Kent Archaeological Society
Founded in 1857 to promote advances in knowledge of Kent’s past by fieldwork, documentary research and publication.
In a wonderful, adventurous year of Society firsts, 2024 sees the Kent Archaeology Society qualifying for archaeology’s answer to the UEFA Champions League.
Some exciting developments at #LCE2024 today as we have an in-situ dump of #flintknapping waste from the middle fill of of the ring ditch (Trench 7, South East Side)…
The diverse heritage groups in Faversham have joined together as Faversham Museums Together around the concept of a Heritage Hub to jointly develop a GIS-based platform to present the heritage of the town and that of the Faversham Hundred, reflecting the significance of Faversham’s rural hinterland and the sea.
An update by Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh on the Medieval Canterbury Weekend 2024, featured at the Centre for Kent History and Heritage blog of the Canterbury Christ Church University website.
Another good day on site at #LCE24 with the focus today being the northern ring ditch, second trench…
Work has been progressing well at #LCE24!
Both the ring ditch and the barrow ditch are being cleaned up and further explore by the hardworking volunteers…
The Society officially has its own branded van! The van allows the Society to bring equipment to site increasing the amount of tools we can use for volunteers, school visits, etc. It also saves us needing to hire expensive vans every season. Hopefully the new stickers will increase awareness of the county as we travel to sites, school visits and exhibitions.
An update by Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh featured at the Centre for Kent History and Heritage blog of the Canterbury Christ Church University website.
An update by Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh featured at the Centre for Kent History and Heritage blog of the Canterbury Christ Church University website.
The Isle of Thanet Archaeological Society (IOTAS) is pleased to announce that we have two exciting talks coming up in April and May.
The Kent Archaeological Society is resuming its investigation into the Prehistoric landscape at Lees Court Estate in 2024.
The archive of monographs, irregulars and documents of the Romney Marsh Research Trust (RMRT) are now available on the Society website.
Useful web links for reading and research on the rich history of maritime Kent.
The extended and updated Maison Dieu website now includes much more detailed information about the history of the building, including its many maritime links.
Dave Batchelor and Paul Damon of the Sandwich Medieval Trust give an update on a fascinating project to build a replica of a medieval ship.
Excavations of the 19th and 20th-century defenses of Chatham Dockyard at The Lower Lines, Brompton feature in a new Canterbury Archaeological Trust report by James Holman and Peter Kendall.
An interview with an archaeologist on the recent dig at Lees Court Estate near Badlesmere where seasonal excavations since 2018 have revealed clues to a prehistoric burial landscape.
Starting in the 2023 project season, the Kent Archaeological Society has begun to record excavations and collections with 3D photogrammetry and laser scanning. Models are made available online via the Sketchfab platform and the Society website.
Excavations for the 2023 project season will commence on Tuesday 11th April 2023 and end on Saturday 27th May 2023.
A talk by Professor K.R. Dark of Kings College London on 7th February 2023 entitled 'Mission to England: reinvestigating the origins of St. Augustine’s Abbey'.
A report on the first meeting of the Maritime Kent Special Interest Group held on 5th January 2023 at Chatham Dockyard.
On Thursday the 1st of December, 2022 Professor Michael Wood OBE, FSA, entertained members of the Kent Archaeological Society at Maidstone Museum with a live talk.
An exciting and interesting role of the editorship of the Society's journal Archaeologia Cantiana.
The Society is truly saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Fred Birkbeck shares news of upcoming publications resulting from prizes and Society events.
Chris Harman of the Capel Battery Preservation Group provides an update on a project to restore the remnants of the structures at Capel on the north of the Weald.
Ever wondered how to identify archaeology from the sky? Who knew that you could use your computer to scan the rural fields and valleys to spot potential archaeology that will tell you more about the landscape and heritage.
Dr Steve Willis, Vice President of the KAS and Senior Lecturer at the University of Kent delivered the latest Trustee Talk live on Teams on Tuesday 11th.
Latest headlines
Upcoming events
The Kent Archaeological Society is resuming its investigation into the Prehistoric landscape at Lees Court Estate in 2024.
CBA London is bringing together a range of speakers and topics for its biannual London Archaeological Forum this spring. The LAF is preceded by CBA London's short AGM.
The KAS AGM open to all Society Members will be taking place on the 18th May, with a 10am start at Maidstone Community Support Centre, 39-48 Marsham Street, Maidstone, ME14 1HH.
