Peopling Past Landscapes: north Downs to the Weald

A major landscape research project led by the Kent Archaeological Society

On Saturday 3rd October a Study Day will be held at Lenham Village Centre as part of the Society's major new landscape survey project. The project, which is being developed by a team drawn from across the Society's committees, is now known as Peopling Past Landscapes: North Downs to the Weald. It is intended as an umbrella project into which groups and individuals can carry out smaller archaeological, historical, genealogical, and landscape research projects, the results of which can be fed into an overview that it is hoped will provide an in-depth look at a major area of the Kentish Landscape. If successful, this approach could be applied in other parts of the County and beyond. The area selected for Peopling Past Landscapes runs from the Swale across the North Downs and into the Weald to Headcorn and Smarden, thus providing a transect across most of the major landscape zones of Kent (the northern coastal strip, the North Downs, the Holmesdale, the Chartland, and the Weald). Study of the routeways that traverse this landscape (both potential droveways that run its length from north-east to south-west and regionally significant routes that cut across it running from south-east to north-west, notably above and below the Downland scarp) and the influence they have on human settlement and economy is likely to be a key part of the project, but it is deliberately wide-ranging in scope to allow all of the different skills and interests within the KAS to be engaged. It is also important that groups and individuals based within the study area, whether currently affiliated to the KAS or not, get involved, as local knowledge and contacts will be key to the project’s success.

So, if you are interested in getting involved, have an idea for a project that could fit within this, or just want to learn more, please book a place for the Study Day at Lenham on 3rd October. Speakers for the day are still being finalised at the time of writing, but will certainly include Steve Willis of the University of Kent on fieldwalking, Jen Jackson, Kent FLO on PAS data, a speaker from KCC's Heritage Conservation Team on the Historic Environment Record, Ted Connell on Tithe maps, Lesley Feakes on the work of the Lenham Archaeological Society and others. The day will include discussion forums where ideas for potential fieldwork and research can be explored. To help cover the cost of the hall we would appreciate a payment of £5 each. There is an option of booking lunch for an extra £6 each. Tickets and optional lunch can be booked using the form enclosed in this newsletter.

[fg]jpg|An ancient stone ‘bridge’ across the Stour near its source, with the North Downs behind.|Image[/fg]