LiDAR map of Swanage
Waystone shows the bare-earth LiDAR of Swanage, a parish in Dorset, at one metre per pixel. The heritage records hold 99 recorded places here: 50 features mapped by Historic England from aerial photographs, 39 listed buildings, 7 places recorded in Wikidata, 2 scheduled monuments, 1 registered park or garden. On the LiDAR, most of the ground in the parish lies between about 12 m and 118 m above sea level; its highest point is about 199 m. By their register titles, its scheduled monuments include 2 barrows or cairns.
Swanage on the LiDAR. Bare-earth LiDAR, drawn in your browser by the RVT toolbox (the Relief Visualization Toolbox, ZRC SAZU). It opens on Combined VAT; the panel holds all seventeen of its methods, each with its settings. LiDAR: Environment Agency, 1 m composite DTM, Open Government Licence. More about this map
The Ordnance Survey six-inch map of Swanage, 1888–1913. The Ordnance Survey’s six-inch-to-the-mile map, second edition, surveyed between 1888 and 1913 and held by the National Library of Scotland, laid over today’s map with the paper colour removed, so the field boundaries, place names and antiquities the surveyors drew sit on the ground. More about this map
Roman roads near Swanage. The Roman road network compiled by the Roman Roads Research Association (Digital Britannia), with each road’s grade of evidence, and the Roman forts, camps and towns along them. More about this map
Aerial archaeology at Swanage. Historic England’s Aerial Archaeology Mapping: banks, ditches, enclosures and field systems traced by archaeologists from aerial photographs and LiDAR, coloured by period. The records hold 50 aerial survey features in the area. More about this map
See Swanage with everything Waystone has
The full map lays the LiDAR under the Ordnance Survey's six-inch maps of 1843–1913, the Roman road network, Historic England's aerial survey (50 features in the parish) and the 99 recorded places in the parish, with search, the sun dial, the ground probe and the cross-section tool, for all of England and Wales. Free, with nothing to install.
- County
- Dorset, England
- Area
- 11.2 km²
- Recorded places
- 99
- Height (LiDAR)
- Mostly 12–118 m above sea level; highest 199 m
- ONS code
- E04003483
Scheduled monuments and other designated sites
- Group of three round barrows on Ballard DownScheduled monument
- Bowl barrow on Godlingston HillScheduled monument
- Durlston Castle Historic LandscapeRegistered park or garden
Listed buildings
- The Town Hall
- Durlston Head Castle
- Godlingston Manor
- The Globe to South
- Newton Manor
- The Lighthouse Residential Block, Link Building
- Tithe Barn
- The Stone Quay and Stone Sea Retaining Wall
- King Alfred Memorial
- Millstones the Old Mill House
- Swanage War Memorial
- The Chart
- Swanage Railway Building
- Railway overbridge
- United Reformed Church
- The Methodist Church
- Church of St Mark and Gate-piers and Wall
- Parish Church
- Church of the Holy Spirit and St Edward
- Outbuildings
- Lloyds Bank
- Parkers Stores
- Walls Surrounding Mill Pond
- The Globe Inn and Former No 3
- Outbuilding at Rear of Globe Inn
- Royal Victoria Hotel
- Purbeck Hotel
- The White Swan
- The Methodist Church and Hall Immediately East
- The Old Forge
and 9 more on the map.
Other recorded places
- Tilly Whim CavesWikidata place
- Durlston Country ParkWikidata place
- Swanage RailwayWikidata place
- Ballard DownWikidata place
- Belle Vue QuarryWikidata place
- Herston Halt railway stationWikidata place
- DurlstonWikidata place
- FIELD BOUNDARY\FIELDWORKAerial survey feature
- WEAPONS PITAerial survey feature
- MILITARY CAMPAerial survey feature
- MILITARY BUILDINGAerial survey feature
- ENCLOSUREAerial survey feature
- GARDEN FEATURE\GARDEN PATHAerial survey feature
- MILITARY BUILDINGAerial survey feature
Nearest places with their own page
- Rempstone Stone Circle4.1 km north-west
- Corfe Castle7.2 km north-west
- Iron Age settlement9.0 km west
Neighbouring parishes
Reading the LiDAR
The terrain model has trees, crops and buildings removed, so banks, ditches, mounds, old field systems and hollow ways show as relief. Many are modern or natural: check the records and the old Ordnance Survey map in the app. How to read a LiDAR map. Scheduled monuments are protected by law; use public rights of way.
Sources
- LiDAR: Environment Agency, 1 m composite DTM, Open Government Licence.
- Heights: Waystone, from the same LiDAR sampled about every 12 m inside the boundary; 'most of the ground' is the middle 80% of those heights; metres above Ordnance Datum Newlyn.
- Parish boundary: Office for National Statistics, Parishes and Non Civil Parished Areas (December 2024), Open Government Licence. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2025.
- Recorded places: the national heritage records (Historic England, Cadw, Coflein and others) as held by Waystone.
- © Historic England 2026, Aerial Archaeology Mapping, Open Government Licence. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Last updated 2026-10-16.