This new section aims to introduce members to the world of military archaeology. The discipline can be sub-divided into various sectors, and these have been given their own space in this section.

The subject only really appeared in the 1970s, spawned by interest in  the thousands of remaining sites left over from WW2, but was regarded as 'fringe archaeology' by the establishment. A few dedicated societies were formed amongst enthusiasts and they proceeded to build up an invaluable database of building/structure types over the years.

By the time the 1990s dawned, heritage bodies across Britain had come to realise that recent military heritage was every bit as fragile and worth conserving as the average Roman villa. This led directly to the Defence of Britain Project, which ran from 1995 -2002 and resulted in a database of 14,000 surviving anti-invasion defences across Britain, and another 5,000 military but non anti-invasion sites also being recorded.

This was due in no small part to the dedicated teams of enthusiasts who had spent years accumulating a wealth of data on many types of military buildings, the vast percentage of which no longer exist.

This subject has really grown in popularity recently, thanks to tv programmes like Two Men in a Trench, which has managed to answer fundamental questions about British battlefields which have perplexed experts for years.

The subject is not restricted to mediaeval warfare, however. A team of experts have been excavating the remnants of WWI's western Front, and the collapse of the Iron Curtain has allowed hitherto unheard of access to WW2 battlefields in Eastern Europe.

2008