Local History on the Ground

Making available ideas, procedures, and evidence that will help people explore their own areas, this book starts from the premise that "nothing ever happened here" and looks at the kinds of features that can be found, what state they might be found in, what locations they can be expected in, and how to read the landscape in order to find them. This covers a range of likely finds such as identifying old trackways, farm, and agricultural evidence; water power extraction such as old mills; different types of building trace and foundation; and linear and discrete earthworks. It also provides information on how to avoid misidentification and distinguish critical evidence, and how documentary and air photography evidence can be used to help explain features on the ground.

Tom Welsh is a lecturer in geography in the University of Northampton.