Roman farm, Bicton, Devon (Damian Grady/Historic England/PA)

More details of the lost Elizabethan buildings and gardens associated with Tixall Hall in Staffordshire can be seen through the drought, revealing buried foundations of the hall built in 1555 and a new hall started during the First World War, but demolished in 1926.

The heatwave has revealed buried foundations of Tixall Hall which was built in 1555 (Emma Trevarthen/Historic England/PA)
The heatwave has revealed buried foundations of Tixall Hall which was built in 1555 (Emma Trevarthen/Historic England/PA)

Historic England uses aerial photography of cropmarks to produce archaeological maps which help to assess the significance of buried remains and can be used to make decisions about protecting them from development or damage caused by ploughing.

Features of the protected landscape near Eynsham, Oxfordshire, can be seen for the first time in years (Damian Grady/Historic England/PA)
Features of the protected landscape near Eynsham, Oxfordshire, can be seen for the first time in years (Damian Grady/Historic England/PA)

“The discovery of ancient farms, settlements and Neolithic cursus monuments is exciting.

“The exceptional weather has opened up whole areas at once rather than just one or two fields and it has been fascinating to see so many traces of our past graphically revealed.”

Helen Winton, Historic England aerial investigation and mapping manager said it was “very exciting” to have had the hot weather for so long.

The last “exceptional year” was 2011, when more than 1,500 sites were discovered, she said.

Damian Grady, Historic England aerial reconnaissance manager added: “This has been one of my busiest summers in 20 years of flying and it is has been very rewarding making discoveries in areas that do not normally reveal cropmarks.”

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