After reading, in his youth, a book about
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, and visiting the
Tower of London, he formed an interest in the history of landscapes. He trained as a surveyor before entering the Archaeology Division of the
Ordnance Survey. In that role, he was responsible for updating the map depictions of many archaeological sites in Britain and abroad (notably on a number of Caribbean islands). In 1985, the OS Archaeology Division was incorporated into the
Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (which was itself incorporated into
English Heritage in 1999), and Ainsworth relocated to Keele. He later moved to become Head of RCHME's Landscape Investigation Team (North), based in
York, England. He was affectionately called
Time Team's
"lumps and bumps" man by Professor
Mick Aston, and works with the team alongside his day job, travelling the country surveying, recording and investigating archaeological sites. Regarding
Time Team's potential return, which was realised in 2022 after an eight-year hiatus, Ainsworth said: As of 2010, Ainsworth has been affiliated with the history and archaeology department at the
University of Chester, where he is a visiting professor. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, the world's oldest archaeological society. For some years, he was president of the Friends of
Epiacum (also called
Whitley Castle), a Roman fort on the southern edge of
Northumberland, which he has surveyed and studied in depth as part of a more extensive project focusing on the development of industry and farming in this part of the North Pennines. He is closely involved in several other projects around England and regularly gives public talks. == Bibliography ==