DISCOVERING KENT’S HERITAGE № 121

BRINGING THE PAST TO THE PRESENT FOR EVERYONE WINTER 2023

Canterbury Bilsington Swanscombe Nonington

Canterbury Cathedral’s Surveys of the Priory A collection of Beauchamps Wood
Great Drain Paelaeolithic lithics
10 22 27 48

DISCOVERING ROMAN WYE

CHAIR OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Professor Kerry Brown
kerry.brown@kentarchaeology.org.uk
MANAGEMENT TEAM
General Manager: Richard Taylor
richard.taylor@kentarchaeology.org.uk
Deputy General Manager: Rebecca Fletcher
rebecca.fletcher@kentarchaeology.org.uk
Society Archivist: Craig Campbell
craig.campbell@kentarchaeology.org.uk
Society Curator: Andy Ward
andrew.ward@kentarchaeology.org.uk
WELCOME FROM
THE EDITOR
Welcome to Issue 121 of the KAS Magazine. We
hope you enjoy this edition, which explores the
ongoing research and activities related to the
county’s heritage. However, we also pay tribute
to some of those who have passed away, and we
would like to express our deepest condolences to
those affected by these losses. We hope the new
discoveries and important research featured in this
issue, alongside the gratitude and memories of
those now departed, will provide some comfort and
inspiration. Thank you for your continued support
and dedication to preserving our shared heritage.
We are excited to publish our second digital edition
of the Magazine, which offers many advantages
in terms of accessibility and opportunities in the
digital realm. However, we acknowledge that some
of our members may prefer a physical copy of the
Magazine, and thus, we are currently seeking sponsors
who can help us cover the printing expenses.
Secondly, the Society has a new Management
Team, and we have included a complete
breakdown of their roles and contact information
in this issue of the Magazine. If you have any
questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to
get in touch with any member of the Team.
The editor wishes to draw attention to the fact that neither he nor the KAS Council are answerable for opinions which contributors
may express in their signed articles; each author is alone responsible for the contents and substance of their work.
02 | Kent Archaeological Society
Digital Manager: Jacob Scott
jacob.scott@kentarchaeology.org.uk
Administration Manager: Ann Watson
ann.watson@kentarchaeology.org.uk
Brand & Communications Manager:
Nicky Hammond
nicky.hammond@kentarchaeology.org.uk
Finance Manager: Brie Thomas
brie.thomas@kentarchaeology.org.uk
Archaeologia Cantiana Editor: Jason Mazzocchi
jason.mazzocchi@kentarchaeology.org.uk
Thirdly, the Society’s website is undergoing a
major upgrade, introducing a new design and
exciting features by the end of January 2024.
Lastly, I want to express my sincere gratitude to Clive
Drew, who will be stepping down from his role as
General Manager by the end of 2023. As his successor,
I am deeply honoured and grateful for this opportunity.
Under Clive’s leadership, the Society has undergone
significant transformation, enabling us to take strides
towards fulfilling our commitment of bringing the past to
the present for everyone. There is much still to do, but
in the coming year, we will be introducing several new
initiatives which will be communicated to all members
through our various channels, including the Magazine,
e-newsletters, social media platforms, website, Arch
Cant, and the VeryConnect membership system.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and
a happy and healthy 2024.
Best wishes,
Richard
№ 121
WINTER 2023 CONTENTS

FEATURES Introducing the Kent Archaeological Society

Management Team 05
Obituary: Duncan Harrington (1945–2023) 06
Obituary: Dr Malcolm Lyne FSA (1943–2023) 07
Obituary: Dave Earnshaw (1944–2023) 08
Canterbury Cathedral’s Great Drain 10
Marsh Fever – The Ague 15
Curator’s Corner: Early Medieval Inlaid Weaponry 17
Introducing the KAS Archivist, Craig Campbell 20
Magnetometer and Resistivity Surveys
of Bilsington Priory, Kent, 2022 22
Trustee Chris Blair-Myers receives the
inaugural Britannia Award 26
A previously unreported collection of Palaeolithic
lithics from Barnfield Pit, Swanscombe, Kent 27
The Recently Discovered Frindsbury
Academy Early Palaeolithic site 32
Discovering Roman Wye 42
Beauchamps Wood, Nonington, Kent 48
The first 30 years of the Allen Grove Local History Fund 56

27
32

10

48
42

22

15 10 km

6 mi.

REGULAR Message from the Chair of the Board of Trustees 04

Notices 09

Winter 2023 | 03
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR OF
THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
In late 2022, the KAS signed a Memorandum of
Understanding with Maidstone Museum. To the
best of my knowledge, this was the first written
agreement between us despite being associated with
the museum since the middle of the 19th century!
It was a welcome development. The agreement
clarified our expectations towards each other, which
is significant given the importance of the library and
the 3500-plus artefacts that belong to the KAS.
There is little point in signing an agreement if nothing
then happens. So, it has been heartening to see 2023
become a year when we made something more of our
relationship. The museum and the KAS have one major
interest in common – serving public benefit. So, there
is a natural harmony helping us in our work together.
In May, we put on a small exhibition of our most recent
and significant finds at the museum. The highlight
was the redisplay of the gold Bronze Age torques,
bracelets and fastener, which were inaccessible for
some years. We also put out some of the acquisitions
in the Ozengell Collection we purchased in October
2022. Our former curator, Elizabeth Blanning and our
newly appointed one, Andy Ward, did sterling work
on this. We have had the opportunity to showcase
our work with more visibility for six months.
Maidstone Museum has been reassessing how it
presents history and what sort of narrative it wishes
to provide for the interface between local, county and
national stories. One of the issues over the years has
been that while a facility funded by the local town
council, Maidstone Museum has had to balance the
ways it serves its local community along with how
it puts this in a broader context. Of course, the two
intimately relate to each other. Maidstone’s history
as a town and borough makes little sense if seen
in isolation. The aim is to achieve balance, where
the local and the broader context are set beside
each other and can help explain things better.
The next archaeological gallery at the museum, which
it is hoped will open in the coming year or so, is a major
venture that the KAS has been involved with since its
inception. We are grateful for this opportunity, and
the plans that have now largely been finalised allow
generous scope for using some of our artefacts.
We are also glad that our curator, Andy Ward and
other colleagues have been working with the staff
at the museum to articulate and refine the exhibition
plans. I was pleased to be shown a preview of these
in October, and I could appreciate the amount of
work and the commitment that has gone into them.
This will be a major initiative allowing greater
engagement with the public, and an excellent example
of how the KAS and the museum can co-operate and
04 | Kent Archaeological Society
Kerry Brown
help each other. It is also great that so soon after the
signing of the MOU, we are now able to have a chance
like this to make our relationship meaningful and
operational rather than just passive and aspirational.
The KAS has entered a period of increased activity. The
project described above is one illustration of that. We
have engaged in digs at Leas Court and Trottiscliffe in
the last year, allowing interaction with a broader public.
We participated in the Faversham open day and held
several public lectures and research days. We have
moved ahead with updating and improving our website,
3D modelling of some of our digs, and digitising some
of our holdings. A new editor, Jason Mazzocchi, has
been appointed for the Archaeologia Cantiana after
the long and distinguished service of the previous
editor, Terry Lawson. In January 2024, after a period
of remarkable service to the KAS, the current General
Manager, Clive Drew, passes the batten to Richard
Taylor. Both have been working hard to update and
make the KAS more functional in delivering its public
benefit. We have also seen a healthy maintenance
of membership, standing now at about 1200.
The next year’s priority will be to raise funds to continue
our work. The help of members in this will be critical.
While our current financial position remains strong,
we have had to make several significant investments
in the last year. As a charity, we cannot stay still but
must forever be dynamic and forward-looking. We
must now start to build different revenue streams
and sources of support for our projects to support
endeavours like our work with Maidstone Museum.
With best wishes for 2024, and thanks
for your support and engagement,
Best wishes,
Kerry Brown
Chair, Board of Trustees
INTRODUCING THE KENT
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
MANAGEMENT TEAM
GENERAL MANAGER: ADMINISTRATION MANAGER

Richard Taylor Ann Watson

Responsible for the overall management of the Responsible for membership administration, conference
Society’s daily operations, point of contact for the and events planning and external enquiries.
Board of Trustees and all key partnerships with external
bodies, including fundraisers and grant-giving bodies. ann.watson@kentarchaeology.org.uk

richard.taylor@kentarchaeology.org.uk BRAND & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER: Nicky Hammond

Rebecca Fletcher Responsible for the Society’s e-Newsletter, general

Responsible for financial operations, the
VeryConnect Management system, and Line
Manager to the Management Team.
rebecca.fletcher@kentarcheology.org.uk
SOCIETY ARCHIVIST:
Craig Campbell
publicity online, at events and liaising with TV and press.
nicky.hammond@kentarchaeology.org.uk
FINANCE MANAGER
Brie Thomas
Responsible for the daily management
of the Society’s finances.

Responsible for the care, management and brie.thomas@kentarchaeology.org.uk

interpretation of the Society’s document
collections and Society Library. ARCHAEOLOGIA CANTIANA EDITOR

craig.campbell@kentarchaeology.org.uk Jason Mazzocchi

SOCIETY CURATOR: Responsible for the annual production

of Archaeologia Cantiana.
Andy Ward
jason.mazzocchi@kentarchaeology.org.uk
Responsible for the care, management and
interpretation of the Society’s object collections.

andy.ward@kentarchaeology.org.uk

DIGITAL MANAGER

Jacob Scott

Responsible for the development and

production of the Society website.

jacob.scott@kentarcaeology.org.uk

Winter 2023 | 05
OBITUARY: DUNCAN
HARRINGTON (1945–2023)
It is with great sadness that the Kent Archaeological
Society has learnt of the death of Duncan
Wilson Harrington, who passed away on
Sunday 26th March 2023 aged 78 years.
He was born in Surrey on 21st February 1945 and
was the eldest of three siblings. He received a diverse
education, and during his later teenage years, he
suffered from Meningitis. Although his parents hoped
he would study medicine, he decided to pursue Zoology
and Botany at Nottingham University for a year. Later,
he briefly served in the army and, by 1969, had settled
in Kent, where he quickly developed an interest in
Archaeology and Genealogical Research. Initially, he
assisted with excavating medieval tile kilns located north
of Canterbury and researched their origins. He became
a member of the Kent Archaeological Society in 1970.
He continued his archaeological career with excavations
organised by the Council for Kentish Archaeology,
for which he was their honorary secretary until 1980.
Through these excavations, he met Susan Johnson,
whom he married in Oare Parish Church on 10th April
1976. They had two children, Rachael and James.
Unfortunately, a few years later, Susan contracted
cancer and died on 27th January 1986. During this
period, they lived in Canterbury, and Duncan published
his first work, the “Harrington Family Miscellany”.
From about 1971, Duncan studied the basis of
genealogical research at the Institute of Heraldic and
Genealogical Studies in Canterbury, where he obtained
his Licentiateship in Genealogy and Heraldry (LGH)
and later became a member of its staff. He became one
of the most respected Kentish genealogists, and his
palaeographic skills were second to none. He continued
privately undertaking historical research and publishing
over 50 titles on Kent history. These publications include
“Kent hearth tax assessment, Lady Day 1664” (2000),
“Faversham oyster fishery through eleven centuries”
06 | Kent Archaeological Society
(with the late Patricia Hyde 2002), “the early town books
of Faversham c1251 – 1581” (with the late Patricia Hyde
2008) and the monumental inscriptions of 14 churches
and churchyards in Kent. He contributed the chapters
on medieval history in the book “Faversham in the
making: the early years: the ice ages until 1550” (Patricia
Reid 2018). Duncan joined the Kent Family History
Society in 1974, and in recognition of his contribution to
Kent history, he was elected their president in 2004.
In 1986, after Susan’s death, he moved from Canterbury
to Lyminge near Folkestone and married Rhona. As
a Lyminge resident, he significantly contributed to
recording historical life in the village. He joined the
Lyminge Historical Society and became the general
editor of their publication “Lyminge a History”, which
has now reached its twelfth part. He contributed
many articles on various subjects, including Lyminge
tithes and charities. He was equally at home talking
about his research and was well known in the village
for his convivial, entertaining and generous nature.
He was also recognised nationally for his contribution
to historical research as a skilled transcriber and
translator of early texts. He was elected a Fellow
of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA) in 2002 and
a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists (FSG) in
2007. He taught extensively in Adult Education and
the School of History at the University of Kent. He
was an independent researcher in medieval records
at the National Archives and the British Library.
He will be considerably missed, and our thoughts are
with Rhona and his two children, Rachael and James.
By Gerald Cramp
OBITUARY: DR MALCOLM
LYNE FSA (1943–2023)
Malcolm Lyne was an archaeologist, historian and London. This led to a lifelong passion for coins relating
numismatist cut from a different mould. His wide to, and struck in, Roman Britain. Malcolm put together
range of knowledge and expertise meant that many a very impressive collection, including numerous
people knew him from a wide range of disciplines in important coins of the British emperors Carausius and
Britain and abroad; therefore, it is virtually impossible Allectus (AD 286-96). He was an acknowledged expert
for one person to encapsulate all his activities! in the field and published numerous articles about their
coinages in the Numismatic Chronicle and Numismatic
Although he always had a deep interest in the past, Circular. Because he had so many rare pieces, his
it was not until 1989-1993 that he focused on his collection figures prominently in the forthcoming
archaeological work, studying for a PhD on Late Roman edition of Roman Imperial Coinage; furthermore, his
Handmade Wares in South-East Britain under Michael knowledge and insights have a major influence on the
Fulford at Reading University. Thereafter, he worked interpretation covered in the introduction to the work.
as a freelance archaeologist, working on pottery, small
finds and coins from sites across the south of England. Malcolm was a frequent speaker and attendee at
many events. He was regularly seen at the lectures
In the 1970s, Malcolm made important steps in of the Royal and British Numismatic Societies, the
understanding Alice Holt pottery, receiving the Society of Antiquaries and at many conferences,
‘Chronicle Award’ for 1978 from the Prince of Wales. notably the Congress of Roman Frontier / Limes
His first work on the subject was published by the Studies. He was always full of original thoughts
CBA in 1979, The Alice Holt / Farnham Roman Pottery derived directly from his experiences, often pricking
Industry, but after subsequent research, a more the bubble of more theoretical pronouncements.
comprehensive publication appeared as Archaeological However, he was also kind and open to the thoughts
Research in Binsted, Kingsley and Alice Holt Forest, of others. His generosity was unbounded, whether
Hampshire (BAR 2012). He went on to be an expert on giving advice on ceramics or allowing numismatists
pottery in the south-east, publishing assemblages from access to his coin collection. Malcolm’s passing
Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Sussex, Surrey, leaves a massive hole for Roman archaeology
Middlesex and Hertfordshire. In Kent, he wrote up the in the Southeast, a chasm we must try to fill.
ceramics from the Roman temple at Westhawk Farm,
the villa at Minster in Thanet, and the watermills and By Sam Moorhead
settlement at Ickham; he also assisted enormously with
the ceramics from Lympne. In recent years, he wrote
two seminal works on pottery, Late Roman handmade
grog-tempered ware producing industries in South
East Britain (Archeopress 2015) and Late Roman
Dorset Black-Burnished Ware (BB1) (Archaeopress
2022). The latter work strayed into Northern Gaul,
where he was able to suggest connections between
BB1 and the activities of his beloved Roman emperors
Carausius and Allectus (see below). His prodigious
knowledge of south-eastern ceramics was legendary
and I used to marvel at how he ‘read’ an assemblage
of pottery as if it were a newspaper. Creating a KAS
Fabric Collection named after Malcolm would be a
fitting tribute, especially if it came with some funding to
train a much-needed new generation of ceramicists.

Malcolm was also deeply interested in the Saxon

Shore Forts and coastal installations on the
Continent. He was an authority on Pevensey
Castle and published numerous articles on finds
from Richborough. He was an essential source of
information for anyone researching the defence of
late Roman Britain and its relationship with Gaul.

Malcolm acquired his first Roman coins in an antique

shop in Littlehampton in 1965. Amongst them was a
coin of Maximinus II (AD 308-13) struck in the mint at

Winter 2023 | 07
OBITUARY: DAVE EARNSHAW
(1944–2023)
Dave Earnshaw played a vital role as one of
the founding members of Studying History and
Archaeology in Lympne (SHAL). He shared a
passion for history and archaeology with his wife,
Lynn, which led them to travel extensively across
the country to visit famous sites. Dave was a
knowledgeable and well-read individual with an
impressive memory, making him an invaluable
participant in discussions. However, it was Dave’s
practical skills that earned him recognition in SHAL.
As a trained welder, he contributed significantly
to the organisation’s practical archaeology
projects by producing items. Dave was always
present to help with resistivity, magnetometry,
and excavations with enthusiasm, energy, and a
good sense of humour, regardless of the weather
conditions. In 2022, he led the excavation of a
Roman cremation burial, mentoring two young
archaeologists on excavation techniques, an
accomplishment I know he was incredibly proud of.

