The Canterbury Archaeological Trust
The Canterbury Archaeological Trust
By Tim Tatton-Brown, the Director.
For about 1,500 years Canterbury was by far the most important town in Kent; only in the last few centuries has the pull of London dominated the County and left Canterbury the capital and market town of East Kent only, with Maidstone as the modern county town. Today, however, Canterbury is once again expanding; it is a new shopping centre for cross-channel visitors and of course, a major tourist centre.
Because of this much of its below-ground past is being destroyed, particularly in the area that was badly bombed in the last war, and for nearly seven years the Canterbury Archaeological Trust has been working continuously in and around the city to record this unique past.
Our work falls into three major parts: rescue excavation, building recording, and, as a byproduct of the former, the cleaning and conservation of many thousands of finds. Let me briefly treat each of these in turn.
Underneath the streets and buildings of modern Canterbury are buried between seven and fifteen feet of archaeological deposits. The oldest of these deposits dates back to just after the time of the birth of Christ when Duroverno, as it was probably called, was a major settlement of the Belgic tribes who had crossed to south-east England during the previous hundred years. These people used the first coins and wheel-made pottery in Britain, and large collections of this material are found on many of our excavations. In A.D. 43 the City was overrun by the Roman army, and shortly afterwards turned into the tribal capital for the whole of the Cantiaci (hence the modern name Kent). It was soon a prosperous town and many important buildings from this period have been excavated in the last thirty years; notable among them are the Public baths, a large town house with mosaics (still visible in the 'Roman Pavement' museum), and the huge Roman theatre. Recent excavations by the Trust have uncovered many more buildings and streets and we now have a fairly good idea of the whole of the street plan in eastern Canterbury. In the later 3rd century a great wall was built around the city and much of this wall still survives today. Our recent excavations have shown beyond doubt that for a century or so after the end of the Roman period Canterbury was an empty shell full of ruined Roman buildings buried in weeds and undergrowth, and only at the end of the 6th century A.D. did it once more become occupied. This new occupation, very different from before, was by Anglo-Saxon peoples living in small sunken wooden huts among the ruins of Roman walls. These people may well have come here from the surrounding settlements soon after A.D. 597 when St. Augustine came to Canterbury and started converting the people to Christianity.
Over 30 huts have been found in the Marlowe excavations in 1978-80, as well as much interesting hand-made pottery, loomweights and small finds. By far the finest object dating from this period, however, is the magnificent gold pendant which was found in March 1982 outside the western walls of the city. This splendid object which is made of gold with inlaid garnets, is similar to much of the very fine early 7th century jewellery which was found in north and east Kent in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Our recent excavations have also thrown much more light on later Anglo-Saxon and early Norman Canterbury, and one of the most interesting discoveries of 1981 was of the outer bailey ditch of William the Conqueror's first castle in Canterbury.
From the 12th century onwards, just as much of Canterbury's archaeology is 'buried' above ground as is found below ground, and this brings me on to the second major thing our Trust is engaged in - 'above-ground' archaeology. Canterbury has many hundreds of listed buildings, and though demolition of them is now rare, large numbers of these important buildings are being restored. Much of this 'restoration' is in fact demolition and rebuilding (the cathedral is a case in point). It is therefore vital that records are made of the original fabric, where it exists, before restoration starts, and though funds for this work are limited, the Trust has recorded many buildings in the last five years ranging from parts of the Cathedral, Medieval Archbishop's Palace, and Norman keep to many of the smaller, timber-framed buildings of the city. In 1980-1 we made the first ever detailed drawings of the City's famous West Gate (exactly six hundred years old that year) with a grant from the Kent Archaeological Society. The drawings are now published in Volume II of The Archaeology of Canterbury.
Apart from its definitive series, The Archaeology of Canterbury, the Trust publishes an interim report each year on its work in Arch. Cant. (Offprints of these reports can also be obtained from the Trust), and members should consult these reports for more details of the many projects (including well over 50 excavations) undertaken in the last six years.
The third and most under-financed aspect of our work is the extremely important work on pottery and the many thousands of objects dug up during the last few years. Almost all this material will be going eventually to Canterbury's Royal Museum, but before this a great deal of cleaning, conversation and study has to take place, and although the finest objects (Roman, swords, AngloSaxon pendant, Roman bronze carpenter's square, and horse harness fittings, etc.,) are already on show, much else is still waiting in our stores for more detailed work. Very often the developers pay for an excavation but not for all the work on the finds resulting from that excavation.
Lack of finance is, of course the Trust's greatest problem, particularly so in the last couple of years, and we are now trying hard to find some form of recurrent income so that we can stop our hand-to-mouth existence. The K.A.S. will be giving us a grant of £1,000 a year for the next five years towards our administration costs. At the moment almost all our grants are tied to projects, and so, when the money runs out as it did in the spring, virtually all our staff had to be laid off for several months. Any financial help individual members of the K.A.S. can give at this crucial time will be very gratefully received, particularly covenanted gifts.
Finally, we also rely very heavily on volunteer help, and at the moment our large-scale excavations on the Marlowe Theatre site are being greatly facilitated by having a big group of volunteers who come every day to supplement the small 'professional' team. These excavations which continue till the end of October, when work on the new Shopping centre starts on the site, are open free to the public seven days a week. Visitors are welcome from 8.30am to 5pm and we have a small information and sales hut on the site. Special guided tours for parties (if booked in advance) can be given at any reasonable time.
Volunteer excavators (with or without previous experience) are always welcome and should report to the site-supervisor on the spot. The Trust also relies heavily on volunteer help for work on the finds, and finds processing continues every week-day at 92a Broad Street, Canterbury throughout the autumn and winter.
Canterbury Archaeological Trust publications
Available from 92a Broad Street, Canterbury, CTl 2LU.
l. Topographical maps of Canterbury, A.D. 400, 1050, 1200 , 1500 & 1700. A set of five maps with notes on each. - 2nd completely revised edition. Price: £2.00 (£2.25 with post and packing).
2. Interim Report on 1978 Excavations. 11 pages, 3 figures and 2 plates. Price: 45p (65p with post and packing).
3. Some Minor Excavations in 1977-8. 50 pages, 24 figures and 2 plates. Price: 90p (£1.20 with post and packing).
4. The Cathedral and Priory Church of Christ. A full-colour wall poster (61cm x 86cm) with key and cut-away sections to show the various phases of construction. Price: £2.50 (£2.75 with cardboard roll or £3 by post).
5. Interim Report on the 1979 Excavations. 16 pages and 4 figures. Price: 60p (80p with post and packing).
6. Four Minor Sites Excavated by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust. (1978-9). 37 pages and 17 figures. Price: 60p (80p with post and packing).
7. Interim Report on the 1980 Excavations. 14 pages, 5 figures and 2 plates. Price: 60p (80p with post and packing).
8. Excavations at the 'Old Palace', Bekesbourne, Near Canterbury. 30 pages, 11 figures and 6 plates. Price: £1 (£1.40 with post and packing).
9. A Guide to Canterbury Castle. (Forthcoming, December 1982).
10. Interim Report on Excavations in 1981. 19 pages and 6 figures. Price: 70p (90p with post and packing).
11. A new series on The Archaeology of Canterbury. Volume I: Excavations at Canterbury Castle. Price: £15 plus £1.60 post and packing.
12. Volume II: Excavations on the Roman and Medieval Defences of Canterbury. Price: £15 plus £1.60 post and packing.
Also available:
The Parish of St. Martin and St. Paul, Canterbury.
21 historical essays in memory of James Hobbs by various local historians, archaeologists, etc. Price: £2.90 (£3.40 with post and packing).