Playing card from the 1700s unearthed at Historic Dockyard Chatham

A joke lost for centuries was found during restoration work to one of the buildings.   Maisy Walker reports.

Transcript

00:01Turns out Chatham had a card up its sleeve. Well, its floorboards.

00:05A rare 18th century Jack of Spades, dealing the town a fresh piece of its past.

00:11I'm here in the historic Chatham Dockyard, finding out just exactly the history behind these old playing cards

00:19that were discovered during works at the Commissioner's House.

00:22The Jack of Spades, dated between 1725 and 1750, is estimated to be 300 years old.

00:30Playing cards in the 18th century were used much as they are today.

00:33However, this card is believed to have served a different purpose.

00:37Along the top edge here, there is a fringing type of effect cutting along the top, which is intentional.

00:43And the card's corners have been cut off on three of the corners,

00:46which you'd normally do if your card corners break down after use.

00:50But we don't really know why this sort of fringing effect has happened here.

00:54It's completely unique as far as we know.

00:57And maybe, possibly, they might have been using it as a brush or something like that.

01:01The Commissioner's House was built in 1703 for Captain George St Lou, who found the old 1640 residence inadequate.

01:10He successfully petitioned for a new home upon arriving at Chatham Dockyard.

01:14Recently, it experienced a major restoration, which is how the card was discovered.

01:19Conservator Alexandra Wade for the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust said the discovery was a tangible reminder of the lives once lived here.

01:27A small, personal object that has survived nearly three centuries.

01:31It's given us a whole other aspect to Chatham's life and to the Commissioner's life.

01:37It sort of brings him to life as well, that period.

01:39Because it's between 1725 and 1750 we've dated it to, there's probably about four Commissioners that we could probably pin it to.

01:45Commissioner Kempthorne was here 1726 to 33, I think.

01:51And he's probably the most likely, he's the longest to have lived in the house with his family.

01:56And we, yeah, can sort of add into his social history from this card.

02:01The Jack of Spades likely fell through the gaps in the old floor by chance.

02:05The wide spaces between the boards would have made it easy for the card to slip through.

02:09A reminder that the past isn't always lost.

02:11Sometimes it's waiting to be uncovered beneath our feet.

02:15Maisie Walker for KMTV, Chatham.

02:18Also, after talking with herlaunt to the Democracies website.

02:23I have been throwing them in five minutes.

02:25I think the most really, obvious times, yeah.

02:27So really, good to see ladies.

02:28And that is, yes, it is related, good enough during the first term.

02:31And as well and as well.

02:33Now you're describing his magnitude as a moment of a sudden recovery.

02:36So reading is the дуже's power.

02:39And I'm going to object the previous one first time.

02:41Now you want us to say this moment but...

02:45You will take a moment.