KAS Magazine, Issue 118, Spring 2022

Kent Defence Research Group Iron Age Coins Meopham An update A glimpse into custom and belief Recent finds in Kent A walk around the Anglo- Saxon Charter Boundary THE OLDEST AND LARGEST SOCIETY DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ANCIENT COUNTY OF KENT № 118 Spring 2022 07 08 10 21 TWISTED OVATE HANDAXES of the kentish ogee peo ple 02 | Kent Archaeological Society President Professor Kerry Brown Vice Presidents Dr Gerald Cramp Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh Dr Steve Willis Hon. General Secretary Clive Drew secretary@kentarchaeology.org.uk Hon. Treasurer Barrie Beeching treasurer@kentarchaeology.org.uk Hon. Membership Secretary Rachael Hills membership@kentarchaeology.org.uk Hon. Editor Terry G. Lawson honeditor@kentarchaeology.org.uk Hon. Curator Dr Elizabeth Blanning elizabeth.blanning@kentarchaeology.org.uk Hon. Librarian Ruiha Smalley librarian@kentarchaeology.org.uk Press Vacant Magazine Richard Taylor newsletter@kentarchaeology.org.uk WELCOME FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to the Spring 2022 Newsletter. Many exciting and key features in this issue. I draw your attention to the article by Frank Beresford, titled Twisted Ovate Palaeolithic Handaxes and a recent surface find in Kent, which captivated me upon reading. Clive Drew highlights the Society’s 165th anniversary. I have included a re-issue of my favourite past article, A Glimpse into Iron Age Custom & Belief, by the late, great, Nigel MacPherson-Grant. We will soon release the Society’s updated logo, thanks to our newly appointed Brand and Communications Manager, Nicky Hammond. We also welcome Clive Holden, newly-appointed chair of the Kent Defence Research Group (KDRG), one of the most active and productive Special Interest Groups. This issue contains statements from the Society leadership team, including our President, Kerry Brown, outlining decisions to keep the Society running and maintaining the membership informed. Front Cover image reproduced with kind permission of Mauricio Anton. The editor wishes to draw attention to the fact that neither he nor the KAS Council are answerable for opinions which contributors may express in their signed articles; each author is alone responsible for the contents and substance of their work. The Newsletter remains an outlet for the fantastic heritage and the tremendous work going on out there and to communicate important information. Moreover, it exists so that you, the membership, may convey a broad range of topics devoted to the history and archaeology of Kent. I encourage members to consider authoring that article you have always wanted to and help inform the wider historical and archaeological community of what is taking place in our heritage-rich and diverse county. Enjoy this issue, and, hopefully, we can all get out under the glorious Kent sunshine and enjoy the history and archaeology of our county Best wishes, Richard Spring 2022 | 03 CONTENTS FEATURES Obituary and tribute to Mike Perring Kent Defence Research Group update A Glimpse into Iron Age Custom and Belief By Galley and By Oar Twisted Ovate Palaeolithic Handaxes The Kent Archaeological Society Place-Names Group presents a walk around the Meopham Anglo-Saxon Charter boundary Introducing the KAS Brand & Communications Manager Situations vacant Allen Grove local history fund 05 07 08 10 12 21 22 23 24 № 118 SPRING 2022 6 mi. 10 km 10 10 8 21 12 President’s Column Notices REGULAR 04 20 04 | Kent Archaeological Society The Kent Archaeological Society is a charity, and therefore to fulfil its charitable status must deliver public benefit. Much of that revolves around education and informing. That is the principal function of our publications, the various digs, and activities we have supported over the decades, and the collections we have accrued. An anomaly is that Kent does not have a designated museum for this county’s rich and complex history. Running museums, of course, is an expensive and time-consuming business. The traditional model of museums as places to look at often diverse, sometimes randomly accrued, artefacts has long been pushed aside. These days, we have much more sophisticated ideas about the narratives and frameworks within which material from the past sits and by which we can make meanings from it. That Kent as a place and a culture has many different options, it presents to people wanting to make sense of its past and how it relates to the present is self-evident. However, what we need is something much more prosaic at the moment. In this place, people can go who are interested to see an assemblage of material arranged and explained in a way that creates interesting and stimulating questions about who we are and where we have come from. The KAS has no lack of material that might be used in this way. A listing of our repositories in Maidstone Museum, with whom we have enjoyed a close association since the 1860s, comes to over 3700 items. These range from the Iron Age to the Romano-British era, through the 6th century into the early, middle, and late Medieval periods. It includes material found throughout Kent at excavations and investigations held over the last century and a half. Some of these, such as that at Lullingstone Roman villa, were not such of local but of national interest. Others exposed crucial added information about migration patterns, power changes, and the rise of the early Christian church after the Augustinian mission in the sixth century. Looking through this list, however hard it is to take in all the richness of the information there, one thing is abundantly clear: this is a collection teeming with suggestive linkages, new possibilities for interpretation, and insights. It includes tools, weapons, implements like bowls and combs for domestic usage, items of clothing – and then gold torques from the bronze age, and burial urns and objects. Only a tiny amount of this material is currently displayed. Perhaps much of it might be best stored as reference materials. But more of it might be more readily accessible and put into a fresh, and new interpretative framework is also striking and unmistakable. PRESIDENT’S COLUMN Kerry Brown The KAS has redefined its core mission to deliver more for public benefit through education and is keen to make our unique holdings more available to a wider public. One way of doing this is to collaborate more closely with our partners, of whom Maidstone Museum is key. Our discussions currently are to collaborate more in having a defined space in the museum as it looks at its development plans in the coming few years. We are also keen to improve digitalisation and digital access with a proper web redesign. Virtual archives now are the norm, not the exception. Our one exists but needs to be expanded, updated, and more reflective of our ambitions. All of this will be time-consuming work. It will involve not just volunteers but paid staff. It will also include raising more funds to be able to create the space where the KAS can be more deeply involved in education, research and learning, but also where we can move towards achieving the core vision of having a place where people can go and see the story of Kent set out in a more countywide, comprehensive context. This is not to deny the importance of the county’s many excellent town, city, and region collections, which make a crucial contribution. But it is to recognise that a place that tells the county’s story would be something that enriches and enhances what others are doing at a more local level. We hope that members will be engaged and excited by the possibilities offered by this plan. We hope to be in a position soon to provide more detail about an enhanced KAS exhibition. The imperative is to make this not just an aspiration but something real. Best wishes, Kerry Brown President Spring 2022 | 05 OBITUARIES Obituar y an d Tri bute to Mike Perring Such sad news just before Christmas was the passing of Mike, so long the backbone of the KAS archive team over the past 30 years or so in the library room at the Maidstone Museum. It had been his 90th birthday only 23 days before. He had invited the small and ageing group of the “Wednesday Club” together with young ladies Pernille and Ruiha to a party at his house in Sandy Mount. Still, he had second thoughts about fitting