Several projects have been undertaken within the district, to assess the historic city of Winchester, the historic towns and the smaller rural settlements, in order to understand their evolution, their archaeology and heritage and contribute towards their future management:

Winchester Urban Archaeological Assessment

An important and critical review and assessment of the archaeology of the historic city of Winchester and its immediate environs has been published in 2017. Funded by Historic England and Winchester City Council it provides for the first time a comprehensive review of the Winchester’s archaeological resource. The volume is available to order from Oxbow books (see right side of page).

Hampshire Extensive Urban Survey

The three medieval market towns of Bishops Waltham, New Alresford and Wickham have been assessed in detail as part of a project looking at historic towns in Hampshire, funded by Historic England and carried out by Hampshire County Council. Copies of the reports are available via the link on the right side of the page. 

Historic Rural Settlement Survey

Reports on surveys aimed at highlighting the archaeological potential of smaller rural settlements within the district, commissioned by Hampshire County Council and carried out by Bournemouth University are available via the link on the right side of the page.  

The landscape of Winchester today is the product of both natural and human-made actions over many years, traces of which may be seen in the current landscape.

Winchester benefits from a countywide Historic Landscape Assessment, part of a national programme, which was funded by Historic England and Hampshire County Council. Using information from aerial photographs, historic and modern maps, a countywide character map has been created. This provides information for individuals, communities, planners and developers alike, to help aid our understanding and appreciation of the historic landscape of Hampshire as a whole.

The character map is available as a GIS map layer linked to the Historic Environment Record and the full report can be accessed via the link on the right side of the page.

A number of aerial photographic surveys designed to enhance our understanding of the archaeology of the area have been carried out within the district. One covers the South Downs National Park area within the district, another, sample areas of the aggregates-producing areas of the county and a third survey covers the central Hampshire Chalk Downs.

The survey results provide a detailed picture of archaeological remains across the landscape, which is available as a GIS layer within the Historic Environment Record. Information on newly identified sites is currently being integrated into the Historic Environment Record and existing records are being reassessed in light of the aerial survey data.

Further information on the surveys and downloadable versions of the reports are available via the links on the right side of the page.

The Solent Thames Regional Research Framework for the Historic Environment (STRRF) is one of a series of regional research frameworks promoted by Historic England in collaboration with local authorities. Its purpose is to help make decisions about future archaeological and historic environment research in the Solent Thames Region (the historic counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and the Isle of Wight).  It will also help to provide structure to development-funded fieldwork.

With initial work undertaken by a team of over 40 contributors, the final research framework was compiled by Oxford and Wessex Archaeology on behalf of all the local authorities.

You can find out more via the link on the right side of the page.

You can find out more about local research projects being undertaken by Local Societies and Universities via the links on the right.