KAS Newsletter, Issue 57, Summer 2003

Issue number 57 Summer 2003 www.kentarchaeology.org.uk can now be confirmed as being 41.50 metres (136 feet). Excavation of the ditch revealed that it was over 2 metres (6 feet) deep and in times of wet weather had sometimes held water. The ditch seems to have been completely silted and invisible by the Roman period. Many centuries of ploughing have removed all but the base of the barrow mound; originally it might have stood to a height of around 5 metres (16 feet). Such dimensions would have made the barrow one of the very largest in southern Britain. Survival of the mound had n March 2003 archaeologists returned to Ringlemere, near Sandwich, to continue excavations at the site where the spectacular early Bronze Age gold cup was discovered in November 2001. This year’s programme was again possible through the generosity of the landowners, the Smith brothers of Ringlemere Farm. The work was funded by substantial grants from the KAS, the BBC and the British Museum. Progress of the excavation was filmed throughout by a professional team from the BBC (fig. 1) and this should be screened, as part of the new ‘Hidden Treasures’ series, sometime during September. The excavations were headed by members of Canterbury Archaeological Trust but the bulk of the digging was undertaken by a team from the Dover Archaeological Group, assisted by members from Thanet, Lenham, Maidstone and Otford Archaeological Societies, as well as a number of other volunteers. The entire operation served as a splendid example of what can be achieved by amateurs and professionals working in close co-operation and should serve as a model for other projects being undertaken in the County. The main aim of this year’s investigation was to re-examine the central part of the round barrow previously identified and to try and determine the exact diameter of its enclosing ditch. The great ditch was located in roughly its expected position and the overall diameter of the enclosed area Summer 2003 1 served to trap evidence of earlier activity below and it can now be seen that a major late Neolithic settlement had existed on the site of the barrow around 700-1000 years earlier. The inhabitants of this settlement used highly decorated Grooved ware pottery and the assemblage of such pottery from Ringlemere is now by far the largest from Kent and one of the largest from anywhere in south-east England. Whether this coincidence of location is purely fortuitous remains to be considered in the light of further excavation but some sort of link presently seems possible. In order to set the site into its local context, field-walking and metal-detecting of the adjacent field was undertaken, in search of evidence for any settlement associated with the barrow. This has confirmed that a spread of prehistoric struck flints and calcined flints occurs across the entire area. Metal-detector surveys have also revealed a light scatter of Roman coins but the most significant discovery was a rare early Iron Age brooch probably imported from France (fig. 2). This represents an important new find for Kent but belongs to a period not previously represented at Ringlemere. As part of the TV programme, some experimental archaeology was undertaken. In an attempt to ascertain the possible uses of the numerous calcined flints (‘pot-boilers’) which occur in large numbers across the site, fish and meat were cooked in a pit using heated Inside 2-3 Faversham Museum & Time Team Library Notes 4-5 Lectures, Courses, Conferences & Events 6-7 Bayford Castle Anglo-Saxon & Medieval Conference 8-9 Notice Board 10-11 ‘Ideas & Ideals’ Baptists, Independents & Separation from the State in Kent 12-13 New Books Civic Trust Heritage Open Days 14-15 Letters to the Editor Victorian Art in a Medieval Church 16 The Cantiaci news l e t e r K E N T A RC H A E O LO G I C A L S O C I E T Y R I N G L E M E R E 2 0 0 3 Top: The BBC film progress as the top-soil over the Bronze Age barrow is carefully cleared away. Photo by Tina Parfitt Below: The Iron Age brooch. Photo by Richard Hoskins continued on page 2 fig 1 fig 2 Summer 2003 2 FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES FAVERSHAM ACTIVITIES carefully removed from the site in order not to contaminate the area and bias the results of any future fieldwalking exercise. Ploughing continues to erode the Ringlemere barrow and it is intended to fully excavate the complete monument over the course of the next few years. Hopefully, we will also be looking at some of the other, smaller barrow sites known from crop-marks in the same field. The field-walking too will be continued as the crop rotation allows. The general impression is that the entire Ringlemere area has a very high archaeological potential and more important discoveries are anticipated. Anyone wishing to assist in the September excavations should contact the writer. Keith Parfitt flints. The resulting cooked food was entirely edible and the waste material left-over consisted of calcined flints identical to those found in the Ringlemere excavations and on many other prehistoric sites in Kent. Details of this interesting experiment will be written up in due course. NB:- the calcined flints from the experiment were continued from page 1 phone kiosk with a ‘Press Buttons A and B’ mechanism, complete with a stock of old pennies for its use. The repatriation and restoration of a beautiful Georgian Faversham shopfront which had found its way to a Chicago Museum 75 years ago, will lead to eventual display in front of a garden laid out in formal Georgian style. The Museum is open from 10am to 4pm on Monday to Saturdays and from 10am to 1pm on Sundays with an admission charge of £2 (concessions £1). oused within the Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre, Faversham’s Museum has recently been updated to include several new displays. Visitors begin their visit by seeing what archaeology has revealed, from the earliest Iron Age beginnings of the area through to Faversham’s development in the medieval period, particularly the role played by its two monasteries, Faversham Abbey and Davington Priory. This is followed by the new Elizabethan Room, illustrating the rise in prosperity of the town after the Dissolution. The development of the explosives industry is traced in a specially- commissioned video. Upstairs is a Victorian Schoolroom and a late Victorian kitchen, as authentic as possible in style, with a selection of Victorian ‘entertainment’ such as lantern-slide shows and windup gramophones also on display. Both World Wars are remembered, with memorabilia from the work of ‘Dad’s Army’ and the Air Raid Wardens. A hand-operated air raid siren sits silently nearby – too incredibly noisy to operate! The town’s civic and ceremonial life and sporting scene are also shown. The virtually extinct local sports of goal running and rink hockey take pride of place. Finally comes the ‘shopping centre’. “Not exactly Bluewater” says John Culmer, Senior Honorary Curator, “but a vivid evocation of how High Street shops used to be in our grand, or great-grandparents, day”. A barber’s, a chemist’s, a sweet shop, a sub-post office and lending library, and a drapers’ are all recreated in period style with almost everything on show being authentic. Displays on Faversham’s other industries, such as brewing and brickmaking, are planned when finance for upgrading the available space is found. Pride of place will surely go to an old fashioned electro-mechanical (Strowger) automatic telephone exchange, of which there are only two or three left in the country. Engineers will install lines around the Fleur de Lis complex and visitors will be able to call each other on old-fashioned phones. There is even an old tele- N E WD I S P L AY S AT FAV E R S H A MM U S E U M T I M E T E A MC O M E S T O FAV E R S H A M ver 60 people from Time Team descended on Syndale recently to explore and film recent discoveries. Paul Wilkinson’s theory was that there was evidence of a Roman fort from the Claudian invasion of Britain buried under the 18th century estate at Syndale, just to the west of Faversham. They were not disappointed, and discoveries were made which can be seen when the programme is aired in January 2004. A dig is currently underway to build on Time Team’s discoveries, ending August 3rd. To participate phone 01795 532548; cost £35 per day or £25 for members of Kent Archaeological Field School. Picture shows (from left) To n y Robinson, Paul Wilkinson, Guy de la Bedoyere, Phil Harding, Malcolm Lyrie and Carenza Lewis. Top left: The centre’s attractive frontage and above, two of the display areas: the late Victorian kitchen and Wartime display. Trust Yearly Reports 1997-1998, 1998-1999, 1999-2000, 2000- 2001. Kent Family History Vol. 10 2003. Derbyshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 123 2003. Archaeologia Aeliana Vol. XXXI (Roman Fort at Newcastle on Tyne.) Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society Vol. 150 2003. Shropshire Arch. and Hist. Society Vol. LXXVI 2001. Netherlands Archaeology Vol. 45 2002. Past and Present Newsletter (Sussex) no.99. Bridges of Eynsford and Farningham – E. and F. Local History no.33. Dartford Hist. and Arch. Soc. Newsletter no.40 2003. Lower Medway Research Group Transactions 2003. Greater London Quarterly Review, January to March 2003, English Heritage. Archives Vol. no.25 2003, Orpington and District Society. will be invited to embark, is to provide a summary of the contents of each file. It is no part of this exercise to attempt an indepth academic study of the content of the files—Hussey will already have drawn on them in his published articles— and the extent to which new thoughts may be derived from his basic material is a matter for expert historians and genealogists to determine, if they so wish. However, they, and family history researchers, might have an easier task in using the files if we were able to provide a useful summary of the contents of each file. It is intended that work on the files should start in the autumn, and that sometime towards the end of 2004 or early in 2005, the results should be posted on the website. Members may not be aware of the range of publications of other UK historical and archaeological associations that the Library holds. For information, following are some of the associations, runs of whose publications are held in the Library—- Newcastle , R.S.Antiquaries of Ireland, Dorset Nat, Woolhope Field Club, Buckinghamshire, Montgomeryshire, Lancashire and Cheshire, Leicestershire, Worcestershire, Lincolnshire, R.S. Antiquaries of Scotland, Derbyshire, Surrey, Sussex, Cornwall, Essex, Bristol and Gloucestershire, Birmingham and Warwickshire, Durham, Suffolk, Cumberland and Westmoreland, Somersetshire, Norfolk, Cambridge. All these are on our mailing list for Arch Cant. in exchange for their yearly journals. Some new publications received in the KAS Library, April to June Archaeometry Vol. 45 p.1 2003. Fornvannen 2002/2, 2002/3, 2002/4. Dictionary of County Durham Place Names I. Canterbury Archaeological The new KAS website, www.kentarchaeology.ac is now fully operational, offering access to the KAS Library book index; to the KAS index of Vi s u a l Records; to the index of the Gordon Ward collection of pamphlets, booklets and ephemera on Kent towns, villages and places; and providing for the publication on the website of articles on the history and archaeology of Kent. The Gordon Ward index is in the process of final completion, and should be fully available on the website by the end of this year. Articles for publication are invited; full details on how to submit for publication are posted on the website or see page 13 of this Newsletter. On completion of the Gordon Ward index, it is intended to turn the attention of the Volunteers working in the Library to the Hussey Files. Arthur Hussey, who died in 1941, at the age of 79, was for fifty years a member of the KAS, for 32 years a member of the Council, and from 1927 to his death, a Vice President. During that time, according to his obituary notice, he was ‘a most diligent student of wills in the Canterbury Probate Re g i s t r y, and of various MSS in the Chapter Library, and his contributions to Archaeologia Cantiana were most valuable.’ Between 1911 and his death in 1941 he published over thirty articles in Arch. Cant. He left his Research notes to the society, and these are contained in 300 files in the Library. The files are of two main types, both arranged alphabetically; one type concerning the history of a particular family, the other concerning places and the people connected with them. The existing index to the files lists the names of the files, but gives little or no information as to contents. The purpose of the work on which the Volunteers Summer 2003 3 L I B R A RY NOTES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES GRANTS & LIBRARIES CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES’ PUBLICATIONS PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED NEW KAS WEBSITE HUSSEY FILES This cavern entrance is one of many images held in the KASlibrary collection which have no provenance. Do you recognise the place or the man? If you do know the identuty of either please contact the editor at 55 Stone Street, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2QU DO YOU RECOGNISE THIS SPOT? Summer 2003 4 LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES Booking forms for KAS events appear on page 5 opposite. They can be photocopied if you do not want to cut up your Newsletter. KAS Churches Committee Outing ~ Monday 28th July The Churches Committee invites you to visit Bethersden Baptist Church and Pluckley Pa r i s h Church. We meet at 6.45pm at Bethersden Baptist Church and at about 8pm at Pluckley Church. Charge for the tours is £2 per person plus £1 for tea and biscuits. Money for both visit and tea should be paid in advance. KAS ‘Lectures in the Library’ series. All held in the KAS library in Maidstone Museum. Saturday 27th September at 11am. Leeds Priory Dig 1973-76 by Albert Daniels, using slides from the Peter Tester Archive Saturday 11th October at 11 am. Investigation of a Potential Site: Fieldwork Methodology by Simon Miles BA Saturday 25th October at 11 am. Researching the History of a Parish by Dr. Jacqueline Bower. Tickets £2 each; reservations may be made by telephone to Denis Anstey, 01634 240015 or email d@degian.demon.co.uk, to pay on arrival, or prepaid using the form opposite. Reservations are held until 15 minutes before the advertised start of the lecture. Members are reminded that they will be asked for their membership card at the museum reception and are asked to sign in and out. KAS Christmas Lunch will take place on Saturday 29th November in the Hop Farm, Beltring. Further details will appear in the October Newsletter. Discovering our Saxon Past ~ Council for Kentish Archaeology on Saturday 1st November from 2 – 5.30pm at Christ Church University College, North Holmes Road, Canterbury. Speakers: * New Work from Sutton Hoo by Angela Care Evans, British Museum * The Discovery of Saxon Dover by Brian Philp, Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit * Investigating Dark Age London by Bob Cowie, London Museum and Birkbeck College Ti c kets £3.00 (cheque payable to CKA with s.a.e. please), available from CKA, 7 Sandy Ridge, Borough Green TN15 8HP. Horton Kirby & South Darenth Local History Society Monday 14th July ~ Tonbridge Castle by Pat Mortlock Monday 8th September ~ The P e a s a n t s Revolt by John Mercer Monday 10th November ~ Memories of Schooldays by Marion Baldwin All talks take place in South Darenth Village Hall at 8pm. Admission £1 on the door for visitors. Isle of Thanet Archaeological Society Thursday 18th September ~ The Jutes in Kent: Myth or Reality? by Andrew Richardson. A review of present theories and the archaeological evidence. St.Georges School, Westwood Ro a d , Broadstairs at 7.45pm (doors open 7.15pm). Tickets £3.50 on the door or £3.00 in advance from Events Secretary, TAS, Crampton Tower Yard, High Street, Broadstairs CT10 2AB (cheques to Thanet Arch. Soc. with s.a.e. please) Certificate in the Theory and Practice of Local History at the University of Kent Students who register for the Certificate in the Theory and Practice of Local History are introduced to both the ways that local history is written and how to do it themselves, through a wide range of modules which also provide opportunities for: * working with original sources * field work * pursuing individual interests (within particular topics such as family, oral or maritime history) The certificate is a two year programme which runs at Canterbury, Tonbridge and Chatham and the only qualifications required are enthusiasm and an interest in local history. On successful completion of the certificate students may progress to the next stage of either the part-time or full-time degree programme. Further information from the Programme Director, Dr Elizabeth Edwards (01227 827859, email: E.C.Edwards@ukc.ac.uk) or visit the School of History website: www.ukc.ac.uk/history/ Sheppey Local History Society ~ Heritage Walks in Sheerness, Minster and Queenborough. Available to groups and at various advertised times to the general public. Leisurely strolls of two hours or so, focussing on the history and development of the area and stories of the inhabitants. Problems of conservation are examined. The next public walks, organized as part of the Swale Festival period are: L e c t u res, Conferences, Courses and Events LECTURES KAS EVENTS COURSES OTHER EVENTS OTHER EVENTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTY LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES LECTURES EVENTS CONFERENCES & COURSES LECTURES & bookstall. Admission free. Park in St Paul’s Wood Hill and take the public footpath between house nos. 12 & 14. Alternatively, limited car parking available close to the site but by ticket only, from ODAS, 27 Eynsford Close, Petts Wood BR5 1DP. Finds Day at Hythe Library ~ Saturday 11th October Andrew Richardson, Finds Liaison Officer for Kent will be attending the library to identify and record archaeological objects found by members of the public. Isle of Thanet Archaeological Society Saturday 15th November ~ Meet the Local Archaeologists Displays, slide shows, make a mosaic, bookstall & refreshments. St Peter’s Church Hall from 2.30-4.30 Admission £2.00 on the door. Sunday 20th July & Sunday 27th July, Minster - on-Sea 2pm from Minster Gatehouse Museum: bus from Sheerness station connects. £1.50 including light refreshments and museum admission. Wednesday 23rd July, Blue Town area of Sheerness 2pm from Sheerness station. £4.25 including afternoon tea. Thursday 24th July, Seafront, Sheerness 6.30pm from Sheerness station. £1.50. Just turn up on the day and meet your guide. For group bookings or queries write to Jonathan Fryer, 10 Coronation Road, Sheerness ME12 2QN enclosing SAE please. Finds Day at Folkestone Museum ~ Saturday 19th July Andrew Richardson, Finds Liaison Officer for Kent, will be attending the Museum to identify and record archaeological objects found by members of the public. National Archaeology Days ~ 19th & 20th July . A weekend of events across Britain initiated by the Council for British Archaeology and their junior branch, the Young Archaeologists’ Club. North Downs Young Archaeologists’ with The Museum of Kent Life, Sandling nr Maidstone on Sunday 20th July from 11am-4pm. Theme is ‘A Century of Change’; the 1st century AD when native culture encountered Roman. A host of activity stalls for children (from 3 to 93!), living history and re-enactment groups, information stands about archaeology in Kent, finds identification table, real artefacts of the period to handle plus all the usual attractions of a great museum. Museum admission £3.50 children, £5.50 adults, family tickets £16.00, all YAC members free. Further information: 01732 810556 or 01892 533661. Young Archaeologists’ Day at Crofton Roman Villa on Sunday 20th July from 10am-5pm in hourly sessions. Wash & draw Roman finds, play Roman games, make mosaics, do a Roman Villa trail quiz, dress as Romans. For 5-12 year olds, accompanied by an adult. £1.00 each, all YAC members free. Further information: 020 8462 4737. Open Days at Cobham Hall During this month and the next, the girls’ school which occupies this great house is allowing visits. Open days are 16th, 20th, 23rd , 27th & 30th July and 3rd, 6th, 10th, 13th, 17th, 20th, 24th, 25th, 27th & 31st August from 2-5pm with guided tours of 1 hour 20 minutes by the Friends of Cobham Hall Heritage Trust. Sights include the Cobham Mausoleum, the Gothic Dairy and the Pump House. Last tour leaves 4pm and cost is £3.50, concessions £2.75. Please ring to confirm opening - 01474 825925. Orpington & District Archaeological Society Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th September ~ Excavations at Scadbury Moated Manor, Chislehurst open to the public from 2 – 4.30pm. Self-guided trail to show the work currently being carried out on the site as well as the remains of foundations associated with the Walsingham family. Members of O.D.A.S. will be on hand to answer questions. Photographic display, refreshments KAS CHURCHES COMMITTEE OUTING Monday 28th July. I would like to meet at Bethersden Baptist Church at 6.45pm. Name/s……………………………………………………………................... Ad d r e s s … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ………………………………………………………………………............ Phone………………………………………………………………………….. I enclose £…………………...for the visits. I enclose £…………………....for tea Cheques to the Kent Archaeological Society Replies to Phillip Lawrence, Barnfield, Church Lane, East Peckham, Tonbridge TN12 5JJ (01622 871945). KAS ‘LECTURES IN THE LIBRARY’ SERIES Saturday 27th September ~ Leeds Priory Dig by Albert Daniels Please supply…………..tickets @ £2.00 each Saturday 11th October ~ Investigation of a Potential Site by Simon Miles Please supply……….….tickets @ £2.00 each Saturday 25th October ~ Researching the History of a Parish by Dr Jacqueline Bower Please supply…………..tickets @ £2.00 each Name/s……………………………………………………………............ Ad d r e s s … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ……………………………………………………………......................... Please enclose a SAE with your cheque (payable to the Ke n t Archaeological Society) and send to Denis Anstey, 86 Malling Road, Snodland ME6 5ND. Summer 2003 5 THE ENIGMA OF BAYFORD CASTLE THE ENIGMA OF BAYFORD CASTLE THE ENIGMA OF BAYFORD CASTLE THE ENIGMA OF BAYFORD CASTLE THE ENIGMA OF BAYFORD CASTLE THE ENIGMA OF BAYFORD CASTLE THE ENIGMA OF BAYFORD CASTLE THE ENIGMA OF BAYFORD CASTLE THE ENIGMA OF BAYFORD CASTLE THE ENIGMA OF BAYFORD CASTLE THE ENIGMA OF BAYFORD CASTLE THE ENIGMA OF BAYFORD CASTLE Summer 2003 6 THE ENIGMA O F B AY F O R D C A S T L E C a n t e r b u r y, Durolevum (now thought to be Ospringe) and Ro c h e s t e r. Could it be that Sittingbourne was the overnight resting place between the latter two? The castle site lies on the line of the ancient trackway they would have used and the earthworks noticed by Gould look very similar to the lines of a standard Roman encampment. Roman encampments, even those used for an overnight halt, were elaborate, laid out to a standard uniform pattern. (See fig.2) After the troops moved on, they were left intact ready for the next occupants. Many became way stations where those travelling on official business could change horses, get a meal and find overnight accommodation. These way stations, or mutationes, and inns, mansiones, were established at intervals of approximately 16 miles along all the principal highways throughout the empire. They were similar to the later inns that served the stagecoach industry. As Sittingbourne was to later become a renowned overnight halt for pilgrims, travellers and stagecoaches, it seems likely that this was a trend started earlier in Roman times. In conclusion therefore, my theory about Bayford Castle is that it began as an overnight encampment for the Roman army travelling to and from the Channel ports. After the southeast had been subjugated, the encampment became an overnight halt, or way station, for those on official business, but after the Romans left Britain in AD 410 it fell into disuse and was finally destroyed with any masonry left on site being used to build the two manor houses. John Clancy ittingbourne once had a castle. It stood at the head of Milton Creek and although pinpointed since the earliest of times on OS maps, no trace of it now remains. Despite extensive research, we have no record of its history. We know it existed, as it was included on Christopher Saxton’s map of the manors of Bayford and Goodmanston dated 1590. He showed it to cover an area of over four acres. It should not however be confused with Bayford Court, a moated manor house, the original of which is thought to predate to c1368, and which lays a short distance to the south. Saxton’s map describes the site of Goodmanston manor house as “castle ruffe”, which gave rise to confusion about the true site of Haesten’s Viking fortress. Bayford and Goodmanston were originally separate manors but from c1368 were held by the same person, the first being Robert de Nottingham. He resided at Bayford Court, as several documents attest, and he allowed Goodmanston manor to become derelict. All we now have is the charming local legend that recalls, when the Vikings under the leadership of Haesten landed at Castle Ro u g h , Kemsley in AD 892, King Alfred marched his troops here and built a fortress on the opposite bank of the Creek from where he could keep his eye on the invaders. This is a legend perpetuated by such early antiquarians as Hasted and Ireland. Perhaps Gough also heard of this legend as in his ‘Camden’s Britannia 1’, 1789, he suggested a building date of AD 893 for the castle, but it has no basis in fact. There is no evidence of Alfred ever coming to Sittingbourne and when the Sittingbourne & Swale Archaeological Group carried out an excavation of Castle Rough in 1972, they found absolutely no evidence of former Viking occupation. It could be the original site was buried within the foundations of the paper mill that stands a few hundred yards away on the higher ground. From what I’ve recently learned through my studies with the University of Exeter, I believe the site of Bayford Castle is much earlier than was originally thought. I believe it predates to Roman times, a theory drawn from I.C.Gould’s ‘Vi c t o r i a n County History of Kent’, 1908. Gould noticed some earthworks extending from St Michael’s church to Bayford Court. (See fig.1) Following considerable industrial activity in this area in the late 19th century, these earthworks and any other traces of the castle, no longer exist. Sittingbourne stands astride Watling Street, the old Roman road that leads from Richborough and Dover to London and beyond. It no longer follows its original line however. Local historian Sydney Twist realized this when he wrote his book ‘Murston Village & Parish’ in 1981. In it he suggested, in addition to Watling Street, there was another Roman road lying slightly to the north, connecting Reculver to Rochester. Parts of this road can still be seen as the Lower Road and you can easily trace its route. I now believe this to be not a Roman road, but an even earlier Celtic trackway traversing the county. At first I presumed when the Romans landed at Richborough, they built Watling Street as they progressed across the southeast towards Colchester; London did not exist at that time. What I now think happened was that to begin with the Romans used existing Celtic trackways to move across Kent and it was only after the local tribes had been subdued that the Romans decided they needed a direct and fast route back to the Channel ports. This was when Watling Street was built. The Roman army marched on average sixteen miles a day. There were overnight halts at such places as Left: (fig 1) A plan of the earthworks first noticed by I C Gould. Above: (fig 2) The plans of two typical Roman forts on Hadrian’s Wall. The plan of each fort was likened to a playing card, ie rectangular with rounded corners. Note the similarity to part of Gould’s sketch. his old photograph which appeared in the April issue was instantly recognisable to many as the bridge at Eynsford, one of Kent’s best-known scenes. Its appearance prompted a phone call from Michael Barber, a resident of New York and a recently-joined member of the KAS. Michael’s maternal great- greatgrandmother was said to have lived in the present day ‘Tudor House’ and he sent the Newsletter a photo of perhaps even earlier date than that previously shown, which normally hangs on his wall at the family home in New York. Michael was put in touch with the Farningham & Eynsford LHS, and enquiries have ensued over the occuhis strange object appeared in the last issue and we asked if anyone could make an identification. Mrs Pa t Winzar wrote to say that it is the rare vamp-horn from Charing Church and that it is best described by the late Allen Grove FSA in an article on page 3 of the Journal of Kent History no.12, March 1981. “Kent still retains a rare instrument which I hesitate to call musical. It is the vamp-horn in Charing Church. There are some half-dozen other vamp-horns in England – at Summer 2003 7 Right: The Vamp-Horn A view recognised from across the Atlantic! Inset is our original picture. pation of the house. It is nice to know that the Newsletter has C H A R I N G ’ S VA M P - H O R N S H A R P E Y E S I N T H E B I G A P P L E Willoughton in Lincolnshire; East L e a ke and Brybrooke in Nottinghamshire; Harrington in Northamptonshire; Ashurst in Sussex. Apparently these instruments were used to amplify the sounds of the voices or to supply a missing part of the church band. According to Canon MacDermott, an old Sussex parish clerk who used the Ashurst vamp-horn stated that he merely sang or shouted down the instrument to make more sound for the singing.” MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS MORE SPOT S AND FINDS prompted such transatlantic correspondence! A N G L O - S A X O N A N D M E D I E VA L C O N F E R E N C E he third history and archaeology conference organised jointly by KAS and Canterbury Christ Church University College was held on Saturday, 26th April 2003. This conference focussed on Church and Monastery in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Society. The morning topics spanned the geology of building materials, the interaction of Rochester Cathedral and its precincts, monastic life and an overview of recent archaeological work on ecclesiastical sites in Kent and possibilities for the future. The afternoon session covered Medieval building methods and materials, examples of late Saxon and early Norman churches in East Kent and a comparison of the ecclesiastical capitals of Canterbury and Rouen between the ninth and eleventh centuries. The day also included a short report from the chairman of the KAS Churches Committee and an overview of the new KAS website. The lectures were illustrated by slides which helped to explain the complexities of organisation and construction of many of the magnificent buildings and their associated communities. This conference, as part of an ongoing series, achieved its aim of giving an insight into aspects of church studies not normally described or discussed. The wide theme for the day attracted a capacity audience, even late arrivals being squeezed in to fill the well-appointed lecture theatre. The venue also provided an opportunity for archaeologists and historians from around the County and beyond to get together and I am pleased to report that several attendees have taken the decision to become members of KAS. As usual the conference was ably organised by Alan Ward and Professor Sean Greenwood. All attending were given a useful handout containing details of the lecturers and their subjects plus a bibliography. The 2004 conference will take place on Saturday 1st May, so keep a vigilant eye out for full details which will appear in the Newsletter nearer the time. Shiela Broomfield ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Summer 2003 8 NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD MEMBERSHIP MATTERS ROVING REPORTER You and Your Society Please send all matters concerning membership, including changes of addresses, to me and not to Mrs Lawrence! If you renew your subscription later than June you are not entitled to the current year’s copy of Archaeologia Cantiana unless you send an additional £5. Remember to take your membership card with you to the KAS Library as this is essential if you wish to use it. If you have mislaid the card please send your request to me for a replacement, with a stamped addressed envelope. All correspondence relating to membership to – Mrs Shiela Broomfield, KAS Membership, 8 Woodview Crescent, Hildenborough, To n b r i d g e , TN11 9HD tel: 01732 838698 email: membership@ke n t a rc h a e o l o g y.org.uk or s.broomfield@ dial.pipex.com. I still require more ‘roving reporters’ to inform the Newsletter of events within your area which might be of interest to other KAS members. Areas now covered are Tonbridge, Rochester, Sittingbourne, Sevenoaks & Otford – thank you to those who responded to my previous request. Being geographically distant from my base, the east of the county in particular would benefit from someone who could keep an eye on local libraries, museums, clubs and similar, to find out about exhibitions, talks or other ‘happenings’. My contact details are on the back page and I would be pleased to hear from anyone that can help. The Editor An innovation at the A.G.M. was a report on the work of the Fieldwork Committee. Its chairman, Chris Pout, used a Powerpoint presentation and concentrated on the Society’s equipment which is available for members to borrow (after training) and the last season’s excavations at the Roman villa at Minster in Thanet. The meeting took place at the Angel Centre in Tonbridge and there were over 50 members present. Before and after the meeting they were able to look at displays by the Centre for Kentish Studies and some local societies and stalls selling books. The elections to the Council saw Chris Pout elected as a new member and the retirement of two long-serving members, Alec Miles and Ray Rolinson. There was no change to the other Council members and officers. In the afternoon Dr Derek ALLEN GROVE LOCAL HISTORY FUND The Fund made five grants this year totalling £1,050. These were made to Mrs M J Chapman for research into the lives of men and women of Loose who gave their lives in the two world wars, Mr J Owen for a history and guide of Throwley Church, Mr G Pike for publication of a book Whitstable: History at ABBEY FARM EXCAVATION Enrolment for the first week of the excavation by the KAS and the Trust for Thanet Archaeology at Minster (24th – 30th August) is almost full. There are still some places left for the second week (31st August - 6th September) but prompt booking is advised. Fee for KAS or Thanet Archaeological Society members is £25 for one week or £40 for two weeks, non-members £35 and £50 respectively. To enrol please contact David Bacchus, Telford Lodge, Roebuck Road, Rochester ME1 1UD tel: 01634 843495 email: d_bacchus@talk21.com the Horsebridge, Mrs M M Scott for printing a second instalment of the Leeds Millennium Project on the history of houses in the village, and Mr D C Vicerey-Weekes for printing a book on All Saints Church, Foots Cray. The next grants will be made in about June next year. Application forms for grants can be obtained from the Hon. General Secretary and the applications must reach him by 31st March. The trustees will be willing to consider suggestions for projects which could be commissioned by the Society and funded by grants from the Fund. Renn spoke on New Light on Kent C a s t l e s . He put forward some aspects of castles in and around Kent that are not always considered such as displaying their owners’ status as well as dominating their communities. sues its way into the 17th century in the current edition. Philip Lawrence (Chair) Membership Committee Thirty members joined together for the Spring Social event to Great Chart Church and Godinton House near Ashford. The pleasure of Godinton House even surpassed the pleasure of unusual summer sunshine. The superb example of the Toke family’s medieval hall house and its later development was greatly appreciated. Margaret Lawrence (Sec) Education Committee Ian Coulson was appointed new Chair to the Education Committee. Ian has extensive experience working in the education field, in particular as schools Lead History Advisor for the Kent Advisory Service at Kent County Council. The Committee agreed a grant of £5000 towards the work of Canterbury Archaeological Trust’s Education Service for the current year. A further grant of £200 was given to the North Downs Yo u n g Archaeologists Club to stage a National Archaeology Day Event in July at the Museum of Kent Life. Marion Green (Sec) Hon.General Secretary Andrew Moffat Three Elms, Woodlands Lane Shorne , Gravesend , DA12 3HH secretary@kentarchaeology.org.uk Hon.Treasurer Robin Thomas 1 Abchurch Yard, Abchurch Lane London EC4N 7BA treasurer@kentarchaeology.org.uk Summer 2003 9 NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD NOTICE BOARD CONTACT ADDRESSES KAS COMMITTEE ROUND-UP You and Your Society Publications Committee There are at present eighteen members on the Committee. Good progress is being made in preparing an Historical Atlas of Ke n t, which promises to be a fine publication. The next volume of Archaeologia Cantiana is well on schedule. Jointly with the Ke n t History Federation the Committee administers the Kent History Fund, awarding grants to support historical research and publication. During 2002 seven grants were awarded totalling £2,150. Recently it has been resolved that applications can be submitted and considered at any time within a year, provided that the total sum allocated by the Council is not exceeded for that year. £2000 has been allocated for 2003. Details concerning applications appear in the Newsletter. John Whyman (Chair) Fieldwork Committee. Excavation. Fremlins Site Maidstone: development here has already revealed Roman features; inhumation burials and postmedieval buildings. The site is being excavated by the A.O.C. unit. Margate Football Ground: the rebuilding of the stadium has exposed a ditch containing bone, shell and Iron-Age pottery. The site is being excavated by the Trust for Thanet Archaeology. Dartford Priory Site: earth works here have revealed walls that were once part of the priory. The site is being excavated by the Wessex Archaeological Unit. Young Archaeologists: the North Downs Group have carried out excavation work on a windmill site at Stelling Minnis. The project was done in conjunction with the K.C.C. Recording. The Kent Underground Research Group are recording tunnels at Snargate Street, D o v e r. Their project at Chislehurst Caves is on going. Anthony Thomas is writing up the site of Bexley Manor. Metal Detecting. The southern region of the National Council for Metal Detecting have set up a support unit in Kent. The unit when requested will work with archaeological groups and member clubs of the NCMD SR. Fieldwork Contacts. Chris Pout. Sunnydene, Boyden Gate Corner, Roebuck Road, Marshside, Nr. Canterbury, CT3 4EE. Tel 01227 860207. David Bacchus. Telford Lodge, Rochester, Kent, ME1 1UD. Tel 01634 843495 email:d_bacchus@talk21.com Churches Committee The Churches Committee welcomed some fifty people on the Spring visit to Hoo Allhallows and St.Margaret’s High Halstow - both likely to be affected by any future Cliffe Airport. The data bank being built up of all places of worship in the county still requires input from a number of areas. Information should be addressed to the Hon. Sec. KAS Churches Committee, The L i b r a r y, Maidstone Museum, S t . Faith’s Street, Maidstone, ME 14 1LH. Local churches continue to benefit from our advice on guidebook planning and interpretation of architecture. The ‘Ideas and Ideals’ series purn 313 Constantine issued the Edict of Milan which gave Christianity full legal equality.1 However in 380 an edict decreed that “all the peoples” of the empire should “practice…the Christian reli - gion”. This move created a structure that would quickly depart from its original purity, a church beholden to the state. From that day to this groups of Christians have sought to return to New Testament simplicity and purity. Often they have had to do this in the teeth of opposition from the official faith of the state in which they lived. In Medieval England the first defined group to be dissatisfied with the established order of a state enforced faith were the followers of John Wycliffe. Known as Lollards, they emphasised the need for people to read the Bible in the vernacular and the need for personal religion. They were particularly numerous in the Weald of Kent with a very strong following for several generations in Tenterden. Their doctrines found expression in other later dissident voices and groups. On the continent in the wake of the reformation arose a more radical movement called Anabaptism. This taught separation of the Church and State and drew fierce opposition with the result that many fled to England. As Henry Dosker states, ‘in the turbu - lent times of the great persecution in the Lowlands, refugees by the thousand left Holland for the harbour of refuge in the great island kingdom.’2 A n a b a p t i s t s found in England kindred spirits among Lollard communities and Kent was regarded as a hot bed of activity, so much so that in 1547 Bishops were appointed to deal with them.3 Joan of Kent was the most well known radical who was condemned to be burned at the stack in 1550. The Elizabethan Settlement in England brought little relief for those who disagreed with the status quo. Those who separated themselves from the Church of England were labelled as Brownists after Ro b e r t Browne (1550-1633), the father of Congregationalism. He taught that Summer 2003 10 stances. The Vicar of Marden, Francis Cornwell, had spent time in Maidstone jail for nonconformity and during this time accepted Baptist beliefs and was baptised by immersion at the hands of William Jeffrey, an active General Baptist preacher who was responsible for planting over twenty churches in Kent.7 When Cornwell was released in 1644, he was appointed to preach a visitation sermon in the parish church at Cranbrook. He boldly took the opportunity to expound his new views of the church and preached from Mark 7:7. ‘They worship me, teaching for doc - trines the commandments of men.’ Such o u t s p o kenness caused an outcry followed by a public debate. Christopher Blackwood, the Curate of Rye [1606 – 1670] was present and he calmed the tumult promising to answer these arguments at an open public meeting. However, he himself became convinced Cornwell was right. Blackwood’s studies were printed in 1644 as ‘The Storming of Anti-Christ …… Of Compulsion of Conscience and Infants’ Baptism.’8 This little book was primarily a powerful plea for liberty of conscience to worship God according to ones own personal convictions. The other half of the book was a powerful array of the arguments against the practice of peodobaptism. Blackwood wrote that ‘infant baptism upholds a national church, for it is hereby that all nations become (pseudo Christians many of them) Christians, not from any national multiplication of disciples.’9 Blackwood argued powerfully against the evil of persecution and showed that the Old Testament is not a pattern for the relationship between state and church. He believed that ‘the godly may rest their cause confidently in the vast power of God’s truth’,10 and ‘that even as we do not cut off persons infected with pox, leprosy or pestilence, neither should the magistrate cut off heretics. It is not possible for God’s elect to be deceived but it is possible for heretics to be converted.’11 Blackwood accepted that absolute freedom should be permitted to all, provided they did not endanger the state or authority was to be given to each congregation to govern themselves as independent religious bodies, with each individual congregation electing and supporting its own ministry. From these congregations came the Pilgrim Fathers. James 1 on his accession would allow no changes and stated “ h e would have them conform or harry them out of the land”. Dissent was harshly suppressed resulting in many arrests and the exile of whole congregations to Holland and then America.4 John Lothrop, the Curate of Egerton, left there in 1623, to join London’s oldest independent congregation. In 1632, as he met for worship in Blackfriars, Laud’s warrant officer broke in and arrested 42 people; John was held until he agreed to go into exile and so in 1635 Lothrop with thirty-four of his friends landed at Scituate Mass. Within weeks many more sympathisers arrived from Kent,5 so that the main thoroughfare of the settlement was named Kent Street.6 The most numerous dissenters in Kent however were to be the Baptists. A group of English exiles in Amsterdam formed a church under the leadership of John Smyth (c.1554 - 1612) and Thomas Helwys. In 1611 Helwys led the group back to England, and wrote ‘The Mistery of I n i q u i t y ’, the first English printed book to plead for full religious freedom. In this he argued for freedom of religion for all, specifically including in this Islamic, Judaic, and atheistic belief. W S Wyles in his Fragment of Baptist History suggested that there had been a meeting of Anabaptists at Smarden before 1603, but it is more likely that this was a Lollard meeting. Eythorne in East Kent had a meeting at an early date but was not officially organised as a Baptist meeting until the late 17th century. Nonconformity flourished during the Commonwealth period, especially so in Kent after 1653 when Baptist evangelists came from London. The Smarden Baptist church is the counties oldest with records dating from its inception. This church began through an unusual chain of circum- BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHE STATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHE STATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHE STATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHE STATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHE STATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHE STATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHE STATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROM THE STATE INKENT ‘IDEAS and IDEALS’ This is the seventh of a series of articles describing formative movements and ideas in the history of the church. These were the crises of thought and conviction which brought us to where we are. BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS A N D S E PA R AT I O N F R O M T H E S TAT E I N K E N T Summer 2003 11 the nation’s religious life. At long last the State recognised the right of Nonconformists to have their own preachers and places of worship. Thus dawned a new day that many previous generations of dissenters had longed to see. Their faith in God and the strength of their convictions are cause for thankfulness. Today we enjoy liberty of conscience hard won for us by these folk. For generations they were an underground church suffering fines, imprisonment and even martyrdom. We are deeply in their debt. N L Hopkins – Whitstable Norman Hopkins is the author of ‘The Baptist’s of Smarden and the Weald of Kent - 1640-2000’. 216pp with over 80 illustrations, £11 post-free. Available from the author at 9, Strangford Road, Whitstable, CT5 2EP. 1 Williston Walker. History of the Christian Church, T&T Clark 1986 p125 2 Henry Dosker. The Dutch Anabaptists. Philadelphia. (1921),pp.284-285 3 R.J.Smithson. The Anabaptists. ( 1935), pp.198-199 4 Clarence M Waite. Congregationalism in Scituate. (Scituate, 1967), p.11 5 Samuel Deane. History of Scituate. (Boston, 1831), p.9 6 ibid., p.8 7 Rudge, op. cit. Introduction. 8 Printed 1644. “written by C.B. out of his earnest desire he hath to a thorough reformation , having formerly seen the mischief of half reformation” 9 C.Blackwood. Apostolicall Baptism. P.31 10 Blackwood Storming of Anti-Christ op.cit., pp.24 -26 11 Blackwood Storming of Anti-Christ op.cit., pp.24 -26 12 Tracts on Liberty of Conscience, ( Knolly’s Society, 1847), p.289 13 W.K. Jordan, Development of Religious Toleration in England 1640-1660. (1938), p.460 14 T. R. Hooper, A Surrey and Sussex Border Church. 