Notes on the contributors
Phil Andrews, B.SC., F.S.A., MCIFA.: has been a professional archaeologist for 50 years, undertaking a wide range of projects both in Britain and abroad. Leading extensive work at Springhead from 1997 in advance of HS1, he was involved in the major excavations in the Ebbsfleet Vallet that followed and their subsequent publication. Elsewhere in Kent, the ‘other’ Ebbsfleet – in Thanet – has also been the subject of more recent large-scale excavation and publication.
Margaret Bolton is a freelance researcher specialising in early modern demographics and epidemiology. She is currently working on the life of Anne Boleyn.
Mike Bolton, M.B.E., B.A.: read History at Lancaster University. Mike taught history at Sevenoaks School. Since retiring he has published a history of Sevenoaks School and also a history of the Sevenoaks Almshouses, of which he is Chairman of the Trustees. He is currently researching the implementation of the New Poor Law in Kent.
Michael Charlton: is a lecturer in archaeomaterials at the UCL Institute of Archaeology and manager of its Wolfson Archaeological Science Laboratories. He specialises in materials characterisation and the identification of chemical fingerprints for assessing technological traditions and provenance. He works on a wide range of materials but maintains a special interest in the analysis of ferrous materials, working with assemblages from Wales, Sudan, China and the Weald.
Giles Dawkes, B.A. (hons): is Project Officer with Archaeology South-East. After starting in commercial archaeology in 1993, Giles has worked principally in the UK, but also in the USA, Australia and Ireland. He directed the ‘Silk Road Cities of Kazakhstan’ project between 2011-2016 and from 2019 ‘The lost fort of Castle Pinckney: from American Revolution to Civil War’ in South Carolina, USA. He been working in Kent since the 1990s and written numerous articles and seven monographs on its archaeology.
Frederick L. Forman, B.A.: is the Senior Collections & House Officer for the National Trust at Ightham Mote, near Sevenoaks, Kent. He studied History at Durham University, graduating in 2023. His work includes conservation, the daily opening and running of this historic property along with research, writing and exhibitions. The author led research and co-curated the ‘Selby Spies’ exhibition at Ightham Mote in 2024. His specialisms centre on late-medieval and early modern social and political history, especially when rooted in local and regional perspectives. His interests also extend to architecture, art and material culture.
Alison Hicks, F.S.A., MCIFA.: is Director of Canterbury Archaeological Trust. She has a speciality in monastic archaeology and has undertaken excavations at Christ Church Priory (Canterbury Cathedral), St Gregory’s Priory, Canterbury Whitefriars and Canterbury Christ Church University, the latter uncovering evidence of occupation associated with St Augustine’s Abbey. She is the author of ‘Destined to serve. Use of the outer grounds of St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury, before, during and after the time of the monks. Canterbury Christ Church University excavations 1983–2007’, examining the results of over 20 years of archaeological investigation within the university campus.[pg401]
Isca Howell, B.SC., M.SC.: is a senior archaeologist for MOLA where he has worked since 1999. During this time, he has conducted fieldwork across the south-east of England and has published widely in local journals amongst other publications.
Avril Leach, PH.D.: is an independent researcher. Her doctoral studies at the University of Kent concerned institutional culture with the seventeenth-century borough corporations of Canterbury and Maidstone. Current research projects include study of first edition copies of William Somner’s Antiquities of Canterbury and Canterbury’s early modern cartographic history.
Keith Parfitt, B.A., F.S.A., MCIFA.: worked as a professional archaeologist in Kent between 1978 and 2023. Now retired but he continues to be active in the field, working with Kent Archaeological Society and Dover Archaeological Group. Present chair of the KAS Fieldwork Research Group. Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2000. Keith is currently engaged in personal research, fieldwork and writing up various ‘backlog’ sites.
Steve Price, B.A. (hons), M.A.: has been working in commercial archaeology for the last 15 years, largely within the county of Kent. He has been involved in various arch- aeological projects throughout the county, largely with Archaeology South East and latterly as a freelance archaeologist. Notable excavations Steve has directed include the work at Hinxhill, Ashford and Lanthorne Road, Broadstairs (the results of the latter will be published in due course). He continues to work on and run excavations highlighting the archaeological richness and history of Kent.
Jacqueline Spencer, PH.D., MCLIP.: is a librarian who completed her ph.d in Visual Arts at Goldsmiths on artists’ ephemera and she has been published in professional journals. Jacqueline was Research Librarian at Goldsmiths following which posts as cataloguer of special collections at University of Kent and at Canterbury Cathedral fostered an interest in earlier historical periods and in Kent sources. Her interest in the role of the creative imagination in craft, in appropriation of imagery and the re-use of everyday objects and forms are combined in ongoing research in historical bibliography. She is now engaged in a study of Doddington Parochial Library.
Alan Stewart, M.A. (Cantab), PH.D.: is a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He is the author of several books, most recently The Oxford History of Life-Writing, vol. 2, Early Modern (2018) and editor of The Broadview Anthology of Tudor Drama (2021). He is Director of the Oxford Francis Bacon, a new edition of Bacon›s works, for which he has edited volume I, Early Writings, 1584-1596 (2012) and is currently editing volume II, Late Elizabethan Writings, 1596-1602.
Sheila Sweetinburgh, PH.D.: is a Lecturer in Medieval & Early Modern Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Kent. She is co-director of the Centre for Kent History and Heritage, for which she writes a weekly blog and organises the annual History Weekends. She has contributed to numerous local history publications including editing two volumes in the Kent History Project: Early Medieval Kent, 800- 1220 (2016) and Later Medieval Kent, 1220-1540 (2010) as well as Negotiating the Political in Northern European Urban Society, c.1400-1600 (2013) and Maritime Kent through the Ages (2020). She is currently working on a 3-year funded project on Kent›s Maritime Communities with Dr Craig Lambert and Dr Robert Blackmore (University of Southampton) to be published as Kent and Europe, 1450–1640: Merchants, Mariners, Shipping and Defence.[pg402]
Jake Weekes has research interests in funerary and ritual archaeology, British prehistory, Roman Britain, and Romano-British and early medieval Canterbury. He is co-author of the monograph on Prehistoric Landscapes at Chalk Hill, Ramsgate, co-editor of Death as a Process. The Archaeology of the Roman Funeral and contributed the chapter on Cemeteries and Funerary Practice to the Oxford Handbook of Roman Britain. His recent publications include the new Historic Map of Canterbury (2021), and the volume Farming, Everyday Life and Ritual. 6000 Years of Archaeology at Thanet Earth (2023). Jake is currently working on the forthcoming Historic Towns Atlas of Canterbury.
Tania Wilson, M.A., MCIFA.: is Project Manager at Canterbury Archaeological Trust. As a field archaeologist she directed excavations at The Meads, Sittingbourne, and Thanet Parkway railway station. In addition, she has directed urban excavations within Canterbury City centre, notably at the site of the former Slatter’s Hotel.[pg403][pg404]