KAS Newsletter, Issue 76, Spring 2008

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 76 Spring 2008 www.kentarchaeology.org.uk Inside 2-3 Wealden History John Williams 4-5 Library Notes Pottery Archive 6-7 What’s On Library Courses 8-9 Notice Board Committee Round Up Website Report 10-11 New Books Marden History Centre 12-13 Wolverton Cant Arch Soc Grants 14-15 Letters East Farleigh 16 CATBoxes SURVEY OF PUBLIC RIGHTS OF WAY HIGHLIGHTS KENT’S HISTOR Y W A L K I N G T H E W E A L D areas; modern ploughing would soon remove it, and this part of Kent remains more pastoral in nature. The low winter sunlight often threw the subtle contours into relief and a covering of snow on one occasion helped when photographing them. There is further reading on the subject in Archaeologia Cantiana 1976 XCII, 165-171, Ridge and Furrow in Kent, by Mead and Kain. A few quotes help to emphasis the main points: ‘….the distribution of ridge and furrow coin - cides with the heavy soil of the We a l d clay’…’.most evident in the triangle between Ashford, Tonbridge and Maidstone’…’.it is more or less straight and contained within the present field boundaries’…’.it is unlikely that it repre - sents blocks of medieval strip holdings as over much of Midland England…’ The reason for its creation was most probably to help to improve the drainage of the heavy land, as most, though not all, of the ridges The writer was one of a team of four surveyors who between them recently carried out a comprehensive GPS condition survey of the Kent public rights of way network for Kent County Council, Countryside Access. The four-year project was finally completed in the early summer of 2007. Anyone who knows me will say that this was my ‘perfect job’, being outdoors all year round, with each day bringing new places to investigate. My assigned survey area extended fro m Westerham in the north, then along the border with Sur rey down to Cowden in the south west and eastwards across to Tunbridge We l l s , Lamberhurst and up to Tonbridge. A total network in that area of some 480 miles of paths and bridle ways was covered on foot over a period of nine months from September 2006 to June 2007. There is no better way of sampling the natural and historic landscape than by actually walking it. The western part of the Weald has some of the most attractive, varied, and often well wooded countryside in Kent, though comparatively little explored from an archaeological perspective. The landscape ranged from the highest point in Kent at Toys Hill in Brasted on the Greensand escarpment to the flatlands around Edenbridge. A variety of sites were encountered whilst out walking four days each week. Many were a p p a rently previously unre c o rded; they were noted out of my own interest as I covered the rights of way of West Kent, working through them parish by parish. I would be unlikely to ever cover as much ground in this part of the county again. The most extensive of the landscape features encountered was the widespread occurrence of ‘ridge and furrow’ ploughing preserved in pastureland, mostly on the low-lying clays of the Weald. The first seen was in the southernmost part of Brasted parish, at Obriss Farm. The parishes of Edenbridge, Hever, and Chiddingstone appeared to possess the highest density of these f e a t u res. Their survival is obviously larg e l y dependant on the amount of old pasture in these WA L K I N G T H R O U G H W E A L D H I S T O R Y Spring 2008 2 ABOVE : A Wealden sunken lane at Brasted Chart. ABOVE: Penshurst, a large pond-bay in a ‘gill’ at Bullingstone. RIGHT: Frittenden, a cluster of abandoned hopper huts. were a surviving group of galvanised iron hopper huts photographed at Frittenden and an unusual stone stile still in use on a public right of way near Westerham High Street. Although my time as a ‘rights of way surveyor’ is now ended I feel that I was privileged to have assisted in a unique project and have gained a better understanding and feel for the landscape and history of West Kent (as well as helping to improve my fitness!) Neil Aldridge. At the end of April John Williams, Head of Heritage Conservation and County Archaeologist at Kent County Council, will be retiring. He came to Kent in September 1989 as KCC’s first County A rchaeologist and since then, with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and all the other major development, it has certainly been a high-pressure 19 years for the Heritage team - many of the results of development-led archaeology during this period can be noted in the recently published ‘The Archaeology of Kent to AD 800’. I know that John is hoping now to devote rather more time to research. His position as head of the Heritage Conservation team at KCC will be taken, from Ist May, by Lis Dyson. Lis has been with KCC now for some fifteen years, is a member of KAS’ Fieldwork Committee and will be well known to many KAS members. John will be briefly reflecting on his time in Kent at the KAS AGM (see Programme) and we will have a fuller article in the next issue of the Newsletter. J O H N W I L L I A M S R E T I R E S A S C O U N T Y A R C H A E O L O G I S T A R C H A E O L O G I AC A N T I A N A- THE F U T U R E 3 Spring 2008 seemed to be aligned downslope and tend to respect the present day field boundaries. The dating of the features is more problematic and they may be of several different periods. The other most frequent archaeological features encountered were the various earthworks associated with former water-powered mill sites in the many ‘gills’, or steep valleys created by streams, in the sandstone country of the High Weald . These areas are often heavily wooded, which makes it more difficult to interpret the entire site, especially when the mill ponds themselves have often disappeared with the breaching of the pond bay. The most impressive site was discovered in a gill at Bullingstone on the edge of Penshurst and Speldhurst parishes. The public footpath crosses the steep valley, utilising the remains of a very large ‘pondbay’ that once formed part of a waterpowered site. It may have been a corn or fulling mill or connected in some way with ironworking. A number of moated sites were also seen; again, these tend to be a feature of the clay lands. There would be scope for some of these sites to be recorded in more detail by local history groups as some do not appear even on the larger scale OS mapping or in the KCC Historic Environment Records. This would be an ideal fieldwork project for someone to undertake. At some of the later ironworking sites, such as the large 16th century hammer ponds and mill sites at places like Cowden, one could still sometimes sense a certain ‘atmosphere’, palpable to those with an affinity for the past, especially in the short days of winter and when negotiating them along the deeply sunken and frequently (very) muddy Wealden trackways and paths. Among other many historical features seen ABOVE: Edenbridge, Stick Hill, ridge and fur row enhanced with a covering of snow. BELOW: Westerham, a stone-stile close to the High Street. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> There has been some correspondence in recent Newsletters about the format of our flagship publication. As the Society enters its 151st year it seems appropriate to carry out another review. To this end a small group has been formed under the President’s chairmanship to look into this question. They would like to get the views of as many members as possible. The team would like views on all aspects. For example, what do you think of the present size and length of the journal and the range of articles? Would you like a continuation of the blue cloth-bound hardback style or would you prefer paperback, in a larger format? The next (2008) volume has already been finalised but the opportunity exists to make any agreed changes starting with the 2009 volume. If you would like to send your views by letter please send to the President, Chris Pout: Sunnydene, North Stream, Marshside, Canterbury, Kent CT3 4EE. A l t e rnatively you can reply by email to the Hon. Editor, Te rry Lawson: lawson2@ madasafish.com. Spring 2008 4 More books than space The shelves of the KAS Library in the Maidstone Museum have become overcrowded. To make space for new acquisitions it is intended to remove some of the older volumes of corresponding Societies (mainly those from overseas) from the Library to our overflow stores in the Maidstone Community Services Centre (MCSC) in Marsham Street and in Bradbourne House, East Malling. Of course, a record will be kept in the Library on which books can be found where, and access to the stores in Marsham Street and Bradbourne House can be arranged through the Hon.Librarian. Work by Volunteers Volunteers have completed a review and listing of local publications and items about Kent cities, towns, villages, hamlets and locations, and a list, shelf by shelf, is now available in the Library. Used in conjunction with the Library index, this will assist in locating particular items on the shelves. In the course of this work, Volunteers identified over 50 items in need of restoration, and the items have now been refurbished. Bequests to the KAS The Marsham Street store holds papers bequeathed by past members of the Society, and work is in hand to review and catalogue these in more detail than exists at present. In this process, Council has agreed that papers which may be of particular relevance to local History or Archaeological Societies in Kent may be offered on loan to such societies for research and display purposes. A start has been made in this direction with Smarden and with Sittingbourne local museums, which have now received on loan from KAS interesting papers and documents relating to their areas. Such loans require the local society to take curatorial care over loaned papers, and to acknowledge KAS ownership in any publication or exhibition. Gifts to the Librar y The Library is always most happy to receive gifts of publications and records to add to our collections. Two recent gifts may be mentioned, with our grateful thanks. D r. John Physick CBE, DrRCA, FSA. has donated his collection of some 3000 colour slides of photographs of Kent Churches, their architecture and their memorials. Dr. Physick was Deputy Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and in his retirement he has been most active in many bodies concerned with the care of cathedrals and churches. In the course of this work he was awarded a Lambeth D.Litt. degree. In his Who’s Who entry, he lists an interest in "Photography, Looking at Church Memorials", and the excellence and the range of the collection he has donated to the Library bear witness to the many devoted hours he must have spent in pursuing his interests. His work is a most acceptable addition to the Library’s Visual Records collections. Another gift to the Library comes from Mr. Arthur Ruderman. L I B R A R Y N O T E S Arthur has made a particular study of the history of Ashford, its people and its Manor, and he is donating the documents and papers he has collected on that subject to the Library. In addition, he is offering to the Library a selection of books from his library. Many grateful thanks to Arthur. KAS Library Acquisitions September - November 2007. Bygone Kent Vol 28 no 5, 6. Archaeometry Vol 49 p2 supplement 1. P.4. Royal Archaeological Institute Journal Vol 163, 2007. Supplement to Vol 163; Proceedings of summer meeting 152. IOW. Trieste Zeitshchrift 67/68. Rheinisches Ausgrabungen in Bezirk Trier Nos 37, 38. Reading and Writing Practices of the Kent Gentry; the emergence of a protestant identity in Elizabethan Kent. D.Phil thesis U of K. Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society Proceedings Vol 151. Romney Marsh Irregular. No.30. Proceedings of the Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol 136. Margate’s Seaside Heritage (English Heritage). Kent Family History Vol 11 no 12. Kent New Records Vol 4 p.6. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Architectural and Archaeological Society Vol vii no.12. Montgomeryshire Collections Vol 95. The Lost Manor of Ware. Kathryn Kersey. Britannia Vol xxxviii. Journal of Roman Studies Vol xcvii. Orpington and District Archives. Vol 29 no.4. Economic and Social Change in Anglo-Saxon Kent, AD400-900, Thesis, Stuart Brooks. J. British Archaeological Association Vol 160. Medieval Archaeological Journal Vol 51; index to Vols 46-50. Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History. Vol xli p.3. Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol 155. Broadstairs; heydays and holidays Bygone Publishing. Smarden, a pictorial history. J.Rogers. George Bargebrick, esquire. R.H.Derr. Tales of Victorian Headcorn. P.Rivers. Bargebuilding and Bargebuilders of the Swale D I Stattin The Isle of Sheppey Sheila Judge. T The Editor he name of the author of ‘Worthy Man of English Blood’, which appeared on page 11 of the winter Newsletter, was omitted – my apologies therefore to David Pilling, whose interesting piece generated much interest. Editor 5 Spring 2008 The late Christopher St John Bre e n (1943-1988) led members of D a rt f o rd District Arc h a e o l o g i c a l G roup (D.D.A.G) in collecting sherds of p o t t e ry from dumps of soil fly-tipped by l o rries clearing the former site of Billingsgate Lorry Park, London in 1984. A small segment of the site had been the subject of an archaeological excavation, but the rest was just machined out and loaded into lorries. There seemed to be little control on the dumping of the soil, and soon about four lorry loads of soil were found fly-tipped by a member of the D.D.A.G. on Dart f o rd Heath. Chris soon recognised the importance of collecting as much as possible of the pott e ry. News of many more dumps of soil at the site of a disused factory in Dagenham saw members of the Gro u p travelling there on a number of occasions to collect pottery. Many thousands of sherds of all dates, were collected and taken to the D.D.A.G. Research Centre, Lowfield S t reet, Dart f o rd where they were washed and sorted. This sorting exercise led to pottery specialists from the D e p a rtment of Urban Archaeology at the Museum of London travelling down to D a rt f o rd to view the collection. Really r a re or important pieces were taken away to London, but many of the remaining individual sherds were identified and became the core of the Pottery A rchive formed by Christopher St John B re e n . Chris set up a system of plastic boxes, each holding fifteen small trays measuring 2.5 x 5.75 inches, containing examples of Roman and Medieval pott e ry sherds identified by the visiting specialists. The K.A.S. Fieldwork Committee kindly made a grant toward s this work. Seven of these boxes, containing examples of samian pottery fro m S o u t h e rn, Central and Eastern Gaul, had an outing in November 2007 to Harlow Museum, where a samian training day was being held for local amateur a rchaeologists. D.D.A.G. was re p re s e n ted by Adrian Herbert. The day start e d with a talk by Gladys Monteil, form e r l y of the Dept of Urban Arc h a e o l o g y London, but now working at Nottingham U n i v e r s i t y, on the origins and decline of the samian pottery industry. She explained how this distinctive ware s p read throughout Roman Britain fro m the time of the Roman Conquest up until the decline of the industry in the midt h i rd century. She was followed by Roy F r i e n d s h i p - Taylor giving examples of local pottery influenced by the shapes and styles of samian pottery form s . G i l b e rt Burroughs then spoke about his work making re p roduction samian ware . T h roughout the day the boxes of samian ware from D.D.A.G. were on disp l a y, giving the opportunity for amateur a rchaeologists to see and handle samples of pottery. The individual trays of s h e rds were dated and typed but in addition there were A4 size boxes of loose sherds which people were invited to identify and sort into the various samian forms. Much fun was had when people were confronted with a pile of s h e rds of Dr 27/31’s to sort into separate piles. At the end of the day every b o d y a g reed that they had learnt a tre m e ndous amount about samian ware and that the re f e rence collection fro m D a rt f o rd had been most useful. The Archive gives the opportunity for amateur archaeologists to see and handle samples of pottery from the Roman and Medieval Period common in the London area. The collection is now housed at the G ro u p ’s Research Centre at the Dart f o rd Campus of the University of Gre e n w i c h . Ted Connell THE CHRISTOPHER ST JOHN BREEN, ROMAN AND MEDIEVAL POTTERY ARCHIVE BELOW: Boxes of samian sherds for sorting into form types. Spring 2008 6 glimpsed from the M20. The Abbey once held the Miraculous Rood and the miracle-working image of the infant St. Rumwold. The tour will start at 2 pm. Cost: £3.00. A booking form is included in this Newsletter. More details f rom Joy Saynor on 01959 522717; email: saynor@ shorehamkent.wanadoo.co.uk. Please note that it has been necessary to change the date from that given in the last issue of the Newsletter. A visit to Luddesdown Court is planned for early Spring 2009 – further details in future Newsletters. OTHER EVENTS AROUND KENT Council for Kentish Archaeology Conference ‘Rescue Archaeology’ Saturday 19 April from 2 – 5.15pm Sevenoaks Community Centr e Verulamium: Roman City Rosalind Niblett Londinium: Roman Forum Brian Philp Stonehenge: an uncertain future? Kate Fielden Durrington Walls: a Neolithic Spectacular Prof Mike Parker-Pearson Tickets £4. Tel: 020 8777 787 or email davru58-arch@yahoo.co.uk. Western Heights Open Weekend Saturday 31 May and Sunday 1 June Western Heights Preservation Society will be welcoming visitors once more to the annual Western Heights open weekend in Dover. These are a series of forts linked by miles of ditches on the western hilltop above Dover. The Drop Redoubt, a large and impressive fortress, is opened each year by the Society, who work towards opening up yet more of the 19th century fortification each time. 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 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. Physical access to the fort is limited and sadly is not possible by wheelchair users or people with pushchairs. More information can be found at www.dover-western-heights.org, or by writing to The WHPS, PO Box 366, DEAL, Kent CT14 9XY, or by calling Dover Museum on 01304 201066. NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY WEEK 12 – 20 July For details of all NAW events around the country go to: www.britarch.ac.uk Crofton Roman Villa, Orpington Sunday 20 July Meet Secundus and Agrippina ‘The Life of a Soldier’ at 10.30am & 2.30pm ‘Home Life in the Villa’ at 11.30am & 3.30pm For the whole family. Entry £2/£1, YAC members free. KAS VISIT TO PROVENDERS Thursday 22 May at 1.45 for 2pm. Provenders is a 14th century, Grade 2 manor house containing 29 rooms. It is currently owned by Princess Olga, a descendant of the Russian royal family. Situated near Faversham, the black and white half-timbered exterior is said to be greatly in need of care and attention - in fact ‘decayed and dilapidated’ are words associated with its description. Ptolemy Dean, the architect involved in the BBC Restoration Programme, has been involved in Project Provenders and has already renovated one wing of the house. KAS members will, however, be enchanted with the opportunity to see many samples of domestic life and architecture before they too are restored. Tour is £10 & tea (at a local pub) is £4. A booking form is included in this Newsletter. KAS CHURCHES COMMITTEE STUDY DA Y Religious Houses in Medieval Canterbur y Saturday 21 June This is a joint Study Day with Canterbury Christ Church University. The day starts in the Ramsey Lecture Theatre at Canterbury Christ Church University with registration from 9.30a.m. followed by three lectures, starting at 10a.m. At 2p.m.there will be an opportunity to visit ONE of four surviving religious sites in Canterbury. There will be three lectures in the morning: l Introduction to Religious Houses, by Dr Louise Wilkinson l The Whitefriars, by Alison Hicks l St Gregory’s Priory, by Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh The guided afternoon visits (please place in order of preference on the booking form): l Greyfriars (Meriel Connor) l St John’s Hospital (Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh) l Christ Church Cathedral Priory, Canterbury (Dr Margaret Sparks) l St Augustine’s Abbey (Dr Paul Bennett) The cost of the day is £12, including coffee/tea/soft drink in the morning and all entrances but NOT lunch. A booking form is included in this Newsletter. Your ticket will include the programme, a map and access information. KAS CHURCHES COMMITTEE VISIT Monday 30 June A visit is arranged to All Saints, Ulcombe and Ss Peter and Paul, East Sutton. We meet at Ulcombe Church at 6.45pm and will be at East Sutton at about 8pm. Tour £2. Tea and biscuits £1 extra. A booking form is included in this Newsletter. KAS HISTORIC BUILDINGS COMMITTEE Visit to Boxley Abbey and Bar n Saturday 19 July The visit gives the opportunity to see the remains of this very important Kentish Abbey, and the great 13th Century tithe barn that can be W H AT ’ S ON > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> KAS EVENTS 7 Spring 2008 Further information on 020 8460 1442. Shorne Wood Country Park Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 July ‘Archaeology in the Park’ 10.30 – 4.30 A whole weekend of medieval living history with cannons, crafts and combat. On Sunday only: guided tour of the excavation of a medieval manor house, lots of free kids ‘make & do’ activities, including mini dig with real finds to keep, shield painting & brass rubbing. Everything free, although normal Park car park fee of £1.50 applies. Further information on 07920 548906. Loose Area History Society Monday 12 May ‘Saxon Maidstone’ by Karl Wittwer Monday 9 June, 7.30 pm * Private visit to Kent Police Museum Monday 14 July 7 pm* Private visit to Tudeley Parish Church to see the Chagall windows Monday 13 October ‘Ration Fashion’ by Lee Ault Monday 10 November ‘One hundred years of Scouting in Loose’ A presentation by the Scout management team Monday 8 December ‘Puppets, piers and pantomime’ by Alan Stockwell Unless otherwise stated all meetings are held at Loose Infant School Hall and start at 7.30 pm. All welcome. Admission: £2.50. Pay at the door. For more details telephone 01622 741198 * Please pay in advance for events on 9 June (£2), & 14 July (£4). Crofton Roman Villa, Orpington Open April to 31 October on Weds, Fri & Bank Holidays from 10am – 5pm and on Sundays from 2-5pm. Graphic displays, taped commentary, workshops for schools. Admission £1 adult, 70p child. Wednesdays in August Find out about the villa house and farm, handle Roman artefacts, join the Villa quiz and win a Villa badge. Sessions start at 10.30am & 2.30 pm. . Fridays in August Find out about Roman pots & make your own. Drop in sessions between 10.30am and 2.30pm each Friday. No booking needed. Children must be accompanied. Further information on 020 8460 1442. EVENTS ELSEWHERE Conference AQUA BRITANNICA – Water in Roman Britain Saturday 31 May COURSES in the LIBRAR Y Following on from the five courses we held last year, we have so far had two very successful sessions this academic year. Dr Jacqueline Bower has been a most informative and interesting lecturer on Tudor Times, with particular reference to Kent and the influences on the way people lived. The class has been very well attended and the group debates and discussions lively. Dr Ed Jarzembowski’s ten lectures on geoarchaeology have also been lively. Outside visits were most enjoyable and included one to Fowlmead Park (Betteshanger) and another to a field in Barming. The following classes, where finds were shown and discussed, were informative and entertaining. There is a web site for this course, at www.kentarchaeology. ac, and go to geoarchaeology. Both lecturers have been persuaded to come back; many students will continue with these classes but new people are always welcome. Dr Jarzembowski will continue from April 9th for 10 weeks and more field trips are planned. To follow on from ‘The Jutes in Kent’ which was greatly enjoyed last summer, Dr Bower will lead 6 sessions from April 21st (excluding Bank Holidays) on Saxon and Norman England c.800-1150, with reference to Kent wherever possible. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The Trust for Thanet Archaeology has moved to: The Antoinette Centre Quex Park Birchington Kent CT7 0BH Tel: 01843 843088 www.thanetarch.co.uk Chertsey Hall, Chertsey. Sur rey O rganised by the Surrey Roman Studies Group of the Surre y Archaeological Society. A dedicated one day conference which will explore key aspects of the availability, technology, use and religious functions of water in Roman Britain. Cost £12 to include coffee & tea. Two course hot lunch available at the Hall for approximately £5. The Conference will be chaired by Professor Mike Fulford and speakers will include: Professor Miranda Aldhouse-Green – Religion and Water Dr Bill Putnam – The Dorchester Aqueduct Ian Blair – The London Water-Lifting Machine Dr Bob Spain – Watermills Anne Jones – Water for Domestic Needs Dr David Bird – Water in Mining Please call Surrey Archaeological Society on 01483 532454 or check the website at www.surreyarchaeology.org.uk to book or for more details. MEMBERSHIP MATTERS Thank you to everyone who has renewed promptly by cheque. There are some people who will be receiving a reminder letter from me shortly. I just wish that the High Street banks were as efficient, as the standing orders are proving to be rather a headache this year. I do apologise to those of you who appear to have paid at both the old and new rate. I will double check and then ask the treasurer to send you a refund as soon as possible. We don't mind having too much but it is more than a little unfair on our loyal membership! If you can distribute any of our smart new membership forms please get in touch with me so that I can send you a stock. On the other hand if you have any ideas to where I can send these please let me know as soon as possible. We are pleased to welcome the following new members: Mr A C English & Mrs C Clark, Meopham, Kent Dr S A Dunster, Seasalter, Whitstable, Kent Mr M P Farmer, Camberley, Surrey Mr A Walker, Folkestone, Kent Mr J Whitbread, Orpington, Kent. The address for all correspondence relating to membership is: Mrs Shiela Broomfield, KAS Membership, 8 Woodview Crescent, Hildenborough, Tonbridge TN11 9HD. Tel: 01732 838698. Email: membership@kentarchaeology.org.uk or s.broomfiled@dial.pipex.com. Shiela Broomfield Y O U A N D Y O U R SOCIETY Spring 2008 8 COPY DEADLINE FOR THE NEX ‘Kent and the civil wars of the 1640s’, ‘Trade unions’, ‘Early days of motoring in Kent’, and ‘Kent and the First World War’ The Kent H u n d red Rolls has re c e n t l y been put on the KAS website, and is to be joined by the Kilwardby Survey 1273-4 later this year. The Acts of the Wardens of the Towns Lands of Tonbridge 1574-1760 – the Tonbridge Town Books – is under consideration for the Society to publish in similar format. The Society has recommended that a well-illustrated manuscript by Jill Allibone and Susie West, ‘Not built to envious show’: Penshurst Place, Kent. A social and architec - tural history’, be published as a book in soft covers. Expenditures have been recommended for a pilot project on the Feet of Fines and Recovery Rolls, and also for a project to microfilm the Kent Pipe Rolls. Following ideas from various quarters on the future format and content of Archaeologia Cantiana; a subcommittee to discuss this has been established, chaired by the President, and including the Honorary Editor. See page 3 of this Newsletter for further details. David Killingray Chairman KAS COMMITTEE ROUND-UP KAS PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE The Committee has recently discussed a new way forward for the publications of the Society. The following recommendations have been agreed and passed to Council: (1) that most future publications need to be placed in the professional hands of a commercial publisher; (2) the KAS produce books that have a wider appeal and can be sold in the usual commercial retail outlets; (3) the Society should continue to publish prim a ry sources and re c o rds useful to researchers but these are best placed on the Society’s website; this would include the present New Record series; (4) various materials from the Society’s collection might also be placed on the website; (5) the Society commission and then publish a series of books, provisionally entitled ‘Studies in Kent history’, with a focus on Kent-wide topics; these would be 40,000-50,000 words in length, illustrated, and published in soft covers. The Committee would be pleased to receive from members suggestions of possible titles to add to those already provided by Committee members, which include: ‘Kent and the sea’, KAS HISTORIC BUILDINGS COMMITTEE The Committee has been working on arrangements for its Autumn Conference, which will be held on Saturday, 18 October in Lenham Village Community Centre. More details will be given in the next issue of the KAS Newsletter. Progress is also being made on the visits planned for 2008. All the places have been taken for the first one, which is a tour of Westenhanger Castle and Barns on Tuesday, 27 May, starting at 2 p.m. Joy Saynor is now taking reservations for the visit to Boxley Abbey and Barn on Saturday, 19 July, see What’s On section for more information. Following completion of the booklet entitled Historical Assessment and Survey of Old Buildings, the Committee wishes to record its gratitude to Roger Cockett, who worked so assiduously to produce this 37-page document, see New Books section for more information. The Committee has been considering other initiatives that would facilitate research into historic buildings. A proposal has been made to compile a list of old buildings for which specific documentary evidence of their history, such as probate inventories, still exists. As will be seen elsewhere in this Newsletter, the Committee is exploring the feasibility of producing such a list. 9 Spring 2008 NEXT ISSUE IS FRIDA Y 30th MA Y www.kentarchaeology.org.uk - the society’s website The 'Research ' section continues to grow. The Society's org.uk website now contains over 15,800 individual ‘web pages’. Visitors entered the Website via a total of 10,084 different pages during January this year, with an average daily total of 2,000 visitors. Archaeologia Cantiana On-Line At least 1,491 visitors consulted the Introductory Page to the list of all 126 Volumes of Archaeologia Cantiana during Januar y. 126 Contents Pages give a complete list of all the articles in Volumes 1 to 126. All five Index Volumes have been added and can also be searched for information. In addition, over 133 articles from Archaeologia Cantiana have been OCR’d and are available to read online. Kent Maps, Tithe Awards and Schedules At least 1,762 visitors consulted the Intro d u c t o ry Page to the Tithe Award Schedules now on the website during January. The project to transcribe the Kent Tithe Aw a rd schedules is continuing well. With the help of many people, particularly Patricia Richardson and Pat Tritton, there are now over 200 individual Tithe Aw a rd Schedules from parishes around Kent up on the website. Only 203 to go…! The eventual publishing of the county’s 403 schedules on-line will complement the collection of Tithe Maps cover - ing every Kent parish now available on CD from the Centre for Kentish Studies. If you would like to contribute a transcription or help with this project please contact Ted Connell (details below). To view the work c a rried out so far, log on to www.kentarchaeology.org.uk , click on ‘Research ’ and then ‘Kent Maps & Tithe A w a r d Schedules ’. Leland Duncan and others M.I.'s of Kent Churchyards At least 15,434 visits were made to the Introductory Page to the Monumental Inscriptions during January. Leland Lewis Duncan, antiquarian and author, transcribed MIs in about 150 west Kent parish churches over a period of about 40 years, from 1880 to 1923. His unpublished notes and a collection of other papers have been digitally transcribed for the website. From 1756 to 1760 the Rev Bryan Faussett visited over 115 Churches in East Kent making notes about the church fabric and descriptions of monuments etc, many of which have long been swept away. These notes were transcribed into six notebooks by our member the Rev Torr during the 1940’s and were donated to our Library on his death. Pat Tritton is now working her way through these, and has typed up over 665 pages of notes on 80 churches which have been added to the website. The Victoria County History of Kent Vol. 3 published in 1932 contains a very useful list of the census figures for each parish in Kent from 1801 to 1921. These pages have now been scanned and added to the website, enabling local history and family history researchers to obtain details of the population of any village in Kent at the click of a button. A further 320 pages detailing the Romano-British Remains in Kent and the Kent portion of the Domesday Survey and Domesday Monachoru m have been added. A new section entitled Member & others Researches has been added to enable various types of record material collected over years to be made available for all to use. An example is the collection of material built up by Arthur Ruderman who s t a rted re s e a rching the History of Ashford in 1967. Arthur has very kindly donated a whole variety of records relating to Ashford to the Society. The three below are now up on the website. An index that includes the details of all known births, marriages (including those by licence) and burials in Ashford of known persons, and also of those recorded in other parishes, but described as of ASHFORD, from the late sixteenth century until the late nineteenth century. An index of the Rental of the Manors of Ashford and Licktop, compiled about 1773 and added to until the 1920’s. A listing of the Ashford Manor Court Rolls 1734 to 1925. These provide a great wealth of information of the owners and occupiers of the land, and family relationships. An idea of the change in the economic standing of tenants can often be learnt, since the mortgage of lands had to be declared in the Court. If you would like to contribute or help with any of these projects please contact Ted Connell at ted.connell@btinternet.com, tel: 01474 872763; 110, Manor Forstal, New Ash Green, Longfield, Kent DA3 8JQ. To view the work carried out so far, log on to our website at www.kentarchaeology.org.uk then click on ‘Research ’. Ted Connell ABOVE: Rev. V J Torr’s description of an MIat St Mary’s, Smeeth, recording a woman who lived to see 366 of her descendents. BELOW: A reference from Torr’s transcription of notes made by Rev. Bryan Faussett at St Mary’s, Smeeth, refering to a Coat of Arms of Richard Masters, ‘hanged at Tyburn for treason’! Spring 2008 10 into a world of youthful enthusiasm. The annual accounts for 1976-77 show ‘Highstead Site Costs’ at £969.34. Would that the rest of the s t o ry had been so simple! Writing up became a very stop/start p rocess as excavations in Canterbury grew in scale and number along with the commitments and responsibilities of those involved. It is l a rgely due to the watchful eye and financial support of English Heritage, that the re p o rt finally reached publication. The story is, of course, told in the book, which is provided with a fore w o rd by Professor Barry C u n l i ffe. He writes: ‘Highstead, with its long sequence of occupation spanning the first millennium B.C. and early first millennium A.D., was excavated under difficult conditions between 1975 and 1977 in those pioneering days when re s c u e a rchaeology was in its infancy. It is a story well told by Paul Bennett in his preface and is a stark reminder of how hand-to-mouth archaeology was in the era before developer-funding. What the small dedicated team managed to recover during the course of those three punishing years was little short of re m a r k a b l e ’ . The value of Highstead is two-fold. It is a typesite for Late Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement in e a s t e rn Britain and it provides a pottery sequence without parallel in the region which demonstrates not only the longue durée development of ceramic technology throughout the first millennium but also the mobility of ideas – and of course people – between the Continent and Britain. It is no exaggeration to say that Highstead calls for a complete reassessment of connectivity in the Channel–Nort h Sea zone. H a rd back, cloth bound, dust jacket. 22 x 28 cm. 329 pages, 164 figu res & 17 plates. ISBN 978 1 870545 11 2. Price £25.00 /38.63 euro s . Published by Canterbury Archaeological Trust Ltd & funded by English H e r i t a g e . KAS members may be aware that changes are afoot with the distributors Heritage Marketing and Publications. Until their arr a n g ements are complete, and while limited stocks last, the Highstead publication is available f rom 92A Bro a d S t reet, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2LU. Postage and packing will be charg e d at cost (£5.75). Personal callers are w e l c o m e . HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT AND SURVEY OF OLD BUILDINGS by Roger A C Cockett for the KAS Historic Buildings Committee This booklet refers to itself as an advice note for people who care about old buildings, and is aimed in particular at individuals who would like to find out more about their pro p e rt y. The first section deals with whether a building is ‘historic’, and explains the purpose of the Statutory List compiled by English Heritage for the D e p a rtment of State for Culture , Media and Sport. The booklet goes on to offer advice on sourc e s of information on buildings that may not have met the criteria for inclusion on the Statutory List, and thence on to how to investigate the age and significance of buildings. The subsequent sections deal in some detail with how to carry out an historical assessment and a measured survey of a building. There are some helpful line drawings in the sections explaining the principles of undertaking a measured surv e y. T h roughout the booklet re f e re n c e s a re made to publications that p rovide more information on various aspects of assessing and s u rveying buildings. The final 21 pages are taken up with three annexes providing information on helpful Government web pages; books on historic buildings in Kent; and an annotated list summarising the contents of re c o m m e n d e d books. All in all, a very useful advice note for would-be re s e a rc h e r s of old buildings. The 37-page, A4 size booklet is available from Roger Cockett, Shiralee, New Barn Road, Southfleet, Gravesend, DA13 9PX. Price £2.40 including P&P. Cheques should be made payable to Roger C o c k e t t . The full content of the booklet, including illustrations, is also available on the KAS Research website at: w w w. k e n t a rc h a e o l o g y. o rg . u k / R e s e a rch/04/00.htm HIGHSTEAD, near Chislet, Kent. EXCAVA T I O N S 1 9 7 5 – 1 9 7 7 The Archaeology of Canterbury (New Series) Vol IV Paul Bennett, Peter Couldrey and Nigel M a c p h e r s o n - G r a n t One of the very earliest of the Tru s t ’s excavations, being alre a d y u n d e rway when Tim Ta t t o n - B rown was appointed as its first Dire c t o r in 1976, quietly reached publication in the summer of 2007, a neat t h i rty years since the small excavation team left the site to the gravel quarry owners, Robert Brett Group. The first brief accounts of the excavations at Highstead in early Trust annual re p o rts give a glimpse N E W B O O K S 11 Spring 2008 EA R L Y MEDIEVAL GLASS VESSELS FOUND IN KENT by Wi n i f r ed Stephens, M.Phil. BAR British Series 424, 2006. The result of 5 years of re s e a rch, this volume forms a catalogue of the glass vessels of European migrants to Kent, from approximately AD450- 700, in museums, archaeological trusts and societies and private collections. D B Hard e n ’s survey of 1956 identified some 259 vessels, the majority from Kent. This survey updates that list and includes catalogues of collections in Kent, in national museums and in international museums, plus a catalogue of missing/lost vessels. 234 pages, with numerous B&W photos and illustrations depicting every extant vessel or fragment listed, plus 32 colour photos. The volume has kindly been donated by the author to the KAS Library, where it is available for re s e a rch. Price £40.00. Available from BAR British, Arc h a e o p ress, Gordon House, 276 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7ED. Tel: 01865 311914, email: b a r @ a rc h a e o p ress.com. Kent Archaeological Society KENT RECORDS (NEW SERIES) Volume 4, parts 7 & 8. Members are invited to subscribe to the forthcoming parts of the Kent R e c o rds, Volume 4 Parts 7-8. It is hoped to conclude the Feet of Fines for Kent for Richard II. In future parts to volume 5 it is hoped to include further early Kent muster re c o rds, a 1548 listing from the British L i b r a ry including transcripts of some now lost Elizabethan Musters for the town of Sandwich. Price £11.00, cheque payable to Kent Archaeological Society and sent to Ashton Lodge, Church Road, Lyminge. Folkestone CT18 8JA. Email queries: booksales@kentarc h a e o l o g y. o rg.uk. EXISTING PUBLICATION - Special Of f e r KENT AND EAST SUSSEX UNDERGROUND It will surprise many people that South-East England has a huge variety of underg round features, ranging from simple pits dug for agricultural chalk (deneholes) to extensive subterr a n e a n q u a rries from which thousands of tons of stone were excavated. There are also natural caves, old military tunnels and shelters, follies and countless wells, cisterns, icehouses and c e s s p i t s . This book, written by expert members of the Kent U n d e rg round Research Group (a specialist affiliated society of the Kent Archaeological Society), describes and explains many of the types of underg round sites found in Kent and East Sussex. The publication is available at the special price to KAS Members of £4 (includes p&p), from Mike Clinch (to whom cheques payable), 2 Parkhurst Rd, Bexley DA5 1AR. The Marden History Group arose from the involvement of the Marden Society in producing the village's design statement in 1998. With the support of villagers we managed to accumulate a significant number of photographs, documents, articles and artefacts that were stored in a caravan, then a stable, the electronic version in members' homes. We aspired to exhibit our ‘history collection’ at various village functions and on dedicated ‘history days’, together with selling our booklets, videos and oral histories. The search for a permanent home where the ‘collection’ could be suitably preserved and exhibited started three years ago and was resolved when the KCC Libraries & Archives Department invited us to rent part of the Marden Library, in line with their diversification policy. As this was to be the first such partnership in Kent, we had the opportunity to use our imagination to design a functional and attractive Heritage Centre in a fine central location. The Allen Grove History Fund was the first of our benefactors to offer a grant, followed by the Parish Council, our Boro u g h Councillors and our KCC Councillor. These offers became tangible when the Awards For All Big Lottery offered us their maximum grant of £10,000. The Heritage Centre was installed and was ready for preview within six weeks. We have had practical backing from the Centre for Kentish Studies and the Maidstone Museum who have loaned us some Palaeolithic hand tools found in the area. The centre is staffed by over twenty researchers during the eighteen hours a week when the Library is open. Visitors have access to all our history collection in hard copy, the material stored on our computer and laptop as well as through a microfiche reader. The exhibition for the official opening will be ‘Celebrations’. Future exhibitions will be based on the four seasons. Our aim is to Seek, Preserve, Research, Inspire interest in and Transmit the history of the Parish of Marden, ‘S.P.R.I.T.’ The Rt.Hon.Ann Widdecombe formally opened the Heritage Centre on 23rd February 2008. David McFarland Chair of the Marden History Group MARDEN LIBRARY & HERITAGE CENTRE Above: Gathering information in the Heritage Centre. Spring 2008 12 INTRODUCTION The Wolverton Project is part of a long-term research initiative within Alkham Valley, designed to investigate probable Bronze Age funerary sites and their landscape setting ahead of future agricultural erosion. The project has served as a successful fieldwork training opportunity for volunteers and university students studying archaeology at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Initial work was focused on a downland ridge to determine the site as a barrow cemetery, identify the quantity of sub-surface features on and around the ridge and to establish the degree of archaeological preservation. This report concerns the site of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery of the 6th to 7th centuries AD and an Early Bronze Age barrow cemetery situated above the small hamlet of Wolverton near Chilton Farm, Alkham Valley, near Dover. The Anglo-Saxon cemetery first seems to have come to notice during the 1970s before being independently rediscovered in early 2007. The site is located on a bull-nosed spur between two valleys facing northeast on the North Downs, within and overlooking the eastern end of the Alkham Valley, and lies close to the south-eastern Alkham Parish boundary [near Dover]. In 2007, the area of the site was grazed pasture, although it had been under cultivation the previous year. The underlying geology is chalk, reached at between 4cm and 56cm below present ground level. Mrs Rebecca Burrows identified a number of visible low mounds, the most prominent being visible on the skyline from a distance, as a potential Bronze Age barrow cemetery in 2005. Despite the presence of a visible mound, there is no record of the site being identified or investigated. At some point during the 1970s metal detectorists searched the site and recovered several artefacts. Some of this material, including a shoe-shaped belt stud, a shield-ontongue copper alloy buckle tongue and part of a silver-gilt plated disc brooch, was passed to Keith Parfitt more than 20 years later via a third party (Keith Parfitt, pers.comm). These finds date from the 6th to early 7th centuries and were placed in store at Dover Museum in 1994. These original discoveries led to an investigation by members of the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit. This apparently took place circa 1975. Two small trenches were excavated, each containing the sparse skeletal remains of Anglo-Saxon burials (Graves 1 and 2). At least one of these burials contained grave goods, possibly an iron knife and or part of a spear. Subsequent to this excavation, the Unit is believed to have persuaded the farmer to refuse further access to the site to the metal detectorists who had made the initial discovery. They may have been concerned that the site might be subject to further metal detecting, and therefore kept the location (and indeed, existence) of the site a close secret. When the co-author was working on his PhD thesis on The Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries of Kent, the metal work finds in Dover Museum were brought to his attention by Keith Parfitt and were subsequently published (Richardson 2005, volume II, 2, site 291). However, it should be noted that the grid reference given in this publication was incorrect, being based upon a ver - bal description of the find-spot given to Keith Parfitt with the metal finds. There are no reports of further discoveries or investigations at the site until March 2007, when local amateur archaeologist and co- ABOVE: Wolverton ridge looking south. ABOVE: Grave 5 in situ. INTERIM REPOR T: EARLY BRONZE AGE BARROWS AND ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY AT WOLVERTON, NEAR DOVER 13 Spring 2008 author Vince Burrows obtained permission to carry out a geophysical survey (undertaken by Sub Scan South-East) and archaeological evaluation of the visible mound site in order to confirm that this was an ancient barrow. The initial one-day geophysical survey over an area of 260 square metres revealed indications of three irregular oval ring ditches, two possible smaller ring ditches, evidence for inhumations and several other anomalies. During the first phase of the excavations over the most prominent mound (MI), seen on the skyline, the primary trench found that the north and south axes of the ring-ditch had been totally ploughed away, although a secondary trench, positioned eastwest, located half of the western side of the ring-ditch enclosing the area of raised chalk with no surviving mound. In Trench 1, an Anglo- Saxon inhumation containing a large iron knife was discovered. Andrew Richardson was contacted at this point and assisted with the planning and lifting of this burial, now designated grave 3 (grave numbers 1 and 2 being assigned to those graves said to have been excavated by KARU). Subsequently a further burial was located when Trench 1 was extended. Since this was seen to have a large quantity of skeletal material in the upper fill, the decision was taken to excavate, as it was believed to be either a very shallow or disturbed burial. In fact it proved to be two burials; grave 5 was an intact Anglo-Saxon inhumation containing some iron rivets, possibly the remains of boat planking. This had cut an earlier burial (grave 4), of which only part of the feet remained in situ; the rest of the bones from this grave were found jumbled in the fill of grave 5. It is possible that this represents the primary prehistoric burial located just off centre on Mound I. Hopefully C14 dating will provide an answer to this. A further 6 graves (graves 7-12) were located by Burrows up until November 2007. These graves were evaluated and deemed deep enough to be not under threat; they were therefore planned but left unexcavated. CONCLUSION This cemetery probably served a settlement somewhere in the vicinity of the small hamlet of modern Wolverton, although the farm at Chilton was probably already established and perhaps utilizing the same ridge cemetery. The tight cluster of the 8 observed internments focused on the mound suggests that Mound I may have still been reasonably upstanding during the early Anglo-Saxon period. Within the adjacent Dour Valley, near Dover, a number of possible or excavated Anglo-Saxon cemetery sites have been identified at Durham Hill, Priory Hill, High Meadow, Old Park, Lousyberry Wood, Watersend and Buckland (Evison 1987, 176-7; Parfitt 1998, Parfitt and Dickinson 2007); all lie on chalk spurs which jut out from the main valley side, each one placed on a promontory, roughly midway down the valley side. Their location is striking and almost predictable in its regularity. There can be little doubt that each of these burial sites was originally associated with a settlement, most probably located in the bottom of the valley adjacent to the river. Unlike the wealth of the grave goods recorded from these cemeteries, those excavated at Wolverton demonstrated the opposite, although this discovery has provided further new information concerning the distribution of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, which may continue west along the adjoining Alkham Valley. The location of the cemetery at Wolverton on the downland spur correlates well with the emerging pattern identified along the course of the Dour Valley at Dover. In addition, most, if not all, of the sites are located near, or adjacent to, existing or former trackways, bridle paths, green lanes or roads. A number of these routes still used today may have their origins in the late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Whether important routes of communication also influenced the siting of cemeteries or indeed, which existed first, remains an interesting matter for further research and debate. During the course of this project, the general preservation of the barrow ditches and burials can only be described as being generally at threat. Vince Burrows and Dr Andrew Richardson REFERENCES Evison, V.I. 1987 Dover: Buckland Anglo-Saxon cemetery (HBMC Archaeological Report 3, London, 1987) Glover, Judith. The Place Names of Kent. Meresborough Books 1992 Mills, A.D. A Dictionary of English Place Names. Oxford University Press 1995 Parfitt, K. 1998 ‘An Unrecorded Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Water’s End, near Dover’, Kent Archaeological Revue 134, 89–90 Parfitt, K. and Dickinson, T. 2007 The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Old Park, near Dover, Revisited. In Collectanea Antiqua: Essays in Memory of Sonia Chadwick Hawkes. BAR International Series 1673, 111-126 Richardson, A.F. 2005 The Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries of Kent. BAR British Series 391, volumes I and II, Oxfor d ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank the following persons: Mr & Mrs Ledbetter (landowners) for their kind support of this project; for much-appreciated technical support Keith Parfitt (Canterbury Archaeological Trust), Bar ry Corke (CAT), Stuart Needham, Geoff Halliwell (Dover Archaeological Group); Dr Steven Willis for student support (University of Kent); Jon Iverson (Curator, Dover Museum), David Holman (Dover Archaeological Group), Jim Walker (White Cliffs MDC); the excavation and geophysical teams that have greatly contributed to the betterment of our historical knowledge within the Alkham Valley; Justin Yardley, John Bertram, Mike Robinson, Bill Laing, Roger Collinson, Rebecca Burrows, Elissia Burrows, Jasmine Richards, Christine Kidd, Sylvia Norris and the students studying archaeology at the University of Kent; Andy Bates, Amy Hammett, Caromin Louw, Lola Cascino, Helen Harrington, Nigel Simpson, and Veronica Reilly. The Society has limited funds available to award a grant to individuals researching any aspect of the archaeology and history of the Canterbury district. It is envisaged that a grant would not normally exceed £500. Preference would be given to work resulting in publication. Please apply in writing to the Honorary Secretary of the Grants Committee as soon as possible, and in any case not later than 30 June. Your letter should mention your qualifications, the nature and length of your research, the amount you are applying for, any additional funding anticipated and proposals for publication. You may be asked to name a referee whom the Committee 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 Society’s Library For further details, please contact the Hon.Sec. of the Grants Committee: Mrs C M Short, 3 Little Meadow, Upper Harbledown, Canterbury CT2 9BD. CANTERBURY ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY Research and Publication Grants Spring 2008 14 Dear Editor F u rther to Dr Shirley Black's letter (Winter 2007/08, page 14) about E d w a rd Hasted, I should like to take this opportunity to relate my own re s e a rch into the two editions of Hasted's H i s t o ry of Kent. The edition we normally consult is the 2nd edition which we can borrow fro m libraries. However, by my reckoning this is a somewhat abridged version of his 1st edition, which can usually only be found in the arc h i v e s . It is possible that upon first appreciation, one would think that the 2nd edition of 12 volumes would contain more writing than the 4 volumes of the 1st edition. However, I believe the opposite to be the case. I have come to this conclusion from studying the entries for the parishes of Elmsted and Hastingleigh. The main text lines of the 2nd edition have 1-2 more words than the 1st edition. But as the smaller type of the extensive footnotes of the 1st edition have 1-2 words more , I think that balances things out. Concerning the actual text: Elmsted: 2nd edition, 487 lines and 1st edition, 799 lines, making the 1st edition about 58% bigger. Hastingleigh: 2nd edition, 203 lines and 1st edition, 324 lines, making the 1st edition about 52% bigger. It seems to be the additional notes in the 1st edition that accounts for the diff e rence. On one page in the 1st edition under Elmsted, there a re only four lines of main text, the rest of the page is taken up with notes continued from the previous page and even those notes have further notes. I found this extra information of vital importance when re s e a rching the Honywood family in Elmsted. Prior to Hasted many books were written on the history of Kent and no doubt he built upon these for his work. Even so I'm sure Hasted could not possibly be aware of the particulars of every parish in Kent, so he must have relied on information from local important people. In fact John Boyle, in his "In Quest of Hasted" says that a questionnaire (covering manors and places of note, subsequent developments, and c u rrent ownerships) went to the last owner of the pro p e rties re c o rd e d in Philipot's Vi l l a re Cantianum ( 1 6 5 9 ) . John Boyle's book is about the great amount of Hasted’s