Paul Ashbee

Paul Ashbee (23 June 1918 – 19 August 2009) was a leading British archaeologist, noted for his many excavations of barrows, or burial mounds, and for co-directing the Sutton Hoo digs (with Rupert Bruce-Mitford) from 1964 to 1972; he was perhaps less well known as president of the Just William Society. He died of cancer on 19 August 2009, aged 91.[1]

Paul Ashbee
Born(1918-06-23)23 June 1918
Bearsted, near Maidstone, Kent
Died19 August 2009(2009-08-19) (aged 91)
CitizenshipBritish
Alma materUniversity of London
Known forLeading authority on Neolithic and Bronze Age barrows
Scientific career
FieldsArchaeology

Personal life

The only child of cabinet maker Lewis Ashbee and Hannah Mary Elisabeth, daughter of house decorator William Edward Birch Brett, of Thanet, Kent,[2] Paul Ashbee was born in Bearsted, near Maidstone, Kent. He made national headlines when he uncovered the remains of a Roman villa on a farm at Thurnham when still a teenager.[1] He joined the Royal West Kent Regiment for the duration of the war, followed by the Control Commission for Germany. Although without any qualifications he studied for a diploma in European prehistoric archaeology at the University of London in 1952, followed by a diploma in education at Bristol University and a MA at Leicester University. He became an assistant history master at Britain's first comprehensive school, Forest Hill School, Forest Hill, London where he stayed until 1966.[1] He married Richmal Disher in 1952; the niece and literary executor of Richmal Crompton,[3][4][5] she was a history student and they met at a dig at Verulamium, St Albans in 1949. She died in 2005,[1] after which Ashbee became president of the Just William Society.[4]

Archaeology

Ashbee went into archaeology (during school holidays) after service in the army through the Second World War. He excavated widely across southern Britain and is best known as a leading authority on Neolithic and Bronze Age barrows.[6] From 1976 to 1980 he was the President of the Cornwall Archaeology Society,[7] and was also a commissioner of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England for 10 years.[1]

Excavations

Published work
  • Ashbee, Paul (October–November 1954). "Excavation of the Great Barrow at Bishop's Waltham: Possible Burial of a Chief". The Archaeological News Letter. Linden Publicity. 5 (6): 109–110.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Ashbee, Paul; Ashbee, Richmal C. L. (December 1954). "Excavation of a Barrow at Hindlow". The Archaeological News Letter. Linden Publicity. 5 (7): 134–135.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • 1960 The Bronze Age Round Barrow in Britain, Littlehampton Book Services Ltd, ISBN 978-0460076173
  • 1970 The Earthen Long Barrow in Britain, University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-0802015723
  • 1974 Ancient Scilly, David & Charles, ISBN 978-0715365687
  • 1978 The Ancient British, Geo Abstracts, ISBN 978-0860940142
  • 1996 Halangy Down, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, Excavations 1964–1977, Cornish Archaeology No 35
  • 2005 Kent in Prehistoric Times, The History Press, ISBN 978-0752431369
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References
  1. "Paul Ashbee". The Telegraph (9 October 2009). Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  2. The Strange Story of Sarah Kelly, Vera Hughes, 1997, p. 67, 193
  3. "Paul Ashbee". 9 October 2009 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  4. Quinnell, Henrietta (5 October 2009). "Obituary – Paul Ashbee, archaeologist". The Guardian.
  5. "Letter: Paul Ashbee obituary". The Guardian. 20 October 2009.
  6. Quinnell, Henrietta (February 2010). "Paul Ashbee 1918–2009" (PDF). Cornish Archaeological Society Newsletter (122): 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  7. Cornish Archaeological Society (October 2009). "Paul Ashbee 1918–2009". Cornish Archaeological Society. 48–49: 325.
Ward, Anthony; Lawson, Terence (2010). "Paul Ashbee, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A." (PDF). Archaeologia Cantiana. 130: 435–438.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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