1925, .p66 15 A. Taylor, op. cit., Vol. I, p.286 16 A.C. Millar, Eythorne - The story of a Baptist church. (1924), p.17 for worship, the penalties being £20 each on the preacher and householder, 5/- on each hearer with half to go to the informer. In 1670 the penalties were stiffened and included transportation. The Test Act of 1673 was the final injustice and denied all employment, civil, naval or military under the government to Nonconformists. It was not until 1812 that the limited Toleration Act of 1689 was extended and finally in 1828 the Test and Corporation Acts were repealed. Full access to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge did not come until 1871. The ‘meeters’ often had to pay the fines for others who could not pay for themselves. Warrants of distress were granted to informers, to levy the amount on the possessions of the accused; and the constables were charged to relieve the ‘meeters’ of property to three times the value of the fine. Shops were plundered, homes were stripped and cattle were driven off their owners’ lands to satisfy these disgraceful laws.14 Little is recorded of how our Kentish people fared, but we do know an attempt was made to arrest George Hammon, the pastor of the Biddenden meeting. On his way to take a meeting, he was caught in a storm. As he sheltered under a tree, a stranger from a nearby house called out saying ‘I hear there is to be a meeting nearby and I am an informer’ George replied, ‘I am a man taker also, will you come with me to the same place?’ So they w a l ked together to the assembled gathering and waited. Whereupon George said to the spy ‘There is no min - ister, so it cannot be a conventicle unless someone preaches, so let you or I preach.’ The spy declining, Hammon to his great surprise spoke with such power and effect that the informer became a changed man.15 The minister of Eythorne, John Knott, had his goods seized and offered for public sale but he was so well respected nobody would bid for his property.16 In 1672 an indulgence was granted and many men took the opportunity to license their homes or those of their supporters for preaching. Fifty-three licences were granted in Kent but this relief was short lived and within the year persecution was renewed. In 1676 Smarden alone had one hundred nonconformists and this shows that persecution did little to change their views. The coming of William and Mary was a welcome relief to all nonconformists. Parliament speedily passed The Toleration Act of 1689, which was the first statutory grant of religious toleration in England and extended religious liberties to Catholic and Protestant alike, ending the Church of England’s monopoly of violate civil peace. Even Catholics he bravely advocated should be at complete liberty until such times as they threaten the stability of the state. These were radical views and far ahead of their time. Blackwood was baptised by Jeffrey along with Richard Kingsnorth and with others who then began to meet in Kingsnorth’s house, named Spillshill near Staplehurst. In 1640/44 over 80 people met and covenanted together to constitute a church after the New Testament pattern. This pioneer group met in Spillshill until 1677, by which time they had meetings all around the Weald and a membership drawn from over thirty parishes. Months in advance of Charles II arrival on these shores, four Baptist leaders in Kent - Jeffrey and Reeve of Sevenoaks with Hammon and Blackmore of Biddenden - were in Maidstone jail from where they published a tract in 1660 entitled ‘A Humble Petition of several innocent sub - jects called Anabaptists now prisoners in Maidstone jail ... together with an acknowledgement of the kings authority in civil things … with their reasons meriting the King’s protection in their civil and spiritual rights.’ They expressed their hopes that Charles would keep to his promise given at Breda when he declared he ‘would give liberty to tender consciences, and that no man shall be disquieted or called in question for differences of opinion in matters of religion’1 2. This plea and another by the main Baptist body was ignored and thirty-five years of hardship and persecution lay ahead for all nonconformists. Complete religious toleration was viewed as a threat to the stability of the state by the establishment of the day. In the words of W. K. Jordan, a leading authority - They held as a mat - ter of principle that the State and Church must be completely disassociated. They required no assistance from the civil mag - istrate in the formation of their church or in the maintenance of its discipline and hence could view with equanimity any political order, which invested them with religious freedom. They found in the Cromwellian settlement of religion a large measure of freedom and accordingly were inclined to support the civil government with all the means at their disposal.13 Very soon fines, distraint and imprisonment were being meted out liberally to those who held unauthorised meetings. Firstly the Corporation Act of 1661 prevented any Nonconformist from holding office in any municipal body, and then the Act of Uniformity of 1662 forbade all gatherings for worship which did not conform to the new prayer book. Then the Conventicle Act of 1664 forbade more than five persons other than the family to meet BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHEST ATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHE STATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHEST ATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHESTATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHEST ATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHEST ATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHE STATE INKENT BAPTISTS, INDEPENDENTS & SEPARATION FROMTHEST ATE INKENT Summer 2003 12 BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES BOOKS & LIBRARIES tel: 01322 862864 Price £3.00 + p&p. The Long Gone Cinemas of Swale by John Clancy. Mercia Cinema Society 0-946406-54-5 £4.50 The cinematic history of Swale, Faversham and the Isle of Sheppey, from its beginnings in 1910, through the golden years of the ‘30s and ‘40s to the gradual decline which growing competition from television and bingo in the ‘50s brought. This 70 page book has been warmly received by both cinema buffs and those with an interest in local history in general. Available by post from Stuart Smith, 100 Wickfield Ro a d , H a c kenthorpe, Sheffield, Yorks S12 4TT, tel: 0777 1554605 or from various outlets in Sittingbourne and Faversham. The 1500 year History of Holy Trinity Church, Milton R e g i s b y John Clancy. Court Hall Management Committee £3.50. A fully illustrated booklet which not only charts the development of the church but also explores new theories and interpretations of long-accepted stories and legends surrounding it, such as the supposed Roman villa beneath the graveyard and the death of Queen Sexburga in the church doorway. Available from Mr N Elkin, 58 Park Road, Sittingbourne ME10 1DY. Please add 50p postage. N E WB O O K S C O M P E T I T I O N census and civil registration systems, parish maps of the 30 Kent registration districts with adjacent districts, the current registrars and their old registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths; the PRO census piece numbers; all available street and surname indexes; master index to all Kent parishes; tips on how to search the records; district and county statistics etc… Available from 71 Island Wa l l , Whitstable, CT5 1EL tel: 01227 275931 web: www. c a n t e r h i l l . c o . u k / davideastkent/ Also available if ordered together, this book and a previous work by the same author, East Kent Parishes 0-9517580-1-2 (featured in Newsletter no 54) at the special price of £20.00 inland, abroad £22.00 surface or £24.00 airmail, or £17.50 in person. The Bridges of Eynsford and Fa r n i n g h a m by W G Duncombe. Farningham & Eynsford Local History Society publication no.33 (2003); 23pp. incl illus and maps. There were stone bridges across the River Darent in the two parishes from the 16th century or even earlier. This account uses some hundred documents in the Centre for Kentish Studies, as well as other sources, and charts the use, repair and rebuilding of the bridges across the centuries. Available from R A Nightingale Becket’s Relic – Two Boys and a Murder by Marjorie Lyle. 0-9529383- 2-4 £4.99 The origin of this book was an invitation by the KAS in 1999 to the author to re-run the Society’s first excursion of 1869 (‘In the steps of Becket’) in the light of 130 years of archaeology. The work undertaken for that walk threw up the name and job of Robert Shinbone, Archbishop’s scullion, who appears in contemporary accounts of the events of 29th December 1170 as being made to help FitzUrse arm for the murder. This is the author’s fourth Canterbury history literary venture and is billed as ‘for 11-12’s of any age!’ The ‘What is true?’ section at the end of the book provides historical facts on which the book is based. Available in Canterbury in the Cathedral giftshop, the V.I.C. & Albion Bookshop or order through the ISBN from bookshops elsewhere. The Kentish Census Returns 1801-1901 by Dr David Wright. 0- 9517580-2-0 £6.50 to include p&p inland, £8.00 abroad or £6.00 in person. This book will tell you all you need to know on a century of these indispensable records; history of the Congratulations to the four winners of our book competition featured in the April edition, Newsletter no.56. They are Eric Green from Gravesend, Edward James from Shoreham, Matt Maytum from Etchinghill and Mrs S Pittman from Swanley. Each winner receives a copy of Sheerness Naval Dockyard & Garrison by David T Hughes (Tempus Publishing £11.99). The answer to the question ‘which ship, featured in the book, was a survivor from the time of the Napoleonic wars?’ was the Cornwallis. Publish your archaeology, history or records paper on the internet with the Kent Archaeological Society Your paper must relate to the archaeology and history of the ancient county of Kent* Editorial approval Refereed You retain the copyright but authorise that the paper be held for download for private or academic use Each author accepted is given a page on the site. The page will include a photograph of the author and a brief biography which the author may ask to be updated at any time Short abstract required Accepted notation system of your choice The website is funded by the Society, an educational charity. Your first submission should be on floppy disk or CD readable on the PC platform and accompanied by a completed submission form. All submissions should be addressed to Joy Sage, KAS Internet Publishing, Museum and Bentliff Art Gallery, Museum Street, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1LH, England. Once accepted as a contributor, further papers may be submitted by email. Once a paper has been accepted, it will be turned into an Adobe® Acrobat® file for download. The paper will remain available on the site until withdrawn by you. Special arrangements may be made to cater for records databases to be searched online. * This effectively means the following local authority areas: Kent, Medway and the London Boroughs of Bromley, Lewisham and Greenwich. Summer 2003 13 THE CIVIC TRUST HERITAGE OPEN DAYS CIVIC TRUST HERITAGE OPEN DAYS CIVIC TRUST HERITAGE OPEN DAYS CIVIC TRUST HERITAGE OPEN DAYS CIVIC TRUST HERITAGE OPEN DAYS CIVIC TRUST HERITAGE OPEN DAYS CIVIC TRUST HERITAGE OPEN DAYS CIVIC TRUST HERITAGE OPEN DAYS CIVIC TRUST HERITAGE OPEN DAYS CIVIC TRUST HERITAGE OPEN DAYS w w w. k e n t a rc h a e o l o g y.ac and 21st September. Details can be found on www. l o n d o n o p e nhouse. org or from the previous contact details. stablished in 1994, this event is England’s contribution to European Heritage Days, in which 48 countries take part. Celebrating England’s architecture and culture, these Open Days allow visitors free access to interesting, and often curious, properties that are normally either closed or charge entrance. Tours, events and activities focussing on local architecture and culture also take place. Organised by volunteers for local people, and with support and funding from English Heritage, the Open Days attract some 800,000 visitors each year. From tunnels to temples and follies to factories, the variety of places is endless – churches, industrial sites, castles, windmills, town halls, offices, and contemporary buildings all figure in the list of open properties. The event directory, listing all participating properties, appears this month – log onto www.heritageopendays. org.uk to discover a venue near you or ring 020 7930 0914 or write to The Civic Trust, 17 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AW. In addition, London holds its own special event, London Open House, on the 20th DO YOU RECOGNISE THIS SPOT? This idyllic scene is one of many images held in the KASlibrary collection which have no provenance. Do you recognise the house or garden? If you do know the location of either please contact the editor at 55 Stone Street, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2QU I cannot easily calculate how many socketed axes are known from Kent, but a published corpus for Scotland and northern England contains over 700 and southern England is much richer. So while we are rightly impressed by the skill of Bronze Age craftsmen, axes were probably very common objects at the time as the all-purpose woodworking tool to which most adults must have required access. Bronze must have indeed have been valuable, so hoards were not necessarily lost or forgotten. Of course some hoards might have been hidden for later retrieval that never took place, but they were probably a minori t y. We know from finds of bronzes, notably swords, from rivers - including the Medway, that fine metalwork was deposited in circumstances that must have been deliberate: Francis Pryor’s brilliant excavations have revealed how bronzes were thrown into the water from a causeway linking Flag Fen platform with dry land at Fengate. The point is that people knew very well where those bronzes were being deposited, though it would have been impossible to recover them. The same may have applied to some hoards on dry land, where law or convention might have strongly discouraged other people from digging them up again. Clay Lane Wood, discussed by Paul Ashbee in Newsletter no 48, is an intriguing find. But its bronzes might have been bright simply because they had been deposited in conditions that did not allow extensive corrosion or patina to develop. F i n a l l y, we should congratulate all those involved in recovering the hoard – and welcome the belated introduction in England of antiquities legislation to protect the integrity of such finds. Our understanding of Bronze Age metalwork and its deposition can be improved only by study of the material and its context. The starting point for this must be publication, so I hope that - unlike most hoards from Kent - Hollingbourne will be fully and promptly published. Perhaps the KAS will assist? Brendan O’Connor Edinburgh Dear Editor KENT CHURCHES SURVEYS I must correct the impression given by Alan Ward at the K.A.S. Day Conference, ‘Church and Monastery in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Times’ held on 26th April 2003. He seemed to be suggesting that there are no archaeological surveys of churches currently being undertaken in Dear Editor HOLLINGBOURNE HOARD May I respond to the letter from the Chairman of the Lenham Archaeological Society in the Spring Newsletter? In brief, while people in AD 43 could have known Bronze Age objects, the Hollingbourne hoard had probably been in the ground for nearly a thousand years by then. To take her last point first, I too hope the hoard can be carbon-dated. A recent programme of radiocarbon dating for Bronze Age metalwork – including wood from sockets - has shown that material from the Carp’s Tongue phase was in use around 1000-800 BC. Some writers have proposed that hoards like Hollingbourne were deposited around 800 BC because bronze went out of use then. There is indeed very little metalwork of the succeeding Llyn Fawr phase in Kent, but elsewhere in southern England bronze hoards continued to be deposited until about 600 BC. However, we cannot be sure that all the numerous Carp’s Tongue hoards were deposited at the end of the period and other factors were probably influential in the transition from bronze to iron. Sometimes Bronze Age types were deposited even later, notably in the socalled Salisbury hoard probably buried around 200 BC. We also think miniature versions of bronze socketed axes were made during the Iron Age and the Roman period. This indicates that Iron Age people knew Bronze Age metalwork, perhaps because they uncovered old hoards as we do today or perhaps because some Bronze Age objects were preserved through later centuries, but I understand that metal detector surveys revealed no Iron Age finds at Hollingbourne. Whether any of the axes from Hollingbourne were perfectly good when they were deposited, the hoard certainly contains small fragments of axes and other objects. While it does include copper ingot fragments, the product of smelting copper ore, the hoard does not appear to contain debris from casting of new bronze objects and I understand that there was no evidence of a furnace on the site. This suggests Hollingbourne is better described as a scrap hoard than as a founder’s hoard. Whatever the interpretation of the metalwork before it was deposited, the significance of its deposition may not necessarily have reflected the function of its contents before they were buried. Hoards on dry land might have been deposited to demonstrate the wealth and prestige of the people who buried them, or for some other reason of the kind archaeologists usually call ‘ritual’. Summer 2003 14 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SUMMER 2003 Kent. Much excellent work was done by Tim Tatton-Brown for the Dioceses of Canterbury and Rochester in the 1990s – copies of all his surveys are in the Canterbury Archaeological Trust’s library. Tim’s work has been carried on since 2000 by Hugh Richmond, M.A., Dip. Arch. (Cantab), F. S.A., an Historic Buildings Consultant who was previously Director of Architectural Survey for the Ro y a l Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. Hugh surveyed twenty churches in 2002, and a further twenty are planned for this year. His reports, which include phased building plans, form part of the Sites and Monuments Record maintained by K.C.C. Indeed, K.C.C. was one of the original sponsors of the project, as were the two Diocese and other interested bodies, including the K.A.S. and I am glad to have the opportunity to publicly thank the Churches Committee in particular for their recent donation towards the costs of the Survey. So far we have surveyed almost 50% of Kent churches listed Grade II* or higher, a total of 160, and there are plans to make the results widely accessible through a website. Again K.A.S. funding is enabling us to embark on a pilot study of how this can best be achieved. However, longer term funding for the surveys themselves is not yet in place and the future is uncertain. Nevertheless, I cannot agree with Alan Ward’s view that most amateur archaeologists could take part in this type of recording work, albeit under professional guidance. While this may be true of ruined churches such as Stone next Faversham and Hope, the recording and, more importantly, the interpretation of standing fabric is an entirely different matter. This requires specialist knowledge of church architecture, including a detailed appreciation of style and the development of form. It is also essential to have an understanding of changes in liturgical practice and the way in which church interiors have been adapted and changed to accommodate them. In practice this requires knowledge of the whole range of furniture and other artefacts, of all periods, that survive in churches, and the ability to place them in a meaningful context. One thing is certain. There must be effective coordination to avoid duplication of effort. A committee, comprising representatives of the two Kent dioceses, English Heritage and K.C.C., already exists to plan and oversee the survey