Obituaries, 2023

Duncan Harrington, F.S.A., F.S.G., L.H.G.

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 (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, [pg367]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.

Gerald Cramp

Dr Margaret Joan Sparks, M.A., F.S.A.

Margaret Sparks was born Margaret Joan Davy on 19th February 1930 in Blackheath, then in Kent, the only child of Christopher Humphrey and Winifred Evelyn Davy. The family moved to Bromley in 1932, and in due course Margaret attended Bromley High School. Books acquired during her teenage years show an early interest in historic buildings.

In 1949, Margaret went to the University of Oxford to study Greats (classical studies) as a student at St Anne’s Society (now College). She graduated in 1952, and the following year married the Revd Dr Hedley Frederick Davis Sparks (1908- 1996), then Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at Oxford. The couple lived in Oxford, moving in 1961 with three children to the nearby village of Wytham, when Hedley became the rector there. In 1965, Margaret published a guide to the parish and its church.

Family holidays were spent on the Romney Marsh, in a cottage at Littlestone- on-Sea. These seaside holidays included day trips to Canterbury, where Hedley had been at school, and where Margaret had visited with a church youth group in 1946. Thus, Canterbury began to play a part in family life. Margaret retained a great affection for the Romney Marsh and its churches. When Hedley died, he was buried in St Mary in the Marsh.

In 1968, the family moved to Canterbury, to London Road, with Hedley remaining in Oxford during termtime. Shortly after his retirement in 1976, they moved to their house in Longport, opposite St Augustine’s Abbey, where Margaret lived for some 40 years. Upon arrival in Canterbury, Margaret became involved in local societies and organisations, and her work on the history of the area began. She worked with Kinn McIntosh on researching the local histories of Fordwich and nearby villages, resulting in several publications. She also contributed to other local history publications, including a history of the parish of St Martin and St Paul, Canterbury. Margaret joined the Kent Archaeological Society in 1973, and in 1974 wrote an article on the Deanery at Chartham for Archaeologia Cantiana. She wrote four more significant articles in the following decades, and also acted as an academic referee for the editor.

[pg368]

Margaret worked with the Canterbury Archaeological Trust from its inception in 1975, first with its director Tim Tatton-Brown and then with his successor Paul Bennett. Over her long association with CAT, she wrote documentary studies to inform archaeological excavations and contributed numerous articles to its publications. Projects in which she was closely involved included Canterbury Castle and St Gregory’s Priory. Hedley assisted by reading proofs. Margaret co- edited and contributed to the 1997 publication of the cathedral nave excavations. She also contributed to a King’s School pamphlet on the Blackfriars and the English Heritage book on St Augustine’s Abbey (1997).

The 1980s saw the inception of a project to produce a volume on the history of the Canterbury Cathedral, and Margaret was involved from the beginning, becoming secretary to the project and a co-editor. The resulting major publication, A History of Canterbury Cathedral, was produced in 1995, to great acclaim. Margaret contributed a chapter on the King’s School. She was closely involved in events to mark the millennium of St Dunstan in 1988, including a major exhibition and academic conference. She later co-edited the publication of the conference proceedings. The year 1997 saw her involvement in commemorations at Canterbury of the 1400th anniversary of the arrival of St Augustine. Her work forged many friendships, and collaborators and scholars were welcomed to 14 Longport for meals around the kitchen table.

Margaret became Canterbury Cathedral’s Consultant or Honorary Historian. In this role, she carried out desktop documentary surveys to inform various building and conservation projects, including the building of the International Study Centre, now the Cathedral Lodge. In 2007, she used much of this research in her publication Canterbury Cathedral Precincts: A Historical Survey. For many decades, she was involved in the training of cathedral guides, and 2014 saw the private publication of The Handbook for Cathedral Guides. She was co-editor of the Cathedral Friends’ Chronicle for a long period and contributed numerous important articles to it.

Margaret worked on the history, buildings, and archaeology of Canterbury for nearly half a century. She had an extraordinary and unsurpassed ability to read and interpret buildings and archaeology. This was paired with an exceptionally strong understanding of the primary sources for research. Her scholarly achievements and legacy are extraordinary, but she was unassuming and modest as a scholar. Her writing style was clear and straight-forward. She was a strong advocate of keeping to the facts and could be critical of conclusions which she judged had insufficient foundations. She was exceptionally generous with her time and her knowledge and was very supportive to those in earlier stages of their careers and scholarship. In 2005, Margaret was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Kent. In 2016, a symposium was held to mark her official retirement as Cathedral Historian, aged 86. Late in 2020, Margaret moved to Swanage in Dorset to be near her daughter, Mary. This is where she died, and her funeral was held at St George’s Church, Langton Matravers, on 16th November 2023. Following her wishes, her ashes are to be interred in the Cloister Garth of Canterbury Cathedral, a building she loved so much and understood so well.

Cressida Williams

[pg369]

Helen Clarke, B.A., Ph.D., F.S.A.

Born in August 1939, Dr Helen Clarke, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, sadly died in September 2023 in Pembury Hospital following a long battle first from serious heart problems and then cancer, both of which she had combated with great fortitude over several decades. Helen had a long and distinguished career as an archaeologist having completed her first degree in Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Birmingham before completing her doctorate at the University of Lund in Sweden where she participated in excavations on waterlogged sites in the medieval city centre. On her return to England, she continued her interest in port towns becoming Director of King’s Lynn Archaeological Survey and then joined the staff at University College London as a Senior Lecturer in Medieval Archaeology. There she continued her academic interest in the archaeology of medieval towns in the British Isles and north-west Europe, including publications such as The Archaeology of Medieval England (1984) and Towns in the Viking Age (1991).

However, in relation to Kent, it will be her work following retirement to Tunbridge Wells for which she will be most remembered, becoming a council member for CBA Southeast. She joined the Romney Marsh Research Trust as a committee member, and later as Chair, as well as being joint editor of Romney Marsh: Coastal and Landscape Change through the Ages (2002). She led a group of volunteers looking at ‘Small Ports’ in the area and contributed reports and articles to the Trust’s newsletter the Irregular over several years. Having worked with Sarah Pearson on Romney Marsh, they with Keith Parfitt and Mavis Mate completed a well-received multidisciplinary English Heritage-funded study entitled Sandwich, ‘the completest medieval town in England’ (2010).

Having worked with Keith Parfitt on Sandwich, they subsequently collaborated on that town’s medieval Carmelite friary, their first joint publication in Archaeologia Cantiana (2016) entitled ‘‘Scouring the Conduit Head at Woodnesborough’: Investigations into Convent Well, near Sandwich’. More recently she worked with Brendan Chester-Kadwell on Burnham Norton friary, including a chapter in his edited collection Burnham Norton Friary: Perspectives on the Carmelites in Norfolk (2019). Her interest in the medieval Carmelite friaries continued and in the last few years she has been involved in a project to investigate another of the order’s medieval houses at Lossenham. This project provided an opportunity for Helen to revisit her other area of expertise: medieval urban communities, although increasing ill health restricted her involvement, but she retained her interest and remained a member of the Lossenham History Group until her death.

Sheila Sweetinburgh