First meeting of the Maritime Kent Special Interest Group

A report on the first meeting of the Maritime Kent Special Interest Group held on 5th January 2023 at Chatham Dockyard.

Many thanks to Nick Ball and his team for hosting. It was great to have around 31 people attending both in person and remotely – among the organisations represented were Chatham Historic Dockyard, National Maritime Museum, Canterbury Cathedral Archives, Kent Archives, Timescapes Kent, Historic England, Dover Museums, Christ Church Canterbury (Centre for Kent History and Heritage), University of Greenwich, University of Kent, Docklands History Group, independent researchers/academics, Whitstable Museums and the University of the Creative Arts.

Aims & plans

There was a good discussion about the scope and remit of the group and also confirmation that from a Kent Archaeological Society perspective the group should cover all historical perspectives and disciplines not just archaeology. The key aim should be to promote Kent’s fascinating and rich maritime heritage in whatever way we can – by disseminating information through our webpages, by supporting research, through publications/articles and by organising events. There was a proposal for a themed conference in 2024 – some of the themes suggested were shipbuilding, supply/provisioning the Royal Navy, sea art & literature, archives and maritime labour, trade unions and workers. We are also keen to promote maritime history more generally at heritage open days, exhibitions and through online video and podcasts.

Another was suggestion is that the group should put together and make available a list of relevant maritime collections for Kent to encourage research. This could be a job for a placement/intern student at one of the archives in Kent and could then be held on the group's webpages and added to as more collections are discovered.

It was agreed that there should be a small steering group to progress things – anyone interested in being part of this group should email Stuart Bligh

At the end of the meeting there was update from various attendees about relevant projects including Heritage Harbours Scheme, UNPATH’D WATERS, The Maison Dieu in Dover and Timescapes Kent. Details of some of these will be added to the resources page in due course and also hopefully those involved will contribute short blogs.

Get involved

If you’re interested in coming to future meetings, or have any suggestions please email Stuart Bligh