PUPILS from Haresfield Primary School recently joined up with amateur archaeologists to research undetected archaeological features in the Stroud countryside.

A class of Year 5 children used a resitivity meter to measure the resistance of the ground at Haresfield Beacon.

When uploaded onto a computer this data will help to show the formation of the ground, which may show up ancient earthworks, burial mounds and habitation sites, roadways or even civil war emplacements.

Restivity Surveying is one of a number of activities carried out by volunteers at Gloucester and District Archaeological Research Group, which has just been awarded a grant under the Lottery Awards for All scheme.

This has enabled the group to go ahead with a major new project to discover and research undetected archaeological features.

It will also pay for a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) survey, carried out on the Cotswold Edge, to be processed.

LIDAR is an airborne laser technology that uses laser beams to detect and measure physical features on the ground, even those obscured by trees and undergrowth.

The grant also paid for equipment needed to assess the evidence on the ground and to provide training for volunteers.