KAS Newsletter, Issue 91, Winter 2011

Your Quarterly Newsletter www.kentarchaeology.org.uk INSIDE THIS ISSUE The Davington Mysteries WINTER 2011 KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY ISSUE NUMBER 91 4-5 Stockbury IA Furnaces 6-7 What’s On 8-9 You & Your Society + Committee Round Up 13 Letters to the Editor + Hasted Prize 2-3 Davington 10-11 Notes from the Archive + New Book 12 New Community Arch 14 Boxley Warren 15 Hadlow Tower 15 Thames Defence Research Group Page 2-3 2 Autumn 2011 - KAS Newsletter - www.kentarchaeology.org.uk The Davington plateau lies just westwards of old Faversham, beyond the Westbrook. For many years rumours have circulated about Late Iron Age pottery up on the plateau, and speculation about a hill fort. There had also been speculation about a medieval roadway and possibly a small village in front of Davington Priory (founded cAD1154). Confusion also reigned over the exact location of Davington Manor, demolished around AD1650 according to Hasted. For 2010, the Faversham Society Archaeological Research Group (FSARG) designed a one year research project to test these ideas. This brief report outlines the main findings: details are on our website www.communityarchaeology. org.uk. Firstly, the Iron Age. On our first day of field work in April 2010, flint tempered ‘Belgic’ pottery was found on the side of Dark Hill, the cutting which goes through the plateau east to west. This was joined by many more sherds, some from ‘foraging’ and keyhole excavations in the gardens of Stephens Close and others from one-day trenches in Davington cricket field. Analysis showed that some sherds were middle and even early Iron Age; others were early Romano British (with a few tiny sherds of Samian ware). A major geo-resistivity survey of the Cricket Pitch suggested important features and although one of our twelve-hour trenches was disappointing (the curved concentric ditch and bank turned out to be a hedge clearance trench filled with building rubble), the other revealed a flint floored track way running across the pitch, bordered by a small V shaped ditch to the west. We returned to this feature in 2011 and will be reporting on our findings in spring 2012. At present we are seeing this as a late Iron Age/Romano-British track. The search for the ‘real’ Davington Manor was also successful. When Stephens Close was built in the early 1960s, rescue archaeology was almost unknown, all seemingly swept away except for a 17th century brick and re-used medieval stone wall with two gateways in Mannerist style. One of these gates has a plaque with the date 1624. Locally, this wall has been seen as a kitchen garden wall, a belief I have always found implausible, and made even more unlikely by the presence of an unrecorded substantial medieval stone wall and 13th century gateway tucked away in Stephens Close, inside the area enclosed by the 17th century wall. Using the medieval wall as a starting point, a number of small scale excavations were carried out and yielded demolition dumps, underground structures, clearance dumps, flint wall foundations and courtyard/pebbled floor surfaces. Not only had we found the site of the actual manor as featured in documents, but the demolition material (decorative pantiles, glazed bricks, 17th century glazed floor tiles), suggested that the stone medieval house had been considerably refurbished in the late Tudor-early Jacobean periods. In all, we identified at least 4 The Davington Mysteries: a community archaeology project Dr Pat Reid, Community Archaeologist for the Faversham Society, Director FSARG Aerial photograph of the Davington Plateau in 1962 The metal detecting team readying themselves for wor k www.kentarchaeology.org.uk - Autumn 2011 - KAS Newsletter 3 demolition/conversion phases for this unfortunate mansion. The main one in the 1650s was only a generation or so after the refurbishment - perhaps provoked by the rapid growth of the gunpowder manufacturing right on their doorstep in the Westbrook valley? Finally for our project, we were given three days access to Davington Priory, now the private residence of Bob Geldof. Exhaustive geo resistivity and metal detecting surveys were carried out. The metal detecting team produced a lively collection of artefacts from the Davington Fetes held on the Paddock over the years but were disappointed to find no medieval. Apart from a possible circular dove cote near the house, the geo resistivity also failed to produce any clear cut evidence for medieval road or settlement. What the resistivity survey did show, however, was a strongly marked collection of features in the north part of the Paddock - concentric circles and radiating ditches which are almost certainly prehistoric. Abundant evidence for prehistoric occupation on the Davington plateau was found in nearly all of the sites investigated. The finds were mostly Mesolithic and included a tranchet adze and many blades, but there were also finds from most other post-glacial periods. The prehistoric finds will contribute to an Arch. Cant. paper on the prehistory of the Westbrook valley. In October 2010 we held a one day conference which brought a happy end to a rewarding year. In April 2011, an exhibition at the Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre included highly successful hands-on Saturday sessions for families. All excavation reports are now on our website. We are, of course, always extremely grateful to Faversham folk for their support and interest - without this there would be little point in what we do. But after this particular year, I think that the folk I need to congratulate are the FSARG team. The sheer hard work and professionalism (and the sense of fun) are hard to beat: I am a very lucky Director! Aerial Photo library of KCC - please contact Heritage Conservation to view the collection. Foundations and a cobbled floor - part of the original Davington Manor A selection of flint tools from the 2010 Davington excavations 4 Winter 2011 - KAS Newsletter - www.kentarchaeology.org.uk During archaeological monitoring of a now completed new water main installation by South East Water near Stockbury, northeast of Maidstone, archaeologists from Kent Archaeological Projects discovered the remains of two ancient iron smelting works on the Clay-with-Flint surface of the chalk uplands. One of the works consisted of two separate pits, each containing two clay-built, funnel-like iron smelting furnaces. The other, much larger, better preserved and multiphase, consisted of five intercutting pits t h a t together created a substantial sunken-floored s t r u c t u r e containing at least ten in-situ and intact