What’s On

KAS Events

KAS VISIT: The Vaults of Ancient Winchelsea - Saturday 12 June

Although in East Sussex, Winchelsea was attached to the largely Kentish organisation of the Cinque Ports as one of its two Ancient Towns. Of its 58 vaults, 33 are now accessible, the majority dating from the late 13th to the early 14th centuries. Built of Hastings granite and with wide flights of steps giving access, they were probably used as sale and store rooms as well as wine cellars and taverns. We will be guided by a member of the Winchelsea Archaeological Society. A booking form is included in this Newsletter

KAS CHURCHES COMMITTEE VISIT: Monday 28 June

A visit is arranged to St Mary’s Church, Higham and to St Peter and St Paul, Shorne. We meet at St Mary’s at 6.45 for 7pm and go on to St Peter and St Paul at approximately 8pm.

Tour £2. Tea and biscuits £1 extra. A booking form for the visit is included in this Newsletter (to be returned by 23 June please). Further details from Mary Berg (KAS), 5 Orchard St, Canterbury CT2 8AP. Phone: 01227 450426. Email: maryberg@hotmail.co.uk

KAS HISTORIC BUILDINGS CONFERENCE: 9 October at Harrietsham

Details will be announced in the next Newsletter in July.

Events Around Kent

Bexley Archaeological Group monthly lecture, Dig for Victory by Russell Bowes - Thursday 20 May, 8 – 9.30pm

Not a talk on archaeological digging, but a look at the period when England’s gardens took on the might of Hitler’s armies. Gardens great and small, public and private, saw elements give way to cabbage and roses replaced by radishes. We discuss the role of the ‘forgotten army’ - the Land Girl’s - who helped to put food on the tables of the nation, plus advice and propaganda given to gardeners in print and over the airwaves. Cost £3. For further details call Martin Baker, Chairman on 020 8300 1752 or email Clare Gillett cjgillett@nksip-jenkins.co.uk.

All workshops and talks are held at the Bexley-Sidcup Conservative Club, 19 Station Road, Sidcup, Kent, DA15 7EB

Bexley Archaeological Group Training Dig: Monday 2 - Friday 6 August, 9am - 4.30pm each day

Dig takes place at our on-going site in Bexley. Field walking, geophys, surveying, trowelling, finds drawing, section drawing, washing finds, talks. Cost £80 for the week. Minimum age 16 (with parents consent). Course is suitable for anyone of any ability. For further details and to book a place, please contact Pip Pulfer on 07961 963839 or email pipsapd@hotmail.co.uk

Visit our website to see last year’s trainees - www.bag.org.uk

Loose Area History Society meetings: Monday 10 May

‘Farewell to Kent - Emigrant stories’
A talk by Helen Allinson, author and historian

All meetings are held at Loose Infant School Hall, Loose Road, Maidstone ME15 9UW, starting at 7.30pm. Admission £2.50. Pay at the door. Free parking in school grounds. Enquiries: 01622 741198 www.looseareahistorysociety.webeden.co.uk

Crofton Roman Villa: Open from 2 April to 29 October this year

Opening times: Wednesday, Friday and Bank Holiday Monday: 10am-1pm & 2pm-5pm, Sundays: 1st and 3rd in the month only: 2pm-5pm. Last entry 4.30pm. Admission 80p for children and £1 for adults. Activities for children include Roman games, mosaic making, dressing up as Romans, digging for ‘finds’ in the excavation tray and Roman soldier ‘rubbings’. For more information call 020 8460 1442, email crofton.roman.villa@btinternet.com or visit www.the-cka.fsnet.co.uk

An invite from the Shorne Woods Community Archaeologist! Randall Manor: Season 5 - 3 July – 1 August

Come and visit the Community Archaeology Dig at Shorne Woods Country Park, running from the 3rd of July to the 1st of August Including the Medieval Weekend with the Woodville Household on July 24th and 25th. A FREE event! Shorne Woods Country Park is just off the A2, east of Gravesend. Normal car parking charges apply. For more information please contact andrew.mayfield@kent.gov.uk

Special Commemorative Archaeological Weekend at Dover Roman Painted House, New Street - Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 July, 10am – 4.30pm

Site Lectures at 11am and 2.30pm by archaeologists who discovered the House in 1970. Admission FREE to KAS members on production of membership card. All KAS members are cordially invited to visit the Roman Painted House in Dover on the above days. This special shared event is to celebrate 40 years (1970-2010) of non-stop excavation, publication and public presentation in Dover by the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit. The discoveries in that time have been spectacular and have totally transformed knowledge of Roman and Saxon Dover, already published in three volumes. The House is among the most complete Roman buildings yet discovered in Britain, with five rooms substantially intact, each with elaborate underfloor heating (hypocaust) and all internal walls covered in painted murals relating to the god Bacchus. It was built by men of the Classis Britannica about AD200 and partly demolished by the Roman army about AD270 when a new fort was built across part of it. KARU constructed the cover building in 1977 and has managed the House ever since, during which time it has had over 600,000 visitors from all parts of the world. It is staffed and managed entirely by Unit volunteers through a special Trust set up in 1975. Admission free to KAS members, although donations will be welcome. Follow the venue road

