Searching for a chapel,19th-20th August 2017

Excavating in Otford,12th-13th August 2017

WKAS members again volunteering to assist another local group (DROP) on their excavation in Otford. This excavation will be continuing until 20th August for a full week of excavation.

Excavating in Otford 15th-16th July, 2017

WKAS members continued to help another local group (DROP) with their excavation in Otford.

Geophysics in Horton Kirby 1st July, 2017

WKAS members investigating a potential new Medieval site in Horton Kirby.

Excavating in Otford 3rd-4th June, 2017

WKAS members were again in action assisting another local group (DROP) at an excavation in Otford.

Excavating in Otford 7th May, 2017

WKAS continued co-operation with another local group (DROP – Discover Roman Otford Project) in Otford.

Excavating in Otford 8-9th April, 2017

WKAS members have been excavating in Otford in collaboration with another local group (DROP – Discover Roman Otford Project). This excavation is likely to continue over the summer months.

Finishing the survey in Edenbridge 18th March, 2017

Continuing the survey in Horton Kirby on a new field 26th February 2017

Further work at Edenbridge 27th October 2016

Continuing at Edenbridge 16th October 2016

Back to Edenbridge 2nd October 2016

We continued our resistivity survey but were joined on site by West Kent Detector Club members conducting a general search.

Return to Edenbridge 25th September 2016

We returned to a site that we started in 2012-2013. There are promising results showing a possible Roman settlement site which is unusual in the Weald of Kent. Thanks to John and Geoff for the pictures.

Completion of Project Otford, August 2016

Project Otford, August 2016

We continued geophysics activities in Otford on Sunday 7th August 2016.

Project Otford, July 2016

We have been working in Otford completing geophysics and doing some excavation work in collaboration with another local group.

Finishing the garden in Horton Kirby Saturday 23rd April, 2016

Working in Twitton, Sunday 13th March, 2016

Our last opportunity in Twitton before the field is ploughed and seeded but we think we have all the results we need for now anyway! We welcomed another couple of new members and it appears that they enjoyed their day out with us.

A weekend working in Twitton, Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st February, 2016

Members completed the geophysics of a field in Twitton on Saturday and dug two test pits over anomalies on Sunday. The anomalies proved to be geological. Thank you to the new members who came along to help.

Geophysics at Horton Kirby – Sunday 17th January, 2016

A few brave souls, including two new members, gathered to start geophysics in the garden of a well known and old local property in Horton Kirby. As you can see from the pictures it was the day after the first fall of snow this winter!

Continuing geophysics at Twitton – Sunday 29th November, 2015

A few members braved the inclemement weather on the last Sunday in November to try to complete some more geophysics. They also excavated a metal signal found by Geoff on a previous detecting foray that was below the plough soil. It turned out to be a sawn off piece of one of the pipelines laid across the field! Thank you to Sally for the pictures of Kevin wearing the iron ring!

Continuing geophysics at Twitton – Sunday 8th November, 2015

Continuing geophysics at Twitton – Sunday 1st November, 2015

Continuing geophysics at Twitton – Saturday 17th October, 2015

Four members gathered at Twitton to continue with the geophysics which had been previously shown promising results.

Geophysics Birthday Party – 4th July, 2015

A first for WKAS was being asked to conduct a geophysical survey of a back garden for a birthday party!

Continuing in Otford on a Roman building 20-21st June, 2015

This weekend we completed some archaeological training and continued to dig on the Roman site we are investigating in Otford.

Spring dig in Otford on a Roman building 2nd-9th May, 2015

WKAS members, together with invited guests from other local archaeological groups, gathered in Otford to continue work on a Roman building. The weather was at times dubious but it didn’t affect the archaeological excavation work. Coins recovered from archaeological context would seem to date the building to the Mid 3rd –  Mid 4th Century.

Finishing geophysics in Horton Kirby 19th April, 2015

Working on Progress Villa, Otford on 14th March and 29th March, 2015

With thanks to English Heritage for granting a licence for investigations at Progress Villa which is scheduled ancient monument.
On 14th March, 2015

and on 29th March, 2015

Working on a field in Horton Kirby, 1st February and 1st March, 2015

1st February, 2015

and on 1st March, 2015

Working with Cliff Archaeological Group surveying Cliff 2015 Church

We were asked to assist and provide resistivity training in Cliff near Hoo in Kent. The first occasion was on 31st January and then again on 28th February.

