The Old House Project, Boxley Abbey
A playlist of some of the videos from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) Old House Project working party at Boxley Abbey; a project in association with the KAS, Maidstone Area Archaeological Group (MAAG), and Hastings Area Archaeological Research Group (HAARG).
Sharing conservation skills at historic Kent buildings
For a week in July 2022, 98 volunteers, specialists and staff of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) gathered to help at the Old House Project, and neighbouring Boxley Abbey in Kent.
Repairing an ancient abbey in Kent
In July 2021, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings returned to Boxley Abbey in Kent for a week of hands-on learning, site visits and barbecues!
Making History in Smarden
This film is about the things we do in Smarden as a local history group: our talks programme, the way in which we catalogue and preserve archives in our Heritage Centre, our research projects, our interaction with the village and the services we provide to researchers and other groups like ours.
The Mapping of Smarden
Smarden has been on the map for 500 years, but probably not as you know it. For example, do you know where Udden Bridge is? Or Harbileden? Or Spiers Ash? If you are familiar with Smarden will know them, but not by these names.
Power Politics and the Man from Maidstone
This film is about power and politics in the years leading up to the 1914 – 1918 war. It tells the remarkable story of how one man challenged the world’s most powerful oil empire… and won. But having achieved his aim he decided there were more important things in life.
May Day! May Day! May Day!
To mark the 80th Anniversary of The Battle of Britain our new film looks at the life stories of two pilots who came down in Smarden in 1940, one Canadian and one German. However the film begins with earlier crashes involving two planes, each of them carrying gold, one in 1929 and the other in 1931.
Germany is in Smarden: So is North America
You may be puzzled by those two lines, but we promise you they are true. We are taking a fact-finding tour around Smarden’s lanes and fields but geography apart, we’ll be talking about some of the interesting characters who have lived in Smarden: sportsmen, writers, craftsmen and entertainers. Some of them with local reputations, others known around the world.
Smarden v Napoleon
In this film we go back over 200 years to follow the fortunes of three Smarden men who enlisted to fight the French in Spain, Portugal and at the Battle of Waterloo.
A Disorderly Parish
In 1688 the Reverend Richard Rands described Smarden as "A Disorderly Parish" so this film explores some of the more notable transgressions which have taken place in our village, ranging from treason and murder to affrays of various kinds.
The Lion from the West
The life story of John Sella Martin, a man born into poverty and slavery, who became a Baptist minister and a forceful proponent of abolition. In Britain his powerful oratory attracted huge crowds who came to hear him speak during the American Civil War. He spoke in Smarden in 1863.
Wartime Memories of Smarden
The Rathbone family lived in Smarden at Hegg Hill during World War Two. This film is based on the fascinating memoir written by Lettice Rathbone for the Women's Institute and covers events such as the army coming back from Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain and how the village prepared for invasion. Her sister Marion also wrote about village life in WW2 which you can read here.
The Story of Smarden’s Shops
To celebrate the opening of Smarden's new Community Store and Post Office, this is the story of our village shops, Post Office and shopkeepers over the past 600 years.
Smarden’s Deadly Year
A heroic doctor, contagion, lockdown, shocking fatalities. A scenario only too familiar to us today, but this is what happened in the Kent village of Smarden 350 years ago. This is a forgotten episode in the history of a rural village that resonates strongly with us now.
The History of Smarden (part two)
Shot in 2005, this film tells the story of Smarden from early obscurity to its golden age of broadcloth and back again, as told by present-day villagers. This is the second of two videos.
The History of Smarden (part one)
This film was shot in 2005 and tells Smarden's long and eventful story, from obscurity to its golden weaving years and back again, described in the voices of its present day villagers. This is Part One of Two episodes.
- Agriculture
- Air travel
- Architecture
- Boxley
- Channel 4
- Charters
- Church History
- Churches
- Community Archaeology
- Conservation
- County Maps
- Diocese of Rochester
- Earthworks
- Excavations
- Faversham
- Genetics
- Heritage
- Historic Buildings
- History
- Industrial
- Iron Age
- Kent Underground Research Group (KURG)
- Landscapes
- Lees Court Project
- Lympne
- Maidstone
- Maps
- Marine Archaeology
- Medieval
- Military History
- Modern
- Monasticism
- Napoleonic Wars
- Oral Histories
- Otford
- Ozengell
- Paintings
- Place Names
- Politics
- Prehistoric
- Ramsgate
- Randall Manor
- Reflections
- Richborough
- River Medway
- Rochester
- Rochester Cathedral
- Shorne
- Smarden
- Smarden History Society
- Snodland
- Society Collections
- Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB)
- Sussex
- Textus Roffensis
- World War II