Heritage Gateway - Help With Searching

General Searching Tips

Basic Search Tips

Using the ‘Where’ search County/District/Parish lists:

The County drop-down list is pre-populated with the 1974-2000 County list. This list is provided because it many of the datasets have been indexed using it, rather than more modern county lists.
When a County is selected, the search screen will populate the District drop-down list.
When a District is selected, the search screen will populate the Parish drop-down list.

Using the ‘Where’ search free text box:

Place/Site Name is a free text box which searches on parish or locality names.
The free text box is not case sensitive.
You can also enter the site name if you know it (e.g. Stonehenge).
The system will try to match the beginning of the site name (e.g. Old Sarum will retrieve Old Sarum Castle).

Using the ‘What’ search drop-down list:

This field is currently populated with the broad terms from the English Heritage Thesaurus of Monument Types.
In order to search on a different term, please enter it in the free text box or use the Advanced Search.

Using the ‘When’ search drop-down list:

Broad periods can be selected from the drop-down list.
When a period is selected, the search screen populates the date range boxes.
You can enter any date range in the date boxes.
Multiple periods cannot be selected from the drop-down list, however dates covering multiple periods can be entered manually in the date range boxes.

Using the ‘Who’ search free text box:

The free text box is not case sensitive.
Please enter surnames in the free text box, the search does note recognise first names or initials.

Advanced Search Tips

Using the Googlemaps ‘Where’ search:

To move around the map use the panning arrows and zoom in/out tool within the Googlemaps image.
Select a point around which to search simply by clicking on the map.
Although you can see a wider area than just England it’s unlikely the Heritage Gateway will give you any results if you select a location outside England.
Some of the underlying datasets may not respond to spatial searches, depending on their data structure or indexing. In these instances an appropriate error message should be returned for that dataset.
If you know a grid reference you want to search on, simply enter it manually in the appropriate field.

Using the Thesaurus ‘What’ Search:

You can search on broad or more specific terms from English Heritage’s Monument Types, Object Types and Evidence Thesauri.
Broad terms can be selected simply by scrolling through and clicking in the box next to the term to select it. The search will automatically cover all the narrow terms below the broad term.
Where a term has narrower terms within it, it is written in bold and features a + icon. By clicking on the + icon, you can expand the term and see all the narrower terms. These can be selected by clicking in the box next to the term.
Multiple terms can be selected for a single search.
Where a narrow term only is selected, Heritage Gateway will not search for the broad term with which it is associated.