31st January, 2015


and on 28th February, 2015

Test Pitting Farningham Cricket Ground, November 2014

We continued test pitting on Sunday 16th November. We opened our third test pit.

Finishing Test Pit 2

Test Pit 3
@ 10cm

@ 20cm

@ 30cm

Test Pit 1
@ 60cm

@ 70cm

@ 80cm

Test Pitting Farningham Cricket Ground, November 2014

The first days test pitting was held on Sunday 9th November, 2014. The weather held good and infact the sun came out in the afternoon and started to dry everything up nicely. The only problem was the shade/sun mixture when photographing the test pits which was only cured by stratigic placing of coats to cut out the sun!

We even roped in the visitors! Herewith some photos of an object metal detected from the side of test pit 1.

Test pit 1 (10cm spits)
Spit 1 @ 10cm

Spit 2 @ 20cm

Spit 3 @ 30cm

Spit 4 @ 40cm

Spit 5 @ 50cm

Test Pit 2
10cm spits
Spit 1 @ 10cm

Spit 2 @ 20cm

Spit 3 @ 30cm

Spit 4 @ 40cm

Spit 5 @ 50cm to natural
>

Annual General Meeting, October 2014

After completing the geophysics at Farningham Cricket Club we met at Lesley and Geoff’s house for our AGM. We elected our committee for the coming year and talked about our current and future projects plus catching up with our pottery identification and general recording.

Back to Farningham, geophysics October 2014

We returned to Farningham to continue geophysics on the cricket pitch adjacent to our previously excavated site with kind permission of Farninham Cricket Club committee. We completed the majority of the geophysics on the Saturday and returned to complete the work on the Sunday morning before our AGM. The geophysics results are interesting enough for us to consider test pitting in the region of the ground where the club intends to install cricket nets shortly.

Back in Otford, geophysics, September 2014

A few of the crew conducted geopysics on a field adjacent to another area of interest in Otford over two weekends in September. The results look interesting and it is proposed that we do further grids in the time remaining before the field is seeded.

Searching for archaeology, Tunbridge Wells August 2014

We were invited by the local archaeological group to investigate a potential site in Tunbridge Wells with resistivity geophysics. The site, in the Weald of Kent, had produced a bloomery and the local group were interested to discover if there was anything further in the vacinity. Quite a few grids were completed but nothing conclusive was discovered.

Investigating a suspected denehole in Green Street Green, Dartford August 2014

We were called in by a farmer who was concerned that a section of his land had ‘sunk’ during the wet weather. As there had been a history of deneholes on his land, one of which had opened and a steer fell in which fortunately survived and was winched to safety from a ledge inside and in 1911-15 another opened suddenly and swallowed a whole horse ploughing team none of which survived. We carried out our usual resistivity geophysics over the area and John used his ‘home made’ geophysics machine which takes a ‘slice’ through the ground down to 3m. Both sets of results proved the existence of the denehole, the resistivity results showed a large circular opening in the ground in plan view and John’s results showed a section of the denehole of a classic shape. The farmer has been advised to fence off the area to prevent any accidents! We were also priviledged to witness an aerial display from the Lancaster bombers, one from Canada and one from the Memorial flight together with the usual escort of Hurricane and Spitfire.

Work Continues in Farningham during August 2014

The final work was completed for this year in Farningham with drawing trenches and then backfilling.

Work Continues in Farningham

The usual crowd gathered to continue with the excavation work in Farningham before the deadline of 15th August when the field will be sown and therefore unavailable.
Thanks must also go to Gerald and Roger for their help with this project. Welcome to new member John as well! These photos are from 21st June, 2014.

These photos are from 28th June, 29th June and 1st July, 2014.

Display for Farningham and Eynsford Local History Society

Lesley and Geoff attended the AGM of the Farningham & Eynsford Local History Society and put on a display of finds and records from the Farningham Easter dig. Geoff also gave a short talk to the assembled members.

Back to Beckets Well, Otford for a final tidy up May 18th 2014.

Three intrepid members enjoyed a fine sunny Sunday in Otford clearing the remaining and new undergrowth at Beckets Well.

Digging Farningham Castle ….or perhaps not! April 12th-April 18th 2014.

We returned to Farningham to conduct our Easter dig. The weather and the company was fantastic! Thanks must go to all who helped out, WKAS members and those from other groups. A special mention goes to Roger, Gerald, Andrew, Richard and the whole mob from Shorne! Well, did we find the Castle? … probably not but we may have found the Manorial complex. When and if we are able to return to the site we may learn more. We did however, find the moat and what we called the ‘barn’ but without a significant amount of evidence these features remain undated for now but according to the old maps they must have existed before 1790! Many thanks once again to the Landowner for his permission to dig.

