Hunt for Romney Port
The purpose of the project was to discover the most likely location of the original Romney Port which would have been significantly inland from where the coast line is today.
Whilst the original location of Romney Port was not discovered, it took a number of volunteers on a journey of learning and discovery; through training in various methods of surveying; to archaeological digs and finds processing and to research sessions with Kent Archives. All had a fascinating and rewarding journey.
The project was delivered through volunteers and the Heritage Officer. Some research was done on where the most likely places are, and then field surveys were undertaken, with two test pitting weekends, focussing on ground-truthing and LiDAR data, and finds were then catalogued and sent to professionals for analysis.
Community Archaeology Consultant Andrew Mayfield was recruited to work along side us on the Hunt for Romney Port project.
Hunt for Romney Port contributes to Rediscover project theme.
Visit the volunteering page to find out more about getting involved with Fifth Continent projects.
2021
PROJECT UPDATE
All three survey weekends have now been completed for this project. We carried out a mixture of geophysical survey, field walking and metal detecting surveys in our quest to find the location of the original port of Romney. As yet we have not identified the Port’s location but one of our survey sites has produced some interesting results and we hope to get back out and investigate further in the coming months.
2020
Completed finds processing from the first port survey
Finished processing the finds from the first port survey. The material will now be sent to specialists to analyse. We are now preparing for our second survey which is planned to take place in late March.
Processing finds continues
We are continuing to process the finds from our field walking event in the autumn. Once this is complete, we will be able to send the material off to the experts to be dated.
2019
Processing found material
After the success of our fieldwalking and geophysical survey last month, we are now processing the material we found. For future finds processing dates, please see our What’s on page. All are welcome to join us for finds processing, no experience necessary.
First survey weekend for the Hunt for Romney Port
This month we carried out the first of our Survey weekend for the Hunt for Romney Port Project. We did a magnetometry survey as well as fieldwalking to look for evidence of Saxon occupation in a field at Old Romney. Thanks to the help from the fantastic volunteers we now have a large number of finds to process including some sherds of very old pottery. Early results from the magnetometry suggest some features in the northern part of the area surveyed.
Geophysical survey dates confirmed
Dates have now been confirmed for the Geophysical survey and field walking weekend which is due to take place in late September. Please contact Lucie for more information.
Project Update
Our April meeting was very well attended and we enjoyed discussing the research we have carried out so far. The next step in our hunt for the Saxon port of Romney is to get out and look at some of the features we have been looking at on the maps. As such we will be walking from New Romney to Old Romney on Saturday 11th May. If you would like more information about this walk please contact Lucie.
Monthly meeting update
Our monthly meetings have resumed this month and we had a very interesting session looking at the LiDAR data for the area around Old Romney along with some local metal detecting finds.
Community Archaeology Consultant Recruited
Community Archaeology Consultant Andrew Mayfield has been recruited to work along side us on the Hunt for Romney Port project.
2018
Monthly project meetings continuing during 2019
The first project meeting in 2019 is planned to take place on Thursday 24 January and then monthly thereafter. See What’s On page for more details.
Monthly Project meetings commenced
The first monthly project meeting took place on Thursday 8 November and the next meeting is planned for Thursday 6 December 2018. This is a chance for volunteers to get together to share their research.
Volunteer training
Training underway, with volunteers learning new skills including geophysical survey techniques, landscape and building surveys and archive research.
Ongoing volunteering Opportunities
We are currently organising the volunteer training sessions for this project. The first session will be on archives and we will be announcing the dates shortly. If you would like to get involved, there is still time to sign up before the training sessions begin. For more details see the volunteering page
Ongoing volunteering opportunities
We are looking to involve people of all ages to take part in the project to discover the location of Romney Port. A successful launch day took place on Saturday 9 June, but we a still keen for more people to be involved. For contact details see the volunteering page
Heritage Officer back from maternity leave
Our Heritage Officer Lucie Bolton is back from maternity leave. If you would like to know more about our heritage projects please contact: Lucie.Bolton@kentwildlife.org.uk
volunteer training day planned
We are currently planning the volunteer training day for this project. This training day is due to take place in July. If you are interested in volunteering or would like to know more, please contact Lucie Bolton at Lucie.Bolton@kentwildlife.org.uk
The project will be starting during 2018
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To find out more including how to get involved contact the project team.