I met Dave for the first time in 2017, and we hit

it off immediately. Our friendship and working
relationship were built on our shared interest in
all things Roman and our ability to make each
other laugh. It’s interesting to note that we
made a promise to each other that before our
archaeological careers were over, we would find
actual evidence of Caesar’s landing places in 54
and 55 BC. My final conversation with Dave was
shortly after August’s recent Carausian discoveries
at Lympne. Although Dave couldn’t visit the site
in person due to his ill health, we spent much
time discussing the findings via WhatsApp. He
was thrilled to hear about it. I sent him a copy of
Simon Elliott’s book, Roman Britain’s Pirate King,
which Simon graciously signed with a personal
message. Dave really appreciated this gesture.

Dave will be remembered for his knowledge, skills,

and happy, caring nature and is sadly missed

By SHAL & Richard Taylor.

8 | Kent Archaeological Society

NOTICES
Centre for Kent History and Heritage
Canterbury Christ Church University
Masters’ Degree by research
Part time or full time; financial help available.

Interested in how historical landscapes develop over

time? Interested in the early medieval history of East
Kent? Wondered how the the different estates came
into being during the time of the Kingdom of Kent and
beyond and how they developed on either side of the
Norman conquest? We have a funded project called

THE EVOLUTION OF A DOWNLAND LANDSCAPE;

NONINGTON 700–1400

– you may be interested? There is a good corpus of

charter and other documentary materials as well as
ongoing archaeological and topographical work.

To find out more, please contact Dr Sheila

Sweetinburgh at:
sheila.sweetinburgh@canterbury.ac.uk

Medieval Canterbury Weekend 2024

Friday 26 April – Sunday 28 April
Augustine House, CCCU, Canterbury
The Medieval Canterbury Weekend, organised by
the Centre for Kent History & Heritage at Canterbury
Christ Church University, returns for 2024 with a
programme of 19 talks and its hallmark guided visits.
Among the speakers coming to Canterbury are Dr
Marc Morris, Dr Janina Ramirez, Professor Chris
Woolgar, Professor Louise Wilkinson and Professor
Mark Bailey. Audiences will be able to hear from
experts about a wide range of topics including what
we know about the rebels who followed Jack Cade,
what it was like to live in a medieval urban house, why
foliate heads (‘Green Man’ images) proliferate c. 1400
and what was the relationship between the Italian
Renaissance and England.
The CCCU Bookshop will have its regular bookstall,
and there will be facilities for authors to sign newly
purchased books.
Details on the CCCU Centre for Kent History and
Heritage web pages at www.canterbury.ac.uk/
medieval-canterbury including full details of the
programme and booking details. For assistance
please email: artsandculture@canterbury.ac.uk
or phone during office hours Monday to Thursday
01227 923690.

As before, the organisers’ intention is to raise money

for the Ian Coulson Memorial Postgraduate Award
fund that continues to support postgraduates studying
Kent history and archaeology projects. Tickets can
be purchased for individual talks and at a discount
for bulk purchases. There will be a special student
discount for some events.

Winter 2023 | 09
CANTERBURY
CATHEDRAL’S
GREAT DRAIN
By Rod LeGear
In 1868, the Reverend E. V. Robert
Willis, M.A. wrote a detailed paper
on Canterbury Cathedral and the
associated monastic buildings for
the Kent Archaeological Society1.
In the paper, he describes the
monastic water supply and what has
become known as ‘The Great Drain’,
a surviving part of the Norman and
Mediaeval drainage system.
In the 12th century, the energetic
and enterprising Prior Wibert
(1151-67), once described2 as
“farseeing, scientific, resourceful,
and a man of boundless energy”,
had a water supply piped into the
precincts from springs north of
the city. Wastewater was collected
from the monastic buildings via an
underground drain that discharged
into the town ditch. Two pipes on
the north side of the Cathedral
conducted roof run-off water, which
was also used to flush through the
Necessarium before emptying into
the drain.
A beautiful mediaeval illustration
drawn around 1150 shows the
layout of the water pipes and
drainage system at that time and
is represented in Willis’ paper (pp
196-197).
Between 1390 and 1411, Prior
Chillenden made extensive repairs
to the system, and later, Prior
Goldstone (1495–1517) extended the
drain around the east and south of
the Cathedral to deal with flooding
of the crypt. Of this new section
constructed of Tudor brickwork,
Willis writes:
Prior Goldstone constructed a
subterranean aqueduct outside the
10 | Kent Archaeological Society
church on the south side, and close
to it, with bricks and cement vaulted
and firmly constructed, to carry off
the inundations of rainwater which,
for want of proper channels, were
want to inundate the whole crypt of
the Virgin and the adjacent chapels,
and greatly hinder the access of the
pilgrims to the glorious Virgin.
During its history, the drain has
seen much maintenance over
the years, reflected in the variety
of repair materials that can be
viewed underground, including
brickwork, Ragstone and possibly
Reigate stone, and in some parts,
flint has also been employed. The
walls in some sections north of
the Cathedral contain blocks of a
cream-coloured stone, possibly
Caen or similar. In this part of the
drain are small sections of older
tunnels with vaulting constructed
of squared chalk blocks. They may
represent the surviving remains of
Wibert’s original drain.
Goldstone’s section around the
east and southeast of the Cathedral
has had some of the vaulted brick
roof removed at some point and
replaced with what appears to
be relatively modern paving slabs
resting on iron supports (Fig 3).
Modern access into the drain is
possible via several manholes
placed along its route. Originally, the
drain passed under the town wall to
the north of the monastic site, and
the water and effluent was emptied
into the town ditch. This section
under the wall has been replaced
with a modern pipe, which takes
the water to be released into a local
authority drain, which eventually
discharges into the River Stour.
Several other access points to the
drain once existed throughout the
system and can be identified from
below ground but have, in the past,
been sealed and covered over on
the surface (Fig 4).
Typically, the drain consists of
a barrel-vaulted tunnel with an
average width of 0.85m and a
height which varies between
0.33m and 1.5m. Repairs and
slight alterations can be seen
throughout the system relating to
maintenance and rebuilding over
several centuries. The floor varies
from modern concrete, stone
slabs, or brick. Smaller, inactive
drain tunnels and ancient and
more modern pipes can be seen
at various points, showing where
the wastewater from the monastic
buildings, including the infirmary,
the Prior’s lodgings, etc., entered
the main channel. In some areas,
side tunnels have been blocked off
with modern brickwork so that only
the outline of the original opening
remains. One section of the drain is
now inaccessible as it was damaged
by enemy action in 1942 during
the Second World War and was
replaced by a pipe.
Several lead pipes can be seen in
the tunnels crossing the drain or
along the wall. The larger, 3-inch
(75mm) diameter ones are of
considerable age and may be part
of Prior Wibert’s original 12th-
century water supply (Fig 5).
The Kent Underground Research
Group (KURG)3, whose members
have considerable experience
working in cramped, restricted
Above
Fig 1: Route of the Great Drain

Winter 2023 | 11
Top
Fig 2: Medieval illustration of water supply
and drain layout after Wibert’s innovations
Above, left
Fig 3: Chalk block roof – possibly a
surviving section of Wibert’s original drain
– courtesy of Robert Hall KURG
Above, right
Fig 4: Construction and repair
materials – the modern pipe replaces
damage by enemy action in 1940 –
courtesy of Robert Hall KURG

12 | Kent Archaeological Society

spaces, have been privileged to
assist with inspection visits into
the monastic drain on several
occasions. Any visit into the
drain must be well planned with
extensive risk assessments,
method statements and emergency
evacuation procedures drawn up
and adhered to. Lees Court Estate
joined KURG in some inspections
and kindly brought additional
equipment (Fig 6).
Entering the drain is not for the
faint-hearted or those who have
claustrophobia, as most of the time
it is hands and knees crawling. On
the south side of the Cathedral,
the width is 0.76m with a height of
merely 0.69m. Even in the higher
parts, an average person cannot
stand upright as the height is only
1.20m. Adequate PPE is necessary
for, as well as the usual hazards
to be found underground, in an
ancient drainage system, there are
biological risks to contend with,
such as Weil’s disease from infected
rat urine. Although no rodents
were encountered in the drain rat
droppings, they were observed in
several locations, indicating their
presence.
Air quality safety tests were
conducted before entering
the tunnels, and oxygen levels
constantly monitored. The air quality
was excellent in most of the system.
Strong draughts of air were noted
coming from ceramic pipes let into
the tops of the walls in the tunnels Above, left
near the cathedral. It is presumed Fig 5: Ancient pipework and possibly
that these modern pipes now part of Wibert’s medieval water supply –
convey the run-off water from the courtesy of Hugh Farrer KURG
Above, right
roof. Several older openings for the
Fig 6: Typical drain profile –
same purpose could be seen, most courtesy of Hugh Farrer KURG
blocked by soil debris after a metre
or so, the more modern system
having made them redundant and
un-maintained.
In May 2016, KURG helped facilitate
a trip into the drain to examine the
structure by the Cathedral Director
of Works and other interested
parties, including KURG member
and KAS Patron Countess Sondes.
The following year, the Group were
asked to help examine two sections
of the drain to assess silt build-up
in the drain passages. It was found
that some of the silt buildup was
caused by areas of root intrusion,
which was slowing down the
scouring effect of the water flow.
In July 2017, KURG volunteers
returned and carefully cut back and
removed the offending root material,
taking extreme care not to damage
any brick or stonework.
The Great Drain is a fascinating
hidden part of the history of the
Cathedral site and, considering its
age, is in excellent condition. Priors
Wibert, Chillenden and Goldstone
would be pleased to know that their
construction is still used centuries
later.
Winter 2023 | 13
REFERENCES

1
 everend E. V. Robert Willis
R
‘The Architectural History of
the Conventual Buildings of the
Monastery of Christ Church
Canterbury’ Arch. Cant. Vol. VII
(1868) pp1-206

2
 argaret Babington Canterbury
M
Cathedral J M Dent London 1933

3
 he Kent Underground
T
Research Group members are
an eclectic mix of archaeologists,
speleologists and those interested
in the subterranean heritage
of the county.
www.kurg.org.uk

Top, left
Fig 7: KAS Patron Lady Sondes entering
the drain – courtesy of Elizabeth Roberts
LCE
Top, right
Fig 8: Part of Goldstone’s extension on the
south side of the Cathedral
Middle
Fig 9: Safety briefing prior to descent –
courtesy of Elizabeth Roberts LCE
Bottom
Fig 10: Checking oxygen levels before
entering – courtesy of Mark Sharratt KURG

14 | Kent Archaeological Society

MARSH FEVER
– THE AGUE
By Gillian Metcalfe

Romney Marsh was once an

extremely unhealthy place until
the late 19th century. Diseases,
especially Marsh Fever (The Ague),
claimed hundreds of lives. It is now
known that this disease was Malaria
caused by the mosquito species
‘Anopheline’ thriving in the marsh’s
foul-smelling stagnant water.
Research shows that malaria was
common in the low-lying marshy
areas of Southeast England. Many
remedies were tried, including
herbs, leeches, mud baths, alcohol,
drugs, narcotics, and witchcraft,
but none were successful. People
even chanted spells and prayed to
God for help but to no avail. The
marsh’s reputation for disease
was so bad that even Queen
Elizabeth I, in the mid-16th century,
refused to cross it on her way
to Dover. She complained of the
noxious smells and dangerous
roads through the swamps.

The number of deaths exceeded the supported 160,000 sheep,

number of births by a ratio of two to
one. Individuals who were vulnerable
to disease, such as infants, young
children, smugglers, immigrants,
as well as those who were frail or
already suffering from an illness,
were particularly affected. People
who moved to the marsh from areas
with cleaner air had no immunity,
while those who had always lived
on the marsh had a better chance
of survival. Foreigners seeking
employment, along with their wives
and children, who were accustomed
to living in upland areas, arrived on
the marsh with little resistance to
the diseases present. Although it’s
unclear how the marshes became
infected, it’s possible that the
malaria parasite was transmitted
to local mosquitoes by Dutch
migrants and wool weavers.
Drainage improved in the 18th
century, and by then, the rich
grazing lands of the marsh
producing three thousand packs
of wool each year, more sheep per
acre than any other part of England.
William Cobbet wrote, in 1823,
that the sheep were ‘as white as
a sheet of writing paper,’ and that
‘The wool does not look dirty and
oily like that of other sheep... this
marsh abounds in every part of
it, and the sight is most beautiful.’
Beautiful, it may have been, but
Marsh Fever was still prevalent.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the
population was affected by disease,
causing a significant decrease in
numbers. However, in the 17th and
18th centuries, the population began
to rise again due in part to improved
drainage systems and the discovery
of a new treatment for malaria.
Robert Talbor, a young apprentice
to an Essex apothecary, began
to treat smugglers successfully
with a secret formula. This was
possible because of the discovery

Winter 2023 | 15
of quinquina from the bark of the
Peruvian Cinchona tree. Talbor’s
expertise quickly spread, and he
was introduced to King Charles II
by one of his patients. The King’s
physicians had refused to treat
him with quinine, likely due to
their jealousy of Talbor and their
uncertainty about the administration
of the secret formula. As a result,
King Charles II turned to Talbor for
treatment and appointed him his
physician. The young apprentice
went on to achieve great success
and wealth and was later knighted.
Initially, the tincture was an
expensive remedy unaffordable for
peasants and labourers. However,
with time, the price of the treatment
dropped, making it more accessible
to the masses. This had a life-
altering effect on many individuals
suffering from the disease, as it
didn’t provide a complete cure
but significantly reduced the
symptoms, thereby saving lives.
A 17th-century parson, James
Woodforde, residing in Suffolk,
noted in his diary that his niece was
taking a medicine called ‘The Bark’
to treat an attack of ‘The Ague.’ This
disease was prevalent in low-lying
areas of Kent and was widespread
in Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk
until Talbor’s discovery of quinine
became the accepted treatment.
By the late 18th century, malaria
cases in England began to
decrease, and by the early 19th
Century were becoming a rarity. In
the 20th century, following the First
World War, some troops returned
infected, and those coming home
from the colonies frequently battled
the disease. Malaria was once a
widespread concern in England,
but in recent times, the incidence
of the disease has significantly
decreased. Despite this, the threat
of malaria-carrying mosquitoes still
exists as they can quickly relocate,
piggy-backing human transportation
methods. These insects are known
for their remarkable ability to survive
in harsh environments, thanks to the
drought-resistant properties of their
eggs that can endure in dry nooks
and crannies, such as old car tyres.
Female mosquitoes, whilst
appearing delicate and frail, have
a powerful tube-like proboscis.
With this, they pierce the skins
of humans and animals to suck
blood and protein, both necessary
to produce their eggs.
With so many people holidaying
abroad, more infections can be
expected, and given a warm,
wet summer here, we may see
a resurgence of the disease. A
particular threat to look out for is
the Asian Tiger Mosquito, which
has a distinctive white stripe down
its back and a black-and-white
striped torso and legs. Although
preferring a tropical climate, this
species has arrived in Belgium and
the Netherlands. It may well find
our increasingly warm, green and
pleasant land, and Romney Marsh in
particular, an attractive place to set
up home and inflict its nasty blood-
feasting habits on us once more.
NOTES
The author would like to thank
Dr Mary Dobson of Oxford
University for the information in
this article (See ‘Romney Marsh,
Environmental Change and Human
Occupation in a Coastal Lowland’
(1998) Ed. Jill Eddison et al.)
This article was previously published
in 2019 in Cinque Ports magazine.
The author owns the copyright.

16 | Kent Archaeological Society

CURATOR’S CORNER
EARLY MEDIEVAL INLAID WEAPONRY
By Andy Ward

The Anglo-Saxon or Early Medieval

period (410 – 1066 AD) was one
bound up in the ideas of the
warrior elite. Anglo-Saxon warriors
would carry specific weapons
depending on their social status.

The spear was the most carried

weapon, with different types depending
on whether they were being thrown or
stabbed at the enemy. Some had a long
shaft and a wide, leaf-shaped blade,
while others were a type of javelin
used for both piercing and throwing.
The Angon, a barbed spear used to
disable the opponent’s shield and
found almost exclusively in South-East
Britain, is an example of this lighter
type. Swanton classified twenty-one
different forms of spear in England.

Alongside the spear, the Anglo-

Saxon warrior would carry a shield
for defence. The shield would have
a central grip consisting of a round
wooden board covered with leather
or heavy cloth and an iron boss in
the centre. It is the iron boss that
survived in the archaeological record.

Warriors would carry backup weapons

more suited to close-quarters combat.
The average warrior would likely
have carried a Seax, a single-edged
knife measuring 6 – 10” in Britain
(the continental examples measure
8 – 14”). Some warriors may have
carried axes, although it is nearly
impossible to tell whether an axe was
used for warfare or wood. They may
have been used for both. The only
type of axe used in warfare is the
Francisca (see the Finds Friday post of
02/10/2023 on Facebook), a throwing
axe used heavily by the Franks.

The Anglo-Saxon warriors may have Top

used bows, although we have little Fig 1: Oz01 Shield Boss
surviving evidence of them; arrowheads Bottom
Fig 2: Sarre Seax with wooden sheath
are found in graves, but, like the axe,
may have been used for non-warfare
purposes such as hunting or both.

Winter 2023 | 17
It is the sword which carries the
most importance. Swords were
expensive to make and, therefore,
would be prized by those who
carried them, often passed down
through generations. Pattern
welding was a technique well known
by the Anglo-Saxon sword smiths.
The process involves twisting rods
of iron and steel together before
welding them into a single piece
of metal, which is then hammered
to form the core of the sword. The
cutting edges, made of hard steel,
were welded to this core. The
pattern would be revealed through
etching using mildly acidic agents.
Pattern welding continued to be
used up until the 10th century.

