EDO6122 - Roman camp, Bradford Abbas; aerial photograph interpretation 2010

Interpretation and mapping was carried out of all archaeological features visible on aerial photographs in the vicinity of a possible Roman camp to the north of Bradford Abbas. The camp was recognised for the first time by Damian Grady during English Heritage archaeological aerial reconnaissance on the 28th of June 2010. This prompted an evaluation of all aerial photographs in the vicinity of the possible camp. The project area covers the fields around East Farm and Coombe to the north of the village of Bradford Abbas. It is situated to the south east of the outskirts of Yeovil. The river Yeo curves around, about a kilometre away, on all but the east side of the area. The ground slopes, between 100m and 70m above Ordnance Datum, to the south west and south east between steep sided coombes which extend along the west, centre and north-east of the project area. The main features recorded and mapped during the resultant interpretation and mapping project included the possible Roman camp, to the south west of East Farm, and a complex of prehistoric or Roman enclosures, probably related to settlement, to the east of East Farm. Parts of possible enclosures and a ring ditch, probably the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow, are situated to the south of Underdown Hollow.All aerial photos from the NMR collections were consulted. The Cambridge University Collection of Air Photographs (CUCAP) curated by the Unit for Landscape Modelling was not available at the time of the survey. Dorset County Council Historic Sites and Monuments Record supplied a vertical photograph of the area.Aerial photo transformations were carried out using the University of Bradford Aerial5 photo rectification program. Control information was taken from the OS 1:2500 scale Landline maps. The height differences across the area were compensated for with a digital terrain model derived from OS Landline profile 5m interval contours. The digital transformations used for the plot are therefore accurate to within +2m to the base map and so will typically be within circa 5m of true ground position.An air photo transcription was produced in AutoCAD by tracing the archaeology from the transformed and georeferenced aerial images. Monument descriptions for the main elements of the site, and an event record, were created in the NMR database. All plans and this report will be deposited with the NMR archive.