Site Event/Activity record EEM14939 - 2006-2008: AP - Severn Estuary NMP RCZAS

This aerial survey to National Mapping Programme (NMP) standards formed part of Phase 1 (i.e. the desk-based assessment) of the Severn Estuary Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (RCZAS) project conducted by Gloucestershire County Council and funded through the Historic Environment Enabling Programme (HEEP) (Project number 3885). Phase 2 of the RCZAS will comprise targeted fieldwork based on the findings of Phase 1. The RCZAS project has enhanced the archaeological record of the coastal zone and contributed to the shoreline planning of the Severn Estuary. There is an increasingly urgent need to understand more clearly the extent and nature of the archaeological resource in order to identify the likely impact of a range of natural and man-made threats. The archaeological resource in the Severn Estuary is under threat from natural processes such as coastal erosion, exacerbated by the high tidal range and strong currents within the estuary. Other threats include ongoing development pressure along the shoreline, marine aggregates extraction within the estuary itself and proposals for new coastal defensive and re-alignment measures. The aerial survey project area comprised 46 incomplete map quarter-sheets and was conducted by two members of Gloucestershire County Council staff working in English Heritage's Aerial Survey office at the Engine House, Swindon. Lidar data was also examined by Somerset Couty Council in selected trail areas to assess the usefulness of the lidar imagery to find additional archaeological features which may be present in a coastal environment. The Severn Estuary RCZAS aerial survey project was conducted to NMP standards and guidelines, with the same archaeological scope as the adjacent Gloucestershire Forest of Dean NMP, for consistency. The aim of the project is to interpret and transcribe, at a scale of 1:2500, all archaeological features visible on aerial photographs dating from Prehistory to the 20th Century, including industrial and military sites. The main air photo sources consulted are held at the NMRC Swindon and the Cambridge University Committee for Aerial Photography (CUCAP). The archaeological mapping, which used computerised plotting (AERIAL 5.29 and Autodesk Map 2004), produced digital files and overlays to the 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map base. Accompanying monument records were input into English Heritage's National Monuments Record database, AMIE. Copies of the finished plots are available in both hard copy and digital form and all data and documentation relating to the project is archived at the National Monuments Record, Swindon. The aerial survey project began in April 2006 and work, including the report, was completed in November 2008. For further details on the project please contact Helen Winton at Aerial Survey, English Heritage, Swindon.