A wide range of information relating to the historic and archaeological environment is included on the Historic Environment Record (HER). For example:
- Chance finds, such as prehistoric flint tools or fragments of Roman pottery
- Standing monuments, like the ruins of a Norman castle
- Excavations, often in advance of building development
- Field surveys, identifying scatters of material in ploughed fields and historic landscape features
- Cropmarks indicating buried walls or ditches, identified from aerial photographs
- Documentary evidence, such as a watermill shown on a 17th-century map
- Research projects, such as into industrial sites and World War II defences
- Information on protected sites, such as Listed Buildings, Scheduled Monuments and Historic Parks & Gardens
At present, Surrey HER contains over 23,000 records, ranging from the earliest periods of prehistory, to post-medieval times. As new sites and finds are being discovered all the time, the HER is continually being updated and our knowledge of all archaeological periods continues to evolve.