Historic Landscape Characterisation

HLC is a process which has been developing in England over the past ten years. It was developed for many reasons, but particularly because it became obvious that the HER which holds data of all known archaeological sites, was no longer able to meet the needs of a more landscape based approach which had been an emerging force within archaeology for the past two and a half decades.

HLC is a process designed and undertaken across England at a county level, and in such a way as to have comparable results across all counties. The map below shows the current status of HLCs across England; similar projects are taking place in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. More information on HLC as a country-wide scheme can be found at English Heritage

The finished HLC will exist as a ‘layer’ within a GIS. It will consist of thousands of interlinked ‘jigsaw pieces’ or polygons which will completely cover all of County Durham and Darlington. Each polygon represents an area that has a specific historic character and each will have a unique identification number linking it to a database.

The database holds a great deal of information for each polygon, including information on its current landscape character and on any previous landscape characters.

The map below shows the characterisation of one of the two pilot areas completed at the beginning of the project. The pilot area has its centre in Shotton Colliery in Easington District, with Peterlee directly to the east.

Once finished, the HLC will be available alongside the HER and also the Durham County Council Landscape Character Assessment both of which are used for planning purposes and land management issues.

The HLC is for everyone: local history groups getting background information on any research they may be doing; individuals undertaking private research - you may just want to browse the HLC to understand more about the landscape you live in!

The HLC will eventually be available online in a GIS format like The Durham Landscape interactive maps on the Durham County Council website Landscape Projects. In this way the information is readily and easily available for use by schools, libraries, museums and any other outreach organisations, such as Community Partnerships, as a springboard for further research and initiatives.

For more information please contact:

The Archaeology Section
Adult and Community Services
Culture and Leisure
Rivergreen Centre
Durham
DH1 5TS
Tel: 0191 3708712
Fax: 0191 3708897
Email: Archaeology

Archaeological Projects