Exploring the legacy of Ethelburga – a community project focused on the Anglo-Saxon heritage of Lyminge, a village in the Elham Valley in East Kent.
Readers of this blog over the summer will recall how we unexpectedly uncovered the remains of substantial walls due east of the War Memorial. At the time, these were interpreted as the remains of the Archbishops' residence or Aula, which was built in the 11th Century and at least partially demolished in the 14th Century. … Continue reading A view of the Archbishops’ residence
There was a great deal of excitement in Lyminge Library today as we held our first launch event and sold the first copies of our first project publication: Diary of a Dig. The book is the joint work of Liz Coleman and Rob Baldwin, who between them were responsible for writing the daily blog posts … Continue reading Our book launch
With the better weather this week, the work of back-filling the site is proceeding apace. The great spoil heaps have been reduced and they are being used to fill the area that was dug over the course of the summer. The type 3 aggregate sub-base for the new path has now been laid over the … Continue reading Back-filling continues
Our first project publication has just arrived back from the printers and is now on sale. This is an edited version of the daily blog posts, with some of the extra information that we posted on the noticeboard on the viewing platform during the dig. So it is a record of the dig itself, our … Continue reading Book launch
As the autumn leaves start to fall on the foundations of Ethelburga's church, we are slowly beginning the process of restoring the churchyard following the end of the dig and the start of the next phase of the project. The viewing platform has now been dismantled. Our contractors, Astral, will return to site on Monday … Continue reading Restoring the dig site
We are expecting the contractors to be back on site on 23 September to begin the task of back-filling the archaeological excavation. Yesterday was therefore the last opportunity to hold a service within the uncovered Anglo-Saxon church. We began evensong within the walls of the church, with prayers from the period, a psalm and a … Continue reading A last service in the Anglo-Saxon church
Mother Nikola and the sisters from Minster viewing the 7th Century church from the viewing platform We were delighted to welcome Mother Nikola and the sisters from Minster Abbey to view our Anglo-Saxon church at Lyminge today. This was special because of the ancient connection between Minster-in-Thanet and Lyminge. At the end of the 8th … Continue reading A very special visit
There is more to our project than just the archaeological excavation of the Anglo-Saxon church. In order to move on to the next phase, we are delighted to announce that we have appointed White Cliffs Countryside Partnership (WCCP) as our new Community Engagement Manager. Those of you who have attended our public meetings or who … Continue reading The next phase of our project
So after 26 miles over 3 days, we began our final day of this inaugural walk of the Royal Saxon Way beside the Little Stour at Wickhambreaux. The river flows beside flooded gravel pits, so there are great expanses of water and a landscape that is very green and lush. As we approached Preston we … Continue reading Launch of the Royal Saxon Way – the Last Day
On the third day of our pilgrimage, we started off at Bishopsbourne. It was another bright and sunny day. We headed to St Peter's, Bridge where sadly we were not able to see inside the church because there was a service of dedication in progress for a new stained glass window. We marked this down … Continue reading Launch of the Royal Saxon Way – Day 3
