Our Heritage

The Solent's historical and archaeological sites are one of its most important assets, and represent a nationally significant resource of buildings, landscapes and artefacts on land and underwater.

There are three particular aspects which are of interest:

• Historic buildings and structures associated with the maritime history of the region. The Solent contains the most important concentration of coastal defence heritage features in the UK, important sites associated with the history of commercial activity and coastal settlement, and a large number of shipwreck sites below high water mark;
• Submerged archaeological evidence of past landscapes and land uses at times of lower sea level;
• Archaeological remains and historic structures under particular threat, including those put at risk by coastal erosion.

The archaeological resource has a continuity that takes it from land through the intertidal zone and out to sea. This is shown by relic prehistoric landscapes, where contemporary features survive on both dry land and the sea bed. It can also be seen in the maritime cultural landscape where ship wrecks, their ports and associated industries may be represented by archaeological remains and historic buildings.

The CITiZAN project has produced a downloadable Coastal Guide to Archaeology, designed for those new to coastal archaeology and to support the use of the CITiZAN app. Featuring beautiful illustrations, it covers common foreshore finds, how to read the coast, preparing for your coastal walk, responsible coastal stewardship, archaeological photography, and archival research.

Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Surveys (RCZAS)

Historic England seeks to identify and protect historic sites through a series of regional or sub-regional Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Surveys (RCZASs ) and funding thematic projects that seek to increase understanding of particular sites or classes of site on the coast.

It is hoped that regular monitoring of the coast (for example, following storms) will be addressed by the Coastal and Inter-Tidal Zone Archaeological Network (CITiZAN) project, set up by Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA). This aims to train and enable an army of volunteer ‘citizans’ to monitor and record sites newly revealed or at risk of being destroyed by coastal erosion. The project is supported financially by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the Crown Estate and the National Trust, and through advice and help-in-kind by Historic England.

• South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey