New Books
The Survey of Kent documents relating to the survey of the county conducted in 1086
Colin Flight
British Archaeological Reports, British Series 506, 2010.
ISBN 9781407305417 £51.00.
314 pages; 25 tables; 20 figures.
The description of Kent contained in ‘Domesday Book’ does not stand alone. At the time of the ‘Survey of the whole of England’ – the survey conducted in 1086 by order of King William I – there were four ancient churches existing in Kent: Christ Church and Saint Augustine’s in Canterbury, Saint Andrew’s in Rochester, Saint Martin’s in Dover.
From the archives of three of them (all except Dover) copies of documents survive which are more or less closely related to the Survey.
The aim of the present book is to bring together all the relevant written evidence, so as to enable a better understanding of it. A few documents are printed here which have not been printed before. For those which have, this book provides a more accurate text than any previous edition. For example, the transcription of the ‘Domesday Book’ text given here includes a few words which have become undecipherable in the original, but which were still legible when a copy was made in the 1760s. That is the same copy used by Edward Hasted, whose ‘History of Kent (1778-99) was the first serious attempt to reconnect the written evidence with the actual landscape.
The Roman Watermills and Settlement at Ickham, Kent
Paul Bennett, Ian Riddler and Christopher Sparey-Green
ISBN 978-1-870545-19-8
This is the account of ‘rescue’ excavations undertaken in the early 1970s during gravel quarrying beside the Little Stour at Ickham in Kent. Frank Jenkins, a Society member for 50 years, alerted Jim Bradshaw, another stalwart of the KAS, to the presence of archaeological remains and it was not long before the likely importance of the site became apparent. Together the pair mobilised the Canterbury Archaeological Society and the Ashford Archaeological Society. In his foreword to this publication, Dr Christopher Young applauds the important work carried out by these groups.
Four watermills were identified at Ickham, flanking a road, possibly the main Richborough to Canterbury route. The earliest mill was in use in the early third century AD, the others during the fourth and early fifth century. The timber mill buildings and channels were associated with fourth-century pottery, coins, a wooden votive figurine and many other finds.
Metalworking waste, furnace debris and tools suggest the mills formed part of an industrial settlement.
Other metal objects include parts of pewter dishes, fragments of a lead tank and a group of unusual lead alloy pendants which may have been made at the site in the late fourth or fifth century. The publication includes specialist reports on the many small finds, the mills and millstones and the extensive assemblages of Roman pottery.
This long awaited publication, the fifth monograph in the Archaeology of Canterbury (New Series) is available to KAS members for the special price of £30.00 until the end of September (full price £40.00). It can be ordered from Oxbow Books via their website (www.oxbowbooks.com), by telephone (01865 241249), email (orders@oxbowbooks.com) or by post from Oxbow Books, 10 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford, OX1 2EW. Quote code ICK 10 to receive the reduction.
For anyone interested in the workings of the Survey, or in the topography of medieval Kent, this book will be indispensable.
All BAR books and a full list of available titles can be ordered from:
Hadrian Books
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