Cobham Lanscape Detectives… Hasta la vista!
By Andrew Mayfield
Our three-and-a-half-year Lottery funded odyssey concluded in June with a 2-day exhibition in Cobham Village. As part of the celebrations, we commissioned an artist to paint a series of views of the landscape and key features that we had investigated. Surrounding this article are two of those paintings, published here as an exclusive! One shows the medieval landscape as it may have looked in the AD1300.
The second shows Cobham Villa, a site investigated by the KAS under Peter Tester’s direction in the 1960s.
Since the last update in edition 111, we have completed our work at Peggy Taylors Hill, near Cobham Hall. The vast hole we recorded had been dug in the 20th century to dispose of a series of cleared trees, explaining the mix of golf balls and Tudor pottery! The site of the Tudor building appears to have been lost when the hole was dug. In late May we carried out geophysical surveys of the possible barrow in Ashenbank Woods and the Cobham Villa site. The barrow survey was inconclusive, but the Villa survey showed up additional features to the North of the main site. Incredibly a Georgian water pipe had been laid between the two buildings recorded by Tester, without damaging either of them!
Post-June, the Landscape Detectives have been busy in their other guise as the Shorne Woods Archaeology Group. They have supported community archaeology projects on Romney Marsh, with the 5th Continent team and in the Darent Valley, with the Darent Valley Landscape Partnership. Across the various elements of the Lees Court Estate Project, they have been busy supporting Richard Taylor, Fred Birkbeck and Keith Parfitt’s projects. They also found time to explore our Mesolithic site in Shorne Woods Country Park further, with 5,000 lithics now recorded!
In August the Group were invited by Cobham Hall’s Heritage Trust to investigate one of the ponds in Lady Darnley’s garden. In true
Landscape Detective style, we think we have found another reservoir, perhaps built to supply changes to the garden devised by Humphrey Repton. We hope to have more news on this in due course.
We’ll be back!
This Autumn we have reconvened as Landscape Detectives, in partnership with Victor Smith and the Historic Defences Committee, to explore a World War II site.
As we discovered previously at Ashenbank Woods and in Shorne Park, there is plenty of evidence for post-war use of the structures. This work will continue through the Winter… in 2020 we hope to launch an exciting new project in Cobham village. Keep an eye out for further updates!
I want to conclude by offering my thanks for the friendship and dedication shown by all Cobham Landscape Detectives, in all weathers, seasons and across most time periods. We have produced a booklet on the project, which we hope to have printed for a 2020 release!
The fun doesn’t stop here, however! Head online to keep up to speed at ArchaeologyinKent on facebook, @archaeologykent on Twitter, www.shornewoodsarchaeology. co.uk or by contacting Andrew on 07920 548906 or https://www.mola.org.uk/knole-revealed- archaeology-and-discovery-great-country-house www.nationaltrust.org.uk/knole