Norfolk: assessment of archaeological resource in aggregate areas
Historic Environment Service, Norfolk County Council, 2010. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000150. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Norfolk County Council unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
Alice
Cattermole
Historic Environment Record Officer
Norfolk Landscape Archaeology
Norfolk County Council
Union House
Gressenhall, East Dereham
Norwich
NR20 4DR
England
Tel: 01362 869281
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 1002
- ALSF Project Number: 5241
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000150
- How to cite using this DOI
Overview
The project has investigated and assessed the archaeological potential of the mineral reserves of Norfolk, with a view to informing and facilitating future planning and management decisions regarding aggregate extraction, including mitigation. This is achieved by providing baseline data and archaeological synthesis and assessment for sample areas of Norfolk's aggregate-bearing geologies, in particular those areas defined as being under threat from future extraction. Through outreach and dissemination the project has informed a wider audience about the historic environment within extraction areas, including the general public, local interest groups, the academic community and the minerals industry.
The main impetus behind the project is the proposed alteration to patterns of future aggregate extraction i.e. the quarrying of the county's naturally occurring deposits of sand, gravel and crushed rock for use in construction - within Norfolk in the next fifteen years. This will see a move away from extraction within environmentally sensitive areas such as river valleys, and there is a consequent need to plan for the archaeological impact of this changed approach.
The project methodology was based on that employed in other regions, including Gloucestershire, Hampshire and the neighbouring county of Suffolk. It has created and employed a Minerals Resource GIS to correlate the available information concerning geology, past, current and future extraction, and the historic environment of Norfolk. This information was used to identify four sample areas, each based on an aggregate/geological type, for which detailed investigation and assessment would be undertaken, including the mapping of archaeological sites from aerial photographs to English Heritage's National Mapping Programme (NMP) standards
The digital archive
The digital archive, held by the ADS, consists of two reports - the main archaeological assessment and the NMP aerial survey - produced by Norfolk Landscape Archaeology for English Heritage:
- Tremlett, S. 2009: Norfolk's Aggregate Landscape: An Archaeological Assessment. Norfolk Landscape Archaeology unpublished report for English Heritage. Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund English Heritage Project No: 5241MAIN.
- Albone, J., Massey, S. and Tremlett, S. 2008: The Archaeology of Norfolk's Aggregate Landscape. Results of the National Mapping Programme. Norfolk Landscape Archaeology unpublished report for English Heritage. Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund English Heritage Project No: 5241MAIN.
