Last night's Civic Society talk: Kent Archives....

No don't let the headline put you off; it's much more interesting than you might think! In fact the Tonbridge Civic Society talk at the Angel Centre last night was most interesting. Amazingly around 80 members, plus a few non-members, turned up on a really 'orrible evening to hear what Stuart Bligh of Kent County Council Archives had to say. Now you're probably thinking how the heck can archives be interesting? Well he made them so by an enthusiastic delivery and some good visuals to back it up. There are over 14,000 metres of archive shelving held in Maidstone and most of them have to be moved to a purpose build new centre within the next two years. This is an amazing facility with masses of information dating right back to Saxon times. In fact you don't have to imagine it at all; since you, as a tax payer, are actually paying for it you can go an visit and do some research any time you like. If you are researching a family history this is the place where you can go to get bundles of documents. You can sit there for hours at a time pouring over ancient bits of paper, manuscripts, and books until you find that one missing piece in the jigsaw! The oldest document in the centre dates back to 699 AD and it's not likely to be that interesting until you consider how amazing it is that something has survived that long when the oldest stone building in Tonbridge is about 300 years younger. The archive centre is the sort of place which gets members of the historical society going all giddy with the sheer excitement of it all and it can also be useful to anybody else for a whole host of reasons; I know I'll definitely be paying them a visit before too long. Find out more on the web site which, like most council web sites is a little difficult to navigate. I'm also a bit surprised that there aren't more of these archives available online; unless I'm getting confused for most information you still have to visit in person. That didn't detract though from a really thorough and interesting talk last night....