Part of the county HLC mapping in progress, showing part of the database for one of the areas.

Human activities, such as farming, recreation, settlement and warfare have all left their mark upon the current Northamptonshire landscape. HLC aims to unravel and map the complex patterns created by these centuries of activity. To do this, historic maps and aerial photographs are studied in order to categorise areas based upon their overall historic character.

As well as describing the current landscape, information is also recorded on the processes that have created these areas and the physical changes they have undergone over the years. The data are collected using a Geographic Information System (GIS), a computer-based map that allows quick and easy analysis of different aspects of the information.

Rather than focus on individual buildings or archaeological sites, the HLC instead looks at the wider landscape in which these features are situated. It also attempts to be inclusive and doesn’t seek to place any notional ‘value’ on an area: World War II airfields, Victorian allotments, parliamentary enclosure fields, modern golf courses, ancient woodlands – any activity which has helped form an area is considered to contribute to its overall character.

The result will be a resource which is intended to help manage, conserve, present and interpret the county’s historic landscapes. Due for completion by Summer 2005, it is hoped that the final data-sets will become available in a number of accessible forms.

Data from the HLC has already been employed as part of the wider County Landscape Assessment. This project has used the characterisation process to assess all aspects of the county landscape including the physiographic, current land use, ecological and cultural as well as the historic.