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Scheduled Monument
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Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAMs) are those archaeological sites which are legally recognised as being of national importance. They can range in date from prehistoric times to the Cold War period. They can take many different forms, including disused buildings or sites surviving as earthworks or cropmarks.
SAMs are protected by law from unlicensed disturbance and metal detecting. Written consent from the Secretary of State must be obtained before any sort of work can begin, including archaeological work such as geophysical survey or archaeological excavation. There are nearly 200 SAMs in Warwickshire.
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OS Card
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Ordnance Survey Record Card. Before the 1970s the Ordnance Survey (OS) were responsible for recording archaeological monuments during mapping exercises. This helped the Ordnance Survey to decide which monuments to publish on maps. During these exercises the details of the monuments were written down on record cards. Copies of some of the cards are kept at the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. The responsibility for recording archaeological monuments later passed to the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments.
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TBAS
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Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society is a journal produced by the society annually. It contains articles about archaeological field work that has taken place in Birmingham and Warwickshire in previous years. Copies of the journal are kept by the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record.
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Documentary Evidence
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Documentary evidence is another name for written records. The first written records in Britain date back to the Roman period. Documentary evidence can take many different forms, including maps, charters, letters and written accounts.
When archaeologists are researching a site, they often start by looking at documentary evidence to see if there are clues that will help them understand what they might find. Documentary evidence can help archaeologists understand sites that are discovered during an excavation, field survey or aerial survey.
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Earthwork
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Earthworks can take the form of banks, ditches and mounds. They are usually created for a specific purpose. A bank, for example, might be the remains of a boundary between two or more fields. Some earthworks may be all that remains of a collapsed building, for example, the grassed-over remains of building foundations.
In the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky than during the other seasons, earthworks have larger shadows. From the air, archaeologists are able to see the patterns of the earthworks more easily. Earthworks can sometimes be confusing when viewed at ground level, but from above, the general plan is much clearer.
Archaeologists often carry out an aerial survey or an earthwork survey to help them understand the lumps and bumps they can see on the ground.
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Aerial Photograph
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Aerial photographs are taken during an aerial survey, which involves looking at the ground from above. It is usually easier to see cropmarks and earthworks when they are viewed from above. Aerial photographs help archaeologists to record what they see and to identify new sites. There are two kinds of aerial photographs; oblique and vertical.
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Medieval
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1066 AD to 1539 AD (the 11th century AD to the 16th century AD)
The medieval period comes after the Saxon period and before the post medieval period.
The Medieval period begins in 1066 AD. This was the year that the Normans, led by William the Conqueror (1066 – 1087), invaded England and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in East Sussex. The Medieval period includes the first half of the Tudor period (1485 – 1603 AD), when the Tudor family reigned in England and eventually in Scotland too. The end of the Medieval period is marked by Henry VIII’s (1509 – 1547) order for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the years running up to 1539 AD. The whole of this period is sometimes called the Middle Ages. more ->
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Post Medieval
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About 1540 AD to 1750 AD (the 16th century AD to the 18th century AD)
The Post Medieval period comes after the medieval period and before the Imperial period.
This period covers the second half of the reign of the Tudors (1485 – 1603), the reign of the Stuarts (1603 – 1702) and the beginning of the reign of the Hannoverians (1714 – 1836). more ->
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HOUSE *
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A building for human habitation, especially a dwelling place. Use more specific type where known.
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VILLAGE *
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A collection of dwelling-houses and other buildings, usually larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a simpler organisation and administration than the latter.
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SITE *
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Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible.
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FISHPOND *
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A pond used for the rearing, breeding, sorting and storing of fish.
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SETTLEMENT *
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A small concentration of dwellings.
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WATERCOURSE *
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A channel used for or formed by the conveyance of water. Can be natural, eg. a river or artificial eg. an aqueduct. Use more specific type where known.
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BUILDING *
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A structure with a roof to provide shelter from the weather for occupants or contents. Use specific type where known.
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CULVERT *
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A drainage structure that extends across and beneath roadways, canals or embankments.
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RIDGE AND FURROW *
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A series of long, raised ridges separated by ditches used to prepare the ground for arable cultivation. This was a technique, characteristic of the medieval period.
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CANAL *
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An artificial navigable waterway used for the transportation of goods. Nowadays also used for recreational purposes.
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STONE *
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Use only where stone is natural or where there is no indication of function.
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MANOR HOUSE *
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The principal house of a manor or village.
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ARCH *
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A structure over an opening usually formed of wedge-shaped blocks of brick or stone held together by mutual pressure and supported at the sides; they can also be formed from moulded concrete/ cast metal. A component; use for free-standing structure only.
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POND *
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A body of still water often artificially formed for a specific purpose. Use specifc type where known.
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DRAIN *
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An artificial channel for draining water or carrying it off.
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CHURCH *
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A building used for public Christian worship. Use more specific type where known.
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ROAD *
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A way between different places, used by horses, travellers on foot and vehicles.
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PASTURE *
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A field covered with herbage for the grazing of livestock.
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DESERTED SETTLEMENT *
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An abandoned settlement, usually of the Medieval period, often visible only as earthworks or on aerial photographs.
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WELL *
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A shaft or pit dug in the ground over a supply of spring-water.
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PLATFORM *
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Unspecified. Use specific type where known.
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ENCLOSURE *
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An area of land enclosed by a boundary ditch, bank, wall, palisade or other similar barrier. Use specific type where known.
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MANOR *
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An area of land consisting of the lord's demesne and of lands from whose holders he may exact certain fees, etc.
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DITCH *
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A long and narrow hollow or trench dug in the ground, often used to carry water though it may be dry for much of the year.
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CROFT *
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An enclosed piece of land adjoining a house.
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HOUSE PLATFORM *
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An area of ground on which a house is built. A platform is often the sole surviving evidence for a house.
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STRUCTURE *
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A construction of unknown function, either extant or implied by archaeological evidence. If known, use more specific type.
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ROW *
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A row of buildings built during different periods, as opposed to a TERRACE.
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ISLAND *
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A piece of land, sometimes man-made, completely surrounded by water.
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MOUND *
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A natural or artificial elevation of earth or stones, such as the earth heaped upon a grave. Use more specific type where known.
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HOMESTEAD *
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A small settlement, usually consisting of one dwelling with ancillary buildings.
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MESSUAGE *
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A dwelling-house with outbuildings and land assigned to its use.
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EARTHWORK *
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A bank or mound of earth used as a rampart or fortification.
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FORD *
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A shallow place in a river or other stretch of water, where people, animals and vehicles may cross.
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HOLLOW WAY *
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A way, path or road through a cutting.
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* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)