For each of the featured battlefields a group of vertical air photographs, taken by the RAF in the 1940s, are provided for download. They give an important perspective on landscapes before the dramatic impacts of agriculture, development and mineral extraction of the later 20th century. For some battlefields they also contain vital evidence of the historic terrain within which the battles were actually fought.

These photographs are, for many parts of England, an important archaeological record of the historic landscape before much of the evidence was swept away in the second half of the 20th century. Especially in the Midlands, at places like Edgehill (Warwickshire, 1642), these photographs show the extensive survival of ridge and furrow before its destruction by modern ploughing or by development. This archaeological evidence shows a landscape which originated in at least the 9th or 10th century and survived in many places until the 18th or 19th century. It was therefore a key element of the terrain within which many of our battles were actually fought.

The photographs were selected as the best examples for each battlefield from the vast archives held by the National Monuments Record, Swindon. They were scanned and provided in digital form by English Heritage in 2003 as a contribution to the Battlefields Trust's website project.