furnaces of a p r e v i o u s l y unknown type and two iron-ore roasting pits. Potsherds found within the remains dated the works to the Mid-to-Late Iron Age (c.150 to c. 50 BC). Following discussions with South East Water, the County Heritage Conservation Group and English Heritage, it was decided that the remains were of national importance and that sufficient excavation and sampling had taken place to characterise them in detail. It was therefore decided to cease excavation and preserve the unexcavated remains in situ. Along with flint- and grogtempered Late Iron Age pottery the site produced nearly half a tonne of iron slag and smaller amounts of ‘bloom’ (the spongy conglomeration of iron particles produced from the ore at about 1200°C within the furnace during firing). The bloom would later be re-heated until red hot and hammered into the required shape by a blacksmith. The relative inefficiency of the method meant that the large amount of iron still present within the slag went to waste. The furnaces were clay-walled structures of approximately 0.32m in height and 0.2m diameter at the top, narrowing down to half or less of that at the base, and looking like upside-down chimney pots. The walls were up to 40mm thick and were scorched deep red on their inside surface. Each furnace had a hole knocked out at the base, this being where the bloom was removed after the firing (until their final A half-sectioned ‘tapping’-type smelting furnace showing the adjacent hollow into which the molten slag iron was conducted (4 x 0.25m scale) Partly excavated iron smelting furnaces situated around a central ore-roasting pit (beneath 1m scale) Late Iron Age iron smelting works found near Stockbury by Tim Allen www.kentarchaeology.org.uk - Winter 2011 - KAS Newsletter 5 abandonment the access holes were re-sealed with clay prior to the next firing). The shallow roasting pits were used to heat the ore before it was packed into the furnace, along with much charcoal, which was then ignited. It is thought that air had to be blown with great force into the furnace to reach the required temperature, but no air holes were observed in the Stockbury examples, probably because they had been situated at the front base of each furnace, which had been broken out to remove the bloom. In fact, removal from anywhere else would have been impossible because the top-heavy furnaces were not free standing, as are other known examples, but were set into and supported by densely packed clay, with only the front part accessible from within the pit. Two kinds of furnace were identified in the works, the ‘slag-pit’ type and the ‘tapping’ type, the former being the earliest known British type, the latter being a Late Iron Age innovation that remained in use into the post-medieval period. In the ‘slag-pit’ type the molten slag accumulated in the furnace base; in the ‘tapping’ type the molten slag was conducted into a basin-like hollow cut adjacent to the furnace base. In one example on the site the solidified slag, still with a liquid appearance, lay within the hollow as if frozen in time for over two thousand years (for further information on prehistoric iron smelting search online ‘Wealden Iron Research Group’ and ‘English Heritage, Pre-industrial Ironworks’). The question of what kind of ore was used was quickly identified as of critical interpretive importance. Were these works part of a satellite industry associated with the welldocumented Wealden Industry or were they part of a separate industry using a different source of ore? In the former case, a supply system and route serving the Stockbury area with Wealden clay ironstone could be postulated; in the latter case another source for iron-rich ore had to be identified. The answer was found when Sarah Paynter, the English Heritage expert on this subject, discovered partly fired pieces of ore amongst the piles of waste slag iron. The ore consisted of flint nodules surrounded by metallic iron-rich accretions. Such nodules occur commonly within the Clay-with-Flint surface geology of the area and enough evidence was therefore available to identify the Stockbury Industry as a separate and independent industry, and to provide the reason for its location (smaller amounts of iron slag and Iron Age pottery previously exposed nearby in a ‘bloom pit’ at South Street Road could now be understood in this context). As an environmentally responsible organisation South East Water was quick to recognise the archaeological importance of this site and, following consultation with English Heritage and Kent County Council, agreed to fund technical analysis of the recovered materials prior to the production of a report for wider publication. Stockbury furnace Figure (Final) 6 Winter 2011 - KAS Newsletter - www.kentarchaeology.org.uk WHAT’S ON KAS EVENTS KAS CHURCHES COMMITTEE VISIT Tonbridge School Chapel & Tonbridge Parish Church Saturday 28 April Please meet at 1.45 for 2pm start at Tonbridge School Chapel (postcode TN10 3AD). Parking available on Tonbridge School Quad Avenue entrance off London Road not High Street entrance. Parking also on local roads near Tonbridge School and town car parks. After the School visit, we will walk about 300 metres to the Parish Church. Cars may be left on the School Quad. There is a small disabled parking car park at the church (postcode TN9 1HD). The cost of the visits is £5, to include tea and biscuits at Tonbridge Parish Church. Please register by emailing or telephoning the Churches Visits Secretary, Jackie Davidson - Jacalyn.davidson@BTInternet.com or 01634 324004. Dates of all visits in 2012 can be found in the diary at www.kentarchaeology.org.uk KAS CHURCHES COMMITTEE STUDY DAY The Oxford Movement & its Legacy Saturday 14th April 2012, 10.00–16.00 Holy Trinity church hall, Folkestone Three morning lectures including ‘The Oxford Movement’ by Dean Michael Chandler & ‘Medieval symbolism and by Durandus’ Canon Christopher Irvin. Three afternoon workshops looking at the Oxford Movement & its legacy – studying documents from Canterbury Cathedral Library, Holy Trinity church and its documents. £15.00 including lunch, tea and coffee. For booking form go to: www.kentarchaeology.org.uk Or by post from (include SAE) Mrs J. Davidson, 7 Chatsworth Rd, Gillingham ME7 1DS. Tel: 01634 324004 (home); email: jacalyn.davidson@btinternet.com KAS Historic Buildings Committee Visit to Knole on Tuesday May 1st 2012 at 10.30am. The proposed visit will take in the Retainer’s Gallery, the Gatehouse Tower, Pigeon Lofts and East Attics. These areas are not normally open to the public. There will be a charge of £15 payable to the National Trust. There is a limit on numbers so if you are interested please either email Mike Clinch at mike@mikeclinch.co.uk or telephone 01322 524425. This visit will not be suitable for anyone with mobility problems. KAS LECTURES IN THE LIBRARY Classes are on Mondays at a cost of £35 for 6 weeks starting after Easter 10.15-12.15 This class will look at the lives and careers of British men and women who achieved personal success, or made a contribution to national life, in the early twentieth century. 14.00-16.00 This class will study the history of the American colonies from the earliest voyages of exploration to the American Revolution. Topics will include the role of the European nations in American colonisation; the origins of the Thirteen Colonies; their different characteristics; their relations with the Native American Peoples; their economic development; the wars of the eighteenth century; the road to independence and the Revolutionary war. INVESTIGATING THE ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY OF KENT JOINT STUDY DAY organised by University of Kent with the Council for Kentish Archaeology and the KAS Saturday 14 April 2.00 – 5.30 pm Rutherford College, University of Kent, Canterbury Publications on aspects of the history and archaeology of Kent will be on sale on the day. Topics include:- »» East Farleigh Villa Excavations - Albert Daniels »» East Cliff Villa, Folkestone - Keith Parfitt »» Reculver and Dover Forts - Brian Philp »» Roman Thanet - Ges Moody Parking is available on the university campus. Buses to the University run from close to Canterbury www.kentarchaeology.org.uk - Winter 2011 - KAS Newsletter 7 WHAT’S ON East station. Turn right into Station Road East, don’t cross the bridge. Follow this road till you get to Pin Hill/ Rheims Way. Turn right for the bus stop. Stage Coach 4 runs to the University. The yellow Unibus leaves from the bus station nearby. Tickets are FREE for KAS members, Friends of the CKA and KAR subscribers. Tickets will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis, as space is limited. Non-members tickets £5.00, cheques payable to C.K.A. Please send S.A.E. to C.K.A. 7, Sandy Ridge, Borough Green TN15 8HP. EVENTS AROUND KENT FRIENDS OF CANTERBURY ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST Saturday 28 January Frank Jenkins Memorial Lecture The annual review of the past year’s work by the Archaeological Trust by Dr Paul Bennett (Director, C.A.T.) A joint event with the Canterbury Archaeological Society. 6.00pm. Thursday 16 February An update on Roman Canterbury A symposium with speakers from Canterbury Archaeological Trust 6.30 pm, Keynes College, Lecture Theatre 5, University of Kent. Thursday 22 March Policing the Past: Seven Years of Tackling Heritage Crime in Kent and beyond Andrew Richardson (Finds Manager, C.A.T.) 7.00 pm, Canterbury (details will be available later). For all events which do not have a stated charge, FCAT requests a donation of £2.00 for members, £3.00 for non-members, and £1.00 for students, to cover costs and to help to support the activities of the Archaeological Trust. CRAYFORD MANOR HOUSE HISTORICAL & ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY Saturday 11 February The Suburban Home Front in the Second World War rationing, clothes, Dig for Victory, gas masks, the - blackout and more. Illustrated with artefacts - Mike Brown. Saturday 10 March Traditional Kentish Building Materials An illustrated presentation examining, through vernacular architecture, the contribution that Kent’s natural and traditional materials have made in creating the texture of the local landscape - Richard Filmer . Saturday 21 April AGM and President’s Lecture All meetings are held at The Baker Trust Hall, Maxim Road, Crayford at 7pm for 7.30pm. Non-members are welcome to attend lectures at a fee of £3 per lecture (except for December when there will be an additional charge). Enquiries to Mrs. J. Hearn-Gillham - 01322.551279 or e-mail janet.hearn-gillham@ntlworld.com. Details of the Society’s summer excursions from Mr. L. Davies - 01322.525335. WATERINGBURY LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY 15 February Queen Victoria’s Dreadful Uncles - Sheila Boyd. 21 March Some Historic Kentish Towns - David Carder. 18 April The Great Flood of 1953 - Bronwen M Sadler. 20 June AGM followed by The Queen’s Jubilee - Peter Hartley. We also organise a coach trip to a venue of interest, this year it will be held in May. The Society meets in the Village Hall at 7.40pm. Visitors are welcome at £2.50. BEXLEY ARCHAEOLOGICAL GROUP Saturday 28 January Ceramic Building Materials Workshop led by Dr Phil Mills of University of Leicester Cost £25 (non-members of BAG), £20 members. Saturday 25 February Glass workshop led by John Shepherd Cost £20 (non-members of BAG), £15 members. To be held at Bexley-Sidcup Conservative Club, 19 Station Road, Sidcup DA15 7EB. To book a place please contact Pip Pulfer pipspad@hotmail.co.uk or call 07961 963 893. www.bag.org.uk 8 Winter 2011 - KAS Newsletter - www.kentarchaeology.org.uk Thank you to all of you who have sent in your renewals by cheque. If you haven’t done so yet please do so as soon as possible. You will be aware that we have not raised the subscriptions since 2008 but, because of increasing postal costs, we might have to in the next year or so. We have been discussing ways to keep costs down and one idea under serious consideration is reducing the number of newsletters from 4 to 3 a year. We value our membership – without you there would be no Kent Archaeological Society! We are also thinking about distributing information and perhaps newsletters to members by email – if you agree with this please let me know – by email if possible. We will not disclose your details to any other organisation. Please remember to send any changes of addresses etc. to me either by post or email. membership@kentarchaeology.org. uk I look forward to your continued support of our splendid Society. I am very pleased to welcome the following new members: Mrs S Bartholomew, Ashford, Kent Mr D M Boys, Monmouth Ms B Coddington, Victoria, Australia Miss R M Delman, Cambridge Mr R E Emmett, Sittingbourne, Kent Mr & Mrs S Golding, Maidstone, Kent Mrs S Hall, Gravesend, Kent Miss H Meehan, Maidstone, Kent Mr M Simmonds, Maidstone, Kent Mrs T Sowerbutts, Gloucester The majority of new members have joined by downloading the application form from the website but it is equally important that blue application forms are available in other locations and taken to conferences etc. Please contact me if you would like a bundle. Shiela Broomfield, 8 Woodview Crescent, Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Kent