We are excavating a building about 100 metres from Randall Manor.
The building appears to have had at least two phases and to be from the medieval period. Much of it has been constructed using reclaimed material from the Manor so is therefore later in date. The picture below shows one of the walls with the inner face made from chalk blocks and the outer from flint, a common style of construction in Kent for that period.
We still have a lot to learn so the excavation will continue for some time. Would you like to join us in an effort to answer a number of questions, such as – what was it used for? You’d be very welcome. Email us at SWAGkent2023@gmail.com to check when we’ll be on site.
The weather hasn’t been ideal for returning to our excavations on the platform near Randall but we have started to plan for events next year, including the Festival of Archaeology in July, with its theme of Community!
We have also progressed a survey at White Horse Wood country park, and below you will see the resistivity and magnetometry results. The area is 90m by 90m max, though that includes a lot of partial grids. We were looking for evidence of the iron age enclosure on the site.
The Classics and Archaeology Department at the University of Kent have a series of public lectures that have just begun that might interest you all. See the posters below for details.
Unfortunately we have some sad news for all friends of Shorne Woods and those who have volunteered at the park over the past 10+ years. We have lost a couple of treasured team members during the year.
Dennis Rozier, much loved archaeology volunteer, supporter of all our projects at the park, and latterly volunteer in the sensory garden and cafe, passed away recently. We celebrated his 90th birthday at the Park in 2020, when he was still a regular presence in the café, providing an ear and much love and support to all who met him. Andrew remembers him fondly as a new volunteer in the early years of Randall, when he was in his late 70s! He then toured people around the site and assisted with all the school groups. His tours around the site were legendary, full of tall tales and good humour, never letting a dry archaeology fact get in the way of a good story. He always had a twinkle in his eye…
We also lost Roger Hornsby earlier in the year, AKA “Roger2”. Roger joined the SWAG team about 10 years ago. Although having some health issues he through himself into the melee with all the organisation and zeal you would expect from someone with a military background. He expertly crafted the shovel and spade stand now in use in the shed. He always carried a full pack, in all weathers, and could be relied on to carry out any task without question. He was a man who was fully equipped for all eventualities. Over lunch he would regale us with stories of his military service and, later, as a volunteer on the Talyllyn Railway in his native Wales. Roger could, as the old saying goes, talk the hind leg off a donkey. What he didn’t know about anything wasn’t worth knowing!
In the trenches I joined Michael, who does a lot of work at Scadbury Manor, Kent. This is the site of medieval manorial estate in the Greater London Area. The first family to settled on the estate around 1200 AD, and by 1301 John De Scathebury was the richest man in Chislehurst. The manor estate from that time included fields and woodland, as it still does today.
In 1982 the Orpington and District Archaeological Society began a reserach project into the history of the site and excavations began in 1986. A number of excavations have taken place since then and during Covid lockdowns the site remained open at times for the public to enjoy socially distanced visits.
If you’d like to visit the site or join the team of volunteers in excavation (training given), finds processing, gardening and public events then visit their website and get in touch: http://www.odas.org.uk/
