KAS Newsletter, Issue 72, Spring 2007

nneeww ss ll ee tt tt ee rr K E N T A R C H A E O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y Issue number 72 Spring 2007 www.kentarchaeology.org.uk Inside 2-3 Eastry Burials Hundred Rolls Online 4-5 Library Notes S E Research Framework 6-7 What’s On 8-9 Notice Board 10-11 Rooswijk Wreck New Place to Visit Cant Arch Soc Grants New Books 12-13 Fieldwork Opportunities 14-15 Letters 16 Western Heights ANGLOSAXON WITH A DEADLY ABSCESS? E A S T R Y B U R I ALS STOP PRESS Your AGM information (and Annual Report) is inside - we hope to see you there. The last few years have seen the excavation, usually as a result of disturbance by minor building and ground works, of a number of early Anglo-Saxon burials at Eastry, now a village but once a regional administrative centre of the Kings of Kent. It is intended that these new discoveries will be published as part of a major re-evaluation of Anglo-Saxon Eastry which the author is undertaking along with Tania Dickinson, Chris Fern and Alex Holton. One of the most interesting of the recent finds is Grave 2 from Cross Farm, which is pictured here. The burial was that of a woman aged between 35-40 years, who had suffered a very bad tooth abscess shortly before her death; perhaps this had contributed to her demise? She was buried in a chalk-cut grave, aligned SW-NE. Her grave goods included a pair of copper alloy cruciform brooches, an iron buckle with inlaid wire, a knife, and what appear to be the contents of a purse, including a Roman copper alloy key. The brooches, together with the buckle, suggest a date for this burial sometime during the second half of the 5th century AD. The brooches were probably manufactured in Jutland or Frisia; whether or not their wearer had travelled across the North Sea with them, this woman would certainly be able to shed a great deal of light on the origins of the Kingdom of Kent if she could speak to us today. Andrew Richardson A N G L O - S A X O NB U R I A L SATE A S T RY Spring 2007 2 COVER & BELOW: The female skeleton in grave 2. ABOVE: One of the brooches. lesson was drawing to a close. To my surprise, I had enjoyed my brief flirtation with m o d e rn technology. When my tutor casually mentioned that I could easily print any art i c l e or illustration without having to use a photoc o p i e r, I was hooked. I can hardly wait to i m p ress the current KAS President with my new expertise. I might even have to buy a c o m p u t e r. Paul Oldham t h e re – text, diagrams, maps, and coloure d illustrations – just like paging through the original volume. The only diff e rence was that by clicking on the magnifying glass icon I could enlarge the illustrations and zoom in on the intricate details. One click took me back to ‘Bookmarks’, and a second click took me back to the list of volumes. I was just getting ready to explore another volume, when I discovered that my 3 Spring 2007 l There are still a few copies left of the DVD containing volumes ICXXV of Archaeologia Cantiana at £30 for individual members and £75 for institutional members plus £1 postage and packaging. l Copies may be ordered by sending a cheque, (payable to KAS) to James M. Gibson, 27 Pine Grove, Maidstone, Kent ME14 2AJ. ARCHAEOLOGIA CANTIANA DVD When the Secre t a ry of the Publications Committee off e red to give me a thirty- minute lesson on the new A rchaeologia Cantiana DVD, I accepted the challenge. I slipped the DVD into his laptop and waited. Up came a screen inviting me to ‘Click here to open the DVD.’ One click produced a list of volumes from I to CXXV – just what I like – a good list of Roman numerals. After all, what could be more appropriate for an historical society than Roman numerals. But I digre s s . I clicked at random on Volume XVII. The lefthand side of the screen, labelled ‘Bookmarks’, immediately changed to the volu m e ’s table of contents, and the righthand side of the screen displayed the title page in the familiar gothic lettering sadly abandoned by a former editor in 1975. But again I digre s s . I clicked on George Payne’s article ‘Roman Leaden Coffin discovered at Plumstead’ and was just getting interested in the details of o rnamental moulding on Roman coffins, when I was surprised to encounter the full-page illustration of a skeleton grinning back at me f rom the remains of the coffin. Deciding that this was a dead end, I re t u rned to the table of contents, clicking on articles about Cobham Hall and Rochester Bridge. Everything was t h e re just as it appears in the books with the dark blue covers on my bookshelf. The only d i ff e rence was that I was clicking on the computer keyboard instead of turning the pages. My tutor told me to click on to the tab labelled ‘Pages’ and the lefthand side of the s c reen immediately changed into miniature thumbnail sketches of every page in Vo l u m e XVII. Whenever I clicked on to a thumbnail sketch, the full-size page appeared on the righthand side of the screen. Everything was FORMER KAS PRESIDENT RECEIVES COMPUTER LESSON K E N TH U N D R E DR O L L S O N L I N E St o red in the National Archives at K e w, these re c o rds have now been made accessible with a new website edition by the KAS, comprising the complete Rolls for Kent. They appear in the original Latin, with an English translation by Dr Bridgett Jones and are a mine of information for historians. The Hundred Rolls of 1274-5 were commissioned by Edward I. He re t u rn e d f rom crusade in 1274 to find the cro w n weakened by civil war during 1258-65, and a kingdom of extensive local gove rnment corruption. The Hundred Rolls w e re a survey of liberties and land ownership, whence enquiry was to be made into the King’s rights which had been usurped by lay and ecclesiastical lord s . They also looked into the excessive demands made by those holding power, who were misusing new royal pro c e d u re s for their own ends to strengthen their hold over tenants. Commissioners were appointed, two for each group of counties. The sheriff gathe red a jury for each Hundred, who were to appear before the commissioners on a set day and place. Go to www. k e n t a rc h a e o l o g y. a c / k h r p / khrpa.html to view the Kent Hundred Rolls. Spring 2007 4 The resources of the KAS library contain collections of MS notes bequeathed to the KAS by eminent Kentish historians, archaeologists and antiquarians, and our aim is always to make these interesting collections more readily accessible to researchers. Described below are two such collections on which volunteers from among our members have been working to bring knowledge of, and accessibility to, their contents to a wider audience. V.J.Torr - MS notes on Kent Churches, copied from Rev . Bryan Faussett’s original MS volumes. V.J.Torr was a dedicated antiquarian, and a long time KAS member. On his death in 1965, KAS acquired several hundreds of his MS notebooks, practically all of which were concerned with church architecture and history, and were copied from MS in libraries such as Lambeth Palace, British Museum and Canterbury Cathedral. Six of Torr’s MS note books in KAS possession are copies of MS books on Kent Churches (mainly East Kent) by the distinguished Kent historian, Rev. Bryan Faussett in 1756-1760. The original Faussett books are in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries, London. They have not been catalogued in any detail, but they contain much information derived from monumental inscriptions etc which may no longer themselves be extant, and which Torr has faithfully copied in six MS volumes in our possession. To make the information in the Torr/Faussett notes more accessible to researchers, KAS volunteers have extracted from them names and other particulars of persons mentioned in them, together with location and dates. In due course, we plan to post all such details on our kentarchaeology.org website. In the meantime, the notes themselves and the index of information extracted from them by our volunteers continue to be available for study in the KAS library. Hussey files on Families and Places. Arthur Hussey (1862-1941), a Vice President of the KAS, was “a most diligent student of wills in the Canterbury Pro b a t e R e g i s t ry”, and contributed many papers to Arc h a e o l o g i a Cantiana. He left a collection of his MS notes to the Society, and amongst them are some 300 files in two sets, one on named Families, and the other on Kentish Locations with particular reference to Families associated with the locations. To assist researchers consulting the files, volunteers from the membership of the KAS have provided each file with a synopsis of contents, particularly noting names, dates and places of people mentioned in the files. In due course, we plan to post these synopses on the website, but in the meantime, the files and synopses are available for study in the KAS Library. Books, Booklets and Pamphlets on Kent Cities, Towns and Villages. Volunteers working in the Library have also recently completed the re-listing of items on the shelves relating to the history and archaeology of specific Kent locations, and their work is now available for use in the library to assist in the speedy location of items on the shelves. As part of this work, items in a bad state of repair have been identified, and suitably refurbished. Acquisitions to the KAS Library June – December 2006 Hill Figures of Kent. (Dr Mark Hows) For the Sake of the Chidren. (Peter Hayward.) Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 143 2005. Revue Historique de Dunkerque et du Littoral. Nos.37 & 38. Nomina Col. 28 2005. Surrey Archaeological Collections Vol. 92. 2005. Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 153. 2004. Anglo Saxon Cemeteries of Kent. Vols 1 & 2. (A. Richardson). Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol. 127. 2005. Glorious Past - Women and Evangelical Religion in Kent and Northamptonshire. (Sibyl Phillips). Wroxeter Archaeology; Excavation and Research on the Defences of the Town 1968-1992. Vol. cxxviii. Archaeometry Vol. 48 p.3 & p.4. Archaeological Journal Vol. 162. 2005: and “finland and tallinn”, summer meeting of the R.A.I. 2005, supplement to Vol 162. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 134. 2005. Jahresschrift fur Mitteldeustches Forgeschichte Band 89. Fornvannen 2006/3. Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol 75. Suffolk Records Society – “Savage Fortune”, History of the Savage Family. St. Radigunds Abbey, Dover. (Grace Moylan). Gender and Petty Crime in late Medieval England; the local courts in Kent 1460-1560. (Karen Jones). Smarden – A View of the Village. G e o l o g y, Archaeology and History of Lydden Village and Sandwich Bay. Cambridge Antiquarian Society Vol. xcv. Southern History 2005. Somerset Archaeology and Natural History. No 149 Bulletin of East Grinstead Society No 89 Fornvannen.2006/1 and 2006/2 (Swedish Antiquarians.) Nomina No 29. Kent Family History Society Vol.11 No 8. On East Hill - Life on the North Downs. Archives Vol 28 No.4 (Orpington and District Archaeological Society). L I B R A RY N O T E S WORK IN PROGRESS IN THE KAS LIBRARY Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History. Vol xli p.2. Journal of Roman Studies xcvi 2006. Society of Antiquaries of London, Journal Vol 86, 2006. Medieval Archaeology Vol 50. Montgomeryshire Collections, Vol 94 2006. L e i c e s t e r s h i re Archaeological and Historical Society, Transactions Vol 80 2006. London and Middlesex Archaeological Society (LAMAS) Vol 56. Townwall Street, Dover; Excavations 1996. (Archaeology of Canterbury new series, Volume iii, Canterbury Archaeological Trust). 5 Spring 2007 Hampshire Studies Vol 61 (Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society). Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Vol 134. Abbey Farm, Minster, Thanet. 1. The pottery, catalogue Aug. 2006. 2. The metal work; in progress Aug 2006. 3. Bone and needles. May 2005. (KAS Fieldwork Committee). Transactions of Woolhope Naturalist Field Club, Herefordshire, Vol 51. Transactions, Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol xi. Britannia Vol xxxviii. The archaeology, buildings and historic landscape of South East England (Kent, Surrey and Sussex) comprise an outstanding inheritance which helps to give the region its distinctive character and sense of identity. They are also a rich resource for education, research and leisure and can provide meaning in the context of current growth and regeneration agendas. What precisely do we know about this region’s past? What are the questions we want and need to answer? How can the past inform the present and beyond? This is what the South East Research Framework, which has just started, is all about. It is an opportunity for all those who care about our heritage to take stock and to look to the future, both in terms of developing understanding and also in respect of how limited resources can be targeted. The South East has been important since prehistoric times as the nearest point of contact to mainland Europe. This has had a positive impact in terms of trade and the transmission of new ideas but the Channel coast and its hinterland have also constituted a barrier to threats from mainland Europe and helped provide stability for the development of England. We have a heritage which is impressive both for its scale and its diversity. The first task for the project will be to produce a Resource Assessment, a concise statement of current knowledge of the archaeology and history of the region. Those with interests in the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic, the Bronze Age and Iron Age, and the Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Medieval, Post-medieval and Modern periods, working in groups, have already begun collating and analysing the enormous amount of evidence available. These Period Groups will circulate the results of their research to one another, and beyond, and meet to discuss findings. As well as Period Groups, the project will include a number of Thematic Groups, which will look at aspects of the region’s past that cut across traditional time divisions. The themes include Industrial and Environmental Archaeology, Urban and Historic Landscapes, Maritime Archaeology and Defence. It is important that the wider archaeological community contributes to the project, and there will be a number of different ways in which we all can actively participate. Public seminars dealing with all Period and Thematic subjects are planned for later in the year. The seminars will be advertised on the project webpage (housed within the KCC website) and elsewhere. The seminar papers, along with any discussion arising, will then be posted on the web page and anyone will be able to contribute comments via an email facility. Texts will also be circulated via alternative means for wider comment. The Resource Assessment will enable us to build a list of the gaps in our current understanding of the South East’s Historic Environment. It will then be possible to develop a Research Agenda. In producing this ‘wish-list’ there will continue to be opportunities for wider discussion and contribution. Finally, a detailed Strategy for investigating Historic Environment of the South East will be drawn up and published along with the Resource Assessment. Because the project is envisaged as a collective process, inclusive of as many viewpoints as possible, it is hoped that the resulting Research Framework will make a definitive contribution to the future of our shared Historic Environment. The SERF project is very much a partnership project, hopefully involving all sectors of the archaeological community in the four counties, although the management of the project will be based with the Heritage Conservation Group of Kent County Council. We are very grateful to English Heritage for their financial support for the project. Jake Weekes AN HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH FRAMEWORK FOR KENT AND THE SOUTH EAST Spring 2007 6 Maidstone Museum, St Faith Street, Maidstone ME14 1LH or tel: Joy Sage on 01622 762924. KAS Churches Committee The Churches Committee invite you to visit All Saints Church, Maidstone and the Unitarian Church, Maidstone, on Monday 25 June. We meet at 6.45 for 7pm at All Saints Church. Tour £2 (Students £1). Tea and biscuits £1 extra. Cheques in advance please, payable to Kent Archaeological Society. A booking form for this event is enclosed with the Newsletter. It would be helpful if booking was made by 16 June. OTHER EVENTS AROUND KENT Crofton Roman Villa, Orpington The remains of ten rooms of a Roman villa-house, some with under-floor central heating system. Includes graphic displays, touch table of Roman finds and activities for children. The Villa is in Crofton Road, Orpington, adjacent to the railway station. It is open from 1 April to 31 October, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Bank Holidays from 10am – 5pm and on Sundays from 2 – 5pm. Admission is 80p for adults, children and concessions 50p. Further information from KARU 020 8460 1442. Special events this year include: KAS Exhibition THE HIDDEN TREASURES OF KENT 12 May – 9 September Bentlif Gallery in Maidstone Museum A rare opportunity for KAS members and the public to see artefacts of all periods from Kent, usually dispersed amongst collections around Britain but now brought together for the first time. KENT’S PAST - 50 YEARS OF ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE 15 September The second One-Day Conference and a Celebration Dinner at the University of Kent Medway Campus. Booking forms for these events will appear in the July issue. KAS Course WHEN THE JUTES RULED KENT The 400 years when Kent was a powerful and wealthy independent Jutish kingdom will be studied during a six-week course entitled Jutish Kent. Historian and tutor Dr Jacqueline Bower will lecture on settlements, the monarchy, Christianity and other aspects of life in the county during the Jutish occupation from the 5th to the 9th centuries. The lectures will be held in the KAS library at Maidstone Museum every Monday morning from April 23 until June 11 (excluding the May bank holidays). Course fee: £25. For further details apply to Joy Sage, KAS Library, W H AT ’ S ON > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> GARDEN PARTY Allington Castle Sunday 20th May Celebrating 150 years of the Kent Archaeological Society KAS EVENTS A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to celebrate the Society’s sesquicentennial in style! Marquees will be erected on the smooth lawns of the moated Castle grounds;old-style jazz band,The New Orleans Echoes, will play, and a sumptuous tea will be served by staff. Guests will be able to view Allington Castle, a privately-owned home, not normally open to the public. If the weather is inclement we will be based in the Great Hall of the Castle. Tea includes a range of sandwiches and salads,home made cakes,scones with jam and cream,str awberries and cream,homemade fruit squashes, tea and coffee. All foods are from ‘Produced in Kent’ suppliers. Pimms will also be available. A birthday cake for the KAS and accompanying ‘bubbly’ toast will round off the meal (who will volunteer to blow out the 150 candles?!). This is also a rare chance to meet many other KAS members in a social setting. Tickets are £30 each. To reserve them please ring 01892 533661 or 07920 548906,or mail to evelyn.palmer@virgin.net or write to ‘Garden Party’,55 Stone Street,Tunbridge Wells TN1 2QU. Enclosed cheques should be made payable to KAS please. The organisers will be getting in the spirit and donning the costume of the Jazz Age, but this is of course optional for revellers! KAS members are very welcome to any of the above events. Any queries please contact the SLH Society’s secretary, Miss B. Greenstreet on 01795 661119. ‘Windows Walls and Worship’ A series of three lectures at St Mary Magdalene, Cobham Saturday 28 April, 9.30 – 1.45 St Mary Magdalene Cobham is justly famous for its brasses, but it also has one of the best and wide-ranging collections of stained glass in one building, which itself is grade 1 listed. Come and hear about the outstanding architecture, how stained glass is made and conserved, about the artists who created each window, the donors and stories behind the windows, and how we are trying to conserve the building and windows for future generations. 09.30 registration and opening introductions 10.00 lecture 1: John Bailey, architect with Thomas Ford and Partners, on the history of the building 10.30 coffee and look around 11.00 lecture 2: Leonie Seliger, director of Stained Glass Conservation Department, Canterbury Cathedral, on manufacture and conservation of stained glass 11.30 short break 11.45 lecture 3: Keith Hill, stained glass conservationist, on the artists and history of our windows. 12.15 Questions and answers 12.45 keynote closing speech 13.00 lunch at the Meadow rooms Cost is £15 per person including lunch, coffee and parking. To reserve a place, please send your name and address, plus a cheque for £15 for each place (made payable to ‘Friends of Cobham Church’) to: The Treasurer, FOCC lectures, 1 Longcroft Cottage, Jeskyn’s Road, Cobham DA13 9BL. Any queries please call Don McLaren, churchwarden, on 01634 388433 (Monday –Thursday office hours). Western Heights, Dover - Open Weekend Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th June. For further details of this event and the site please see page 16. CBA South East Annual Conference & AGM ‘Under the Plough; the Archaeology of the Topsoil’ Saturday 10th November Medway Campus of the University of Kent The theme of the conference will be the archaeology of the ploughzone; the cultivated topsoil layer above the stratified archaeology that now covers so much of the English landscape and includes so much in the way of finds, as well as, in some cases, entire sites. The vertical stratigraphy in which these finds once sat may have been destroyed (or in some cases may never have existed), but this material still has much to offer archaeologists, finds specialists and landscape researchers. The conference will examine different approaches to the ploughsoil, and will seek to highlight the ways in which information from this valuable but oft neglected archaeological resource can be maximised. 7 Spring 2007 Sunday 15 July National Archaeology Day – Fun for all the Family Guided talks by a site archaeologist at 11am & 2.30pm. Join the Roman Villa discovery hunt and win stickers, a Villa badge and a certificate. For 6-11 year olds. Every Wednesday during August, 11am – 1pm & 2 – 4pm Pop in Activity Days Costumes & Horrible Habits through the Ages Find out about costume and horrible habits throughout history. Make a collage picture to take home of a fashionable historical character; choose from kings, queens, soldiers & ladies! Children must be accompanied. Normal admission charges apply. No booking needed. Fridays during August, at 11am & 2.30pm Pop in Activity Days Come and listen to stories of ancient heroes and legends; Then join in a quiz and make a picture to win stickers and a Villa badge. Normal admission charges apply. No booking needed. Sunday 16 September Open House Free entry to the Villa with special guided tours and activities for children. Tours start at 11am, 12noon, 2.30pm & 3.30pm. Making Medieval! National Archaeology Weekend 21 & 22 July Shorne Wood Country Park 10.30am – 4.30pm Family fun day with Living History; archery, crafts, cannons. cookery & combat! Exhibition of local history & archaeology groups, finds identification, free children’s activities, guided tours to the dig at the medieval manor site.Admission free and all activities free. Sheppey Local History Society In addition to its regular programme the SLHS has three special evenings planned in the summer. Wednesday 25 April at 7pm. ‘Figureheads’ by naval historian Richard Hunter . A talk concerning the ships’ figureheads from Sheerness Dockyard, now being restored. Venue is the Baptist Church, Strode Crescent, Sheerness (in the town centre and just a few minutes from the station). Admission £1. Wednesday 25 July from 2pm Guided Walk of Blue Town, the old maritime and naval quarter of Sheerness. The walk leaves from the railway station forecourt and will take about 2 hours. Come and learn more of the area’s colourful history and consider the conservation issues of such an area. Cost £1.50. Wednesday 25 July at 7.30 An Evening of Blue Town Memories Following on from the walk earlier, an evening of memories, including archive film, will take place in ‘Rivelin’, a former music hall in the Blue Town High Street. Cost £1. Wednesday 26 September at 7pm Finds Identification by Finds Liaison Officer Andrew Richardson Bring along your finds to Sheerness Library in Russell Street for identification and comment by Kent’s FLO. Cost £1. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> with Edward Lade. Standing in the 15th century open hall, he explained that he was selling his much loved home, bought by his parents in 1951, because he himself could direct the negotiations and ensure and protect its conservation for the future. After a generous tour of the house enhanced by a lively commentary of the research carried out over many years and noticing the changes which previous owners had made, he then, in spite of the snow, conducted a tour of the outbuildings and gardens. Only the constant grind of the distant motor way t r a ffic broke the spell. Margaret Lawrence KAS HISTORIC BUILDINGS COMMITTEE Work is now completed on the leaflet entitled ‘Historical Assessment and Survey of Old Buildings’, an advice note for those who care about them. It aims to offer guidance to people who want to find out more about their property. In addition to being available shortly on the KAS website, hard copies of the leaflet will be available (£1 a copy) at various events, the first being the Shoreham Outing on 7th April. More details on the One-Day Conference to be held on 20th October 2007 will be published in the next issue of the Newsletter. KAS MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE It Snowed! In spite of the weather forecast on February 8th advising travellers to stay at home, some of the KAS members who had booked to visit Yaldham Manor accepted the challenge! They arrived for an unforgettable morning MEMBERSHIP MATTERS Here is my usual plea to you to let me know of any changes to your details, including email addresses etc. Also, there are still some banks paying monthly instead of annually, so please check your bank statements. If you do spot such an error let me know so that I can arrange for a refund for you – unless you wish to give any overpayment as a donation! If you have mislaid your membership card, send me a stamped addressed envelope for a replacement – you need it to be able to use the KAS library. We are pleased to welcome the following new members: ORDINARY MEMBERS Bridges, Ms E Carrer Bertran 37, 2-4, 08023, BARCELONA, Spain Dale, Mr S 3 Silcocks Cottages, Poundsbridge Lane, Fordcombe, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN3 0RJ Down, Mr G J 11 Knavesacre Court, Rainham, Medway, Kent, ME8 9QA Gardner, Mr O W 21 York Street, Broadstairs, Kent, CT10 1P Gurr, Mrs M A Elan, Sandown Road, Sandwich, Kent, CT13 9NY Landymore, Mr M J 40 Blackfriars Street, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 2AP McGoverin, Mr K 84 Lamorna Avenue, Gravesend, Kent, DA12 5PT Nielson-Kerr, Mrs T Lockwood House, Castle Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 0L Priestley, Mr D Chantry House, The Street, Bredgar, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 8EX Quigly, Mrs J 6 Beechwood, Southwater, Horsham, Sussex, RH13 9J Sheeran, Mr J P 2 Johns Close, Hartley, Longfield, Kent, DA3 7DA Smith, Mr J K 11 Broadview, Sissinghurst, Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 2JS Snoad, Dr A F 8 Blenheim Road, Littlestone, New Romney, Kent, TN28 8PR Terry, Mr L P 28 Tower Road, Dartford, Kent, DA1 2H Tingley, Mr J Heron Wood, Gracious Lane, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN13 1T Twaites, Mr S 2 Limes Farm Cottages, Mill Lane, Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Kent, TN11 9LX Underdown, Mr A 31A Grove End Road, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 8RD Zavitz, Ms L Mainfield Lodge, Ismays Road, Ightham, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 9BD For all correspondence relating to membership contact Mrs Shiela Broomfield, KAS Membership, 8 Woodview Crescent, Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Kent TN11 9HD. Tel: 01732 838698, email: membership@kentarchaeology.org.uk or s.broomfield@dial.pipex.com. Y O U A N D Y O U R SOCIETY Spring 2007 8 COPY DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT Our hard-working committees urgently need new members to help organize their many i n t e resting activities. All readers of this newsletter will have some experience, skills and knowledge that could be applied to further our Society’s objectives, which a re ‘To promote the study and publication of a rchaeology and history in all their branches, especially within the ancient county of Kent’. So please read the summary of the society’s activities on our website, decide which of our committees is involved in work that most appeals to you, and contact the secre t a ry of that committee to discuss how you could contribute. A list of Committee Secretaries telephone numbers appears below. If you decide to volunteer you will be invited to attend a committee meeting every few months and, in the intervening weeks, to help follow-up some of the work in pro g ress on the committee’s agenda. Two members who recently responded to invitations to join a committee are Caromin Louw and Paul Tritton, who have been co-opted on to the membership and publicity committee. C a romin moved from South Africa thre e years ago and lives in Folkestone with her husband Nic and their family. She obtained a BA D e g ree at Pretoria University and Honours d e g rees in Geography and Arc h a e o l o g y. In the 1990s she became actively involved in the history and heritage management of Mafikeng. She gained archaeological excavation experience at Kruger National Park, Mapungubwe and the Nort h e rn Cape/Kalahari region and in March 2000 became a council member for the South African Heritage Resourc e s A g e n c y. C a romin obtained an M-Degree in E n v i ronmental Management at the University of The Free State in 2004 and went on to lecture at the University of the Northwest and teach at a private school. Soon after settling in Folkestone, Caro m i n joined the Kent Geological Society, the Hythe Art Society and the KAS. “I wish to expand on my historical and archaeological experience and knowledge here in the UK” she said. “I enjoy the S o c i e t y ’s activities and look forw a rd to all the planned activities for the coming year. I firm l y believe that to understand and love a country and its people, understand their history first!” Paul lives in Loose and is our new Hon. Pre s s O ff i c e r. He began his career in 1954 as a re p o rt e r on the Kentish Gazette in Canterbury, and fro m t h e re moved on to various press and PR jobs. He s e m i - re t i red in 2003 after running an editorial consultancy in partnership with his wife, Pat, for 30 years and working as a freelance writer and a u t h o r. His interests span business, family, local and social history and industrial archaeology – subjects that give him plenty of scope for re s e a rc h and writing. He has written nine books, including Wincheap Memories: a Pictorial History of a C o rner of Canterbury; Whitstable Harbour Memories; ‘A Canterbury Tale’: Memories of a Classic Wa rtime Movie and A Canterbury Girl: Memories and Pictures of life in a Cathedral City ( c o - a u t h o red with his mother, Mary Tritton). Paul is currently writing a history of Robert B rett & Sons Ltd of Canterbury, for publication when the company celebrates its centenary in 2 0 0 9 . Pat Tr i t t o n ’s name is probably more familiar to KAS members than Paul’s, since she is one of the volunteers who transcribe the Kent tithe schedules, Kent churc h y a rd monumental inscriptions and other documents for Ted Connell to post on our website. COME AND JOIN US! 9 Spring 2007 SPREAD THE WORD Paul will be pleased to help our committees and associated organisations obtain media coverage for their activities. We hope this will result in wider recognition of the KAS’s role in recording our county’s past, and encourage non-members to take an active interest in archaeology and local history. Typical activities that members may consider worth publicising in local newspapers and on local radio include: l Forthcoming talks, exhibitions and other events that are open to the public. l Research projects and fieldwork. l Important ‘finds’ and other achievements. l Joint activities and ventures with other societies. l Publications. Please feel free to contact Paul at p a u l . t r i t t o n @ b t i n t e rnet.com or by telephone (preferably between 9 am and 5pm) on 01622 741198 if you would like his advice or help on any current projects. COMMITTEE SECRETARIES: Membership & Publicity Shiela Broomfield 01732 838698 Publications Dr James Gibson 01622 673050 Education Marion Green 01227 462062 Churches Mrs E Nussbaum 0208 7887441 Library & Muniments Karl Wittwer 01622 755941 Place-Names Anita Thompson 01580 891222 Historic Buildings Mike Clinch 01322 526425 EXT ISSUE IS FRIDAY 1st JUNE ARCHAEOLOGIA CANTIANA A run of Archaeologia Cantiana from 1981 – 1999 (including the Allen Grove Memorial volume) is being offered free of charge to anyone interested. They would need to be collected from the donors home. Please contact John England, The Gate House, Hadlow Stair, Tonbridge TN10 4HD, tel: 01732 770045, email: john.england@virgin.net. C A N T E R B U RY A R C H A E O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y R E S E A R C H & P U B L I C AT I O N G R A N T S N E W P L A C E T O V I S I T Spring 2007 10 In September last year the new East Grinstead Museum opened in purpose-built town centre premises with a professional curator in post. Funding was largely by the Heritage Lottery Fund, plus grants from the town and district councils and other bodies, donations and fund raising activities. The museum is of local history, not just the town’s, but also that of the surrounding Kent, Sussex and Surrey villages and parishes within a radius of around 6 or 7 miles, East Grinstead’s traditional market area. In addition to permanent displays, regular temporary exhibitions and a small shop, there is a research room dedicated to the history of the area, which is regularly receiving fresh donations. Material ranges from local ephemera and periodicals such as parish magazines, to extensive (but not yet complete) runs of Sussex Arc h a e o l o g i c a l Collections, Sussex Notes and Archaeologia Cantiana and other journals for the three counties. The museum also has a small collection of local maps and over 6000 photoof the Grants Committee as soon as possible, and in any case not later than 30 June 2007. Your letter should mention your qualifications, the nature and length of your re s e a rch, the amount you are applying for, any additional funding anticipated and proposals for publication. You may be asked to name a re f e ree with whom the Committee graphic images, which can be consulted by arrangement. The publications are available to any visitor during normal opening hours. The museum is in Cantelupe Road, just off the High Street, within a short walk of car parks and the railway station. It opens Wednesdays and Saturdays, 10am – 4pm, and on Sunday 2 -5pm. Admission is free. For further information ring 01342 302233, email info@eastgrinsteadmuseum. org.uk or visit www.eastgrinsteadmuseum. org.uk. making the grants could consult. If successful, you would be expected to account for the money spent and give a copy of any article, pamphlet etc. to the S o c i e t y ’s Library. For further details please contact the Hon. Sec. Mrs C. M. Short, 3 Little M e a d o w, Upper Harbledown, Canterbury CT2 9BD. The CAS has limited funds available with which to support individuals re s e a rching any aspect of the a rchaeology and history of the Canterbury district. It is envisaged that grants would not normally exceed £500 each and would be awarded annually. Pre f e rence would be given to work resulting in publication. Please apply in writing to the Hon. Sec. ABOVE : Full sized replica of the Amsterdam, another Dutch East India vessel, sunk at Bulverhythe, 10 years after the Rooswijk. Cu l t u re Minister David Lammy has taken action to protect the wreck of the 18th century Dutch East India Company vessel Rooswijk. The wreck was d i s c o v e red in 2004 by divers in the Kellet Gut area of the Goodwin Sands, off the Kent coast. The Rooswijk was an armed merc h a n t vessel which vanished in a storm in December 1739, one day out from Texel, a Dutch Coast Island, on her second voyage to the East Indies. None of the 250 people a b o a rd survived and there were no witnesses to her fate. The decision to ‘designate’ the well p re s e rved remains under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 follows a re c o m m e n d ation from English Heritage. The Order laid in Parliament will protect the remains - and the 150m area around them - and will prevent accidental damage. Designation means that it is a criminal offence for a person to interf e re with the site except under the authority of a licence. David Lammy said “Britain has a rich maritime heritage, as the SeaBritain celebrations in 2005 proved so successfully. I n t e rnational commerce is a major part of this heritage, not least for the cultural exchanges it has helped to pro m o t e . The history of the Rooswijk is well documented and its wreck site has the potential to yield a wealth of inform a t i o n about trade between Europe and the East Indies in the early 18th century. It also p rovides a rare opportunity to gain insight into a period when English shipwrights w e re employed to standardise Dutch WRECK OF THE ROOSWIJK DESIGNATED ship design. For these reasons, it is fitting that this site gains statutory pro t e c t i o n . ” soon became a favourite destination for crowds of ordinary Londoners who travelled there by steamboat. In the 1840’s and 50’s the gardens were all the rage. They were mentioned in Punch, pictured in The Illustrated London News and written about in novels. The amusements there included two theatres, dancing, tightrope walking, firework displays, a maze, a gipsy fortune teller and a fairground. Many famous Victorian entertainers appeared there. In the later years of Queen Victoria’s reign the gardens began to lose their popularity, but it was not until 1914 that they closed forever. This book describes their rise and fall in a lively, readable way. Price £5.60 including P&P (cheque payable to Gravesend historical Society). Available from Mrs S. Soder, Hon Sec.of G.H.S., 58 Vicarage Lane, Chalk, Gravesend DA12 4TE. 11 Spring 2007 Tankerton. The book is fully illustrated with old photographs, maps and prints. Price is £4.95. Available from bookshops in Whitstable, or from the Whitstable Improvement Trust, Harbour Street, Whitstable CT5 1AJ (please add £1.50 P&P). The Place to Spend a Happy Day – A Histor y of Rosherville Gardens, by Lynda Smith. Published by the Gravesend Historical Society. 0- 9548137-4-X. 50 pages, 2 maps, 35 illus. Rosherville Gardens was a major Victorian pleasure garden, which existed from 1837 until the First World War. It lay in a disused chalk pit near the Thames at Rosherville in Northfleet. Started as a mixture of London Zoo and Kew gardens, it failed to attract wealthy subscribers and Hadlow; Life, Land & People in a Wealden Parish. 1460-1600, by Joan Thirsk, Bridgett Jones, Alison Williams, Anne Hughes and Caroline Wetton. Edited by Joan Thirsk. 0- 906746-70-1. Card, A4, 212pp. The Weald of Kent has a distinctive history, and deserves to be better studied. This book prints (in English translation) a newly-discovered survey of the main manor of Hadlow, dated 1460, copied and revised in 1581. In 15 chapters it discusses what can be learned about this place, lying between Tonbridge and Yalding, next to an ancient entrance from the River Medway into the Wealden forest. It maps farms, meadows and hunting park, sheds light on the livelihoods and family histories of its people, and identifies far-reaching change in the 16th century. Iron forging began locally, river improvement was needed, and young gentry spied opportunities for gain through forfeiture, under Henry VIII, of the Duke of Buckingham’s great estates, including Hadlow. A SPECIAL OFFER price of £14.95 (normally £19.95) is available to KAS members. An order form flyer is enclosed with this Newsletter. Seaside Story – Whitstable & Tankerton-on- Sea, by Geoffrey Pike. Published by the Whitstable Improvement T rust. Whitstable’s focus today is a working harbour, with fish and seafood on sale and the smell of whelks in the air. Its waterf ront character is markedly different to that of neighbour Herne Bay, yet numerous photographs from the past show its beaches crowded with seaside visitors. This book traces the story of how the enjoyment of the seaside did come to the local shore; grew in its particular way; flourished giving pleasure to many thousands of visitors, and then later vanished leaving little evidence except the regimented lines of beach huts along the higher ground at N E W B O O K S who ravaged Kent during the first half of the 9th century. But for two centuries it burned brightly as a major religious establishment in the front line of the Kentish church. Run as a double house on the continental Frankish model, Lyminge prospered as a cult centre housing the relics of its founding royal abbess (and for a period those of its sister establishment of Minster) and a major landowner milking the resources of extensive estates stretching into the Weald and to the south coast where imported luxuries could be obtained. Until recently very little archaeological evidence could be brought to bear on Lyminge’s auspicious early history. That all changed in the summer of 2005 when a small-scale evaluation led by Paul Bennett to the south of the churchyard produced a profusion of pits, ditches and structural features securely dated to the 7th to 9th centuries AD. Whilst located at some distance from the church and the presumed cult focus of the Anglo- Saxon monastic complex, this discovery has the potential to transform our understanding of the physical character and economic development of the wider community of which the Anglo-Saxon monastery was an integral part. These exciting discoveries have provided the impetus for the launch of a new archaeological project spearheaded by the University of Kent. In the longer term it is hoped that the opportunity will become available to undertake open-area excavations on the site to the south of the church. The chief aim of the inaugural season of the Lyminge project (kindly supported by a fieldwork grant from the KAS) will be to place this site within its wider archaeological context by subjecting a number of strategic areas within the core of the village to geophysical survey and test-pitting. We are keen to involve KAS members to take forward this groundbreaking work and to draw upon their experience to provide training for University students and residents from the local community. It envisaged that the season will run over four weeks in late June and July. If you are Spring 2007 12 This Summer the KAS, through the Fieldwork Committee, will be supporting three major fieldwork projects in Kent, at Ly m i n g e , Ringlemere and Shorne. Volunteers are needed to help with all of these exciting projects: Unearthing the legend of Anglo-Saxon Lyminge (4 weeks, late June to July) Located in the beautiful landscape of the Elham Valley south of Canterbury, Lyminge represents one of the key sites in annals of Anglo- Saxon Kent and the early English Church. Thanks to the legend of St Mildreth (founding abbess of Minster-in-Thanet), we know that a monastery was founded here by Æthelburga, daughter of King Æthelbert of Kent, in 633 AD. Lyminge ultimately suffered the same fate as Kent’s other early minsters, falling foul of Viking marauder FIELDWORK OPPORTUNITIES two full-time salaried staff from Canterbury Archaeological Trust (Keith Parfitt, MIFA, FSA, Director; and Barry Corke, Assistant Director) will lead a team of volunteers in the excavation of Monument 3. Since the field is presently sown with a wheat crop it is expected that excavation work can start during late August and last for about 15 days. The chosen dates for the main excavation are Saturday, 25th August to Sunday, 9th September, 2007. Volunteers will be welcome on any day between these dates. Please send details by email to barrycorke@ntlworld.com or phone 07968 573415. Keith Parfitt If you are unable to help with any of these projects but would like your details added to the Fieldwork Committee’s list of potential volunteers available for future fieldwork in Kent, then please send your details to Andrew Richardson, either by email at andre w. r i c h a rd s o n @ k e n t . g o v.uk or by post to 5 Farthingloe Cottages, Folkestone Road, Dover, Kent CT15 7AA. Andrew Richardson 13 Spring 2007 interested in participating then please contact Dr Gabor Thomas, School of European C u l t u re & Languages, Cornwallis Building, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NF; Tel. 01277 827528; Email g.thomas@kent.ac.uk. F u rther background on the project can be accessed via the following link: h t t p : / / w w w. k e n t . a c . u k / s e c l / c l a s s i c s / Te m p o r a ry / Lyminge.htm Gabor Thomas Randall Manor – Community Project at Shorne Wood Country Park (7 – 22 July) A second season of excavation at this medieval complex will take place this year. The excavation is part of a community project within the Park and everyone is welcome to join in. Volunteers can dig for as many or as few days as they wish. Schools are on site in the mornings during the week. All equipment is provided. The site is thought to belong to one of the early branches of the de Cobham family, who later built Cobham Hall. The complex of buildings sits on a platform, created on a slope by retaining walls, with a series of adjacent fishponds running down the hill. Last season’s excavation mainly opened and re-evaluated a previous dig of 1962 which appeared to be within the service area of the complex; this year we hope to examine the fishpond sluice system, the extent of the outer walls and the area of the main house. For further details please mail lyn.palmer@kent.gov.uk or ring 07920 548906 or 01474 823800. Ringlemere - The Bronze Age Gold Cup Site: Excavation of Monument 3 (25 August - 9 September) After several seasons’ work, the excavation of Monument 1 at Ringlemere, the large mound which produced the famous gold cup, has been completed, although much remains to be done on the detailed analysis and publication of the results of that project. Annual ploughing of the field, with its more extensive prehistoric monument complex, however, continues. There seems little doubt that several of the smaller ring-ditches identified through cropmarks and geophysical survey are suffering from plough erosion. Any associated mounds have long been removed and should any burials remain, these are likely to be in imminent danger of being lost. It is therefore important that at least one of the lesser monuments is examined in order to assess the extent of plough damage to the monument, to confirm the date of that monument (?Neolithic, Bronze Age, or possibly even Anglo- Saxon), to further enhance our general understanding of this newly discovered site and to continue to provide volunteers with the opportunity to work on a major prehistoric site. Canterbury Archaeological Trust has therefore decided to continue fieldwork at Ringlemere in 2007. It is proposed to examine Monument 3, a 14 metre diameter ring-ditch situated a short distance further upslope from Monument 1. As in previous seasons, it is expected that TIES IN KENT, SUMMER 2007 OPPOSITE : The site of Queen Ethelburga’s burial spot in Lyminge. LEFT, ABOVE & BELOW: Schoolchildren digging at Randall Manor within Shorne Wood Country Park. A 2-phase medieval hearth at the site. BELOW: Monument 1 at Ringlemere. Dear Editor Judging by the contents of the KAS Newsletter, there seems to be a heartening resurgence of non-commercial archaeological activity in Kent. In the 90s, with the spectacular rise of PPG16-stimulated developer funded projects, the decline of the ‘voluntary sector’ seemed inevitable. Yet the last few editions have featured many exciting examples of novel kinds of community involvement in archaeology. Particularly encouraging are the new kinds of partnerships which seem to be emerging between the paid professionals, volunteers and the wider community, with the CAT leading the way. The Portable Antiquities Scheme has reached right out into the wider world... Even the over-worked KCC Heritage archaeological team are beginning to try to break down the walls which seemed to be blocking off the rest of us: our archaeological research group is currently working with the KCC SMR team to help prepare our local SMR records (around 600 of them!) for going online, and units working in Kent a re being strongly encouraged to lodge copies of their re p o rts with local societies. There is a long way to go, but it’s all very exciting, and wholly appropriate for this KAS 150th anniversary year. Dr Patricia Reid Honorary Archaeologist for the Faversham Society Dear Editor I am somewhat concerned at the unfairness of the new ‘Hasted Prize’ and its discrimination against hard working ordinary folk of the KAS. Some of these folk do some excellent research and may have wished to submit a dissertation, but are banned because they have not done a PhD or Masters. To use a case in point; our small group at Lenham have done considerable research and our application is most often in the field (as you will have seen in the KAS Newsletters). We have put a Journal* together, published with the aid of a lottery grant. Now, however, we have even more data that would make an excellent book. Other groups/people in different parishes have also done comparable work, probably even more comprehensive than ours, e.g. in Otford, Snodland and Thurnham, to name just a few examples. The question really, is does the Society wish to travel down an elitist historical route or does it wish to encourage enterprising local research and the fieldwork of these more active groups? Hasted may have been a prodigious historian but he made a great many mistakes! In Lenham, he completely missed the fact that there are two different sections of the parish; he left Lenham Court off his map as if it did not exist, yet it was the 15th century Manor House of West Lenham. We are now embarking on a hunt for the lost village and church of West Lenham, a prime example of the importance of field archaeology to prove historical research and previous omissions. Archaeology must be an amalgamation of all knowledge. In the same way historians and archaeologists need to amalgamate into a friendly, helpful, encouraging society for this ideal to be met. Please, please can we have a Hasted Prize with everyone allowed to enter? Lesley Feakes LenhamArchaeology@hotmail.co.uk *Discovering Ancient Lenham” available £3.50. at CKS & Lenham Valley News, Lenham Library or from the Chairman of LAS, L. Feakes. L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R Editors note: I very much welcome any news and articles from local historical or archaeological societies. Don’t hide your light under a bushel; take the opportunity to let everyone know what you have been working on! As I always point out, I can only print what I receive, so please do send some information about your projects, or about any events, talks etc that you are holding, for inclusion in the ‘What’s On’ page. Dear Editor The recently revived interest in the fate of the Eccles Roman Villa Excavation, shared by many people who care about Kent archaeology, has been immensely encouraging. Thanks partly to the discussion in these pages, and partly to the indisputable quality and significance of the work, there seems to be a renewed determination that a way of publishing the site must, somehow, be found. I had the privilege of working with Alec Detsicas during his last few years and know that he regarded Eccles as his life’s work. When he began excavating Eccles Roman villa in 1961, as a gifted amateur, he could not have foreseen the size of the task, the significance and complexity of the site, or how much the profession of archaeology would change in his lifetime. Alec’s was a world where archaeology was done for the love of it, on a shoestring budget, and colleagues wrote specialist reports as favours for each other. Huge budgets weren’t part of his thinking; high standards, hard work and commitment were. His 30 years as honorary editor of Arch. Cant. clearly demonstrated this. He knew he owed it to the site, to scholarship and to the many volunteers who had worked at Eccles, to produce a definitive report. So it was a significant and sad moment when, in failing health, he relinquished responsibility for Eccles, admitting that the task was beyond him, and left it to others to continue his work to the best of their abilities. But why, after all this time, should we bother about a dig begun 45 years ago when there are so many other deserving archaeological projects? Firstly, because, ‘..in all respects a major villa-estate, the Eccles villa has invited comment from the early years of its excavation’. (Alec Detsicas in his book ‘The Cantiaci’). The historical significance of the site and its continuing value to research is still the strongest argument against abandoning it. Its early foundation on a site of Iron Age occupation, its size and status, the evidence for early pottery manufacture, its possible military connections, its disproportionately large bathing complex and its stylistic similarities to villas in North Gaul, all pose questions about its possible role in the politics of the Claudian invasion. And what is the connection between villa, Anglo-Saxon cemetery and mediaeval settlement of the area? Secondly, the Eccles records are in good order and intact. The original notebooks are meticulously thorough and logical, so, even without the benefit of Alec’s voluminous memory, the information remains accessible, and much is now digitised. All the slides and most of the photos are catalogued. Much work has been done to integrate the field records and update the site plans. Most of the finds are now properly stored and archived, which could have been a major problem for the project. And lastly, because so much of the work has already been done – but not enough to present a coherent synthesis of the whole story. To stop at this point could be to lose for ever what has gone before, the painstaking and freely-given physical and intellectual effort of a previous generation of archaeological friends and colleagues. So, for all these reasons, I very much hope that a way forward for the Eccles project will emerge from this renewed and welcome interest. Rachel Shaw Spring 2007 14 needs were met by a similar watercourse which fed into nearby Oare Creek. Presumably this is how it got its name, because in fact it