KAS Newsletter, Issue 81, Summer 2009

nnee ww ss ll ee tt tt ee rr KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY Issue number 81 Summer 2009 www.kentarchaeology.org.uk I n s i d e 2-3 Burham Bracelets MAAG Ledgers 4-5 Allen Grove Fund Website Testimonials Firebacks New Books 6-7 What’s On 8-9 You & Your Society Committee Round Up Peopling Past Landscapes 10-11 Notes from the Archives Kent Pipe Rolls 12-13 Lyminge 14-15 Wolverton 16 EKP Launch BBRRAACCEELLEETTSS FFRROOM BB UU RR HH AA M T H E ‘ M U S T - H A V E ’ A C C E S S O R Y O F T H E L A T E B R O N Z E A G E ? funded by Aylesford Newsprint Ltd as part of their lagoon construction programme and commissioned by their consultants AECOM following advice from KCC Heritage Officers. An area measuring 1.8ha was stripped of topsoil, revealing an extensive network of archaeological features beneath. These features slot into a prehistoric landscape, which includes a Neolithic causewayed enclosure and an Iron Age enclosure, previously identified by geophysical survey and by the study of cropmarks. On-site stratigraphic phasing of the archaeology supported by dating from the pre l i m i n a ry assessment of the artefacts demonstrated that settlement of this site began sometime during the end of the Bronze Age (1100 - 700BC), Excavations by Wessex Archaeology, near Burham in the Medway valley, uncovered unique evidence for the manufacture of shale bracelets using flint tools during the Bronze Age. This exciting find, in conjunction with Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement and mortuary activity, is the earliest known example of large scale production of shale bracelets, possibly from the UK and certainly from Kent and offers the opportunity to explore previously unknown trade links with the region. The work was carried out from mid January to mid May of this year. It was BROKEN BRACELETS AND BOUNDARIES: The discovery of a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Settlement at B u r h a m,Kent Summer 2009 2 MAIN COVER PICTURE: © Valley of Visions. COVER INSET: Shale bracelets of different shapes and forms. BELOW: The site during the Open Day. © Valley of Visions. Fragments of building materials and ceramics dating to this period were recovered from the upper fills of the enclosure ditches and from associated refuse pits. Crucial post excavation assessment of the material recovered is continuing in order to further our understanding of the significance of the site. Why did people come here in the late Bronze Age to make shale bracelets? Were they drawn to this area by the presence of the Neolithic enclosure? Could this monument have still been visible in the landscape and an important focus into the Bronze and Iron Ages? Was this area of ritual significance or was the River Medway as a trading route the main appeal? By undertaking further analysis we hope to be able to answer such questions as these. Acknowledgements Wessex Archaeology would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to AECOM for commissioning the work on behalf of Aylesford Newsprint Ltd, to Wendy Rogers and Lis Dyson of Kent County Council for their guidance and support throughout the project. Thanks are also extended to the KAS members for their interest and enthusiasm during their attendance of the Margetts Pit Open Day. This article was written on behalf of Wessex Archaeology by Jon Milward and edited by Wendy Rogers of KCC. The project was managed by C a roline Budd (Wessex Arc h a e o l o g y : Salisbury) and by Mark Williams (Wessex Archaeology: Maidstone). The bulk of the other features uncovered related to a broad phase of activity dating to the Late Bronze Age / Early Iron Age, around the first half of the first millennium BC. These mainly consisted of features related to domestic activity. The site was divided up by an interesting series of fence lines and ditches, probably aligned on previously established boundaries and divisions of the surrounding farmland and by the topography of the site, which suggested evidence of field boundaries visible as linear depressions. At various times during this period, different parts of the site had been set apart as burial grounds. A dispersed inhumation cemetery was represented by four crouched burials, and a further cemetery containing up to 20 un-urned cremation burials was also revealed. Environmental processing of some of the cremated remains has recovered fragments of amber, probably remnants of jewellery which would have adorned the dead for cremation. One of the main elements of the site was an Iron Age enclosure. Only the south west corner of this was exposed within the excavation area, the remainder being accurately mapped and located by geophysics. The uncovered part of the enclosure provided the opportunity to establish the character of the perimeter ditches and external associated features, such as pits and post holes. The interior remains a mystery for the present. There was evidence that this enclosure may have been utilised for a short time during the Roman period. 3 Summer 2009 continuing through the Iron Age and into the mid-Roman period (AD 150 – 250). The most interesting aspect of this site comes from evidence suggesting the Late Bronze Age community was practising shale working. The evidence survives as massive deposits of mixed flint and shale industrial waste in features and midden dumps across the site. The character of the shale objects and waste demonstrated that the particular focus of this industry was to produce bracelets. Recovered examples of broken bracelets in various stages of p roduction have already provided a g reat deal of information about the industry and the processes involved in their production. The bracelets were being worked by hand from blanks that were possibly brought to the site from as far afield as Kimmeridge in Dorset. It appears that struck flint was the preferred tool for working the shale as massive quantities of the material were found in association with the shale waste. Although no complete finished examples of bracelets were re c o v e red, broken pieces of finished forms were found. After these are conserved and analysed we will eventually be able to demonstrate the range of sizes and designs which were being produced. This find is highly significant and has the potential to inform a great deal about Late Bronze Age economy, trade and beliefs in south east England. It is likely that an established trade network up and down the River Medway was the original market, but the nature and extent of the trade network are not yet understood. Albert Daniels, Chairman of the Maidstone Area Archaeological Group, presenting the Rev. Canon Christopher Morgan-Jones, Vicar of All Saints’ Church, Maidstone, with a bound copy of the inscriptions and map of the Ledger Slabs set in the floor of the Church. Three hundred Ledger slabs were re c o rded by the Group. The book is one of two copies bound by the KCC Archives Office; they retain the second copy. 2009 is the fortieth year since the foundation of the Maidstone Area Archaeological Group. MAAG RECORD LEDGER SLABS Summer 2009 4 Last year we reported a disappointing drop in the number of applications for grants. The t rustees of the Fund were pleased to receive seventeen applications this year, probably a record number, following more extensive publicity. Inevitably there was not enough money available to award useful amounts to all the applicants and seven grants of between £200 and £400 were made. These were to: ● Ashford Town Bowls Club for re s e a rch into the history