While pattern welding on

swords (and occasionally on
Seaxes) is common, a less
researched phenomenon is
that of the inlaid symbol or
inscription. These are found on
spears, seaxes, and swords,
but their exact use is unclear.

The most famous inscriptions

on sword blades are those of
ULFBERHT and INGELRII, often
associated with the Latin ME
FECIT, showing that these are
makers’ names. However, more
than 100 ULFBERHT swords
are spread throughout Northern
Europe, dating from the 9th to 10th
centuries AD. If the name does
mark out an individual, he would
be working for around 300 years.
This suggests that the name may
relate to a school of smiths and
probably include some forgeries.
Typically, these swords would
also feature a geometric pattern
on the reverse, including circles,
lines and curved symbols.
The inlays would be hot forged
into the blade’s surface, formed of
twisted iron wire like the rods which
made up the pattern welded blade.
By the 11th century, swords began
to carry Christian inscriptions on
their blades, such as IN NOMINE
DOMINI (in the name of the Lord).
Other non-ferrous (non-iron)
inlays are also known from finds
across Europe, nearly all being
unique. Non-ferrous inlays would
be sunk into channels carved out
by chisels to hold the wire in place.
Inlays made from materials other
than iron could be placed into
finished weapons, whereas Iron Top
inlays must be put into the blade Fig 3: Northfleet Francisca
before it is shaped and polished. Middle
Fig 4: ULFBERT Sword History
Compass Vol 17, Issue 4
Inlaid symbols have been found
Bottom
on several weapons within Kent, Fig 5: Sarre Inlaid Sword
most recently on one of the
spearheads from the Ozengell
Anglo-Saxon collection purchased
by the society. This spearhead
featured a small bow and arrow
shape inlaid in gold wire. A similar
spearhead from Buckland Anglo-
Saxon cemetery in Dover also
featured a bow and arrow inlay,
with a ‘shield wall’ ideogram on the
other side of the blade. A silver
inlay is found on a spearhead
from Bifrons cemetery, now on
display at Maidstone Museum.
Interestingly, these spearheads

18 | Kent Archaeological Society

all have simple circular designs
or bow and arrows, whereas a
sword from Sarre cemetery carried
a gold inlaid sword. Possibly,
these symbols added magical
strength to these weapons or
were makers’ marks of some form.
Given how unique each symbol is,
this seems increasingly unlikely.

This phenomenon seems to be

one rarely studied in Britain. If
you know of any further examples
of inlaid weapons from Kent,
please pass on the details to
curator@kentarchaeology.org.

REFERENCES

9. Mikko Moilanen (2015) ‘Marks Above

1. Alan Williams (2009) ‘A
Metallurgical Study of Some
Viking Swords’ in Gladius, XXIX,
pp 121-184, ISSN: 0436-029X
2. Lee A. Jones (1997), ‘The
Serpent in The Sword: Pattern-
Welding in Early Medieval
Swords’ in The Fourteenth Park
Lane Arms Fair Catalogue.
3. Moilanen, Ulla & Mikko
(2020), ‘An Early Medieval
Sword With Unique Inlays
From Finland’ Fennoscandia
Archaeologica XXXVII.
Fig 6: Inlays from Dover, Buckland
of Fire, Value and Faith:
Below
Sowrds with Ferrous Inlays in Fig 7: Grave 112 Spearhead
Finland during the Late Iron
Age (ca. 700–1200 AD).
10. Petri, I. VLFBERHT swords:
Origin, material, and
manufacture. History Compass.
2019; 17:e12529.
https://doi.org/10.1111/
hic3.12529

4. Ian Riddler, ‘Part 4: The Grave

Goods – Buckland Anglo-
Saxon Cemetery, Dover’.

5. M. J Swanton ‘The Spearheads

of the Anglo-Saxon Settlement.’

6. Ben Levick, ‘Anglo Saxon

Weapons and Armour’
Angelcynn – Anglo Saxon
Weapons & Armour
(angelcynnreenactmentsociety.
org.uk)

7. Paul Hill, ‘5 Key Weapons of

the Anglo-Saxon Period.’ 5
Key Weapons of the Anglo-
Saxon Period | History Hit

8. Janowski, A, Kurasinski, T and

Pudlo, P (2012) ‘A sing, A Symbol
or A Letter? Some remarks on
Omega Marks Inlaid On Early
Medieval Sword Blades’ Acta
Universitatis Lodziensis, Folia
Archaeological 29/2012.

Winter 2023 | 19
INTRODUCING
THE KAS ARCHIVIST, CRAIG CAMPBELL

My name is Craig
Campbell, and I am
incredibly pleased to
be joining the Kent
Archaeological Society
in the role of Society
Archivist and Librarian.
I have been a member of the Society
since my family and I moved to Kent
5 years ago. I have had the immense
pleasure of being involved in several
Society-led excavations and events.
The professionalism, ambition and
friendly, welcoming attitude of the
Society immediately struck a chord,
and I am honoured to become
a part of this amazing family.

I discovered a passion for History

and Archaeology reasonably late
in my career journey, having spent
several years studying art and music
technology, often convinced that
rock star status was just around
the corner. I had an incredible
experience, touring the country
multiple times, playing to audiences
large (once, even to a packed tent
at Glastonbury Festival) and small
(a gig where the only audience
members were the bar staff and a
gentleman with his dog who had
popped in to use the free Wi-Fi),
it soon became apparent that
the world was not quite ready
for my musical misadventures.
It was a love of the fascinating
stories woven into historical events
that enticed me to change direction.
I completed a joint honours degree
in History and Creative Writing
at the University of Derby before
moving to London and beginning
a life-changing employment at the
British Library. First, I worked as
a librarian, dwelling deep within
the labyrinth basements of that
iconic building, wandering the
subterranean vaults built to secure
the world’s knowledge. After a
short while, I was elevated to the
role of preservation assistant in the
National Sound Archive. I helped
solve the logistical challenges of
digitising a vast audio collection of
obsolete and unusual media. I was
again promoted to archivist for this
collection, where I gained expert
knowledge in archival practice.
During this time, I also volunteered
for The Golden Hinde Trust, a
living history museum telling the
story of Sir Francis Drake on a
replica of his famous vessel, The
Golden Hinde. I worked between
the office in London, creating and
maintaining their unique archive,
and Marin County, California, where
I helped to organise and arrange
The Drake Navigators Guild Archive,
assisting the National Park Service.
These collections hold a wealth of
research and data relating to the life
and voyages of Francis Drake and
Tudor England, and it was a great
privilege to steer them towards safe
preservation and public access.

20 | Kent Archaeological Society

I later studied for a Masters Degree
in Archaeological Practice at
Birkbeck University of London.
Completing this with Distinction, I
made the leap into Archaeological
employment. I have several years
of experience in developer-
funded archaeology, working with
professional units nationwide,
such as the University of Leicester
Archaeological Services, the
Museum of London Archaeology,
the Northern Archaeological
Association and the Canterbury
Archaeological Trust. This furnished
me with first-hand experience of
the archaeological processes from
conception to completion and
allowed me the rare opportunity
to handle artefacts from the full
extent of British History and
Prehistory. Notable sites included a
large extent of Roman Leicester, A
spectacularly well-preserved Saxon
cemetery in Hartlepool and some
incredible prehistoric landscapes
in both Lincolnshire and Kent.

I returned to the British Library in

2018 when I was offered a unique
opportunity as a Leading Library
Assistant for a project to digitise
the Kings and Royal Manuscript
collections. I spent an immense
year in this, working with some of
the most important documents in
the world and assisting the sublime
preservation and conservation
teams at the Library. I was promoted
to a Curatorial Assistant role in
the British Library’s India Office.
During that time, I was involved
in caring for and cataloguing
collections, answering all manner
of customer and public enquiries,
solving logistical challenges and
publishing blogs on genuine ancient
lost treasures, gruesome murder
mysteries, and other historical
intrigues. I even rediscovered a
long-forgotten Burmese Prince!
In 2020, I was awarded a CHASE
scholarship to pursue my research
fixation, studying London’s Late Iron
Age landscapes. My Thesis will be
the first to comprehensively map
the development of pre-Roman
London by exploring the evidence
of Late Iron Age settlements and
river activity from this region of the
Thames. I am currently writing this
up and will submit it very soon.
Between all of this, I have busied
myself with family life and
adventures, creating a website
and blog devoted to our exploits. I
have been involved in many music
projects (still waiting for the day
that rock star status is granted), I
have written a novel and several
short stories, I am an avid jogger,
hill walker and a keen football
enthusiast, supporting teams who
seem to love to disappoint me,
and frequently competing in the
Winckelmann Cup (Archaeology’s
answer to the Champions League).
Mostly, I like to think of myself as
a happy, sociable, and friendly
face, so please feel free to say
hello anytime. If I can help in
any way, I will endeavour to do
so. I look forward to meeting
everyone soon, exploring the
Society Archives and Library, and
promoting its fantastic content.

Winter 2023 | 21
MAGNETOMETER AND
RESISTIVITY SURVEYS
OF BILSINGTON PRIORY, KENT, 2022
By Alexander Hibberts
Bilsington Priory was a relatively
small community of Augustinian
canons located on the clay hills that
cluster at the edges of Romney
Marsh, a 200 km2 wetland in
south-west Kent. It was founded
in 1253 by John Mansel, Lord
Chancellor and a royal favourite
of Henry III. The house was never
especially wealthy. The 1291-2
Taxatio valued its temporalities at
£33 16s. 5d. per annum.1 By 1535,
the Valor Ecclesiasticus recorded
a gross value of £81 1s. 6d. after
deducting debts. 2 Therefore, the
house would have been dissolved
under the Lesser Monasteries Act
(1536), but the prior expected this
and surrendered on 28th February
1536.3 Following dissolution, the
estate passed through the hands of
various secular owners, including
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and
Anthony St Leger, Lord Deputy of
Ireland. In 1906, the priory remains –
since incorporated into a farmhouse
and associated agricultural
buildings – were repaired and
restored as part of a minor country
house. This report will detail the
results of a geophysical survey
carried out at Bilsington Priory
between January and June 2022.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
There are many archaeological
layers at Bilsington Priory (Fig 1).4
The modern house constructed in
1906, called The Priory, is situated
on the presumed site of Upper
Bilsington manor. It is near-encircled
by a much-modified moat whose
morphology is comparable to
the remains of Lower Bilsington
manor located in the modern
village of Bilsington, 0.8 miles to
the south-west. To the north-east
of The Priory stands an L-shaped
22 | Kent Archaeological Society
block of Kentish ragstone, the
only above ground remains of the
Augustinian priory. This building has
a hall with mid-thirteenth-century
windows over an undercroft.5 A
contemporary spiral vice-star
survives to the rear allowing access
to two floors and the roof space
of an adjoining wing.6 The whole
building was much modified by
John Thomas Micklethwaite who
restored the structure in 1906.
Precise original use is unknown,
although there is no shortage of
suggestions ranging from infirmary
to prior’s hall.7 The latter seems
most likely. To the north of these
remains, an area of level agricultural
land is the presumed site of the
priory church and other ancillary
buildings. It is recorded that C.R.
Councer undertook evacuations in
this area, known as the North Field,
on behalf of Kent Archaeological
Society (KAS) in 1952.8 Councer is
said to have uncovered traces of
the church and cloister. However,
no evidence of this excavation
has been found either in the KAS
archives, Kent Historic Environment
Record, or in the records of Historic
England.9 Other significance
features include two fishponds
connected by a central drainage
channel.10 Although likewise much
modified, they are most probably
medieval in origin. Pencilled graffiti
in the roof rafters is also worthy
of interest. It can be attributed to
the 14th Durham Light Infantry,
which was stationed at Bilsington
in December 1940.11 The much-
disturbed nature of the ground
around the upstanding remains may
be attributed to the presence of the
military. However, it is also possible
that the North Field was a source of
stone for an early twentieth-century
rock garden in the front of The
Priory. Pieces of medieval masonry
have been found in this area.12
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
A resistivity and magnetometer
survey were conducted over fifteen
days between January and June
2022. The survey area was split
into five fields (field 1 was divided
further into 1a and 1b). Resistivity
survey areas are shown in blue,
magnetometer areas in red (Fig
2). The original plan had been for
both methods to be used within
the scheduled area. Modern
contamination, including street
lights, underground cables, and
fencing, meant the magnetometer
survey was only possible in the
North Field. Further magnetometer
surveys were conducted on
surrounding fields (2-5). The
survey was carried out using
Geoscan RM15 Advanced resistivity
equipment and a Bartington Dual
Sensor Grad 601-2 magnetometer.
Results were processed in Geoplot
version 4.01. Survey grids were
set out using Ordnance Survey
coordinates. Further details can
be found in a report submitted to
Historic England.13 The summaries
below are based on the findings of
this report written in collaboration
with Kevin and Lynn Cornwell,
field officers from Hastings Area
Archaeological Research Group.
SUMMARY: RESISTIVITY SURVEY
The resistivity survey was
conducted in fields 1a and 1b. This
includes the area immediately
adjacent to the upstanding remains.
Following records of Councer’s 1952
excavation, it would be expected to
yield the most interesting remains.
However, only one undebatable
foundation could be identified: a
building shown on the Ordnance
Survey Map (1877) unexpectedly
extended further northwards (Fig 3).
This may represent the remains of a
larger feature, possibly a conventual
building adapted to post-dissolution
agricultural use. Only excavation
can confirm this. Towards the north
of field 1a, a labourer’s cottage
was extant until at least the late
nineteenth-century. Footings may
survive as rectangular foundations
at the eastern edge of the fishponds
bounding the northern edge of field
1a (Fig 4). Former priory owner Mr
Pratt-Boorman believed this building
to incorporate the remains of a
medieval gatehouse.14 If this is true,
it is probable, given its proximity,
that the medieval fishpond may have
served as a moat. High resistance
readings in places around the
edges of the same pond imply a
build-up of buried material within its
banks. It has been suggested this
results from the post-dissolution
demolition and clearance of
monastic buildings on the site.
Top
Fig 1: Plan of Bilsington Priory showing
SUMMARY: MAGNETOMETER SURVEY position of ponds, moat, modern house,
priory remains, and the North Field
The magnetometer survey was (Digimap, 2023)
conducted in fields 1a and 2-5. Bottom
In field 1a, features not seen Fig 2: Plan of geophysical survey showing
the areas covered by a resistivity survey in
in the resistivity survey were
blue (fields 1a and 1b) and those covered
uncovered, including scattered by a magnetometer survey (fields 1a, 2-5)
building debris most likely related
to a post-medieval dairy extending
northwards from the priory buildings
(Fig. 6). This was extant in 1904

Winter 2023 | 23
but removed by 1906. Fields 2
and 3 yielded nothing of especial
interest. Field 4 presented several
features: a small enclosure for
animals and possible ancient field
boundary (ditch and bank). Evidence
of medieval ‘ridge and furrow’
ploughing was also uncovered
(Fig. 7). Further ditch-like features
could be seen in field 5 (Fig. 8).
These included aspects suggestive
of ancient field boundaries and
drainage ditches. A circular ring-
ditch feature with a diameter of c.20
m has been posited as a prehistoric
enclosure or barrow. Another small
enclosure, approximately 40 m2,
has been presented as an enclosed
farmstead with hints of internal
structure from settlement and
livestock housing. Again, dating is
not possible without excavation.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The results of geophysical

surveys are subjective and open
to interpretation. In many cases,
confirmation of findings is only
possible with excavation. However,
this can be costly, time consuming,
and destructive. Non-invasive
surveys can offer a picture of
buried features to determine
archaeological potential and direct
future excavation. In summary,
both surveys have demonstrated
the location of buried remains Top
belonging to Bilsington Priory and Fig 3: Ordnance Survey (1877) map of Bilsington Priory. The
larger red square indicates the position of labourer’s cottages
its post-dissolution successors.
extant until at least 1900 while the small red square highlights
Sadly, there is not a clear footprint
the position of an agricultural building found to extent further
of the monastic precinct due to northwards than expected (National Library of Scotland, 2023)
demolition and site clearance. Other Bottom
features offer insight into long-term Fig 4: Resistivity survey of fields 1a and 1b shown in grey-scale.
agricultural use of the priory estate No. 1 indicates the footings of labourer’s cottages
including formerly unknown field said to incorporate remains of a medieval gatehouse.
No. 1 indicates the agricultural building found to
boundaries, enclosures, dwellings,
extent northwards into the North Field.
and evidence of ploughing. No
surface finds were uncovered.

This geophysics survey is part of a

larger PhD project, based at Durham
University, to integrate the surviving
archaeology and documentary
evidence for Bilsington Priory and
its post-dissolution successors.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is enormously grateful

for the financial support of Kent
Archaeological Society without
whom this survey would not be
possible. Thanks must also be given
to the land owner, Libby Lawson,

24 | Kent Archaeological Society

Right
Fig 5: 1904 photograph of dairy
attached to priory buildings in-situ
on left and after demolition during
1906 restorations on right (Private
Collection of Libby Lawson)

and Zena Hale, Kevin and Lynn

Cornwell, Eva and Steve Corbett, Roy
Dunmall, Mark Freeman, Mick Hide,
and Bob Washington. The surveys
were carried out by Hastings Area
Archaeological Research Group.

