Retrieving ‘Lost’ Archaeological Documentation and Finds: An appeal by the KAS Fieldwork Committee
Until the last couple of decades most archaeological investigations were carried out by amateurs who compiled notes and collected finds from their investigations. In many instances, these have been stored in archaeologists’ homes and garages where notebooks, plans, sections and photographs as well as finds have been kept.
These archaeologists were much younger in the 1960s and 1970s when carrying out their excavations and now are getting much older. Some are unfortunately no longer with us. Their material must be archived, but in the first instance this material must be located.
This article arose from the recent experiences of the current excavators at Randall Manor in Shorne Woods Country Park (see pages 14 - 19) and at the Medieval Manor at Bredhurst. Both sites were partially excavated in the 1960s and there the similarity ends. Some years ago in 1997, the author was lucky to visit the leader of the 1962 excavations at Randall Manor, who lived nearby in Shorne. He was George Dockrell, a local schoolmaster, who realised his health was going to deteriorate and as a result he passed his notes, photographs and finds to me. This documentation has proved invaluable during the present excavations. His photograph of the stone hearth and ours of the same feature are shown here.
The current excavator at Bredhurst has been much less fortunate. The only contemporary reference that has been discovered is a short note in Archaeologia Cantiana, in the volume for 1965. Further information is given in issues 36 and 50 of the KAS Newsletter. However, it has not been possible to corroborate the recent discoveries with those found previously.
These experiences demonstrate that it is essential to locate excavators’ notes, plans, sections, photographs and finds. The aim of this project, run by the Fieldwork Committee of the Kent Archaeological Society, is to locate this essential archaeological archive and to ensure it is not lost for future researchers. The Kent Historic Environment Record and other databases contain a vast amount of information, but often only in summary form. These days it is easy to digitise all records. In particular, 35mm slides, a popular form of recording in the 1960s and 1970s, can easily be converted to JPEG format. It would then be possible to make records, which would otherwise be unavailable to researchers, more widely available by, for example, incorporating the archive on the KAS website.
This would help the current problem in the county’s museums which are overflowing and unable to accept most additional deposits of archaeological material.
My own archaeological group, the Fawkham and Ash Archaeological Group (FAAG) has been re-examining its archaeological record and is digitising notes and photographs. The archive of one site, the Romano British farmstead at Wellfield, Hartley is being uploaded onto the KAS website at http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/L/002/01/00.htm. Between 1964 and 1980, FAAG produced a number of newsletters with details of other sites and buildings examined and these should be made more readily available. Other groups produced their own newsletters; unfortunately there appears to be no central list of these, but they do contain an abundance of information.
Recently, another example has come to light. The Court Hall Museum in Milton next Sittingbourne has not been open for several years. This is a fine timber framed fifteenth century court house in Milton High Street. Earlier this year, the Friends of Milton Regis Court Hall opened the building for the first time in recent years as part of Heritage Open Days in September. The first task was to discover what has been stored there. In the cellar, some finds from digs undertaken by the Sittingbourne and Swale Archaeological Research Group during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s were found. These include finds from the Romano-British site at Radfield, Roman, medieval and later finds from a site at Milton Fire Station, building material from the site of Cromers Place, a Jacobean mansion in the parish of Tunstall and post medieval pottery and clay pipes from the Perrywinkle Water Mill. These are being catalogued and in time it is hoped to locate the written documentation of these sites. The Sittingbourne and Swale Archaeological Group did publish its own journal and some reports were included in Archaeologia Cantiana and the Kent Archaeological Review. The image above shows finds from Radfield being sorted.
This article is an appeal for information on archaeological newsletters, finds and archives that are in danger of being lost. Please contact Gerald Cramp on 01474 708449 or archiving@kentarchaeology.org.uk if you know of any records or finds that have been stored in a back room, garage or attic from a time gone by.