A Survey in the Park: methodological and practical problems associated with geophysical investigation in a late Victorian municipal park

Abstract

The survey of Pudsey Park is a geophysicalinvestigation of a lateVictorian municipal park.The aim of the survey was to use geophysical techniques to identify the park's changing designs over a120 year period. An initial design for the park waslocated during the desk-based assessment, however, it was unclear how much ofthe originalplan had beenimplemented. It was suspected that Pudsey Park's design has been simplified over time. The project also aimed to identify a suitable samplingstrategy forstudyingparkandgarden sitesbyusinghigh-resolution surveysandmultipleprobe separationsfor varying depthsofdetection during earthresistance survey.It washoped that multiple electrode separations combined with a high density survey could be used to differentiate the signal responses from the modern park designs and earlierdesign schemes.The choice of strategy is at a significantly higher resolution than guidelines forgeophysical investigations for traditional archaeological features. The survey provided highly detailed but complicated data sets; areas of the park have had several redesigns, often where the modern scheme masks previous designs. A number of 'hard'and'soft'landscaping features were identified including the foundations of the original bandstand (now replaced) andformer flowerbeds.The 0.25 mprobe separation surprisinglyproducedthemost defined datawith the greatest level of information due to the increased spatial resolution.The geophysical investigation is the first of its kind to investigate a Victorian municipal park in its entirety.The survey validates the importance of high-resolution survey in the study of parksandgardensandalsoprovidesareference data set for futurework wherepoorerdocumentationhindersinterpretation. The geophysics data, together with the accompanying Geographical Information System database produce a unique and detailed picture of a Victorian park from its inception through 120 years of development.