Back to Farningham 22-23rd March 2014.

The usual crew of members gathered in Farningham to continue the geophysics that had previously been curtailed by the flooding. Although the field was still damp in places most was available although some had to be passed with care and we had to be watchful of each other and effect extraction from the ‘quick mud’ as necessary. Lesley and Geoff had laid out the remaining 26 grids on the Saturday and were joined by the rest of the members on the Sunday. We braved rain and at one point hail but the excellent results were worth it despite a technical hitch with the equipment! The number of examples of horse shoes of various ages, picked up during the field walk, are from the horse fairs held on this site until the First World War.

Beckets Well vegetation clearance, Otford, March 2014.

Beckets Well is a scheduled ancient monument located in Otford. As you can see from the photographs it has suffered some degredation over the years. WKAS members, with the agreement of English Heritage, assisted the landowner by helping to clear the site of excess vegetation over the weekend. Unfortunately, we were unable to complete the task due to some trees that had come down in the recent windy and wet weather. We will return when the trees have been removed by the tree surgeon and the water table has lowered enabling us to enter the water to remove the rest of the plant matter. Thanks to Phil for copies of the black and white photographs from 1912 – 1922   and from the excavation that took place in the 1950’s and the colour photos from the 1980’s and the overgrowth of 2008. Thanks to Andy for the before and after shots from Saturday 1st March, 2014 and to Geoff for the rest of the shots and finally, thanks to you the members for turning up to help! Comedy moment of the day goes to Andy who nearly had a vole run up his trouser leg!

Continuing to Find the Manor House, Farningham, February 2014.

The weekend of 1st & 2nd February saw members once again continuing to survey a field in Farningham. The field was rough ploughed and in places extremely wet and boggy. A couple of new members turned up to help on the Sunday and the normal motley crew were grateful for some respite after they had completed the whole day on the Saturday and were very weary! We were unable to complete the project due to the glutinous mud and water lying on half of the field but we are very grateful that the landowner will allow us a return visit later on in March/April.

WKAS assist the Environment Agency

Lesley received a call from the Environment Agency about the geophysical work that we had been carrying out in Farningham. Apparently, a tree had fallen into the River Darent and the Agency had to remove it. To do this meant employing a large vehicle to drag the tree from the river, this vehicle would have to anchor itself in the ground and therefore the workmen needed to know where the remains were in the field in order to prevent the anchors from damaging the structures beneath the ground. Lesley was able to furnish them with the geophysical results of the meadow overlayed on Google Earth which had been provided by Andy.

Finding the Manor House, Farningham, January 2014.

Saturday 18th January saw a small group of members geophysing a meadow in Farningham looking for the extent of the various manor house foundations. Previous research and excavations have indicated that there was a Norman Manor House and a later Tudor Manor House on the site. Due to flooding in the area and the huge amount of water coming down the Darent, which is adjacent to the site, a few areas of the field were about 3-4 inches deep in water! The water, together with an overgrowth of brambles in some areas, made progress slow at times! The members managed to complete a number of grids in the meadow and, with permission of an adjacent landowner, a few more on his land. The results, once analysed by Andy, were very interesting and plainly showed the foundation layout of two rectangular and other, yet to be indentified structures. We hope to obtain permission to geophys a further adjacent field in the near future to complete the picture.

Annual General Meeting, 3rd November 2013

Ten members attended the Society’s AGM which was held in two of the members’ houses in Farningham. We all had a lovely buffet lunch to which all members contributed. We discussed our current , past and future projects, elected our Officers and Committee members for 2013-2014 and made a few changes to simplify the Constitution. After the business part of the meeting we all retired to sort and record our recent pottery finds.

Geophysics Edenbridge area, 6th October 2013

We continued with geophysics on a field on the Kent/Surrey border with kind permission of the landowner, increasing by 17 on the number of grid squares (previously 30) and now have some interesting results which will need further investigation crops permitting. It appears that what we initially thought were land drains may well be buildings with a courtyard.

Geophysics Kemsing area, September 2013

We carried out geophysics and fieldwalking on a field in the Kemsing area over the weekend of 7th-8th September. There has previously been discovered a Bronze Age Barrrow and Romano-British cremation burials in this field. With the kind permission of the Landowner we obtained data from 22 grids – the most we have ever achieved in one weekend! We think the geophysics data may show more barrows together with possibly more cremations. We are hoping to continue the geophysics and fieldwalking as the crops permit. We have now to sort all the fieldwalking assembledge and record it.