lies wholly in the parish of Davington. John mentions the splendid conservation work by Gro u n d w o r k Medway Swale, and rightly so. But tribute should also be paid to Dr John Williams, the County A rchaeologist, who was i n s t rumental in obtaining key recognition of the site’s importance as an Ancient Monument; Brett Gravel Ltd, who forwent their existing extraction permission on the Oare Works site; Swale Borough Council, who for years persisted valiantly with the plans until the necessary funds could be raised; Faversham Town Council, who gave it moral backing and what financial support they could; and the Faversham Society, which contributed historical and technological e x p e rtise, and helped to contrive the repatriation of a 1920s gunpowder mill f rom Ardeer in Ay r s h i re . So the only two preserved powder mills in the UK are both in Faversham. Arthur Percival Faversham Dear Editor I came across your website whilst looking for ‘Gouldhurst’ on Google. I was very surprised to find a photo, which I am certain is of my 4th great grand parents, Thomas and Jane H a z e l d e n ’s, grave in St Mary’s Church, Goudhurst. Do you have any other members that are also interested in this family whom I could contact? Other lines of my family also date back from Kent – the Jeffery’s in Folkestone and the Agass’s in Canterbury. I am looking forward to joining your Society and hopefully to finding out some more information on the Hazeldens. My thanks go to Pam Connell for taking the original photo of the gravestone posted on the website. Jennifer Quigly Horsham Dear Editor OARE GUNPOWDER WORKS COUNTRY PARK As a ‘local’ and Kent Archaeological Society member for over 50 years I’d like warmly to endorse John Clancy’s praise of the new Oare Gunpowder Works Country Park, on Faversham’s western fringe (Newsletter, Winter 2006-7, p 15). It really is a lovely spot, with pleasant undemanding walks and fascinating features. Even when it was h a rd at work, with 200 staff, it was mistaken as a game reserve by a visiting journalist. I’m sure John won’t mind if I correct him on one or two points. The history of the Faversham explosives industry is long and complex, and it’s not surprising if there’s a bit of confusion about it. Chart Gunpowder Mills are not the same as the Home Works, the first of the town’s three gunpowder factories, going back to the 17th century, if not e a r l i e r. They are just the most impressive s u rvivors of its many process houses. One 18th century mill, the oldest of its kind in the world, survives after restoration by the Faversham Society in 1966-7. Remains of three others can be seen. This mill, a mile from the Oare Works, is open to the public free of charge from 2 to 5 pm on week-end and Bank Holidays from Easter to the end of October. This factory was almost a mile long, from near the A2 at Ospringe to the head of Faversham Creek. There’s now little trace of the rest of its buildings, but at the Faversham Society’s Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre in Preston Street you can pick up a free trail leaflet which highlights and illustrates the rest of what survives. Chart Mills and the Oare Works aren’t on the same stream, as John suggests. Waterpower for the many mills at the Home Works came from a stream which rose near Painters Forstal and fed into Faversham Creek. Before steam, and then electric, power took over, Oare Works’ energy S P R I N G 2 0 0 7 15 Spring 2007 ABOVE: The exterior of the surviving mill at Chart Mills and some of the machinery to be seen here. Published by the Kent Archaeological Society, Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Gallery, St Faith’s Street, Maidstone, Kent. ME 14 1LH www.kentarchaeology.org.uk EDITOR: LYN PALMER 55 Stone Street, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2QU Telephone: 01892 533661 Mobile: 07920 548906 Email evelyn.palmer@virgin.net or newsletter@kentarchaeology.org.uk Copy deadline for the next issue in July is Friday June 1st. 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. ABOVE TOP: The ‘must see’ Drop Reboubt, a building of commanding size and breathtaking views across the English Channel. ABOVE BOTTOM: The equally impressive Grand Shaft built in 1802, with 140 steps linking top and bottom of the cliff. Spring 2007 16 Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th June 2007 will see the annual Western Heights open weekend in Dover. The open weekend is now a regular feature and attracts large crowds eager to join in the fun. The open weekend, managed jointly by The Western Heights Preservation Society (WHPS) and the White Cliffs Countryside Project (WCCP), helps bring the history of a very important fortress to life. The Western Heights are a series of forts linked by miles of ditches on the western hilltop above Dover. Initial construction began during the American War of Independence and was continued during the Napoleonic Wars and resulted in one of the most important and impressive forts in Britain, and indeed Europe. Much of the site remains closed off to the public, but as part of the open weekend some of the more spectacular parts of the fortifications are opened up to allow rare access. The whole weekend will be packed with events and activities for all the family with lots of extra events on Sunday. Sunday’s events are set to include stalls and displays from many organisations including n a t u re conservation groups, English Heritage, local groups and organisations and period re-enactors. There will also be the opportunity to ask questions of e x p e rts and re f reshments will be on hand. Parts of the Drop Redoubt and the Grand Shaft will be open. The Grand Shaft, an impressive 19th century triple staircase, will be free of charge, with a small charge being made for entry to the Drop Redoubt. All monies made from the opening of the Redoubt are ploughed back into helping preserve the fort and allowing future access. The Drop Redoubt is the most impressive fort on the site and is a self-contained gun platform with vast rooms, casemates and barrack accommodation used from the Napoleonic wars through to World War 2. Chris Taft of the Western Heights Preservation Society said “The Drop Redoubt is a must-see, its sheer size is fantastic and the views from the top are breathtaking. With this, and the rest of the events during the weekend, there really is something for everyone”. There are also plans for an evening talk on a related subject on the Saturday evening, to take place in Dover. For details of this and other planned events please keep an eye on the WHPS website, www.dover-western-heights.org. Visitors are asked to keep in mind that the site is a historic fortress opened especially for this event. Physical access to the fort is limited and is sadly not possible by wheelchair users or people with prams or push chairs. There is, however, plenty to see and do on the Sunday as part of the open weekend. Appropriate footwear is also recommended for anyone wishing to visit the Drop Redoubt or Grand Shaft. The Drop Redoubt is situated on Military Hill, Dover, just off the A20 by the Western Docks. The events on Sunday will be taking place on the site of the former barracks just below the Redoubt. Limited parking will be available close to the site, just off Military Hill, alternatively, visitors could park in Dover town and ascend to the site via the more traditional method – up the 140 steps of the Grand Shaft! The Western Heights Preservation S o c i e t y, who fund and manage the opening of the Drop Redoubt and Grand Shaft, are a volunteer-run Society set up in 2000 to help promote, preserve and make accessible the site. The WHPS are grateful to English Heritage for permission to open the Drop Redoubt and to Dover District Council for allowing access to the Grand Shaft. More information can be found on the Group’s website or by writing to The WHPS, PO Box 366, DEAL, Kent CT14 9XY. WESTERN HEIGHTS OPEN WEEKEND