Historic England: 100 years of aerial images go online

22 March 2022

Stoke-on-Trent potteries — Image caption,
The Encaustic tile works, the Royal Staffordshire Pottery and the Newport Pottery, in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, as seen in 1934

Landmarks in the West Midlands region feature among more than 400,000 aerial photographs being made available online.

Historic England has launched its Aerial Photography Explorer tool, external, which allows people to examine how landscapes have changed during 100 years.

Ironbridge, Stoke-on-Trent potteries and Coventry all feature.

Images will be added as more of the six million aerial photos in the Historic England archive are digitised.

Powick Bridge and Powick Mills — Image caption,
This photo shows former hydro-electricity works Powick Mills and Powick Bridge, which by the spring of 2018 was nearly consumed by flooding

Among the images available are photos of Powick Bridge in Worcestershire.

Monks constructed the original bridge before 1447, but the two arches over the brook were deliberately broken down in 1651 as part of Worcester's defences during the Battle of Worcester and rebuilt during the 17th Century, Historic England said.

Blithewood medieval moated site in Staffordshire — Image caption,
A prestigious building would have sat on the central square platform at the medieval Blithewood moated site

Also included is the medieval Blithewood moated site in Staffordshire. Historic England said the moats were intended as a status symbol rather than defence and also stated that most moated sites were built between 1250 and 1350.

Neolithic cursus and Iron Age enclosure at Sherbourne, Warwickshire — Image caption,
Sherbourne has a Neolithic cursus and an Iron Age enclosure

In one image, a long rectangular shape marks the presence of a Neolithic cursus at Sherbourne, Warwickshire, with cursus monuments "generally thought of as enclosed paths or processional ways", Historic England said.

To the right of the cursus is a larger enclosure with curved sides and a smaller curved enclosure inside. It is thought to be surrounding a farmstead dating roughly from the Iron Age or Roman periods.