Manorial Documents Register
The Manorial Documents Register (MDR) is the official index to English and Welsh manorial records and provides brief descriptions of documents and details of their locations in public and private hands. The National Archives at Kew now provide online access to this resource. Manorial documents include court rolls, surveys, maps, terriers, documents and books of every description relating to the boundaries, franchises, wastes, customs or courts of a manor.
Randall Manor, Shorne Woods
Randall Manor, once home to the de Cobhams of Randall, is situated within what is now Shorne Woods Country Park, near Gravesend in Kent. This talk covers the community excavations between 2006 and 2015 and the history of the site.
Hoo Peninsula Historic Landscape Project reports online
Reports from the "Hoo Peninsula Historic Landscape Project" are currently available to download online, via the Historic England website.
A History of the County of Kent (Vol. 2)
British History Online provides a digital version of "A history of the County of Kent: volume 2", originally published in 1926. This volume deals with the religious houses of Kent, including accounts of the early history of Canterbury and Rochester cathedrals.
Free to View Monographs
A collection of monograph titles have been opened up in their entirety, free to view, during October.
1989 Day out in Kent
I came across this video (slightly dated) on the weekend where the London and Surrey 'Earth Mysteries' groups have a day trip around some of the Kentish prehistoric sites.
Oxford Dictionary of Family Names during Lockdown
For a short period of time the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names has made its database available for free. "This huge, new dictionary is the ultimate reference work on family names of the UK, covering English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Cornish, and immigrant surnames. It includes every surname that currently has more than 100 bearers, and those that had more than 20 bearers in the 1881 census."
Free access to digital record from Kew
The National Archives are making digital records available on their website free of charge for as long as our Kew site is closed to visitors. Registered users will be able to order and download up to ten items at a time, to a maximum of 50 items over 30 days. The limits are there to try and help manage the demand for content and ensure the availability of our digital services for everyone.
Free resources on Muse
In response to the challenges created by the global public health crisis of COVID-19, Project MUSE is pleased to support its participating publishers in making scholarly content temporarily available for free on our platform. With many higher education institutions moving into an exclusively online learning environment for the foreseeable future, we hope that easy access to vetted research in the humanities and social sciences, from a variety of distinguished university presses, societies, and related not-for-profit publishers, will help to support teaching, learning, and knowledge discovery for users worldwide.
The Rainfall Rescue Project is seeking volunteers
The UK has rainfall records dating back 200 years or so, but the vast majority of these are in handwritten form and can't easily be used to analyse past periods of flooding and drought. The Rainfall Rescue Project is seeking volunteers to transfer all the data into online spreadsheets. You're not required to rummage through old bound volumes as the Met Office has already scanned the necessary documents - all 65,000 sheets.
How will a no-deal Brexit affect Library collections?
The Government has recently published advice on how copyright laws will change in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The library will certainly be affected by changes to the management of 'orphan work' images. See the paragraph below for details. If this comes to pass the Library will create a new policy to apply to those requesting the use of orphan works from within our collection.
The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: online
British History Online provides online access to "The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent", volumes 1 to 12, by Edward Hasted and originally published in 1797.
The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent
British History Online provides access to the 12 volumes in the series titled ‘The history and topographical survey of the County of Kent‘. The volumes, originally published by W. Bristow in 1797, are by Edward Hasted and include a general account of the history, topography and natural history of Kent.
Archeologia Aeliana journal now online
We've just had news from the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne. Their journal Archaeologia Aeliana is now available online for free.
Digital Public Library of America
The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. The collections holds material relevant to the study of Kent. On January 6, 2016, The New York Public Library enhanced access to all public domain items in Digital Collections so that everyone has the freedom to enjoy and reuse these materials in almost limitless ways.
Community dig at Lullingstone
Volunteers needed for the upcoming community dig at Lullingstone Roman villa. Click here for details.
Kent Messenger Group Digital Archive
The KM Group digital archive is available online. It has been expanded to include the newspapers from both the First and Second World Wars. The archive provides a fascinating insight into Kent’s leading role in the Great War, World War II (especially the Battle of Britain) and will prove an invaluable tool for anyone interested in the period.
- Agriculture
- Archaeology Research Group
- Architecture
- Bexley
- Bobbing
- Bredhurst
- Broadstairs
- Bronze Age
- Chart Sutton
- Charters
- Chatham
- Chatham Historic Dockyard
- Cold War
- Defences
- Detling
- Dover
- Excavations
- Gravesend
- Heritage
- Historic Buildings Research Group
- History & Archives Research Group
- Hollingbourne
- Iron Age
- Kent Defences Research Group
- Lees Court
- Lees Court Estate Project
- Manors
- Maritime
- Maritime Kent Research Group
- Medieval
- Meopham
- Military History
- Modern
- Monasticism
- Northfleet
- Orpington & District Archaeological Society
- Place Names
- Place Names Research Group
- Place Names Research group
- Prehistoric
- Sittingbourne
- Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB)
- Southfleet
- Swale
- Tilbury
- Tonbridge
- World War I
- World War II