CANTERBURY ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST LIMITED

Registered charity 278861 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Archaeological investigations, building recording, educational services, publications

Causes: Education/training · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£2.7m

Latest spending

£2.7m

Registered

1979

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net expenditure of £3,765 for the year ended 31 March 2025, a shift from the previous year's net income. The trustees confirm that unrestricted free reserves of £1,417,664 are held, which they consider to be in line with their policy target of three to six months' expenditure.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £70,001 - £80,000 — above the median for charities its size (£70k)

“In the band £60,001 - £70,000 - 1 In the band £70,001 - £80,000 1 -”

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: three- to six-months’ expenditure (held: £1.4m)

“The policy of the Trustees in respect of reserves is that the Trust should hold unrestricted cash reserves representing at least three- to six-months’ expenditure.” — page 15

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by UHY Hacker Young. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Mark Houliston — Director of Commercial Services (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Property (HM Land Registry)

2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Total income

£2.7m

Total spending

£2.7m

Reserves (reported)

£1.9m

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~8.3 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (94% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Dr DAVID JAMES SHAWchair · trustee of 1 other charity
ANDREW CORBY LLB,LLM
BRIGADIER MARTIN JOHN MEARDON · trustee of 1 other charity
Christopher John Robinson · trustee of 1 other charity
Dr Eleanor Frances Williams
Nigel Aman Fletcher-Jones · trustee of 2 other charities

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/03/2025	£2.7m	£2.7m
31/03/2024	£3.0m	£2.8m
31/03/2023	£2.4m	£2.4m
31/03/2022	£2.6m	£2.0m
31/03/2021	£1.8m	£1.8m

Common questions

Is CANTERBURY ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST LIMITED financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net expenditure of £3,765 for the year ended 31 March 2025, a shift from the previous year's net income. The trustees confirm that unrestricted free reserves of £1,417,664 are held, which they consider to be in line with their policy target of three to six months' expenditure. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by UHY Hacker Young.

What does the highest-paid employee of CANTERBURY ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST LIMITED earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £70,001 - £80,000 band.

Who funds CANTERBURY ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST LIMITED?

Funders whose own accounts filings name CANTERBURY ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST LIMITED as a grant recipient include JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUST, THE ROGER DE HAAN CHARITABLE TRUST, MARC FITCH FUND.

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£20k
JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£20k
THE ROGER DE HAAN CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£10k	Community Development
THE ROGER DE HAAN CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£10k
MARC FITCH FUND	FY2023	£9k	Transitions and Relationships over Land and Sea in the Early Middle Ages of Northern Europe

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	01/08/2023	£226k	"Facing the Cliff: The Race to Uncover and Share the Folkestone Villa at East Wear Bay"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	14/12/2022	£47k	"Canterbury Archaeological Trust Organisational Resilience and Audience Development Strategy"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	13/07/2020	£10k	"COVID19: Canterbury Archaeological Trust"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	04/11/2004	£13k	"CAT Kits: Hands-on Heritage For Schools and Community Groups"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	27/02/2002	£46k	"Archaeological Access for All, Canterbury"

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
LONDON LEGAL SUPPORT TRUST	1	£249k
THE MRS SMITH AND MOUNT TRUST	1	£36k
THE COLYER-FERGUSSON CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£30k
THE PHILIP AND CONNIE PHILLIPS FOUNDATION	1	£22k
THE FORTE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION	1	£3k
Winchester Eastleigh and Romsey Methodist Circuit	1	£3k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with CANTIACORUM FOUNDATION.

CANTIACORUM FOUNDATION income £155k
CANTERBURY AND DISTRICT BRANCH OF THE RSPCA income £742k
CANTERBURY BAPTIST CHURCH income £261k
CANTERBURY AND DISTRICT EARLY YEARS PROJECT income £180k
THE CANTERBURY DAY NURSERY, HOLIDAY PLAYSCHEME AND AFTER SCHOOL CLUB income £825k
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF FOLKESTONE HOLY TRINITY WITH CHRIST CHURCH income £129k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
CANTERBURY ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST LIMITED	£2.7m	£70,001 - £80,000	—	unclear	—	no doubt
CANTIACORUM FOUNDATION FY2025	£155k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
CANTERBURY AND DISTRICT BRANCH OF THE RSPCA FY2025	£742k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
CANTERBURY BAPTIST CHURCH FY2025	£261k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
CANTERBURY AND DISTRICT EARLY YEARS PROJECT FY2025	£180k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE CANTERBURY DAY NURSERY, HOLIDAY PLAYSCHEME AND AFTER SCHOOL CLUB FY2026	£825k	—	0	within	—	no doubt

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.