work. The secretary, Mr Ian Dodd, D. A . C. Secretary, 9 The Precincts, Canterbury CT1 2EE will be pleased to help with any enquiries. Leslie A Smith, Chairman Canterbury and Rochester Diocesan Archaeological Survey LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR floral motifs (fig 2). Tom Organ of the Wallpaintings Workshop, Faversham, gave a slide presentation describing the delicate and sometimes difficult work of restoring the original media, which took five years to complete. Mrs Eiley Bassett, a local historian, had earlier outlined something of the history of the church and the circumstances leading to the decoration. The last murals to be added were two fine paintings occupying the north wall of the chancel, Presentation of the Keys to St Peter and Pentecost. The survival, in as near as possible to their original condition of a complete church décor, is remarkable, and is probably due in large part to the patronage of the Wigan family. John Alfred Wigan of East Malling acquired the patronage in 1836, installing his son, Alfred, in 1856 as Rector. The family donated the chancel paintings in memory of him. The overall work was initiated by the Reverend Alfred Wigan, and much of the cost was almost certainly met by him. The last member of the family to live in Luddesdown was Miss Eleanor Wigan, who died in the mid 1950’s. estoration of rare Vi c t o r i a n wall paintings was cause for celebration in May at the little North Downs church of SS Peter & Paul in Luddesdown. This unique collection of Pre- Raphaelite church art is an unusual survival of high quality when so many of its contemporaries have fallen victim to fire, obliterating whitewash and aesthetic disapproval. The 13th/14th century church had suffered serious fabric damage in 1865 with a roof fall, but initial plans to rebuild it as a 19th century church were eventually modified to restore the church substantially, incorporating most of the original fabric in situ. The decoration began in 1870, when a triple lancet east window with seven panels depicting the life of Christ replaced a single lancet. Three years later a single lancet was added to the south-east of the chancel. Both were the work of Heaton, Butler and Bayne, leading practitioners of church d é c o r, particularly noted for their stained glass. In the mid-1870’s, further decoration was prescribed on an allocation of £830, and Heaton, Butler & Bayne were again contracted for the work. This was begun in the nave, with biblical inscriptions at ceiling height and a dado of sunflowers on a red ground to pew height. In 1877/8 the west wall was decorated with five cusped arches and floral panels, and a charming grisaille, Children Being Presented to Christ (fig 1), was added to the south wall of the baptistry. The murals show clearly the Pre- Raphaelite influence. During the morning of the first day of a celebratory weekend, Valerie Woodgate, art historian of the Tate Gallery, interpreted some of the religious significance in the paintings, particularly in the Summer 2003 15 VICTORIAN ART IN A MEDIEVAL CHURCH VICTORIAN ART IN A MEDIEVAL CHURCH VICTORIAN ART IN A MEDIEVAL CHURCH VICTORIAN ART IN A MEDIEVAL CHURCH VICTORIAN ART IN A MEDIEVAL CHURCH VICTORIAN ART IN A MEDIEVAL CHURCH VICTORIAN ART IN A MEDIEVAL CHURCH VICTORIAN ART IN A MEDIEVAL CHURCH VICTORIAN ART IN A MEDIEVAL CHURCH VICTORIAN ART IN A MEDIEVAL CHURC V I C T O R I A NA RT I NAM E D I E VA LC H U R C H Fig 1 – Grisaille, south wall of the Baptistry Fig 2 – 13th century Aumbrey, North Wall, Chancel Fig 3 – Detail from Baptistry Fig 4 – Half Angel holding text, East Wall fig 4 fig 1 fig 2 fig 3 T H EC A N T I A C I ‘ I ron Age Anoraks’ Summer 2003 16 not without some ‘sticky’ moments - “on hot days I’ve nearly dried in the daub pit several times after climbing in to work it well with my feet!” laughs Chris. The Cantiaci numbered over 40 people by now – many of them family groups. Chris recalls past Cantiaci children, whose involvement with the community experience has shaped their outlook today. “They learnt their parents’ skills, just as in the Iron Age, became ecologically aware and truly were part of an extended ‘tribal’ family”. Decisions have always been made communally, and all personal disputes have to stay firmly within the 21st century. Each member of the project has a role to play; specialists in textiles, leather, wood, metalwork, basketry and ancient foodstuffs are constantly reworking ideas to uncover the story behind the manufacture and use of artefacts. If possible, Kentish finds are recreated; firedogs are based on those with an auroch’s head in Maidstone Museum. If no local example exists, style and material are based on the nearest available, hence an exact copy of a chain from Danebury supports their cauldron. The project went from strength to strength. Their professionalism led to TV work and credits include ‘Boudicca’ for Cromwell Films, ‘Tales of the Living Dead’ for Brighton Films (sold to Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel amongst others) and ‘Meet the Ancestors’. BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE BACK PAGE PEOPLE he house in Gillingham looks similar to others nearby – bright with flower baskets and modern. But step inside and time peels away to reveal the trappings of life some 2000 years ago; there are carded fleeces in the broom cupboard, wooden spear poles on the stairwell, metalworking debris in the garden and natural dyes brewing in the kitchen. This house is overflowing with materials and objects used in recreating the lives of the Cantiaci, the Iron Age tribe of Kent. On their own admission, the occupants, Chris and Joe Toomey, regard their passion for the Iron Age as that of ‘anorak’ status. The Toomeys, together with associate Carol Wi g l e y, form the management team of the Cantiaci - an appropriate ‘Celtic trio’. Groups such as theirs, dedicating themselves to living-out past lives, can be an easy target for intellectual disparagement; but you have only to listen to Cantiaci’s members talking about La Tène metalwork styles or the survival of Hallstatt salt mine fabrics to appreciate the veracity and depth of their knowledge. The Cantiaci project has one abiding ethos, that all recreation should be purely on the basis of known archaeological evidence. But authenticity does not extend to fanaticism; “reality kicked in when suggestions were made that I wrap my toddlers, as they were then, in fleece, or leave them bare-bottomed – nappies were a must”. In public the group eat only food prepared and cooked in accordance with their ethos of authenticity, although precautions are taken, such as the sterilization of all pottery with a steam gun beforehand. Given that there are many children in the group, some of whom are not overkeen on Iron Age fare, the odd packet of crisps is consumed behind a wattle screen! The project’s inception arose a decade ago when Joe and Chris were asked to help out at Riverside Country Park with school parties. A month before an advertised event, ‘A Story to Tell’, they were told that this was to be their story, and Cantiaci was born. In September 1993, they became ‘official’, with a small grant from Gillingham Borough Council, despite Riverside’s management giving them only 3 weeks to last. After consideration of other groups also involved in ‘being’ the past, they knew what they didn’t want it to do. “Re-enactment, often based on conflict of the time, was not for us – it was more of a challenge to research and see how people really lived their everyday lives – to be a living history project”. It was decided to build an Iron Age Village at Riverside. Work began in earnest, but EDITOR : LYN PALMER 55 Stone Street, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2QU Telephone: 01892 533661 Mobile: 07810 340831 Email evelyn.palmer@virgin.net or newsletter@kentarchaeology.org.uk But disaster struck in August 2001. A tiny piece of smouldering grass, caught up in a thermal from a distant fire, landed on the roundhouse roof. Within 5 minutes everything flammable had disappeared – only metallic artefacts were saved. Grieving for this loss is still apparent in Chris’s eyes when she speaks of the desperate battle to save the house and the sense of helplessness as they watched. Although a great personal loss to the Cantiaci, the destruction of the roundhouse did provide an opportunity to study what might remain in the archaeological record after a fire; a detailed record was made of burn patterns. The roundhouse has not, however, been rebuilt. Cantiaci’s firm belief that education should be free for all was challenged when the Council wanted to charge admission. The proposition also of an ice cream stand nearby ruled out archaeological authenticity: “We’d be Disney Cantiaci . . . ”. Having no base now as such, their display is presently a mobile one, and it is hoped to raise enough funds to buy a suitably large vehicle with which to transport most of the group. They have recently invested in a new computer system with which to revamp their website, as public access is so important. Work is progressing on a package to offer within schools; Chris fantasises about a screen-printed instant roundhouse! However, without the tastes, smells, textures, sounds and atmosphere of their previous ‘home’, the Cantiaci feel that children miss out on the total experience they previously offered. The Cantiaci can be seen on display at The Museum of Kent Life on National Archaeology Day on Sunday 20th July from 11am-4pm. The Editor Copy deadline for the next issue in October is Monday 1st September The editor wishes to draw attention to the fact that neither she nor the Council of the KAS 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. Published by the Kent Archaeological Society, The Museum, St Faith’s Street, Maidstone, Kent. ME 14 1LH www.kentarchaeology.org.uk