A COMMON HERITAGE

The UK defence estate includes some 1% (240,000 hectares) of the UK land mass (Defence Estates 2009). Sites range in size from the 28,000 hectares of Salisbury Plain to small airfields and rifle ranges. Unsurprisingly, for a country rich in archaeological heritage, the estate includes a wide range of cultural heritage assets, from Mesolithic flint scatters to farmsteads abandoned during the expansion of military training during World War II. Unlike many other areas of the United Kingdom, land in military use has been protected from intensive agriculture and widespread development and as a result the survival and extent of remains is significant (see, for example, McOmish et al 2002). In addition, since some sites have been occupied by the military for over 200 years, there is a strong component of military heritage sites, including standing buildings such as Woolwich Barracks or the Royal Naval Dockyard at Portsmouth, practice works, anti-invasion defences, and memorials. There are even three battlefields: Otterburn, an Anglo-Scots engagement of the 14th century, Chalgrove Field (1643), and Edgehill, the opening battle of the English Civil Wars (1642–51). These fields of conflict present military heritage pre-dating the formation of the modern British military. Other ancient military sites include Roman practice camps at Otterburn in northern England and an associated carving of the Romano-Celtic war god Cocidius (Westcott 2009, 29). While the traditional archaeology may be incredibly rich and well-preserved, owing largely to the lack of development or agricultural pressure on the Estate, in many cases it is the density and temporal distribution of military remains which characterise the land held. This is particularly true of modern military heritage, where the land’s users have added their own layers to the palimpsest, but the older military heritage can also excite interest from users of a training area because, as will be shown, of the perceived connection between soldiers across the centuries.

Defence Estates archaeologists have worked hard to ensure that the archaeological resource is not compromised by the activities of the military (Brown 2005, 99–110; Brown 2010). The inclusion of heritage assets on military maps, the erection of signs prohibiting digging and regular assessments of monument condition are all employed in protection strategies.