![]() ![]() ![]() A Guide to Sacred Sites and Pilgrim Routes by Beebe Bahrami (Mahwah, New Jersey: Hidden Spring, 2009). Gerald Moody’s book offers an appealing glimpse of a seldom visited part of Kent that in many periods was almost a stepping stone for travellers coming from Continental Europe, heading by sea towards either the Thames estuary and London, or the fertile valleys and hills of Kent. Certainly, this was the apogee of the Isle, because with the Normans, the English Channel ports of Dover and Sandwich to the south, and Rochester to the west, offered better harbors and protection. Perhaps more might have been made of this intriguing if little-known site and its connections with other Thanet settlements. Although an old excavation, it has fascinated contemporary archaeologists and historians alike as a cornerstone in the commercial rise of Middle Saxon. Dating mostly to the 7th century, Sarre has been connected with the rise of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent, and its close links with the Merovingian kingdom of Neustria. Nineteenth century excavations here produced a stunning array of imported Frankish goods as well as Byzantine silver spoons. The richest of all these cemeteries is Sarre, tucked in the Stour valley. This concentration undoubtedly made it an attractive area in early Anglo-Saxon times, as evidenced by many cemeteries associated with this period. The author calls it an imperial (Roman) outpost, but by any European standards, it has a dense number of small maritime villas, including Abbey Farm villa, which has recently been excavated. Not surprisingly it is no less rich in later prehistoric times, with numerous Bronze Age barrows, remarkable bronze hoards from Ebbsfleet and Minnis Bay, and significant Iron Age farms including a fortified promontory on North Foreland. ![]() The island is rich in early prehistoric finds from Palaeolithic hand-axes to the Neolithic causewayed camp recently excavated at Court Stairs. Moody draws upon a modern survey by the Trust for Thanet Archaeology, reconstructing the sequence of curiously shaped islands from Mesolithic, Early Bronze Age, Roman, and early Modern times. The first 50 pages of the book describe how the island became a segment of Kent. It is a modern sequel to the Reverend John Lewis’ The History and Antiquities of the Isle of Thanet (1736), an antiquarian tour de force that laid the groundwork for many Victorian archaeologists to mine Thanet’s many barrows and cemeteries. Gerald Moody’s short, readable book surveys the archaeology of this subregion of Kent since the Ice Age. Pegwell Bay, to the southeast of the Isle, is long associated with the fabled landings of the Anglo-Saxons, and there today can be found a full-sized replica of an Anglo-Saxon ship. Reculver, at the north terminus of the River Stour, was a great Roman fortress guarding the straits to London. Separated from the heartland of Kent by the River Stour, this “island” includes the Victorian bathing resorts of Broadstairs, Margate, and Ramsgate. The little-known Isle of Thanet, southeast of London-a peninsula projecting north-eastward off the north coast of Kent-is no different. ![]() 188 pp., 103 illus., cloth, £17.99, ISBN 978-9-9.Įvery part of southern England has a rich and almost continuous archaeological history, from the Upper Palaeolithic era onward. The Isle of Thanet from Prehistory to the Norman Conquest by Gerald Moody (Stroud: Tempus, 2008). ![]()
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