Making Waves in Rochester
The Wessex Archaeology office on the edge of Rochester at the Airport Industrial Estate may be new, but we have been working in Kent and the south-east of England for more than twenty years. Recent land-based fieldwork in Kent has taken us to Ashford, Ramsgate, Folkestone, Tonbridge, Chatham and Swanscombe. We have also been at sea, literally, off the Kent coast.
Here is a round up of some of our work, updating you on projects you may be familiar with, and some you may not.
Compiled by
Helen J Glass
Regional Director
Wessex Archaeology
The Goodwin Sands – known as the ‘ship swallower’ by sailors – are a major navigational hazard on the edge of the busiest shipping channel in the world. They are formed by a nine-mile long series of sandbanks that lie some four miles off the Kent coast, between Ramsgate and Kingsdown. Shipping losses within the Goodwins are thought to number over 2,000 and it is believed that all periods from the first Channel crossings during the Mesolithic/Neolithic right up to the present day are likely to be represented.
In 2008 and 2009, high resolution sidescan sonar survey by Wessex Archaeology, for English Heritage, identified many new potential and definite wreck sites. In 2010 the process started of producing a combined list of sites subject to archaeological investigation and the process of ground-truthing these sites. The list currently numbers 114 confirmed and potential wrecks, of which currently some thirty have been subject to diver investigation.
In addition to the shipping, several World War II aircraft have been located. The most notable example of the latter is a German Dornier 17 medium bomber that crash-landed on one of the sandbanks during the Battle of Britain. This is the only known intact example of a Dornier 17 anywhere in the world, and plans to raise it are currently being considered. Watch this space.
Perhaps the only project to rival the East Kent Access Road in either scale or archaeological discoveries is High Speed 1, the UK’s only high speed railway line. With other archaeological practices, Wessex Archaeology undertook a significant part of the excavation and post-excavation works. The various publications are all nearing completion.
Most recently, the popular publication ‘Tracks and Traces: the archaeology of High Speed 1’ was published, taking the reader along the route from the magnificently restored St Pancras International Station to the Anglo-Saxon cemetery near Folkestone. If you would like to buy a copy, please contact High Speed 1 at info@highspeed1.co.uk.
Focusing on Kent, the four volumes about Springhead and Northfleet are available for pre-order from Oxbow Books and will be delivered to the printers in August. The post excavation works have been a vast undertaking by the joint venture of Oxford and Wessex Archaeology. We hope you enjoy reading about it all.
The last two issues of the Newsletter have featured this excavation, one of the largest ever undertaken in the country. The journey is now beginning through post-excavation. The assessment report has just been completed, setting out the aims and objective of analysis and the scope of the dissemination.
Some beautiful objects have been uncovered, including this finely decorated ‘reticella’ glass, which would have come from a drinking vessel. It is almost certainly an import and dates from the mid to late Saxon period (c. AD 650–1066). The decoration is formed by applying rods of different coloured glass to the surface of the vessel.
From one of our largest excavations to one of our smallest! At Halling, anyone who walks their dog by the river will have seen some big changes at the Bishops Palace. Until recent years the site was the location of a busy ferry crossing across the River Medway. The popular beauty spot is now being landscaped by Valley of Visions Landscape Partnership Scheme to create a modern community space reflecting the historic roots of Halling. We recently undertook an evaluation on the site, monitored the construction of a new path and hosted an open day during the excavation for local residents.
The ruined walls and mysterious mounds at the Bishops Palace are tantalising clues to a fascinating past stretching back for at least 1,000 years. The first mention of the name ‘Halling’ is in an 8th century charter and the name is thought to mean ‘hall dwellers.’ The Bishops Palace itself may have been built by Gundulph in 1077, but the ruins visible today may be slightly later, belonging to the 12th century. The site had fallen into disrepair, although some of the original hall survives because it marks the boundary of the churchyard.
The archaeological investigation found little evidence for the medieval occupation of the site, as it had been disturbed by the nearby cement works in the 19th and 20th century. An imposing tram embankment was built across the site at this time, and this has been incorporated into the new landscape design with tunnelled footpaths and walkways. The open day was a great success, with over a hundred people seeing archaeology in action, and learning something new about a place they had visited countless times before.
