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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.
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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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SETTLEMENT *
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A small concentration of dwellings.
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HAMLET *
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Small settlement with no ecclesiastical or lay administrative function.
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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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BOUNDARY *
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The limit to an area as defined on a map or by a marker of some form, eg. BOUNDARY WALL. Use specific type where known.
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BOUNDARY DITCH *
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A ditch that indicates the limit of an area or a piece of land.
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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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BUILDING PLATFORM *
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A site where a building once stood as identified by a level area of ground, often compacted or made from man-made materials. Use only where specific function is unknown, otherwise use more specific term.
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FIELD *
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An area of land, often enclosed, used for cultivation or the grazing of livestock.
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PLOUGH HEADLAND *
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A narrow strip of land where a plough and team could turn. This usually remains higher than the ploughed land.
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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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CHAPEL *
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A freestanding building, or a room or recess serving as a place of Christian worship in a church or other building. Use more specific type where known.
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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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FARM *
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A tract of land, often including a farmhouse and ancillary buildings, used for the purpose of cultivation and the rearing of livestock, etc. Use more specific type where known.
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TARGET *
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Any structure or object, used for the purpose of practice shooting by aerial, seaborne or land mounted weapons.
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TOWN *
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An assemblage of public and private buildings, larger than a village and having more complete and independent local government.
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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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HOLLOW WAY *
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A way, path or road through a cutting.
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* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)
