Andy’s Aerial Archaeology & Photogrammetry Site

14/04/2026

Superb drone imagery and digital reconstructions of Arbor Low henge and stone circle in Derbyshire by Tony Hunt of YAAmapping fame!

10/04/2026

Absolutely delighted that this magnificent tome, with a few contributions by yours truly, arrived in the post this morning!

31/03/2026

Drone photogrammetry of the iron age hillfort of Capler Camp in Herefordshire, showing the digital surface and digital terrain models, with the vegetation partially stripped away to reveal the ground surface beneath.

See also: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/records/EN0007.html

and: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1001759?section=official-list-entry

31/03/2026

A little jaunt out with the drone on a recent visit to rural Herefordshire, to visit the impressive iron age hillfort of Capler camp.

Wonderful multivallate Iron Age hillfort in Herefordshire. The camp has well-preserved ramparts, and commands impressive views over the Wye valley and adjacent landscape. See: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1001759?section=official-list-entry There is also another 3d mode...

07/03/2026

Bilton 3, coloured model

Bilton 3, rendered in colour. This is not some fancificul reconstruction of “how the stone may have appeared”. Rather, the colours are assigned according to the topography of the stone, primarily, the relative depth of the carving. As to the subject matter, the Coorpus of Anglo-Saxon Sto...

07/03/2026

Digital Model of Bilton 4, rendered with a coloured texture derived from the carving's inherent properties.

The Bilton 4 stone, reproduced as a coloured polynomial texture map. Because of the much damaged and truncated nature of this piece of carving, the entry in to The Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture is a little uncertain as to the correct interpretation, but suggests a representation of Adam and....

07/03/2026

The Bilton 4 stone, reproduced as a coloured polynomial texture map. Because of the much damaged and truncated nature of this piece of carving, the entry in to The Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture is a little uncertain as to the correct interpretation, but suggests a representation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

https://chacklepie.com/ascorpus/catvol8.php?pageNum_urls=19&totalRows_urls=249&pageN

The Corpus draws a parallel with a stone fragment at All Saint's Church, Barwick in Elmet, where the interpretation is clearer

(See: https://chacklepie.com/ascorpus/catvol8.php?pageNum_urls=15&totalRows_urls=249&pageN )

Although much damaged, the left hand figure, to my eye, appears stockier in build as compared to that on the right, which appears more gracile - particularly at the waist. Given the similarities to the stone at Barwick, it seems entirely reasonable that this interpretation is the most likely.

06/03/2026

Digital model of the Bilton 4 stone, reproduced from photographs taken by Tony Hunt of Yorkshire Archaeological Aerial Mapping

The second of the stones at St Barbara’s Church, Bilton in Ainsty, Yorkshire. Model derived from photographs by Tony Hunt of YAAmapping. This stone is, again, not without several different interpretations - particularly as the characters shown have been damaged such that they are are now headl...

05/03/2026

Digital model of the Bilton 3 stone, produced from photographs provided by Tont Hunt

A trio of curious characters, the carving being held in St Barbara’s church at Bilton in Ainsty. It has been suggested that the carving depicts the 3 Youths in the Fiery Furnace, a Biblical story in Daniel 3:8-30, although others have suggested the image represents the arrest of Jesus. Model c...

05/03/2026

The second of the stones at Bilton is more difficult to make out, with the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture proposing several different interpretations. Badly eroded and truncated, one can see why!

https://chacklepie.com/ascorpus/catvol8.php?pageNum_urls=19&totalRows_urls=249&pageN

I shall leave you to decide which is more likely!

05/03/2026

I am a great believer in the democratisation of archaeology, and always hoped that by sharing my drone and photogrammetry images, I would also be sharing some of the wonder and joy of our shared heritage - and, perhaps, stimulate further interest or research. This ethos underpins my approach to collaborative working, at personal cost, for which I charge no fee.

Sadly, following a recent (and what I regard as specious) complaint, I have felt compelled to remove my imagery relating to Fearn Abbey - for which I can only apologise. My peace is more important to me than trying to fight against bullying tactics employed by people with apparent petty jealousies, using veiled threats and trying to hide behind misrepresented CAA and GDPR legislation. I wryly wonder whether some of my observations and findings - which I had freely shared - might re-surface in the complainant's own work in the fullness of time!

And so we move on to other things! My friend, co-conspirator and partner in crime, Tony Hunt of Yorkshire Archaeological Aerial Mapping sent me several wonderful photographs of carved stones in St Helen's Church at Bilton in Ainsty, Yorkshire, which I subjected to various processing techniques in order to bring out some characteristics. This is the first: