Ian Osterloh

In a very entertaining talk to CHAS members, Blue Badge Guide, Sue Duckworth, explained how smuggling in Romney Marsh can be dated back to the early 13th Century when King John imposed export taxes on wools, and how the Romney Marsh sheep were highly valued for the quality of their fleece. With successive governments imposing … Read more

The Maison Dieu in Dover will surely be high on the list of attractions for CHAS members to visit when it reopens to the public in early 2024. In a fascinating talk, Martin Crowther (Engagement officer for the Maison Dieu) described its foundation (circa 1203) as a pilgrim hospital by William de Burgh (image 1) … Read more

In our first zoom talk of the 2023 autumn term, Toni Mount (who obtained her MA from the University of Kent via a dissertation focused on ‘A Physician’s Handbook‘ from 1450) brought medieval medicine back to life.  She started by reminding us that in the medieval period illness was thought to be a punishment from God, … Read more

It is with great sadness that we learnt of the recent death of David Lewis, former chair of CHAS, and the originator of the CHAS website. The CHAS website was originally launched by David Lewis in 2009, and he has been the main contributor of pages, articles and photographs ever since. We know that many … Read more

CHAS held its first face to face talk since the pandemic at St Paul’s Church on September 13th (image 1 below). CHAS Chairman, Bob Collins wore a special musical tie for the occasion, but it took our speaker, Dr Stephen Foster, Senior Lay Clerk at Canterbury Cathedral, less than a second to identify the fragment … Read more

CHAS Website visitor, Howard Farmer, has sent us some pictures of a hand axe he found lying on the surface of a field in Nackington. Howard actually made this find approximately 24 years ago, but was inspired to take a fresh look at it following the recent reporting of a similar find on a National … Read more

This pile of material on part of the St Augustine’s Abbey site (English Heritage) has been getting bigger throughout this week. Why? Professor Ken Dark is directing a limited archaeological investigation on the north side of the Church of Sts Peter and Paul, which was built in the early years of the 7th century. The … Read more

On Friday July 14th Peter Henderson (King’s School Archivist and former King’s School master) gave a guided walk around the grounds of the King’s School buildings, which occupy parts of the former site of the Benedictine Monastery at Christ Church Cathedral. Peter was a tremendous fount of knowledge and greatly entertained and educated an enthusiastic … Read more

Dr Stephen Foster, Senior Lay Clerk at Canterbury Cathedral, led over 20 CHAS members and friends round familiar and also less well-known parts of Canterbury on a sunny Saturday afternoon. While talking about music making in various establishments in Georgian Canterbury, Dr Foster had to raise his voice above various forms of 21st Century street … Read more