Earthwork

Earthworks are earthen or earth covered remnants of manmade features. These can include such things as ditches, house platforms, field boundaries and pits. As the features erode or are robbed over time soil and vegetation may build up leaving just unnatural looking humps and bumps.

Very low earthworks are often best viewed from above, recorded by aerial photography, when the sun is low in the horizon, which creates shadows that emphasise their presence. Earthworks can date to any period, from the burial mounds of prehistory through to the anti-tank ditches of World War Two. Analysis of the form and shape of earthworks can indicate their nature.

Very diverse remains can be recorded as earthworks, such as garden scarps at Stowe or other remains that may be of a deserted settlement or quarries south of Vicarage Farm in Stone.