backg round material that he found gathering dust in Canterbury Cathedral A rchives. Having browsed the collection I found that the papers are filed parish by parish and includes information not in either the 1st or 2nd editions. There are also some of Hasted's questionnaires. For example in box 433 two of them read: "Q. Elmsted manor owned by Mr John Lushington of Helchin House. Whose now? A. Mr Taylor of Rodmersham, who married a daughter of Richard Lushington uncle of John. Q. Southleigh manor owner Mr John Browning of Wa l t h a m . Whose now? A. Stephen Birc h ’s by purc h a s e ". Also in the collection are two large books of will translations and a great deal of miscellaneous i t e m s . F rom elsewhere I have come across an astrological chart of that era for the Hasted family that I don't think has been written about anyw h e re . Finally concerning the article (Winter 2007/08, page 15) on Rev L B Larking collaborating with Rev T Streatfeild on a new history of Kent, the part that was completed was published in 1886 and called " P a rt 1: The Hundred of Blackheath". No further parts were pre p a red. The Rev S t reatfeild's collection consisted of voluminous biographical, genealogical and heraldic memoranda, extracts from parish re g i s t e r s , L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R S P R I N G 2 0 0 8 wills, and other re c o rds. After his death in 1848, his materials were e n t rusted to the Rev Larking. He died in 1868 and was unable to do m o re than collect additional matter. Thereafter the Streatfeld family gave the whole manuscript collection to the British Museum who in 1973 transferred it to the British Library. T h e re are also re f e rences in the Centre for Kentish Studies. Vi z . U908 Streatfeild family. "Deeds, estate and family papers and correspondence of the Streatfeild and related families, 13th to 19th centuries" – includes index and pedigree charts. U1194 J. Fre m l y n S t reatfeild collection. "Prints and drawings of Kent buildings...." – a rranged alphabetically by locality. The overall title of their work was intended to be " H a s t e d ’s H i s t o ry of Kent, corrected, enlarged, and continued to the Pre s e n t Ti m e ". What immense value it would be to have this particular hist o ry of Kent and what a shame it was never completed. It languishes to this day, filling 56 volumes in the British Library, awaiting resuscitation by some competent hand. Keith Griff i t h s Dear Editor I so much agree with Dr Shirley Black in her defence of that extrao rd i n a ry and scholarly historian Edward Hasted. Other county historians are rightly envious! I have also delved into his notes at Canterbury Cathedral Chapter Library (U11) and found how careful he was to solicit the help of the many amateur historians and genealogists of his time. M o reover he frequently cross examined their input, asking for conf i rmation and, as a result, sometimes did not put the more dubious 'wishful' re s e a rch into his book. By the way, I strongly support the continuation of Arch Cant in its current form. The DVD version is a wonderful tool, but nothing could match the quality of the production of the hardback to make one want to pick it up and re a d . John Lushington Dear Editor Tom Hollobone wrote in the KAS Winter issue no.75 that the Sussex Archaeological Soc published their Journal as a "hard back." I too have been a member of the SAS for some 10 years now and always the Sussex Archaeological Collections have arrived on my mat in ‘perfect’ form …. as I think the soft shiny volume is known in the publishing trade. It is 184mm wide (deep) and 248cm in height (approx 7" X 10") and fits well on my bookshelf, matching many other modern publications of similar size. I am at a loss as to which publication Mr Hollobone is talking about. By the way, I concur with Angela Muthana’s query re g a rding the suitability of Arch Cant’s present format for a modern readership. Lesley Feakes revetment associated with early 20th century soil reprofiling for a hop garden and associated hopper huts. Dating for these buildings appears to centre on the use of a large quantity of red, off-white and yellow tegular, with a finger moulded top edge, appearing to date to around AD200. It is hoped to continue excavations at the end of April this year. A J Daniels BSc ABOVE: Simplified plan of the site. BELOWLEFT: North west corner, building 3. BELOWRIGHT: South east corner, building 2. 15 Spring 2008 Investigations by the Maidstone Are a Archaeological Group during 2005/2006 on the supposed site of a Roman building located foundations (building 1) similar to the building reported in Smith’s Topography of Maidstone and its Environs, 1839, p57. The overall size of the building was 15m by 29m. It consisted of three rooms surrounded on three sides by a 4m-wide corridor. No floors were located; the foundations, which were 600mm wide, consisted of one or two layers of unmortared ragstone, with occasionally the first layer the mortared wall construction. The northwestern corner was constructed through a pit containing moulded and painted plaster together with tiles from a hypocaust heating system. No evidence for a heating system was found in this building, which from coin and pottery evidence appears to date from the mid 3rd century. During 2007 the search for the missing earlier building shifted to the south onto the top of a 2m high lynchet. Whilst cutting a line of trial pits t h rough the lynchet, building 2 was located. Further excavations located buildings 3 and 4. The buildings, which appear to be non-domestic, were covered by 1.5m of hillwash, which formed the lynchet. Building 3 has 600mm-wide ragstone walls standing 1.2m high. It is 7.5m wide and proved for a length of 23m. It has been constructed over the south wall of building 2 which had been demolished to below the red sand floor level of building 3. Building 4 appears to be parallel to building 3 and 2.2m north of it. It consists of 1.5m of the southwest corner, truncated by a dry stone wall R O M A N B U I L D I N G S AT OAKLANDS, L O W E R ROAD, EAST F A R L E I G H 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 during work hours please. Email evelyn.palmer@virgin.net or newsletter@kentarchaeology.org.uk Copy deadline for the next issue in July is Friday May 30th. 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: Marion Green of Canterbur y Archaeological T rust (left) and Christine Maxwell of Allington County Primary School, inspect a CAT-BOX. Spring 2008 16 School children in Kent will be able to enjoy ‘hands on’ lessons in history and archaeology in their classrooms with the CAT BOX loans service now available from Canterbury Archaeological Trust. Three hundred boxes of original artefacts, replicas, models and ephemera ranging from prehistoric tools to WWII gas masks and ration books, will be available on loan to all KCC, Medway Council and independent infant, junior and secondary schools – nearly 800 in total. Funded by both the Kent Archaeological Society and the Friends of Canterbury Archaeological Trust, the service is a response to the growing interest in archaeology among young people and will make practical use of thousands of items that have been inherited by the CAT. The items will be valuable teaching aids across the school curriculum in history, art, technology and English lessons and in after school activities. Said Marion Green, CAT education officer and KAS Education Committee Hon. Secretary: "The collection is very varied and includes finds from archaeological digs, Anglo-Saxon and Viking helmets; toys from the early 20th century; and really interesting ephemera from the World Wars. Among the models are Viking and medieval ships, a Norman castle, a medieval house, a Roman dining room, WW2 aeroplanes and the Columbia space shuttle". The boxes range in size from small to large and can be collected from the Canterbury Archaeological Trust’s Kingsmead store in Canterbury. For more information phone 01227 462062 or e-mail: mariongreen@canterburytrust.co.uk. See a full catalogue and photographs of selected items on www.canterburytrust.co.uk/schools/catboxpg.htm. B O X E S O F T R E A S U R E S F O R K E N T S C H O O L S