Aerial shots reveal Wall's secret history; Foundation for future researchers.

Byline: Tony Henderson Environment Editor

HERITAGE high-flyers have plotted over 2,700 previously unrecorded historic features in around Hadrian's Wall.

English Heritage's aerial survey and investigation team has studied the Wall and its setting 15km either side of the structure.

Team members have examined 30,500 aerial photographs taken in the last 60 years, many of them by the RAF in the 1930s-40s.

This has allowed them to digitally map the entire world heritage site, placing the Roman fortification within an historic landscape which stretches from the prehistoric to the Cold War.

Features which have now been recorded on the National Monuments Record include prehistoric burial mounds, medieval agricultural evidence such as sheep houses and stacks for fodder and peat, stock enclosures, medieval defensive structures like earthwork mounds which early castles stood on and 19th Century lead mines.

To the east of the River North Tyne are a number of medieval settlements such as East Matfen and Keepwick.

These often include the remains of streets, crofts or plots of land that a house would have stood within, and enclosures. While some of these settlements are long abandoned, others continued to develop into present-day villages.

Evidence of prehistoric ploughing, called cord rig, were recorded in the central zone of Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland in an area extending from Hartleyburn Common, west of Featherstone, through Melkridge Common to Haughton Common, suggesting that settlements may have been wider-spread than has been thought.

In Tyne and Wear, many 20th Century military features linked to the two world wars have been traced.

David MacLeod, team senior investigator, said: "We need to remember that Hadrian's Wall is not an isolated monument set within a landscape devoid of any other history.

"This region saw a tremendous amount of activity before the Romans arrived and after they left, traces and memories of which remain today. Our new survey maps all those historic layers.

"It will help us to understand and manage the rich heritage of human activity that has shaped this landscape, whether it is the remains of a Bronze Age farm or a 20th Century gun battery.

"This record provides the foundation for future researchers to build on."

The finds will be fed into the Hadrian's Wall management plan.

Senior investigator Yvonne Boutwood said: "It helps us to understand how what is a complex landscape evolved before and after the Roman period to the present day."

Linda Tuttiett, chief executive of Hadrian's Wall Heritage Ltd, the organisation appointed to manage, protect and promote the Hadrian's Wall world heritage site, said: "Hadrian's Wall Country has a wealth of stories to tell from every era of history and this new aerial survey highlights the many ways that our forefathers interacted and thrived in this unique landscape."

CAPTION(S):

BIRD'S EYE VIEW The Iron Age hill fort on Warden Hill, near Fourstones, lies within sight of the fort at Chesters.; PATTERNS A medieval farm at Errington Hill Head.; SHARPLY DEFINED Remains of the medieval village of East Matfen.