us all in, so he treated us to a meal at the Sir Thomas Wyatt Beefeater on the 6th of December instead, where we presented him with a copy of the new Maritime Kent book. I had been round to see him from time to time over the preceding years for a cuppa, swop a couple of books, and chat about his life before KAS. He had been born in what is now Sri Lanka, but then known as Ceylon, but had come home after a couple of years when his father, an engineer, had had to return to England with leukaemia, from which he died soon after getting back. So Mike then lived with his mother and grandmother in Holtye Crescent in Maidstone, where he practised, amongst other things, the usual boyhood hobby of bomb-making in the garden shed (presumably with the weed killer and sugar formula that I would learn to use fifteen years later). Come the war, he and friends would rush around after a raid and collect the still-hot bits of shrapnel, and probably trade them for a gob-stopper or something, before going to Maidstone Grammar School and doing his National Service with RAF as a radio operator based in the Middle East, where he had many exciting experiences, including visiting the Nile where his grandfather had By Jon Dickson Top, left Mike Perring Top, right You can see why Joan was attracted to him Bottom Mike at Kits Coty in 2008 06 | Kent Archaeological Society set off down the river as part of the force with General Kitchener in 1899 to retake Khartoum. On returning home after his National Service, he started work at Ditton Lab, which later morphed into East Malling Research Station and was highly regarded for his expertise in fruit storage, particularly apples; which is probably the one fact that most of you will know; before becoming a PhD supervisor, despite not having attended university to get the more-or-less mandatory degree, but he did become a member of the MRSB (member of the Royal Society of Biologists) and CBiol (Chartered Biologist) in 1976. It was there that he met his future wife Dorothy, usually known as Joan, and went on to become more involved in the local community in many ways, becoming a longserving churchwarden at St.Mary’s church in Thurnham and in keeping the many parish footpaths open, walking them regularly with various friends to maintain their status. He later successfully campaigned to keep the projected International Freight Terminus from being established in the area, earning him much local kudos. The family now comprised Rowena, Liz and Andrew, living in Bearsted. He did much-respected research in his specialist field, including a long trip to North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, collecting various goodies for his family, and many good family holidays were enjoyed together. My late wife and I went up to stay at Durness around ten years ago. I went to visit Cape Wrath (probably one of the least visited places in the United Kingdom), which involved crossing the Kyle of Durness in a minute boat, then a 12 mile trip in a Transit minibus over a route that did not qualify as a track, let alone a road. This was quite a little adventure for me, which I proudly related to Mike a few weeks later. But he had, of course, already done this in 1989 (by this time a widower as his wife Joan having died in 1986), having walked it from Kinlochberbie, passing the best beach in Scotland at Sandwood Bay, crossing six rivers and back to Durness, some 25-30 miles, including an overnight stop in his tent. Going back to the KAS and the library room, my first memories of him were listening to his introductory talk on a Saturday, I think, and then settling in to enjoyable weekly visits with a usual permutation of 8 or so members out of dozen-odd regulars, with Mike providing tea or coffee for us all from several thermoses and a bottle of milk carried in every week in his little, but quite a heavy knapsack, with, in my case, sugar supplied by Costa. On one of my occasional visits, his front room seemed to be ever more full of boxes of paperwork. He said he would burn it all through the winter rather than Left At Boxley Sarsens Below Enjoying the garden with Pernille, Kate and John (author) buy wood, but it didn’t look much different the next time I saw him, but the room was warm, so perhaps it had been a good idea. As this little tribute draws to a close, it seems appropriate to mention some of the others no longer with us, I think in order of passing, being Frank Panton, Ella Skeen, Joy Sage, Diana Webb, Frank Alston and now Mike, and there may be one or two other not-so-regulars I have forgotten. We miss them all, but Mike was the glue that kept us all together. Spring 2022 | 07 Kent Defence Researc h Group (Spe cial Interest Group ) – Update By Clive Holden I have been researching and restoring defence sites around Kent for fifteen years. I have written and published five books about various aspects of Kent’s military history. In 2019 I completed a two-year research project on the defence of Maidstone in the Second World War, which was published on the KAS website with the title ‘Fortress Maidstone’. I’ve been a member of the KAS for the last seven years and the KDRG (and its predecessor – the Kent Historic Defences Committee) for the previous five years. I retired in 2016 after over 40 years in the meat trade, which has allowed me far more time to pursue my historical interests. Over the years, I’ve helped with restoration projects at Fort Borstal and Fort Luton, and I now work as a volunteer helping with the restoration work at Slough Fort at Allhallows and the National Trust’s wartime sites in Dover. Clive Holden The KDRG is dedicated to the research, recording, discovery and preservation of historic defence sites and structures in Kent. We are an informal group whose members reflect a range of skills and specialist interests. We meet every three months to update and discuss the various projects we are involved in and plan our Group activities. If you would like to learn more about our Group and how to become involved, please e-mail me cliverholden@msn.com. We are keen to promote the KDRG to the wider KAS membership and involve them in some of our activities. This year, we have organised a visit to the National Trust’s Second World War Fan Bay and Wanstone sites at Dover on the 24th September. The visit will include a guided tour of the Fan Bay deep shelter tunnels and sound mirrors and guided tours of the Wanstone coastal gun battery and the Swingate (D2) heavy antiaircraft gun battery sites. We are pleased to open up this visit to the KAS membership. Numbers are limited, so if you would like to book a place, please e-mail me asap at: cliverholden@msn.com. Places will be allocated on a ‘first-come – firstserved’ basis. Please be aware that the Fan Bay deep shelter tunnels are only accessible by 125 steep steps to get into the shelter and back out again. All visitors must have sensible shoes or boots to visit the tunnels; sandals and heeled shoes are unsuitable; access to the tunnels could be refused if footwear is unsuitable. There are no toilets or catering facilities at any of the sites. The nearest are located ½ mile (15-minute walk) away at the South Foreland Lighthouse. It will be a great day out, and I look forward to meeting many of you there. At our last meeting in February, I was appointed Chair of the Kent Defence Research Group (KDRG), one of the KAS ‘Special Interest’ groups for 2022-23, succeeding Victor Smith. He stood down last year after serving with distinction for many years. Keith Gulvin was appointed Vice-Chair and will take over from me next year. 08 | Kent Archaeological Society A glimpse into iron age custom and belie f By Nigel MacPherson-Grant This article reviews three seemingly innocuous items – a raw un-worked lump of red iron oxide, the rather drab looking lower body of a fineware pot and part of a small perforated iron oxide disc. The first is from Dumpton Gap, Broadstairs, recovered from the base of a large pit by the present author in 1971 and before subsequent excavations by Professor Tim Champion. The second two are from pits recorded during recent 2003 and 2018 excavations in the Trinity Square area of Margate (reviewed here courtesy of the Swale and Thames Archaeological Survey Company). All three are of the Early-Mid Iron Age date – between c.600-350 BC. The cultural background to these