Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor,
Judging by the contents of the KAS Newsletter, there seems to be a heartening resurgence of non-commercial archaeological activity in Kent. In the 90s, with the spectacular rise of PPG16-stimulated developer funded projects, the decline of the ‘voluntary sector’ seemed inevitable. Yet the last few editions have featured many exciting examples of novel kinds of community involvement in archaeology.
Particularly encouraging are the new kinds of partnerships which seem to be emerging between the paid professionals, volunteers and the wider community, with the CAT leading the way. The Portable Antiquities Scheme has reached right out into the wider world... Even the over-worked KCC Heritage archaeological team are beginning to try to break down the walls which seemed to be blocking off the rest of us: our archaeological research group is currently working with the KCC SMR team to help prepare our local SMR records (around 600 of them!) for going online, and units working in Kent are being strongly encouraged to lodge copies of their reports with local societies.
There is a long way to go, but it’s all very exciting, and wholly appropriate for this KAS 150th anniversary year.
Dr Patricia Reid
Honorary Archaeologist for the Faversham Society
Editors note:
I very much welcome any news and articles from local historical or archaeological societies. Don’t hide your light under a bushel; take the opportunity to let everyone know what you have been working on! As I always point out, I can only print what I receive, so please do send some information about your projects, or about any events, talks etc that you are holding, for inclusion in the ‘What’s On’ page.
Dear Editor,
I am somewhat concerned at the unfairness of the new ‘Hasted Prize’ and its discrimination against hard working ordinary folk of the KAS. Some of these folk do some excellent research and may have wished to submit a dissertation, but are banned because they have not done a PhD or Masters.
To use a case in point; our small group at Lenham have done considerable research and our application is most often in the field (as you will have seen in the KAS Newsletters). We have put a Journal* together, published with the aid of a lottery grant. Now, however, we have even more data that would make an excellent book.
Other groups/people in different parishes have also done comparable work, probably even more comprehensive than ours, e.g. in Otford, Snodland and Thurnham, to name just a few examples.
The question really is, does the Society wish to travel down this elitist and historical route or does it wish to encourage enterprising local research and the fieldwork of these more active groups?
Hasted may have been a prodigious historian but he made a great many mistakes! In Lenham, he completely missed the fact that there are two different sections of the parish; he left Lenham Court off his map as if it did not exist, yet it was the 15th century Manor House of West Lenham. We are now embarking on a hunt for the lost village and church of West Lenham, a prime example of the importance of field archaeology to prove historical research and previous omissions.
Archaeology must be an amalgamation of all knowledge. In the same way historians and archaeologists need to amalgamate into a friendly, helpful, encouraging society for this ideal to be met. Please, please can we have a Hasted Prize with everyone allowed to enter?
Lesley Feakes
LenhamArchaeology@hotmail.co.uk
“Discovering Ancient Lenham” available £3.50 at CKS & Lenham Valley News, Lenham library or from the Chairman of LAS, L. Feakes.
Dear Editor,
The recently revived interest in the fate of the Eccles Roman Villa Excavation, shared by many people who care about Kent archaeology, has been immensely encouraging. Thanks partly to the discussion in these pages, and partly to the indisputable quality and significance of the work, there seems to be a renewed determination that a way of publishing the site must, somehow, be found.
I had the privilege of working with Alec Detsicas during his last few years and know that he regarded Eccles as his life’s work. When he began excavating Eccles Roman villa in 1961, as a gifted amateur, he could not have foreseen the size of the task, the significance and complexity of the site, or how much the profession of archaeology would change in his lifetime. Alec’s was a world where archaeology was done for the love of it, on a shoestring budget, and colleagues wrote specialist reports as favours for each other. Huge budgets weren’t part of his thinking; high standards, hard work and commitment were. His 30 years as honorary editor of Arch. Cant. clearly demonstrated this. He knew he owed it to the site, to scholarship and to the many volunteers who had worked at Eccles, to produce a definitive report. So it was a significant and sad moment when, in failing health, he relinquished responsibility for Eccles, admitting that the task was beyond him, and left it to others to continue his work to the best of their abilities.
But why, after all this time, should there be doubt about a dig begun 45 years ago when there are so many other deserving archaeological projects?
