Compton Chamberlayne, Wiltshire: Rediscovering Australia - Surveying the 'Lost' Chalk Map
Author(s): Sharon Soutar
This report describes the research undertaken by Historic England to help our understanding of the ‘lost’ chalk map of Australia at Compton Chamberlayne, Wiltshire, which was added to the Heritage at Risk Register in 2017. The map was carved on the scarp by members of the volunteer First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF), who were camped at Hurdcott in the Vale of Wardour between 1916 and 1919. The Rediscovering Australia project combined archaeological earthwork survey with aerial investigation and mapping and small-scale trial excavations to provide essential understanding of the map, its history and landscape context. The research informed the conservation of the site in 2018 by local volunteers led by Helen Roberts of the Map of Australia Trust (MoAT), and will contribute positively to its future management, enabling the map to be removed from the 2019 Heritage at Risk Register.
- Report Number:
- 80/2018
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 50
- Keywords:
- Survey First World War Hill Figure Heritage