Events Elsewhere

Festival of Archaeology Coordinated by the Council for British Archaeology - Saturday 17th July to Sunday 1st August

Two weeks of special events nationwide held by museums, local societies, national and countryside parks, universities, and heritage organisations. Events listings will be online soon at festival.britarch.ac.uk

Conference: Unearthing The Past: Language, Ownership, Value And Meaning In Public Archaeology - Friday 24 (eve), Saturday 25 & Sunday 26 September

Canterbury Christ Church University, supported by CBA SE, CBA & Canterbury Archaeological Trust. To be held in Canterbury Christ Church’s campus in Folkestone. More details in the next Newsletter in July.

Conference: Agriculture And Food In Southern Roman Britain - Saturday 8 May, 9.30am - 4.45pm in the Chertsey Hall, Chertsey, Surrey

A day conference organised by the Roman Studies Group of Surrey Archaeological Society will explore the results of recent research into the characteristics of agriculture and diet in the southern part of the Province, and the rural landscape as it developed during the Roman occupation. Speakers will include: Professor Mike Fulford (Reading University), Dr Petra Dark (Reading University), Paul Booth (Oxford Archaeology), David Rudling (Sussex University), Dr Mike Allen (Allen Environmental Archaeology and Bournemouth University), Gill Campbell (English Heritage), Mark Maltby (Bournemouth University). Cost: £16. Further details and booking information can be found on the Society’s website: www.surreyarchaeology.org

Davington Mysteries - Faversham Society Archaeological Research Group (FSARG) - Saturday 9 October, 9.30am – 4.30pm

Reports from a recent community-based historical and archaeological investigation into a fascinating corner of ancient Faversham town. Guided walks through the parish’s history, including a tour around the grounds of Davington Priory (by kind permission of Bob Geldof KBE). Key speakers – Dr Gillian Draper (University of Kent) and Dr Pat Reid (FSARG). Tickets £15.00 (includes parking, lunch and refreshments). Proceeds to Davington Church. For a booking form: tel: 01795 536254 or email: info@fasrg.org.uk or visit www.community-archaeology.org.uk

Conference And Field-Seminar: Revisiting New Towns Of The Middle Ages In the Ancient Town of Winchelsea in memory of Professor M.W. Beresford - Friday 21 - Sunday 23 May

Convened by Keith D Lilley (Queen’s University Belfast) & Richard Comotto (Winchelsea Archaeological Society). Taking place in one of the most renowned examples of a medieval ‘new town’, the conference focuses on the continuing legacy of Professor Maurice Beresford’s ‘New Towns of the Middle Ages’ and draws together both academic and general audiences of his book to reflect on the recent advances in research on the topic of medieval new towns and their planning. Conference speakers will explore the societies, landscapes and material cultures of medieval ‘new towns’, placing them in an international comparative context, as well as their own local settings. To this end, Winchelsea itself provides an important case-study, so the second day of the programme includes lectures on the town’s medieval archaeology, history and planning, as well as a field visit around the impressive remains of ‘New Winchelsea’. Key speakers include: Professor Chris Dyer (University of Leicester), Professor Jean-Loup Abbé (University of Toulouse), Canon Dr Terry Slater (University of Birmingham), Dr Patrick Ottaway (Archaeological Consultant). Registration fee is £25 (cheque payable to ‘Winchelsea Archaeological Society’). Please send your details (name, address, telephone, email) by April 30 with your cheque to: Winchelsea Archaeological Society, c/o Firebrand House, Winchelsea, East Sussex, TN36 4EA, UK. Further information at: www.winchelsea.net/conference or email: was@winchelsea.net

British Association for Local History: Local History Day - Saturday 5 June, Imperial War Museum

The morning discussion session considers local history and the internet, with introductory presentations by Jacqueline Fillmore and Bamber Gascoigne. This is followed by the AGM of the Association, and after lunch the 2010 BALH Awards will be presented by the President, Professor David Hey. The Annual Lecture will be given by Dr Adam Longcroft from the University of East Anglia. His subject is ‘New Insights into Vernacular Architecture: A View from the Flatlands of East Anglia’. Details from www.balh.co.uk under Events, or from Gill Draper tel: 01732 452575