TN11 9HD telephone: 01732 838698 email membership@kentarchaeology.org.uk MEMBERSHIP MATTERS The theme of ‘Accommodation in Medieval and Early Modern Buildings’ drew an audience of around 80 to the annual one-day Historic Buildings Conference held on 15 October last year in Harrietsham Community Centre. First was the welcome return of speaker Andrew Linklater, of Canterbury Archaeological Trust. In his presentation, ‘The House Divided – The Use of Internal Space of Buildings as Through Archaeology’, Andrew drew attention to the scarcity of hard evidence from which to deduce how space was used in Medieval domestic life, thus explaining the significance of both documentary research and micro-archaeology when trying to establish what activities had taken place. He described the types of materials and objects found during excavation of layers of occupation, and explained the clues that these finds provided when trying to interpret the functions of internal space. During the discussion session that followed, the knotty problem of the prevalence of detached kitchens in Kent was raised, a topic which was the subject of lively debate throughout the day. Next Sarah Pearson, buildings historian, formerly working with the Royal Commission on Historic Monuments of England, and author of ‘The Medieval Houses of Kent: An Historical Analysis’, spoke on ‘The Provision of Services in Medieval Rural and Urban Kentish Houses’. Sarah detailed the evolution of the layout of medieval dwellings, offering suggestions as to how space might have been used. She drew attention to the differences between urban and rural buildings. Although there was generally more conformity in the floor plan of urban dwellings, identifying the precise functions of rooms proved even more difficult because of the likelihood of a greater variety of activities taking place in urban premises. Sarah believed that in the past there had been too standardised an interpretation of utilisation of rooms/space in Medieval buildings. The third talk was given by copresenters: Catherine Richardson of the University of Kent, and Tara Hamling of the University of Birmingham. Their presentation was entitled ‘Towards a Material History of Early Modern Accommodation – Houses, Objects and Daily Routine’. Catherine spoke on the varied and flexible use of space by ‘middling’ urban households from the late 16th century to the early 17th century. Tara focussed on differences between the contents of urban and rural dwellings. Both speakers drew upon their extensive examination of archival material to provide a vivid picture of domestic life in households of the period. Their diverse and diverting evidence illustrated the challenges of disentangling the complexities of what accommodation could mean. After lunch there were presentations on three local topics. Paula Jardine-Rose of the Wychling, Doddington & Newnham Historical Research Group talked about the first community dig that the Group had organised, which took place in Newnham. She reported on the findings, the most notable being the discovery of a Roman road. Next was Deborah Goacher, member of the Historic Buildings Committee and Maidstone Archaeological Society. The title of her presentation was ‘Another Kentish Medieval House: The Cottage, Little Buckland’. She shared the findings of the research she had undertaken on her KAS HISTORIC BUILDINGS CONFERENCE by Angela Davies YOU & YOUR SOCIETY www.kentarchaeology.org.uk - Winter 2011 - KAS Newsletter 9 New Chair A new Chairman of this committee, Dr Mark Bateson, was elected on 1 October 2011 in place of Mr Pat Harlow, who was thanked in absentia for over 10 years’ hard work. Dr Bateson was proposed by Mr T Connell and seconded by Mr C Ward: he is moving from Canterbury to work as Community History Officer, a new post, at the new Kent Archive building in Maidstone. Volunteers needed Dr P Cullen, Academic Advisor, has moved to the University of the West KAS member Dr John Physick wrote to ask if the Churches Committee would be interested in recording church benefaction boards, some of which are in increasingly poor condition. The Monumental Brass Society records unique house, a building that had been constructed of stone and timber in one build around 1400. Patricia Reid, Community Archaeologist for the Faversham Society, spoke on ‘Finding a Lost Manor: Search for the Real Davington Hall’. In her presentation she illustrated the adage - particularly true in archaeology - that things are not always what they seem. Pat described a community-based project aimed at finding out more about Davington Hall and its relationship with surviving 17th century walls and gate. This led to the discovery that the building demolished in 1968 and generally thought to have been Davington Hall had, in fact, been a farm bailiff’s house. It had been constructed of stone from the original manor house located elsewhere on the site and demolished in the 1770’s. Finally, Christopher Proudfoot, Chairman of the Historic Buildings Committee and the Conference, rounded off by expressing thanks to the speakers for contributing to such an absorbing and informative day, and to Historic Buildings Committee member, David Carder, and his team for arranging the event. of England to work on names, so that work on his place-names books on Kent has slowed. However, he is helping to create a searchable electronic names database based on 1377-81 poll-tax assessments, which rely heavily on place-names used as surnames. He would like volunteers to help turn his paper records into Word or Excel format. Is there anyone out there who might respond? His email address is Paul2.Cullen@uwe.ac.uk . He thought that the Committee should consider enlarging its interests to cover names as well as place-names. After a full discussion it was agreed that such a small committee should keep to the narrower focus of place-names only. November Study Day This committee decided unanimously to run a fourth Place-Names Study Day on a Saturday in November 2011. This will take place at Rochester, date, speakers and subjects to be arranged, but they will be Kent-based. Website section Mr T Connell suggested that, like the Churches Committee, we should have a section on the KAS website on which to display the talks given at previous study days. The next meeting will take place at the KAS Library, Maidstone Museum, on Saturday 10 March 2012. brasses and the Church Monuments Society records memorials but, as far as I know, there is no specific society for benefaction boards. These are recorded by NADFAS when they undertake their comprehensive surveys and are generally included in church and parish histories. This is something that can be recorded on future Church Visits and then added to the archive on the churches of Kent which we are building on the Churches Committee section of the KAS website. If members have any pictures or reports that include benefaction – or are willing to take pictures of any in their local churches – please contact research@kentarchaeology.org.uk or write to the secretary of the Churches Committee, Dr Paul Lee, 22 Arcadia Road, Istead Rise, Gravesend, Kent DA13 9EH. We would also love to hear from you, if you know of anyone else collecting this information! The visit to Luddesdown and Cobham churches on a late September afternoon could not have been blessed with better weather. John Bailey, architect for both churches and a past chairman of SPAB, gave an excellent and succinct account of each church while Philip Lawrence gave an equally excellent and well informed précis of the brasses at Cobham. Both churches were connected with a great house and an important family, but are different in atmosphere and size. St Peter’s Luddesdown is a Saxon foundation but owes many of its features to the patronage of Marie, wife of Aymer de Valance, Earl of Pembroke in the mid fourteenth century. However, today’s visitor will be struck most by the Victorian decorative scheme, much of it dating from the restoration carried out in 1865-6 by Alfred Stump. Unusually, Visit to Luddesdown and Cobham churches by Gill Wyatt Benefaction Boards in Churches by Mary Berg, Chairman, Churches Committee CHURCHES COMMITTEE PLACE-NAMES COMMITTEE COMMITTEE ROUND UP COMMITTEE ROUND UP continued 10 Winter 2011 - KAS Newsletter - www.kentarchaeology.org.uk this ‘Victorianisation’ has not succumbed to later changes in taste. The result is a decorated and intimate interior which gives the church a welcoming atmosphere. Of interest to bell ringers, there are two medieval bells surviving and a pole ladder (not for the fainthearted!) which it is hoped will soon be saved and replaced by a more modern one. Further late Victorian work was done by Heaton Butler and Bairn, between 1870-94, including the baptistery with its mural of Christ blessing the children. Cobham, by contrast, is a much larger and grander church with the largest collection of brasses in the country. Perhaps the most striking feature here is the alabaster and black marble Brooke tomb commemorating George Brooke, Lord Cobham and his wife Anne Bray. Round the base are figures of their ten sons and four daughters, all meekly kneeling except for the (reputed) black sheep, George, who is crouching on one knee. The tomb was built in 1561, well in advance of Lord Cobham’s death, and is sited on the exact place of the medieval high altar, a statement of reformation sentiment at the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign. Unlike Luddesdown, this church is a grand statement of family pride and status. The Churches Committee are to be congratulated on arranging yet another interesting and enjoyable outing, and we must also thank the congregation of Cobham for a delicious tea! “There was a fair attendance of members at the annual meeting of the Kent County Photographic Record and Survey, which was held in the Bentlif Art Gallery of the Maidstone Museum on Wednesday afternoon.” Maidstone Gazette, June 1912 A cutting from the Maidstone Gazette reporting the 1912 annual meeting of the Kent Photographic Record and Survey meeting is found among the papers of the Hon. Henry A. Hannen in a section which consists mainly of lists. There are lists of historic houses, castles and churches in Kent as well as lists of sources and images relating to them. The lists represent Hannen’s participation in the fashion for surveys and show an awareness of photography’s potential for recording and sharing information. The Kent Photographic Record and Survey was launched with the support of the South Eastern Scientific Societies in 1904. . The purpose the Survey was: ‘to preserve by photographic processes, records Image Name NOTES FROM THE ARCHIVE The Curator, the Camera and the Survey From the Papers of the Hon. Henry A. Hannen (d. 1933) by Pernille Richards NEW BOOK www.kentarchaeology.org.uk - Winter 2011 - KAS Newsletter 11 of objects of archaeological, historical, literary, and scientific interest connected with the county, and to deposit such records in the County Museum at Maidstone, and in other places where they may be suitably preserved and readily accessible to the public.’ A major contributor to the Survey was the Maidstone and District Institute Photographic Society, which is still going strong as Maidstone Camera Club, and whose contributions to the survey are still in existence. The KAS endorsed the Survey in the Proceedings of 1904 and it is recorded that they offered a number of negatives as a contribution. In the spirit of the time the Society also had an honorary photographer for a number of years, E. C. Youens Esq. Individual members of the KAS were more directly involved in the project. Sir Martin Conway was Vice President of the Survey and presided over the 1912 meeting. The Survey was mostly interested in recording buildings; in 1912 Mrs Snowden Ward contributed prints of Canterbury Cathedral and the Maidstone Society worked on old and timbered buildings, as well as locks and bridges on the Medway. However, The Stones of Reculver Country Park (ISBN: 978-0-9561690-2-0, A5, 41pp) and The Geology of Reculver Country Park (ISBN: 978-0-9561690-1-3, A5, 53pp). By Geoff Downer, published by GeoConservation Kent, 2011. £4.50 each. The study of building stones in Kent owes much to John Archibald’s pioneering work Kentish Architecture as Influenced by Geology, published in 1934. Nationally during the last 30 years or so many popular guides have been published, often in the form of “town trails”. Dr Eric Robinson has contributed to several, including in Kent the Faversham Stone Trail (Faversham Society, 1994) and The Building Stones of Maidstone among the prints contributed that year was a set of 26 images by Mr. H. J. Elgar of Anglo-Saxon jewellery. These were good enough to merit mention. Mr. Elgar had been appointed as the Clerk and Curator of the KAS collection at Maidstone in 1905 after the resignation of George Payne. He also held the post of Assistant Curator at Maidstone Museum. Elgar was a keen photographer and is mentioned in the 1907 report of the Curator and Librarian, J. H. Alllchin, as frequently taking part in the excursions of the local Natural History Society and photographing geological features, antiquarian objects and ‘specimens of Natural History.’ Maidstone Museum holds a series of correspondence, from the years ca. 1913-14, between Mr Elgar and G. Baldwin Brown concerning the Anglo Saxon Material from Bifrons and Sarre. Baldwin Brown requested lantern slides and photographs from Elgar and these enabled him to study the material from Maidstone in detail from his base in Edinburgh. Images convey more than words, especially in the study of art. The Bifrons material was extensively used in Vol. 3 of The Arts in Early England, published in (Maidstone Museum, 1998). In The Stones of St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury (2009), KAS member Geoff Downer studied a single site, and he adopts the same approach in The Stones of Reculver Country Park. Concise historical accounts are given of the two monuments - the Roman fort and medieval church - with building stone trails linked to detailed plans. Each type of stone is illustrated and fully described, as a building stone and geologically. The Millenium Cross - heavily weathered after just 11 years - and the stones used for the local sea defences are also included. I visited the site and found the guide easy to use and very informative, suitable both for novices and the more experienced. Together with its companion guide, The Geology of Reculver Country Park, it can form the basis of an enjoyable day out (in good weather). My only niggle is that there are no bibliographies, but otherwise both guides are produced to a very high standard in full colour with many photographs and diagrams and represent excellent value for money. The guides can be obtained from GeoConservation Kent, 6 Manor Close, Canterbury, CT1 3XA at £4.50 each, or £8 for both. The St Augustine’s guide is available at £3.95. Post and packing is included - cheques payable to Kent RIGS Group. 1915 and in the prefatory note to the volume Mr. Elgar is thanked for his contribution of information and ‘photographs of much value.’ In 1914 Baldwin Brown was given permission to photograph the Anglo Saxon collection, so the resulting images were probably the ones to appear in his 1915 book rather than the research photographs supplied by Elgar. Maidstone Museum holds some of Elgar’s photographs, but unfortunately it doesn’t look as if any of his Anglo Saxon images are among a collection of recently digitised images. A few have no identification, but many contain the initials C.E.F and some are clearly inscribed with the name N.C. Cook, 1931. Elgar’s Anglo Saxon images may yet come to light but for the moment it looks as if they have suffered more from the passage of time than the objects they were supposed to provide a record of. With thanks to Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Art Gallery and Giles Guthrie, Collections Manager, for use of photos and access to letters. Andrew Mayfield: andrew.mayfield@kent.gov.uk; 07920 548906 or 01622 696919 www.facebook.com/archaeologyinkent and www.kent.gov.uk/randallmanor 12 Winter 2011 - KAS Newsletter - www.kentarchaeology.org.uk Community Archaeology News from Kent by Andrew Mayfield, Kent County Council’s Community Archaeologist Greetings! From October last year Kent County Council created a two-year community archaeology post, part-funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. As the former community archaeologist for Shorne Woods Country Park, I will be running a series of events over the next two years that YOU can get involved with. The Medway Valley LiDAR survey project (see article in last newsletter) Working with Valley of Visions and the Medway Mosaics Project we will be groundtruthing the results of the HLFfunded LiDAR survey over the next two years. This will involve a series of woodland walks to find, check and record features, followed by a series of geophysical surveys and small scale excavations at locations including Shorne Woods and Boxley Warren. The Shorne HubCAP Project This exciting new project at Shorne Woods Country Park will build on the work of the Shorne Woods Archaeology Project. We will be running a free training programme over the next two years that is open to all. This will include sessions on pottery identification, worked flint, conservation of finds, geophysical survey, Total Stations and a series of field archaeology taster sessions during our summer dig. We will be creating a series of Finds Boxes (SWAP boxes) to take to local schools and events and designing some new tactile interpretation for visually impaired visitors to the Park. We will hold a series of Local Groups Conferences, where archaeology groups across Kent can come together to give short presentations on their current projects. There will be opportunities to participate in a test pit survey of a large new Mesolithic site discovered in Shorne Park and the excavation of a second lost building, Randall Hall. Randall Manor excavations In 2012 and 2013 excavations will continue on the site of Randall Manor. This community archaeology dig has now run for six seasons and attracted hundreds of volunteers each year. The dig is free to attend and no previous experience is necessary. We now have a good understanding of the layout and phasing of our main medieval buildings. An early aisled hall is extended with the addition of a stone cross wing, built of ragstone and flint with greensand mouldings. This cross wing is in turn added to with a further wing, containing a garderobe. These buildings are connected by a yard surface to a detached kitchen block. We have received reports on the pottery, bone and tile assemblages from the first five years and an interim report on the archaeology of the first six years is due in the spring of this year. Getting people involved For me, the most important part of this new post is getting people involved across the county in the archaeology of Kent. The HubCAP project has a large supply of equipment it can lend out to groups. If there are particular free training sessions that you would like us to run, then do get in touch. Likewise, if you are holding a dig or event and would like help in advertising it then please contact me. We have a Shorne News email ring that reaches over 300 people and groups, a facebook page with over 500 ‘likes’ and the will and enthusiasm to spread news and opportunities to as many people as possible. Look forward to hearing from you! www.kentarchaeology.org.uk - Winter 2011 - KAS Newsletter 13 The Hasted Prize, inaugurated in 2007, is a biennial prize awarded by the KAS for what is assessed by a panel of judges to be the best thesis on an aspect of the archaeology or history of the historic County. The purpose of the Prize is to encourage research at a higher level on the County’s past, and to rescue