Kent Archaeological Society Curator Andy Ward has been invited by the Isle of Thanet Archaeological Society (IOTAS) to speak on the ongoing work on the Ozengell Anglo-Saxon Collection, purchased by the KAS in 2022 at auction.
The Orpington and District Archaeological Society (ODAS) will be giving guided tours of the foundations of a Romano-British Bathhouse from 11.00am to 12.30pm and 1.30 to 4pm.
An online talk by Thomas Booth, Senior Laboratory Research Scientist at Skoglund Lab Ancient Genomics Laboratory, on ancient DNA and what we have learned about Britain 15,000-2000 years ago.
The Orpington and District Archaeological Society will be opening its excavations at Scadbury Moated Manor to the public from 2pm to 5pm (last entry 4.30pm) on 14th & 15th September 2024.
An online talk by Andrew Mayfield, Community Archaeologist for Kent County Council and the Royal Parks at Greenwich, on the history of the site, the big dig over ten seasons and the work to further research and report on the former home of a Sheriff of Kent.
A full day conference organised by the KAS Maritime Kent Special Interest exploring the topic of Kent and shipbuilding will take place at Chatham Historic Dockyard in the autumn of 2024.
An online discussion with Dr Simon Elliott FSA about Septimius Severus, the great warrior emperor from North Africa who died in York in AD 211 after spending the last three years of his life trying to conquer the far north of Britain.
Latest Publications
Paul Tritton of the Kent Defence Research Group investigates how a Kent market town prepared to confront a Nazi invasion during Britain’s darkest Hour.
How can two hamlets, only one mile apart, vary so much? This became an intriguing question to the author who originally was researching just Upton and the family that owned and farmed the land around the hamlet of Upton in the parish of St Peter and between St Peter and Broadstairs in Thanet. Later, a second hamlet was discovered, Hollicondane in the parish of St Lawrence in Ramsgate, and the following is a report on both and their similarities and differences, mainly the latter.
A project initiated in March 2009 to transcribe the Wotton Survey and publish it online in order to make it available to researchers and also to enable those participating in the project to acquire, or improve, palaeography skills.
Paul Ashbee’s study explores the history of the many stones, grouped and isolated, which were at one time to be seen on the lower land skirting Great Tottington.
F. H. Panton adds to the work already published in Archaeologia Cantiana examining some aspects of City life, together with the influence of the Cathedral, Parliamentary affairs and the Military on the City.
Discussions on Roman, Bronze Age, and medieval sites, living standards in fifteenth-century Canterbury, and Kentish cartographic heritage.
Prehistoric ring-ditches in Ringlemere, life as artisans and traders in Canterbury, Anglo-Saxon settlements in Faversham, and more.
Gavelkind practices, archaeological research at Bigbury Camp, studies on magnate service under Edward III, and investigations into Roman and medieval sites across Kent.
Seventh-century grave openings, medieval buildings, and England's earliest Royal Coat of Arms, cross-Channel influences, Roman and Iron Age finds, ecclesiastical history, and local cultural heritage.
The Roman Villa at Minster in Thanet, prehistoric finds at Woodnesborough, Elizabethan and early Stuart Thanet, and the military pontoon bridge between Gravesend and Tilbury during the Great War, among others.
Medieval collegiate churches and Palaeolithic findings to architectural surveys and the role of local volunteers in archaeology.
Saxon history, Roman villas, medieval economy, and archaeological investigations.
Topics include Roman villas, causes of death in Ramsgate, and more.
Topics including Magna Carta, excavations, migration, and more.
Including excavations, historical trials, and book reviews.
Social identity in Kent, including excavations, medieval misericords, and reviews.
Studies on Bronze Age trade routes, Civil War experiences of a Royalist family, Elizabethan and Jacobean deer parks, 20th-century military and civil defences, and Roman occupation evidence. It also features archaeological surveys of Old Castle Scotney and Wotton, and discoveries of medieval corn-driers and Roman bronze vessels.
Social structure of New Romney, Canterbury's Romano-British cemeteries, the medieval decorated tile pavement at St Mary's Church, and the Kentish origins of Sir George Brown. Excavations at the Romano-British Cemetery, East Hill, Dartford, and the medieval hospital of St Mary The Blessed Virgin, Ospringe. Kent's 20th-century military and civil defences, the development of Tonbridge, and the Roman Villa at Minster in Thanet.
