The Historic Buildings Group Conference 2025
On Saturday 11th October 38 people attended the Historic Buildings Group (HBG) Conference at Lenham Community Centre on the theme of Researching Historic Buildings.
After a welcome by HBG Chairman Debbie Goacher, Mark Ballard, of Kent Archive Service, gave a presentation entitled Using Title Deeds to Research Historic Buildings: Rewards and Pitfalls.
Mark explained the main historic types of tenure – freehold, leasehold and copyhold – and that Title Deeds, particularly after c1600, could indicate approximate construction dates of buildings. Deeds for urban leaseholds often described internal details of properties – an example from Whitechapel dated 1596 has a detailed description of a property and its surrounding grounds. Leases from the 19th century generally have a standardised form, often with detailed plans of properties and document changes of use, particularly for industrial buildings.
Mark described two case studies he had researched. The first was sites and houses connected to Jane Austen’s family in Tonbridge and Sevenoaks using archive material not previously used by Austen researchers. Mark was able to identify the site of the Tonbridge house of William Austen (1701–37), Jane’s grandfather, which had previously been mis-identified.
The second was the prominent Sevenoaks house, known as the Red House, said to date from 1686 (Buildings of England). However, Mark found Title Deeds dating back to at least 1631, presumably referring to an earlier building on the site.
Kent Archives has extensive collections of Title Deeds, often bundled as a ‘chain’ of ownership to prove title; however, the modern system of land registration, started in 1925, resulted in many historic documents being discarded as they no longer had any legal purpose.
The remaining presentations were given by HBG Members, starting with David Carder on The Development of Houses. Using examples mostly from the Weald and Downland Living Museum at Singleton, Sussex, he explained how houses developed from the Anglo-Saxon period until the 17th century. In south-east England most houses were built of timber box-frames. In the medieval period the larger houses had a hall open to the roof heated by an open hearth. Chimneys started to appear in the early 16th century allowing new buildings to have two storeys throughout and existing open halls to be floored over.
A common form was the Wealden house, of which around 800 have been recorded, half of which are in Kent with several in the Lenham area. It has an open hall flanked by floored, jettied end-bays all under a single roof, giving the hall a recessed appearance. They date from the late 14th century to the early 16th century.
[fg]jpg|W wall of Lenham Barn, with Lenham Church to N|Image[/fg]
[fg]jpg|Lenham Barn – Roof structure at S end|Image[/fg]
Debbie’s presentation, entitled Documentary Sources for the Study of a Kentish Historic Building, summarised her many years of research on her house, The Cottage, Little Buckland Farm, Maidstone. This is a stone house with an end-jettied, exposed timber-framed bay on the first floor at the east end. It is listed Grade II*.
Images of the house included some 20th century photographs taken before the external painting, and, fortuitously, a sketch of c.1880. Map evidence included the Ordnance Survey field drawing of 1797, an 1804 estate map, the tithe map and apportionment of c.1840, and the 1866 Ordnance Survey map. There were also aerial photographs dating from 1946, taken by the RAF. Various other sources were also mentioned.
Research of the ownership and occupation of the house was aided by it being historically part of an estate owned by Sir John Banks and subsequently the Earls of Aylesford (Finch family) and the Earls of Romney (Marsham family) for which many records survive. Perhaps the most impressive find was a document found in the National Archives, possibly referring to the land on which the house stands. Its date of 1380 is significant, as the house can be dated to the late 14th century on architectural grounds.
The final presentation before lunch was a demonstration by Jacob Scott of 3D Building Surveys, produced using photogrammetry – taking multiple, overlapping photographs of an object or scene and using specialist software to create a 3D model. The photographs were taken using a standard camera supplemented in some cases with a drone. The results are spectacular, allowing virtual flights around the outside and inside of many of Kent’s historic buildings, including Rochester Cathedral and Castle, West Malling Abbey and, in Lenham, St Mary’s church and the great barn. The models are available on the KAS website:
www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/models
During the lunch break attendees were able to view various exhibits, notably some fascinating documents brought along by the Kent Archive Service. Two short presentations then followed, by Debbie Goacher and Henny Shotter.
Top left
Lenham Barn – Double Tie-beam and up-braces in open truss of S end
Middle left
L. Barn – Exterior of E wall, with E doorway (looking to SW)
[fg]jpg|Lenham Barn – double tie-beam and up-braces in open truss of S end|Image[/fg]
[fg]jpg|Lenham Barn – exterior of E wall (looking to SW)|Image[/fg]
[fg]jpg|Lenham Barn – interior at north end, and W doorway (looking NW)Image[/fg]
[fg]jpg|Lenham Square, NW Corner – timber-framed building: viewing ogee bracing and dragon post|Image[/fg]
In her presentation, The Lenham Tithe, Henny discussed the origins of the medieval tithe system, whereby one tenth of a manor’s agricultural produce was taken by the Church. Tithes were usually paid ‘in kind’ rather than in cash, including crops, hay and wool, which were usually kept in great barns – hence ‘tithe barn’ – as well as livestock.
Medieval Lenham was a manor of St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury, run from the Court Lodge, which still survives though much altered. The tithes went to the Rector of St Mary’s Church, who was the Abbot of St Augustine’s Abbey, and would have been stored in the Abbey’s two great barns, along with the other produce of the manor. These both survived until 1964 when, sadly, the smaller one was burnt down.
After a final discussion and refreshments, David Carder and Henny Shotter led a guided walk of Lenham, starting at the surviving great barn. This fine, timber-framed aisled barn, about 160 ft long by 40 ft wide, has 7½ bays thought to date from the early C14, with 2½ bays at the south end rebuilt or added in, probably, the C16. David explained the basic structure and described the evidence for building being started at the north end.
In Lenham Market Square the group identified four Wealden houses; two were heavily disguised, one with brickwork and so-called mathematical tiles. Various features, including dragon posts and ogee bracing, a local idiom, were discussed.
The final visit was to St Mary’s Church, a complicated building of several periods. The earliest evidence is a small Norman window, possibly an early chancel, but the present chancel is 13th century. There were various alterations and enlargements in the 14th and 15th centuries, notably the large west tower, and there are interesting furnishings. A great rarity is the pre-Reformation stone altar slab, or mensa, with a recess for a relic.
Lenham was chosen for the Conference because it was ideally suited to the theme, with a wealth of historic buildings just a short walk from the venue, and it did not disappoint. The Conference received many favourable comments and the HBG hopes to run more in the future.
The Historic Buildings Group takes an interest in standing buildings from dwellings to cathedrals, arranging events and conferences, sharing resources, and encouraging publication. The group incorporates the areas of interest of the former Churches Committee.
If you would like to learn more about the Historic Buildings Group, their events and research, please contact:
historicbuildings@kentarchaeology.org.uk
All images courtesy of the Historic Buildings Group, and with permissions obtained, 2025.
[fg]jpg|Conference attendees viewing the west front of Forge House, Lenham|Image[/fg]
[fg]jpg|Building at north-west corner of the Square showing structural timber-framing and dragon-beam|Image[/fg]