academic theses that merit publication from the comparative obscurity of university library shelves. The Prize is worth £3000; £1000 goes directly to the successful entrant, and £2000 is retained by the Society to be used as a supplement towards the cost of publication once the work has been accepted by a publisher. Two books have been published with the help of the Hasted Prize. The Hasted prize for 2011 has been awarded to Dr Alison Klevnäs for her Cambridge PhD thesis (2010): ‘Whodunnit? Grave robbery in early medieval northern and western Europe’. The thesis draws on recent, mainly German, literature on grave robbing in central Europe and then closely examines and analyses similar practices and processes in Thanet during the 7th century. All copies of theses submitted for the Hasted Prize are available in the Society’s Library at Maidstone Museum. HASTED PRIZE Letters to the editor... Dear Editor Staff at Dartford Borough Museum and Dartford Library would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to the people who were kind enough to contact us with answers to our questions about the mystery photo of a royal visit to an unknown town in Kent, which appeared on the back page of the autumn Newsletter. The first two replies were received from KAS members who actually live in the street itself! We now know that the photograph shows Stone Street in Cranbrook, at its junction with the High Street. The central footpath leads up to the church and the people who appear above the bunting are actually standing in the raised churchyard. As to the details of the actual occasion, we have Dr Phil Betts, President of the Cranbrook and District Local History Society, to thank for informing us that it shows the visit of Princess Christian of Schleswig- Holstein on 14 July 1906. She was one of Queen Victoria’s daughters and undertook much charity work. On this occasion she had visited the church to unveil a new East Window, dedicated to the Tooth family, and was going on to open the first section of the National Sanatorium, later known as Benenden Chest Hospital. Rodney Dann, the Curator of Cranbrook Museum, has also been very helpful and we are currently arranging for a copy of the hitherto unknown image to be lodged in his Museum’s archive. Dr Mike Still Assistant Museum Manager Dartford Borough Museum Dear Editor Some years ago when I was embarking on my thesis ‘Elizabethan and Jacobean Deer Parks in Kent’ I asked Newsletter readers to contact me if they had information about individual parks or might offer me access to explore former park boundaries etc. I had a very encouraging response from several KAS members, I would now like to thank all those involved, having now successfully achieved my doctorate. I am still very interested in the subject so would welcome further exchanges. Many thanks to all who have helped me and given encouragement. Susan Pittman Dear Editor, Reading Pennille Richards article on the West Farleigh sparrow club (Autumn 2011) reminds me of two family stories. In 1933 my mother went to live with her parents in a house near the North Pole pub on the Teston/ Wateringbury border. One particular day when the men came along to shoot the sparrows roosting in a holly tree in the garden, my Gran, who was a passionate animal lover, ordered the men off in no uncertain terms. Although the men tried to point out the benefits of their sport, Gran, standing less than five feet in height, was not unnerved by a group of armed men and told them to ‘never come back’. Nice one Gran! It happened at dusk sometime between 1933 and WWII. The article also mentioned the capture of butterflies. I presume they might have been the cabbage white. My brother has told me that during the war children were rewarded by their school for the most cabbage whites that could be caught with the nets provided. He said the creatures were so numerous ‘it was like walking through a snow storm’. Sandra Manser 14 Winter 2011 - KAS Newsletter - www.kentarchaeology.org.uk In the Autumn 2011 Newsletter ‘Celebrating Boxley Warren’ outlined this Heritage Lottery Funded project, which includes an enhanced heritage landscape survey of the site. Commissioned by Boxley Parish Council and the Mid-Kent Downs Countryside Partnership (in conjunction with the Heritage Section of Kent County Council) and undertaken by Nicola Bannister, landscape archaeologist, here is an overview of the survey’s results. The aim is that further study will be undertaken by the local community. The features range from the prehistoric period to the modern; from crop marks to extant earthworks. They are evidence of how this part of the Medway Valley and the North Downs was exploited from earliest times. The LiDAR survey of the Lower Medway Valley (see p2 and 3 of the Autumn Newsletter) just clips the western end of Boxley Warren, but it does show the flint and chalk pits within West Field Wood as well as traces of lynchets following the contours of the escarpment. On the edge of the wood and close to the ancient track, the ‘Pilgrim’s Way’, is the White Horse Stone, an up-ended sarsen stone, thought to be the remains of a Neolithic long barrow. Boxley Warren is a landscape through which people have travelled for thousands of years. The ‘Pilgrim’s Way’ follows a track along the foot of the Downs escarpment and is probably an ancient route along the edge of the settled and cultivated lands in the vale. The farms and small settlements here had links to grazing wood pastures on the top of the Downs and evidence of these links are seen in the sunken hollow ways which wind their way from the vale to the top of the escarpment. Boxley Warren has several of these yewlined routes; one runs up the slope from the ‘Pilgrim’s Way’ skirting the rifle targets. Both Boxley and Boarley Warren have been used for military training from the late 19th century. The remains of the rifle targets lie partly within scrub. They comprise two large mounds with a levelled platform in between. The Rifle Range was built in 1885 on land belonging to Boarley Farm, for use with small-arms fire by regiments from the barracks in Maidstone. It was in use for the First World War but fell into disuse between 1933 and 1938, being reinstated during the Second World War. Nearby in the pasture field close to Westfield Wood are cropmarks of former foxhole dug outs used in the Second World War for field training. The Warren may have also been the site of one of the top secret hideouts which were to be used by resistance fighters in the event of a German invasion. The woods and scrub along the top edge of the Warren hide quarries, pits and deneholes. One of the quarries