Meetings Programme for 2026.

Meetings are held normally on the first Wednesday of every month, starting at 8 PM.

Most meetings are face-to-face at Christ Church URC, Tudor Way, Petts Wood BR5 1LH. However, in some cases (where indicated) they may be held on Zoom.

Non-members are welcome at meetings, space permitting. We do ask for a donation of £3.

Meetings 2026

7 January 2026
Spitalfields Medieval charnel house (online)
Dr Jane Sidell, Principal Inspector of Ancient Monuments,
Historic England

4 February 2026
What’s the “moat-ivation”?
Alexis Haslam is Fulham Palace’s Community Archaeologist and will present a talk on the history and archaeology of the Fulham Palace Moat.

Fulham Palace was the home of the Bishops of London from 704 to the 1970s but the site has seen occupation from the late Mesolithic to early Neolithic period and boasted the longest medieval moat in England (1400 metres) until the 1920s when it was filled in for health and safety reasons. The outline is still visible today.

4 March 2026
Landscapes, monuments and visibility in early Neolithic Kent
Dr Alastair Oswald, English Heritage

1 April 2026
The massive Melsonby Iron Age hoard: from bits of bits, to wheels and wagons
Dr Sophia Adams, Curator, First Millennium European and Roman
Conquest Period Collections, Department of Britain, Europe and
Prehistory, British Museum

6 May 2026
Women and the Royal Archaeological Institute
Nathalie Cohen, Archaeologist for London and the South East,
National Trust

3 June 2026
The Importance of the Dead in a Living Landscape: settlement, mortuary rites and landscape appropriation from the Early Bronze Age to the post-Roman period
Rebecca Haslam, Project Manager, AOC Archaeology Group

1 July 2026
Vikings in Kent
Andy Ward, Curator, Kent Archaeological Society

5 August 2026
Bartmann Goes Global – Project Update (online)
Jacqui Pearce, Senior Pottery Specialist, MOLA
Members will receive a zoom link.

2 September 2026
The Witch Bottle Phenomenon
Dr Nigel Jeffries, Principal Specialist and Manager leading MOLA’s ceramics team.

7 October 2026
The de Scathebury family: 13th and early 14th century life at Scadbury Manor
Dr Janet Clayton, Chair Orpington & District Archaeological Society.

4 November 2026
Lost in the Woods: Portable Antiquities in the Weald
Dr Andrew Richardson, Finds Liaison Officer, Kent County Council

2 December 2026
Annual AGM & Christmas Social