Severn Estuary Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey

Project Summary

The Archaeology Service of Gloucestershire County Council has been commissioned by English Heritage to carry out the Rapid Costal Zone Assessment Survey of the Severn Estuary. The report into Phase 1 (desk-based study) of the project has been completed (and an updated version of the report is now available) and the first part of Phase 2 (pilot fieldwork) has been is complete and a report has been submitted to English heritage for comments. The final version of the phase 1 report and the Updated Project Design for the pilot fieldwork are available from the links below. Project work is being carried out by staff of Gloucestershire and Somerset County Councils. A steering group comprises English Heritage and Environment Agency representatives and the local authority archaeologists responsible for Exmoor, Somerset, North Somerset, Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Gloucestershire.

The archaeology of the Severn Estuary is richly varied and of considerable importance, reflecting both the varied nature of the topography and the importance of the river for both fishing and as a maritime waterway. The archaeological resource within the estuary is under threat from natural processes such as coastal erosion, exacerbated by the high tidal range and strong tidal currents, and from threats such as ongoing development pressure along the shoreline, marine aggregates extraction and new coastal defensive and realignment measures as well as proposed major infrastructure projects. There is an increasingly urgent need, therefore, to understand more clearly the extent and nature of the archaeological and palaeo-environmental resource in order to identify the likely impact of these varied natural and man made threats. Up-to-date knowledge of the archaeological resource is also essential to inform the second stage of the Shoreline Management Plans (SMP2) being produced on behalf of the Environment Agency.

The study area for the Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey consists primarily of the inter-tidal zone of the Severn Estuary from Gore Point, Porlock Bay to the City of Gloucester. The right (west) bank of the Severn, where it lies within England, is also included in the survey. The survey includes an assessment of surviving remains within the inter-tidal zone and the immediate estuary hinterland, taken as land within 1km of the shoreline, in order to provide a context for discoveries within the inter-tidal zone. An overview of coastal change from the Late Upper Palaeolithic to the present day is included, to allow an understanding of where potential archaeological sites and monuments of varying periods might be located. Erosion processes currently taking place within this section of the Severn Estuary have been assessed and the degree and nature of threat to coastal historic assets this poses considered.

The central aims for Phase 1 of the project were to record all known archaeology within the inter-tidal zone and to set this within the context of known archaeology in the immediately adjacent hinterland. A major element of the work was to transcribe aerial photographic information for the study area under the auspices of the English Heritage National Mapping Programme (NMP), based at Swindon. Allied to this was the analysis of two sample areas of lidar data, provided by the Environment Agency, to assess the usefulness of this data to Rapid Coastal Zone Survey. The final report into this work is available via the aerial survey link below.

Pilot fieldwork to test methodologies began in April 2009, and it is hoped to undertake a major programme of fieldwork in the inter-tidal zone of the Severn Estuary in 2010. The data produced by the project will be provided to the relevant Historic Environment Records and Shoreline Management Plans in order to provide a sound basis for developing management and research priorities in respect of specific sites and areas of potential. The results will also be disseminated to the widest possible audience in order to enhance public understanding and enjoyment of the coastal heritage.

Aerial Survey of the Severn Estuary Phase 1 of the RCZA involved the mapping of all archaeological features visible on the aerial photographs held in the collections of the National Monuments Record and Cambridge University (CUCAP)