of the club and producing a centenary booklet and display. ● Folkestone People’s History Centre towards the cost of production of the first of a series of journ a l s on the town’s history and archaeology. ● H e rne & Broomfield Local History Group for the cost of producing a booklet ‘Herne Chronicles - a collection of myths, legends & facts to celebrate 700 years of the Parish’. ● Mr G. Hitchings for the cost of publishing a guide to Speldhurst Church and its unique windows. ● Dr H. Leaf for re s e a rch on a collection of letters written in the 19th century to George Moore who had emigrated to America and which tell of life in the Faversham area. She will publish a book on the letters. ● Save the Hadlow Tower Action Group for p roducing a permanent display at Hadlow Tower on the tower and its history. The tower is about to be restored by the Vivat Trust and will have a museum and visitor centre on the ground floor and holiday flat above. ● Dr D. Wright for re s e a rch to produce a book on Bryan Fausset. The next grants will be awarded in 2010 and applications on the prescribed form must be received by the Hon. General Secretary by the 31st March. The form can be downloaded from the society’s web site at http:// www. kentarchaeology. org. uk/ Society.htm or obtained from the Hon. General Secretary, Three Elms, Woodlands Lane, Shorne, Gravesend, DA12 3HH. Email: secretary@ kentarchaeology. org. uk. ALLEN GROVE LOCAL HISTORY FUND “I came across your site and gained some useful information from it about some of my ancestors. One of them, John Skinner, was Charles Darwin’s coachman at Downe. Your site has given me information about the burial and date of death of his parents and his spouse”. I.P. “I have found your records to be a gold mine. It can be very difficult researching family history from Australia but your site has been extremely helpful. The MIs helped me zero-in on where one particular family lived”. R.R., Perth Australia. “ Your MIs are invaluable in my family history research. They are professionally presented and an excellent source of information. The one on Ightham Churchyard helped me resolve several perplexing questions”. D.S., Washington State, USA. “Thank you for providing the MI listings online for Goudhurst. I have been researching my family tree and have found a number of my father’s people (Dousts and Stanbridges) in the churchyard. The inscriptions giving details of other family members, surviving and deceased, are very helpful”. M.L. (née Freeland), Mount Colah, New South Wales. “I appreciate the time and effort that has gone into putting this site together. I am a descendant of Joseph Doust and Mary Stanbridge of Goudhurst and this information has filled in quite a few gaps in the family tree. We need all the help we can get and more sites like this one would be a great help. You have done a marvellous job so give yourselves a pat on the back”. G.S., Brisbane Australia. “I am writing to say how much I appreciated being able to read the inscriptions in the churchyard at Goudhurst. I found three generations of my Russell ancestors and their families. It helped me confirm previous information and gave me new leads to follow. Inscriptions give unique information that are not found in ordinary written records, linking families together, and it is rare to be able to discover such information online”. Z.S. “I would like to say how useful your site has been for me. I found a couple of Marchant relatives at Seal. The people who record all the headstones do a fantastic job and it is appreciated , so well done to all and thank you”. V.M. “I deeply appreciate your efforts to document these monuments. They shed so much light on my family and its ties here in the United States. Until recently I had blamed the mis-spellings of many of the surnames on semi-illiterate census takers, ministers, court officials, etc. It is so good to be able to see the original spellings on your website. Your pictures of the churches and the history of them is a labour of love and it makes me want to journey to England and see them for myself. Thank you so much for your time and effort”. C.D.K, Tennessee, USA. “It’s wonderful to be able to search for memorial inscriptions to my Shrubb and Mitchell ancestors. The site not only searches for a name but gives a grave number and a map, so I was able to go to Otford and Chevening and ‘cherry pick’ my graves. Thank you so much. You are all brilliant. Keep up the good work.” C.A. “I think your research pages, photos and MIs are the best. I have found people I would never have known even existed. You have done an excellent job”. J.M., Western Australia. WEBSITE TESTIMONIALS Above: Graves of the Pine and other families at the Baptist Burial Ground at Tovil, Maidstone. This is one of about 100 burial grounds and churchyards whose MIs have been added to our website during the last 12 months, bringing the total number covered to more than 260. Many of the hundreds of ‘visits’ made to our website every month emanate from family historians searching for their ancestors’ burial places and memorial inscriptions. Here are some of the testimonials that our webmaster, Ted Connell, has received recently. across, by phone on 01293 886278, or email at jshodgkinson@hodgers.com. If you can send me a picture, so much the better. I am keen to record examples not already encountered, for inclusion in the catalogue. Jeremy Hodgkinson Have you just joined the Society? Do you wish you could collect all the back issues of Archaeologia Cantiana? Now you can have 125 volumes of Archaeologia Cantiana at the amazingly low cost of £31 for individual members and £76 for institutional members on the KAS Sesquicentennial DVD. To order your copy, send a cheque payable to Kent Archaeological Society to James Gibson, 27 Pine Grove, Maidstone, Kent ME14 2AJ. 5 Summer 2009 A NEW LOOK AT IRON FIREBACKS The Stones of St Augustine’s Abbey Geoff Downer ISBN 978 0 9561690 0 6 This excellent 28 page book gives very clear and helpful descriptions, all illustrated in colour, of seventeen different types of building stone to be seen in the ruins of St Augustine’s Abbey at Canterbury. Close-up photographs are also given for many of the stones. There are also sections on stone robbing, quarrying, transportation of stone, medieval building work and on making and using lime mortar, as well as location maps of the sources of each type of stone and a chart of the geological time periods when they were formed. The stones are related to the St Augustine’s site by a plan showing where examples of each may be seen; also a brief history of the abbey and a suggested tour route. This little book really deserves a much wider audience than those who visit the abbey ruins in Canterbury. In fact any non-specialist investigator of medieval stonework in Kent, either in standing buildings or on archaeological sites, will find it useful, especially given its very modest price. Price £3.95 (which includes P&P). Copies should be ordered from: Kent RIGS Group, 6 Manor Close, Canterbury CT1 3XA and cheques made payable to: Kent RIGS Group. N E W BOOKS The decorated cast-iron plates that sat in many an old farmhouse inglenook have long been of passing interest to antiquarians. As early as 1788 the Gentleman’s Magazine published a note on one found in Norwich. Many museums in the south east acquired firebacks in the early years of the last century; both Maidstone and Rochester have small but representative collections. While firebacks have generally been the subject of notes and queries in antiquarian journals, or of sub-sections in books on decorative ironwork, few writers have devoted any serious consideration to their origin, manufacture and decoration. Studies on the subject have been written in Germany, France, Norway and even America, but not in Britain. Of course, firebacks are still in use, and for a century or more there has been a steady trade in reproductions. Several firms advertise a range of designs cast using earlier plates as the pattern, and modern designs as well. Many old firebacks are themselves copies, only detectable, where earlier versions exist, by their slightly smaller dimensions because iron shrinks on cooling. Most early writers on firebacks tended to generalise and, in some cases, made sweeping statements about their provenance. Because it was not possible then to compare images of large numbers of firebacks at a time detailed similarities and differences were not easy to detect. Nowadays, our increased knowledge of the industry that produced them, together with the availability of digital images, has changed all that. It is already becoming possible to draw more reasoned conclusions about groups of firebacks through close examination of shared features. I would like to enlist the help of Society members and local history groups in telling me about firebacks they or their friends may possess, or which they have seen on visits to museums, pubs, and to houses, whether private or open to the public. I am assembling a catalogue of British fireback designs of the 16th to 18th centuries, to try to identify their age, what the designs refer to, and the places where some of them were made. Eventually it is hoped that the fruits of this research will be published as a book. Please let me know of any firebacks you come B E L O W: An early personalised fireback from Groombridge. Summer 2009 6 history of the county. This class will look at the Reformation and Civil War in Kent, at agriculture and industry, and at documents illustrating the lives of ordinary people in the county. A booking form is included in this Newsletter. Wotton survey Workshop led by Dr. Jacqueline Bower Would you like to join a group currently working on the survey of the estates of Thomas Wotton, made in 1560? Participants acquire palaeography and research skills while producing a transcript of an important document for eventual publication on the KAS website. To enrol please return the form enclosed in this Newsletter or ring Joy Sage on 01622 762924. EVENTS AROUND KENT Maidstone Area Archaeological Group OPEN DAY at EAST FARLEIGH ROMAN VILLA EXCAVATION Sunday 2 August Between 11.30am and 3.30pm. All visitors are welcome. If anyone needs directions or other information please contact Linda Weekes on maag.info@tesco.net or ring 01622 762422. Council for Kentish Archaeology Conference LOST CITIES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN Saturday 24 October 2.00pm – 5.30pm Old Sessions Lecture Theatre Canterbury Christ Church University, North Holmes Road, Canterbury Pompeii – Living under the Volcano Dr David Plummer Cyprus – The Lost Roman Coastal Cities Edna Mynott Leptis Magna – The African Queen Ruth Plummer Tickets £4, available from CKA, 7 Sandy Ridge, Borough Green TN15 8HP. Please send SAE. Website www.the-cka.fsnet.co.uk CROFTON ROMAN VILLA HOLIDAY EVENTS Life in the Roman Army Sunday 26 July 10am-4.30pm KAS Churches Committee VISIT TO DOVER ST. MARY and ST. MARGARET-ATCLIFFE Saturday 26 September More than 60 places of worship in Kent have been visited in this continuing series organised by the Churches Committee. We meet at Dover St. Mary at 1.45 for 2pm and go on to St Margaret-at-Cliffe at around 3.15pm. A booking form is included in this Newsletter. KAS Historic Buildings Committee HISTORIC BUILDINGS CONFERENCE Saturday 17 October Harrietsham Community Centre 9.30am for 10am, until 4pm This year’s Conference has a Tudor theme, with talks by the eminent historian Dr David Starkey, CBE: The Tudors and Ightham Mote; Andrew Linklater (Canterbury Archaeological Trust): Homestead to House: Tudor Building Revolution; R i c h a rd Filmer: Bricks and Brickwork; and Dr Andre w Richardson: The KAS Landscape Survey Project. Tickets £10 each. Lunch available £6 each. A booking form is included in this Newsletter. PEOPLING PAST LANDSCAPES Saturday 3 October See page 8. KAS LECTURES IN THE LIBRARY England 1720-1830 with Dr. Jacqueline Bower 20 meetings from 21 September 10.15am - 12.15pm at a cost of £80.00 This was a time of rising population, industrialisation and pressure to reform at home; wars, revolutions and acquisition of Empire abroad. This class will study these topics, and their impact on the lives of the people of England. A booking form is included in this Newsletter Early Modern Kent 1500-1700 with Dr. Jacqueline Bower 20 meetings from 21 September 2 - 4pm at a cost of £80.00 This was a time of great religious and political change and uncertainty, but also a time of great prosperity in Kent. It is also a period rich in sources for the economic and social W H AT ’ S ON >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> KAS EVENTS 7 Summer 2009 Meet Lucius, a Roman legionary, and Brinni, an auxiliary, and find out about their lives as Roman soldiers, with replica armour, weapons and equipment. Children: dress as a soldier and join a Roman legion. Diplomas awarded to those who learn how to drill. No booking needed, just ’pop-in’. Children to be accompanied. Entry: adults £2, children £1. Every Wednesday in August: Ancient Legends and Heroes Come and listen to stories of ancient Greek heroes and their exciting adventures, then make a picture about it to take home. Story reading starts at 10.30am and 2.30pm. No booking needed. Children to be accompanied (suitable for children 6-12 years). Entry: adults £1, children 80p. Every Friday in August: The Life of Roman Boys and Girls Discover how children lived nearly 2000 years ago. What happened when a Roman baby was born? Experience a Roman lesson, learn some Latin and play a Roman game. Make a Roman child’s lucky charm to take home and join in a quiz to win a Roman badge and certificate. Sessions start at 10.30am and 2.30pm. Children to be accompanied. (suitable for children 5-12 years). Entry: adults £1, children 80p. For further details on any event tel: 020 8460 1442 University of Kent, Tonbridge Centre Local History Modules September 2009 – June 2010 The following modules are offered on the Certificate and Diploma in Local History run by the School of History, University of Kent, at its Tonbridge centre on Tuesdays (daytime) between 29 September 2009 and 15 June 2010: The Maritime History of South East England (Chris Ware) Palaeography, Documents and Sources (Sheila Sweetinburgh and Gill Draper) The Landscape of Kent to 1500 (Gill Draper) Peasant Society (Sheila Sweetinburgh). Further information from g.m.draper@kent.ac.uk or 01732 452575 or Tonbridgeadmin@kent.ac.uk or 01732 352316. Smarden Local History Society Meetings are free to members. Non-members are welcome at >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> all meetings at an admission charge of £2 which includes tea/coffee and biscuits. Thursday 17 September ‘We Bought us an Oast’ Saturday 10 OCTOBER Exhibition 2pm to 4pm Thursday 5 NOVEMBER AGM + Smarden WWII War Memorial Thursday 17 DECEMBER Christmas Party All meetings take place at 8pm in Smarden Charter Hall. The Exhibition on Saturday will also be in the Hall . EVENTS ELSEWHERE CBA South East Annual Conference 2009 DEATH AND REMEMBRANCE: an arc h a e o l o g i c a l viewpoint Saturday 31 October 10.00am – 17.00pm Redhill Methodist Centre, Gloucester Road, Redhill, Surrey RH1 1BP PROGRAMME Introduction by Andrew Richardson, Chair, CBA SE Roman period burials in Sussex David Rudling (University of Sussex) The archaeological evidence for the emergence of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in South East England Dr Martin Welch (UCL) The Black Death of 1348-50 in Southern England Prof. Tom James (University of Winchester) Pets, Pods and Patriots: 21st Century Trends in Death and Disposal on the South Downs. Maire McQueeney (Author) AGM In their flowing cups: memories, myths and person kinds in Beaker funerary ritual Dr Paul Garwood (University of Birmingham) Two 1st Century AD ‘Warrior Burials’ from Ashford in Kent Casper Johnson & Jim Stevenson (East Sussex CC and ASE) What do funerals mean? Dr Jake Weekes (Canterbury Archaeological Trust) Questions Tea/coffee available at breaks.Tickets £20 CBA SE Members, £25 non-members. Further details available from Steve and Eva Corbett, 4 Ditchling Close, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 8LS, email: cbase@scorbett.co.uk, tel: 01273 905004. Weald). Study of the routeways that traverse this landscape (both potential droveways that run its length from north-east to south-west and regionally significant routes that cut across it running from south-east to north-west, notably above and below the Downland scarp) and the influence they have on human settlement and economy is likely to be a key part of the project, but it is deliberately wide-ranging in scope to allow all of the different skills and interests within the KAS to be engaged. It is also important that groups and individuals based within A major landscape research project led by the Kent Archaeological Society On Saturday 3rd October a Study Day will be held at Lenham Village Centre as part of the Society’s major new landscape survey project. The project, which is being developed by a team drawn from across the Society’s committees, is now known as ‘Peopling Past Landscapes: North Downs to the Weald’. It is intended as an umbrella project into which groups and individuals can carry out smaller a rchaeological, historical, genealogical and landscape re s e a rch projects, the results of which can be fed into an overview that it is hoped will provide an indepth look at a major area of the Kentish Landscape. If successful, this approach could be applied in other parts of the County and beyond. The area selected for Peopling Past Landscapes runs from the Swale across the North Downs and into the Weald to Headcorn and Smarden, thus providing a transect across most of the major landscape zones of Kent (the northern coastal strip, the North Downs, the Holmesdale, the Chartland and the the study area, whether currently affiliated to the KAS or not, get involved, as local knowledge and contacts will be key to the project’s success. So, if you are interested in getting involved, have an idea for a project that could fit within this, or just want to learn more, please book a place for the Study Day at Lenham on 3rd October. Speakers for the day are still being finalised at the time of writing, but will certainly include Steve Willis of the University of Kent on fieldwalking, Jen Jackson, Kent FLO on PAS data, a speaker from KCC’s Heritage Conservation Team on the Historic Environment Record, Ted Connell on Tithe maps, Lesley Feakes on the work of the Lenham Archaeological Society and others. The day will include discussion forums where ideas for potential fieldwork and re s e a rch can be explored. To help cover the cost of the hall we would appreciate a payment of £5 each. There is an option of booking lunch for an extra £6 each. Tickets and optional lunch can be booked using the form enclosed in this newsletter. Andrew Richardson MEMBERSHIP MATTERS Please remember that you need to show your membership card if you wish to use the KAS Library. If you have mislaid yours send me a short note and stamped addressed envelope so that I can send you a replacement. This reminds me to ask you to send me any changes of your details so that I can make sure that the membership database is completely correct! Please let me know if you learn of the death of any member as this avoids me embarrassing or upsetting partners and family. The address for all correspondence relating to membership is – Mrs Shiela Broomfield, KAS Membership, 8 Woodview Crescent, Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Kent TN11 9HD. Telephone 01732 838698. E-mail – membership@kentarchaeology.org.uk or s.broomfield@clementi.demon.co.uk. We are pleased to welcome the following new Members: Joint Members Mr & Mrs R Gill, Tonbridge Mr & Mrs P Leen, Hildenborough, Tonbridge Individual Members Mr P A G Clack, Penshurst, Tonbridge Mr J De Bruyn, Sheffield Dr A D Dodge, Freshford, Bath, Somerset Mr J Ede, Carshalton, Surrey YOU A N D YOUR SOCIETY Summer 2009 8 COPY DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT ISSU PEOPLING PAST LANDSCAPES: NORTH DOWNS TO THE WEALD Miss E E Knightly, Broadstairs Mrs I Lambert, Gillingham Ms S J Lands, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex Dr V J Newill, Wye, Ashford Mrs M-J Pamphilon, Whitstable ABOVE: An ancient stone ‘bridge’ across the Stour near its source, with the North Downs behind. Mr C Phillips, Allington, Maidstone Mrs V Row, Gravesend Mrs J E Small, Lordswood, Chatham Mr N P Staniforth, Dartford Mr C Wood, Maidstone 9 Summer 2009 ISSUE IS TUESDAY 1st SEPTEMBER KAS COMMITTEE ROUND-UP HISTORIC BUILDINGS COMMITTEE Tickets for the Autumn Historic Buildings Conference, to be held on Saturday 17 October in Harrietsham Community Centre (Village Hall) are now available. This year’s Conference will have a Tudor theme. The Committee has been very fortunate to secure as the main speaker Dr David Starkey CBE, eminent historian, author and broadcaster, who will be giving a talk on the subject of Ightham Mote and the Tudors. More information on this one-day C o n f e rence can be found in the What’s On section of the Newsletter. The first of the visits to buildings of historic interest planned for 2009 took place on Wednesday 27 May. A group of 42 members of the KAS braved the drizzly, blustery weather for the tour of The Grange. This Grade 1 listed building, built by the 19th century architect and designer Augustus Pugin, was rescued from development by the Landmark Trust. Restoration work was completed in 2006. The Trust provided an extremely knowledgeable guide for the visit. During what was aptly described as her scholarly talk during the course of the tour, she gave a wonderful insight into the life and work of Pugin, and his remarkable family home overlooking the sea at Ramsgate. Both of the first two visits, to The Grange and to Luddesdown Court and Dode Church on Wednesday 10 June, had been so heavily over-subscribed that Joy Saynor found it impossible to accommodate everyone who wanted to go on them. She managed to arrange a second visit to The Grange on Wednesday 1 July, although again there were more applications than available places. CHURCHES COMMITTEE Visit to Faversham and Preston: Saturday 25th April The subjects of the committee’s first visits of 2009 were the large parish church of St Mary of Charity, Faversham, and the smaller but no less interesting St Catherine’s Church, Preston near Faversham. At St Mary of Charity, following an introduction from the vicar, the Revd Tony Oehring, those attending were split into two groups which were then expertly guided around by Clive Margetts and Jo Richardson. These members of the congregation are involved in the church’s ‘Built to Inspire’ project, which has obtained lottery funding for education work and the production of a range of excellent historical leaflets. The church, which is one of the largest in Kent, is certainly worthy of these efforts, being full of interest. It has a Victorian chancel with side chapels, 14th century transepts and an 18th century nave and west tower. The latter is topped by the distinctive crown spire which is visible for miles around. The exterior of the church is encased in flint dating from Gilbert Scott’s mid- 19th-century restoration. The chancel contains a fine set of late 15th century choir stalls with misericords, which probably came from Faversham Abbey after the Dissolution. The north transept possesses a remarkable octagonal painted column dated to circa 1306, which depicts Gospel scenes from the Annunciation to the Passion. A short walk away, Preston is a suburb of Faversham with Anglo- Saxon origins. St Catherine’s Church is a small but lofty building located a mere stone’s throw from Faversham Station. The building is of Norman origin, but the fine chancel was rebuilt and lengthened in the late 13th century and the nave substantially rebuilt in the 19th century. The tower is located at the southeast corner of the nave and chancel. The chancel contains some 15th century choir stalls and a large marble memorial to Roger and Joan Boyle, grandparents of the scientist Robert Boyle, which was erected in 1629. On the south side of the sanctuary is a fine 14th century Decorated sedilia. More recent features include the rood which was put in place across the chancel arch in 1947. Michael Taylor, author of the church’s guide book, gave a talk, after which fellow members of the congregation provided welcome refreshment. Paul Lee PLACE-NAMES COMMITTEE The printers of The Dictionary of Kent Place-Names, an EPNS publication by Dr Paul Cullen, have suffered from the current recession. This book will be the precursor of his 6-volume opus on Kentish place-names. Since it may not meet its summer 2009 deadline, this committee hopes to launch it by running a Place-Names Day on 24 April 2010, with Dr Cullen and another speaker lecturing on place-names and surnames. More information will be available in the autumn issue of the KAS Newsletter. Above: The Grange. Summer 2009 10 Duncan, is working under the umbrella. Behind him, by a tomb with railings, is the other man. They are engaged in surveying and re c o rding the churc h y a rd of this intere s ting 12th century Church, located on the old Stane Street (now the A29). Later the two men are shown posing by the Lych gate of the Church and by the impre ssive timber-framed house on the opposite side of the ro a d . Furt h e rm o re, there is a photo of a thatched, timber-framed cottage, Rose Cottage, in Pulborough, and a three store y stone-built house in poor re p a i r. Two photographs show a l a rge barn, which appears to have served, in part at least, as housing at some point. Mr. Duncan is seated by the wall on the right talking with a man with a walking stick. The Weald and Downland Open Air Museum has helped me identify the barn in a book by W. Galsworthy Davie and E. Guy Dawber, Architect, published in London in 1900 ( Plate 100). However, the building is not further identified. It is intriguing what connection there might be with the activities of Davie and Dawber and the i n t e rest of William Bruce Bannerman. Whatever the re ason for their interest in this area, the photos give us a glimpse of the practical and social dimensions of their work that the re c o rdings themselves fail to explain. The final photo (not shown here) shows the archaeological holiday party relaxing and taking tea, presumably after a good day’s work. You can imagine the conversation and exchange of ideas which kept them writing. Pernille Richards the Harleian Society. He was the editor of numerous publications until his death in 1933, for instance “The Heralds’ visitation of Surrey in 1530, 1472, and 1623”. His interests included Church Registers, heraldry and genealogy. The eight photos show two men, possibly Mr Bannerman himself and Leland L. Duncan, in front of various old buildings. The only ones securely identified so far are the Church and the timber- framed house opposite on the A29. In the Churc h y a rd of St. Mary, P u l b o rough, we see the two men at work. A white umbrella and a theodolite have been set up and a man, likely to be Mr The fourth and final box of the papers of the Lewisham based antiquarian Leland L. Duncan (1862 -1923) has now been surveyed and its contents re p resent what must have been hundreds of hours of transcription and re c o rding work, mostly related to Churches and Wills from the Prerogative Court at Canterbury and Wills from Rochester. On Rochester alone there are 42 meticulously kept notebooks dating from 1890 to 1894. The amount of i n f o rmation relating to churc hes is staggering. Not only are there complete transcriptions of the Registers of St. Georg e , Beckenham and the Registers of St. Nicholas, Deptford (1571-1648), but there are also extensive notes on many c h u rches re g a rding their fabric, memorials, surveys of the churc h y a rds, all aspects of their history and bequests to the churches from Wills. One example is Boughton Malherbe where the inscriptions within the church and the memorials in the Churc h y a rd are recorded. It is there f o re gratifying that there are also eight faded photographs in this box, which throw light on the process of recording as well as showing us the people who did the work. William Bruce Bannerman, F.S.A. (1862 -1933) posted a letter and eight photographs to Leland L. Duncan in August 1900. He says he is sending some photos from “when at Pulborough” ; some pictures had turned out to be complete failures and he says to accept the remainder “for what they are”. William Bruce Bannerman was the Honorary Secre t a ry and Treasurer of An Archaeological Holiday with William Bruce Bannerman F.S.A. ABOVE : St Mary’s Church, Pulborough. BELOW: The barn, featured in a book of 1900. N OT E S F ROM T H E ARC H I V E S 11 Summer 2009 porting the Kent Pipe Roll Project wh i ch aims to make Kent portions of the published Great Rolls of the Pipe more accessible for re s e a rch . Canterbury Cat h e d ral Library holds most, but not all, of the published volumes of Great Rolls of the Pipe. Microfilm and digital copies of the p ages re l ating to Kent accounts within the p u blished vo l u m e s, both of the Pipe Ro l l Society, and Re c o rd Commission, have now been obtained from The National Archive s. It is intended that these should be made ava i l able for study locally, and eventually on the KAS web s i t e, together with several digitally scanned i m ages of the original ro l l s, accompanied by a transcript and new translations wh i ch have been specially commissioned. Prints of pages may also be made ava i l able to research e rs. Ava i l able images of Kent accounts in Pipe Rolls published to date re l ate to TNA: PRO E 372/1 for 31 Hen I (1129-30); then E 372/2- 68, for years covering the period 2 Hen II – 8 Hen III (Michaelmas 1155-1224), plus E 372/74 for 14 Hen III (Michaelmas 1230). [ N. B. Exc eptions are published Pipe Rolls with no section re l ating to Kent: E 372/30, for 30 Hen II (1183-1184); E 372/61, 17 John (1214-15); E 372/62, 2 Hen III (Mich a e l m a s 1 2 1 8 ) . ] A dditional new KAS material ava i l abl e relates to Kent accounts in: E 372/2: Pipe Roll, 2 Hen II (1155- 1156) - full transcript of abbrev i ated Lat i n rep roduced in Record Commission vo l u m e, plus translation; E 372/35: Pipe Roll, 1 Ric I (1189-1190) - translation; E 372/45: Pipe Roll, 1 John (Michaelmas 1199) - tra n s l ation. Enquiries rega rding copies of the ab ove Pipe Roll material to: pipero l l s @ ke n t a r chaeology. o rg. u kor Kent Pipe Roll Project, C/O Kent Arch a e o l ogical Society, Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Gallery, St. Fa i t h ’s Street, M a i d s t o n e, Kent. ME14 1LH. For more details on the Pipe Rolls see The C at a l ogue and Research Guide: Pipe Rolls, 1 1 3 0 - c.1300, on The National Archives website at: www. n ationalarch ives. gov. u k . Deborah Goacher Various Pipe Rolls enabled Mary Berg to trace members of the Pat r i ck fa m i ly at Pat r i x b o u rne throughout the twelfth century and to build up a picture of how the family d eveloped its holdings elsewh e re. This fo rmed the basis of her study of the pat ro n age of Pat r i x b o u rne church. (See “Pat r i x b o u rne C h u rch: Medieval Patro n age, Fabric and History.” in Arch a e o l ogia Cantiana Vol. 122 for 2 0 0 2 , p ages 1 1 3 - 1 4 2 ) . In researching the early manorial history of Rundale and Cobham, Roger Cockett fo u n d the Pipe Rolls and the Red Book of the E xchequer to be inva l u able sources on land holdings and holders in the difficult period b e t ween Domesday and the advent of other series of Chancery and Exchequer rolls in the second and third decades of the thirteenth century. Ap a rt from providing evidence regarding land tenu re and inheritance in the county, the Pipe Rolls cover a surprising diversity of subjects, encompassing as they do periods of both war and peace. Amongst other things, they re c o rd local contributions re l ated to knight’s fees towa rds defence of the realm, and the ransom of King Rich a rd I; they detail specific local expenditure, for ex a m p l e, on va r i o u s buildings, including royal castles of Kent, and supply of mu n i t i o n s, authorised by writ to be paid from local funds, with sums deducted fro m the fixed county fa rm payment due annu a l ly, hence providing additional inform ation on local government. They also reveal the importance and influence of various individuals in Kent. Pe r h aps the most accessible information to be derived from the early Pipe Rolls, especially to those who do not read Latin, is in the wealth of place and personal names recorded. Variant forms and spellings, even including elements of Old English, offer va l u able evidence for study re l ating to early Kentish place names (and development of the English language), i n cluding as they do both re c og n i s able modern parishes, and settlements that may now be o b s c u re, possibly preserved only in names of i s o l ated fe at u res, fa rm s, or estat e s. The early Pipe Rolls thus provide a useful s o u rce of info rmation from a period when few other re c o rds are ava i l abl e. The KAS Publications Committee is sup- Pipe Rolls are an essential tool for historians together with the Domesday Book, the Red Book of the Exchequer and the Calendars of Close, Fine and Patent Rolls. The original rolls are documents held in the Public Re c o rd Office at The National Arch ive s, TNA : P RO Series E 372 (complemented by the series E 352, supposedly copies of the Exchequer ro l l s, but with some variations). Exchequer Pipe Rolls contain accounts of the royal income, arranged by county, for each financial year. Th ey are the written record of the audit process of the king’s accounts fo r one financial year, wh i ch ran from Michaelmas (29 September) to Mich a e l m a s. Th ey represent the earliest surv iving series of public records, and are essentially continuous from 1155 onwa rds until the 19th century; one ro l l f rom 1129-30 also surv ives. Rolls from the late 12th and early 13th century have been published with indexe s, mainly by the Pipe Roll Society. The Pipe Roll Society editions are of the Latin text, in “re c o rd type” to rep roduce the highly abb rev i ated style of the originals until 1175 (21 Henry II), and with abb rev i ations extended there a f t e r. The sheriffs’ accounts form the core of the early Pipe Rolls. As the king’s rep resentative in the county, the sheriff was responsible for collecting reve nues from the royal estates and other sourc e s. The rolls also record some items of ex p e n d i t u re by the sheriff s, and i n clude lists of lands fo rmerly part of the roya l estates, wh i ch had been given to private individuals. In addition, there are payments of fe udal dues and taxe s, ‘offerings’ to the king in connection with legal disputes, records of penalties (amercements) imposed by the itinerant justices, and miscellaneous items such as enrolled ch a rters. The annual accounts for Kent include payments associated with communities and religious houses as well as indiv i d u a l s. Sections re l ating to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s manors and other interests are included in rolls for years when there were vacancies, or when these we re appro p r i ated by the crown. The published Gre at Rolls of the Pipe have p roved a useful re s o u rce for research undertaken by KAS members concerning particular e s t ates in Kent. T H E G R E AT RO L L S OF T H E PIPE A N D T H E K E N T PIPE RO L L PRO J E C T Summer 2009 12 to light in 2005 when, occasioned by an application from the parish to extend the cemetery into pasture to the south of the current boundary, an evaluation by a team of volunteers led by Diocesan Archaeologist, Paul Bennett, uncovered a complex of Middle Saxon (7th-9thcentury) pits and ditches. This discovery acted as the spur for the current project which has taken the opportunity to expand the window of investigation into adjacent land belonging to the ‘The Old Rectory’. Geophyiscs and test-pitting undertaken in 2007 showed that Middle Saxon occupation (predominantly indicated by clusters of pits) extends over a distance of at least 150m to the south of the monastic focus. In 2008 two trenches were opened up across this activity to obtain a more detailed picture of its character. As hoped for, this wider focus gave a much more representative impression of the archaeology including the ground-plans of timber structures. The major structural discovery of 2008 was an imposing E-W post-built hall measuring 19m by 6.5m with a distinctive two-aisled plan. Analogous two-aisled structures excavated on the near continent have been interpreted as granaries. This possibility is strengthened by an associated metalled yard, a solid surface of Anglo-Saxon monasticism in Kent: a neglected area of research? It is impossible to overstate the importance of Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical heritage to Kentish identity both at home and abroad. The World Heritage site of St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury, stands as an icon to the flagship role played by the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent in the familiar textbook narr ative of the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon peoples. The shells of other early church structures excavated within and without the monastic city of Canterbury provide tangible witness to the strong continental (both Roman and Frankish) inspiration behind the arc h i t e c t u re of the early mission. And then there is the rich corpus of Anglo-Saxon charters pre s e rved in the archives of Christ Church and St Augustine’s, Canterbury, shedding light on how the early church was equipped to meet the challenge of embedding the new religion within Kentish society. Given this enviable battery of evidence, it is surprising that until recently none of the monastic institutions involved with spearheading the conversion of Kent has received systematic archaeological attention. The time is now ripe to break with the legacy of the antiquarian past when the architecture of church stru c t u res dominated study. The focus needs to be widened to take in the totality of pre- Viking monastic sites as extensive topographic complexes embodying economic as well as religious roles, remembering that the identity of these institutions in large part stemmed from their function as royally- sponsored estate centres. Moving forward: Lyminge as a case study This is the goal of a research project, initiated by the author back in 2007 and now run under the banner of the University of Reading, t a rgeting the case-study of Lyminge. The place-name combined with the richly furnished cemetery located beyond the northern fringes of the village show that Lyminge was already a centre of Anglo-Saxon power – a royal vill and lathe centre - before the establishment of the monastery at some point in the 7th century. Less secure is the traditionally-ascribed foundation date of AD 633 linked with the royal abbess Æthelburh (widow of King Edwin of Northumbria and daughter of Æthelberht I of Kent). The pervasiveness of this association is in no small part due to the legacy of Canon Jenkins, the Victorian incumbent of the parish church whose excavations in the graveyard were responsible for uncovering the masonry foundations of a 7th-century church, perhaps alongside one or more contemporary stone structures. But derived as it is exclusively from post-Conquest hagiography – the Life of St Mildreth – we can hardly treat this version of events as fact. Indeed, as recently argued by the historian Susan Kelly, the religious focus may have started life as a royal burial chapel only to be refounded as a double monastery in the later 7th century by a less illustrious abbess named Eadburg. A new chapter of research Leaving aside questions of historical identity, the first glimpse that Lyminge harboured hard evidence for wider monastic activity came UNCOVERING AN ANGLO-SAX University of Reading Excavations at Lyminge 13 Summer 2009 Envoi A further season of open-area excavation is planned for July and August 2009. For further details visit the project website: http:// www. rdg. ac. uk/ archaeology/ research/ Proj ects/arch_Lyminge.asp LEFT : Contemporary view of the foundations of the 7th-century church as exposed and displayed by Canon Jenkins in the 1870s. RIGHT : Aerial view of the 2008 excavations looking north towards the ‘Old Rectory’ and the parish church beyond. crushed flint incorporating fragments of Roman tile, not unreasonably interpreted as an exterior threshing floor. Other structures included a small sunken-featured building of classic ridgepost construction and the portion of a N-S postin- trench building or possibly palisade. Imparting a particular personality to the Middle Saxon archaeology of Lyminge is the pits which occur in a quantity and density (70 were excavated in 2008) unusual for a rural settlement of the period. A multiplicity of primary functions should be envisaged – storage, rubbish and cess disposal - as reflected in a varied morphological range and contrasting depositionary sequences. Whatever their primary usage, the digging of pits on this scale and likely over an extended period, hints that the necessities of daily life within the Lyminge community may have been more formally regulated than in a typical agricultural environment. The demarcation of activity zones evidenced either in the distribution of pits or in the use of ditched boundaries, heightens the impression that the settlement may have been formally planned from the outset. The incidence of pits was also responsible for generating a wealth of artefactual and ecofactual evidence much of which would have been lost had domestic refuse been discarded on surface middens. The result is one of the most impressive Middle Saxon cultural assemblages found outside Canterbury and Dover. Highlights include Frankish imports of vessel glass and pottery and, as recently identified by Professor Rosemary Cramp, the first Middle Saxon window glass from Kent. Vital insights are also being gained into how the monastic community was provisioned, large quantities of fish bone and marine molluscs attesting to the importance of the Romney Marsh link otherwise documented in Anglo-Saxon charters. Much work remains to be done, but the results obtained at Lyminge thus far promise to furnish a detailed picture of the physical reality behind one of the monastic institutions involved in the Christianisation of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent. Tangible insights will also be gained into the economic profile and social identity of the Middle Saxon monastic community as expressed in aspects of daily life including diet and dress. Gabor Thomas SAXON MONASTERY IN KENT Summer 2009 14 Further to the Interim Report published in the KAS Newsletter Spring 2008, work continued at this site until the end of October 2008. Our investigations concluded two years of geophysical research, excavation and survey. The site is situated on a downland spur between Kearsney Abbey and the small hamlet of Wolverton, in the Alkham Valley. The Wolverton Project set out to investigate the now-confirmed Bronze Age barrow cemetery on the ridge dating to c.1800 BC. Two continuous chalk-cut ring-ditches under the plough soil are all that remain of the former upstanding mounds, which would have stood out like white cenotaphs, visible for miles around. Both monuments have now been fully explored and recorded; barrow I measured 16m in diameter and barrow II, 11m in diameter. During the pagan Anglo-Saxon period, local communities commonly buried their dead by reusing barrow cemeteries in Kent. At Wolverton the same practice had been observed, with many of the burials clustered around barrow I. As previously reported, two burials, assigned as GR01 & GR02, are believed to have been excavated at the site during the 1970s. Only seven internments, damaged or reduced in depth by erosion, were excavated and removed, another 17 were planned and left. The first burial, GR03, orientated east-west, was that of a complete articulated male skeleton with an 18cm-long iron knife, who exhibited a severe unhealed break to the tibia of the left leg. Burial GR04 had been truncated by GR05 and comprised only the toe bones left in situ. GR05 was that of another fully articulated skeleton interred with no grave goods. In the western ditch of barrow II, a further burial, GR12, also orientated east-west, was located. This burial had been truncated by the ring-ditch, clearly dating it to a period before 1800 BC when the monument was constructed. The burial had been almost destroyed, however, two possible small fragments of human tibia bone were recovered from the bottom of the surviving eastern end of the burial cut. Whilst searching for evidence of the ploughed-out section of barrow I’s eastern ringditch, our trench located a further mostly ploughed-out Anglo-Saxon annular ring ditch, positioned on the eastern flank of the barrow. The ditch (roughly circular) measures 4.4 m in diameter, and was probably around one metre wide by perhaps up to one metre deep when constructed. Stakehole evidence suggests the monument was embellished by a circle of large wooden stakes erected in the centre