Author

Dr Caroline Dalton

Date

2006-ongoing

Project Type

PhD and Post-doctoral Research

Subject

Historical geography

Datasets

OS Land-form PROFILE

OS MasterMap

Landmark historic OS maps available through Digimap

Digital copies of landscape plans

Digital copies of aerial photographs

Related Subjects

Garden history; conservation; landscape design history; Restoration; 18th century; geography; history; archaeology

Sources: Digimap; public and private archives; National Monument Record aerial photography

Dates/Editions: 1:2500 county sheets 1^st edition and subsequent revisions

Scale: 1:10000 (modern mapping)

Publishing Institution

University of Bristol

Summary

My PhD thesis used GIS to evaluate designed landscapes of the early eighteenth century. My current work again uses GIS in the context of the later eighteenth century.

Aims & Objectives

To date, those who study garden history have demonstrated only a limited engagement with the technology of the geographer, in particular with geographical information systems (GIS). Traditionally the use of primary textual sources has been combined with the evaluation of historic maps and with site visits, to develop an understanding of how and why parks and gardens were created.

GIS has the capability to enhance this understanding: it can reconstruct designed landscapes of the past, it is a tool for the analysis of spatial data in two and three dimensions, and it can store a variety of information relating to a historic site. Exploring the eighteenth-century garden at ground level or by fly-through of a three-dimensional model allows the scholar to see the original design and the topography together. In the analysis of contemporary garden descriptions against the reconstructed form, the use of GIS can offer an insight into the experience of being there in past times.

Geo-referenced historic maps overlaid on the modern Ordnance Survey demonstrate how a designed landscape has changed over time. Constructed viewsheds reveal what could be seen in the historic environment and facilitate assessment of the potential impact of growing vegetation. Information relating to a site stored in tables can be easily recovered and manipulated using structured query language (SQL).

In addition to its application as an analytical tool, GIS can bring historic landscapes to life in the classroom. My work evaluates the role of GIS in the study and teaching of garden history, currently, in the context of a project on the sublime, the picturesque and the eighteenth-century garden.

Methodology

The form of historic gardens is reconstructed using a DEM derived from Landform and MasterMap data. The DEM is draped with OS 1^st edition and other eighteenth-century estate maps and to create sophisticated historic versions of the landscape including extruded buildings and vegetation. Used in conjunction with the reading of contemporary written material, this methodology enables new insights into past landscapes.  

Results/Outcome

The Vanbrugh project revealed the underlying geometrical form of early eighteenth-century designed landscapes, contradicting existing theory of the demise of geometry at this time. 

References & Acknowledgements

‘Sir John Vanbrugh and the Vitruvian Landscape’ by Caroline Dalton published by Routledge, January 2012