The countryside today is the result of successive generations of farmers working and shaping their land during the last six thousand years. The traces of their fields, tracks, homes and burial places are inextricably interwoven with what we can see in the landscape today. Many of these historic features are still visible as traditional buildings, ruins, ancient monuments, historic field boundaries and veteran trees: many more survive as buried archaeological remains that can no longer be seen by the casual observer. Because of this, the landscape is our most precious historic document.

This document provides background information on historic landscapes, archaeology and historic buildings, and guidance on their management and the sources for further information. The full document is available in PDF as a document download.