Historic Environment Record

The Buckinghamshire Historic Environment Record (HER) is the main source of historical information for Buckinghamshire.

We have a wide range of information about archaeological and historic sites, buildings, landscapes and finds, including:

• a computerised database
• supporting paper records
• maps
• a collection of aerial photographs and slides
• a library

The HER collection is held in Walton Street Offices, Aylesbury. It's open to the public, by appointment, 5 days a week. 

Contact us by email at: [email protected]

You can search a selection of the records on our online database Buckinghamshire’s Heritage Portal. 

To access information and resources, you can make an enquiry online. Where appropriate, some users must agree to a licensing charge before obtaining access.

Information is usually supplied in digital form. In some cases it will also be necessary to visit to view items that are only available in hard copy.

Visits are by appointment only.

Straightforward enquiries will be processed within 10 working days of us receiving the completed registration form. More complex enquiries may take longer. Enquiries are dealt with in the order we receive them, using a queuing system.

A priority service is available for an extra fee to provide information within 2 working days. We cannot guarantee to provide this service at all times.

We reserve the right to request a written proposal:

• for complex or poorly structured consultations
• where the purpose of the enquiry is unclear or harmful

The written proposal must have a reasoned justification for the information required. This helps us assess the purpose of the request and impact on workload.

We reserve the right to decline requests where required. This includes if there is reason to believe supplying the information would endanger the historic environment or where there has been a previous failure to follow HER guidelines. We will not disclose confidential information.

You must abide by all copyright restrictions for data held in the HER. Information must only be used by the user and for the purposes specified on the enquiry registration form.

You must get our written consent for any other use of the data and for passing it on to a third party. We reserve all rights of copyright owned in the material provided.

You'll need to inform the HER of new sites or information which come to light as a result of your research.

There is no right of public access to historic sites recorded on the HER. You must get permission for access to private land from the landowner.

We charge for:

• licensing the commercial re-use of HER information
• processing complex non-commercial consultations
• advice given in our role as specialist archaeological advisors to local planning authorities

For further details and charging rates refer to services and fees.

A charge for staff time may be made for late cancellation (less than 24 hour's notice) or failure to cancel a pre-arranged appointment.

We carried out a Historic Landscape Categorisation (HLC) project for Buckinghamshire to understand the historic dimension of today's landscape.

Read more about the Historic Landscape Categorisation (HLC) project.

We completed a project surveying 30 settlements in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes to better understand the evolution of our towns.

Read more about the historic towns project.

Specialist consultants are currently working on a project, funded by Historic England, to map crop marks and earthworks revealed by aerial photography and LiDAR surveys in the north of the county.