REFERENCES

Houses of Austin canons: The

priory of Bilsington’ in William Page
(ed.), A History of the County of
Kent: Volume 2 (London, 1926).

https://historicengland.org.uk/
listing/the-list/list-entry/1018877

FOOTNOTES

1
‘Houses of Austin canons: The priory
of Bilsington’ in William Page (ed.),
A History of the County of Kent:
Volume 2 (London, 1926), pp. 156-157.

2
Ibid., pp. 156-157.

3
Ibid., pp. 156-157.

4
For a precise definition of the
listed area, please see Historic
England (List Entry No. 1018877).

5
Pevsner

6
Ibid.

7
Historic England

8
Historic Gateway

9
Correspondence

10
Historic England

11
DLI Archives
Top
12
Personal comment by Libby Lawson. Fig 6: Magnetometer survey of field 4, including a small animal
enclosure (1), ancient field boundary (6), and suggestions of ‘ridge and
furrow’ plough marks (7)
13
Geophysics Report
Bottom
Fig 7: Magnetometer survey of field 5, including features suggestive
14
Heritage Gateway of ditches and drainage systems (3, 5, 6), a possible prehistoric
feature (8), and a small enclosure, perhaps a farmstead (9)

Winter 2023 | 25
TRUSTEE CHRIS BLAIR-MYERS RECEIVES
THE INAUGURAL BRITANNIA AWARD

Congratulations are in
order for Society Trustee
Chris Blair-Myers for
receiving the inaugural
Britannia Award in
recognition of extraordinary
voluntary service to Roman
archaeology in Britain.
Dr Lacey Wallace (University of Lincoln)
of the Society for the Promotion of
Roman Studies presented the inaugural
Britannia Award at the Reconnecting
Roman Britain conference held at the
University of Newcastle in November.

The award was made to recognise

the voluntary work undertaken for
the KAS, for fieldwork excavation
mapping and recording, but primarily
for the continuing identification of crop
marks in Kent’s aerial photography,
which has identified several previously
unrecorded Roman structures.

These finds and interpreted LIDAR

data, geophysical surveys, excavation
plans, and historical mapping have
been developed as a Geographical
Information System, now viewable on
the Society website map page. The
project started in 2013 and continues
with regular updates to the map,
which remains a work in progress.

26 | Kent Archaeological Society

A PREVIOUSLY
UNREPORTED
COLLECTION OF
PALAEOLITHIC LITHICS
FROM BARNFIELD PIT,
SWANSCOMBE, KENT
By Stan Matthews

Do we now have more
Clactonian further
along the Darent
Valley at Eynsford from
around 400,000 years
ago, and what about
elsewhere in Kent?
The Clactonian lithic industry has
been subject to extensive study
(see background reading for those
who wish to delve deeper). However,
this article aims to publicise this
collection, provide an introductory
overview of our Clactonian lithics,
and consider a more appropriate
field walking/search strategy
tailored to finding more such
archaic artefacts in Kent. A more
detailed analysis of the collection
will be published in due course.
INTRODUCTION
In 2017, Shorne Woods Archaeology
Group (SWAG) received an
extensive collection of mixed lithics
covering a long expanse of time
from the Lower Palaeolithic to the
Neolithic/Bronze Age, which the
late Peter Tester collected (died
1994; see Background below).
This is significant because:
• We now have 100+ artefacts
belonging to the Clactonian
lithic industry (see box 1) found
in situ within the lower gravels
of Barnfield Pit. This is below
the middle gravels, which
produced the “Swanscombe
skull” and this additional material
will aid in the further analysis
of this archaic industry.
• Of particular interest is that
we also have some remarkably
similar artefacts found high
up along the Darent Valley in
the clay-with-flint formation at
Eynsford. This raises the question
again – it has been raised before

Box 1 – The Clactonian Lithic Industry

Unsurprisingly, the type-site where this industry was first classified is Clacton-on-Sea,
Essex! It is believed that hunter-gatherers arrived after the severe Anglian Glaciation
when southeast England became more habitable around 400,000 years ago.

The Clactonian is a relatively simple essential lithic industry consisting of “flakes and
cores from which they were struck, some of the flakes bearing retouch and certain cores
suggesting their use as choppers. There are no true handaxes in the Clactonian industry”
(P.J.Tester, 1984). This is categorised as “Mode 1 Technology” (C, Butler, p60) and may be
compared with Mode 2 Technology (C, Butler, p62), which does include handaxes.

Some classic Clactonian characteristics are:

• Simple pebbles/nodules with 2, 3 or more flakes removed.

• Flakes with abrupt flaking at the proximal end to facilitate easy handling.
• Notched pieces on a flake. A large notch is a defining characteristic of Clactonian work.

Winter 2023 | 27
 (J. Wymer, L. Blundell, Francis
Wenban-Smith and others) -
are we failing to spot archaic
artefacts when they are mixed
with later lithic industries and
eoliths (eoliths were considered
to be worked tools in Victorian
times but were assessed as being
caused by natural processes)?
• Can we increase our
understanding of the
movement of early hunter-
gatherers across Kent?
BACKGROUND
The late Peter Tester is known
nationally and specifically to the
Kent Archaeological Society
(KAS) members as a former
Vice President. He was a prolific
contributor to Archaeologia
Cantiana (Arch. Cant.) (obituary
vol.112), and he actively participated
in many important and diverse
excavations around Kent. Many
of his lithic finds now reside in the
British and Dartford museums.
We now know that Peter Tester
retained boxes of lithics, most of
which were subsequently rescued
by Peter Draper (KAS Librarian at
Maidstone Museum) and stored in
his garage. Following Peter Draper’s
death, his wife Mary notified the
Archive Centre, and Andrew
Mayfield (Kent County Council’s
Community Archaeologist) stepped
Above, L–R
Figs 1 a, b, c: Three Clactonian artefacts from Barnfield Pit (L to R with weight):
A flake with notch (296g), A pebble core (219g) and a core with re-touch
along the straight edge (670g).(Photographs by Charlie Matthews).
28 | Kent Archaeological Society
in to ensure their safekeeping
and appropriate recording for
the archaeological record, thus
allowing it to be available for future
research and education. A further
box of mixed lithics was later
added to the collection donated
by a relative of Peter Tester.
It is readily apparent that Peter
Tester had a well-honed lithic
knowledge as he published an
account in Arch. Cant. (vol.100)
detailing a representative collection
of Clactonian artefacts retrieved
from Rickson’s Pit (Swanscombe/
Ebbsfleet Valley) in 1952. He
recognised these particular lithics
as identical to those found in the
lower gravels of Barnfield Pit, and
he also acknowledged the similarity
with those found at Clacton-on-Sea.
COLLECTION ARTEFACTS
Barnfield Pit, Swanscombe
This collection includes a range of
105 Clactonian artefacts found in
Barnfield Pit, Swanscombe (circa
1947-55) and these include cores,
chopper cores, pointed tools,
axe-edged tools and a mixture of
worked flakes (some examples in
Fig.1). Some of the flakes appear
to have more than one purpose.
Most were retrieved in situ from the
lower gravels, one specimen was
recovered from the lower loam level,
and fourteen were from Barnfield
Pit with no specified deposit level.
Two more items were retrieved from
the adjacent Craylands Lane Pit.
Darent Valley and
surrounding area
We also have a box of 85 mixed
lithic artefacts of varying age, found
in an area spanning Orpington
to Bexley/Crayford, Dartford
and along the Darent Valley to
Eynsford/ Lullingstone and over to
Ash near Wrotham (collected circa
1946-60’s). There is a mixture of
Mesolithic and Neolithic/Bronze
Age material, but the real surprise
is there appears to be a potential
14 items of a more archaic lithic
industry (some examples in Fig.2).
These were found between 1946-
48 in a discreet area on the surface
on the east side of the Darent
Valley alongside Bower Lane in
Eynsford. The geology is Clay-
with Flints, which is a mixed-up
deposit of clay, silt, sand and gravel,
which has arisen from the effects
of repeated cycles of freezing
and thawing of the underlying
chalk bedrock (containing the
flint) over a long period (British
Geographical Survey (BGS).
Therefore, it does not give any dates
for the artefacts (see Clactonian
in Kent para below). The BGS map
extract in Fig 3 clearly shows this
outcrop is a raised shoulder of
land descending North to South.
Top, L–R
Figs 2a-2c: Three cores (Clactonian?) from Eynsford (L to R with weight): 345g, 488g & 398g (Photographs by Charlie Matthews)
Bottom
Fig 3 Bower Lane, Eynsford (map BGS)
As can be seen, the typology of the
Eynsford artefacts is very similar
to the Barnfield Pit examples,
notwithstanding the differences
in staining and patination arising
from different ground conditions/
weathering at either site.
Regardless, can we deduce that
we have Clactonian in Eynsford?
Currently, assisted by the right
geology, this may come down to
assessing probability (see below).
CLACTONIAN IN KENT
As many regular readers of the
KAS journal will know, clay-with-
flints is the “go-to” deposit
for older Palaeolithic finds!
Unfortunately, by its nature, the
shuffled geology often contains
worked flint and debitage from
many lithic industries together with,
eoliths as already mentioned, which
will obscure genuine Clactonian
artefacts if they are there. This
is a well-documented problem,
especially with surface finds away
from stratified locations. To make
matters worse, “heavy staining and
patination cannot be relied upon
as a guide to age; analysis on large
numbers of recognisable later
prehistoric artefacts in collections
such as the Stopes collection, in
the National Museum of Wales,
much of which was recovered from
the Clay-with-flints of north Kent,
suggests this is the case” (Francis
Wenban-Smith & others, p44).
Winter 2023 | 29
Owing to this difficulty with
identification and probable lack
of general awareness among
archaeologists, field walkers, etc.,
it is unsurprising that potentially
valuable examples will remain
undiscovered. This was the case
during the 1890s-1920s (Harrison,
Prestwich, de Barri Crawshay et
al.) of collecting “worked” flint
from the north downs in huge
quantities only for them to be
dismissed later as natural unworked
eoliths. At least the Victorian and
later collectors found it easier to
distinguish handaxes and flake
tools, which were collected, but this,
in turn, will have resulted in biased
Lower/Middle Palaeolithic finds
records of the North Kent clay-
with-flints formations. To date, we
only have confirmed Clactonian in
Kent recorded within the relatively
small area of Swanscombe/
Ebbsfleet post-Anglian Ice Age
(about 480-425,000 years ago
[N.Ashton, p108]) but hunter-
gatherers would have walked the
river valleys and the chalk uplands
across the region (Blundell, L.
2019), so there may be lithics
out there to support this. There
are three other sites in Kent with
possible Clactonian, i.e. in nearby
Bowman’s Lodge Pit in Dartford
(P. Tester, 1950), Twydall Chalk Pit
(near Gillingham, Beresford, F.R.,
2018) and Reculver (near Herne
Bay, Herne Bay Museum) but owing
to an absence of clear context
these cannot be confirmed as
such. Can we join up these sites?
TARGETED SEARCH STRATEGY
FOR THE CLACTONIAN
From my personal experience,
standard group field walking
exercises across, for example,
10m squares, are not conducive to
spotting archaic lithics because:
• All field walkers do not routinely
recognise archaic artefacts since
they do not resemble the more
common, easily recognisable
lithics with Upper Palaeolithic/
Mesolithic/Neolithic typologies.
Therefore, genuine Clactonian
lithics will be missed or rejected.
• The exercise is jeopardised
by the time available and the
expectation of the area to be
covered. For obvious reasons,
30 | Kent Archaeological Society
this adds pressure to search
reasonably quickly and not
spend valuable time carefully
examining a piece of flint on hands
and knees. Inevitably, potential
artefacts will be semi-buried
and cemented in place with the
diagnostic features hidden.
• The logistics of collecting
potentially heavy loads
is not catered for.
Notwithstanding the above, whilst
the traditional search method will
locate older artefacts, if there is
an aim to seek Clactonian lithics,
then additionally, I suggest we
need ‘Field Scrutiny’ for example:
• Ideally, field walkers must have
seen and handled genuine
Clactonian lithics (flakes and
cores) beforehand. Understanding
the morphological characteristics
of such lithics will aid detection
in the field, as unsurprisingly,
with surface finds of this age,
it is inevitable that potential
artefacts will not be complete
and will be severely damaged.
Expectations must reflect this.
• The time available and
a reduced search area
needs to be factored in.
• Perhaps individual search squares
of 1-2m might be more effective
in dense clay-with-flint locations.
• Kneeling mats would be
essential, setting the tone that
this is an exercise of thorough
examination rather than a
race against the clock!
• Trowels/tools would be required
to extract potential semi-buried
artefacts for further inspection.
• Collection arrangements
would need to be robust and
appropriate for many kilos of
flint, e.g. boxes/baskets.
• < UNK> To ensure only valid
worked artefacts are removed from
the site, a processing station would
need to be set up (e.g., a table
with knowledgeable individuals
(s)). This can be done whilst the
search is being carried out.
• – Finally, the removal method
would need to be considered,
e.g. trolleys/ vehicle transport.
To test this proposed Clactonian
search strategy, SWAG will
endeavour to conduct a targeted
trial ‘Field Scrutiny’ search to see if
this is realistic and worthwhile. Any
tips and advice would be gratefully
received, and any volunteers
wishing to participate in such an
exercise would be welcome.
CONCLUSION
The absence of Lower Palaeolithic
Clactonian sites in Kent - other
than the Swanscombe/Ebbsfleet
area - reflects the nature of the
land surface, which has often been
buried, moved and mixed with
other deposits, the antiquarian
collectors’ preference for handaxes
and flake tools and the difficulty
in identifying basic chopper/
core lithics. Hopefully, with more
Clactonian lithics being identified
in time, greater opportunities
will arise to counter the current
lack of hands-on knowledge of
professional and amateur collectors
and allow further studies of Kent’s
Lower Palaeolithic activity.
As you would expect, this new
collection requires verification
and validation. Therefore, a more
intensive analysis is being carried
out. Suppose this Tester collection
from Eynsford is confirmed with
a high probability as genuine
Clactonian. In that case, it will
add to the overall picture of
archaic population density and
highlight the spread of the early
occupation of Kent. To that end,
any Clactonian specialists are
welcome to drop in, have a look
and contribute to the discussion
and analysis; please get in touch.
The results of the further
lithic analysis will be reported
in a future article.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The relatives of Peter Tester
and Peter Draper, thank you
for assisting in the safekeeping
of these valuable finds.
Frank Beresford for advice on
Palaeolithic lithics, related sites
and historical activity in Kent and
comments and suggestions to
an earlier draft of this paper.
Andrew Mayfield, thank you for
your trust and encouragement
in handling these valuable
artefacts and comments to an
earlier draft of this paper.
Ruiha Smalley (former KAS Library
archivist at Maidstone Museum) for
access to Peter Tester’s records.
Keith Parfitt and attendees
at the KAS Fieldwork Forum
(March 2023) for testing the
examination and handling of
genuine Clactonian artefacts.
The SWAG team for making a
conducive workspace available
to store and analyse the new
collection. And for a team of willing
volunteers to target a clay-with-
flints field on their hands and knees!
REFERENCES
Ashton, N., 2017. Early
Humans, p108.
Beresford F.R, 2018. Palaeolithic
Material from Lower Twydall Chalk
Pit in Kent: The Cook and Killick
Collection. Lithics: The Journal
of the Lithics Society No. 39.
Blundell, L., 2016. Hominin activity
on the chalk uplands of southeast
Britain: A geomorphological
perspective on the archaeological
record. Lithics: The Journal of
the Lithics Society No. 37.
Blundell, L., September 2019. A
Critical Evaluation of the Lower-
Middle Palaeolithic Archaeological
Record of the Chalk Uplands
of Northwest Europe
British Geographical Survey.
Dartford, England and Wales
Sheet 271. Solid and Drift Edition.
Butler, C., 2005. Prehistoric
Flintwork, p60-66.
Tester, P. J., 1984. Clactonian
flints from Rickson’s Pit,
Swanscombe. Arch’ Cant’. No.100.
Tester, P. J., 1950. Palaeolithic Flint
Implements from The Bowman’s
Lodge Pit. Arch’ Cant’. No.63. formation and successive drift
stages of the valley of the Darent,
Wenban-Smith, F., Bates, M., with remarks on the Palaeolithic
Bridgland, D., Harp, P., Pope, M., Implements of the District, and on
and Roberts, M., 2010 &2017. The the origin of the chalk escarpment.
Early Palaeolithic Period. South East Quarterly Journal of the Geological
Research Framework Resource Society 1891, v.47; p126-163.
Assessment and Research Agenda
for the Early Palaeolithic period Prestwich, J., 1889. On the
Consultation draft (September 2010 occurrence of Palaeolithic flint
with additions in 2017) p41 & 44. implements in the neighbourhood
of Ightham, Kent, their distribution
Wymer, J., 1999. The Lower and probable age. Quarterly
Palaeolithic Occupation Journal of the Geological Society
of Britain. Vol. 1 & 2. 1889; v. 45; p 270-297.
FURTHER READING Roe, D. A., 1968 A Gazetteer of
British Lower & Middle Palaeolithic
Andrefsky, Jr, W., 2000. sites. CBA Research Report 8.
Lithics. Macroscopic
approaches to analysis. Wenban-Smith and others, The
Ebbsfleet Elephant: Excavations at
Ashton, N., McNabb, J., and Southfleet Road, Swanscombe in
Parfitt, S., 1992. Choppers and advance of High Speed 1, 2003-4.
the Clactonian: A Reinvestigation.
Proceedings of the Prehistoric White, M. J., 2000. The Clactonian
Society / Volume 58 / Question: On the Interpretation of
January 1992, pp 21 – 28. Core-and-Flake Assemblages in the
British Lower Palaeolithic. Journal
Ashton, N., 2017. Early of World Prehistory, Vol. 14, No. 1.
Humans, ch 6 & 7.
Wymer, J.,1956. A Clactonian
Ballin, Torben Bjarke, 2021. Flint Industry at Little
Classification of Lithic Artefacts Thurrock, Grays, Essex.
from the British Late Glacial
and Holocene Periods. Wymer, J., 1982.The
Palaeolithic Age, ch 3.
Beresford F.R. The Illustrations
of Benjamin Harrison. KAS
Magazine, No.120 Summer 2023.
Bridgland, D. R., and Harding,
P., 1993, Middle Pleistocene
Thames terrace deposits at Globe
Pit, Little Thurrock, and their
contained Clactonian industry.
Bridgland, D., Bates, M., Wenban-
Smith, F., Roberts, M., Harp, P.,
Pope, M., 2007. Notes from the
South-East Research Framework
Public Seminar on the Lower and
Middle Palaeolithic (13/10/07).
Hazzledine Warren, S., 1958.
The Clacton Flint Industry:
A Supplementary Note
by S. Hazzledine Warren.
20 January 1958.
Hazzledine Warren, S., 1958.
The Clacton Flint Industry:
A new interpretation.
Prestwich, J., 1891. On the age,
Winter 2023 | 31
THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED
FRINDSBURY ACADEMY EARLY
PALAEOLITHIC SITE AND ITS
RELATIONSHIP TO THE OTHER KNOWN
EARLIER PALAEOLITHIC SITES IN
THE LOWER MEDWAY AREA
By Frank Beresford

