Badlesmere Bottom 2019 - Day 3
Day 3 on site and time to start digging in earnest (in very compact clay in actual fact!).
Badlesmere Bottom 2019 - Day 2
Much progress made by the KAS Project Team at Lees Court today.
Badlesmere Bottom 2019 - Day 1
Logistics day at Lees Court Estate for the first day of the Badlesmere Bottom excavations.
Community dig at Lullingstone
Volunteers needed for the upcoming community dig at Lullingstone Roman villa. Click here for details.
‘Fortress Maidstone’ by Clive Holden now available on Society website
Clive Holden’s report is the culmination of his two years research into the military history of Maidstone in the Second World War and the plans for its defence.
A gun for Slough Fort
Keith Gulvin provides an update on the restoration of Slough Fort, Allhallows.
General Gordon's Key?
Victor Smith highlights an iron key thought to have been used by Lt. Col. Charles G. Gordon (later General of Khartoum fame) during his stay at New Tavern Fort in Gravesend from 1865-71 when acting as Commanding Royal Engineer for the Thames District.
New Defence Project at Gravesend
With a study of Kent’s defences during the Great War submitted to the editor of Archaeologia Cantiana for publication and an historical overview of the 20th century defences of Thanet near completion, two research and publication projects by Victor Smith are scheduled to begin in 2016.
The artillery of the Great War anti-invasion defences of Swale
Volume 23 of the Journal of the Ordnance Society has been published including a pap“r The artillery of the Great War anti-invasion defences of the Swale area of Kent” by Alan Anstee.
Guns at Gravesend
New Tavern Fort (armed from the 1780s-1908) on Gravesend’s riverside displays a regionally important collection of 12 pieces of historic artillery.
Thanet Defences Project
Following a meeting with historians of Thanet’s military past, an assessment has begun of the available documentary sources to support a possible new project for an enhanced study of the defences of this council district.
Archcliffe exploding gun
Kyn of the Kent History Forum recounts the tale of the explosion of a 32-pounder smoothbore muzzle-loading gun mounted along the front of the battery of Archcliffe Fort on a Thursday evening of August 1860.
Preparing for Doomsday
The history and archaeology of a Cold War bunker at Gravesend: a research and reporting project.
Hope for a decaying Tudor Blockhouse at Gravesend?
Displayed in a fenced area in Royal Pier Road on Gravesend’s riverside are the brick and stone remains of one of a network of five cross-firing artillery blockhouses built by Henry VIII in 1539/40 to guard the river approaches to London.
A Fatal Fire at Milton Regis 1915
In February 1915 with large numbers of troops billeted in and around Sittingbourne the potential benefits of having troops in the area was demonstrated by the effects of a fire in King Street.
The Sad End of the Sergeant Major's Career
Alan R. Anstee reports on the trial, first seen in the 23rd January 1915 edition of the Kent Messenger, of John Murphy, alias Hugh Charles Caston a Royal Engineer Company Sergeant Major.
Fan Bay Deep Shelter
Fan Bay Deep Shelter is a system of underground tunnels located on the edge of Fan Hole on the White Cliffs. The shelter is located on the land which was purchased in the national appeal to buy the remaining section of the White Cliffs in 2012.
Volunteering opportunities at a number of Kent’s historic forts
There are volunteering opportunities at a number of Kent’s historic forts. These can be interestingly varied.
- Archaeology Research Group
- Boxley
- Broadstairs
- Chart Sutton
- Cold War
- Conservation
- Defences
- Detling
- Dover
- Gravesend
- Heritage
- Historic Buildings Research Group
- Iron Age
- Kent Defences Research Group
- Maritime
- Maritime Kent Research Group
- Medieval
- Military History
- Modern
- Place Names Research Group
- Ramsgate
- Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB)
- Swale