close to the Lidsing Road had a limekiln and small cottage and was probably in use in the 18th century according to historic map evidence. The sites of two or more dene-holes (or chalk wells) were located along the northern boundary of the warren on the edge of the arable fields. Interestingly, these dene-holes were cut across remains of banks and lynchets running along the top of the wood, thus pre-dating the holes. The survey has only highlighted the heritage resource preserved at Boxley Warren. As part of ‘Celebrating Boxley Warren’ there will be opportunities for local people to undertake more detailed field surveys, excavations, archive and oral history research. Contact Mike Phillips, Mid Kent Downs Projects Officer for further information on 01303 815170, go to www. midkentdowns.org.uk or find us on Facebook – search for ‘Friends of Boxley Warren’. BOXLEY WARREN - heritage survey results Local volunteer s attending a heritage tr ail guided walk led by Nicola Bannister Site of the underground structure, marked by the thorn tree www.kentarchaeology.org.uk - Winter 2011 - KAS Newsletter 15 ‘the most singular looking thing I ever saw. An immense house stuck all over with a parcel of chimneys, or things like chimneys, little brick columns with a sort of cap on them at the top to catch earwigs’. William Cobbett, riding through Hadlow in 1823. Hadlow Tower, or May’s Folly as it is affectionately known, once formed part of a grand house in the Romantic Gothic style built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries by Walter May (formerly Barton), a yeoman farmer, and was erected on the site of Hadlow Court Lodge, a much older manor house existing in the 16th century but having unknown origins. The house was designed by a Mr J Dugdale to an architectural style promoted by Hugh Walpole when he built Strawberry Hill at Twickenham. The castle and ornamental gardens covered 6 acres with many specimen trees, beautiful lawns and borders. The Grade 1* Listed Tower at Hadlow Castle was commenced in 1838 by Walter’s son and heir, Walter Barton May, to a design by naval architect George Ledwell Taylor. It bears a striking similarity to the erstwhile tower at Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire; however, Hadlow Tower’s foundations were to prove much sounder than Fonthill’s, which collapsed in 1825. Built of brick and rendered with so-called Roman Cement, when complete with its Lantern, the octagonal-shaped tower stood 53 metres high (170ft), commanding the local landscape. The house and estate lands passed through several families during the intervening years until the estate was split up and sold in the early 20th century. Since the 1840s only minimal maintenance has been carried out to the Tower, with the inevitable decline in the fabric of the building. In the Second World War it served as a vegetable store and a lofty observation post for the Observer Corps and Home Guard. It was doubtless used as a landmark by Luftwaffe pilots on their way to London, who dropped bombs in nearby fields. In 1951 the main building of the castle with its ‘arches, groins, ramifications and various flowers of Gothic grandeur’ was tragically demolished for building materials. It was only the timely intervention of Bernard Hailstone, a local portrait painter, who purchased the Tower and the remaining courtyard buildings, that prevented its demise. After 10 years of campaigning by the Save Hadlow Tower Action Group the Tower is at long last being restored by the Vivat Trust, with money from the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage amongst others. In order to safeguard its future the interior of the Tower will be fitted out for holiday accommodation. The Action Group are responsible for the design and running of the ground floor Visitor Centre, which will be open to the public 28 days each year when the restoration is complete. The Trustees of the Allen Grove Fund (administered by the KAS for projects for the purposes of research, preservation or enjoyment of local history), awarded a grant of £400 to the Hadlow Tower Action Group for the cost of display panels. The group is actively seeking donations towards this project and further information is available from their website www.hadlowtower.com. HADLOW TOWER – AN ARCHITECTURAL ICON Image from the es tate sale of 1919 Published by the Kent Archaeological Society, Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Gallery, St Faith’s Street, Maidstone, Kent. ME14 1LH. 16 Winter 2011 - KAS Newsletter - www.kentarchaeology.org.uk If undelivered, please return to S. Broomfield, 8 Woodview Crescent, Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Kent TN11 9HD Copy deadline for the next issue is 1st Mar 2012 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. EDITOR: LYN PALMER 55 Stone Street, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2QU Telephone: 01892 533661 Email: newsletter@kentarchaeology.org.uk 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 Peter Tann, 42 Archery Square, Walmer, Deal CT14 7HP. Thames Defence Research Group This informal organisation provides an umbrella for continuing - and expanding - research of the generality of the Thames defences at a serious study level, with both academic and popular outputs. Related strategic industries in the Thames area may come to be embraced in their own right and would certainly be in the frame for discussion of targets for attack in any relevant period. The Thames Defence Research Group is open to those with an interest in researching, recording and promulgating a knowledge and awareness of the historic defences of the Thames. All periods are covered and the geographical scope takes in the military, naval (and from the 20th century) civil and air defence sites from London to the extremity of the estuary and the near hinterland. »» Academic papers have been prepared on two of the riverside forts and others are planned. »» Survey of defensive sites has taken place, with others scheduled. »» An updated popular publication on the generality of the Thames defences is being researched. »» A start has been made on an historic defences trail booklet. »» Linked with this it is intended to create a sites database and map available to all. »» Public engagement through talks and others means will take place. »» At a ‘fun’ level it is hoped to produce a ‘Horrible History’ of the Thames defences. Enquiries about participation to: Victor Smith BA FSA 65 Stonebridge Road Northfleet Kent DA11 9BA Tel: 01474 323415 Email: victor.defcon1@gmail.com Simulating the use of a Depression Range-Finder with a theodolite at New Tavern Fort, Gravesend.