Recent archaeological excavations

that were conducted in advance
of building work for a new school
to be called Frindsbury Academy
have uncovered Palaeolithic
artefacts that were recovered from
fluvial deposits that are thought
to date from the Marine Isotope
Stage 9 interglacial about 300
000 years ago. They were found
in deep Pleistocene sediments on
a hillside above the Medway Valley
at Frindsbury. The Palaeolithic
artefacts included several
handaxes, two of which have been
classed as ‘giant handaxes’. The
initial report (Ingrey et al., 2023)
introduces the site and presents
one of these large handaxes –
the third longest found in Britain.
This important new Palaeolithic
site is presented here using the
information published in the initial started in early 2021. It began with Above
report, and the new site is then an evaluation by geoarchaeological Fig 1: The site’s location
considered in the context of the test pitting, which then informed a (Ingrey et al. 2023.)
other known Earlier Palaeolithic more extensive work programme. It
sites of the Lower Medway Valley. was undertaken by the Archaeology
Further consideration is then given South-East team from the UCL
to the technology of giant handaxes. Institute of Archaeology led by Letty
Ingrey, Senior Geoarchaeologist.
WHERE IS THE SITE?
THE GEOLOGY
The site at Manor Farm, Frindsbury,
Kent (NGR: 574596 170317) The initial investigations included a
is located close to one of the programme of geoarchaeological
roundabouts on the western test pitting as the British Geological
approach road to the Medway Survey’s mapping of the site shows
Tunnel and just north of the well- superficial quaternary deposits
known Frindsbury Palaeolithic of the Pleistocene epoch over
site excavated in the early 1920s bedrock deposits of Palaeogene
near Frindsbury Church (Fig 1). Thanet Formation sands and clays
The latest fieldwork at Frindsbury overlaying Cretaceous Upper Chalk.

32 | Kent Archaeological Society


This work revealed that many
areas had intact fluvial deposits
and colluvial sediments (Head)
from the Pleistocene epoch. The
later work in 2021 showed the
significant extent of this spread.
It also became clear that the
proposed landscaping for the
school would affect at least some of
these deposits (Ingrey et al. 2023.)
STEPPED EXCAVATION
As a result of this assessment, it
was decided to excavate three deep
stepped trenches to investigate
the archaeology and nature of
these areas of Pleistocene fluvial
deposits (Figure 1.) The depth
of the trenches reached the
base of the Quaternary deposits
wherever possible and elsewhere
reached the base of the intended
landscaping. The deep trenches
were called ‘Mitigation Areas’
and numbered 1 to 3 (MA1-3).
All deposits and archaeological
remains were recorded, and
samples were taken to help
establish the date and evidence
of the environment at this time.
The report explains that ‘the surface
of the Upper Chalk had undergone
extensive solution, with the
formation of both localised solution
pipes and larger doline structures.
This offered capture points for
preserving the Thanet Formation
sands and, more locally, Pleistocene
deposits.’ The ‘Bullhead’ flint beds
were frequently encountered where
the Thanet Formation made contact
Above
with the Upper Chalk. ‘They took Fig 2: The stepped trench
the form of a layer of weathered excavations at the Frindsbury
and mineral-stained flint cobbles Academy Site (Ingrey et al. 2023.)
and pebbles which had been
formed during the Palaeogene. The
base of the fluvial deposits was at
approximately 27m OD. This terrace,
from a small west bank tributary
of the proto-Medway, is mapped
by the BGS as ‘River Terrace
Deposits, 3’ (Ingrey et al., 2023)
A long trench (MA3) delivered the
largest handaxe. A full description
of the Pleistocene geology of
MA3, as described in the initial
report, is given in Box 1.
THE FINDS
Eight hundred Palaeolithic
artefacts were recovered during
this fieldwork (Fig 3), and a full
report on these artefacts is being
prepared. The initial report states
that they ‘were found buried in
material which filled a sinkhole and
covered a water channel that is a
former tributary of the Medway.
They were recovered during each
stage of the work, being present
at low densities throughout the
fluvial deposits. All had undergone
minimal abrasion, and they are
not likely to have been extensively
reworked.’ (Ingrey et al. 2023.)
THE TWO ‘GIANT’ HANDAXES
The handaxes include two ficrons,
which the report describes as ‘very
large or Giant handaxes.’ The first
handaxe (RF 50) was 230mm in
Winter 2023 | 33
 Box 1: The Pleistocene Geology of the Stepped Trench MA3

(From Ingrey et al. 2023.)

• ‘In the north-western area of the site where MA3 was located, fluvial deposits were present in channels
and appeared to have undergone minimal deformation even though Pleistocene fluvial deposits had
been locally subjected to significant deformation owing to the solution of the underlying chalk.

• The Pleistocene fluvial deposits in MA3 comprised moderately to well-sorted gravels in a matrix of
sand and clay in channels incised into the Thanet Formation and overlain by Pleistocene Head.

• The channels were discrete and intercutting, each one up to 20m

wide and extending up to 3m below ground level.

• The deposits consisted of up to 90% well-rounded to sub-rounded flint

pebbles, largely reworked from Palaeogene deposits but containing occasional
weathered flint nodules from both the ‘Bullhead’ and Upper Chalk.

• Within the fluvial gravels were beds of finer-grained sands, which

were frequently finely bedded or laminated.

• Overall, the fluvial deposits appeared to relate to a series of episodes consisting of relatively
high-energy deposition by a braided river system, with periods of lower-energy deposition.

• This could relate to deposition on the inner banks of meanders and within cut-offs associated
with anatomising channels, reflecting localised changes in depositional regime over time.

• The base of the fluvial deposits was at approximately 27m OD.’

Left, top
Fig 3: Excavating a Palaeolithic handaxe.
(Ingrey et al. 2023.)
Left, bottom
Fig 4: Schematic section showing the
find position of the largest handaxe
(RF 53) in weakly bedded gravel with
coarse sand within the sequence of
deposits in MA3 (Ingrey et al. 2023.)

34 | Kent Archaeological Society

length, although missing its tip.
The report explains that ‘It was
recovered from a sand unit at the
surface of the fluvial deposits.
This was in an area stripped
to facilitate later archaeology
excavation and was present within
deposits just below the topsoil.
Further excavation in the area
showed the deposits here to have
been mostly eroded but locally
preserved within a solution feature
that had deformed the underlying
Thanet Formation and trapped
the Pleistocene fluvial deposits.’

The second handaxe (RF 53) was

much longer at 296mm in length
(Figures 4, 5 & 10.) ‘This was found
during the excavation of MA3, the
long-stepped trench in the north-
west of the site. It was 1.2m below
ground level at 28.8m OD. It was
minimally abraded and much larger
than any of the other clasts within
this part of the channel, suggesting
that it was probably recovered from
its primary depositional context and
had only moved a short distance, if at
all. After its discovery, careful hand
excavation within the immediate
area did not produce any further
artefacts.’ (Ingrey et al. 2023.) Above, top
Fig 5: The largest handaxe RF53 (Ingrey et al. 2023.)
Above, middle
DATING THE SITE AND THE FINDS
Fig 6: Measuring the largest handaxe RF53 (Ingrey et al. 2023.)
Below
All early Palaeolithic sites in the Fig 7: The location of the four key Earlier Palaeolithic Sites in the Lower
Lower Medway Area have proved Medway area. 1. Frindsbury Academy; 2. Frinsdbury Church; 3. Lower Twydall
difficult to date, and this new site Chalk Pit; 4. Cuxton Rectory and (in blue) the approximate course of the
follows that trend. The British proto-Medway in Marine Isotope Stages 10-9-8 and its confluence with the
Geological Survey maps the east-west tributary that also passes the Lower Twydall Chalk Pit Site.
river terrace at this site as ‘River
Terrace Deposits, 3’. Its position
suggests that this terrace belonged
to a tributary which joined the
proto-Medway from the east.
The report concludes that ‘no
specific correlation is confirmed
but a late Middle Pleistocene age
(Marine Isotope Stages 10-9-8) is
considered highly probable given
that at least two morphologically
distinct terraces are mapped in the
area at lower elevations.’ (Ingrey
et al. 2023.) This suggests a date
around 300,000 years ago.

OTHER EARLIER PALAEOLITHIC SITES

IN THE LOWER MEDWAY AREA

This dating matches the current

dating for the three other most
important Earlier Palaeolithic sites
in the Lower Medway area (Marine
Isotope Stages 10-9-8.) These sites

Winter 2023 | 35
 Table 1. Cuxton Rectory Site
Dates 1889, 1963, 1980, 2005
Excavation/collection The 1963 finds were in a thin body of fluvial gravel lying on a Chalk terrace
at the site bench at c. 17m OD in the ground of Cuxton Rectory. The 1980 finds
were across the road in the same fluvial gravel and a deeper sequence of
fluvial sands and gravels with a base level of 14m OD, again lying on Chalk
bedrock. In 2005, a further deep test pit in another garden across the
road found the exceptionally large ficron and a large cleaver where cross-
bedded sands came down onto a more gravelly layer around 16.5m OD.
Technological 300+ Pointed Handaxes including Ficrons and Cleavers. Cores and Flake tools.
Characteristics Simple prepared cores. There are no handaxes in the deeper 1980 sequence.
Probable Dating Marine Isotope Stages 10-9-8?
References Payne 1902; Tester 1965; Cruse 1987; Wenban-Smith 2004 & 2006.

Table 2. Lower Twydall Chalk Pit Site

Dates 1908 to 1920s in the quarry and continuing on the foreshore
Excavation/collection Artefacts were found either in layers of sand and a little gravel
at the site overlying the chalk bedrock and beneath brickearth at about 15–18
m during the extraction of chalk from Lower Twydall Chalk Pit or on
the adjoining foreshore after this sediment was dumped to form a
causeway and related to a south–north channel flowing down to an
east-west channel flowing to a confluence with the proto-Medway.
Technological 300+ Pointed handaxes including Ficrons and Cleavers. Cores
Characteristics and Flake tools. Levallois prepared core flakes linked to a higher
level. Most of the handaxes have damaged or broken tips.
Probable Dating Marine Isotope Stages 10-9-8?
References Payne 1915; Roe 1981; Beresford 2018 & forthcoming.

Table 3. Frindsbury Church Site

Dates 1923
Excavation/collection Artefacts found in a hollow of about four hundred square feet within fine-
at the site grained colluvial slope wash deposits directly above chalk bedrock during
chalk extraction from Frindsbury Chalk Pit to the east of Frindsbury Church.
Technological Over four thousand artefacts were reported. Six small pointed
Characteristics handaxes. Many large, simple prepared cores and flakes.
Probable Dating Marine Isotope Stages 10-9-8?
References Cook and Killick 1924; Beresford 2016.

Above
are Cuxton Rectory, Lower Twydall Tables 1, 2 & 3: Summary descriptions
of the other major Earlier Palaeolithic
Chalk Pit and Frindsbury Church.
sites in the Lower Medway Area
During Marine Isotope Stages 10-9-
8, the course of the proto-Medway
was to the west of its current path,
and a network of tributaries flowed
from the east to join it, including the
tributary which passed the Twydall
Chalk Pit with a confluence with the
proto-Medway west of the Frindsbury
Academy site. The probable course
of this tributary is marked by three
fluvial deposits mapped by the British
Geological Survey as ‘River Terrace
Deposits, 3’, which matches their
mapping of the gravel terrace at
the Frindsbury Academy site. The
location of all four sites is shown in
Fig 7, and the course of the proto-
Medway and this tributary channel

36 | Kent Archaeological Society


and summary descriptions of the
sites are given in Tables 1, 2 & 3.
The large, simple prepared cores
and flakes from Frindsbury Church
Chalk Pit Site (Fig 8) are distinctive.
However, this technology was
also found at Cuxton, and some
examples of Levallois-prepared core
technology were found at Twydall.
The technological characteristics
of the artefacts found at Cuxton
and Twydall appear like those from
the Frindsbury Academy site based
on the limited available information.
Many of the Cuxton and Twydall
handaxes comprise thick, lightly
reduced points with cortical butts
and partial cutting edges made on
a range of available flint blanks,
which include elongated, narrow
burrow flint, other varied, frequently
elongated and often asymmetrical
flint nodules, smaller flint cobbles
and sections of tabular flint. While
this basic pattern is evident, it is
also apparent that the differences
in shape reflect a combination of
the actual original blank shape,
the way the knapper chose to
work it, and individual preference
and skill (Shaw & White, 2003).
THE GREAT GIANT HANDAXE STAKES
The Great Giant Handaxe Stakes,
a list of the longest handaxes
from Britain that were known in
order of size, was introduced by
R. McRae in an intentionally light-
hearted article in 1987. His list
included six handaxes that ranged
Left
Fig 8 - Frindsbury Church Site:
Left – a simple prepared core and right
– a flake – dorsal and ventral faces
(Photo: courtesy of the British Museum.)
in length from 235mm to 323mm.
Since then, further examples have
been added, but four from the original
list remain in the current listings.
Some entries are new finds; others
are previously unmeasured and
unrecorded examples from museums
or other collections. A tentative list of
the current reported longest fifteen
handaxes that range in length from
248mm to 323mm is shown in Table
4. It includes six examples from Kent,
five of which are from the sites in the
Lower Medway. The Twydall handaxe
and the lower two from Cuxton, all
now in the British Museum, were
carefully measured for this study
– the other measurements were
taken from the given references.
THE LARGEST HANDAXE ON THE LIST
The largest currently known and
reported handaxe in Britain remains
the example found during a day’s
work digging gravel by G. Carter in
Cannongate Farm pit on the south
bank of the Thames at Furze Platt
in Berkshire in March 1919 (Lacaille
1940, 267.) It is light grey with
some light brown staining, boldly
flaked all over and with straight
cutting edges. It was subsequently
presented to the Geological Museum
(now part of the Natural History
Museum) and displayed for many
years in a case at the front end of
the balcony. It is also attributed to
Marine Isotope Stages 10-9-8.
Winter 2023 | 37
 Table 4
Order Find Site Handaxe Type Date of Length Reference
of size discovery (mm)
1st Furze Platt Pointed 1919 323 Lacaille 1940
Berkshire.
2nd Cuxton, Kent Pointed Ficron. 2004 307 Wenban-Smith
2004; 2006
3rd Maritime Pointed Ficron. 2022 296 Ingrey, L et al. 2023
Academy, Kent
4th Canterbury Pointed Ficron. 1925 285 Knowles 2023
West, Kent
5th Shrub Hill, Norfolk Pointed 1869 285 Wymer 1985
6th Broom, Devon. Type Unknown ? 282 Hosfield and
Green, 2013
7th Stanton Harcourt, Pointed Demi- 1986 269 MacRae 1987
Oxfordshire. ficron.
8th Sonning Town, Pointed Ficron. 1913 266 MacRae 1987
Berkshire
9th Warsash, Ovate. ? 262 Dale 2022
Hampshire
10th = Twydall, Kent Pointed 1909 260 Beresford 2018
10th = Warren Hill, Suffolk Ovate. (1932). 260 MacRae 1987
12th Cuxton, Kent Pointed Ficron. 1962/3 258 Tester 1965
13th Cuxton, Kent Pointed Ficron. 1962/3 255 Tester 1965
14th Warsash, Ficron. ? 253 Dale 2022
Hampshire
15th Warsash, Ovate. ? 248 Dale 2022
Hampshire

