Isle of Wight Coastal Audit

The Coastal Audit was a fifteen month project undertaken by the Isle of Wight County Archaeology and Historic Environment Service in collaboration with English Heritage. The primary aim of the coastal archaeological audit was to enhance the coastal coverage of the County Historic Environment Record to a level where it is specifically equipped to deal with the protection issues arising in select geomorphological settings covered by the Shoreline Management Plan.

The main project objectives were:

To identify sites and structures in the coastal zone (the intertidal zone, the coast edge and the coastal strip) using documentary records, maps and charts, air photographs and in the field.

To assess the condition and vulnerability of archaeological sites in the coastal zone.

To provide information for the Coastal Protection Authority and for the LIFE project ‘Coastal Change, Climate and Instability’ which was coordinated by the Isle of Wight Council's Centre for the Coastal Environment.

The project combined fieldwork and a desktop assessment which included documentary and cartographic research and an interrogation of aerial photographs. The whole of the Island’s open coast was examined together with the Medina Estuary, the Newtown Estuary, the Western Yar and Wootton Creek. All archaeological sites and historic buildings previously recorded in the Isle of Wight Historic Environment Record were examined, together with sites noted during documentary research and features observed on aerial photographs. New sites which were hitherto unrecognised were also identified during fieldwork. Listed Buildings which did not fit the original criteria for inclusion in the Historic Buildings Record, ie not present on the Tithe Maps (c. 1840), were also recorded.



The Coastal Audit increased the total number of archaeological sites in the coastal zone from 583 to 1671. In addition there were 298 historic buildings in the survey area; 44 percent of these were listed. A large proportion of newly recorded sites were of post medieval or modern date. This in part reflects a growing awareness of the value of industrial and military archaeological features, but it is well recognised that these are much easier to locate during a rapid survey than the more fragmentary remains of earlier features. Structures such as coastguard stations, lifeboat houses, quays, oyster pens, salterns, shipbuilding yards, brickworks and quarries were recorded, as were military features dating to the Second World War, including gun emplacements, tank traps and pillboxes.

Numerous features were noted in the eroding cliff faces. These include hearths which contain fire-cracked flint and charcoal and are believed to be prehistoric, and middens full of pottery, bone and shell. Middens dating to the Bronze Age, Roman and medieval periods were identified. Both middens and hearths can reveal important evidence about the way of life and the environment in which past groups lived. Hearths and palaeoenvironmental deposits were also recorded in the low banks of the River Medina and near the mouth of the Newtown Estuary.



Features recorded in the intertidal zone include brushwood and hurdle trackways or platforms, V-shaped fish traps, and post alignments and groups of unknown date and function. Thirty one hulks were located and photographed. There were also important palaeoenvironmental sites in the intertidal zone including peats and fallen trees which date from periods when sea level was lower than at present. The trees could be used to extend the dendrochronological sequence for the Solent area, whilst the peats contain important environmental evidence in the form of pollen, seeds and insect remains.



The Coastal Audit has significantly increased the number of known archaeological sites on the Island. However, it has also revealed how vulnerable these sites are to coastal erosion, and further funding is now required in order to record them fully before they are lost.

The Coastal Audit report is available on the English Heritage website.