New Books
New from the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit
The Norman Fortified Manor-house at Walmer
12 pages + plans, sections, pottery drawings & colour plates. Kent Minor Sites Series No 21. £5.00 + £1 p&p
Describing work on this scheduled monument, a substantial flint-built fortified structure, surviving in parts to a height of 7m and dating from about AD1120. It consisted of a lower cellar with adjacent storage rooms, an upper Great Hall with solar rooms, the latter being approached by a stair in a substantial forebuilding. It was originally enclosed by a dry ditch, which also enclosed the present church as part of the manorial complex. The manor house is in private hands.
The Iron Age Farmstead at Snodland
16 pages + plans, sections & pottery drawings. Kent Minor Sites Series No 22. £5 + £1 p&p
Excavated just ahead of sand quarrying and destruction, this site consisted of a sub-rectangular ditched enclosure with at least two entrances. Both within and externally were 12 pits, mostly for storage. Outside was the outline of a round house. The pottery date-range suggests about 120BC to AD50. A small amount of Roman pottery was also recovered from a nearby feature.
The Major Iron Age Riverside Fort at Woolwich
48 pages + plans, sections, finds drawings & colour plates. Kent Special Subject Series No 19. £6 + £1 p&p
Dealing with the discovery and partial excavation of a major Iron Age defensive site on the south bank of the Thames. Two large defensive ditches, matching those of some hillforts at over 35 feet wide, were found; also two round-houses, pits and pottery. The site dates back to at
least 250BC, when it must have controlled access to the London Basin and is estimated to have covered 15-17 acres. It was reoccupied in the fourth century, as substantial deposits of pottery and coins have been found in the upper fill of the Iron Age ditches. This phase may have related to late-Roman defensive measures protecting Londinium.
All the above are available from KARU, Roman Painted House, New St, Dover CT17 9AJ. Cheques payable to KARU.
Victorian Herne Bay an illustrated history - Mike Bundock
ISBN 978-1-904661-15-3
48 pages, art paper, 120 greyscale images. £7.50, post free.
The book uses a collection of images from the collection of the Herne Records Society, all predating 1901, to show the rich and varied history of the area. Many have not previously been published. The book commences with an introductory history and follows with three sections of individually captioned images covering the seafront, the pier and the town.
Available from Pierhead Publications, PO Box 145, Herne Bay CT6 8GY, email sales@pierheadpublications.co.uk, tel 01227 370971.