2006 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA7 Technical Report - Maritime (NE Atlantic west of Scotland)
This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA7) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). The report concentrates on reviewing existing data and published sources, rather than attempt a quantitative baseline of wrecks and casualties. There is a comprehensive corpus of legislation, plans and polices concerned with the protection of the submerged maritime archaeological resource within the SEA 7 study area.
The study outlines the known history of maritime activity within the SEA 7 area. Despite being an extremely large body of water that at times can produce dangerous sea and weather conditions, and encompasses the rugged coastlines of western Scotland and Northern Ireland, the area has been used extensively by seafarers from at least the Mesolithic (from 9000 BC) up to present times. During each time period there has been evidence of human activity within the SEA 7 area, often demonstrated by the discovery of maritime archaeological remains. The waters between the north east of Ireland and Scotland have been used as a means of communication throughout the centuries.
Previous investigations of maritime archaeological remains within the SEA 7 area are discussed in the report. The spatial distribution of submerged archaeological remains is discussed, and comments are made on the limitations of any mapped baseline of data. The study concludes with a comment on the potential impacts of oil and gas activities on the submerged maritime archaeological resource and suggests possible monitoring methodologies.
dataset
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal
- The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS.
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Data Quality
This report was produced by Wessex Archaeology as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme. A number of documentary sources were consulted for this report, ranging from local dive guides to comprehensive wreck inventories such as Lloyd's Register of Shipwreck Losses (Larn and Larn 1998), Off Scotland: Maritime and Aviation Losses off Scotland (Whittaker 1998) and the wreck inventory contained within A Review of the Archaeological Resources of the Northern Ireland Coastline (McErlean, McConkey, McCooey and Williams 1998). A number of internet sources were also viewed including the National Monuments Record of Scotland (NMRS), maintained by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS). This database holds records for over 250,000 archaeological sites, or which around 14,417 are maritime sites.