The archaeological history of County Durham and Darlington’s environment is now freely available to everyone online.
Thanks to £4,050 funding from Historic England, Durham County Council has been able to make the area’s Historic Environment Record available on the national Heritage Gateway website. The record is a computerised index which maps all of the impacts of human activity on the landscape; from building castles and homes to making flint axes or iron tools.
Information uploaded to the gateway forms a map of records available from the council of known archaeological sites and sites where artefacts have been found. Residents can use the maps to identify areas of interest as a starting point to further investigation. The Heritage Gateway is a national portal to various heritage datasets which allows them to be searched all together in one place. People can access the gateway at www.heritagegateway.org.uk with further information available on the council’s archaeological records at www.durham.gov.uk/archaeology
Cllr Neil Foster, Cabinet member for economic regeneration and culture, said: “County Durham has a rich and fantastic heritage which we’re all deeply proud of. By making this information available online we hope that people from Durham and across the world can explore and enjoy our amazing history.”
Durham County Council manages and maintains the Historic Environment Record for both itself and on behalf of Darlington Borough Council.