Roman features in Kent, Anglo-Saxon artifacts, the history of Kent's political and literary life, and investigations of various archaeological sites. It also explores the demise of the Kent Broadcloth Industry and the settlement patterns in the Iron Age and Romano-British periods.
The career of Richard Hope, a medieval site in Dover, the coinage of William I in Kent, prehistoric activity in Broadstairs, archaeological investigations in Sittingbourne, and the Roman Villa at Minster-in-Thanet. It also features interim reports on work by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust and reviews of various archaeological publications.
Articles on local history, excavations at various sites, the abolition of the slave trade, the Great Revolt of 1381, and more.
The Tanners of Wrotham Manor, the Medieval site at Well Wood, Aylesford, the poor of Otham and nearby parishes, archaeological investigations at Middle Stoke on the Hoo Peninsula, Charing Clocks, the Roman Villa at Minster in Thanet, and more.
Studies on Selling, Canterbury Police Station, the Dens of Benenden, Kingsmead Park, Cobham, Tonbridge, Penenden Heath Meeting, Jubilee Corner, Charing Clocks, Minster in Thanet, River Stour, Little Stour valley, St Albans Court, Thomas Becket, Rochester, Edward Dering, Walmer, and Wansunt Pit.
Rope making in Chatham, the Roman Villa at Minster-in-Thanet, Romanesque Churches in Rochester, Iron Manufacture in Tonbridge, and the religion of Sir Roger Twysden. It also features excavations at various sites in Kent, and a study on Dover's town defences in the late Middle Ages.
The Warren Farm Chamber, female inmates in East Kent hospitals, a multi-period site at Princes Road, Dartford, debt in the Cranbrook region in the late 17th century, Kent's earliest known aisled hall house, a Belgic-Early Roman site at Great Mongeham, the development of the park and gardens at Knole, railways and the community, a new Roman site at Rochester, the church in Medieval Greenwich, prehistoric activity in the Cray Valley, the Herries family and the building of St Julians, Underriver, and Romanesque fonts in Kent.
Roman Greenwich, Cobham Hall, violence in Kent (1460-1560), a Roman site at Home Farm, Eynsford, the population of Sandwich, food and drink for final journeys, Patrixbourne Church, a forgotten Kentish rebellion, excavations at Biggin Street, Dover, Faversham's role in the Armada, stone supply to Saxon Shore Forts, management of Dering Wood, supporting Canterbury hospitals, late Bronze Age features at Hoo St Werburgh, immigrant population in Kent, the Kentish Copperas industry, St Margaret in Kent, and a prehistoric site off Green Lane, Whitfield.
Studies on Roman shrines, burial practices, and archaeology. It also includes research on Kentish historic buildings like Westenhanger Castle and St Leonard's Tower.
The building stones of Rochester Cathedral Crypt, the origins of the Swale, the construction of the Sevenoaks Railway Tunnel, and the emergence of Edward Hasted as a historian of Kent. It also includes archaeological investigations at Sandwich Castle and a Roman occupation site at Dickson’s Corner, Worth.
Elizabethan JPs, Anglo-Saxon Eastry, and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
Examinations of Tonbridge Castle, St. Gregory's Priory, and an early Romano-British salt-working site.
The Sandwich to Dover Turnpike, Canterbury Cathedral's Audit House Fire, and medieval market establishment.
Roof-tiling development, Romney Marsh, Tonbridge Castle, and 17th-century trade tokens.
Quakerism, witchcraft, and Romano-British Villa excavations.
Honoring past members, exploring Kent's archaeological sites, and showcasing heritage discoveries.
Available now to Society Members.
WWII secrets, medieval graffiti, archaeological digs & heritage events.
Ancient sites, medieval animals, Dickens, Tudor and Roman finds, and more.
Tributes, archaeological updates, ancient customs, and society news, alongside regular columns and notices.
Gunther Plüschow's 1915 escape, Fagg legacy, Anglo-Saxon nuns, Kent's hidden airfields, SPAB, & more.
Historical sites, Cold War survival, significant discoveries, and the Queen’s Award presentation to HRGS.
Archaeology, local history, research updates, the New Romney Disaster, and an interview with Hugh Dennis.
Archaeology, history, conservation, society updates, and student engagement in Kent's rich heritage.
World War conflicts, Alcock & Brown, COVID-19 updates & more.
2019's archaeological digs, Roman villa studies, Anglo-Saxon burials research, and local history.
