Our report is now available on a geophysical survey on Monument Field, Lansdown, Bath and North East Somerset, immediately south of the Grenville Memorial. We were able to show the settlement in the neighbouring field was considerably bigger than known, extending another 150 metres westward.
The survey was carried out in January 2019. Part of the field is a scheduled monument and was surveyed under Historic England licence. The whole field is part of the scheduled battlefield of the Battle of Lansdown. The survey complements a geophysical survey carried out by BACAS in March 2018 in Little Down Field (also known as Settlement Field), immediately to the east.
The magnetometry survey indicated the extent of the pre-historic/Romano British settlement found in the south-west corner of Settlement Field and showed that it extended under the wall some 150 m westwards and 150 m northwards from the south-east corner of Monument Field. This was supported by evidence from magnetic susceptibility and twin-probe resistance. Ground disturbance extending north-west from the settlement appeared to relate to the Battle of Lansdown, fought in this field in July 1643. A number of long lines of straight sections joined at angles probably relate to practice trenches dug in World War 1. The survey also showed a former pond, an area which may have also been a pond, but may be a small henge, and a probable barrow.