Gorhambury Park, St Albans: Lidar study
Gorhambury Park, situated between the city of St Albans and the M1 motorway, is a Grade II Registered Park and Garden surrounding Gorhambury House, the 18th-century seat of the Verulam family. Documentary evidence identifies the landscape as a manorial site since 1130 AD, with areas of agricultural land, wide-open pasture, ornamental gardens and woodland surrounding various residences.
Cotswold Archaeology were asked to provide a Lidar study of the parkland as part of a PA2 feasibility study. This was to provide a detailed understanding of the historic parkland with any recommendations for investigation or conservation as part of a Countryside Stewardship grant.
Our Geomatics Team collected high resolution Lidar via drone (a.k.a. Airbourne Laser Scanning (ALS)). The resulting visually impressive output provided the key data to interpret the landscape.
Our study identified hundreds of features relating to the Gorhambury Estate. They include the site of the possible medieval manor house, traces of the 17th-century Verulam House, and hints of their designed landscapes. Features of the hydrology surrounding the Scheduled Pondyard water gardens in the north-east of the site were also recorded, and the site’s relationship with Roman Watling Street. Further details are presented in volume 126 of CIfA’s The Archaeologist Magazine.
The project has been essential in enhancing understanding of the heritage significance of the landscape, in the context of the Countryside Stewardship grant, so that future landowner management can include the protection and conservation of the historic environment in balance with the natural environment.
