This project identified heritage assets on land across Romney Marsh, and then informed land owners of the value of these assets to encourage them to manage the asset and the land sympathetically.
The project has been delivered with the help of volunteers, Heritage Officer and Officers from the KCC Heritage team to identify where there may be ruins of old churches or other buildings of architectural interest/importance. The records created will be input by the Kent and Medway Biological Record Centre to be held for future generations.
Heritage, Geomorphology and Land Use contributes to Restore project theme.
Visit the volunteering page to find out more about getting involved with Fifth Continent projects.
2021
PROJECT UPDATE
Heritage, Geomorphology and Landuse We have now carried out surveys on seven landholdings on Romney Marsh. These include geophysical surveys, historic buildings surveys and excavation. Whilst we wait for in-person volunteering to begin again, our volunteers have been busily writing up our activities into site reports. We have also been carrying out remote finds processing where the volunteers have been washing and labelling the finds in their own homes.
2020
Heritage projects update
As the Government eases the lockdown, we are working towards a gradual return to heritage activities. We are constantly balancing what is possible with what is sensible. Some activities, such as a large community dig, will be a while away. However, we do feel that we can offer some remote finds processing. If you have taken part in this activity at the Visitor Centre over the past year and would like to get involved, please contact Andrew. We will be working though the marking of the Brenzett dig finds. Volunteers will collect the finds and the marking material from the Visitor Centre and then carry out the activity from the comfort of their own homes!
£2,000 award towards new Romney Heritage Trail
Huge thanks are sent to Little Cheyne Court Wind Farm Community Fund (Kent Community Foundation) for their financial support of £2,000 towards a forthcoming project, a new heritage trail for the town of New Romney. Working with a number of local partners, including the heritage centre at the Old School, we’ll be helping to showcase the fascinating historical story and characterful buildings of the town. We’ll have further updates as this exciting project progresses.
Finds processing continues…
In early March we ran a finds processing session, where the volunteers continued to work on marking and processing the finds from our Brenzett dig last August. The volunteers are also working hard to complete the transcription of the Brenzett Church survey.
Old Vicarage Dig video
Finds processing has continued in February, with the material from our Brenzett excavation last summer. A video of the Old Vicarage Archaeological Dig is posted on the Marsh on Screen Film Project page.
2019
Resistivity survey getting results!
In mid-December we carried out a resistivity survey of our 6th landholding. After much archive research we think this new site is the original location of the Vicarage at Brenzett. Results of the survey indicate the possible location of two ‘robbed out’ trenches which may have once contained the walls of the structure. Further investigations will need to be carried out to be sure.
Surveys of two historic buildings taken place
Two historic buildings surveys have taken place this month. The first was of a Looker’s Hut in East Guldeford which has sadly fallen down in the last year and the second was of a farm cottage in Snargate.
Excavation at Brenzett
Volunteers have recently taken part in an excavation at Brenzett looking for the Old Vicarage. The group spent four days excavating a number of test pits to try and locate the earlier building. Evidence of a structure was identified but at this stage we are unable to say if this is the Old Vicarage.
Project update
We are still processing the finds from our excavation at Solly Farm. Two of our volunteers have written blog posts about their experiences with this excavation and the finds processing. We have also carried out a geophysical survey of a site in Brenzett this month. We think we have successfully identified the location of the Old Vicarage and we are looking forward to carrying out an excavation in a couple of months. If you would like to join us on this excavation, please contact Lucie, no experience necessary.
Finds Processing Drop-in Sessions
We have been processing the material from the Solly Farm excavation in a number of drop-in sessions. So far we have cleaned 75% of the material but we still need to photograph and mark everything up. The next drop-in sessions are going to be on the 10th May and 15th May between 10:30 am and 3:30pm at the Fifth Continent office.
Historic buildings training day
We run an Historic Buildings training day in March for the volunteers. We were able to survey one of the oldest barns on the Marsh and hear about its history from the farmer and our specialists.
Archaeological excavation
This month we have done our first archaeological excavation at one of our landholdings. Our previous geophysical surveys have shown there to be remains of a farmstead near Brookland and we have carried out a small excavation to see if we can date the building. Early signs show the building may be a couple of hundred years older than we had previously thought. One of the finds was a spur thought to date from the 17thCentury (image above).
Historic buildings survey training & resistivity survey
We have a location confirmed for the Historic Buildings survey training. Dates are TBC and will be announced shortly. We will be carrying out a resistivity survey on one of the landholdings at the beginning of February. This will help us locate the old Farmstead we are looking for before we excavate some test pits in March. If you would like more details, please contact Lucie.
2018
Archaeological surveys complete
Archaeological surveys took place on the Marsh on 2nd and 5th November – Our volunteers carried out a geophysical survey on one of the landholdings in our Heritage, Geomorphology and Land-use project.
Volunteer training
Training underway, with volunteers learning new skills including geophysical survey techniques, landscape and building surveys and archive research.
Landscape and Buildings Specialists appointed
We have recently appointed our Landscape and Buildings specialists and we are now working together to organise the volunteer training sessions. The dates for these sessions will be announced 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 archaeological surveys of the wider Marsh landscape. A successful launch day took place on Saturday 9 June, but we are still keen for more people to be involved. Procurement is underway to appoint consultants to support the Heritage Officer in delivering this project. 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 days planned
We are currently planning the volunteer training days for this project. These training days are due to take place this Summer in June, July and August. If you are interested in volunteering or would like to know more, please contact Lucie Bolton at Lucie.Bolton@kentwildlife.org.uk
This project is planned to start in 2018
This project is planned to start in 2018.
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