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Aerial archaeology map of England
Historic England has mapped archaeological features seen on aerial photographs and LiDAR across large parts of England: banks, ditches, enclosures, field systems and cropmarks of sites ploughed flat. Waystone shows that mapping coloured by period, over the LiDAR and with the heritage records, so you can compare the traced feature with the ground it was traced from.
What the mapping is
Historic England’s aerial investigation and mapping projects record archaeological features identified on aerial photographs and LiDAR. Each feature is drawn as an outline and given a type and a period. Historic England publishes the same data in its Aerial Archaeology Mapping Explorer, under the Open Government Licence.
Periods
Waystone colours the features by period: prehistoric, Roman, medieval and post-medieval, twentieth-century military, and undated. Each period is its own layer in the map.
Cropmarks and earthworks
Many mapped features no longer stand above the ground: they show only as cropmarks, differences in the growth of crops over buried ditches and walls. Those will not show on the LiDAR. Features that do survive as earthworks show on both, which is why the two are worth reading together. See monument types for what common features look like.
Examples
Maiden Castle, Dorset
The hillfort, the barrows around it and the features inside it, coloured by period.
Questions
Is it free?
Yes. The map is free to use in a browser, with nothing to install.
Does it cover all of England?
No. The mapping covers the areas Historic England and its partners have surveyed, which is a large part of England, and more is added as projects finish. It does not cover Wales.
Why is a feature on the aerial map but not on the LiDAR?
Because it is a cropmark: a buried ditch or wall seen in a crop from the air, with nothing left above ground for the laser survey to measure.
Sources
- Aerial archaeology mapping: © Historic England 2026, released under the Open Government Licence. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Last updated 2026-10-16.