Proofing geophysics with test pitting Otford area, July 2013

Seven members (Kevin, Andy, Frances, Phil, John, Lesley & Geoff) assisted with test pitting on a field in Otford on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st July. The object of the exercise was to prove our promising geophysics results and we are very grateful to the landowner for permission to conduct the test pitting. We dug five 1 metre square test pits over anonmalies on the geophysics. The test pits were recorded at 10cm spits. TP1 reached a depth of 70cm with a base of mortar over three quarters of the base with a triangle of clay/natural in the south-eastern corner. TP2 had a wall made of flint with some tile inclusions running roughly East-West through the trench at about 20-30cm and bottomed out with a chalk base at roughly 50cm. A rather nice piece of tile with a dog footprint was recovered from TP2. At the bottom of TP2 in the South-Western corner a few nice pieces of red ceramic tessera and a pottery rim were recovered. TP3 bottomed out at a chalk base at about 50cm but this base was recognisably a wall foundation. TP4 appeared not to contain anything recognisable and even when the agurer was used produced nothing convincing. TP5 only went down about 20cm before hitting a possible robbed out wall foundation. These results of these test pits will be written up shortly. The next job is to wash and sort all the pottery, tile etc. recovered and to sort and weigh for the record.

At the start Opening up TP1 Opening up TP2 Opening up TP3 TP1 start TP2 start TP3 start TP1 first spit TP3 3rd spit TP1 spit 2 TP2 spit 2 TP2 TP3 at 50cm. TP1 at 30cm TP1 with animal bone TP3 TP2 TP1 at 50cm TP2 TP1 at 60cm TP 4 and augering in the vacinity TP2 TP1 TP5

Further investigation of two sites in the Otford area, May 2013

Members continued to investigate, with resistivity geophysics and metal detecting, two sites in the Otford area. Site 1 Thanks to Kevin and Sally for their photographic contributions of site 1 and 2! Site 2

First outing for the new RM85 in Edenbridge, March 2013

A couple of members took the brand new Geoscan RM85 out for its first trial investigating a site on the Kent/Surrey border. Five grids were completed and it is hoped more will be completed shortly. The field had been worked and left to weather so we found yet more pottery and struck flint! Aren’t you glad you didn’t take your car!

Following the exhibition a metal detecting outing in Edenbridge, March 2013

At the Eden Valley Museum talk we were invited to search a garden in Edenbridge. The location is interesting because back in 1840 a report was made of the excavation of eight Roman burial urns in the location. This report and that of remains of an ‘ancient manor house’ might be worth following up.

Talk and Exhibition at the Eden Valley Museum, Edenbridge, March 2013

Members of WKAS assisted members of West Kent Detector Club with a talk and exhibition at Eden Valley Museum on Saturday 9th March, 2013. It was a very successsful event with about 30 local people attending. Some interest was shown in the society which may lead to new members and help on the local sites we are investigating.

Site investigation in Surrey, November 2012

On Sunday 18th November members of WKAS joined members of West Kent Detector Club on one of their sites to try to investigate anomolies featuring on the geophysics WKAS had completed last year that had revealled what appreared to be a triple bank and ditches.  Geophysics was used to relocate the anomolies, members then undertook augering and a one metre test but pit nothing further was established. A small amount of further fieldwalking was also undertaken. We were also joined in the investigation by one of the landowner’s dogs and their piglets! and thanks Sally for these last few pictures

Geophysics at Sutton-at-Hone, August 2012

               The pictures show the geophysics lunch break and the items picked up from the surface of the field while conducting the resistivity survey of fourteen grids. Can anyone identify what appears to be a maker’s mark on the bottom of the last picture?

