Research Facilities

The Ash Heritage Centre occupies a purpose-built archives room within the village hall building. It was opened in 2011 after several years of fundraising, including assistance from a number of grant-making bodies.

Staffed by volunteers, the Centre is open to the public on Saturday mornings from 10am until noon. Access is available from the corridor via the hall’s main entrance. The premises are also occupied on Monday mornings (10 am until noon) by the Group’s volunteers working on our holdings, when it is also sometimes possible to assist enquirers by prior appointment, although the room itself is a working office at these times. Other than wall-mounted pictures and a small display, our archives and artefacts are held mostly in acid-free archives boxes on a mezzanine floor, or in drawers or in albums, the entire collection being fully catalogued electronically.

Casual visitors who wish to browse (for example, among our photographic collections) or make general enquiries will be very welcome. If you are hoping to undertake specific research on the premises, please contact us in advance via email to ascertain which records might help and to make an appointment. This will save time when you arrive and also avoid unnecessary travel.

Bookshop

A number of publications are for sale in the Centre and at Group events. Among these are ‘Ash: An East Kent Village’, a comprehensive history of the parish by one of our founder members, the late David Downes, ‘Not Just a Name’, an investigation by David Ross into the individuals commemorated on the Ash and Westmarsh war memorials and a number of booklets by the late Elizabeth Hudson. Other pamphlets and postcards are also available.

Ash Heritage Centre
Ash Village Hall
Queens Road
Ash
Canterbury
Kent
CT3 2BG