London Region

English Heritage's Landscape Investigation Team carries out research through 'field survey', and field survey needs... um... fields!

As a result, we have undertaken relatively little research in London (or other major urban areas). In the past, we  have examined Central London's Royal Parks, which had previously been almost overlooked by archaeologists. Our investigations encountered everything from a pagan Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Greenwich Park, to medieval fields and trackways surviving right in the centre of Hyde Park, to post-medieval ornamental features such as the garden terraces known as 'the Giant Steps' in Greenwich Park and the monumental 'ha-ha' bounding the eastern side of Kensington Gardens, one of the earliest in England. In Regent's Park, our investigations showed that while the palatial villa planned by the Regent in the early 19th century was never actually built, the avenues and groves of trees that were to have framed the house were planted, and are still growing well today!

For information on this work, as well as other projects we have completed in the Greater London Area, contact Paul Pattison in English Heritage's Cambridge Office on 01223 582700 or e-mail paul.pattison@english-heritage.org.uk

In recent years, the Landscape Investigation team's only research in London has been through Stewart Ainsworth's role as the 'landscape expert' in Channel 4's Time Team. The subjects of the programmes have included a prehistoric causeway across the Thames, medieval palaces, and the 19th-century Liberty printworks. In every case, Stewart's contribution has demonstrated that the basic techniques of analytical field survey - careful observation, analysis of maps and documents, an ability to question all the evidence and achieve an overview - can be applied just as well in urban contexts as in the more rural areas where we usually work.