Kent Speakers List 2024
A list of speakers for local societies on a wide variety of topics.
Paleolithic flint tool illustrations by Benjamin Harrison
Today is National Illustration Day and so for this week's #FindsFriday KAS Curator Andy Ward showcases a small sample of the wonderful illustrations of Benjamin Harrison.
Romney Marsh Research Trust Archive now available on Society website
The archive of monographs, irregulars and documents of the Romney Marsh Research Trust (RMRT) are now available on the Society website.
Mission to England: Reinvestigating the Origins of St Augustine’s Abbey
A talk by Professor K.R. Dark of Kings College London on 7th February 2023 entitled 'Mission to England: reinvestigating the origins of St. Augustine’s Abbey'.
Maidstone Museum: Talk by Historian Michael Wood on the Anglo-Saxon period
On Thursday the 1st of December, 2022 Professor Michael Wood OBE, FSA, entertained members of the Kent Archaeological Society at Maidstone Museum with a live talk.
Manorial Documents Register
The Manorial Documents Register (MDR) is the official index to English and Welsh manorial records and provides brief descriptions of documents and details of their locations in public and private hands. The National Archives at Kew now provide online access to this resource. Manorial documents include court rolls, surveys, maps, terriers, documents and books of every description relating to the boundaries, franchises, wastes, customs or courts of a manor.
Hoo Peninsula Historic Landscape Project reports online
Reports from the "Hoo Peninsula Historic Landscape Project" are currently available to download online, via the Historic England website.
A History of the County of Kent (Vol. 2)
British History Online provides a digital version of "A history of the County of Kent: volume 2", originally published in 1926. This volume deals with the religious houses of Kent, including accounts of the early history of Canterbury and Rochester cathedrals.
The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: online
British History Online provides online access to "The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent", volumes 1 to 12, by Edward Hasted and originally published in 1797. These volumes include a general account of the history, topography and natural history of the ancient county. It also details the parishes of the two hundreds of Blackheath and Bromley and Beckenham, including several parishes which now form part of metropolitan London. These include Charlton, Deptford, Greenwich, Lewisham and Woolwich.
Free to View Monographs
A collection of monograph titles have been opened up in their entirety, free to view, during October.
Library Acquisition: Cobham Landscape Detectives
Cobham Landscape Detectives was a three year, lottery funded, community archaeology project. It aimed to explore the Kentish Parish of Cobham and beyond. The booklet details some of the discoveries that were made and the history that was uncovered. It takes a chronological approcah, beginning in Prehistory and ending with WWII military camps that still dot the landscape. This booklet has kindly been donated to the KAS library by the Detectives.
Library reopening from August
From August 2020 it will be possible for members to visit the Library again but due to Covid 19 there are restrictions in place
1989 Day out in Kent
I came across this video (slightly dated) on the weekend where the London and Surrey 'Earth Mysteries' groups have a day trip around some of the Kentish prehistoric sites. Particularly of interest to me was the visit to Chestnuts. (I believe that site is currently inaccessible, being on private land.) The video prompted me to take my own little day trip to to find the Chiding Stone.
Oxford Dictionary of Family Names during Lockdown
For a short period of time the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names has made its database available for free. "This huge, new dictionary is the ultimate reference work on family names of the UK, covering English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Cornish, and immigrant surnames. It includes every surname that currently has more than 100 bearers, and those that had more than 20 bearers in the 1881 census."
Free access to digital record from Kew
The National Archives are making digital records available on their website free of charge for as long as our Kew site is closed to visitors. Registered users will be able to order and download up to ten items at a time, to a maximum of 50 items over 30 days. The limits are there to try and help manage the demand for content and ensure the availability of our digital services for everyone.
Free resources on Muse
In response to the challenges created by the global public health crisis of COVID-19, Project MUSE is pleased to support its participating publishers in making scholarly content temporarily available for free on our platform. With many higher education institutions moving into an exclusively online learning environment for the foreseeable future, we hope that easy access to vetted research in the humanities and social sciences, from a variety of distinguished university presses, societies, and related not-for-profit publishers, will help to support teaching, learning, and knowledge discovery for users worldwide.
The Rainfall Rescue Project is seeking volunteers
The UK has rainfall records dating back 200 years or so, but the vast majority of these are in handwritten form and can't easily be used to analyse past periods of flooding and drought. The Rainfall Rescue Project is seeking volunteers to transfer all the data into online spreadsheets. You're not required to rummage through old bound volumes as the Met Office has already scanned the necessary documents - all 65,000 sheets.
- #CreepyKent
- Agriculture
- Archaeology Research Group
- Ashford
- Barham
- BBC
- Benenden
- Bethersden
- Bridge
- Canterbury
- Canterbury Christ Church University
- Centre for Kent History and Heritage
- Charing
- Chatham
- Chatham Historic Dockyard
- Chislehurst
- Church History
- Conservation
- Crayford
- Crayford Manor House Historical Society
- Deal
- Detling
- Dover
- Dover Museum
- Education Committee
- Excavations
- Farningham & Eynsford Local History Society
- Faversham
- Fundraising
- Geophysics
- Halling
- Halling Historical Society
- Hasted Prize
- Heritage
- Historic Buildings Research Group
- History & Archives Research Group
- Isle of Sheppey
- Isle of Thanet
- Isle of Thanet Archaeological Society
- Kent Archaeological Society
- Kent County Show
- Kent Defences Research Group
- Kent Messenger
- Landscape Explorers Group South East
- Lees Court Estate Project
- Little Chart
- Lives In Our Landscapes
- Maidstone
- Maidstone Carriage Museum
- Maidstone Community Support Center
- Maidstone Museum
- Maritime
- Maritime Kent Research Group
- Medieval
- Metal Detecting
- Military History
- Modern
- Monasticism
- Norton
- Orpington & District Archaeological Society
- Ozengell
- Place Names Research Group
- Pluckley
- Prehistoric
- Ramsgate
- Romney Marsh
- Royal Phoenix Metal Detecting Club
- Selling
- Shoreham
- Shoreham & District Historical Society
- Snargate
- Society Collections
- Students
- The Faversham Society
- The White Cliffs Metal Detecting Club
- Thirsk Prize
- Tonbridge
- Trust for Thanet Archaeology
- Volunteering
- Westerham
- Westwell
- Women's Histories
- Wye