Shorne Woods Archaeology Group: Festival of Archaeology Excavations

As our contribution to the Council for British Archaeology Festival of Archaeology 2025, the Shorne Woods Archaeology Group (S.W.A.G.) organised a community excavation at Trosley Country Park near Meopham over the two days 25th and 26th July.

Preparations began in the Spring when a group of SWAG members undertook a reconnaissance of the park looking for likely sites. We knew from earlier desk top investigations that the park was used during the second world war as an officers training camp for the army. In addition, the location high up on the North Downs has exciting possibilities for finding evidence of much older occupation. There are clear indications of terracing within the park.

Our investigations revealed a potential site that was close to one of the main paths making access easy. Further inspection with one of the park rangers (Richard) confirmed the location was suitable and it would not adversely impact on any flora or fauna.

First impressions of the site appeared to show the concrete base of a large building. We have a plan of the army camp, but this building was not shown, another reason to investigate. Portions of brick wall were noted in the undergrowth which indicated the building had end walls made of brick. Also noted were lumps of concrete which had corrugated imprints indicating corrugated iron sides. Probably a Nissen hut type of construction. All of which were left untouched for the community excavators to uncover. We also planned to open a couple of test pits close by to see if we could find any sign of earlier occupation.

The day before the excavation a team was sent down to prepare the site clearing away any vegetation or hazardous material and removing all items mentioned in the risk assessment we had produced earlier.

[fg]jpg|Fig 1 – Excavation site cleared and ready.|Image[/fg]

The S.W.A.G. crew arrived at Trosley on the first day in good time to take all the tools and our gazebo down to the site and have it ready for a prompt 10am start. The day coincided with the Trosley Country Park Fun Day, so we were expecting a lot of children, we weren't disappointed!

The weather was dry, and conditions were perfect for excavating. People started arriving from the word go and by lunchtime it started to become evident that we had three small buildings on the site rather than one large one.

Our budding Indiana Jones’s soon got into the swing of things and were keeping S.W.A.G. members busy with questions such as “is this important?”, “how old is this?”, “is it treasure?”, “will we find dinosaurs?”. But the best question was “can we come back and do it again?”! It was also gratifying to gain two new adult members to the S.W.A.G. ranks.

Excavation was slow as was to be expected with so many first timers, as they didn’t want to damage the archaeology, but it was done with care, enthusiasm and great curiosity.

Finds were not abundant but whenever a nail or part of an old bottle was found there was great excitement from the children and adults alike, which is what community archaeology is all about.

[fg]jpg|Fig 2 – Happy diggers.|Image[/fg]

[fg]jpg|Fig 3 – Excavated base of the central building.|Image[/fg]

While this was going on there were two side shows happening. Firstly, metal detecting.[fn1] Several items were found including coins and blank bullets, no doubt from the army training. Secondly, on the Friday only, back at the cafe area, Trevor Bent was giving a demonstration of flint knapping with both adults and children having a go. Now the Stone Age is on the curriculum, it was gratifying to see that many of the children knew something about stone tools. It was a huge success, and all went away with a scraper they’d made themselves.

Day one ended with the uncovering of the three bases, over two hundred happy excavators and a group of exhausted but content S.W.A.G. members. Day two awaited.

[fg]jpg|Fig 4 – Fallen brick, end wall tidied up.|Image[/fg]

Day two being a Saturday was always aimed more at the adults who would like the opportunity to take part in a community dig but were not able to make it mid-week.

Again, we were off and running at 10am but there were some visitors there before then! It was another good day weather wise. We extended the excavation beyond the bases to the various sections of brickwork nearby. After extensive cleaning it was found the pointing was excellent and some of us wondered if it was too good for something presumably thrown up in a hurry. Maybe some of the conscripts were bricklayers, or it was built by local tradesmen.

There were more fantastic finds, much the same as the previous day, plus pieces of a George VI mug found up against one of the bases which nicely dated the site.

[fg]jpg|Fig 5 – George VI mug.|Image[/fg]

Thoughts turned to what the buildings had been used for. They appear to be too small[fn2] for habitation and there was no evidence of heating or plumbing, so, at the moment we are assuming they were for storage. But storage of what eludes us.

The day ended with another hundred plus willing participants and a very tidy site. The excavation was photographed, recorded and GPS surveyed before backfilling the following week. All finds have been taken to our base at Shorne for cleaning and post excavation analysis and will eventually be returned to Trosley Country Park, where we hope some will be put on display in the cafe.

Unfortunately, the excavation of the three buildings was so intense that there were not the time or resources to excavate the test pits looking for older occupation. That will have to wait for another time. The archaeology is not going anywhere.

Shorne Woods Archaeology Group are fortunate to have two of Kent County Council’s best country parks to indulge their passion of uncovering over 10,000 years of Kent’s history. However, this, we believe, comes with the obligation to share this opportunity with the public by providing the resources to enable these community excavations to take place. We have had a number of excavations over several years with the help and encouragement of K.C.C. and the unstinting support of the Parks staff and Rangers for which we are indebted. It is our intention to continue involving the community in excavations within the parks and further afield in the years to come.

[fg]jpg|Fig 6 - Children and adults getting stuck in, supervised by members of SWAG on the first day.|Image[/fg]

John Beaumont is an industrial expert from the Shorne woods Archaeological Group and is a dedicated member of Archaeology in Kent. John has been a longstanding colleague of the KAS and continues to work with volunteers and community groups, educating in archaeology.

All photographs courtesy of the author, and with permissions obtained, 2025.

[fn]1|please note that metal detecting is not permitted in the park without prior permission – which is unlikely to be given – but permission was given to us albeit in a very restricted area[/fn]

[fn]2|All three buildings measured 4.5m x 2.6m[/fn]