Historic England makes 100-year-old photo archive available to public for first time online

Historic England says the public can use a new online archive of aerial photographs to help get their buildings listed.

The body, which oversees the protection of heritage buildings, launched a new digital map on Tuesday with over 400,000 aerial photographs covering a third of England. The aerial photograph explorer is freely accessible to the public.

“We hope that making these images widely accessible through the map will help people discover more about their area and could provide [listing] applicants with useful background information,” Historic England said.

“The more information, including images and historical background, supplied to support a listing application, the better.”

Anyone can apply for a building to be listed, so long as it fits relevant criteria such as rarity and community interest. Historic England reviews these applications and makes a recommendation to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

There are around 400,000 listed buildings in England, over 90 per cent of which fall into the lowest category of Grade II. Historic England receives around 1,500 applications each year, of which approximately 350 end up being listed.

The new online tool, which includes photographs dating from 1919 to the present day, will continue to expand as Historic England digitises more of the two million images in its historic collection.

The map also included modern-day images from Historic England’s aerial investigation and mapping team which has been searching for and documenting archaeological sites from the air since 1967.

Among the images available on the site are ancient archaeology such as a Neolithic long barrow near Broughton, Hampshire, as well as remains of Iron Age forts such as Pilsdon Pen in Dorset and abandoned medieval villages such as Old Sulby in Northamptonshire.

Also visible among the thousands of images are wartime adaptations during the 1940s, such as vegetable allotments in Greenwich Park and anti-aircraft modifications at Hampton Court, and bomb damage across London, Liverpool and other cities.

In addition, users can trace the construction and alteration of historic buildings such as Battersea Power Station and Old Trafford.

Nigel Huddleston, the minister for heritage, said: “What better way to discover our shared history than through this fascinating new online tool which offers a bird’s eye view of our past. I can’t wait to discover more about my local area and encourage everyone to explore the thousands of English sites from the last century.”

The launch of the aerial photograph map follows on from the aerial archaeology mapping explorer, which allows users to see what archaeology has been mapped near them.