Aerial reconnaissance over England in summer 1996

This report outlines the results achieved by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England's (RCHME's) flying programme and those of the independent flyers over England in 1996. The RCHME operates its reconnaissance programme from two offices, Swindon and York, with each team covering approximately half of England. The RCHME has been funding a network of regional flyers since 1986, when English Heritage transferred the responsibility to the RCHME. All the regional flyers reporting here received grants from the RCHME, except Devon and Somerset, and Dorset. The regional flyers operated in Cheshire and Merseyside, Cornwall, Devon and Somerset, Dorset, Essex, Hereford and Worcester, Isle of Wight, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Shropshire, Suffolk and Teesside. In total approximately 415 h were flow and 4570 targets photographed, of which approximately half were new to the record and about 15 per cent (estimated) contributed additional information. For an area of eastern and northern England, from The Wash to the River Tees, 1996 was considered to be one of the best years ever for the discovery of new cropmark sites.