Could a sword found in a lake be Kent's Excalibur?

Like something from King Arthur, a 200-year-old sword was found sticking from a castle's lake after hot weather caused water levels to plummet.

It was discovered when fallen branches were cleared from the edge last Thursday.

Their removal revealed the weapon, which Chiddingstone Castle curator Naomi Collick said could be a Victorian bandsman's sword from the early 1800s.

Its curved blade, chipped and rusted, with a gilded, possibly brass, hilt featuring a lion on the end, is too delicate to hold.

Collick said: "Our volunteer team were out here clearing some fallen branches around the edge of the lake, where the waterline has gone down quite significantly, and they spotted a blade poking out of the water.

"And when they pulled it out they realised that it was a sword, which is such an incredible discovery and potentially may have been in the lake for a very long time."

There were a few theories how it got there.

"The last owner of the castle, Dennis Eyre Bower, did collect swords but the lake itself was built in the 1800s," Collick said.

"So it could have been any time from the 1800s onwards. It could have been, for example, troops who were stationed here during World War Two.

"It could have been the Stratfield family who originally lived here in the 1800s, so there's plenty of different theories to try and investigate further."

It is not only castle lakes that have been affected by the hot weather.

Last week satellite images showed the impact of the dry weather on Kent, Sussex and Surrey, by contrasting recent satellite images with those taken 10 years ago.

And on Tuesday drought officials have declared 71.3% of England now in drought, after the nation recorded its driest July since records began in 1836.

Kent and East Sussex, joined Surrey and West Sussex, half of England and the whole of Wales, in entering drought status.

The National Drought Group, made up of regulators, government officials, water companies and agricultural bodies, made the decision after a meeting on Monday.

A total of 45 million people are now living in a drought area in England, with more than 27 million facing water use restrictions.

It comes after an exceptionally hot and dry summer, with heatwave conditions set to return for many this week.

National Drought Group chairman, Tony Grayling, said drought conditions would continue to worsen until "significant and sustained rainfall".

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