Aerial photograph and lidar survey by English Heritage at Audley End, Saffron Walden, 2009-2010 - EEX62615

The Audley End environs aerial photograph and lidar survey and analysis forms part of an ongoing multi-disciplinary Research Department project to inform the development and reinterpretation of Audley End house and its surrounding landscape. Audley End house is one of English Heritage's most important Guardianship properties in the East of England region. The aerial survey project area comprises 16km2, between TL 500 360 (south-west corner) and TL 540 400 (north-east corner), and is roughly centred on Audley End house. The area covers most of quarter-sheet TL 53 NW, which was mapped as part of the Essex National Mapping Programme in 2002 (Event UID: 1225325), however, NMP methodology has subsequently developed. Sharon Bishop of the Aerial Survey and Investigation team, Swindon, reviewed all of the available aerial photographs, recently completed Lidar data and all other relevant landscape research to date (that is, 2009) in and around the park. All archaeological features, dating from prehistory to the 20th century and including military sites, were interpreted and transcribed. This analysis has updated the Essex NMP by providing more detailed interpretive mapping in a digital environment, which will contribute to assessment of the chronological and landscape context of Audley park. It pays specific attention to analysis of the designed landscape, particularly where it has been damaged or lost since the Second World War and provides a better understanding of Second World War agricultural and military activity. Key illustrative images are identified and recommendations for new oblique photography made. The main air photograph sources consulted are the NMRC Swindon (loan number 37936) and Cambridge University Committee for Aerial Photography (CUCAP). The relevant aerial photographs were scanned and rectified using the University of Bradford's "Aerial" programme (version 5.29). Contour data was used for each rectification to compensate for height differences across undulating terrain. The base map used for rectification is the 1:2,500 scale Ordnance Survey vector map; accuracy is therefore to within +/- 2metres. The archaeological features on each photograph were interpreted and traced using AutoDesk Map 2008 software, producing a single digital map file for the project. Accompanying monument records were input to English Heritage's National Monuments Record database, AMIE. Copies of the finished plots are available in both hard copy and digital form. All data and documentation relating to the project are archived at the National Monuments Record. The aerial survey project began in October 2009 and work, including an interim landscape synthesis, was completed in April 2010. A re-appraisal of this data together with subsequently accessioned material (loan number 85098), by Sharon Soutar of the Imaging and Visualisation team, took place in March 2014 as part of Stage 3 work to wrap up fieldwork and draw together the various strands of evidence into a research report. For further details on the project please contact Helen Winton at Aerial Investigation and Mapping, English Heritage, Swindon.