Operation Nightingale – Barrow Clump, June-July 2012

If you would like to see what some members of WKAS have been involved with at Barrow Clump, a Prehistoric Barrow with Anglo-saxon burials, in Wiltshire please copy and paste this link into your browser: http://wkdc.co.uk/2012/06/16/barrow-clump-operation-nightingale/ This record of events on the site has been created by the WKAS metal detecting support group (Lesley and Geoff) and is therefore biased towards metal detecting interests. However, WKAS Chairman Diarmaid, has just arrived at Barrow Clump and he will be followed shortly on site by two other WKAS members Andy and John. So, if you are interested in following the events at Barrow Clump visit the WKDC website for updates! Another site of interest is the Project Florence pages and blog by Wessex Archaeology – Project Florence runs alongside Operation Nightingale and is a lottery funded community education project. The blog is updated regularly with items of interest about the dig http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/project-florence/blog Barrow Clump Dig – Saturday 14th July – Wednesday 18th July, 2012 Several members of WKAS attended the Barrow Clump archaeological dig being undertaken by English Heritage in conjunction with Wessex Archaeology and Operation Nightingale, a rehabilitation program for injured soldiers. Operation Nightingale is the brainchild of Sgt. Diarmaid Walshe (WKAS Chairman) a medical sergeant and former infantryman who was himself wounded in Iraq. Diarmaid came up with the idea of getting injured personnel to do some excavation as occupational rehabilitation. Many of the soldiers, from the Rifles regiment, get a taste for archaeology, which involves similar skills to soldiering. Diarmaid was kind enough to invite WKAS members to the site at a particularly busy time when the site was being filmed for a Time Team special program to be aired in early 2013. Barrow Clump lies within the army’s Salisbury Plain Training Area near Figheldean, Wiltshire. It overlooks to the west the valley of the river Avon, which flows southwards from here towards Durrington Walls and Stonehenge. This was a significant position in the landscape, next to an important route way, and the location may account for the long history of activity. The excavation project was designed to investigate badger damage to a Bronze Age round barrow and has produced evidence for site use over 4000 years, including Neolithic settlement, Bronze Age burial ritual and Anglo-Saxon graves.  The site was first recognised by the Victorians who found cremation urns near the apex of the barrow. In more recent times the barrow has been used as a rubbish dump and even army ordinance has been left here, some of it reappearing in the badger burrows. Human bones have been found near the sett entrances! Members Lesley and Geoff Burr (detectorists with WKDC) rendezvoused with me at the site on Saturday 14th July at precisely 13.15. Lesley and Geoff are regular visitors but I was here as an enthusiastic volunteer for barrow and bucket emptying and nettle flattening! It had been raining all morning on Saturday and I had some difficulty in driving my car on to the site due to the muddy conditions at the top of the hill near the barrow.  With encouragement from Lesley and Geoff I finally managed to slither my way into the field where the army and civilian tent camp was located.  At the centre of the camp was the mess tent and field kitchen. I set up my two man tent next to the Burr’s ‘luxury marquee’ and eventually went off with them to have a look around the site and to watch them detecting. In quite a short time Geoff found a lovely 5th century button brooch and Lesley a Roman coin in the spoil. I was amazed at what I saw at the site. Barrow Clump is a Bronze Age barrow hidden by trees with the ditch of the barrow being used latterly for burials during the Saxon period.  Many of the graves, which are cut neatly into the chalk, are revealing well preserved skeletons (although some ‘skellies’ have been ‘badgered’ ie damaged by the badgers) accompanied by grave goods such as shield bosses, spears, brooches, beakers, necklaces and amber beads! The evening meal was cooked by Louise Winterton (Corporal Steve Winterton’s wife) as the camp chef had been stood down for weekend for R&R.  At dinner in the mess that evening we joked that the soldier who was responsible for the trench near to where the button brooch had been found had missed a very important find and it was Geoff’s skill which had proved the worth of detectorists. On Sunday 16th not much activity took place and the site was open for inquisitive locals to have a look around.  I joined in on a tour given by Phil Andrews of Wessex Archaeology who is in charge of post excavation site operations. This was an ideal opportunity to take some photos.  I later got to see some of the more recent finds. The Time Team crew began to arrive on Sunday afternoon and started to set up their equipment. The field entrance began to get even muddier! The Time Team members mustered for the filming were Tony Robinson, Helen Geake, Phil Harding, John Gater and Raksha Dave. Filming began on Monday morning at 09.00 with the focus of the program being both the story of the soldiers and their rehab as well as the excellent archaeology. Soldiers were ordered to ‘stand by their graves’ and make sure their skellies were ready for inspection. The weather was wet, windy and cold. We were pleased that fellow WKAS member Andy Putman was able to join us to help out, having suffered from a bad back the previous week. I chatted with all of the Time Team experts and during the day managed to coerce them into signing my copy of ‘The Time Team Guide to the History of Britain’! Lunch was signalled by Sgt.Walshe bellowing ‘Scoffs Up!’ from a spoil heap and everyone trooped off for a hearty portion of lasagne. Well, they do say an army marches on its stomach! John Gater carried out some magnetometry and Time Team opened a trench on the back of the barrow in their usual style with the aid of a JCB.  Unfortunately, no evidence of burials was found and Phil Harding’s opinion was that it was unlikely that burials would have taken place out of sight of the settlement somewhere down in the valley. An army engineering detachment was ‘all present and correct’ measuring elevations in order to create a 3D model of the barrow. Later in the day Andy managed to get close up and personal with a skellie and did an excellent job of revealing it.  Lesley and I laboriously removed some overburden at the edge of the ditch near to existing skeletons with the aim of getting down to the same level. The ditch area was particularly exploited by badger runs and Lesley found a possible nest with some debris and straw. We removed many buckets of soil and as I descended one last time with an empty bucket I accidently put my left foot through the thin soil and into the burrow.  Oops! At the end of the first day of filming most of the soldiers had gone AWOL so members of WKAS were asked to excavate in the background as Tony Robinson attempted to summarise the day’s activities by carefully walking along the ridge of a spoil heap whilst looking into a wide angle camera in the distance.  A barbeque was held in the evening and attended by the Time Team crew and ‘cast’. Fortunately the weather had improved. Afterwards a BBQ quiz was held in the mess tent. Tuesday 17th began with more filming and the already busy site was joined by army ‘top brass’ to see what was going on.  Mid-morning a Time Team helicopter circled the site to film the barrow and the activities from the air. Unfortunately, I had to leave after lunch on Tuesday so did not see the conclusion of the Time Team work which was scheduled to finish the next evening. My visit was an enjoyable and rewarding experience and I feel privileged to have witnessed some of the very important work going on at Barrow Clump. Lesley and Geoff, Andy and I would like to thank Diarmaid for the opportunity to attend the dig during this very busy period. We are all looking forward to seeing the program next year. Report filed by John English, WKAS committee member                        

