Looking forward to Shorne Woods community archaeology project in 2021

By Andrew Mayfield

As I write this, we are due to emerge from the latest lockdown and return to volunteering activities. These will be socially distanced, limited by group size, with extra Covid protocols in place. Still, they will allow us to enjoy the health and well-being benefits of archaeology once more. The last year has been a tough one, and I have particularly missed the sense of community and engagement engendered by our project work. Since my previous update, we spent a couple of weeks back at Shorne Woods Country Park in December. During this brief spell, the amazing volunteers exposed an intact section of a narrow-gauge railway on the edge of the claypit. Once posted on social media, this proved to be an unexpected hit and became our most popular post of 2020 on Facebook, driving us past 4,000 likes at ArchaeologyinKent.

In 2021 we plan to focus on the archaeology of the clayworks and RAF camps at Shorne Woods, whilst we seek funding for a booklet on the Park’s archaeology to complement our Cobham Landscape Detectives publication. As Covid restrictions are lifted through the year, we hope to return to our work in the wider landscape, with some follow-on work in Cobham village and completing a collaborative project with Victor Smith at the Lodge Lane Anti-Aircraft Battery.

Away from Shorne and Cobham, LiDAR ground-truthing of the Sevenoaks Greensand Commons will recommence shortly. We hope to investigate some of the features identified with targeted fieldwork. The possible pillow mounds on Crockhamhill Common are top of the list. Lucie Bolton has written elsewhere in this edition about the Fifth Continent project.

It will be great to get out and about on the Marsh once more with the KCC magnetometer.

To get involved with any of our projects, from Cobham and Shorne, to the Sevenoaks Commons, contact me directly at andrew.mayfield@kent.gov.uk, 07920 548906, have a look at our website www. shornewoodsarchaeology.co.uk, our Facebook page ArchaeologyinKent, or Twitter at @ArchaeologyKent. Our booklet on the Cobham Landscape Detectives project is now available as both a pdf and a paper copy.

Below

Volunteers revealing an intact section of a narrow-gauge railway in Shorne Woods