Above
Table 4: A tentative list that shows the currently reported top fifteen Acheulean ‘giant’
handaxes from Britain. (Based on MacRae 1987, Dale 2022 and Ingrey et al. 2023)]

THE SIX LARGE HANDAXES

FROM KENT IN THE LIST

Six handaxes in the tentative list

were found in Kent, and five from
the sites in the Lower Medway
Valley (Figure 10.) Francis Wenban-
Smith and colleagues found the
second longest in a pit that had
fortunately become available in a
front garden opposite the Cuxton
Rectory Site in 2004 (Wenban-
Smith, F. 2004. 2006.) A giant
cleaver was also found near it. The
third longest is the example from
the Frindsbury Academy Site. The
fourth longest was found around
1925 at Canterbury West and has
just been presented for the first time
by Pete Knowles (Knowles 2023.)
The tenth equal longest was found Above
in 1909 in the layers above the chalk Fig 9: The longest: The Furze Platt Giant
at Sharps Green Chalk Pit – another (Length = 323mm), reproduced from Lacaille
(1940) with an ‘average’ sized handaxe
name for the Lower Twydall Chalk
(Length = 117mm) shown to the right for
Pit. Cook and Killick probably found
comparison (Photo: Luke Dale 2022, 279)

38 | Kent Archaeological Society


it during their 1909/1910 work at
the pit and sold it to a collector
by Cook in 1916, eventually being
presented to the British Museum.
Peter Tester found the twelfth and
thirteenth longest during his work at
the Cuxton Rectory Site in 1963/4.
Above
Fig 10: From L-R, The Frindsbury Academy
Ficron - 3rd (Ingrey et al. 2023.); The
Cuxton Ficron - 2nd (Photo: Francis
Wenban-Smith.); The Canterbury West
Ficron - 4th (Photo: Pete Knowles)]

Five of the Kent handaxes are

described as Ficrons. The shape
of a Ficron is characterised by
long, thinner and finely worked tips,
with incurving or straight edges
and thicker and more crudely
worked butts (Cranshaw 1983,
107.) Much of the character of
a handaxe is predetermined by
the shape of the raw materials.
As already noted, at both Cuxton
and Twydall, varied and, at times,
asymmetrical handaxes were made
by selecting from an extensive
range of available flint blanks. The
knapper would have frequently used
the blank type that first came to
hand to produce a usable handaxe
quickly. However, the prevalence
of exceptionally long handaxes,
particularly in the Lower Medway Above
Valley, does introduce the possibility Fig 11: Bottom right: the Twydall Pointed
Handaxe, 10th equal; Centre and left.
that some knappers may have had
Two more Cuxton Ficrons, 12th and 13th
a prior intention to create this form
(Photo: courtesy of the British Museum)
and so sought out suitable blank
shapes - very elongated nodules or
pieces of elongated narrow burrow
flint - with that specific intention.

THE LONGEST HANDAXE IN THE WORLD

Larger handaxes have been found

outside Britain. In November 2023,
it was announced that a team of
researchers working in the desert
landscape called the Kur Plain
that is south of Alula in north-west
Saudi Arabia, had discovered what
is, for the moment, likely to be the
longest stone ‘hand axe’ artefact
found anywhere in the world, more

Winter 2023 | 39
than a half a metre long (Figure 12.)
It is a fine-grained basalt tool of
uniform thickness and width (length:
513 mm, width: 95 mm, thickness:
57 mm.) It has been worked on
both sides to produce a robust tool
if used with both hands, with all
edges useable and no defined butt.
Initial field assessment suggested
that it dates to the Lower-Middle
Palaeolithic period and is over
200,000 years old (News provided
by The Royal Commission for Al-Ula
(RCU) 07 Nov 2023, 06:36 GMT.)
BUT ARE THEY HANDAXES?
Such large implements are difficult
to hold and use with the hand and
appear too large to have been
practical in this way. They are
also difficult to transport. They
could have been used with two
hands or cooperatively between
two individuals. It has also been
suggested that such large, long
cutting edges may have been
used rested on the ground with
the animal carcass pressed
down onto the upward-facing
edge or fixed in a static upright
position for a similar use (Foulds
et al., 2017.) However, this is a
demanding use for fragile ficrons.
Did giant handaxes also have some
other less functional value? The
repeated occurrence in the late
Lower Palaeolithic record of these
large handaxe shapes requiring
specific technical and shaping traits
suggests that they may have had
some broader significance than
utility. Were these visually superior
forms valued for their looks? Were
they a form of early art or sculpture?
Did they indicate social status, or
did they have a symbolic purpose?
Hodgson (2015) suggested that
the apparently ‘over-engineered’
nature of the giant handaxes could
be evidence of increased cognitive
development. This is interesting
when linked to the indication
that giant handaxes are more
commonplace during MIS 10-9-
8. The occurrence of simple and
Levallois-prepared core technology
during MIS 10-9-8 points to
the cognitive and behavioural
development that marks the change
from the Lower to the Middle
Palaeolithic. The Lower Medway
40 | Kent Archaeological Society
Valley giant handaxe technology Above
and prepared core technology are Fig 12: The Longest known ‘Handaxe’
found at Cuxton and Twydall, and in the world ‘in situ.’ (Courtesy of the
Royal Commission for Al-Ula)
simple prepared technology at
Frindsbury Church. If the suggestion
that giant handaxes were more
frequent in later (particularly MIS
9) assemblages is correct (Dale,
2022), could Giant Handaxes be
another indicator of the Lower–
Middle Palaeolithic transition?
WHAT NEXT?
The recently discovered Frindsbury
Academy Early Palaeolithic site
is a treasured addition to our
understanding of the Lower
Palaeolithic in the Lower Medway
Area, particularly when considering
the Earlier Palaeolithic Sites in the
area. It has provoked many new
and exciting questions about the
technology and the landscape
around the proto –Medway during
MIS 10-9-8 and its braided network
of tributaries. We eagerly await the
next report from Letty Ingrey and
the Archaeology South-East team.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank
Letty Ingrey and the Archaeology
South-East team for making their
initial report and its associated
illustrations readily available. He
would also like to thank Letty
Ingrey, Francis Wenban-Smith,
Matt Pope and Stan Matthews
for their helpful comments and
suggestions after reading an earlier
version of this paper. Figures eight
and eleven are courtesy of the
Trustees of the British Museum.
REFERENCES
Bates, M.R., Bates, C.R., Briant,
R.M., Gibbard, P.L., Glaister, C.,
Jones, S., Meijer, T., Penkman,
K.E.H., Schwenninger, J-L., Walker,
M.J.C., Wenban-Smith, F.F. and
Whittaker, J.E. 2017 ‘Chapter 2.
The Quaternary evolution of the
Lower Medway: new evidence
from beneath the flood plain’ in G.
Dawkes (ed) Between the Thames
and Medway. Archaeological
excavations on the Hoo Peninsula
and its environs, Portslade:
Spoil Heap Publications 13,
Archaeology South-East. 9-63.
Beresford, F.R. 2016. Further
Palaeolithic material from
Frindsbury, Kent. Kent
Archaeological Society
Magazine 2016 (Winter): 4–7.
Beresford, F.R. 2018. Palaeolithic
material from Lower Twydall Chalk
Pit in Kent: The Cook and Killick
Collection. Lithics: the Journal of the
Lithic Studies Society 39: 20–35.
Beresford, F.R. (forthcoming).
Palaeolithic material from the
Lower Twydall Chalk Pit in Kent:
the Baker and Payne Collection
and the Baker Collection.
Bridgland, D.R. (2003). ‘The
evolution of the River Medway,
SE England, in the context of
Quaternary palaeoclimate and
the Palaeolithic occupation of
NW Europe’, Proceedings of the
Geologists’ Association 114(1),
23–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/
S0016-7878(03)80026-3
Cranshaw, S. (1983). Handaxes and
cleavers: selected English Acheulian
industries (Vol. 1). Oxford: BAR
Cook, W.H. & Killick, J.R. (1924). ‘On
the discovery of a flint-working site
of Palaeolithic date in the Medway
Valley at Rochester, Kent, with notes
on the drift stages of the Medway’,
Proceedings of the Prehistoric
Society of East Anglia 4, 133–49.
Cruse, R.J. (1987). Further
investigations of the Acheulean
site at Cuxton. Archaeologia
Cantiana 104, 39-81
Dale, L. (2022). ‘Early Neanderthal
Social and Behavioural
Complexity During the Purfleet
Interglacial: handaxes in the
latest Lower Palaeolithic’, PhD
thesis, Durham University.
Dines, H., Holmes, S.C.A. &
Robbie, J.A. (1954). Geology of
the Country around Chatham.
Memoirs of the Geological Survey
of Great Britain. London: HMSO
Foulds, F.W., Shuttleworth, A.,
Sinclair, A., Alsharekh, A.M.,
Al Ghamdi, S., Inglis, R.H. and
Bailey, G.N. (2017). A large
handaxe from Wadi Dabsa
and early hominin adaptations
within the Arabian Peninsula.
Antiquity 91(360), 1421 – 1434.
Hodgson, D. (2015). The symmetry
of Acheulean handaxes and
cognitive evolution. Journal
of Archaeological Science:
Reports 2, p.204 – 208.
Hosfield, R. & Green, C.P. (eds)
(2013). Quaternary History and
Palaeolithic Archaeology in the
Axe Valley at Broom, South West
England, Oxford: Oxbow
Ingrey, L., Le Hegaret, K. and
Pope, M. (2021). ‘Palaeolithic
Archaeology from Fluvial Deposits
at the Maritime Academy
Site, Manor Farm, Frindsbury,
Geoarchaeological Evaluation:
Interim Report’, Unpublished
Archaeology South East report
for Bowmer and Kirkland.
Ingrey, L., Duffy, S., Bates, M.,
Shaw, A. & Pope, M. (2023).
On the Discovery of a Late
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Kent, Internet Archaeology 61.
https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.61.6
Lacaille, A.D. (1940). ‘The
palaeoliths from the gravels of
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around Maidenhead’, The
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handaxe stakes’, Lithics 8, 15–17.
Knowles, P.G. (2023). A magnificent
ficron and assemblage containing
cleavers from Canterbury: a
reanalysis of the collection of Dr
Tom Armstrong Bowes and the
problem of provenance. Lithics 41.
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org/10.1017/S0079497X00013840
Roe, D.A. (1981). The Lower and
Middle Palaeolithic Periods in Britain.
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Wenban-Smith, F. (2004). ‘Handaxe
typology and Lower Palaeolithic
cultural development: ficrons,
cleavers and two giant handaxes
from Cuxton’, Lithics 25, 11–21.
Wenban-Smith, F. (2006). ‘Cuxton
giant handaxes’, Kent Archaeological
Society Newsletter 68, 2-3.
Wenban-Smith, F.F., Bates, M.R.
& Marshall, G.D. (2007). ‘Medway
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in the Medway gravels (Kent)’,
Unpublished report submitted to
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Wymer, J.J. (1968). Lower
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Winter 2023 | 41
DISCOVERING
ROMAN WYE
By C. Paul Burnham

Wye Historical Society has always

encouraged research into local
history and the publication of its
findings, most recently in A New
History of Wye (2003) and several
booklets on aspects. Its recent
Dig for History initiative has aimed
to use archaeological discoveries
to extend the chronological
reach of written sources. Initially,
we have sought to explore the
history of Wye in Roman times,
and a booklet entitled Discovering
Roman Wye is in the press.

Our predecessors in the nineteenth

century were much exercised
by bumps and hollows in the
landscape. Sadly, most of these
tumuli and dykes have been erased
by heavy agricultural machinery,
including more than two hundred
hollows on Wye Downs (around
M on the map of the Wye Estate),
which Morris in 1842 considered
the remains of a village of Druids.
Still, in about 1950, members
of a short-lived Wye College
Archaeological Society, said
to have been accompanied by
Mortimer Wheeler, thought Iron
Age pottery found there indicated
a settlement. In 1996, members of
the Wealden Iron Research Group,
aware of occurrences of Pliocene
ironstone on the summit plateau of
the Downs between Lenham and
Folkestone, concluded that the Above
pits worked sand or sandstone, Fig 1: Map showing features of the
as they only found one piece of suggested Wye Roman Estate
iron slag. But in the New History of
Wye, I clarified that the ironstone
found in the subsoil was taken to
Wye for smelting. Jim Bradshaw
had already shown that iron
smelting was an essential industry
in Wye, which started a few years
before the Roman invasion.

Thus, soon after landing, the

invading Romans would first

42 | Kent Archaeological Society

encounter iron smelters at Wye,
important to them both in peace
and war. Iron ore was nearby to
the east, and woodland producing
charcoal in what is now King’s
Wood to the west. As a bonus, the
ironworks (A) was surrounded by
several hundred hectares of high-
quality agricultural land, capable
of yielding profitable cereal yields
almost every year for centuries.
Moreover, a road was probably
already being constructed, linking
Wye to Canterbury and important
ports. So, the Wye area would have
been an obvious candidate for
nationalisation as an Imperial Estate.
However, they found a problem
in that the source of the iron ore
was on a hilltop and difficult to
access. Moreover, on Wye Downs,
the ironstone chunks were only
sparingly dispersed in the subsoil.
A richer source was already known
about five kilometres east at
Staple Lees, near the later village
of Hastingleigh. Only an Imperial
Estate could call upon military
engineers and slave labourers to
build a road from Wye suitable for
laden ox carts. As motorists sail up
Wye Downs from Coldhabour to
the Nature Reserve on a perfectly
graded incline, we probably benefit
from their work. The medieval
coach road from Wye to Dover ran
north through Hassell Street. The
surviving road (presumably Roman)
was only re-metalled for use by the
Parish Surveyor in 1736, as recorded
in a surviving Vestry minute book. Above, left
Fig 2: Aerial photograph of Wye
The ore was roasted at Staple Crown, showing adjacent degraded
Lees and brought down to a ironstone pits
stockyard in Wye (E), where the Above, right
Fig 3: Roman industrial
modern Havillands Estate stands.
activity linked to Wye
The nearest smelter was where
a thin sliver of woodland adjoins
the railway about four hundred
metres to the northeast. Charcoal
would come down White Hill by
the ancient ‘sunk lane’ from King’s
Wood, which continued to belong
to the Wye Estate in medieval
times. Some of the ore was
carted from the Wye stockyard
along the main Roman road to a
smelter at Westhawk Farm. This
was thoroughly studied during a
recent excavation. Embedded in
one of the pieces of ore found was
a piece of flint, proving its origin
from the North Downs and not
from the Weald. There was also a
Roman smelter at Westwell, located
on the High-Speed railway line,
but this may have been supplied
from a source on Charing Hill.
The main smelter in Wye (A) was
investigated by Jim Bradshaw in
1970. He found the bowl-shaped
bases of the amazingly small
‘bloomery’ smelting furnaces.
They had to be small because
they needed to be blown with a
hand bellows continually for about
24 hours. Then the furnace was
broken open, and the red hot
Winter 2023 | 43
‘bloom’ transferred to a nearby
building to be hammered free of
excess slag. It is not surprising
that the Romans used slaves for
such tasks! Close supervision was
essential, so it is not surprising
that the ‘Ironmaster’s’ house was
also alongside the smelters at
Wye. The ‘Ironmaster’ was very
well paid. Abundant fragments of
costly glass and ‘Samian’ ceramic
vessels were found, and some
coins. Notably, a bronze stylus
handle was found, showing that
he was literate and could keep
the records needed to manage
an Imperial Estate. Fortunately,
some small finds from this ‘dig,’
though not any documentation,
were deposited with the
Canterbury Archaeological Trust.

Heading the general management

of the Estate would also warrant
a well-rewarded official. The
probable site of his house (K)
is also known, but it was partly
destroyed by the construction
of the railway in 1845/6, and the
remainder is occupied by an
intensively planted and managed
nursery and is inaccessible to
excavation. Fortuitously, Samian
pottery and coins have been
found, including silver denarii
from the beginning of the second
century and bronze coins from
the middle of the fourth century.

Iron smelting at the Westhawk

settlement continued until about
250 AD and use of the Wye
stockyard also ceased at about
this time. The latter half of the third
century was also a time of great
political turmoil, with a new Emperor
or local usurper almost yearly! It
has been noted elsewhere in Britain
that much imperial land was sold
into private ownership during this
period. Often, the new owners
built luxurious villas, but what
happened at Wye is still uncertain.

During the third century, the focus

of the estate moved to the area
between the Harville farmhouse and
the river. Two early Roman buildings
at C, on the riverbank, have been
partially excavated, although the
results were incompletely recorded.
This site is very damp, liable to
frequent flooding and unsuitable
for a high-class residence. There
Top
Fig 4: Artist’s impression of Roman iron smelting (by
Colette Williams & based on Westhawk Farm)
Middle
Fig 5: Cross section of Roman bloomery furnace
(Nathan Burnham)
Bottom
Fig 6: Bronze stylus handle found during
excavation of the Ironmaster’s House (CAT)

44 | Kent Archaeological Society

Above, L–R
Fig 7a: Hadrian denarius 120-121 AD (Dr Geoffrey Chapman);
7b: Hadrian coin; 7c: Trajan coin; 7d: Trajan rev

Above
Fig 8: Plan of Bircholt Roman tile kiln (CAT)

are indications, however, of a

complex of buildings higher up
the field (D), possibly again partly
destroyed by the railway, which
may be a third-century villa.

In the wooded area southwest of

Wye, Jim Bradshaw excavated
a small tile kiln north of Bircholt
Court, which operated briefly later
in the third century. This may have
been constructed to supply the
builders of a large high-status
building complex at Wye. Such
need would be episodic, for most
of the buildings on the Wye estate
had walls of wood or wattle and
daub with thatched roofs, which
is true of the central settlement
(B), which was coterminous
with the Churchfield estate.

One of the riverside buildings Above

(C1), excavated by Bradshaw in Fig 9: Third Century mortarium from
1972, was built in the first century, the ‘Bradshaw’ building (CAT)
when it seems to have been partly
residential and partly warehousing,
mainly of ceramics. Substantial
amounts of pottery, sometimes
scores of the same kind of vessel,
have been dredged from the river,
only twenty metres away. This
suggests that, before the erection
of about ten weirs for water mills

Winter 2023 | 45

and heavy depletion of river flow
by groundwater abstraction, the
Stour was navigable by Roman river
barges, which were like very long
punts that could carry ten tons with
a draft of only fifty centimetres.
When built in the first century,
this building had a domestic
hypocaust, which was converted
to industrial use in the third
century. A complete mortarium of
the mid-third century was found
in the enlarged flue. A second,
larger hypocaust was added to
the south end of the building, also
in the third century. It could have
served as a dual-purpose corn
drier and malt kiln. Large-scale
cereal production had replaced iron
smelting as the principal money-
making activity of the estate.
46 | Kent Archaeological Society
Nearby, another Roman building
(C2) was partly excavated by
Dr Paul Wilkinson and Kent
Archaeological Field School
students in 2019. Water was
supplied to it by a leat, but no
iron spindle or millstones were
found. It was a brewery.
On a riverside knoll about half a
kilometre upstream from here (at J),
a hamlet called Brunesford existed
in medieval times, which dwindled
to the single farmstead called White
House Farm, demolished about
1900. Here, around 380 to 400 AD,
lived a distinct small community.
They lived with some luxuries,
such as expensive pottery, but in
flimsy houses, which have left little
archaeological trace. The only
evidence yet encountered was the
filling of a rubbish pit revealed in
Above
Fig 10: Wilkinson Roman Building under
excavation in 2019 (Dr Paul Burnham)
Bottom
Fig 11: Site of Brunesford on skyline
looking north, Stour in the foreground
trenches for drainage pipes. This
was excavated by Jim Bradshaw
and volunteers from the Ashford
Archaeological Society in 1973 and
reported by Sonia Hawkes in the
journal Britannia. Tightly packed
round with domestic rubbish was
a military-style bronze buckle with
adhering traces of a leather belt, a
16 cm long dagger, and a hoard of
fifty-two coins that had probably
been contained in a cloth bag. The
oldest was a worn Carausius; the
remainder ranged from 323 to
378. These objects were buried
to conceal evidence of a crime,
perhaps the murder of some
authoritative figure. This find should
be followed up. Unfortunately, a
soil resistance survey showed only
the remains of a Tudor farmstead,
and metal detection yielded only a
comparatively modern horseshoe!
It is hoped that members of
the KAS can help by enabling a
geomagnetic survey that might
yield the position of another
rubbish pit or a hut site. Similar
equipment would allow further
investigation of sites connected
with the iron smelting industry.

Information about purchasing the

‘Discovering Roman Wye’ booklet
will be posted on the Wye Historical
Society website in December 2023.
It will be unusual to describe an
important Roman estate where
the position and nature of the main
residential villa remains uncertain.
A challenge for the future!

The indispensable help of Mrs

Maureen de Saxe in editing the text
and producing the key map showing
Roman sites in the whole Wye area
is warmly acknowledged, as is the
encouragement and specialist
advice given by Dr Steven Willis.

Above, left
Fig 12: Military style bronze buckle in
Britannia 5, 388
Above, right
Fig 13: 16cm Dagger in Britannia 5, 388.
Below, right
Fig 14: Geophysics results showing
buildings on Harville riverside (KAFS)

Guide to Geophysical Survey

C 1 = site of ‘Bradshaw’ building
C 2 = the ‘Wilkinson’ building
[Site ‘C’ on map inside front cover]
D = unexcavated building complex
[Site ‘D’ on map inside front cover]

Winter 2023 | 47
BEAUCHAMPS WOOD,
NONINGTON, KENT
By Peter Hobbs

“There be of them,
that have left a name
behind them…”
(Ecclesiasticus XLIV 8)
Alan Everitt, in Continuity and
Colonisation: the evolution of
Kentish settlementi contends that
woodland is one of the dominating
characteristics of the community of
Kent, and the modern map shows
the consequence of a tract of forest
eaten away piecemeal by clearance.
Oak and chestnut predominate,
although a wide variety of other
species exist. Woodland, he
suggests, survives either as
boundary markers or because
the land it is on is inhospitable to
arable cultivation.ii We intend to
focus on the history of one of these
woodlands, Beauchamps (Gigs 1
& 2), located in the central part of
the parish of Nonington contiguous
with the hamlet of Easole, some
550m from Nonington church and
presently in the ownership of the
writer required, but heavy dews
make it possible that there were
numbers of dew ponds of which
there is little evidence now. There
are only two areas designated as
ancient woodland: Pinners Wood,
some 31 acres (12.5 hectares) in the
nineteenth century, now fragmented Top
and about 9 acres (3.5 hectares) Fig 1: Beauchamps Wood from the south,
in extent; and Rubberies or Three courtesy of Damian Birch
Bottom
Barrows Wood with Soles Wood,
Map 1: Based on Ordnance Survey
31 or so acres in the nineteenth mapping with the permission of
century and now about 20 acres the Controller of His Majesty’s
(c. 8 hectares) within the parish Stationery Office. © Crown Copyright
boundary although larger beyond. License No AL100021009
There appear to be no differences
between the ancient and modern
geological woodland areas.iii

In the immediate vicinity of

Beauchamps Wood, the volume of
potboilers and debitage suggests

48 | Kent Archaeological Society

 3
1 2 4
6
8 7 5
9
10
11
12
13

14
15

Above 1. Pinners Wood 9. The Frith

Map 2: The Parish of Nonington and 2. Bonnington Shaw
its environs (key in table on right)
3. Mount Ephraim Shaw
4. Chillenden Wood /
Gooseberry Hall Wood
10. Tye Wood
11. Horseshoe Plantation
12. Fredville Park

5. Esollbarrow 13. Bromfield Wood

6. St Albans Court 14. Rubberies Wood
7. Beauchamps Wood 15. Soles Wood
8. Stewarts Shaw

an extensive human presence in
prehistoric times extending to the
Iron Age and Roman period. The
inhabitants may have lived in the
woodland, but arable cultivation
and animal husbandry seem
more likely and thus extensive
tree clearance. Population levels
are unknown, but the plague of
Constantinople (a forerunner of
the Black Death of the mid-1300s)
in AD 456 is reputed to have
halved the population of Europeiv
and this would have impacted the
countryside as well as the towns.
Less agricultural activity would
have an immediate consequence:
woodland regenerates remarkably
quickly in our countryside, reflected
in the coppicing volume. On the
other hand, Anglo-Saxon and earlier
tomb mounds were designed to
be seen from a distance, and the
parish area is well endowed with
these (Three Barrows at Woolage;
the scarp of North Nonington,
Esolbarrow at St Albans in 1550)
and we know from their burial
grounds that there were Anglo-
Saxon communities in the vicinity
of St Albans Court and Horseshoe
Clump (recorded in 1839 as Horse
Shoe Plantation) in Fredville Park,
as well as around Aylesham.
The most significant modifications
seem to have come about in the
eighteenth century when the
local gentry set out to create
parkland in their estates, notably
at St Albans and Fredville, which
between them occupy our area
of interest, which is the Anglo-
Saxon estate called Oeswalum.
At St Albans, the late eighteenth-
century woodland accountsv
demonstrate very active and
profitable woodland management
with some woods much reduced
(Pinners), moved (Beauchamps,
Chillenden) or eliminated (Tye,
the Frith) as examples.
The two areas of woodland in the
parish classified as ‘ancient’ are
Rubberies Wood and Pinners Wood.
The only woodland identified in
Domesday is associated with the
manor of Eswalt (later St Albans)
and the Abbey Rent Roll of 1378/9vi
lists Pinners Wood for coppicing.
The 1629 Estate Map of St Albans
includes it, so probable Pinners
was the Domesday wood. Pinners
Woods are much diminished by
later felling, and the cleared land
is now arable, suggesting that the
wood was there for reasons other
than that the land was poor or
uncultivateable. Rubberies Wood
is also now diminished in area and,
in part, is under the Snowdown
colliery tip with Bromfield Wood
and now seems to have few ancient
trees. References in sixteenth-
century records suggest extensive
agricultural land there, which may
also have varied in size over time.

Winter 2023 | 49
Older woods which are in fifteenth Left
and sixteenth-century sale and Fig 2: Sir John de Beauchamp
lease records but grubbed up in in the Bruges Garter Book
the 1960s are Tye Wood, which
was connected to Easole by
the Butchers Alley sheerway vii
and the Frith, which formed the
Southeastern manorial boundary
with Kittington, part of the manor
of Wingham. Only one large Holm
Oak remains of the Frith and
field walking has yielded a very
light scatter of worked flint.

Thus, areas of woodland come and

go or are relocated. Beauchamps
Wood takes its present location
and shape only in the nineteenth
century. Ruins Field was planted
with Sweet Chestnut in the
nineteenth century and was taken
down in 1940. William Oxenden
Hammond planted extensive
groves and copses around his new
Of tree species, elm was side. On either side lie open
mansion on the ground, which was,
widespread before the advent of fields, notably the Ruins Field
it is assumed from the maps we
Elm disease and still struggles to to the northeast, so-called from
have, at least free of trees from at
return in many hedgerows. Beech the ruins documented there.
least 1629. Most remain, but not
stands were quite common in the
all, and the changes reflect areas
eighteenth century, and there is Beauchamps Laneviii runs
cleared in the twentieth century
extensive Linden (Tilia) planting southeastwards through the Anglo-
for more efficient cultivation and
in Fredville Park, although it has Saxon hamlet of Easole and then
occupation. Chillenden Wood was
diminished elsewhere. Oak is as a bridle path and lane as far as
felled in 1750 but reappeared in the
widespread, the most famous the Roman road at Elvington. North
nineteenth century as Gooseberry
being Fredville Oak, but there are Westwards, it drops quickly down
Hall Wood, a coppicing wood in a
some notable Holm Oaks as well. to a junction with the Anglo-Saxon
slightly different position. Copses,
Chestnut is also widespread and road, which ran from Lyminge to
plantations, shaws, stands and
extensively used for fencing and Minster and, in earlier times, over
clumps appear on maps and
supporting hops from woodland and onto Canterbury via Adisham.
records and go without apparent
accounts. Most woodland was Initially, Beauchamps Wood also
reason other than a land purpose
specifically and (from the St Albans extended to that point, making it
or owner change. Names change
records) profitably worked and 5 acres (2.06 hectares) in area.
often over a short period. Hop
coppiced, Pinners Wood from
Ground Carvel, for example, was
medieval times although not now. The name Beauchamps, we believe,
Stewarts Shaw in 1839, Butchers
Ash is plentiful, as is sycamore, can only have come from the
Shaw in 1859, and Bluebell Wood
which is seen as a weed, although occupation of part of what is now
in the 1950s. Older names are
the disease is a threat to oak, the wood as well as substantial
about woodland – Fredville (frith vil),
chestnut, and ash are forcing lands to the Northeast by Sir John
Acholt (oak wood) – and there are
a reappraisal. Hazel, birch and de Beauchamp (Fig. 2), the younger
numerous shaves and shaws (strips
pine are common, and yew, holly, brother of the Earl of Warwick.
of woodland) as well as carvetts
maple and paulonia grow well. Sir John was the bearer of the
or carvels (thick hedging not quite
This is friendly ground for trees. Royal Standard at Crecy, with
a shave) – Bonington and Mount
the Black Prince one of the first
Ephraim Shaves, Stewarts Shaw,
Therefore, Beauchamps Wood is members of the Order of the Garter,
the High carvel. Some are the relics
typical of Nonington woodland, sometime Governor of Dover Castle,
of cleared woodland, e.g., Pinners
reflecting the pattern over time in Constable of the Tower of London,
Shave; some may represent late
this part of Kent. As we shall see, Warden of the Cinq Ports and in
seventeenth and early eighteenth-
it is distinguished by its name, the mid-1300s, Captain of Calais
century enclosure boundaries, and
not by position or content. and Admiral of all the fleets.ix A
others were planted to facilitate
successful soldier and administrator,
game shooting and drawing for
Beauchamps Wood is half-moon his roles would have required an
foxes. In the family diary in 1810,
shaped and now approximately intelligence network across Europe,
William Hammond refers to grouse
3.85 acres (1.6 hectares) of and the assumption is that his
habitat, and there was a pack of
deciduous woodland flanking agents warned him of the arrival
hounds at St Albans Court until
Beauchamps Lane on the northeast and fatal consequences of what
the early twentieth century.

50 | Kent Archaeological Society

became known as the Black Death
in Southern Europe in 1348 for
those living in urban concentrations.
We believe he moved his
headquarters to this country retreat,
equidistant from the ports of
Sandwich, Dover and Canterbury,
isolated from urban development
but with excellent communications.
He rebuilt an existing manor
house and levelled a large area,
providing a yard with a flint and
gravel surface and sufficient
buildings to house his escort and
headquarters staff. The Dover
Archaeological Group excavated
the house, a dovecot denoting his
status, perhaps stables and other
former buildings, and part of an
extensive yard. This archaeological
work is still very much in progress.x
The land we are talking about
here has a long, well-documented
history.xi Before the 800s, it was an
estate called Oeswalum. Perhaps
no more than 1200 acresxii in
size, it was jointly owned by one
of Offa’s Thegns and his sister,
Abbess of the Royal monastic
foundations of Lyminge and
Minster. After some well-recorded
disputes and court cases, the
land re-emerges in Domesday as
estates called Esswelle, Eswalt
and possibly Soles, all belonging
to the Crown. Only Eswalt is
recorded with woodland, believed
to be what is now called Pinners
Wood, and to the Northwest.xiii
The piece of land on which John
built was rented from a consortiumxiv
of John Colkyn, the Abbot of St
Albans, Edmund de Acholt and
Ricard de Retlyng, who had secured
it after a long and complicated
history of land dealings. It was
part of Esswelle, the overlordship
of which belonged to the de Say
family. At the Conquest, all the
divided Oeswalum, Soles, Esswelle
and Eswalt had been given with
hundreds of other estates to Bishop
Odo of Bayeux, who forfeited
them after his second rebellion
against his brother. Esswelle
was then awarded to the much
respected Gilbert Maminot, Bishop
of Lisieux,xv who was overfond
of hunting and hawking but a
close advisor to William himself.
After Maminot’s death, it passed
eventually by inheritance to the
Above
Map 3: Estate map of the
lands of Hammond 1629
de Say family, and much later, Sir
John de Beauchamp’s sister was
Maude the Dowager Lady de Say,
from whom he directly rented
other adjoining parts of Esswelle.
Why then did he choose to rebuild
on this spot? He was familiar
with the location and its access
because he was already renting
land here, but the specific reason
may be that it was on a headland,
the most prominent point for any
approach from every direction
other than the southeast. His new
dovecotxvi signaled his importance,
and effectively, the site commanded
most of the approaches.
One other part of Oeswalum,
Eswalt, the Albini familyxvii was
awarded in place of Odo. They
then gave it to the Abbey of
St Albans in 1086 as part of
a recapitalisation of the near-
bankrupt royal foundation brokered
by Archbishop Lanfranc. As part
of a consortium, the Abbot later
added to the original acquisition by
securing part of the Knight’s fee
of the adjoining estate of Esswelle
in 1346. The overlordship of this
portion remained, of course, with
the de Says, and Sir John became
the tenant. He may already have
been renting other landxviii from the
Abbot’s directly adjoining estate
of Eswalt and already held further
land to the South and Southwest
from his sister. This did not include
Soles, which was in different hands
and not associated with our story.
However, as one would expect, the
local population knew the body of
the estate not by its Anglo-Saxon
name but as St Albans after the
Abbey and the land in the vicinity
of what is now the wood, as well as
the road that flanked it, acquired
the name of Beauchamps for
which there is no antecedent in the
extensive documentary records
other than the reputation and fame
of Sir John de Beauchamp. The
first documented use of the name
for the land we found is in 1484, but
we suspect we may find it earlier.
Sir John himself survived the
first wave of the Black Death, but
he succumbed to the second in
1360xix in Calais and the estate
was purchased by another soldier
but one of some notoriety as well
as accomplishment, Sir John
Harlestonxx who seems to have
sold it, possibly to provide ready
cash after his ransom, to a family of
Mercers, the Quadryngsxxi in 1400.
They occupied the house and, very
close to it, seem to have built a
series of storage buildings for their
cloths and silks, the site still offering
the same geographical transport
advantages with Sandwich, Dover,
Canterbury and beyond, which had
attracted Sir John de Beauchamp.
However, it seems unlikely they
would have had much use for Sir
John’s extensive yard or much of
the building around it. The evidence
so far is that these more isolated
buildings were probably dismantled,
Winter 2023 | 51
perhaps to provide the materials
for the storehouses for cloths
and silks, and then built close to
the main building on the site.

Their descendants, in turn, disposed

of the property around 1500, and
it was acquired by Sir Thomas
Hammond (d.1569) in 1551 as an
adjunct to the monastic estate,
which had become St Albans
Courtxxii after the dissolution of
the monasteries in 1539. It is
from the Hammond estate we
have the first estate map in 1629.
xxiii
This is damaged, particularly
in the area where Beauchamps
Wood is now, but we do have a
copy made by the Kent historian
Gordon Ward in 1935.xxiv

Ward adds his embellishments, but

it seems to be mostly an accurate
copy compared to much of the
original map. An area of land east
of Beauchamps Lane is called
Beauchamps and leads up to the
manor house of St Albans Court.
What is drawn contains trees
compared with open ground, but it
is nothing like the intensity of what
are orchards or even an avenue of
trees shown elsewhere on the map.

The archaeological evidence within

the area of what is now the wood
has so far identified a large long
disused chalk quarry, possibly
as early as Anglo-Saxon, several
land boundaries of mound and
ditch, the fourteenth-century yard
and some associated buildings
of Sir John de Beauchamp and
then of the Quadryngs, all of
which indicate that the land was
open and not wooded. In the late
1500s, the house was tenanted
by a Hammond employeexxv and
an Inventory of 1612xxvi shows
few artefacts of value. The listing
of cattle and sheep indicates
grazing land. However, excavation
in the present wood has revealed
scatters of sixteenth to eighteenth-
century pottery, implying a level of
domestic occupation not suggested
by the estate map or the written
records. None of the excavations
so far have provided evidence of
ploughing, and the closeness of
chalk beds and runs of flinty gravel
to the surface explains why.
However, the south end of the
present wood contains a visible
mound and ditch extending out Top
into the Ruins Field, where it Map 4: OS 1-inch to 1-mile 1801, based
becomes a reverse lynchet. This on Ordnance Survey mapping with
the permission of the Controller of His
was a boundary to land belonging
Majesty’s Stationery Office. © Crown
to the Abbey, and a 1501 Rent roll Copyright License No AL100021009
shows it as let as third-rate arable. Bottom
xxvii
This proximity to the St Alban’s Map 5: Estate map of St
Court manor house suggests that Albans Court 1814
by 1556, it had been acquired by
the Hammonds and has continued
to be cultivated until modern times
since it was treated as pasture.
In summary, all the available
evidence suggests that at least until
the mid-1600s, the land on which
Beauchamps Wood now stands
was open ground, with a scatter of
trees and with the large, abandoned
chalk quarry to the South eroded
to the point of being only a shallow
dip. The northwest end of the area
may have had a few more trees,
but the large flint and gravelled
yard still meant few trees and just
pasture cover. There was a roadway
across it from the buildings in Ruins
Field to Beauchamps Lane, but it
was a track not worthy of record
in 1629. However, archaeological

52 | Kent Archaeological Society

evidence shows that it improved
later in the century. The amount of
pottery through the ages scattered
across the site suggests there may
be more buildings to discover.xxviii

The 1790s saw a radical change. In

1790, William Hammond (1752-1821)
notes in his family history the money
he laid out to expand and ornament
his “House and Place about,” now
Old St Albans Court. This involved
adding bays to the front of the
house, installing extensive water
and drainage works, greenhouses in
his walled garden, and rationalising
the parkland around the home.
The volume in which he wrote
this and other narratives, as did
his successors, was initially used
to record aspects of the estate
income from as early as 1782 to as
late as 1821. This includes some
detailed woodland accounts and,
of relevance, an entry concerning
“the taking down of Beauchamps
Wood” with felling commencing
on12 October 1798 with a resulting
sale income of £301-5s-3d (then
equivalent to purchasing 60
cows or c.2000 days of a skilled
tradesman; c.£27,000 in 2021).

The woodland referred to seems

from Hammond’s account and
almost contemporary maps to have
been in the North and Northwest of
the area. Hammond thriftily wrote
his family history on the other side
of the pages of accounts. In 1797,
Captain William Mudge of the Royal
Artillery received a surveyor’s
draft map of our area, published
in 1801 (Map 4) as the first edition
of the Ordnance Survey 1” to the
mile maps. From this, it was clear
that in 1797, the southeast end of
what is now Beauchamps Wood
was still clear of trees but that the
area identified in the 1629 map
as Beauchamps from St Albans
Court to Beauchamps Lane and
bounded by the old Anglo-Saxon
Road to the north is now wooded.
Boteler tells Hasted in 1789xxix that
Hammond referred to the grove
behind his house, which contained
ruins. The 1801 map shows
extensive woodland across the
area, but Hammond’s use of Grove
suggests something less intensive.
An estate map of 1814 (Map 5)
confirms what most probably
occurred in 1798. The outline of
the new Beauchamps Wood is Top
delineated and divided from the Map 6: Ordnance Survey 6” to the mile
land to the east by a ditch. The 1863 - based on Ordnance Survey
mapping with the permission of the
outline is unchanged on the Tithe
Controller of His Majesty’s Stationery
maps of 1839 and 1859 and the Office. © Crown Copyright License No
6-inch to the mile Ordnance Survey AL100021009
map of 1863 (Map 6). This latter Bottom
is the most interesting because Map 7: Ordnance Survey 25” to the mile
it shows the Anglo-Saxon road 1896 based on Ordnance Survey mapping
proceeding from the bottom of with the permission of the Controller of
His Majesty’s Stationery Office. © Crown
Beauchamps Lane Eastwards past
Copyright License No AL100021009
the site of what will be the yet-to-
be-commissioned new St Albans
Court, and how this is flanked by
a line of trees, reportedly elms.xxx
Archaeological excavationsxxxi
in three places confirmed the
presence of the low bank and
ditch along the eastern side
dividing the wood from Ruins Field,
which is clearly shown here. The
ditch was dug straight through
the foundations of a rectangular
building, possibly Sir John de
Beauchamp’s dovecot, and through
his yard, which projected into what
is now a field. On Google Earth,
the line continued to the junction of
Beauchamps Lane and the ancient
Anglo-Saxon road. However, the

Winter 2023 | 53
25-inch Ordnance Survey map of
1896-7 (Map 7) shows the area of
Beauchamp’s woodland reduced
to its present size by the removal
of the woodland at the northwest
end and the new line of the wood
again marked by a still visible ditch.
Although both William Osmund
Hammond (1790-1863) and William
Oxenden Hammond (1817-1903)
refer to various plantings of the
area in their Family History, this
change is not mentioned.
Nor is the removal of the Southern
tip of the wood where William
Oxenden Hammond commissioned
his architect George Devey to build
a pair of cottages in the 1860s
in Easole, part of an extensive
programme of cottage building on
the estate. The evidence within
Beauchamps Wood itself is that
it was planted for coppicing, and
the written records suggest that
this was part of the 1798 wider
park improvements by William
Hammond. This is supported by
a detailed survey of the wood
done in 2010 showing the older
coppicing stools and the planting
across the former chalk quarry and
Sir John de Beauchamp’s yard.
So, here we have it, not untypical
of Kent – an ancient site, an old
and famous name, but a modern
addition to the landscape.
54 | Kent Archaeological Society
FOOTNOTES
i
 veritt, Alan, 1986, Continuity
E ix
and colonization: the evolution
of Kentish settlement
(Leicester University Press),
Pts. 1, 2, 3 Woodland.
ii
The detail of this around Nonington
is explored by Jane Andrews in her
1991 University of Kent thesis Land,
family and community in Wingham
and its environs: an economic and
social history of rural society in
East Kent from c. 1450- 1640.
iii
Kent Landscape
Information System.
iv
Sarris, P., 2021, ‘New approaches
to the Plague of Justinian’, Past
and present, 254, pages 315-366.
v
A vellum bound notebook
headed MSS Family Histories.
It was commenced by William
Hammond in the 1800s and
continued by his successors until
the death of William Oxenden
Hammond in 1903. It was in the
possession of Mrs Peta Binney,
the eldest granddaughter of
Mrs Selina Hammond, the last
of the Hammonds to live in the
ancestral home. A transcript was
made but the whereabouts of
the original is now unknown.
vi
British Library, MS
Harley 602, fol. 24
vi
This is probably identified as a
sheerway (shireway) in the 1501
Rent Roll of the Abbot of St
Albans as transcribed by Dr F.
W. Hardman (Maidstone: Kent
Archaeological Society Library).
It would therefore not be part of
the King’s Highway. It seems to
form a boundary with the Fredville
Manor (now Fredville Park) and
lead from Easole Manor House
to the Esole manorial grazing
land and onto the Manor of
Elvington (Elinton). Archaeological
evidence from recent excavations
of land boundaries within the
wood and their relationship to
Beauchamps Lane suggests that
the roadway is early in date.
viii
 ent Roll of the Abbot of
R Court Nonington’, Archaeologia
St Albans. Op. cit.
 uval Noah Harari, 2007, ‘For a
Y
sack-full of Gold Ecus : Calais
1350’, in Y. N. Harari (ed.), Special
Operations in the Age of Chivalry
1100-1550 (Boydell Press), p.
109-124; James Bothwell, 2004,
Edward III and the English Peerage:
Royal Patronage, Social Mobility,
and Political Control in Fourteenth-
century England (Boydell Press),
p. 97; National Archives, 2017,
Trafalgar Ancestors : Glossary
https://www.nationalarchives.
gov.uk/help/trafalgarancestors/
glossary.htm (viewed 25 July 2022
Portrait is 10 in William Bruges’
Garter Book, 1430-40, Stowe MS
594 (London: British Library)
x
The Dover Archaeological Group
was founded by Keith Parfitt in
1972. Work on the Nonington
Landscape Project was started
in1996. There are numbers of
published articles on Old St
Albans Court and Anglo-Saxon
graves with much more waiting,
and an account on the Nonington
Village Website: Nonington, a
Small Place in East Kent’s History,
https://www.nonington.org.
uk/ (viewed 25 July 2022). Keith
Parfitt is a senior manager at the
Canterbury Archaeological Trust.
The remnants of the house are
in the cartouche at the bottom of
Map 5 and were still recognisable
in the mid-1900s. The window and
door surrounds were of masonry
and the archaeological evidence
is of a tiled roof and glassed
windows. There is of course no
archaeological evidence that Sir
John himself was ever here, but
neither is there any archaeological
evidence that the Hammonds
spent over five hundred years at
St Albans Court or indeed were
ever there at all. What we have
are records saying this was the
case and archaeology which
provides physical evidence to
support the proposition that
....somebody.... was there.
xi
 eter Hobbs, 2022, ‘Anglo-
P
Saxon Nuns and Nonington’ KAS
Newsletter 117, p. 10-15; Peter
Hobbs, 2005, ‘Old St Albans
Cantiana 125, p. 273-77.
xii
If it included the Soles tithin,
it might be more than 1500
acres, still modest by the
standards of the time.
xiii
Several place names within
Esswelle suggest woodland or
wetlands which may have not
been good agricultural land.
xiv
Inquisitions and Assessments
relating to Feudal Aids, with
other analogous documents
preserved in the Public Records
Office, AD 1284-1431. Volume
3: Kent, 1346. H.M.S.O., 1904.
xv
K . S. B. Keats-Rohan, 1999,
Domesday People (Boydell
Press), p. 212-13; Orderic Vitalis,
The Ecclesiastical History of
England and Normandy, Thomas
Forester (ed.), Bohn, 1854, Vol.
2, p. 121, 402; Vol. 3, p. 62, 287.
xvi
Clive Webb and Peter Hobbs,
2019, ‘Esole Manor Dovecote,
Nonington’, Nonington, a Small
Place in East Kent’s History
(website), https://www.
nonington.org.uk/the-esole-
manor-dovecote-nonington-
new-discoveries-with-picture-
gallery-revised-5-8-19/
(viewed 25 July 2022)
xvii
Peter Hobbs, 2005, ‘Old St
Albans Court Nonington’,
Archaeologia Cantiana 125, p. 275.
xviii
Clive Webb, 2019, ‘Sir John
de Beauchamp’, Nonington,
a Small Place in East Kent’s
History (website), https://www.
nonington.org.uk/the-fredville-
estate/sir-john-de-beauchamp-2
(viewed 25 July 2022)
xix
 alendar of Inquisitions
C capacity for the stock recorded
Post Mortem on John de
Beauchamp 1360-61, No. 628,
p. 493-5 December-March.
xx
Clive Webb, ‘Sir John Harleston
at Esol and Freydvill’ in Nonington’,
Nonington, a Small Place in
East Kent’s History (website),
https://www.nonington.org.
uk/the-fredville-estate/sir-
john-harleston-esol-freydvill/
(viewed 25 July 2022)
xxi
Clive Webb, 2017, ‘The Quadryng xxviii
The earliest building so far
family at Fredeuyl and Esol’, excavated dates back perhaps
Nonington, a Small Place in to c1300 but the earlier land
East Kent’s History (website), records refer to messuages
https://www.nonington. on the site – but a messuage
org.uk/the-fredville-estate/ can be anything from a
the-quadryng-family-at- wooden hut to a palace and
fredeuyle-and-beauchamp/ have yet to be located.
(viewed 25 July 2022)
xxix
Canterbury Cathedral Archives
xxii
 eter Hobbs, 2005, ‘Old St
P CCA-U11/433/289. Boteler to
Albans Court Nonington’, Hasted, 7 September 1789.
Archaeologia Cantiana 125, p. 275.
xxx
Personal communication by Ian
xxiii
 state map of St Albans Court.
E Sayer, the last Head Groundsman
Maidstone: Kent History & at Nonington College whose
Library Centre. U442 P30, c. relatives had been Head
1650 (Gordon Ward Collection) Gardeners on the St Alban’s
estate in earlier centuries.
xxiv
Kent Archaeological Society
Library, Maidstone xxxi
The survey was completed in
2013 by Richard Hoskins and
xxv
“Edward Bridges (my he with Mary Hoskins also had
servant)” of Beachams carried out a survey of the
Farm was left 20 shillings in plant population in 2012. This
Edward Hammond’s will. was combined with a further
survey done in 2022 by Lesley
xxvi
 robate Inventory of Edward
P Smith which also captured
Hammond esq. of Nonington. changes after coppicing. There
Maidstone: Kent History & are some indicators of Ancient
Library Centre. PRC 28/9 folios Woodland but, correctly,
238-239, 23rd September 1616. insufficient to be significant.
“At Brewchamps a yoking tun,
ostcloth, tenant saw, mattock, xxxi
William Oxenden Hammond
moulestaff, pitchfork. 12 kine, records that by 1890, he had
1 bull, 24 ewes & other sheep, brought his Park up to about 200
9 hogges, ducks, geese. 4 acres including planting trees
chamber pots, saddles, marking on the Ruins Field, which work
iron.” The moulestaffe suggests he had commenced in 1863.
moles were as prevalent then
on site as they are now. The
stock would have required water
which means a source we have
not found. This would have
applied equally to earlier site
occupants. Although there is
evidence of a small pond on the
site, it would not have had the
here and current experience
suggests it would have dried up
before September in the hot and
exposed conditions on site.
xxvii
 ent Roll of the Abbot
R
of St Albans. Op. cit.
Winter 2023 | 55
THE FIRST 30 YEARS OF THE ALLEN
GROVE LOCAL HISTORY FUND
In the past three decades, what
has linked the following?
• a variety of community exhibitions and publication of
accompanying booklets

• recording of oral history contributions

• preservation of photographic glass negatives

• materials costs for a local history society to produce

a community survey for the Millennium

• compilation of a brickmakers index

• purchase of a camera to assist and share in the visual

recording of an archive through media

They are all projects that benefitted from the Allen

Grove Local History Fund.
Allen Grove, 1910–1990

Next year (2024) marks the 30th

anniversary of the awards!
Records indicate the first awards were made in 1994,
so over the past thirty years and as the list above hints,
over 140 different projects have been supported. This
richly varied and impressive achievement was made
possible due to a fund set up through a generous
legacy of a former Society president, Allen Grove,
shown right.
In 1948, L R Allen Grove was appointed Curator and
Librarian of Maidstone Museum, a post he held until
retirement in 1975. He was President of the Kent
Archaeological Society 1986-1987 and, in a long and
distinguished career, was involved with numerous other
organisations, including the Society of Antiquarians.
Further guidance and application forms can
be downloaded from the Society website or
the Allen Grove Fund secretary
(Allengroveadmin@kentarchaeology.org.uk).
Please note that application forms that have been
signed and dated will only be considered, confirming
acceptance of the Terms and Conditions. The
window for submitting applications is from 1 June
to 30 September. As soon as practicable after 30
September deadline for applications, the committee
will meet to consider the applications received.
Grants are made once a year. The average grants
recently awarded have been in the region of £500.

Turn your project into reality with a grant from the

Allen Grove Local History Fund: we look forward to
Could your local history project or hearing from you!
interest be eligible for a grant?
Applications for a wide range of local history projects
are welcomed and encouraged from individuals,
groups or societies. In the case of applications
from groups or societies, the Fund Secretary will
communicate with the project leader named in the
application. Grants will NOT be made for excavation,
fieldwork or works of fiction. Separate applications for
grants for excavation and fieldwork should be made to
the Fieldwork Committee of the Society.

56 | Kent Archaeological Society