As 2021 dawned, there was a mixture of joy and dismay as Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit members realised that we had reached our Golden Anniversary. Founded in 1971, we were the first county-based Unit, followed by the Norfolk Unit in 1972, the Oxford Unit in 1973, and others later. All these early formations came about as a result of the huge threat to the buried heritage following growing post-war development for schools, housing, and commercial schemes – added to by extensive road-building, including motorways – which left the Government and county societies unable to keep up. Another excellent early response was the formation of RESCUE in 1971, under the inspirational leadership of Martin Biddle. Indeed, I have fond memories of the initiating Barford Conference where Martin and I were introduced, having arrived by chance together. Ironically, we may be the only surviving founder-members who are still working.
Early days and tactics
Our Kent rescue work dated well before 1971, though, under the famous CIB banner (see CA 38 and 196). We had begun at the start of the 1960s, doing rapid recording on the frozen beaches at Reculver where the sea was pounding the exposed Roman fort – it was only saved when we campaigned for the construction of a new sea wall. (Our original CIB name stems from this work: it stands for Cohors I Batasiorum, and refers to stamped tiles that we uncovered at Reculver in 1960.) Further excavations documented the Royal Abbey at Faversham in 1965, the Saxon cemetery at Polhill in 1964 and 1967, the London Roman Forum in 1968-1969, Operation Gaspipe in 1968, the Darenth Roman Villa in 1969, and Dover Roman forts from 1970 until 2020. All of these have been fully published since. It was just after our start at Dover that I and three others created the Kent Unit as a registered charity, having given up our careers and surviving on meagre subsistence (we were later supported in a small way by the Ministry of Public Building and Works).
These early days required a degree of bluff and blunder to match the strong opposition to archaeologists that existed following the Mithras publicity of 1956. Our tactics then were to carry a clipboard, wear a safety helmet and strong boots, and arrive on development sites in a vehicle marked with official-looking insignia. When challenged, we would explain that we were simply looking for a harmless missing Roman road. This usually gained access and a chance to examine all the ground-works in preparation for site-recording after the contractors had left.
Excavating the past of south Wales