Opportunities for further development of the Historic Landscape of Hampshire

The Hampshire Historic Landscape Assessment provides many community, educational and research opportunities, which could be undertaken at a variety of levels and by a range of individuals or institutions, including local history and archaeology groups.

Local historians, archaeologists or landscape historians could use the Historic Landscape Assessment to help identify where their research and studies might be particularly fruitful in helping to clarify how the landscape has evolved. Their studies would certainly have the potential to refine, or modify the Historic Landscape Types and the historic landscape descriptions developed for the assessment. The study was undertaken at county level using quite superficial source material. Although it has proved valuable for landscape assessments (e.g. for landscape assessments of the environs of Winchester and of the Forests of Bere and Eversley), there is still a question as to how far it stands up to local scrutiny - how broad brush is the characterisation, and how can it be used to develop practical landscape conservation strategies? From this point of view there is a need to refine and test the characterisation in two ways:

• More could be done to compare and analyse the distribution of archaeological and historical features in relation to the mapped Historic Landscape Types (e.g. how does the location of prehistoric and Roman field systems relate to later patterns? What is the range of physical forms of Parliamentary enclosure? What are the characteristics of particular estates and Royal Forests)

• To test in more detail how valid the Historic Landscape Types are, particularly in relation to field patterns, through historic map regression and documentary research in parishes with particularly rich collections of historic maps and estate records (for example, is it the case that a wide variety of field patterns is reflected in parliamentary enclosures? what is the historical evidence for assarting? how does the assessment tie in with local historic map evidence of the origin of field patterns and changes to woodland cover etc.?)

• To develop more detailed descriptions of the Historic Landscape Types through fieldwork to establish what their key visual characteristics are. What range of features and relationships are especially important for preserving distinctiveness?

There is also considerable potential for various forms of broader landscape analysis through the use of this assessment in conjunction with other parts of the Hampshire GIS. For example:

• Fuller integration with the county-wide landscape assessment, adding time depth and greater understanding of the character areas
• Correlation with the County's Register of Historic Parks and Gardens, adding possible insights into the historic character of their setting
• Correlation with SMR data to provide new insights into the condition and management of sites and monuments
• Correlation with SMR data to provide new insights into the evolution of the Hampshire landscape
• Correlation with ecological data and the Biodiversity Action Plan to add greater historical dimension to appreciation of local habitats
• Using rights of way data together with historical evidence of community links to identify historically important roads, tracks and lanes
• Development of an index to historic map sources by digitising the areas covered by inclosure maps (as presented by Martin and Seeliger 1997), and undertaking a similar exercise for tithe and estate maps held by the County Record Office
• Refining the data on settlement origin by adding information on dates from historical (VCH and Placename Society) sources to data attached to parishes and settlements.

At a more strategic level the GIS data set has very considerable educational potential at secondary and tertiary level. It should be possible to use a somewhat simplified or spatially selected version of the digital data to provide an interactive resource of direct value for students working within the national curriculum with particular relevance to

• IT studies (GIS, CAD, spreadsheets, databases)
• Maths (relationships between spatial entities, application of various statistical analyses)
• Geography and local studies
• History and archaeology

For all these aspects a range of levels of complexity could be set up to suit different attainment grades within the National Curriculum. Some of the suggestions for further research could be undertaken as projects for students interested in developing IT and GIS expertise through digital approaches to local history and geography.

Bibliography
Links

Historic Landscape Homepage      Hantsweb Homepage