Funnyman Hugh Dennis has opened a town’s new archaeology gallery.
The radio and TV presenter, known for Radio 4’s Now Show among others, was at Maidstone Museum in St Faith’s Street, to open the Lives in Our Landscape gallery.
Mr Dennis has a strong interest in archaeology and heritage issues after filming three series of The Great British Dig for Channel 4 and investigating nearly 30 dig sites.
He also has a link to the County Town in that the pilot episode for the series excavated a Roman site in Lower Fant, in Maidstone, in 2019.
Mr Dennis said: “I’d heard about the progress of the new Lives in our Landscape gallery for some time, through friends at the Kent Archaeological Society.
“I was absolutely thrilled to be asked to open the gallery!
“Maidstone Museum has really achieved something quite outstanding with this immersive and exciting gallery.
“I would encourage everyone to come and see it and experience the changing landscapes of Kent for themselves.”
The gallery is open to the public from tomorrow, Wednesday.
It tells the story of how people have lived in the area over a vast span of time.
Objects depicting the earliest type of humans hunting animals with stone tools in a forested landscape are on show, along with those right up to the medieval period, when Maidstone became a bustling market town.
Museum manager, Natalie Moor, said: “The gallery will transport people back through time and allow them to imagine how a person lived thousands of years ago.”
The museum includes the skeleton of the Eastry woman, buried nearly 1,500 years ago, with the story of her life revealed through a scientific analysis of her teeth and bones.
The gallery has an interactive touchscreen map to explore what has been unearthed in the borough of Maidstone and where, and there are hands-on activities, with a chance to handle objects and try on costumes.
More information about the gallery can be found here.
The gallery was funded with a £100,000 donation from the William and Edith Oldham Charitable Trust, and £100,000 raised by Maidstone Museum’s Foundation. Maidstone borough council contributed £389,000.
The Kent Archaeological Society (KAS) has also donated £50,000 and the museum team have worked in partnership with them to select objects.