of the ditch. During the full excavation of this feature, a small burial was located cut by the annular ditch. The grave, GR15, contained the partial skeletal remains of a young female. Her body was laid to rest on the left side with knees drawn up and accompanied by a 14cm- long iron knife clasped in her right hand. A string of 64 coloured glass beads had been placed around the neck and a small hinged bronze bracelet on her right wrist. Due to an unusual number of disarticulated human bones recovered from the annular-ditch and central burial area, we expected to find the primary internment badly damaged, however this was not the case. The burial, GR14, was intact and that of an important weapon burial. The grave had been reshaped, widened, deepened and recut at a slightly different orientation from its original form. The bottom of the grave was thickly packed with chalk, narrowing it to better suit the new occupant. This packing probably helped support upright planks forming the burial lining, long since disintegrated. Evidence of an unusual practice, unrecorded in Kent, was the odd use of two human femur bones, supported by four platforms of rough chalk blocks positioned on either side of the burial. The large femurs appear to have been deliberately placed across the interment at two key points over the chest and upper leg just below the groin area. After more than 1300 years of natural compression from the ground above, both femurs remained in their original positions. It seems likely that they were placed across the body as supports for a coffin lid, perhaps one board or a number of single planks, to seal the grave. Partial evidence for the use of wood can be suggested by the presence of carbon deposits, an iron rove and a single iron nail recovered from the primary fill adjacent to the body. Neither the rove nor the nail, which measured 8cm in length, bore any physical relationship to other material recovered. A skull, sited on the warrior’s left arm, and mandible on the stomach area, presumably originated from the former destroyed burial. The position and angle of the skull and mandible some 9cm away from each other, suggests the skull may have not been placed inside the internment post mortem but above. As great care had been exercised in placing the body and goods into the grave, it seems more likely that the skull rolled into the void between the burial sealing material and the cavity left by the decomposing body than to have been unceremoniously thrown in. The almost complete articulated skeleton was surrounded by his personal effects, including an intact wheel-thrown wine bottle manufactured in northern France with a roulette pattern spiralling down the vessel, which probably contained wine for his journey into the afterlife. Other effects included a sword, spear, two knives, a shield boss with three disc fittings, a boss-handle and a few other corroded items yet to be x-rayed. Directly below warrior GR14 we discovered a second male burial, GR24, perhaps a relation. His untimely demise may have resulted from an infection (septicemia?) caused by a severe break to his left lower leg that had not repaired prior to his death. The grave goods consisted of an unknown iron rod with a hook at one end and copper-alloy clasp fitting possibly attached to a leather helmet recovered from above the skull. A dental survey was undertaken by Helen Harrington to determine ages. Due to extensive dental caries, an age of between 40-60 years is suggested for warrior GR14. Female GR15 was between 4-5 years and GR24 an adult in his twenties. At the centre of GR14’s skull, an apert u re (possibly a violent blow from a sharp object) exhibited no sign of healing prior to death and it is therefore reasonable to postulate THE WOLVERTON WARRIOR Alkham Valley near Dover 15 Summer 2009 that this individual died shortly afterwards. It would also appear that he suffered painfully f rom the sexually transmitted disease of syphilis, well developed by the time of death and affecting his bones. Of the seven burials examined, two had been completely truncated to make way for another burial, three of the five articulated skeletons exhibited, at the time of death, unhealed bone damage in one form or another. Statistically and inclusive of the destroyed burials, 43% of the burial’s occupants had suffered significant or severe bone trauma prior to their demise. All the finds from the site have been donated to Dover Museum. More information on Alkham’s archaeology is at www.alkhamarchaeology.co.uk. Vince Burrows RIGHT : Intact Frankish wine bottle from the weapon burial. BELOW : Beads recovered from the young female burial. 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 Email evelyn.palmer@virgin.net or newsletter@kentarchaeology.org.uk Copy deadline for the next issue in October is Tuesday September 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: KCC Schools History Advisor Ian Coulson inspires a class using information from the HER. Summer 2009 16 The Kent Historic Environment Record (HER), maintained by Kent County Council, is an extensive collection of information relating to Kent’s heritage. At its heart is a database containing information on over 40,000 archaeological sites and finds, historic buildings and landscapes. Records cover sites dating from the palaeolithic period to the present day and include a wide range of monuments such as iron age hillforts, Roman villas, medieval castles and water mills, and 20th century pillboxes and Cold War bunkers. In the past this information was only available at the KCC offices, but following a recent project called ‘Exploring Kent’s Past’, part-funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Kent HER database is now available online (www.kent.gov.uk/HER). Users can explore the heritage of their town or village, research a particular period or theme or learn more about a site that is already known to them. The website also contains a range of suggestions for how people can get involved in caring for Kent’s heritage, such as by joining a local archaeology group, carrying out research or participating in the Shorne Woods Community Archaeology project. There are also ‘66 Days out in the Past’ for people who want to visit some of Kent’s outstanding heritage sites. In addition to the new website, the Exploring Kent’s Past project has allowed the KCC Heritage Conservation team to meet a huge number of people. The team attended 79 events with local groups and societies, giving talks and holding workshops on the HER and Kent’s heritage to more than 3,000 people. A number of volunteers are now working with the HER team. These include members of the Faversham Society and the Maidstone Area Archaeological Group, as well as a number of individual volunteers. They check the information already in the HER database and add new information from their own research and from archaeological reports. Their help has been invaluable in keeping the information up to date and accurate. T h ree education packs were also created as part of the project. These are designed specifically for use by school children and they have links to the National Curriculum at Key Stages 2 and 3. They w e re created in conjunction with the KCC (Schools) History Advisor and encourage children to use the Historic Environment Record in their studies. The HER team are always keen to work with new volunteers or local societies to improve and add to our information and help conserve Kent’s rich heritage. If you would like to discuss this with us please call 01622 696918. EXPLORE KENT’S PAST!