If this drought has one upside, it's that it's revealed many of our landscape's long lost treasures

Last week, Athena revisited Portchester Castle, Hampshire, on the edge of Portsmouth Harbour. The site is still physically defined by the walls and towers of a Roman shore fort constructed in the late third century AD. It is the most complete survival of its kind anywhere in Europe.

Over time, the vast enclosure created by the Roman fortifications has been turned to many different purposes. The castle aside, the walls have served as protection for an Anglo-Saxon burgh in 904, a short-lived Augustinian monastery in the 12th century, as well as a large prisoner-of-war camp during the Napoleonic Wars, to name a few.

Some of these functions have left a clear physical mark. The monastic church, for example, survives in parish use and the position of the long-demolished claustral buildings is represented by a line of latrine chutes cut through the Roman wall.

Others have disappeared without obvious trace. During this summer of heat and drought, however, more of the history of the site is on show than usual. Climb to the top of the castle keep and there is not only a spectacular view of the harbour, Gosport and Portsmouth, but some additional archaeology in the form of crop marks visible in the usually featureless surrounding expanse of lawn.

Differences in the depth and character of the soil mean that in this extreme weather the grass has grown or burnt away to different degrees, revealing invisible foundations and trenches beneath the surface. Suddenly, the ordinary visitor can enjoy a sharpened understanding of the bewildering complexity of the site's history.

But this isn't the first time this has happened. At Longleat, in 2022, warm weather revealed some similar long-lost secrets.

Similar revelations are apparent all over the country. At Chatsworth, Derbyshire, for example, the ghostly outlines of the Great Parterre have appeared beneath the south front of the house. This was only one compartment of the vast formal garden laid out for the 1st Duke of Devonshire in 1699, which was largely swept away two generations later. The volutes and patterns of the beds have been seen on hot summers before, but they are not on show most years and they make apparent the staggering scale of this lost garden.

The prolonged spell of hot, dry weather has also revealed the hidden outline of Blenheim Palace’s historic 300-year-old parterre, offering a rare glimpse of the formal garden that once graced the grounds.

In Wales, meanwhile, which has received only 5% of its average July rainfall, an exceptional quantity and diversity of historic sites has been revealed. Among those identified by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales are a prehistoric long barrow at Welshpool, Powys, and training trenches dug during the First World War on what is now a golf course at Deganwy, Conwy. There have been some new discoveries as well, including a previously unknown Iron Age or Romano-British farmstead enclosed by a double ditch near Llandysul, south Ceredigion.

If, for the future, we are going to have to live with more summers such as this, one positive thing is that we may discover much more about our own history and the palimpsest of our landscape.

This feature originally appeared in the August 5, 2026, print edition of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.