The old hall footprint is well established as a result of the ground plan produced by George Fowler Jones architectural parctice in 1885, this is still in existence and held I believe at Temple Newsam. I obtained a digital copy of the reference photograph some years ago and have used it extensively to assist in discovering how the parts of the hall were aligned on the ground. However with the recent discovery of the photographs taken by Jones in the latter part of the nineteenth century; held at the National Media Museum, Bradford, it became clear that the lawns had extensive flower beds. Moreover the plan shows drainage lines and the position of the fountain and the river Crow which runs across the lawns in a stone culvert. We decided therefore to undertake a geophysical analysis of the ground to determine if any of the earlier features could be discovered.
The photographs here are from our efforts today, with Roger of Geoscan Research, who have kindly tested their latest device on the site. This data will be used to assist in fine tuning this new product in preparation for its imminent launch into the marketplace. The products that Roger’s company produce are primarily for archaeological use, but are also increasingly used in other areas including environmental, forensics, geological, civil engineering and peace-time military applications. A full article of this operation will be added to the main history site once we have analysed the image data.
MSP40 Mobile Sensor Platform
MSP40 Mobile Sensor Platform in use at Parlington
MSP40 Mobile Sensor Platform in use at Parlington
This equipment is more advanced than that used by Time Team, the Channel Four, Archaeology programme, in fact they use some of Geoscan Research equipment for their investigations.
Thanks to Roger and Kath from Geoscan and Jane Wheeler for your efforts today! We were soaked towards the end of the afternoon as the heavens opened up, but generally apart from the odd light shower the weather held up.