Firstly, because ‘...in all respects a major villa-estate, the Eccles villa has invited comment from the early years of its excavation’. (Alec Detsicas in his book ‘The Cantiaci’). The historical significance of the site and its continuing value to research is still the strongest argument against abandoning it. Its early foundation on a site of Iron Age occupation, its size and status, the evidence for early pottery manufacture, its possible military connections, its disproportionately large bathing complex and its stylistic similarities to villas in North Gaul, all pose questions about its possible role in the politics of the Claudian invasion. And what is the connection between villa, Anglo-Saxon cemetery and mediaeval settlement of the area?
Secondly, the Eccles records are in good order and intact. The original notebooks are meticulously thorough and logical, so, even without the benefit of Alec’s voluminous memory, the information remains accessible, and much is now digitally stored. All the slides and most of the photos are catalogued. Much work has been done to integrate the field records and update the site plans. Most of the finds are now properly stored and archived, which would have been a major problem for the project.
And lastly, because so much of the work has already been done - but not enough to present a coherent synthesis of the whole story. To stop at this point could be to lose for ever what has gone before, the painstaking and freely-given physical and intellectual effort of a previous generation of archaeological friends and colleagues. So for all these reasons, I very much hope that a way forward for the Eccles project will emerge from this renewed and welcome interest.
Rachel Shaw
Dear Editor
OARE GUNPOWDER WORKS COUNTRY PARK
As a 'local' and Kent Archaeological Society member for over 50 years I'd like warmly to endorse John Clancy's praise of the new Oare Gunpowder Works Country Park, on Faversham's western fringe (Newsletter, Winter 2006-7, p 15). It really is a lovely spot, with pleasant undemanding walks and fascinating features. Even when it was hard at work, with 200 staff, it was mistaken as a game reserve by a visiting journalist.
I'm sure John won't mind if I correct him on one or two points. The history of the Faversham explosives industry is long and complex, and it's not surprising if there's a bit of confusion about it.
Chart Gunpowder Mills are not the same as the Home Works, the first of the town's three gunpowder factories, going back to the 17th century, if not earlier. They are just the most impressive survivors of its many process houses.
One 18th century mill, the oldest of its kind in the world, survives after restoration by the Faversham Society in 1966-7. Remains of three others can be seen. This mill, a mile from the Oare Works, is open to the public free of charge from 2 to 5 pm on week-ends and Bank Holidays from Easter to the end of October.
This factory was almost a mile long, from near the A2 at Ospringe to the head of Faversham Creek. There's now little trace of the rest of its buildings, but at the Faversham Society's Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre in Preston Street you can pick up a free trail leaflet which highlights and illustrates the rest of what survives.
Chart Mills and the Oare Works aren't on the same stream, as John suggests. Waterpower for the many mills at the Home Works came from a stream which rose near Painters Forstal and fed into Faversham Creek. Before steam, and then electric, power took over, Oare Works' energy needs were met by a similar watercourse which fed into nearby Oare Creek. Presumably this is how it got its name, because in fact it lies wholly in the parish of Davington.
John mentions the splendid conservation work by Groundwork Medway Swale, and rightly so. But tribute should also be paid to Dr John Williams, the County Archaeologist, who was instrumental in obtaining key recognition of the site's importance as an Ancient Monument; Brett Gravel Ltd, who forwent their existing extraction permission on the Oare Works site; Swale Borough Council, who for years persisted valiantly with the plans until the necessary funds could be raised; Faversham Town Council, who gave it moral backing and what financial support they could; and the Faversham Society, which contributed historical and technological expertise, and helped to contrive the repatriation of a 1920s gunpowder mill from Ardeer in Ayrshire. So the only two preserved powder mills in the UK are both in Faversham.
Arthur Percival
Faversham
ABOVE: The exterior of the surviving mill at Chart Mills and some of the machinery to be seen here.
Dear Editor
I came across your website whilst looking for 'Gouldhurst' on Google. I was very surprised to find a photo, which I am certain is of my 4th great grand parents, Thomas and Jane Hazelden's, grave in St Mary's Church, Gouldhurst.
Do you have any other members that are also interested in this family whom I could contact? Other lines of my family also date back from Kent - the Jeffery's in Folkestone and the Agass's in Canterbury.
I am looking forward to joining your Society and hopefully to finding out some more information on the Hazeldens.
My thanks go to Pam Connell for taking the original photo of the gravestone posted on the website.
Jennifer Quigly
Horsham