elements lies in earlier periods – the Late Bronze and Earliest Iron Age. During the former and into the latter, sheet bronze cauldrons, tall high-shouldered storage jars or situla and metal cups were arriving in modest quantities from the Continent. These new shiny metal objects were prestigious and highly prized. Their existence began to affect contemporary pottery styles with the production of metalwork simulates – tall high-shouldered storage jars, often similarly-shaped though not so tall cooking jars and small variously-shaped fineware cups and bowls. Near the beginning of the Earliest Iron Age, from around 900 BC, it became fashionable to produce fineware vessels with a bright red slip intentionally aping the glowing appearance of bronze vessels. Most contemporary settlements had at least a few red-finished pots – so that even if they could not afford, or were not socially connected enough, to own or gift-receive a bronze vessel(s), they could at least bring out their quality wares when receiving guests or on special-occasion days. Figure 1 illustrates a fineware bowl sherd from the earlier first millennium BC settlement at Minnis Bay, Birchington. Natural iron oxide similar to Figure 2 had to be collected to achieve the red finish. Since nodules of this material were unlikely to be easily found, they were probably prized and exchanged via trading networks. Once acquired, some of the nodules would be ground down to powder and then applied either dry (rubbed on) or, more probably, as a wet slip painted onto a bowl’s surface, mostly with no additional decoration. This potting convention lasted throughout the Earliest Iron Age for the next 300 years and continued into the Early-Mid Iron Age for a while after c.600 BC. However, this period represents a new phase of continental influences with new pot shapes and decorative styles. The use of red-finishing continues but now in conjunction with white (ground chalk) or black (ground charcoal) paint applied as a component of polychrome-painted rectilinear schemes. The red colour is used to enhance and frame various design formats – the most typical are spaced square unpainted panels, bordered in white and then infilled with white or, less frequently, black, painted designs. The technique is a classic diagnostic of the period – and several Thanet examples are illustrated (Figures 3 & 4). The design details would be painted using either a stick end chew-softened into splay, bound horsehair, or bound reed or dried grass heads. The latter is still used in modern Himachal Pradesh in India to paint beautiful white-on-red or black-on-red designs skillfully – the same types of design on the same types of pot as were made at Harappa in the Indus Valley over 4000 years ago (Perryman 2000, 21). Fig 1 Fig 2 Fig 3 Spring 2022 | 09 As far as I know, the fineware pot base (Figure 5) is currently unique. The angle of its body wall suggests that it came from an angle-shouldered bowl or drinking beaker, a common form during the Early-Mid Iron Age. It had been discarded, either cracked during firing or broken during use. It has had its sides chipped down roughly level and to a shape ideal for holding in one hand while painting. Inside are definite traces of red and white paint, mostly mixed and merged into a pale pink colour. There is little doubt that it was used during the decoration of polychrome finewares, although the pink colour is a little unusual. The function of the small perforated iron oxide disc (Figure 6) is less readily determined. Since it was excavated, like the paint pot, from a sizeable settlement site producing fragments from a number of polychrome-decorated and redpainted vessels, the first thought is that it was threaded onto string or a leather thong and worn around the neck of the potter or hung from his belt during pot-painting sessions. Alternatively, since Bronze Age metal-smithing and the procurement of ores was, initially, a mysterious process imbued with a sense of magic and power, some of this mystique may well have rubbed off, to some degree, not just on the production of painted finewares but more specifically on the iron oxide itself and its bright red colour. It is not entirely unlikely that this disc was worn as a protective amulet by a woman. Like the colour of the Great Mother’s blood, it could be a life-giving charm, a helpmeet during childbirth, and for the rigours of life in general – a thought that met with enthusiasm from a lady at a recent workshop. With the possibility of a sense of mystique being attached to the acquisition of iron ore and its softer relation, iron-oxide nodules, an interesting adjunct to the above may be represented in some later Iron Age spindle-whorls recorded from Thanet. Four have been recorded to date, with three recovered from the late upper fills of a much, much earlier Later Neolithic ceremonial enclosure ditch at Lord-of-the- Manor, which must still have been partially visible in the landscape and respected as an ‘ancestor’ monument. All were carved from dark brown or pale pink-brown ironoxide nodules. Compared with most whorls made with tempered potting clay or chalk, these are relatively rare. Two of these whorls are decorated – one in particular with a simple cross design scored on one of its flat sides. The decoration of mid or later Iron Age spindle-whorls does not occur that frequently; most – however well-made – are rather mundane and plain. Crosses incised on objects or pots, whether purely decorative or symbolically, have a long history in Europe and the Middle East. The association here with weaving is interesting and reminiscent, albeit rather stretched topographically, of one aspect of West Semitic belief systems current during their Bronze and Iron Ages. This involved a goddess called Asherah - related to Ashtoreth or Ishtar – who appears to be a patroness of spinning, weaving and cloth production (Rich 2017, 152-4). She, like Ishtar, is often portrayed with a crescent moon on her head, which relates to the concept of time and cyclicity. This can, in turn, be linked to a late nineteenthcentury AD, but ultimately probably much older, North Russian custom of embroidering aprons with calendars (Barber 2013, Fig.2.2). These include a cross-in-circle symbol that may indicate crossquarter days or those when some annually celebrated the four Celtic festivals. It is not too far fetched to assume, or believe it is possible, that similar beliefs and customs were active in southern Britain during the Iron Age. Fig 4 Fig 5 Fig 6 Bibliography Barber 2013 – Barber, E.W., The Dancing Goddesses, W.W.Norton and Co.(New York) 2013 Perryman 2000 – Perryman, J., Traditional Pottery of India, A & C Black (London) 2000 Rich 2017 – Rich, S.A., Cedar Forests, Cedar Ships, Archaeopress (Oxford) 2017 10 | Kent Archaeological Society By Galle y and by Oar re cent Italian me die val to post - me die val coin fin ds in Kent By Jo Ahmet Kent’s position as a maritime and continental trade hub in Britain has provided the archaeological landscape with often unique quirks. This is often most clearly represented by finds of distinctly continental flavour when it comes to material culture. One object that often stands out is the small, silver hammered coins of the Venetians, the soldino. While the soldino is perhaps the least unique to Kent of all the continental connections, their presence is still incredibly interesting. The soldino is a small silver coin used by many Italian city states but made most famous in its use and circulation by the Republic of Venice. First issued by the doge or city ruler Andrea Contarini (1367–1380), they began to arrive in Britain during the early 15th century. We see three common types: the first two of which are variants on the same theme, the Lion of St. Mark. These depict the doge on one side and the haloed Lion of St. Mark on the other (Fig 1), with later examples having a tressure around the reverse lion. Following this is the final type, with the doge kneeling in front of St. Mark and receiving the saint’s standard on the obverse and a haloed standing Christ on the reverse. All have the doge’s name on the obverse (Fig 2). These coins became incredibly popular in England due to the relative lack of small denomination coins (farthings and halfpennies) issued during the later medieval period. They gained the popular moniker of ‘galyhalpens’ or galley halfpence being brought to the country with the regular arrival of the Venetian trade fleets made up of Mediterranean galleys. Despite the crown’s renowned control of English coinage, their use was never stamped out – a deathbed polemic by Doge Tommaso Mocenigo (1413–23) claimed (perhaps rather generously) that ten million of the coins were exported yearly to England1. Despite this exaggeration, the coins’ popularity is evident both in the crown’s frequent attempts to ban and seize them over the 15th and early 16th centuries and the presence of the coins themselves. More than 1380 soldinos have been recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme2 (PAS), 5% of that number being found in Kent. Since the number of contemporary medieval to post-medieval coin records total 15,3703, the number of soldinos is significant, representing around 9% of those recorded. No other non-English coins, even Scottish coins, have quite a representation on the database. This is striking considering that successive bans and recoinages Fig 1 Fig 2 Fig 3 probably took most out of circulation. It should be noted, however, that, being very small coins, they can be easily damaged by agricultural processes, and until relatively recently, they would have proved difficult for many metal detectorists and their machines to pinpoint (contemporary halfpennies and farthings also suffer this bias in recovery). This likely means that they are slightly underrepresented in the database. Spring 2022 | 11 By the end of the first quarter of the 16th century, the vast recoinages of the early Tudors had injected much-needed quantities of small change into the economy. This, coupled with stricter laws and controls, led to the soldino falling out of everyday use. While for a short period of history, the Venetian soldino was a popular coin in England, it was not the only Italian coin to arrive. The Venetian grosso, the larger multiple of the soldino, came too, though in vastly smaller numbers. This coin again depicts the Doge and St. Mark, though in various forms. This coin was roughly the same size as the English penny, and this comparison may account for its rarity, being easily removed from circulation without much public opposition. None have yet been reported as stray finds from Kent. Gold coins issued by Venice, most notably the ducat, were popular, but very few seem to have survived if they ever made it to England. These coins were so prized that they were imitated and copied, like the Florentine florin across the Mediterranean and Europe. One such example of these imitations is a direct, though a very poor copy of a ducat found in the parish of Brenzett (Fig 3). Probably of late Ottoman Turkish (c.18th-19th century) manufacture, it likely relates to the use of such coins as adornment, an aspect of numismatic use that is often sadly overlooked. Both the soldino and the grosso were issued by other Italian city states, and examples have been found in Kent. One such coin was a grosso of the city of Brescia found in the Dover Treasure, a hoard of late medieval silver coins found at Market Street, Dover, in 19554. Another grosso, this time issued by Milan, was recorded from Ramsgate (KENT5243) during the early days of the PAS. And a recent unusual find was that of a 17th-century grosso of the Papal States (Fig 4). A Soldino of the City of Asti, issued during its period of French annexation under Louis XII (Fig.5) at the beginning of the 16th century, has just been reported from Sandwich. It looks very different from the usual religious motifs of previous Italian coins, instead presenting a crowned porcupine5, a symbol much favoured by the French king. As mentioned, gold coins were issued from the Italian city states. While the Venetian ducat was popular, the florin, originally issued in Florence in the early 13th century, would become the most iconic. Most recently, an early 14th-century florin (Fig 6), with its distinctive fleur de lis on one side and the city’s patron saint (St. John) on the other, was recovered from Romney Marsh. This example was issued in the city of Milan and represents one of only two Italian examples so far recorded on the PAS. The Italian coins discussed above provide an interesting snapshot into the international links that so define the history of Kent and help create its unique archaeological character. Over the coming years, it is hoped to improve both recovery of stray finds and investigate more of these global links. Fig 4 Fig 5 Fig 6 1 Stahl, A. 1995,. ‘The deathbed oration of Doge Mocenigo and the mint of Venice’, Mediterranean Historical Review 10, 284–301. 2 The Portable Antiquities Scheme records archaeological objects found by members of the public on a voluntary basis. The majority of these finds tend to be metal and reported by responsible members of the metal detecting community. 3 At the time of writing. 4 Dolley, R.H.M. 1956. The 1955 Dove Treasure Trove. Archaeologia Cantiana, 69. 62-68 5 It also represents the only true representation of a porcupine on a coin recorded by the PAS, despite what our early-medieval coin colleagues may argue. 12 | Kent Archaeological Society Twisted Ovate Palaeolit hic Handa xes an d a re cent surfa ce fin d in Kent By Frank Beresford Twisted Ovate Palaeolithic handaxes are comparatively rare. They are defined not by the outline shape of the tool but by the profile of the four edges, which all display strong ogee (S or Z shaped) curves. This paper describes a twisted ovate Palaeolithic handaxe recently found in Mereworth Woods in Kent. It places it in the broader context of earlier finds of twisted ovate Palaeolithic handaxes in North West Kent and the surrounding area south of the Thames. It then presents the implications of recent research for all of these finds. A small ovate handaxe with a twisted profile (Fig 1) was recently found near Mereworth, east of Mereworth Woods (circa TQ 6597 5558 OD 115m.) The handaxe measures 65 mm in length and is 44.5 mm in maximum breadth. It is 20.5 mm thick and weighs 60 gm. It is unrolled and is finely worked with a circumferential cutting edge with working of the butt and tip ends and a clear twisted profile on both edges. There is a small ancient break at the tip end, and the working edges exhibit use wear and subsequent damage. It has a blue-white patina on both faces. At the place where the Mereworth Woods handaxe was found, both superficial deposits and bedrock geology are mapped by the British Geological Survey – the handaxe was derived from the superficial deposits known as Head. These sedimentary deposits were produced during the Pleistocene or Quaternary Period by processes of weathering and mass movement breaking down in situ rock – in particular by the action of water or periglacial ice. They are formed of disintegrated or eroded coarse to fine-grained materials that accumulate in downslope layers and fans. At the findspot, they overlie bedrock geology of the Hythe Formation – sandstone and limestone from the Cretaceous Period. An Ogee Cur ve John Evans (1872, 520) was the first writer to mention ovate handaxes with a twisted profile. He described the side edges as ‘not in one plane but forming a sort of ogee curve.’ The ogee curve is a double Z or S-shaped curvature, the combination of two semi-circular curves or arcs that, as a result of a point of inflection from Above Figs 1a–1d: Both faces and the two longer twisted edges of the small ovate handaxe with a twisted profile found near Mereworth. Both edges exhibit use wear and later damage, but this does not obscure the marked z-twist in both cases. Spring 2022 | 13 concave to convex or vice versa, have ends of the overall curve that point in opposite directions. He illustrated this with an example from Hoxne (Fig 2). He suggested that the curve was ‘an accidental result of the method pursued in chipping the flint into its present form.’ How were ovate han daxes with a twiste d profile ma de? The first description and explanation of small ovate handaxes with a circumferential cutting edge and a twisted profile appeared eleven years later in Archaeologia Cantiana when Flaxman C.J. Spurrell suggested a method to make the twisted edge and its implications for handedness (Spurrell 1883). In a footnote to his paper, which was the first to describe Palaeolithic material found in West Kent – just 24 years after the antiquity of such material had been established – he wrote: ‘The shape of these implements, as of those like them from Hayes, varies with the size; the smaller and middlesized ones, when viewed edgeways, usually present a curve like that shewn near fig. 8 on the Plate (Fig 3); and when viewed from the butt end, one like the horizontal curve. When viewed on the side, the chipping forms two faces, with a dividing line or ridge running diagonally across from the right at the butt upwards towards the left. Left, top Fig 2: A small, ovate handaxe with a twisted profile forming an ogee curve (right) from Hoxne, Suffolk. (Evans 1972, 520 Figure 450). Left, bottom Fig 3: A small, ovate handaxe with a twisted profile (right) and the side profile ogee curve (centre) and the butt profile ogee curve (below) from Dunk’s Green near Ightham found by Benjamin Harrison two feet deep at 45 m O.D. – as illustrated by Spurrell in 1883 Above, right Fig 4: The Twisted Handaxe Knapping Schema A: A diagram showing the conceptual pattern of inflection points and the edge configuration of a twisted handaxe, describing a z-twist (redrawn after Gallotti et al. 2010 in White et al. 2019, Fig 2.) 14 | Kent Archaeological Society Occasionally, however, the curves and ridges are reversed or appear as if seen through the paper from the other side …….it shews also that the implement was chipped on one side, then turned over, with the same end toward the workman, and worked on that. Presuming that the majority were the work of the right hand in flaking, the rarer kind may have been that of the left, or of right and of left-handed men’ Recently Mark White has proposed that the knapping technique that produces the distinctive characteristics of a circumferential cutting edge and a twisted profile exhibited by these handaxes is based on conceptually dividing the ovate into four quadrants or arcs (Fig 4) The knapper then worked each quadrant of the axe in turn (Fig 5). Each quadrant was moved to become the ‘active zone’ by a series of inversions and rotations, which could be varied. The key to obtaining the twisted profile was differential reduction along the diagonal plane of each face. Although the twist could have been imposed at any stage of shaping and finishing the ovate, it is observed that in many cases, it is the result of the final blows (White 1998, 99, 20, White et al. 2019, 64) Other Earl y Fin ds Spurrell based much of his analysis on the small ovate handaxes with twisted profiles that Benjamin Harrison had found. Harrison had found them at sites close to the valley of the River Shode or its subsidiary streams (Fig 6). Spurrell noted that the small ovate handaxes with twisted profiles were especially common near Bewley and the Bewley Valley and on both sides of the Basted Valley. He also noted one from Home Farm Puttenden, which was less worn than the one from Dunk’s Green. These sites are west of the place where the Mereworth handaxe was found, about three miles east of the River Shode. The River Shode, now known as the Bourne, is a short west bank tributary of the River Medway. Above Fig 5: The Twisted Handaxe Knapping Schema B: The series of rotations and inversions employed in the ‘Classic Twisted Strategy’ (White 1998, 100): 1: the first quarter is knapped; 2: the piece is turned over through the long axis, presenting the opposite margin and other face for knapping. This quarter is knapped; 3: the piece is rotated 180°, presenting the quarter diagonally opposite 2 for knapping; 4: the handaxe is inverted through the long axis once more, offering the final quarter for knapping. Each quarter is knapped in the opposite direction to that adjacent to it and in the same direction as that diagonally opposite it (from White et al. 2019, Fig 2) Spring 2022 | 15 It rises in the parish of Ightham, Kent. It flows in a generally southeasterly direction through the parishes of Borough Green, Platt, Plaxtol, West Peckham, Hadlow, and East Peckham, where it joins the River Medway. The dimensions of the Dunks Green handaxe (Fig 3) were 70 x 55 x 20 mm. Spurrell also illustrated an example found at Buley (Fig 7) and wrote, ‘This differs from the last only in having the tip formed as a straight, bluntly cutting edge.’ Its dimensions were 65 x 48 x 20 mm. Its blunted tip is comparable to the tip on the Mereworth Handaxe. Spurrell also noted that another small, ovate handaxe with a twisted profile had been found near the Medway at Aylesford. It was ‘found in situ by A. Hickmott’ at 18 m O.D. This example had lost all chipping marks by river wear and was stained a deep olive-brown. Arthur Hickmott, one of Harrison’s young scientific pupils, retrieved this small ovate handaxe on 28th May 1881 from ‘a small outlier consisting of several feet of river drift’ at the top of ‘a gault clay pit.’ While ‘examining the exposed face of the gravel, he saw a brown palaeolith in situ in the drift’ (Harrison E, 1928, 100.) Finally, Spurrell illustrated another small, ovate handaxe with a twisted profile (Fig 8) found by George Clinch in Church Field, West Wickham, at 100 m O.D. in a dry side valley formed initially by the River Ravensbourne, although he located it in Hayes. Clinch gave this handaxe to Spurrell. Spurrell noted that it ‘has been so much used at the tip as to have worn off more than one inch, having been nearly the size of fig. 8.’ (Fig 7). Its dimensions were 45 x 53 x 23mm. Benjamin Harrison continued to note ovate handaxes with a twisted profile when he found them. He was a regular correspondent with John Evans for 37 years, starting in 1871. Writing to John Evans on 27th March 1884, he noted ‘165 is the fourth ‘ogee curve’ implement from Bewley’ (Harrison E, 1928, 105.) He subsequently lent or gave one of these to Evans, who illustrated it in the second edition of his book (Fig 9). It was almost circular with dimensions 96 x 87 x 31 mm. Harrison was puzzled by the utility of these ovate handaxes, writing: ‘we really do not know how Left Fig 6: Map of the Ightham to Mereworth Area circa 1906 (from Harrison E., 1928) showing the River Shode, the Mereworth twisted ovate handaxe find site (1.), and Harrison’s twisted ovate handaxe find sites mentioned by Spurrell at Basted (2); Bewley (Buley) Valley (3); Dunk’s Green (4); and Puttenden (5.) Right Fig 7: A small, ovate handaxe with a twisted profile from Buley (Bewley) found by Benjamin Harrison at 125 m O.D. – as illustrated by Spurrell in 1883.] Below Fig 8: A small, ovate handaxe with a twisted profile found in Church Field, West Wickham, as illustrated by Spurrell in 1883 (top) and his artwork for this handaxe (bottom) 16 | Kent Archaeological Society the oval Palaeolithic implements were used, but no one now doubts their human usage’ (Harrison E, 1928, 238.) Kent Assem blages with signifi cant proportions of twiste d ovate han daxes The small ovate handaxe with a circumferential cutting edge and a twisted profile occur in low or very low frequencies in many British handaxe assemblages. However, some assemblages have major proportions of twisted ovate handaxes. In Kent, about 25 miles north of Mereworth and Ightham, such small ovate handaxes with twisted profiles comprise a distinctive element of all the Dartford Heath Palaeolithic assemblages found in the Wansun Loam at Wansun Pit (Fig 10, left), Bowman’s Lodge (Fig 10, centre) and Pearson’s Pit (Fig 10, right) and also of the Swanscombe Palaeolithic assemblages in the upper gravel at Rickson’s Pit, in the stony loam at Dierden’s Pit and in the upper loams at Barnfield Pit (White 1998, 100; White et al. 2019, 66; Beresford 2018, 12). Surre y Assem blages with signifi cant proportions of twiste d ovate han daxes Just over the Kent border and just ten miles to the west of Ightham along the Vale of Holmesdale, another significant occurrence of twisted ovate handaxe is found at Limpsfield, Surrey (Field et al. 1999; Bridgland 2003.) The site is very similar to where the ovate handaxes in the Ightham area were found. It is on gravel on the interfluve between the source of the Darent to the north and the Eden–Medway to the south. Between 1883 and 1906, about 500 handaxes were found by A.M. Bell. They were a surface assemblage exposed by a deep ploughing of terrace gravels 0.6 m below the surface at approximately 150 m O.D. The British Museum also has