History and archaeology from medieval gardens to WWII symbols, plus regular updates and reviews.
Rocket excavation, local history funds, untapped literary heritage, and archaeological digs.
Explores archaeological finds, estate updates, surveys, policy discussions, and community insights.
Projects, grants, membership, events, historical insights, and an interview with Andrew Mayfield.
From ancient hoards & landscapes to modern discoveries & events in Kent.
Scholarships, digital collections, society news, events, Hasted Prize, Gravesend Bunker, heraldry, grants, medieval tiles study.
From ancient hoards & landscapes to modern discoveries & events in Kent.
Insightful updates on Kent's archaeology, heritage preservation, upcoming events, and latest research findings.
Excavations, historical insights, grants, events, and society updates enrich Kent's archaeological scene.
Unveiling Kent's past from Sevenoaks gardens to Northfleet's bear pit, plus research insights and volunteer calls.
Slough Fort, Owl Club tales, Hardman's Nonington research, and Kent's rich archaeological updates.
AGM updates, project insights, and archaeological discoveries.
Caesar's incursions, Iron Age helmet, Anglo-Saxon collection, community archaeology, and local history insights.
Discoveries of a Norman Castle, Roman lead scroll, Dutch Gables, Mesolithic sites, society news, and events.
Dutch Gables in Kent, archaeological discoveries, historic buildings, and society updates.
AGM details, Iron Age at Folkestone Villa, medieval Kent insights, and major Bronze Age finds.
Davington Mysteries, Stockbury IA Furnaces, updates from the Churches Committee and more.
Medway Gap & Roman Thanet spotlight, Boxley Warren history, Kent's archaeological updates, events, and books.
Archaeological finds, local heritage projects, and events enriching our understanding of history.
About the KAS
The Society’s interests include all aspects of the human past in the historic County of Kent, including the the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham lost to London since the Society's founding.
The Society encourages local groups to remain active in fieldwork as well as historical and desk-based research, and makes grants, organises events, publications, lectures and training excavations. The Society also promotes education and the study of history and archaeology in schools and encourages people of all ages to take an interest in the subject. The Society also administers, funds and distributes grants, bursaries and prizes in support of initiatives and projects which meet our core value of bringing the past to the present for everyone.
Library & Archive
Members can access the open shelves in the Society Library at any time while non-members can use the library by arrangement. Please email the Archivist to arrange a suitable time. Our material is mostly held on open shelves and locked cupboards within the library but some of the archival material is held in deposit at the Kent History and Library Centre. It can be accessed on their premises.
Students
Starting in 2024, our fund will be available to all full-time student members to help cover expenses and costs during your study period. Contact our Student Ambassadors Alex Read at the University of Kent and Grace Conium at Canterbury Christ Church University to learn more about how the Student Fund can support your academic journey.
The Society provides a unique opportunity for volunteers to help conserve, curate, and digitise valuable documents and artefacts from all over Kent. With your help, we can ensure that these treasures are protected for future generations. We would love to hear from you if you're interested in getting involved in an ongoing project or developing your dissertation project.
Follow the Society
Patrons
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The Viscount De L’Isle
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Professor David Killingray
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Mr A. I. Moffat
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Mr C. R. Pout
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The Countess Sondes
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Dr J. Whyman
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Professor Sir Robert Worcester
Management Team
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Dr Richard Taylor
GENERAL MANAGER
Responsible for the overall management of the Society’s daily operations, point of contact for the Board of Trustees and all key partnerships with external bodies, including fundraisers and grant-giving bodies.
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Rebecca Fletcher
DEPUTY MANAGER
Responsible for financial operations, the VeryConnect Management system, and Line Manager to the Management Team.
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Ann Watson
ADMINISTRATION MANAGER
Responsible for membership administration, conference and events planning and external enquiries.
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Craig Campbell
SOCIETY ARCHIVIST
Responsible for the care, management and interpretation of the Society’s document collections and Society Library.
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Jason Mazzochi
ARCHAEOLOGIA CANTIANA EDITOR
Responsible for the annual production of Archaeologia Cantiana.
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Jacob Scott
DIGITAL MANAGER
Responsible for the development and production of the Society website.
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Brie Thomas
FINANCE MANAGER
Responsible for the daily management of the Society’s finances.
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Andy Ward
SOCIETY CURATOR
Responsible for the care, management and interpretation of the Society’s object collections.