Online Resources: Heritage Gateway

11th June 2020

This week’s online resource is Heritage Gateway, which provides access to some of the data in the Historic Environment Record, and is a great website to have a search and browse about the county’s archaeological past.

The Historic Environment Record database is the County of Worcestershire’s primary resource for archaeological and historic environment information. Although the full database isn’t online and you need to contact us for that, the basic information can be found on Heritage Gateway and searched at home.

The HER desk in The Hive

Each county or unitary authority has a HER (previously called Sites & Monuments Record) one. We hold approximately 83,000 records including archaeological sites, historic buildings, monuments, and landscape features. This covers the whole county apart from Worcester City which has their own. The HER can help you to research:

Your area, whether that’s a village, a particular building, or parish
A period of interest, including Roman, Medieval, and World War II
Industries such as lime kilns, carpet factories, and needle manufacturing
Historic artefacts, such as coins, pottery, plant, and animal remains

Worcestershire HER covers the modern county of Worcestershire, except the City of Worcester. The City holds its own HER, but the two share a joint software platform.

It is GIS (geographical Information System) based, which means it links the database to maps. There are different layers of maps, from the first few editions of Ordnance Survey, starting in the 1880s, through to today, plus aerial photos and LiDAR.

Sadly the full version can’t be made available online. The sheer amount of data means that your computers would probably protest and your internet connection may give up. Some of the full information may also be restricted by copyright or be commercially sensitive.

Heritage Gateway though allows you to search a basic version of our HER, along with Worcester City’s, plus 60 other HERs, and equivalent records of Historic England and the National Trust. This is for non-commercial use due to the more limited information.

Go to www.heritagegateway.org.uk

Heritage Gateway home page. You can do a quick search from here, or do an advanced search from the side menu.

Results for Spetchley All Saints – 1 result under Worcestershire

Entry for Spetchley All Saints

Have a search and see what you can find!

Photo of the church from the archives. Being a joint service we have a wide range of resources which can be used together to tell a wider story.

For the full version of the HER you will need to be in touch with us. Normally we would be open Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons in The Hive for you to come, sit down next to us, and discuss your enquiry with a friendly archaeologist. Currently we are just accessible remotely, and you can send an enquiry here. Please note there are charges for commercial searches.