Between April and June 2008, English Heritage's Archaeological Survey and Investigation team carried out Level 3 analytical field survey at 1:1000 scale, covering approximately 27.5 hectares, of earthworks and other features in and around the western side of the precinct of Byland Abbey, North Yorkshire. The project was undertaken to inform the management and presentation of both the Guardianship and wider scheduled area. Specifically, it tested the findings of a rapid survey undertaken by members of the same team in 2004 in support of the preparation of a Conservation Statement, which had drastically revised the extent of a number of presumed fishponds and pointed to the possible post-medieval re-use of the site as a designed landscape (Pearson, Ainsworth and Oswald 2004; AI/33/2004). The survey employed a number of techniques: principally survey-grade GPS - supplemented where necessary by a Total Station - but traditional taped survey was also built in to allow training of an EPPIC placement and a number of volunteers. Early in 2009, geophysical survey was commissioned from Archaeology Services West Yorkshire Archaeology Service (ASWYAS) to examine specific questions arising from the earthwork survey, but the results were largely inconclusive and added little to the findings of the earlier work. A small amount of additional ground survey, principally collection of height data for contouring and modelling purposes, was carried out in autumn 2010. A full report incorporating a limited amount of historical background and documentary research has been published as a volume within English Heritage's Research Department Report Series: RDRS 4-2011.
| Archaeological Field Investigator |
Marcus Jecock
English Heritage York Office
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| Archaeological Field Investigator |
Alastair Oswald
English Heritage York Office
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| Archaeological Field Investigator |
Graham Brown
English Heritage Swindon Office
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