A rich legacy of archaeological treasures hidden on a stretch of coastline has been uncovered by a painstaking survey of aerial photographs dating back to the 1940s.

The haul of discoveries include many unrecorded ruins, shipwrecks and wartime defences on the coast between the Scottish border and Whitby in North Yorkshire.

They were all found during an English Heritage survey that examined more than 20,000 aerial photographs. Most of the newly recorded sites relate to the First and Second World Wars, but the study also uncovered evidence stretching back to prehistory.

One of the discoveries was the location of four wrecks on mud flats at Amble in Northumberland. Though their existence was known, the actual site was a mystery. At Hartlepool, mounds of waste material from medieval salt production - one of Teesside's earliest industries - were also found.

Another image revealed a pattern of shallow rectangular features around the medieval St Cuthbert's hermitage on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast. Their origins remain unknown, but it is thought that they have more to do with lighthouse crews than any medieval activity.

Clive Waddington, of Archaeological Research Services, which carried out the survey for English Heritage, said that he had been surprised not just by the number of new sites found, but also by the range and diversity.

The survey is one of several in which English Heritage aims to cover the whole English coastline by 2010.

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