Twitton May, 2012 – Geophysics

With kind permission of the Landowner, WKAS members continued investigating the site in Twitton using geophysics. We continued using the resistivity machine and the new experimental magnetometry machine had its second outing. The landowner has recently been improving the land by cutting back on the hedges, this has revealed some interesting masonery and quite a considerable amount of pottery.

Filston Farm April, 2012

  The new ‘Mag’ gets its first workout and the first test pit is started   The test pit progresses and two new friends look on   Sally and Andy start the resistivity geophysics and Andy uploading the data with help   The test pit gets deeper and the final result

Operation Nightingale, Caerwent April, 2012

Some photos of the happenings at Caerwent during ‘Operation Nightingale’   Images of the Roman Town plan for Caerwent and some of the impressive standing Roman walls.   Early days in two of the trenches   Some impressive Roman walls coming to light   A site conference and a piece of marked stone from Markus and Andy’s trench   Markus hard at the archaeology then taking a break while Lesley and Andy have a go   Site visitor – Phil Harding from ‘Time Team’ and a tray of painted wall plaster That impressive Roman wall – towards the end of the week.

Geophysics at Otford Palace March, 2012

Gathering before the off! Kevin caught mid-stride or is he dancing or skipping with the resistivity machine? Doing a front and back garden in the adjacent road. Dealing with the standing archaeology – natural hazards!     ! Andy and Sally deal with another natural hazard! Plainer sailing here!

Excavation following geophysics July, 2011 – looking for a WWII Dummy Airfield

Excavations at Twitton July, 2011 – looking at the bank

Geophysics Otford May, 2011 – looking for more of the Palace

Geophysics Lullingstone April, 2011 – looking for further buildings

Excavations at Shoreham April, 2011 – following up some likely hits on the geophysics

These last two photographs show the excavation, from the trench, of a Roman knife handle

Geophysics Shoreham February, 2011 – looking for a Roman building

2010 Sutton-at-Hone

WKAS members investigated a site that was producing Celtic and Roman Coins. Resistivity Geophysics was completed and a couple of trenches were dug. The ground was very dry and sandy and the archaeological evidence difficult to see!

Operation Pipeline 2010

Two metal detectorist members of WKAS discovered what appeared to be cremation burials whilst detecting on a pipeline, with permission of the landowner. They called WKAS members for archaeological help. A commercial archaeological group employed by the pipeline construction company and members of WKAS assisted with the rescue and removal of in excess of twenty cremation burials and associated goods dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman Period. A Bronze Age barrow was also found. WKAS intend to carry out further site investigations in the future.

Investigations at Otford April, 2009