GLAAS Projects

Farthing Down Excavations ©EH Farthing Down

Since 2004 we have been carrying out a project to study the h istory of human activity on Farthing Down, which aims to bring together the results of all the previous excavations, observations and stray finds along with a new programme of survey and excavation. There have been over 230 years of chance finds, observations and excavations on Farthing Down, the most substantial of which was the work carried out by Brian Hope-Taylor during the 1940s. Unfortunately he died before he could publish the results of his work and very little research has been carried out on the Down since then.

In 2005 we carried out a small series of excavations, re-excavating one of the Saxon barrows and investigating the earthworks of the enclosure system. We began a programme of topographic and geophysical survey in 2006, mapping the surviving earthworks and any below ground archaeological deposits. This work will continue for the next two years and will be complemented by some airborne remote sensing.

Find out more about the Farthing Down Project

SHARP European Project

Contact: Mark Stevenson                                                                          

Having developed the SHARP (Sustainable Historic Arsenal Regeneration Partnership) programme using the resources of the London Development Agency and Berkeley Homes Ltd, with the services of 21st Century Era Ltd, a not for profit management company, English Heritage London Region was the Lead Partner of this European project, taking forward our current involvement with the regeneration of the former Royal Arsenal, Woolwich by linking with other such sites in Malta, Spain and Estonia to share and further develop the Mutual Benefit Model and for English Heritage, to devise a model of best practice in respect of major historic brownfield redevelopments.

The project culminated in the SHARPend conference, held at the Royal Artillery Museum, Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, at which was launched the SHARP book: Regeneration Through Heritage: understanding the development potential of historic European arsenals.

See Mark Stevenson and Malcolm Woods' presentation to  an IAU  Workshop, Paris Ile-de-France

^{(Last updated: 12th Jan. 2008 Robert Whytehead)}