seven ovate handaxes with twisted profiles from Limpsfield found by Kitchen, a local collector (Fig 11). A few twisted ovate handaxes were also recovered in the 1930s from Above Fig 9: A further small ovate handaxe with a twisted profile from Bewley (Buley) found by Benjamin Harrison (Evans 1897, 609, fig 456a) Above Fig 10: Three small ovate handaxes with twisted profiles from Dartford Heath sites – each with a face view and a profile view: Left: Wansun Pit; Centre: Bowman’s Lodge Pit; Right: Pearson’s Pit. Spring 2022 | 17 Marine Isotope substage Years before present (approximately) Climate 11a 370K – 360K Warm 11b 395K – 370K Cold 11c 430K – 395K Warm Gravel Terrace B in Stoneyfield Pit near Farnham, Surrey, which is 45 miles to the west of Limpsfield (Oakley 1939; Bridgland & White 2018; see Fig 12). When were the y ma de? No dating evidence is currently available for the superficial deposits or Head at Mereworth Wood or for the deposits in which the Ightham area ovate axes were found. However, it has recently been established that assemblages with a significant number of twisted ovate handaxes are found in different regions of Britain only in different substages of MIS 11 (White et al. 2019, 71.) MIS 11 is the interglacial period that occurred between 430,000 and 360,000 years before present, and it has recently been divided into substages 11a, 11b and 11c. Although MIS 11 overall is regarded as a warm interglacial period, a cold stage 11b separates the two warmer stages 11c and 11a (Ashton et al. 2008, 652; Table One.) Mark White and his colleagues have analysed those British sites where large proportions of twisted ovates are present and located in the Lower Thames basin and East Anglia. (listed in Table Two.) They now propose that almost all British twisted ovate handaxes occur in East Anglia in MIS 11c, and then, after the MIS 11b cold interval, they reappear south of the Thames, mainly in Kent in MIS 11a. The number of sites south of the Thames at Dartford and Swanscombe in Kent in which twisted ovate handaxes were found which have been linked to MIS 11a suggests that the Mereworth Woods twisted ovate handaxe and the other finds east of Ightham could also, like Limpsfield, be linked to MIS 11 and very tentatively to MIS 11a. At present, such forms appear to be restricted to Britain and the closest neighbouring region of France, where those belonging to MIS 11 show pronounced twists on well-made refined forms, exactly as found in the British sample. Only one well-stratified and well-studied site in Ethiopia, plus a handful of surface collections, is known for the entire African Early Stone Age (Gallotti et al. 2010). Twisted handaxes are thus rare, highly distinctive, and tightly restricted in time and space. Above, left Fig 11: Seven handaxes with twisted profiles from Limpsfield, Surrey (Kitchen Collection) Above, right Fig 12 - An ovate handaxe with a twisted profile from Terrace B, Stoneyfield Pit near Farnham Surrey. Drawn by M. Leakey. (Wade Collection; Oakley 1939, 34, Figure 9) Above: Table 1 Structure and sub-division of MIS 11 as revealed by isotopic records from ocean and ice cores. (data derived from Ashton et al. 2008, 653) Site (% Twisted Handaxes) Marine Isotope Stage or Substage East Anglia & adjacent counties Barnham, Suffolk (33%) MIS 11c Elveden, Suffolk (36-40%) MIS 11c Foxhall Road Grey Clays, Suffolk (39%) MIS 11c Hitchin, Hertsfordshire (45% of ovate assemblage) MIS 11c Santon Downham, Suffolk (18%) post-MIS 12 Allington Hill, Cambridgeshire (46%) post-MIS 12 South of the Thames Swanscombe Barnfield Upper Loam, Kent (22%) MIS 11a Swanscombe Rickson’s Upper Gravel, Kent (16%) MIS11a Swanscombe Dierden’s Stony Loam, Kent (16%) MIS 11a Wansunt Pit, Kent (28%) MIS 11a Bowman’s Lodge Pit, Kent (31%) MIS 11a Limpsfield, Surrey (54%) MIS 11 Farnham Terrace B, Surrey (‘a few’) MIS 11 Above: Table 2 Sites where the lithic assemblages contain significant proportions of twisted ovate handaxes, organised by region and age correlations (based on White et al. 2019, 66 18 | Kent Archaeological Society South of the Thames In North West Kent and Surrey, Dartford and Swanscombe are just six miles apart, which could have been covered in a few hours and Mereworth, Ightham, and Limpsfield are only about 15 to 20 miles from Dartford. The twisted ovates could feasibly be the product of just one or two local hominin groups of two to three hundred individuals (Fig 13) The Kentish Ogee People This incidence pattern in a restricted period can reveal much about hominin settlement patterns, behaviour, and social networks during the Middle Pleistocene. The area south of the Thames might have been home to only a few related local groups of hominins at this time, perhaps just a few hundred individuals. Nick Ashton (2017, 157) has suggested that during periods of stable environment such as that present during MIS 11a, local groups were able to persist in the landscape over multi-generational timescales and, once established, they developed ways to deal with local circumstances that became embedded into social practices. It is unclear whether this local group inherited their twisted ovate-making skills from the earlier groups living north of the Thames. The original MIS 11c groups would have moved south during MIS 11b to avoid the cold or possibly died out. Did the Kentish group return from the south in MIS 11a with these skills? When the swings between stable and unstable environments in Britain during the Middle Pleistocene are linked to specific and time-related technologies, we can look more closely at the human groups who inhabited the area at particular periods in those times. So the distinctive lithic signature left by these twisted ovate handaxes, when linked to their recently established temporally-restricted incidence, allows us to catch a tiny glimpse of the activities and movements of a small group of humans who settled in North West Kent and the surrounding area south of the Thames for a short period about 365 000 years ago – The Kentish Ogee People. The Kentish Ogee People are currently the earliest group of people identified as former inhabitants of this area. What did they look like? Mauricio Anton’s reconstructive representation of the Sima de los Huesos family at Atapuerca gives us an indication (Fig 14). This reconstruction is based on the remains of at least 28 individual hominin fossils found in the Sima de los Huesos (‘Pit of Bones’ in Spanish), which is a lower Palaeolithic cave site, one of several important sections of the Cueva Mayor-Cueva del Silo cave system of the Sierra de Atapuerca in north-central Spain. It is the largest and oldest collection of early human remains yet discovered, and they are currently dated to early MIS 11c. The picture immediately provokes questions, yet unanswered, about heating, clothing and shelter for the Kentish Ogee People. The twisted ovate handaxes from other assemblages in Kent and other Museums and private collections and those still to be found Place Number on Fig 12 River Letter on Fig 12 Mereworth Site 1 Medway M Ightham Sites 2 Darent D Limpsfield Sites 3 Shode S Swanscombe Sites 4 Cray C Dartford Heath Sites 5 Ravensbourne R West Wickham Site 6 Thames T Aylesford Site 7 Eden E Top Fig 13: Sketch Map showing the sites and rivers mentioned (see table 3 for key) © d.maps.com Bottom Table 3: Key for Fig 13. above could help us further improve our understanding of these people’s local range and activities. The Kentish Ogee People are currently the earliest group of people identified as former inhabitants of this area. The twisted ovate handaxes from other assemblages in Kent and other Museums and private collections and those still to be found could help us further improve our understanding of these people’s local range and activities. Ackno wle dgements The author would like to thank Robert Earl for bringing two handaxes to the Shorne Woods Archaeology Group, which initiated this research and Andrew Mayfield for arranging this. He would also like to thank Mark White for readily agreeing to the use of Figures Four and Five and for sending the most recent versions of his work, and also Nick Ashton and the Sturge Room team at the British Museum (Franks House) for their help. Figures ten and eleven are courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. Finally, he would like to thank Stan Matthews for his helpful comments and suggestions after reading an earlier version of this paper. Spring 2022 | 19 Referen ces Ashton, N.M. 2017. Landscapes of habit and persistent places during MIS 11 in Europe. A return journey from Britain. In C. Gamble, M. Pope, R. Scott, A. Shaw, & M. Bates (eds), Crossing the Threshold, 142–64. London: Routledge Ashton, N., Simon Lewis S. G., Parfitt S. A., Penkman E. H.K., Russell Coop G. (2008) New evidence for complex climate change in MIS 11 from Hoxne, Suffolk, U.K. Quaternary Science Reviews 27 652–668 Beresford, F. R (2018.) A Small Ovate Palaeolithic Handaxe from the Dartford Heath Deposits. Kent Archaeological Society Newsletter 109 10-14. Bridgland, D.R. (2003.) The evolution of the River Medway, SE England, in the context of Quaternary palaeoclimate and the Palaeolithic occupation of N.W. Europe. Proceedings of Geologists’ Association 114, 23–48 Bridgland, D.R. & White, M.J. 2018. The Farnham River terrace staircase: an optimal record of the Thames Palaeolithic. Earth Heritage 49, 49–51 Evans, J. (1872.) Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain. First Edition, London: Longmans, Green, Reader & Dyer. Evans, J. (1897.) Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain. Second Edition London: Longmans, Green & Co Field, D., Nicolayson, P. & Cotton, J. (1999.) The Palaeolithic sites at Limpsfield, Surrey: An analysis of the artefacts collected by A.M. Bell. Surrey Archaeological Collections 86, 1–32 Gallotti, R., Collina, C., Raynal, J.-P., Kieffer, G., Geraads,D. & Piperno, M. (2010.) The Early Middle Pleistocene Site of Gombore II (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia) and the issue of Acheulean bifacial shaping strategies. African Archaeology Reviews 27, 291–322 Harrison, E. 1928. Harrison of Ightham. Oxford University Press, London. Oakley, K.P. 1939. Geology and Palaeolithic studies. In K.P.Oakley, W.F. Rankine, and A.W.G. Lowther (eds), A Survey of the Prehistory of the Farnham District (Surrey), 3–58. Guildford: Surrey Archaeological Society Spurrell, F.C.J. (1883.) Palaeolithic implements from West Kent. Archaeologia Cantiana 15, 89–103 White, M.J. (1998.) Twisted ovate bifaces in the British Lower Palaeolithic: some observations and implications. In (Ashton, N., Healey, F. & Pettit, P., eds.) Stone Age Archaeology: Essays in Honour of John Wymer, Oxbow Monograph 102, Lithic Studies Occasional Paper 6. Oxbow Press, Oxford. 98–104. White, M.J., et al., (2017.) Well-dated fluvial sequences as templates for patterns of handaxe distribution: Understanding the record of Acheulean activity in the Thames and its correlatives, Quaternary International, White, M.J., Ashton N & Bridgland D., (2019.) Twisted Handaxes in Middle Pleistocene Britain and their Implications for Regionalscale Cultural Variation and the Deep History of Acheulean Hominin Groups. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 85, 2019, pp. 61–81. Above Fig 14: The Sima de los Huesos family at Atapuerca circa MIS 11c © Mauricio Anton 20 | Kent Archaeological Society NOTICES CANTERBURY HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY Resear ch an d Publi cation Grants The Society has limited funds available to award a grant to individuals researching any aspect of the history or archaeology of Canterbury and its region. lt is envisaged that a grant would not normally exceed £500. Preference would be given to work resulting in pubtication in any media. Please apply in writing to the Honorary Secretary of the Grants Committee by the next deadline of midnight, 30 June 2022. Your letter should mention: • Your qualifications • The nature and length of your research • The title of your project • The stage you have reached in your research • The sum of money you are applying for, including a breakdown of the total, by type of expense • Any additional funding anticipated from other sources • Your proposals for publication • Your anticipated timetable. You may be asked to name a referee whom the Committee making the grant could consult. lf successful, you would be expected to account for the money spent and give a copy of any article, pamphlet etc., to the society: A recipient may be invited to give a lecture to the Society at one of its monthly meetings. A summary ofyour research may be published on the society’s website: www.canterburyarchaeology. org.uk For further detaits, please contact the Honorary Secretary of the Grants Committee: Mr. Barrie Beeching Holly House Church Road Hoath CANTERBURY, Kent CT3 4JT Or by email: beechings1@gmail.com KAS Publi cations Committee Opportunity to join the KAS Publications Committee – we are looking for new members and would be delighted to hear from anyone who would like to get involved. We are keen to hear from people who have experience researching, writing and publishing on Kent’s history or if you feel you have other experience that would benefit the Committee’s activities. We usually meet twice a year and among our recent activities was the publication of the Maritime Kent through the Ages essay collection, and the second conference on this topic. If you are interested, please send your cv to: sheila.sweetinburgh@ kentarchaeology.org.uk, or if you would like more details, please use the same email address. We look forward to hearing from you. Sheila Sweetinburgh Archaeologi ca cantiana One hundred copies of Arch Cant. dating mainly from the 1930s onwards. Price £50, but the collection will be needed from Orpington. Phone 01689.860939. KAS Member Archaeologi ca cantiana My late father had an almost complete collection of Archaelogia Cantiana volumes. The following cross-references what we have with the list of volumes on the KAS website, and I think we are only missing three volumes between 1858 and 2016 (Volumes 7, 24 & 88). They are all in reasonable condition. I would be happy to part with them for £100 and would be able to deliver to addresses in north Kent, Sussex or Surrey. If they needed to go further afield, they would be available to collect from Chislehurst. Mobile: 0799 057 2891 and email: nick.allnutt@btinternet.com Spring 2022 | 21 The KAS Place-Names Group plan a guided walk following a possible route of the Meopham Anglo-Saxon charter boundary, for KAS members, on Saturday 14 May. Group member John Death, who has made a detailed study of the boundary, will lead the walk. While places are free, they are very limited due to the logistics and safety risks of leading a large group of people around the countryside and along some public roads. • Walk date: Saturday 14th May • Time: 1.00 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. approx • Start: Meopham Railway Station (car parking available, but there is a charge) • Finish: Meopham Railway Station • Distance: 7.7 km or a little under 5 miles • Grade: easy, though with some steep hills in places, a mixture of (mostly) minor roads and public footpaths through woods and open countryside • Cost: FREE to KAS members • Further details: we hope to break the walk for a brief rest and refreshment at the Cock Inn, Henley Street, Luddesdown • It is hoped to end the walk with a visit to Meopham church to climb the tower and survey parts of the Meopham estate. N.B. (a) the tower visit is still to be confirmed; (b) the tower staircase is steep and not recommended for those with restricted mobility • Contact the Place-Names Group Secretary, Linda Taylor, to book a ticket allocated on a strictly first-come, firstserved basis. Telephone 07973179385 or email lin.taylor@btinternet.com Mark Bateson Place-Names Group Chair The Kent Archaeologi cal Societ y Pla ce-Names Group presents A wal k aroun d the Meopham Anglo -Saxon Charter boun dar y Top Walk Taster: Images of the Meopham Boundary, taken when members of the Place-Names Group trialled the route on 14th August 2021. Bottom By the sole at Sole Street 22 | Kent Archaeological Society I have many years of experience in all aspects of marketing, communications, brand development and online marketing. Having run my own marketing agency, doing freelance work and now managing the marketing department of a large, family-owned automotive dealer group, I am fully immersed in the world of communication. I thoroughly enjoy building a strategy for the best promotion of organisations and businesses. Marketing concerns communicating ‘what you are about’ to the audience and letting them know what you are doing and how they can get involved. I have lived in rural Kent all my life and worked both in London and the Kent area. My passion is everything equestrian and much of my time spent relaxing is riding or competing in events with my two beautiful horses. You may also find me chilling with my two Dachshunds at home when not on board. I bring to the Kent Archaeological Society my knowledge, skills and experience in marketing. I’m looking forward to building on the excellent work already done to promote Society’s work and encourage a wider audience to become enthused by the wealth of archaeological finds and local history right here within our county. You can contact me at nicky.hammond@ kentarchaeology.org.uk, and I look forward to meeting many of you at the Society’s events and gatherings. Kind regards, Nicky Intro ducing the KAS Bran d & Communi cations Manager , Nicky Hammon d Spring 2022 | 27 SITUATIONS VACANT Volunteer Positions – Kent Archaeological Society Minute Secreta ry The Role: The Minute Secretary will attend and draft minutes for Trustee meetings and other meetings as required. The minute Secretary will also liaise with the Chair of Trustees to plan meetings, circulate agendas and reports, and circulate approved minutes. Co nference Co -ordinato r The Role: The Conference-Co-ordinator will organise between two and four archaeology and history conferences each year. The successful candidate will manage the events pre-planning and ensure the organisation translates into a smooth-flowing conference. Microso ft365 Adm inist rato r The Role: The Microsoft365 administrator will provide end-user training on 365 tools (OneDrive, Teams, Outlook, etc.), end-user support for all PC/laptop-based hardware, applications, and new user set-up, including configuring software. Ass ista nt Mem bersh ip Secreta ry The Role: The Assistant Membership Secretary will work with the Hon. Membership Secretary to process Society membership applications and renewals, enter membership details onto the Society’s admin system, and reply to general Society enquiries. Please contact the General Manager at applications@ kentarchaeology.org.uk if you wish to be considered for any volunteer positions mentioned above. Situations Vacant – Kent Archaeological Society Outrea ch & Eve nts Officer Reports to: General Manager Responsible for: Delivering a programme of engagement, education, and events targeted at Kent communities, schools, and heritage groups. This will be achieved by working with the Management Team across the Kent Archaeological Society (KAS), project partners, members and volunteers. Location: The role will be based at home, Maidstone Museum and on site(s) travelling across Kent. The Role: We seek an Outreach & Events Officer to join the KAS Management Team. This is a new role for the Society. The successful candidate will work closely with all members of the Management Team and Heads of the KAS Committees to deliver a heritage education programme and engagement and events. Activities will include school education sessions, coordinating fieldwork projects and organising forums and conferences. Key Duties & Responsibilities 1. School & Youth Engagement a. Develop and deliver a series of education sessions targeted at primary schools working closely with the KAS Education & Outreach Committee b. Engage with local youth groups and the Young Archaeologist Clubs in Kent, developing and producing any relevant learning resources and opportunities 2. Community Engagement a. Develop and deliver a range of community events, engaging residents with their local heritage through heritage projects and events b. Liaise with local history and archaeological groups to promote events and projects 3. Project Administration a. Contribute to reporting on project activities and supporting fundraising activities (led by the Fundraising Manager) b. Support the delivery of a communications strategy for the KAS, contributing to the Society’s external communications (for example, through the website, social media and presentations), profile and good reputation. Terms of Service Salary: £24,000–£30,000 pro-rata for this part time role (dependent on experience) Contract period: 0.5FTE (20 hours per week). Fixed contract until April 2023, with the expectation to extend with successful funding for a legacy project. The appointment will be subject to a six-month probation period. Pension: KAS operates a contributory pension scheme. Homeworking and vehicle: The position will involve a mix of home and office-based working, with travel across Kent, so you will need to provide a suitable home working environment. We will provide a laptop. We could prefer the post-holder to be based in Kent, but this is not essential. A full driving license and access to your own vehicle is required. Annual leave: Annual leave entitlement is 25 days plus public holidays (pro-rata for part-time roles). • The closing date for applications is 3rd June 2022. • Interviews will commence week beginning 13th June 2022 • Please send your CV and covering letter to applications@ kentarchaeology.org.uk If undelivered, please return to R. Hills, 15 Henley Close, Rainham, Gillingham, Kent ME8 0ER PSSST... have you hea rd about the Allen Grove Lo cal Histo ry Fund? The Allen Grove Local History Fund was established from a legacy made to the Kent Archaeological Society by the late Allen Grove (1910-1990). In 1948, Allen Grove was appointed Curator and Librarian of Maidstone Museum, which he held until retirement in 1975. In addition to the Kent Archaeological Society, he was involved with numerous other organisations. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquarians and President of the Kent Archaeological Society from 1986-to 1987. The Society administers the Allen Grove Local History Fund. Its objects are to promote research, preservation and enjoyment of local history in the ancient County of Kent1. These objects are consistent with those of the Society. It is a restricted fund and is invested separately from the Society’s other investments. Under the terms of the legacy, decisions on how the fund is to be spent via grants are taken by the Society’s officers. By Kate Kersey Could your local history project or interest be eligible for a grant? Local history can be almost impossible to define! It can involve a wide range of historical inquiry and investigation, encompassing local landscapes, oral traditions, written records, social and cultural practices, ephemera, and objects. A typical project can involve virtually anything in a geographical area smaller than the country or countries as a whole. Applications for a wide range of local history projects are welcomed and encouraged by individuals, groups or societies. In the case of applications from groups or societies, the Fund Secretary will communicate with the project leader named in the application. Average grants recently awarded have been in the region of £500. In 2021, grants were awarded to assist in the publication of a history of shop premises in Folkestone, a study of Becket’s shrines and Cosmati pavement in Canterbury cathedral, and the purchase of a camera by which to share research and recording of the Medway Valley to a wider audience through media such as a Vlog. What is not eligible for a grant application? Grants will NOT be made for excavation, fieldwork or works of fiction. Separate applications for excavation and fieldwork grants should be made to the Hon. General Secretary of the Kent Archaeological Society. Submitting an application Application forms can be downloaded from the Society website or obtained from the Allen Grove Fund secretary (Allengroveadmin@ kentarchaeology.org.uk). Please note that application forms will only be considered which have been signed and dated, confirming acceptance of the Terms and Conditions. The window for submitting applications is from 1 June to 30 September. As soon as practicable after the 30 September deadline, the Trustees will meet to consider the applications received. Grants are made once a year. We look forward to hearing from you! 1 The geographical area of Kent considered under the fund is that of the ancient county of Kent. It includes Medway and extends to the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham.