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Volume 2 : 1975 – 1979

newsletter-106-december-1979

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Newsletter


Page 1

HAPPY CHRISTMAS HADAS

Christmas is nearly here, so this Newsletter opens with greetings to all members for the Christmas season and best wishes for 1980.

This is the first year that the Newsletter is able to provide something like a Christmas card. It isn’t exactly a card, but our illustration at the back serves the same purpose: it is a token of our good wishes. It is a new drawing, by HADAS artist Mary Allaway, of the parish church of Hendon St Mary’s.

(EDITORIAL – to see this picture, select the following link)

This could almost be called the Society’s “mother” church. Our founder, the late Mr. Constantinides, when he brought HADAS into being in April, 1961, did so because he hoped to prove archaeologically that both St Mary’s and the community which it had served for centuries were of Saxon origin.

St Mary’s was therefore closely linked with our Society right from the start. Mr. Constantinides did not, alas, live to see his hunch proved right, as it was in the excavation which took place just south of St Mary’s from 1973 onwards. That dig, directed by Ted Sammes, produced the first solid evidence, in the form of ditches containing grass-tempered pottery, for Saxon Hendon. It was the churchyard of St Mary’s, too, that saw the start of another activity in which HADAS has specialised – the recording of tombstone inscriptions.
DIGGING PLANS

PADDY MUSGROVE writes: Our dig at Church Crescent, Finchley, having continued for six weekends, has ended for the time being at least. We hope to investigate further in the New Year when days are longer and dryer. Medieval pottery and two struck flakes nave been found, but the chief feature of interest has been the gently sloping edge of a large pit, the purpose of which has not yet been established.

Meantime DAPHNE LORIMER reports that digging will continue later than usual at West Heath because we appear to be in the early stages of uncovering another hearth; and if this materialises, we would rather deal with it quickly and not have to cover and leave it.

It is therefore proposed to continue digging on Wednesdays until further notice, although there will be no more weekend digging till after Christmas. Such is the chanciness of the weather however, that intending diggers should check with Mrs. Lorimer before making the journey to Hampstead even on Wednesdays.
HADAS PROGRAMME

The next HADAS “meeting” (perhaps “encounter” would describe it better) will, of course, be the Roman banquet on Dec. 8, of which members have all details.

Our opening meeting of 1980 will not be on the usual first Tuesday of the month, because in January the first Tuesday falls on Jan. 1, a bank holiday.
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We meet therefore instead on Tuesday, Jan. 8, at Hendon Library, The Burroughs, NW4, to hear Sinclair Hood speak on the Art of Bronze Age (Minoan) Crete. Coffee 8 pm, lecture 8.30.
BOOKBOX CORNER

We have a plaintive plea from our Hon. Librarian, George Ingram, about some of the Society’s books which have been on loan for rather a long time. Would the members who have borrowed the following please phone George and let him know that the books are safe:

Prehistoric and Roman Enfield; The Age of the Vikings; London before the Conquest.

Another problem is worrying our Librarian. The Society should possess a run of Transactions of the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society from 1970 onwards; but the volumes for 1974 (No 25) and 1977 (No 28) are missing, and there is no record of who has them. Is any member aware of having borrowed these or does any member have a copy of either volume which he would be prepared to put on permanent loan to the Bookbox, to make our set complete?

An earlier copy of Transactions – New Series vol VI pt IV (1931) has been presented to the Box by Paul Craddock. This volume contains some material of particular interest to HADAS. Norman Brett-James’s paper on Some Extents and Surveys of Hendon; a report on an exhibition on the History of Hendon; and “St Mary’s Church, Finchley,” by Ernest H Rann.

Other recent additions to the Bookbox include:
Archaeology General The Archaeologists’ Year Book 1977, Dolphin General Press, Poole
Archaeology and Society, Grahame Clark, Methuen 1939 (Presented by Jeremy Clynes)
Archaeology, GB 204 The Lake Villages of Somerset, Arthur Bulleid (not Roman) (Presented by Miss Rhona Wells)
Archaeology, European/Foreign F41 The Bronze Age in Barbarian Europe, Jacques Briard
Local History 239 Story of Hampstead Illustrated (Priory Press, 1909) (Presented. by Mrs Worby)
240 Flying at Hendon – A Pictorial Record. Clive Smith (Presented by Dorothy Newbury)
261 Mill Hill School Buildings, 1968 (Presented by Daphne Lorimer)
Misc 213 Pollen Analysis – illustrated guide, P D Moore & J A Webb (Presented by Philip Venning)
214 The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, trans. from Greek by Meric Casaubon. Dent 1908
Periodicals World Archaeology, vol 10 No 1 June 1978
vol 11 No 1 June 1979
Collection of 19 issues of London Archaeologist, Winter 1968-Autumn 1978 (incomplete) (Presented by Dr Ann Saunders)
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ARCHAEOLOGY OF ROMAN BRITAIN

Last month we listed the lectures under this main title which are being delivered up to December each Thursday at 7 pm at the Institute of Archaeology. The following are the post-Christmas lectures in the same series:

Jan 17 – The Potteries and Pottery Trade in Roman Britain – M G Fulford

Jan 24 – Death and Burial in Roman Britain – R Jones

Jan 31 – Small Towns and non-Villa Rural Settlements, Lowland Zone – M Todd

Feb 7 – Rural Settlement in the Highland Zone – lecturer to be announced

Feb 14 – Coastal Defences in Britain – J S Johnson

Feb 21 – Britain and the Roman Empire – M Hassall

Feb 28 – The End of Roman Britain – Prof P Rahtz
GREETINGS TO NEW MEMBERS

In this final Newsletter of 1979 we welcome all those who have joined the Society in the second half of this year, and hope they will enjoy the various activities HADAS offers. Our new members are:

Simon Aldridge, Highgate; Linda Barrow, Muswell Hill; Victor Bignell, Barnet; Mrs Braithwaite, Garden Suburb; Maurice Cantor, Edgware; Percy Cohen, Mill Hill; Dennis Crane, North Finchley; Renee Deyong, Hendon; Terry Finn, Fulham; Audrey Fletcher, Southgate; Rachel Gershon; Hendon; Beth Gewell, Harrow; Anne Hayman, Hampstead; Eric Heggie, Cricklewood; Kathleen Herbert, Colindale; Aubrey Hodes, Belsize Park; Rosalind Hunt, Hendon; Carole and Ruth Kent, Hendon; Sarah Lawson, Hampstead; Miss Loney, Eltham; Phillipa Lowe, Garden Suburb; Anne McMullan, Garden Suburb; Liza Maher, Harrow; Mrs Marsh, North Finchley; . R G Micbel, Colindale; , Michael Nixon, Southgate; Joelle Noguera, Hampstead; Renee 0berlander, Golders Green; Eric Paulson. Edgware ; Miss Rawlings, Harrow; Joyce Richards. Hendon; Tessa Sholl; Highgate; Mrs Fay and Mrs D Sputz, Kensington; Mrs Wagland, Colindale; Jean Walton, Hampstead; Mrs. Wibberley, Barnet.
THE MILKMAN’S TALE

A further episode in PERCY REBOUL’S series of tape-recorded interviews.

From 1910-1921 there were a number of small one-man dairy businesses set up mainly in local shops. They employed between three and ten milkmen, assisted by boys; and very often had six or seven “battery” cows in a shed behind the shop. The competition was intense and the milkman would use the old street cry of ‘milk-o’.

The dairy owner had negotiated with a farm for supplies of milk, and this came up by the milk train to the nearest station – for example, Oakleigh Park, Church End Finchley, New Southgate or Winchmore Hill. The dairy collected the milk in a special horse-drawn low-loader van at 5.30 am. Each milkman had his own round and for his first round of the day he would be issued with enough milk just to do the round. In some oases the milkman would have to harness his horse; others had push floats and would set off on the round accompanied by 2 or 3 boys at 6 am.

The milk was in bulk, of course, which the milkman poured into the customer’s own can and the boy delivered. These cans were important because one of the ‘fiddles’ was to knock up the bottom of the can (and with an easy-going customer the front of the can as well). In some cases the milkman might be able to ‘save’ a quarter pint of milk in this way.
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The milkmen each kept a book but their memory was fantastic: they could remember the daily requirements of, say, a hundred customers.

Delivery was to the tradesman’s entrance and the first round finished about 8 am. The milkman would have breakfast at the dairy and some employers provided cooking facilities. The second round was at 9 am and on this round customers were supplied with butter, eggs and cream and the milkman called at each household himself, finishing about 2 pm.

The third round of the day was in the afternoon, where only part of the round was visited. It was back to the dairy about 4 pm, where we washed up the churns, measures, cans, etc and would ‘book-in’ with the book-keeper. The horse was also unharnessed.

I want to say something about ‘chance’ sales which were an absolutely essential part of the milkman’s existence. Chance sales gave the milkman a chance to sell for cash the milk he had ‘fiddled.’ In the big houses with weekly or monthly accounts there was collusion with the housekeeper, who would order a pound of butter and ask to be charged for two pounds.

Wages and Conditions.

In 1910 a milkman worked 11 or 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, for 25s a week, with another 25s made on fiddles. There were no holidays. My father was a milkman before me and from 1910-1916 when he went into the forces, he had only 3 days holiday. You worked Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and you could not go sick otherwise your book-keeping would be discovered.

You did not retire – you worked till you died, and there was no commission or pay incentives. Our rent was 12s 6d a week and there wore no increases in wages at any time. I started to help my father when I was 5 years of age and worked on the first round before school and, when I was 6, also worked from 12-2 pm during the lunch break and sometimes in the evening. Later on I helped another milkman at the Friern Watch Dairy and with Saturday and Sunday work, was paid 3s 6d a week.

We never saw the people who owned the houses. Everything was done at the tradesman’s entrance via the servants such as the cook or house-keeper. A pound of butter cost 10d for Salt; 1s 2d for fresh; eggs were 10 1/2d a dozen.

In 1920/21 the small dairies were frozen out by the combines such as United Dairies. Two things happened; they stopped using cans and went over to bottles. Chance was finished, and the milkman was back on his basic pay. In 1921 there was a milkman’s strike which lasted 3 days and the violence was terrible. My milk float was tipped up by flying pickets. The milk went down the drain and I had to pay for it. The strike failed and all we got was a ‘choking off’ by the boss.

The combine served the public by giving more hygienic milk in bottles, but it meant death to the milkman. Incidentally, I never heard of a single case of illness through ‘bad’ milk. Many times on a hot summer day the milk would curdle in the churns because of the movement of the cart. I used to strain it through a piece of rag, otherwise I would have to pay for the milk. No one worried about hygiene. The only worry was to get rid of the milk!

NOTE : an interesting term used by the milkman in this interview was, ‘a barn of milk.’ Apparently milk was bought by the dairy from farms in a measure called a ‘barn’ which was a little over a gallon. Can anyone throw any light on this word?’ Was it, for example, just over a gallon to allow for spoilage, or was it a multiple of a smaller measure such as a gill?
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CHURCH FARM HOUSE MUSEUM

Members may like to have warning that the Museum will be closed for a minimum of some 7 weeks in the early part of next year.

The building is to be re-wired, and will certainly be closed from Jan 7-Feb 29 – longer if the work is not completed in that time.
HENDON CEDARS IN SUSSEX

A member of the Barnet & District Local History Society who is studying market gardening in Barnet in the 18th c has asked if any HADAS researcher can throw light on John Clark, a Barnet butcher who also had a nursery garden and who in 1761 sold 1000 cedar seedlings, at a price of £79 6s to the Duke of Richmond for planting at Goodwood House.

The point at which Hendon enters this tale is that the seeds from which the seedlings were raised were obtained by John Clark from cones of the Great Cedar of Hendon Place – the manor house of Hendon, later Tenterden Hall. The seedlings, when sold, were 5 years old, therefore the seeds were probably planted in 1756, at which time Hendon Place was in the occupancy of the Nicoll family. It is possible that anyone who has done work on the Nicolls of Hendon Place may have come across a reference to John Clark or may be able to enlarge on the history of “the Great Cedar” and on its ultimate fate.

Clark owned a house and land off Wood Street, Barnet, and his butcher’s shop was in Wood Street. He may have been related to the Henry Clark (died 1782/3) whose effects, including nursery garden stock, were sold in February 1783, although so far it has not been possible to establish the link between the two (see Trans. LMAS vol 26, 1975, “Mid-Georgian Nurseries of the London Region,” by John H Henry).

If anyone has information on this subject, will they please let our Hon. Secretary know?
TWO THOUSAND YEARS OF CANTERBURY

Report by LIZ SAGUES on the November lecture. The formidable tidiness of Tim Tatton Brown’s rescue trenches in Canterbury much impressed the large audience at the Society’s second winter lecture. But they betrayed far more than a fetish for neatness among the Canterbury Archaeological Trust’s 7-days-a-week diggers. The finds from them, sometimes spectacular and always interesting, have revealed the 2000-year story of the cathedral city, from Belgic oppidum to 20th c shopping centre for continental day-trippers.

The rescue unit, which is directed by Mr Tatton Brown, was set up in 1975, rather later than many similar units and thus less richly provided with Government funds. Instead about three-quarters of its income came from private sources, and a good deal of that from the developers who were currently rebuilding the city to cater for the tourist boom.

The immediate environs of the city concern the Trust as well as Mr Tatton Brown showed in a slide of a rural gravel working with evidence of late bronze age, iron age and Roman occupation.

Within the city the Belgic levels were the earliest and in one of these, in what had been a muddy hollow in the former roadway, had been found the wheel marks of a chariot and the hoof prints of the horse that drew it. It was a chariot, Mr. Tatton Brown argued, rather than a heavy cart, pointing out on his slide the shallowness and narrowness of the tracks. What better evidence could there be to confirm Caesar’s comment about the prevalence of chariots in England?
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The Belgic levels also revealed a substantial number of fine and rare coins, as well as more mundane evidence of the pre-Roman population in the form of the pits from which they extracted clay for pottery, their houses, tracks and roadways.

The first Roman occupation was military, and effectively so – one ditch contained skeletal remains, marked by sword cuts, of men and horses, seeming to date from the Boudiccan rebellion. In the more peaceful times that followed, Canterbury grew into a substantial Roman town. Its theatre and public baths were known and a huge temple court had had been traced, though the temple itself has yet to yield itself to the excavators.

Mr Tatton Brown gave the lie to the theory of Roman “garden cities,” which had arisen because of gaps noticed between the stone buildings. In Roman times those gaps were filled by wooden buildings, whose traces had been too insubstantial for earlier archaeologists to recover.

Important among the Roman finds is a set square, exquisitely made in bronze and in Mr Tatton Brown’s view, certainly the finest known from anywhere in the Roman empire.

After the Romans abandoned the city in the 5th c it fell into the decay from which St Augustine revived it in the late 6th c. The Saxons cut their huts into the Roman levels, adding to the complexity of excavation but leaving behind objects of everyday life and some finer pieces – a decorated object, of 8th c date and unknown use, with ornamentation like that illustrating the Lindisfarne Gospels, and a lOth c “Stanley knife,” its swivelling blade encased in a richly carved case. That will be seen next year in London, in the British Museum’s Viking exhibition.

From around 1050 onwards, a picture of the whole of Canterbury could be reconstructed, with some streets surviving to the present day and still retaining their Anglo-Saxon names. By 1200, aided by documentary sources, the map was as complete as that of any city in North-west Europe, with the positions, of houses known and the landowners’ names recorded. Archaeology had revealed evidence of building practices – including the opportunist one of slipping an oyster shell under a timber to level it – and the perils of medieval life, in the form of a Black Death plague pit.

It had also helped to extend the history of the cathedral itself, through one Saturday morning’s excavation while new electricity cables were being laid in the crypt. That brief opportunity enabled traces of the original crypt of the church built in 1070 by Archbishop Lanfranc to be revealed.

The Trust’s current excavation, at the King’s School, demonstrated the complexity of all work in Canterbury, concluded Mr. Tatton Brown. But it was essential for the city’s past to be recorded before it was totally destroyed.
WHERE LIZZIE SLEPT IN THE AIR RAIDS

The Newsletter has had a detailed description, complete with sketch, of another World War II relic from the Rev. David Viles, who lives in Ravensdale Avenue, North Finchley. He writes:

“We still have a sturdy brick-built air raid shelter fitted to the end of our house. Its walls are 35 cms thick and it has a 14 cms thick concrete roof. It has a small airbrick near the top of one wall. When we arrived in 1966 it still had a metal escape hatch with a weaker brick wall behind it. I am afraid we vandalised this escape hatch some years ago by constructing a narrow 55 cm entrance, using the hatch space as part of the entrance.
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The rest of the brickwork and cement was incredibly difficult to demolish but I eventually managed to knock a doorway through and now use it for storing garden sundries. There is a wooden door at the far end but this was very inconvenient for use as a normal entrance from the garden. It was obviously designed for quick entry from our French windows. There wore enough bricks from the thick wall of the narrow entrance to floor over completely the original floor level of the shelter. The metal catch to hold the escape hatch still remains.

Inside there still hangs from one wall a fold-up wooden bed-frame. Remains of the former webbing are still attached to this. On the side of the bed is a little wooden plaque with a name carved on it – LIZZIE – presumably the name of the lady who slept in it. On the opposite wall was clearly a bed for her husband, as there are still two hooks up in the wall, to one of which a wire is still attached. (Hooks and wire still survive on the other bed frame). Hinges also remain on the wall to indicate the line of the second bed, but no frame remains on this wall.

High in one corner is a little triangular shelf – presumably a ledge for some kind of light. It had an electric light, since there is still a switch, crumbling wiring and the remains of a light holder above Lizzie’s bed. I still possess the crude iron hinges on which the metal escape hatch hung.

The roof has now a layer of lovely green moss on the outside. The whole structure is almost covered on one side with clematis, honeysuckle and rose. I imagine it must have been a miserably cold, damp and depressing place to try to sleep in. Indeed, there is a small drainage channel leading out of the shelter at the bottom of one corner to the adjacent down pipe drain – to let the water out after a heavy rainstorm?”

Mr Viles is not a HADAS member, but had heard we were interested in World War II relics. It is extremely kind of him to record this shelter so carefully and vividly and we thank him very much for a11 the detail he has given us.
OVERHEARD ANY GOOD JOKES LATELY?

The following (absolutely true) conversation was overheard at the souvenir stall outside the wire-fenced and dog-patrolled entrance to the Palaeolithic-paintings cave at Lascaux, in the Dordogne, during the summer just past:

Woman Visitor (brightly, to stallholder): “We’ve come to see the cave paintings.”

Stallholder: 1 am sorry, Madame, but the cave is not open at the moment.”

Visitor (dashed, but looking at watch hopefully): “How long has it been closed?”

Stallholder: “About 16 years…”

Exit visitor, looking slightly dazed.

(Thanks for the above bit of light relief to COLIN AND ANN EVANS, who observed it)
LONDON HISTORIANS MEET

The llth Conference of London’s local historians took place at the Museum of London on Nov 17. Piece de resistance was a talk by Sir John Summerson – introduced by Chairman Max Hebditch as “our leading architectural historian” – who is Curator of the fascinating Sir John Soane’s Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields as well as being author of such standard works as Georgian London and Architecture in Britain, 1530-1830. His subject was “Nash and Regents Park,” but for good measure he gave us Regent Street as well.
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Sir John’s first book, published in the 1930s, had been on Nash; but the release in the Public Record Office of the Crest documents on Nash in 1961 (Sir John paid graceful tribute to the work of Dr. Ann Saunders – a HADAS member – who in 1969 published a book on Regents Park founded on her study of those papers) provided a large amount of new material so that, as he put it, “there are now no questions about Regents Park and Regent Street which cannot, by careful study, be answered.”

Sir John took us through various changes in the plans for Regents Park from the first, in 18l1, which was a high-density development of which the Prime Minister, Spencer Percival, disapproved, to the final arrangement of the terraces and villas (only 8 of them, in the end) and the cutting in half of the southern circus, making what we know today as Park Crescent. The final part of his talk, on Regent Street, showed interesting views of the original curved colonnades of middle Regent St, demolished in the 1840s for various reasons including their use as meeting places for prostitutes and the extreme darkness of the shop windows under them. He ended with a fine modern picture of All Souls, Langham Place, “virtually the only part of the original Regent Street that survives.”

Both before the conference and during the tea break there was a chance to see exhibits staged by local historical and archaeological societies from a11 over London. The large open space behind the Museum bookstall, hitherto kept for this kind of temporary use, was alas considerably diminished, and we hope that it is not a harbinger of a future Museum policy of cutting down on space for these transient displays which so enrich conferences.

The local historians had to make do with about half the usual display area, and considering their cramped quarters they managed pretty well. There was much to see and many publications to buy. HADAS had a display, kindly loaned to us by the LBB Library Services, based on the Hendon Town Trail.

After the interval Mr N H MacMichael – who lectured to HADAS some years ago – described the material which is available to local historians in the Muniments Room of Westminster Abbey. Incidentally, his exposition of the origin of “muniment” was interesting: it derives from part of the Latin verb munire, meaning to fortify: your muniments were your fortifications against the depredations of other landlords, i.e. your documentary title to your land.

The Abbey Archives are the most complete set of records of any ecclesiastical body in this country. Because of the physical position they have always occupied in the building, the documents have been safe for many centuries from damage by either fire or flood. They are kept high up in the Abbey: as Mr. MacMichael put it, “if you come out of the Muniments Room you can look down on the High Altar on one side and Poets Corner on the other.”

The muniments deal with all the manors which, up to the Dissolution, owed allegiance to the Abbot and community of Westminster – mainly in the Home Counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Berkshire, Hertfordshire and Essex, and also a pocket of lands in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Among the Middlesex papers are, of course, those of the manor of Hendon.

Estate documents form the biggest part, starting with charters that are “Saxon and Genuine” and proceeding through other charters not quite so genuine – probably 12th c versions of Saxon originals. Papers get steadily more numerous as the years roll on. In the 14th c account rolls of various monastic officials – chamberlain, almoner, refectorer – appear. There are, says Mr MacMichael, “vast untapped sources” in the papers. There is a very full index – it is possible to follow place names through or, if you know the names of families, to follow them. There is also a collection of papers from estates Westminster did not own: probably there by accident. Edmonton and Penge were mentioned.
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In addition to this reservoir of Medieval material, many more modern groups of documents are included – for instance, on the organisation and running of the Abbey; police court records; and a depressingly large number of volumes of Coroners Inquests for old Westminster from 1760-1880. These are arranged chronologically and are an untapped source of social history.

The seating in the Muniments Room is limited to 4 researchers at a time: so you are invited to make an appointment if you wish to study there. The Room is open from Monday-Friday.

Final talk of the afternoon celebrated the 250th anniversary of Putney Bridge. Billed as an essay in industrial archaeology, it in fact included early material on possible places for crossing: the river between Putney and Fulham from prehistoric times onwards, and the speaker emphasised the importance, when studying bridges, of taking into account archaeological as well as documentary sources. Evidence for ferries, from the 13th-18th c, was included: large, flat-bottomed barge like boats on Which in the 17th c, n coach and 6 horses could be accommodated; and there was interesting material on charges made from the 1500s on. In 1599 foot passengers, for instance, paid a toll of 1d.

During the Civil War a bridge of boats was built to take Commonwealth soldiers across, with a fort either end. As well as the short ferry between Putney and Fulham, a long ferry started from Putney for Westminster, and was much used because of the poor condition of the roads.

In 1671 a Bill for building a bridge was introduced into Parliament – unsuccessfully, because of lobbying by the vested interests of watermen and ferry owners; but in 1725 fresh proposals were passed and by 1729 the first Putney Bridge (of wood) spanned the Thames. There were some interesting slides of this old bridge, with a tollhouse either end and a row of triangular protuberances down each side in which foot passengers could stand while vehicles went by.

In 1882 it was decided to build a more modern structure, which was opened by The Prince of Wales; and the wooden bridge was demolished.
SOLUTION TO YOUR CHRISTMAS CARD PROBLEM?

Talking about the Hendon Town Trail – as we were a few Paragraphs ago – we thought we might suggest that this, at its low cost of 10p a copy, would bean excellent memento to sed to any friends who know or used to know Hendon – much better value than a Christmas card.

You can get the Trail from our Hon. Treasurer. Why not ask him for a bulk order, and solve at least part of your Christmas card worries?
THE EMERGENCE OF MAN

The Royal Society, in conjunction with the British Academy, is planning one of its occasional discussion meetings on this topic for March 12/13 next. The caste – if that is not too light-hearted a term to apply to some 30 top-brass of the academic world – is star-studded. The first four papers, for instance, will be delivered by three professors (two from the US, one from South Africa) plus Dr Richard Leakey (to give a practical balance) on “the evidence in the field.”
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On the first afternoon there will be a session on the evidence from teeth and another on locomotion. Dr Mary Leakey is the final speaker.

Next day’s discussion will range over Genetic considerations, the human brain and the emergence of human behaviour patterns, with papers from top scientists from various British and American universities and from the Netherlands and Northern Ireland. Full details will be obtainable from the Executive Secretary, the Royal Society, 6 Carlton House Terrace, SWl, in about 5 weeks time.
A GOLDEN JUBILEE EXHIBITION

..is being staged by Ealing and Hounslow’s Gunnersbury Park Museum from now till the and of January. This Museum, in an early 19th c mansion which once belonged to the Rothchilds, deserve to be better known. It is centred on the history of West London and Middlesex, and has reserve collections which it is happy to show to students.

The Jubilee display shows acquisitions made during each of the last five decades. The Museum is open every day (except Christmas) from 2-4. It is near the main entrance to Gunnersbury Park, at the east end of Popes Lane (nearest station, Acton Town). Admission is free.
RECENT BOOKS AND BOOKLETS

Latest publication from the Council for British Archaeology is Research Report 30 – an assessment of the Alice Holt/Farnham Roman pottery industry, by M A B Lyne & R S Jefferies. The potteries were in production almost throughout the Roman period (from 60 AD-5th a) though their heyday was the 4th c when their grey coarsewares dominated the London market. This account differentiates various groups of kilns according to locality and analyses the contents of some of the huge waster dumps. Ono chapter deals with raw materials and how the industry was organised. Illustrated with maps, diagrams and, of course, lots of pottery types. Essential reading for serious Romanists. £8.50 or £6.35 for subscribers to CBA’s consolidated subscription.

From the Edmonton Hundred Historical Society their latest Occasional Paper No 33, price 35p, People and Parish Registers, by T Lewis. This booklet is the result of years of study of the registers of Tottenham, Edmonton and Enfield, and is intended to interest both local historians of North London and historical demographers. Tables deal with age at first marriage, bridal pregnancy, infant mortality and age at death.

From the Camden History Society the annual treat of the Camden History Review. This, No. 7, is as good as the other six have been and is an excellent buy at £1, with Gillian Tindall writing on Vice and Temptation in late Victorian Camden Town, Gavin Stamp tracing the association of the Gilbert Scotts with Hampstead, the prize-winning essay in the CHS “My Street” competition and other joys.

A “stocking filler” at 70p (inc. postage) is a delicious little booklet called Animals in Early Art -26pp. of black and white photos, of animals from the Ashmolean Museum Collection – horses, lions, ducks, fish, some delicious hedgehogs and an enchanting pig.

newsletter-105-november-1979

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Newsletter

Page 1

THE EARLIEST TRACKWAY IN THE WORLD

A report by PAUL CRADDOCK on our October lecture.

Well over 100 HADAS members attended the first lecture of the winter season to hear John Coles describe his work on the Somerset levels.

Within the peat Levels are the until now perfectly preserved remains of timber built trackways of the Neolithic and Bronze Age, running across what would then have been open bog, between the ‘mainland’ of the-Polden Hills and the ‘islands’ of arable land. The trackways are of complex construction and show an extremely developed knowledge of civil engineering, carpentry and also, indirectly, of forest management and coppicing. The men who built these trackways did not have to rely on available timber from the primeval forest but had a selection of suitable poles deliberately grown upon which to call.

The earliest trackway, the Sweet Track, dates from the middle of the 4th millenium BC, which makes it the earliest surviving built track in the world. Lengths of sturdy tree trunks (‘telegraph poles’ as Dr. Coles put it) were carefully pegged through the bog to the clay, and peat was stacked against this, then timber planking was pegged on top to make a continuous if narrow trackway going for kilometres at a time. As the track was only about 30 cms wide and lapped by water, it is hardly surprising that numerous everyday items of flint and pottery were dropped in. Because of the unique preservative properties of the peat bog, however, a flint arrowhead preserves the end of the shaft stuck to its side and traces of nettle fibre binding, while the Neolithic pot still has its content of nuts intact. Just occasionally more spectacular finds, such as a superb Jade axehead, are made as well; someone must have had an anxious but fruitless search of the waters beside the track to try to retrieve such a treasure.

As well as the study of the timberwork and its conservation, a great deal of scientific work – for example, on the beetles and fungi – has been carried on, which has enabled a detailed picture of the changing environment of the Levels to be built up. Tree ring analysis of the timbers enables Dr. Coles’ team of experts to correlate when different parts of track were built and even sometimes to identify the planks, etc from one single tree along a track.

Man’s activity in the Levels did not cease after the Bronze Age, and Dr. Coles’ team have also turned their attention to the famous Iron Age Lake villages at Meare where they excavated one of the house platforms, producing a host of new information with the battery of scientific techniques that can now be used.

Sadly, this is not just a research dig. Peat cutting and a lowered water table mean all this unique preservation is steadily deteriorating. With the co-operation of the peat diggers and with his team Dr. Coles is recording as much as possible of the unique remains of the Somerset Levels and adding another dimension to our knowledge of prehistoric Europe.

NOTE: Dr. Coles’ digs in the Levels are not only models of difficult excavation beautifully executed; they also provide an example of how publication of results should be handled.
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Each year a Somerset Levels Paper is produced. We are now at No. 5, which contains eleven separate papers including the annual report on the 1978 dig, an account of the conservation of wooden objects and details of the radio-carbon dating of a floating tree-ring chronology.

Somerset Levels Papers Nos. 4 (1978) and 5 (1979) are obtainable at £3 each. (including postage) from the Somerset Levels Project, Dept. of Archaeology, Downing St, Cambridge. Papers 1, 2 and 3 are sold out.
NEWS FOR DIGGERS

Digging will continue at West Heath on Weds, Sats and Suns till rain and frost render it impossible. The change in the clocks, however, makes it virtually morning digging only, as the light starts to go soon after lunch. Diggers who intend to work at West Heath should contact Daphne Lorimer if they have any doubts about the weather.

Paddy Musgrove’s long-heralded dig at Church Crescent, Finchley, started in the weekend of Oct. 20/21 and will continue for several weekends; or if interesting features are found, perhaps longer. Diggers who have already volunteered to help have been notified by phone; but if you have not yet volunteered and would like to, please give Paddy a ring and he will provide all the details.
AFTER THE DIG IS OVER

… comes processing. As announced last month, processing weekends will take place.” at the Teahouse, Northway, NWll on Nov 24 and Dec 1; we shall be happy to have the help of as many members as possible.

We are aiming at a pretty full programme of work. Processing of this summer’s West Heath finds has been going on regularly at Avenue House, but there is still much to do. In addition, Daphne Lorimer has several new projects she wants to get started.

We also hope to begin work on the HADAS Photographic Record. Now that we have a room of our own at Avenue House all our photographic archives – ranging from negatives an inch square up to exhibition prints 12 in. by 8 in. can be stored there, but we want to get them catalogued and indexed so that they can be easily used. This is no simple job, because of the diversity of the material, but Ted Sammes hopes to collect a small team and make a start on it at the Teahouse.

Thirdly, Sheila Woodward, whose particular pigeon is the Edgware area, will begin marking and studying finds of Roman pottery and building material from our latest field walks near Brockley Hi11.

Members who intend to take part in the weekends are asked, if possible, to let either Daphne Lorimer or Brigid Grafton Green know beforehand, as this will help in planning the various projects.
BLUE PLAQUE FOR THE BARNETTS

More than five years ago HADAS first suggested to the GLC the possibility of putting up a Blue Plaque on Heath End House, Spaniards Road, Hampstead, “to commemorate the fact that for nearly a quarter-century ” it was the home of Canon Samuel and Mrs (later Dame) Henrietta Barnett.

The mills of the GLC, like those of God, grind fairly slowly. However, after many vicissitudes, and just as this Newsletter was going to press, we received the following letter from the GLC’s Department of Architecture and Civic Design.
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“Your suggestion for a commemorative plaque has been considered at a recent meeting of the Council’s Historic Buildings Committee. I am pleased to inform you that it was decided to erect a plaque at Heath End House, Hampstead and the proposed inscription reads:

DAME HENRIETTA BARNETT

1851-1936

Founder of Hampstead Garden Suburb

and

SAMUEL BARNETT

1844-1913

Social Reformer

lived here

I shall write to you again in due course when all the necessary consents have been obtained and the plaque ordered from the manufacturer. With a backlog of plaques awaiting manufacture and erection I am afraid their may be some further delay before this stage is reached.”

This is excellent news, even if we still have some time to wait before the plaque goes up.

Heath End House is a white, weather boarded 18th c. building near the Spaniards Inn. There are several other interesting facts about it, as well as the one we are proposing to commemorate.” The Manx novelist, Hall Caine is also said to have lived there for a time, after the Barnetts left. The house itself straddles the boundary of the Boroughs of Barnet and Camden, and side by side in a ground floor broom cupboard (of which HADAS photographer Peter Clinch took excellent photos some years ago) are the twin boundary stones of Hampstead St. Johns and Hendon St. Marys.

From the upper windows at the back you used to be able to look out over rolling Middlesex countryside to the ridge of Mill Hill. Henrietta Barnett has described how she was able to watch, in the valley below, the Suburb which was to make her internationally known beginning to take shape and grow.

When the Barnetts bought the house in 1889 they re-named it “St Judes Cottage” (it has now returned to its original name), because Samuel Barnett was Vicar of St Judes, Whitechapel. They used it as a retreat from the sights, smells and noise of the East End going there for what they called their “Sabbath” – in fact, a Friday, as Mr. Barnett had always to be back in Whitechapel for Sunday services.

Although named “cottage,” it was a large house. The Barnetts did not keep it to themselves. Indeed, it soon earned the nick-name “St Judes Hold-all.” The visitors to, and residents, in, St. Judes Cottage mirror the Barnetts many interests.

From 1875 Mrs Barnett was a manager of Forest Gate “barrack” school, to which the union workhouses of Poplar and Whitechapel sent their orphan or destitute children. One of her reforms was to set up small houses for training girls who were about to leave school and go “into service.” As she put it, they could “prepare before they made their, entry into “the world.”

St. Jude’s Cottage was used for this work, and there were always 5 or 6 girls in training there under a matron as house or parlour maids, “practising” on the Barnetts. To St Judes Cottage too, went tired workers from Toynbee Hall (founded by Samuel Barnett in 1884) to find rest. “In those years that end of the Heath was very quiet,” wrote Mrs Barnett, “and a few days at Hampstead became a joy to many weary people of all classes.” Mrs Barnett ‘s Girl Pupil Teachers Club used to meet at the Cottage; so did “Mr Barnett’s boys” – Whitechapel lads, shoeblacks, street orderlies, and later, when the Barnetts themselves had made the dramatic translation from the poverty of Whitechapel to the luxurious seclusion of a house in Westminster Abbey, the Abbey choirboys; and there were also, as Henrietta Barnett put it, “guests that were not quite ready to amalgamate; either the very shy, the very sad, the very superior or the very dirty.”
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Mrs Barnett’s sister, Alice Hart (one of the first women to train in medecine) provided a new pony as a present, and the Barnetts constantly drove out to see the beauties of Totteridge and other places. Their deep enjoyment of what was then still real countryside is made abundantly clear in this almost lyrical letter from Mr Barnett, dated March, 1899: “We have just returned from a drive in the sunshine which sets one’s whole being quivering with inexpressible longing to be more, to enjoy more, to live more. The day is divine by its soft warmth, deep colour and freshening air. For three hours we jogged through the lanes and lived.” BGG
THE NOVEMBER LECTURE

The next lecture, on Recent Archaeology in Canterbury, will be on Tues. Nov 6 at Hendon Library. Coffee 8 pm, lecture begins 8.30.

Our speaker will be Tim Tatton Brown, who studied at the Institute of Archaeology in London, His experience of Roman and medieval sites ranges as far afield as Turkey, Benghazi, Carthage and Italy, as well as this country. His present work is for the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, set up in 1975 and now continuously engaged on rescue archaeology in the city.

His talk will deal with medieval as well as Roman Canterbury.
Church Terrace Reports: No. 3

The next in the series of post-excavation reports from the Church Terrace site, by EDWARD SAMMES, on WINDOW GLASS.

The presence of glass in our windows is something we take for granted. The evolution of glass has been a long slow process, and one which is still being perfected.

It has been suggested that the origin of glass-making lay either in pottery production; or arose from the lighting of cooking fires in a sandy area where natural sodium salts abounded.

The oldest use of glass is that of natural obsidian, a volcanic glass which was flaked to make tools and weapons. This material was widely traded in Mesopotamia, Turkey and the Mediterranean from the Neolithic period.

In this country window glass begins with the coming of the Romans; it was most likely imported. Manufacture was by two methods:

(I) casting, i.e. pouring molten glass into a shallow flat mould and smoothing off the top surface with a charred wood striker.

(2) Blowing. A closed cylinder was blown and then the ends were cut off. A cut was then made down one side parallel to the axis. This cut cylinder wags then reheated on a flat surface so that the cylinder opened out to made a sheet of glass. This is called the cylinder or broad glass-making process.
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Roman glass has been found at the Roman villa at Newport, Isle of Wight. A second and recent find comes from the Romano-British phase of Garden Rill, the Iron Age hill fort in East Sussex, where a whole pane 9″ x 10 1/4″ was uncovered in the area of the cold plunge of the bathhouse. This piece has been acquired by the British Museum.

Window glass was imported from the Continent during the Saxon period for ecclesiastical purposes, though some may have been made at Glastonbury.

The Wealden area, with its supplies of sand and wood, was to be one of the main areas of production in England. Wood supplied both the fuel and wood ash – the alkali needed to make glass.

By 1226 a flourishing glass industry was established at Chiddingfold in Surrey. In 1351 glass was transported from Chiddingfold to London at a cost of 8s a load – an additional 8d being charged for transporting it the extra distance from London to Westminster.

By 1611 coal had been successfully used and production moved to London and sites in the midlands and north of England. Much of the window glass of this period was crown glass. This was made by blowing a large hollow globe and then flattening one side to produce a hemisphere. A solid rod, called a pontil, was then fixed to the centre of the flattened area by means of a blob of molten glass. The blowpipe was removed leaving a hole which was enlarged. After re-heating, the hemisphere was spun, producing a circular “flat” pane with the familiar ‘bulls-eye’ in the middle. This bulls-eye was really the unwanted piece, which today has acquired a position of hallowed antiquity.

Window glass was found in three places at Church Terrace: the pit in trench B6, and in adjoining trenches C4 and D4. Most of it was discarded after examination; only a representative portion being kept.

The glass from C4 was mostly trimming pieces with one side rounded. The glass itself was green in colour, probably crown glass made with ashes as alkali. Trench D4 was clearer in colour, possibly soda glass. From the pit in B6 three pieces of trimmed glass are of note, as they give an indication of the probable size of window panes. All are broken, there being no complete pane.

Two pieces are each 2 3/4″ wide and one is 4 1/2″ long. All have corners cut off to facilitate fixing in lead window cames, portions of which wore also found. From other material, the glass in this pit would be mid-18th c.

For further reading

JANSON, S E – Glass Technology Catalogue, Science Museum, London. 1969

KENYON, G H – The Glass Industry of the Weald. Leicester Univ. Press. 1967

MONEY, J H – Garden Hill, Sussex. Britannia VIII, 1977, p 339

TOMALlN, D – Newport Roman Villa Guide. IOW Museums Publication No 1, 1977
NEXT TO GODLlNESS: A CENTURY OF DOMESTIC CLEANING

By Sheila Woodward.

Cleanliness as a virtue was very much a Victorian concept. For earlier generations, the twice-yearly household wash and a periodic sweeping-out of refuse into street or yard sufficed. But the Victorians, living in a grubby industrialised atmosphere, made cleanliness a fetish, a sign of respectability as much as a hygienic necessity.

A glimpse of the drudgery of domestic cleaning before the advent of the machine can be obtained at the current exhibition at Church Farm House Museum. Hero can be seen the dolly-peg, the wash-board and the mang1e, the on1y aids of the old-fashioned washday, and the sad irons, slug irons and crimping irons which wore used to “get up” the starched frills and flounces. The heavy materials used for dresses could often only be sponged, not washed, and many ingenious recipes for spot-cleaning were, devised. The removal of scorch-marks with a mixture of onions, vinegar, white soap and Fullers earth makes one wonder whether the remedy was worse than the blemish. A mixture of white wax and brandy was recommended to add “shine” to a man’s shirt-front and collar. To remove shine from a suit, logwood, ferrous sulphate and gin could be used – or, more cheaply, urine!
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A primitive washing machine invented in the 1830s was hand-operated, and water, had to be heated before it was put into the machine. An attempt to heat water in the machine by a coal fire failed, as it added a fresh quota of soot, smuts and ash to the washing day problems. The great break-through came with the development of electricity to power the machine and heat the water.

Similarly, neat and efficient vacuum cleaners need electrical power. An early cleaning machine, the “Aspirator,” was about the size of a small bookcase. Its makers claimed that it was “not a cumbersome affair but a handsome article of furniture, easily moved from room to room.”

There are amusing examples of the advertisements for branded products which proliferated towards the end of the last century. “As the gentle showers of spring brighten Mother Earth, so is the household brightened by the use of Powder Monkey” proclaims one advertisement for a household cleaning powder produced by Brooke & Co of Edgware (later taken over by Lever Brothers). The housemaid using the product is on hands and knees, cleaning with brush and dustpan.

The exhibition continues until Nov 25, and a free introductory brochure is available at the Museum.
ASPECTS OF TOWN AND COUNTRY IN ROMAN BRITAIN

By Audrey Hooson.

CBA’s Regional Group 7 (Herts, Essex and Cambridgeshire) were the organisers of this successful and well attended conference at St. Albans on Oct 6. Unfortunately it was a beautiful day, perfect for a field trip but much too bright for a conference in a hall that could not be adequately darkened for slide projection. Some of the presentations, especially that of David Wilson on Aerial Photography, were hard to follow; maps and diagrams that had obviously been prepared as the main support for a paper were indistinct.

The first speaker was Dr Graham Webster, his subject the advent of Rome and its effect on the tribes of SE Britain. Amongst other points he suggested that Cassivellaunus, the enemy of Rome, and the Catuvellauni, who traded so freely with Rome, could surely not have been associated; and that early writers were confused by the similarity of the Celtic names.

The next speaker, David Wilson of the Cambridge Aerial Photography Unit; emphasised that whilst aerial photography is of great use to archaeology, one needs to be aware of the probable presence of large additional areas of timber-built settlement outside the boundaries of towns, posting stations and villas which do not necessarily show up in photos and cannot be recognised in most excavation conditions. One of his most interesting photographs showed the asymetric street plan of Irchester compared with the usually accepted regular Roman grid, as postulated by the excavator.

In the afternoon there were four speakers: Michael Hammerson of the Southwark & Lambeth society on Imitations of the Coinage, AD 330-348; Paul Drury, Director of Chelmsford Archaeological Trust, on Small Towns, Rural Settlements and Landscape in the Trinovantian Area; David Neal on the Development of the Villa; and Dr. Kate Pretty, “Finding an End? Roman Britain in the 4th and 5th century.”
Page 7

Dr Pretty’s paper, which was inspired by the Durham Conference in March, 1978 (see Current Archaeology 62) caused the most interest and comment, especially from those of us who were still struggling to sort out the more conventional view of this period. She stated most of the points normally used as evidence and presented the conference with alternative interpretations, e.g. that zoomorphic ‘military’ buckles were probably also worn by women and civil servants; and that it would be hard to recognise the British element in an Anglo-Saxon area since cultural impoverishment during the decline of the Empire would have made their artefacts similar. She also suggested that opinions on this period have suffered in the past from the Victorian attitude that the end of the Empire and decline of Christianity must obviously bring chaos and the collapse of civilisation. It is her opinion that continental historical evidence cannot be used to interpret events in Roman and sub-Roman Britain, except in the cautious way that ethnography is used by prehistorians; and that archaeological evidence is of far more importance.

In conclusion the Conference chairman, John Wacher, said it was impossible for him to summarise such interesting and stimulating papers in under three hours, so I make no excuse for these disjointed comments. Perhaps mindful of the large number of note-taking students present, he warned that one must be cautious when discussing continuity. By his definition, continuity of settlement on a site is almost a foregone conclusion, if people are still living; but the continuity of culture, language and art is very different.
LOOKING NORTH OR SOUTH?

At the Group 7 Conference which Audrey Hooson reports above HADAS had a small exhibit planned and mounted by Dave King. In fact we were the only local society outside Group 7 to have one. In the audience too, were a number of familiar HADAS faces. This was interesting, because sometimes those who do their archaeology in the perimeter areas of Greater London may seem to be a bit too London-orientated.

Yet traditionally some parts of our large and sprawling Borough of Barnet have always looked northwards for inspiration, not south. Till only decade ago the Barnets (Chipping and East) and Totteridge were in Hertfordshire, and had little truck with Middlesex or Greater London. In medieval times Finchley was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London and Hendon owed allegiance to the Abbot of Westminster: but the church of St Mary the Virgin at East Barnet (probably the oldest in the Borough) was built by the monks of St Albans, while St Mary’s at Hadley belonged to the Abbot of Walden, in Essex. Earlier still Romano-British inhabitants, perched on the hills of Hendon and Brockley about mid-way between Londinium and Verulamium, may well have taken their tone from the latter place rather than from the former.

Archaeologically and historically speaking, therefore, we probably have as much to learn from the finds and documents of Hertfordshire as from those of the London area. Until very recently in its long time-scale, our part of north Middlesex was more like the countryside of Herts than the conurbation of London.

In the HADAS exhibit we wore able, by kind permission of our Borough Librarian, to show a number of pots from the digs at Brockley Hill – mainly kiln wasters. Alongside this excavated material were some of the finds HADAS has recently made on various field walks in the Edgware area. All this material shows just how important Edgwarebury is for Roman evidence and how thickly it is concentrated there. The Brockley Hill pots aroused considerable interest, particularly an unusual square pot which is part ~ of the Moxom Collection (see Trans LMAS vol 18 pt I, 1955, p 60) and may be a copy in clay of a glass cinerary urn.
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HADAS SHOWS THE FLAG

St Albans is not the only place at which HADAS has had recent exhibitions. In fact three are on at the moment; members who live near may like to drop in to see them.

At the Old Bull Gallery, 68 Barnet High Street, the general section of Barnet Borough Arts Council is staging a display till Nov 10 under the heading “Things that Go On In Barnet Borough.” HADAS has a small part in this, consisting of an exhibit collected by our Industrial Archaeology expert, Bill Firth, on Transport; and a photo display, taken by Ken Vause, of Harold Cover’s work recording tombstones in New Southgate cemetery. The exhibition is open from 10 am-6 pm, Mons-Sats.

Until Nov 24 there is an exhibition in the annexe to the Reading Room at the Library in The Burroughs, Hendon, to celebrate the centenary of Hendon’s creation as a Local Health Board. This exhibition is the brainchild of our Mayor, Mrs Rita Levy, and a number of local organisations are taking part. HADAS has mounted a couple of panels on the Church Terrace dig, which include documents on the history of Church End and photos by Ted Sammes of the dig itself. Members who come to the November lecture will have a chance to see this exhibition, as the annexe is the room in which we usually dispense coffee.

Finally, at Burgh House, New End Square, Hampstead, until at least mid-November, there is an exhibit on the West Heath dig. It includes a selection of photographs from the record which Peter Clinch has kept of the dig since it began four years ago; and displays of various almost jewel-like flint tools, beautifully arranged by Daphne Lorimer, as well as some of the environmental evidence found at the spring site.

This seems a suitable spot to draw your attention to Burgh House itself, open Tues-Sats 12-5 pm; Suns 2-5. The house alone is worth a visit, quite apart from the exhibitions, some permanent, some changing, which grace it. It was built in 1703 and has the spaciousness and fine proportions one expects from an early Georgian mansion. It has been excellently restored inside by Camden Council, who also allowed the Burgh House Trust (which raised the money to save the building) to re-open it in September as a community centre. Except for the custodians, it is staffed and looked after entirely by volunteers.

On the ground floor is a room for a changing exhibition (this is where you will find West Heath) and a Music Room used for auditions, lectures and meetings; and in the hall, an excellent bookstall, where all the Camden History Society publications are to be found. On the first floor the Museum Room houses a permanent exhibition on the history of Hampstead. This is only a nucleus at the moment, but is bound to grow and will probably in time take over the other rooms on this floor. Just now, however, these rooms are being used for changing exhibitions. Above, again, is a flat for the full-time custodians.

Nor are these all the joys of Burgh House. In the basement you will find the Buttery, run by two delightful ladies in long print dresses and mob-caps, assisted at weekends by a most enchanting small girl who seems to have stepped straight from the pages of Kate Greenaway. The Buttery provides tea or coffee and genuine homemade cakes; and at lunchtime something more substantial, but still home-made -soup, quiches, etc. The ladies have been responsible, too, for the magnificent herbaceous borders in front of the building, still full of colour when this is written at the end of October. The flowers have obviously been planted and tended with love, just as the food is cooked with love. It’s unmatchable as an ingredient.
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MEMBERSHIP LIST

An up-to-date membership list has, for some years, been circulated annually with the January Newsletter. This year, however, we propose to change this arrangement for two reasons: first, the problem of getting the list out in the middle of the Christmas rush; second, the Committee is not sure that all members really want a list or find it useful.

The 1980 list will therefore be available from Feb 1 next instead of January. It will not be circulated to everyone with the Newsletter, but if you would like to have a copy, please let our Hon. Secretary know before Dec 31 and she will earmark one for you at a cost of 10p. It will be sent with your February Newsletter. Members of HADAS committees will automatically receive a copy.

The task of typing the list is no easy one – all those telephone numbers to check and double-check, and chaos reigning if one digit runs amok. The Committee is therefore particularly grateful to Helen 0’Brien, who has kindly offered to do this difficult job this year.
HADAS CHRISTMAS PARTY

Applications for the Roman banquet on Dec 8 have been brisk; we have already reached maximum and have a small waiting list. Don’t let this deter you from sending Dorothy Newbury an application, however, if you haven’t yet applied and want to do so. Waiting lists can vanish, and people sometimes have to change plans and drop out, so there is always a chance of a vacancy.

We intended to arrange a coach if enough members wanted it; but so few have asked that it does not warrant hiring one. We shall try to find those concerned lifts in cars if possible.

On two small matters we should be glad of members’ help. If anyone obtained a copy of one of the posters at the Pompeii exhibition some years ago and is prepared to lend it to help decorate the banqueting hall, would they please let Dave King know?

Several members have kindly agreed to help with the cooking by making dishes at home; if anyone else would like to try their hand at Roman cookery, will they give Brigid Grafton Green a ring? Full recipes will be supplied, along with any scarce or unexpected ingredient.

At the end of the Newsletter you will find some companion pictures to those published last month – this time for an easy-to-make gentleman’s toga in four simple steps.

(EDITORIAL – to view this diagram, please select the following link.)
EVENS AHEAD

On Sat Nov 17, at the Museum of London, the 14th LAMAS Local History Conference will take place from 2.30-6 pm. Speakers include Sir John Summerson, on Nash and Regents Park; N M MacMichael, Keeper of the Westminster Abbey Muniments, on the Abbey Muniments as a source for local historians (of particular interest to HADAS members, since Hendon was an Abbey property up to the Dissolution); and a talk on the history of Putney Bridge during the last fifty years.
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Tickets cost £1, including tea, and are obtainable from 3 Cameron House, Highland Rd, Bromley, Kent.

On Weds, Thurs and Fris at lunchtime, starting at 1.10 pm, the Museum of London organises series of lectures. At the moment Transport in London is the Wednesday subject, Thursdays are Museum Workshops and Fridays are devoted to London’s Castles.

Museum Workshop is an interesting idea, as it gives the audience a chance to meet the Museum’s specialist staff and to see objects from the collections at close quarters. On Nov 1 Clive Orton talks about medieval pottery; Nov 8 is Joan Pollard on 18th c watercolours, Nov 15 Harvey Sheldon on recent finds in Southwark, Nov 22 Rosemary Weinstein on the horner’s craft; and Nov 29 bows and early firearms.

Every year the Dept of Extra-mural Studies of London University organises a course of public lectures at the Institute of Archaeology on a specific theme. This year the theme is the archaeology or Roman Britain, the lectures are on Thursdays at 7 pm and you can pay at the door, 50p a time.

Unfortunately the Newsletter has only just had notice of the series, so we did not give details of the October lectures. Those up to Christmas, however, are as follows:

Nov 1 – Art and Architecture in Roman Britain , Tom Blagg

Nov 8 – Villas in Britain, J T Smith, RCHM

Nov 15 – Religion in Roman Britain, Ralph Merrifield

Nov 22 – Towns and the Administration of Roman Britain, John Wacher

Nov 29 – Roman Wales, Prof. M G Jarrett

Dec 6 – Industry and Trade in Roman Britain, Richard Reece

Lectures start again in January, and we will give further details in a later Newsletter.
WORLD WAR I AS WELL?

In the last Newsletter we asked for information about World War II installations still left in this Borough. We have had some interesting letters as a result, including the following from Geoffrey Gillam, Chairman of the Enfield Archaeological Society:

“Why stop at World War II? Having completed an account of that war for Enfield, I am now working on events here in the First World War, and have been agreeably surprised by the material I have so far gathered, including tape recordings of first-hand experiences.

With regard to the fixed installations of WWII, did you know of the ‘stop line’ which ran from Rickmansworth through Watford, Potters Bar, Northaw and Cheshunt to the River Lea? I located some of the pill boxes etc some years ago and at odd moments am trying to fill in the gaps, on my map. The line continued beyond the Lea to Chelmsford but I have not carried out as much fieldwork as I would like in that county. Once this line is drawn on a map, the secondary defences at road and river crossings begin to make sense and a clear pattern of defensive positions can be seen.”

Any members who can provide information which they feel might interest Mr Gillam are asked to let our Hon. Secretary know.

newsletter-104-october-1979

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Newsletter

Page 1

AUTUMN DIGGING PROGRAMME

At West Heath digging will continue on Weds, Sats and Suns, from lO am-5 pm, until the weather breaks and sieving of spoil becomes too difficult. All help will be warmly welcomed, as there are, in particular, two or three trenches which must be finished this year because they contain potentially interesting features and so cannot be left to over-winter, for fear of vandalism.

Wednesday, October 17 is one day on which diggers will also be specially welcome, as we are to be visited by a film unit. The film being shot does not specifically concern West Heath, but is an educational one on archaeology generally. HADAS’s help has been sought to provide a typical digging sequence.

In connection with West Heath, there are two other dates which you may like to note in your diary.

Through the kind cooperation of Mr Enderby, there will be processing weekends on Nov. 24 and Dec. l at the Teahouse, Northway, Hampstead Garden Suburb. Work will be not only on the West Heath finds, but also on other HADAS projects. Further details about this next month, but meantime, do keep the dates free if you can.

There will also be digging at Finchley. We may soon be able to start our long-delayed dig at Church Crescent, as the new owner of the land has now given permission. He plans to strip the top eight inches or so of the site and, insofar as one may predict any activity in the building trade, this should be some time during October.

The surface now contains concrete areas and much rubble, so stripping will ease our task. We shall, however, have to move in sharply at short notice. Paddy Musgrove still has the names of those who volunteered to dig earlier in the year, and will phone them as soon as he has a date. He would like to hear from additional volunteers, including first-time diggers, as this would enable a larger area to be investigated.

Digging will be on Saturdays and Sundays and may last over only two or three weekends. Progress should be rapid, as we know exactly what we are looking for – a possible extension of the unexplained feature discovered last year over the fence in the old Rectory garden. The site will, of course, be kept under observation during subsequent building operations.
THE END OF A QUANGO

A protest from RAYMOND LOWE.

The government that I voted for – and I expect some of you did too – is doing great things. Among the list of cutbacks to be made by Mr Michael Heseltine, the Environment Secretary, is the ending of the Hadrians Wall Advisory Committee.

Those of us who have been fortunate enough to visit the Wall realise just how badly an overall scheme is needed for the largest single monument in the whole of the Roman Empire. If Mr Heseltine thinks saving £400 per annum and dismissing the 11 unpaid members of the Advisory Committee is great government, I for one disagree with him.
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We are forever being told how much the country earns from tourists. Well, some of them come to see the Wall. I doubt if any will come to see the British Government saving £400 at expense of our heritage.

Think again, please, Mr. Heseltine.
SOURCES OF AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

By DAVE KING.

There are now about four million aerial photographs of Great Britain. Only a small proportion were taken specifically for archaeological purposes, but many contain information of use to us. The photographs are distributed among a number of organisations. In this article I will try to indicate where they may be found.

The majority of aerial photographs are verticals (in appearance like a map) and were usually taken for cartographic or planning purposes. There are also verticals taken on intra-red film, normally for use in vegetation analysis.

The main source of verticals in London is the Department of Environment Air Photographs unit. They hold (on microfilm) the photographs produced by RAF reconnaissance squadrons, and are able to supply copies quite cheaply.

The Ordnance Survey have a collection of verticals, although these are normally available only at their Southampton headquarters.

Commercial air photographers produce surveys for private customers and will supply copies of their photographs, providing this is not against their clients’ wishes. They also produce oblique photographs (high angle views); these however are rarely of archaeological sites.

Local authorities often commission air surveys for planning purposes, and may allow archaeologists to view them. The London Borough of Barnet is most helpful in this respect. Finally, the Local History Collection of a Borough may contain a collection of obliques. Our Borough has one, housed at Egerton Gardens.

There are two collections of specifically archaeological air photographs: that of the Air Photographs Unit of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments; and that of the Committee for Aerial Photography at Cambridge University. These collections will certainly have the best archaeological air photographs, particularly those showing crop and soil marks. They do not, however, claim to provide a comprehensive country-wide coverage. Archaeological Units and Museums sometimes have collections. A number of amateurs take archaeological aerial photographs, although they tend to concentrate on particular areas or types of site. To find out more about these sources it is probably best to write to the Committee on Aerial Photography (Anglian Region) who despite their name have contacts throughout Britain. They publish an annual journal called “Aerial Photography.”

Most people associate archaeological air photographs with “crop marks,” those changes in height or colour of growing crops caused by archaeological features beneath them. Unfortunately the vegetation and soils of this Borough, plus of course the large areas of housing, mean that very few crop marks will ever be found. Even in Barnet, however, aerial photographs are still useful. They are almost as accurate as maps, and tend to show up old hedge lines and road alignments more clearly. They are certainly easier to read than maps, and contain much more information. Finally they are historic documents. The Borough’s long association with flying has provided us with aerial photographs dating almost from the first world war. These are of immense value to local historians, showing the area before housing development and providing priceless information on everyday activities in Barnet.
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Addresses of the organisations mentioned above:

The Air Photographs Unit, D.o.E., Prince Consort House, Albert Embankment, London SEl 7TF

Fairey Surveys Ltd, Reform Rd, Maidenhead, Berks, SL6 8BU

BKCS Air Surveys Ltd, Cleeve Rd, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 7NL

The Air Photographs Section, Ordnance Survey, Southampton, Hants

Aerofilms Ltd, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Herts, WD6 172

Meridian Air Maps Ltd, Marlborough Rd, Lancing, Sussex, BN15 8TT

The Committee for Aerial Photography, 11 West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DP

The Air Photographs Unit, National Monuments Record; Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Fortress House, 23 Savile Row, London W1X lAD

The Committee for Archaeological Air Photography (Anglian Region), 17 Bull Plain, Hertford, SG14 lDX

For all enquiries, quote the grid reference of the area in which you are interested, and if possible the type of site you expect to find.
LECTURES AHEAD

Details of the first lecture on Tues. October 2, appeared in the last Newsletter. The programme for the rest of the winter (in case you have mislaid your programme card) will be as follows:

Tues. Nov 6. Recent Archaeology in Canterbury – Tim Tatton Brown BA

Tues. Jan 8. The Art of Bronze Age (Minoan) Crete – Sinclair Hood MA FSA

Tues. Feb 5. The Later Roman Empire and the Codex Spirensis – Mark Hassall MA FSA

Tues. Mar 4. Medieval Kings Lynn: an archaeological, architectural and documentary survey – Dr. Helen Clark BA PhD FSA

Tues. Apr. 1 Iron Bridge Gorge Museum – Stuart B Smith MSc AMA

Details of our Christmas event on Dec. 8 will be found elsewhere in this Newsletter.
OTHER FORTHCOMING EVENTS

A series of Wednesday lectures will be sponsored this year at various libraries by LBB Library Services. Of particular interest to archaeologists is The Saga of the Vasa, at Burnt Oak Library at 8.15 on Wed. Oct. 24. This is the story of the raising a few years ago of the Swedish galleon Vasa from the sea-bed where she capsized in 1628. Anyone who was lucky enough to see the exhibition on the Vasa at the Science Museum some years ago, with its fascinating detail of how the great wooden ship was lifted and her timbers preserved, along with all the contents down to such things as kegs of butter, will want to hoar this lecture by Ley Kenyon, who is a diver and underwater photographer.

On Sat. Nov. 3 the Council for British Archaeology is organising a one-day conference on non-conformist places of worship at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Further details may be obtained from the CBA, 112 Kennington Road, London, SEll 6RE.

The annual Conference of Local Historians organised by the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society will take place at the Museum of London on November 17 next. No other details at the moment, though we have peen told that Sir John Summerson, expert on Georgian London, will be one of the speakers. Further information, we hope, in next Newsletter.
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Next year will see the 25th anniversary of a landmark in English Local History Studies – the publication of The Making of the English Landscape by W G Hoskins. The book was published in 1955 by Hodder & Stoughton (and reprinted in 1970 by Pelican in paperback). The original publishers are sponsoring a one-day conference on the English Landscape to mark the occasion, on March 1 next at the D.o.E. lecture theatre, Fortress House, 23 Savile Row, Wl.

Professor Hoskins will give an address, and there will be other papers by experts in local history and field archaeology – Lionel Munby (Hertfordshire), Professor Glanville Jones {North Wales), Christopher Taylor (Cambridge and Dorset), Peter Brandon (Sussex), David Palliser (Stafford) and Trevor Rowley (Shropshire and Hereford).

The Conference starts at 10, ends at 5, and the fee of £5 includes tea and coffee but not lunch. Tickets obtainable from Archaeological Education, Vine Cottage, Hethe, Nr. Bicester, Oxon, with a closing date of Feb 18 for applications.
ARE YOU IN DEBT TO HADAS

Have you renewed your subscription for the current year, due on Apr. 1 last? , If not, please send it now to our Hon. Treasurer.

As usual, the Treasurer will send out in mid-October a final reminder to all members who have not by then subscribed. The names of those who have not responded by mid-November will be removed from the membership list. Our current subscription rates are:
Full membership – £2.00
Under-18 – £1.00
Over-60 – £1.00
Family Membership: – first member – £2
– additional members £1 each

Payment should be made to Jeremy Clynes.
THE BREWER’S TALE

Another of PERCY REBOUL’s series of transcripts of tape recordings made by older residents of our Borough.

I was born in 1921 at Barnet, and have lived and worked in the area all my life. My family has close associations with Barnet: my grandfather started the Dental Manufacturing Company and worked there as General Manager.

I joined Hadley Brewery as office boy on January 7 1935 and my starting wage was 9s. a week. On my first day I was shown a very obsolete old telephone system and told to take messages and put people through. I was also told to take, at 7 am, the numbers of the barrels to be used that day.

The brewery was owned at that time by a limited company, Harris Brown Ltd. There were four directors: Mrs Harris Brown; Mr Leaney; Capt Dudley Moseley and Mr T Duncan. It was very much a family business – friendly and with great loyalty, both given and received from workers, management and customers. We owned 4 houses and 3 off licences. There was the Star Tavern at Barnet (now a shoe shop); the Victoria at North Hill, Highgate; the Bridge House at Potters Bar; and, later, we built the Brookman’s Park Hotel – a large venture for us and not a very successful one, because the Underground did not, as we had hoped get extended beyond Cockfosters to Brookman’s Park.
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Hadley Brewery was an old established business – the brewery was founded in 1700. Harris Brown extended it. He was a remarkable man in that he did most of the architectural and design work himself for the extensions. I am certain that when they took the old brewery down they discovered just how good a builder he was!

We had good water from our own artesian wells and could draw upon it whenever we liked. I see from the ledgers that, in 1937 for example, we could brew 1504 barrels of bitter for the cost of £12. 6s in raw materials such as hops, malt and sugar, plus another £1.15s for incidentals like caramel. Material costs were vary low. We imported a certain amount of hops from Czechoslovakia.

In 1935/6 we employed about 52 people for production, distribution and sales. The top man was Harris Brown; Capt Moseley was Head Brewer and Mr Duncan was in charge of admin and sales. Capt Moseley had an under-brewer and an apprentice brewer, John Duncan’s son, who eventually became Head Brewer of Bass Charrington.

You cannot learn about brewing from a book. It is a great tradition requiring an intimate knowledge of the brewing processes. 1 find even today the brewers are people with the most heart, the most will and the most thought for others because they have been brought up in the tradition. They are dedicated men, very powerful in their own sphere.

The Draymen.

I would like to say something about the old draymen. They delivered the beer by horse and cart (later in T-type Ford lorries) to private houses in an area stretching from Hadley to Muswell Hill. Most of those houses stored the beer in their cellars and they represented a large part of our business. This carried on until the outbreak of war in 1939. We sold under many brand names. There was Hadley Stout; Hadley Special Pale Ale ; Dinner Ale; Nourishing Stout; and bottled Guinness which was Dublin-brewed and picked up by us from the London docks. We also supplied lager from Czechoslovakia, Germany and Wrexham.

The draymen of those days were characters. They knew all their customers personally and made friends with them. If the Guv’nor was down with ‘flu the drayman was prepared to bottle up, set up casks and do anything required. Today, they are merely delivery men. The drayman was an important part of the business. He worked terrific hours, starting at 7 am and sometimes finishing at 8 pm. At Christmas he worked round the clock, with just 3 or 4 hours sleep.

They were a jolly crowd, big drinkers but the work was physically tough. They had to manhandle hogsheads of beer (that is 54 gallons) into cellars by ropes. They were highly skilled, very capable and very much underpaid. In 1935, for example, a drayman would earn £3-£4~ a week including overtime. A clerk in the brewery earned about £2. 15s and a senior person about £5 a week; on that you could afford to run a car.

Drunk on Ginger Beer.

Once a year we brewed Old English Ale which was a very heavy barley wine. We made only about 20- 30 barrels which was bottled by hand. Everyone helped and by the end everyone was “stoned” out of their minds! We also brewed ginger beer, using raw ginger ground down to a powder plus yeast and sugar. In those days in Hadley Woods we had Folly Farm which was often visited by Sunday school parties and we supplied them with ginger beer for the outing. One year, something happened to the brew and both children and Sunday school teachers became inebriated! We had a visit from a large sergeant of police, and after that we were very careful to watch the gravity of the ginger beer!
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I managed a great team of people and we had enormous respect for each other. One day I was sitting in Old Fold Manor Golf Club, on Hadley Green, when someone said “Your brewery is on fire.” I looked across the Green, and it suddenly struck me that this was the end. I felt terrible, and the ghosts of people I had known seemed to come back to me. Next day, I sat down and wrote an epitaph on the Brewery.

FOOTNOTE: The fire at the brewery occurred in 1962. It was rebuilt, but the only original part of the building from then on was the cellars. It was used for storage purposes and gradually grew more and more dilapidated. Finally it was demolished about a year ago.
AWAY INTO WALES

A report from PADDY MUSGROVE on HADAS’s visit to Snowdonia.

The Snowdonia National Park Study Centre, Plas Tan y Bwlch, where 49 HADAS members arrived on the evening of September 19 for a four-day stay, is a splendid Victorian mansion, high on the steep slopes of the Vale of Ffestiniog, in 105 acres of wooded grounds and gardens, with views which can be described only as spectacular.

On the way our coach had stopped for some hours at Ironbridge, where we noted many improvements since HADAS visited there in 1974. The Coalport China Works Museum is now open and various new buildings have been added at Blist’s Hill.

Our official programme of visits from Plas Tan y Bwlch listed more than 40 sites; and dozens more emerged as we roamed on foot and by coach from Penmaenmawr to Barmouth and from Blaenau Ffestiniog to the Lleyn Peninsula and over the water to Anglesey.

We saw monuments of the Neolithic and bronze ages, hill forts on remote uplands and one, strangely, on the edge of a sandy beach, a Roman marching camp and the forts of Segontium and Tomen y Mur, medieval castles (including massive Caernarvon), gold and copper mines, the old workshops of the Dinorwic Slate Quarry (only closed quite recently), and the famous Graig Lwyd axe factory (closed some thousands of years ago).

With so much to see, our party was split into two groups each day and so each individual could choose one of the two itineraries which best suited his interests and degree of athleticism. The choice was difficult, with all this happening amongst the magnificent mountains and lakes of Snowdonia.

To Mr. Alun Davies, Principal of the Centre, and our guides and evening lecturers, Messrs. Crew, Gareth Davies, Dean, Elias and Mrs. Llywellyn, sincere thanks are due for our comfort, entertainment and learning. Dorothy Newbury’s advance planning was evident at every turn and, although we missed her company, Jeremy Clynes most ably looked after our minor day-to-day problems.

It was a worthy successor to last year’s Orkney visit.
THE LEGACY 0F WORLD WAR II

A few weeks ago the names of the’ six finalists in this year’s Chronicle Award for independent archaeologists were announced. Among them was a project which studies the martial remains of World War II – pill boxes, platforms for ac-ac guns and the like – in the English countryside.
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This reminded the HADAS Research Committee that there are still some of these man-made structures left in our own area; and that they probably won’t remain much longer, and should therefore be recorded while it is still possible to do it. One example, for instance, is a pill-box near the foot of the railway viaduct that crosses the valley of the Dollis Brook in Finchley. It is just south-west of the viaduct and visible, though heavily overgrown, in the steep bank above Dollis Road.

If members know of any other World War II remains still visible in our Borough, we would be glad to have details of them – what they consist of and their precise location. Please send any such information to our Hon. Secretary, Brigid Grafton Green.
Church Terrace Reports: No. 2

This is the second in the series of Church Terrace post-excavation work reports. It is by GEORGE INGRAM and EDWARD SAMMES.

JETTONS

Prior to the late 15th c, when Arabic (originally Hindu) numerals were introduced, all calculations involved the use of Roman numerals.

To aid in the process of reckoning accounts, discs of copper, brass or latten, imitating coins, were used on a board or cloth similar to an abacus, having seven lines on which the counters were moved. The Romans used a similar system, using pebbles or discs of horn. (Note : the Museum of London has a replica of a counting board on display in its Medieval Section) The system was based on fives, using the numerals I, V(5), X(1O), L(50), C(100), D(500), M(1000). No more than five counters were allowed on a line. By these means simple addition and subtraction could be accomplished and the merchant needed to be able to count only in fives: Obviously, the coin of the realm could also be reckoned by such methods.

Jettons of coin type originated in France in the mid 13th o and there were English versions by 1280. By the 14th c. they were being struck in Paris, Toulouse and Lyon. Flemish counters or jettons appeared during the 14th c. They were made in Tournai, a copper mining town, and were in production for over 150 years.

By the early 16th c. the manufacture of jettons had moved to Germany and was centred on Nuremburg. These counters were thin, crude and again of “brass.” Their production was in the hands of five families, Koch, Krauwinckel, Laufer, Maler and Schultz.

The most common type has on its obverse a central rose surrounded by three open crowns and three fleur-de-lis arranged alternately. This is surrounded by the maker’s name and a rope design. The reverse side bears the Reichsapfel (a crowned orb) of Nuremburg and a legend.

Jettons are often pierced, probably to aid in distinguishing them from genuine coins. This confusion could easily have arisen in the case of English jettons which were copies of the coin of the reigning monarch.

The Italian market must have been particularly attractive, as special jettons were made depicting the winged lion of Venice on one side and a ship on the other.

A11 these foreign reckoning counters were imported into England , in large numbers and are frequently found on medieval and later sites, especially ecclesiastical ones, hence they are often called “Abbey Tokens”. Excavations at Waltham Abbey monastic grange in 1970-72 produced 1 French, 2 Nuremburg and one unidentified jetton. Five German jet tons were found at Sewardstone Street, Waltham Abbey, in 1966.
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The Church Terrace excavation produced one jetton (weight 3.37 gr) in trench Cl. It was badly corroded but it is possible to identify it as of German, possibly Nuremburg, origin. On one side it bears the winged Lion of Venice, on the other a mitre; date about 16th c, possibly for use in Italy. It has been pierced in antiquity.

Two other jettons have been found in Hendon. The 1962 excavation at Church End Farm produced one by Wolf Laufer of Nuremburg. The second was found about 1965 in the garden of 6 Grove Gardens. It is typical 16th Nuremburg type, as described, but the inscription is too badly corroded to read.

For further reading:

BERRY, G – Three articles on jettons. Coins and Medals, Link House Publications: June 1968, pp. 544-6 Sept 1968; pp. 743-5 Dec 1968, pp. 953-4

HUGGINS, P J – Excavations at Sewardstone St, Waltham Abbey. Post-Medieval Arch, vol 3, pp. 47-99. See p.96

HUGGINS, P J – Monastic Grange and Outer Close Excavation, 1970-2 Trans. Essex Arch. Soc. 1972, pp. 30-126. See p.125
BAPTISTS IN CRICKLEWOOD

By GEORGE INGRAM.

Earlier this year, in the March Newsletter, there was an article on Childhood in Cricklewood, by Miss Ethel and Miss Winifred Wardley. In it they mentioned the opening, in 1877, of the Baptist Church in The Mead.

Recently an interesting booklet has come my way from the Secretary of the Childs Hill Baptist Church, Mr K A Pitkethley. Some facts from it may fill out the personal memories described so graphically by the Misses Wardley. The booklet is a history of the church, by the Rev. J Sylvester Poulton, from its first beginnings (before the present church was built) up to 1927.

As early as 1865 the activities of the Heath St Baptist Church in Hampstead included a Home Mission at Childs Hill. One day an evangelist, Mr Rickard, on his way to Childs Hill, found a large contingent of men working on the construction of the “new Midland Railway.” He began open air meetings where the church now stands. This was in Old Mead (now renamed Granville Rd). It was a private way and had never been made up. In wet weather it was almost impassable. Carts would congregate at the top of the road and their contents had to be carried to the houses and laundries on the drivers’ shoulders. Big brothers had to carry their smaller sisters home on their backs through the mud and slush.

The area had a somewhat unenviable reputation; it was said to be unsafe on a Saturday night for a single constable to patrol the district alone. There was much drunkenness; cock-fighting went on where the Chapel now stands.

Sunday evening services were first held in April 1866, in a small upper room at the Model Laundry in the Mead (later 85 Granville Rd), and this is where the work of the church started. In May 1866 the Sunday school was launched. It held its first meeting in Mr Elphick’s laundry (later the Victoria Laundry) with 16 children and Mr Rickard as first superintendent. Two years after there were 145 children on the books.
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In those days Heath St Church loyally supported the Sunday school by sending to Cricklewood some of its enthusiastic young men and women; in 1878 there wore 250 scholars and 20 teachers. The next step was to obtain the loan of a Mission Hall for three years, and this was opened for public worship on Jan 19, 1867.

A Day School for infants was also opened and before the close of the year 120 little scholars were attending. Several clubs and groups were formed, and it was next decided, with the consent of Heath St church to build a permanent Chapel. A Memorial Stone was laid on June 28 1870 and the building cost £2500. It was opened on November 17 of that year. A British School (mixed) was started about this time for older children at a cost of £600. On June 12 1877 the Childs Hill Baptist Church was founded when 60 members of the Heath St Church agreed to form the nucleus of the new church. A new organ cost £lOO in 1885 and in November 1899 a Mission Room opened in Elm Terrace, the idea being to induce people to attend first the Mission and afterwards the Chapel.

In 1890 the numbers attending Sunday and Day Schools had so increased that it was found necessary to provide more accommodation. The room known as “The Middle Class Room” was built. The Rev Rickard retired after 25 years service and his successor, Rev J Sylvester Poulton, began his ministry on Dec 9 1894.

At the turn of the century there was a great stir in the parish of Hendon over education. The voluntary system, which had been languishing for some time, finally broke down and the School Board stepped in and took over administration. The British School was transferred to the School Board and became overcrowded. The Board was given permission to use the Chapel temporarily for Day School purposes till the Childs Hill Board School was built and opened in June 1901.

In autumn 1905 a successful Mission – the Claremont Mission – was held at Midland Brent Terrace, Cricklewood, and at a meeting of members in September it was resolved that it be called the Claremont Baptist church. Later, however, it was taken over by Childs Hill church. In 1915 Mr Poulton completed 21 years as pastor, and a presentation was made to him; he continued his ministry till 1928, the year after he wrote his history. We have a list of the ministers who followed him, but little more history of the church until recent times. Part of the premises have now been given up to the young people of the neighbourhood for use as a community centre. In June last year Barnet Council granted £2760 towards this scheme.

HADAS members will be sad to hear that one of the co-authors of the article which George mentions on Childhood in Cricklewood, which we published last March, died on September 6 this year. This was Miss Ethel Wardley, who had lived to the great age of 92 with a marvellous and completely clear memory. We offer our sincere sympathy to her sister, Hiss Winifred Wardley.
NON-CONFORMiSTS IN THE BOROUGH OF BARNET

George Ingram’s article is a reminder that, as some members will know, he has been master-minding the collection of information about non-conformist churches in our area. This is a long-term project and one on which George will be most Grateful for offers of help from members. If you know anything about a particular church or are in a position to provide a booklet or a history, of it; or if you are prepared to help generally on the project, please give him a ring.
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ROMAN BANQUET, HADAS STYLE

With this Newsletter is an application form for this year’s Christmas party, to be held on Saturday, December 8 at St Jude’s Church Rooms, Central Square, Hampstead Garden Suburb at 7 pm.

This will take the form of a Roman banquet, with as many Roman touches as it is possible to devise in a modern world. The occasion will be modelled on the banquet given during the annual Roman Cookery weekend organised by Southampton University. That function takes place under the jurisdiction of the Tutor in Archaeology, David Johnston, and the cookery course tutor, Maureen Locke, both of whom have done considerable research into details of Roman banqueting.

We are indebted to them for many helpful suggestions regarding our banquet. Mr. Johnston, for instance, assures us that it was the custom in the northern Empire to sit for meals, not to recline, so we propose to follow that fashion and offer you chairs, not couches. We are also assured that most Roman families, even the well-to-do, lived frugally, and though the fatted calf was metaphorically killed for special occasions like this, the sort of orgies described by Petronius in his Satyricon (the most notorious being Trimalchio’s banquet) were considered by most Romans to be – if you’ll forgive the pun – in doubtful taste.

We hope very much that members who decide to attend will choose to wear Roman dress, as this will greatly enhance the authentic atmosphere. Thanks again to help from Southampton, we include on the next page, details – with drawings by HADAS member William Morris – of how our female guests can easily provide themselves with a tunic and palla. Instructions for male dress will be included in next month’s Newsletter.

(EDITORIAL: To view this drawing, select the following link.)

If you are coming to the banquet, please fill in the application form and return it to Dorothy Newbury as soon as possible. We need to know numbers fairly soon because some of the ingredients for Roman cookery are expensive nowadays – e.g. pine kernels, dried apricots, nuts, honey and various herbs and spices – and we propose to bulk-buy our supplies if possible. A prompt application will help us to do this.

This seems an appropriate place to give details of the next Southampton University Roman Cookery course, on Sat. May 17-Sun. May 18 1980, at St. Swithuns School, Winchester. Non-residential. Fee £9.50. Applications to Dept. Adult Education, Southampton University, by Mar 31, stating relevant interests and experience of ancient/modern cookery.

Another Southampton course in which HADAS members may be interested is Practical Flintworking, Sat. June 14-sun. June 15 1980, at the University. Fee £7, tutor J C Draper. This will cover core preparation, simple flake tools and microliths. Applications as above by Apr. 30 next.

TWO OPEN UNIVERSITY SHORT COURSES

… may be of interest. Doing History is an 8-week course; Feb-May 1980, described as showing you “how to go about historical writing and research.” The Editor of the Newsletter, with more than half an eye on future contributors, will be delighted to hear from any members who decide to take it!

The other course is an introduction to Industrial Archaeology, 10 weeks from Feb-Apr 1980. Fees for both courses £8, applications up to Dec. 14 next, further details from the Associate Student Central Office, Open University, PO Box 76, Milton Keynes MK7 6AN.

newsletter-103-september-1979

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Newsletter
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NOT BRAWN ALONE! BUT BRAINS TOO

This summer several of HADAS’s hardest working diggers have, with flying colours, reached the end of four years of London University’s external Diploma in Archaeology. Our warm congratulations go to them and to all our members who succeeded in the 1979 examinations. We have not yet been able to track down all the results, but here are some of them, collected for us by Dave King.

Shirley Korn and Dave King himself both specialised in Prehistoric Britain for their final year: Shirley “passed her two papers (essay and general) with Merit in one and Credit in the other; Dave reversed that result, with Credit in one and Merit in the other. Margot Maher did even better: her 4th year speciality was Environmental Archaeology, which she passed with Distinction and Credit.

There is good news from the earlier years, too. Elizabeth Aldridge passed her 3rd year; Geoffrey Gammon passed his 2nd year with Credit; and Carole Halligan achieved what must be a unique double: in the same week she learnt that she had passed her midwifery finals and had also, gained a Distinction in her 2nd year extramural archaeology. As a result, she’s headed for a B.Sc (Hons) degree course in anthropology this coming autumn.
ALL SORTS OF PROGRAMME NEWS

.. from Dorothy Newbury.

Another lecture season approaches and the first Tuesday of each month from October to April will find us meeting at Hendon Library, The Burroughs, NW4, at 8 pm. Meetings start with coffee, served between 8-8.3O, while members have a chance to exchange views, borrow books from our Hon. Librarian, George Ingram, or look at the publications on the HADAS bookstall. (Incidentally, have you yet bought your copy of our latest booklet, the Hendon Town Trail, from our Hon. Treasurer? If not, please do – your support can make this interesting experimental publication the success that we would like it to be. Price lOp, plus 8p postage).

At 8.30 the lecture starts. We are delighted that Elizabeth Holliday has again kindly agreed to run the projector for us, except for our first lecture when she will be on holiday.

We have tried this year, as always, to vary our winter programme as much as possible with something for everyone :

Tues. Oct. 2 Archaeology in a Waterlogged Landscape: the Somerset Levels Dr. John Coles, MA PhD FSA

Tues. Nov. 6 Recent Archaeology in Canterbury Tim Tatton Brown BA

Sat. Dec.8 Roman Banquet

Tues. Jan. 8 The Art of Bronze Age (Minoan) Crete. Sinclair Hood MA FSA
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Tues. Feb. 5 The Later Roman Empire and the Codex Spirensis. Mark Hassall, MA FSA

Tues. Mar. 4 Medieval Kings Lynn: an archaeological, architectural and documentary survey Dr Helen Clark BA PhD FSA

Tues. Apr. 1 Iron Bridge Gorge Museum Stuart B Smith MSc AMA

The opening lecture of the season, on Oct. 2, will set a high standard for all those that follow: it is on the timber trackways, mainly Neolithic, which have been uncovered during the last decade in the low-lying marshland of the Somerset Levels by Dr. John Coles and his team from the Department of Archaeology in Cambridge.

Dr. Coles himself will be our lecturer. He is known already to many members, particularly those who belong to the Prehistoric Society, as he is President of the Council of that Society and Hon. Editor of its Proceedings. The current (1978) Proceedings in fact open with a brilliant paper by him and two of his younger colleagues on the use and character of wood in prehistoric Britain and Ireland.
THE HADAS CHRISTMAS PARTY

For our Christmas festivity this year we plan something a bit out of the ordinary: we offer members a Roman banquet (with all the authentic Roman frills we can contrive) cooked by HADAS cooks who undertake to use only known Roman ingredients.

This historic event is planned for Sat. Dec. 8, at St. Jude’s Church Rooms, Central Square; Hampstead Garden Suburb. It will start at 7 pm and it is hoped that, although this will be optional, as many members as possible will add to the authenticity of the occasion by wearing Roman dress.

The rooms will be decorated in Roman (indeed Pompeiian) style, and the entertainment will have a Roman slant, though we fear it will not quite live up to the expectations of one of our digger-members who, having been told what was in store, was heard to murmur “God. I’ve always wanted to experience a Roman orgy under controlled conditions!”

An application form for tickets, plus instructions on how to make a do-it-yourself toga (out of an old sheet) will accompany the next Newsletter. Meantime, if your spirit is adventurous and your digestion sound, chalk a mark in your diary against Sat. Dec. 8.
THE WALES TRIP

… from Sept. 19-23, is now full, but there is no waiting list. We have received the complete programme from the Centre and it sounds very exciting. If anyone has a last-minute wish to join the party, please ring Dorothy Newbury and let her know, in case there are any late cancellations.
WEST HEATH

Digging plans for September are as announced in last month’s Newsletter. There will be a full-time dig for the week starting Mon. Sept 3, as well as digging every Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday throughout the month. Digging is from 10 am-5 pm each day.

No one needs telling that a lot of good digging hours have gone up the spout this so-called summer because of bad weather. We are keeping our fingers crossed for a fine “back-end” so that we can begin to catch up on our schedule; and we hope that everyone who has even an hour to spare will come along to West Heath, trowel at the ready, to help us in that aim during September.
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IN SEARCH OF WATLING STREET

Site-watching report by HELEN GORDON.

HADAS member Albert Dean, who keeps a wary eye for us on any digging-up of the Edgware Road, last month spotted a trench cut for pipe-laying purposes on the east side of the street at The Hyde, at the north corner of Greenway Gardens, NW9 (OS grid ref: TQ 204901).

The trench, when observed on July 9 1979, had been dug in the pavement parallel to the Edgware Road about 30 cm. from the kerb, for a length of about 30 m. northwards from the corner. It was about 80 cm. wide and 1.75-2 m. deep. The pipe-laying was being continued, and a second visit was paid on July 11, when a further 10 m. had been dug.

For the first 20-30 cm. from the surface the soil was mixed disturbed sand and blackened material. Below this was clay with some small stone. No evidence was seen of any layers of pebbles or gravel which might had indicated the metalling of the Roman road.
Church Terrace Reports: No. 1

During the next few months the Newsletter will publish a series of papers by EDWARD SAMMES on post-excavation work, since 1974, on finds from the Church Terrace, Hendon, dig. Below is the first in the series, on:

BALE SEALS

Much of the material excavated at Church Terrace, Hendon (TQ 22898953) in the HADAS dig of 1973-4 came from disturbed layers. As far as can be ascertained, no dumping had ever taken place on the area. The finds are therefore a record of occupation on this site, close to the parish church of St. Mary’s Hendon, starting in the 3rd/4th c. and continuing through to this century.

Whilst excavation is in progress, the separate layers are approximately dated. This is followed in post-excavation by a more detailed study of specific artefacts. This series of articles will cover the results of such work in more detail than is possible in a final archaeological report where, for instance, you might merely get an entry like this:

Merchants Bale Seal of lead, in two parts, slightly elliptical 18-21 mm. diameter, weight 6.29 grams. One half plain with lug flattened. Main side bears the impressed letters R.G. with a vertical interlace between. This is surrounded by a border line. 18th c. Trench Bl, 58 cm.

Such a description gives most of us little idea of the use of the object and fails miserably to make it “live.” Yet this rather insignificant piece of worked lead has its origins in England’s flourishing Medieval wool trade and can take us back through the history of that trade. In the Middle Ages the export of wool in sacks to the continent, mainly Flanders, was a major source of wealth. In 1275 a duty of 7s. 6d was fixed on every sack. Henry III, however, began to encourage the manufacture of woollen cloth in England. The industry was established in London, Norwich, the Cotswolds and Somerset. The settling of Flemish weavers here in 1337 brought a sudden increase in the knowledge and practice of weaving. A tax was levied on the finished cloth and for each producing county an officer, called an alnager, was appointed. His task was to examine the cloth for quality and length, to affix seals and also to collect the tax. In 1353 this tax amounted to four pence a cloth. Each alnager had a seal, resembling a pair of pincers, with his own particular mark engraved on it.
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Measurement was carried out in the unit length of one ell. This derives from the Anglo-Saxon eln, and is of cognate origin with the French aulne, from the Latin ulna, an arms length. From this too derives the name alnager. Confusingly, the length of an ell in inches varied as follows: England 45, Flanders 27, Scotland 37, France 54. Thus the bale seal was a certificate of the length of the cloth as well as of its quality.

By the 17th c. this work was being done by three people types of seals were in use as, additionally, merchants began lead seals with their own impressed mark.

Bale seals are found from that period onwards. They were following types:

1. Single lobed pieces with a central hole

2. Two-lobed, one lobe having a tongue projecting from its centre which, in use, would be passed through a hole in the second lobe. The Church Terrace seal is of this type.

3. Four lobed seals. official seals for the collection of excise duty.

For further reading:

EGAN, G – London Archaeologist, vol 3 No 7, Summer 1978. 177-9

HUME, I N – Artefacts of Colonial America, pub. A A Knapp, 1970

LIPSON, E – Economic History, vol 1, 1929

PILE, C C R – Cranbrook Broadcloth and the Clothiers, Cranbrook & District Local History Society, 1967
A DAY OUT IN NORFOLK

A report by R F Allen on the August outing.

For the last one-day outing of this summer our guide was Raymond Lowe, who enlivened the long drive to Castle Acre with comment on features of interest on the way, including the Roman bathhouse under the A1 at Welwyn and Knebworth House, sadly forced to live now by acting as a pop festival venue and surrounded by acres of litter from the latest event.

After Baldock we followed the Icknield Way for ten miles and could pick out the odd round barrow, taking care not to be deceived by golf-course earthworks. There was also Ashwell Pond with its remarkable worm, left behind since early post-glacial times and no doubt longing a for the next ice age. Ermine Street went off north from the traffic lights at Royston and we jumped forward to industrial archaeology: aircraft brooding on the tarmac at Duxford, accompanied incongruously by a rusty two-man submarine. Back to early Saxon days for two linear works at right angles to our line of Approach, Fleam Dyke and Devils Ditch.
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The Priory at Castle Acre, a Cluniac house, was founded in 1090, the original buildings being within the outer defences of the castle. Soon afterwards it moved to the present site near the River Nar, where there was room for the vast complex whose ruins we see today. The main feature is the west wall of the church, standing to much of its original height and described as a fine example of l2th c. architecture.

The prior’s chapel and lodging, though altered in Tudor times, survive as complete buildings, with fine dressed flint over the porch. Upstairs is a model of the priory as it might have appeared just before the Dissolution; this was made, under expert supervision, by the Castle Acre Youth Club. The local youth and their supervisor must be perfectionists: having built one model they decided that, with the skills acquired on the job, they could do better; so they built another, the one now on view. The priory kitchen had its fish tank but the ponds were presumably further up the valley. A DoE dig, in progress beyond the kitchen, revealed some interesting brick-lined circular structures, with a spectacular tilt due to subsidence. These are provisionally thought to represent the brewery – there must have been one somewhere.

This caused our thoughts to turn towards The Ostrich in the village, but first there was the parish church, with l5th c. painted panels round the pulpit and along the remains of the screen. The font cover, also l5th c, is termed the telescopic variety: the lower part, by an ingenious sliding mechanism, can be lifted up to give access to the font itself.

The Ostrich came up to expectations, real beer and no fruit machine. Then through the north gateway (in the village street) for a quick look at the motte and bailey castle; the remains are mostly earthworks but are impressive for their size and extent.

Next to Oxburgh Hall, a moated red-brick mansion built about 1482 by Sir Edmund Bedingfeld and now owned by the National Trust, with the Bedingfield family still living in part of it. There is no doubt here about the main feature: the magnificent original gatehouse, the best of its period in the country, with a projecting octagonal tower on either side, 80 ft. high from moat to battlements. The west tower contains an architectural gem, the newel staircase to the roof. The vault is of cut and rubbed brick, laid with incredible precision those 500 years ago and giving an effect of great beauty; if the whole thing were turned upside down you would think you were looking at a well worn watercourse.

Inside, the house has been drastically altered down the centuries but has much of interest. One room is devoted to needlework hangings by Mary Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick. Another gives up an entire wall to the Sheldon tapestry map of 1647; this measures 18′ by 13′ 2″ and extends from Tetbury, Gloucestershire, to London. It gave members a chance to find Hendon and nearby villages.

It was a memorable day and we must place on record our gratitude to Raymond Lowe for efficient arrangements and entertaining commentary.
MORE ARCHAEOLOGICAL WEEKENDS

Last month we mentioned the programme of archaeological weekends organised by Leicester University at Knuston Hall. This inspired a member to send details of similar weekends under the aegis of the
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Oxford University Department of External Studies, many of which take place at the department’s headquarters at Rewley House, 3-7 Wellington Square, Oxford. Here is a selection from the programme:

Oct. 12-14 – Weekend conference on Churches and Local History

Nov. 9-11 – Symposium on Burial in the Saxon Period

Jan. 5-6 – The Roman at Work: artisans, merchants, trade, travel, inns and entertainment

Jan. 11-13 – The Archaeology of Santorini (to be held at New College)

Jan. 25-27 – Hill-forts in Britain and Europe: a forum for the latest research

Feb. 15-17 – The Study of Farm Buildings

Mar. 14-16 – Th1rd Century Problems: looking at the least well known century of Roman occupation

Apr. 18-20 – Recent Work on Wills and Inventories

Costs vary according to venue – a weekend at Rewley House, with full board and a shared room, is about £23.5O. Further particulars of the above courses, and of others in a very full programme, can be obtained from the Dept. of External Studies.

A study tour of the principal museums and medieval sites in the Cherbourg Peninsula – an “in the footsteps of William the Conqueror” trip, as it were – is also offered from Apr. 24-27, crossing from Southampton-Le Havre, with 3 days in Normandy, for £70.
PROTECTING A MOAT

Back in early 1977 HADAS suggested to the Department of Environment {the ministry responsible for both Listed buildings of architectural and historic interest and for scheduled sites of historic and archaeological importance) that the remains of one of the moats in our area should be scheduled. This is the partial moat (only an L-shaped piece remains, the rest having been filled in, and possibly walled over, in earlier times) which still exists in the walled garden of the Manor House (now a convent) in East End Road, Finchley. The present Manor House was built in 1723 as the centre of the manor of Bibsworth, but there has probably been a manor house on, or within the fairly near neighbourhood of this site since medieval times.

The moat itself has never been dated, nor is anything known of its genesis. It may well pre-date the present early Georgian house.

The DoE was sympathetic to the idea, and in September 1977 sent one of its Inspectors to examine the moat. He went away saying that he would recommend it for scheduling. Now, after quite an interval, it seems the idea is coming to fruition, for we have had a letter from the Department saying “This is to let you know that the Moated Site at 80 East End Road, Finchley N3, is in process of being scheduled and this should be completed by early next year.”

We greatly welcome the DoE’s action and the fact that this piece of Finchley’s history will have some protection.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT – PART II

CHRISTINE ARNOTT finishes her round-up of next winter’s classes with details of WEA courses available locally.

Unless otherwise stated, the following courses offer 24 lectures, with visits that are additional and vary in number; the cost, also unless otherwise stated, is £8, with concessionary fees for pensioners of $6.50. Enrolment can be made at the class on the first day; and in some instances you will be allowed to attend for two weeks without obligation to join.
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GOLDERS GREEN. “Why the Romans Came to Britain,” lecturer Margaret Roxan, Golders Green Library, Thurs. from Oct. 4, 8-10 pm. Slides, films and visits are included.

FINCHLEY. “Industrial History”‘ – from the Industrial Revolution to today. North Finchley Library, Tues. starting Sept. 25, 8-10 pm.

“Geology” This course will deal with SE England and pay particular attention to a 30-mile radius from Finchley. Special films and 6 field visits. The lecturer, a master at Mill Hill School, is a real enthusiast. Venue is 46 Southover, Nl2, Weds. from Sept 26, 8-10 pm.

MILL HILL. “Ancient Mesopotamia her Neighbours Politics and History” Richard Evans, Hartley Hall, Flower Lane, 8-10 pm, Tues. from Oct. 9, 22 meetings £12.

“Greek Civilisation: Foundations of Western Theatre, ” Dr. Anne Ward; Edgware Library, Hale Lane, Mons. from Oct.8, 8-10 pm. 22 meetings, £12

BARNET. “Roman Archaeology,” Tony Rook, Ewen Hall , Wood St, Barnet , Fris. from Sept 8, 10.30am-12.30 pm. “Trace the History of Everyman,” Queen Elizabeth School for Boys, Thur from Sept. 27, 7.45-9.45 pm A genealogy class which will involve student participation.

HENDOW “Peoples and Civilisations of the Ancient Near East”, R G Evans, Hendon Library, Weds: from Sept. 26, 7.30-9.30 pm. The fee for this class is £10.

FRIERN BARNET. “Natural History with Archaeology”, South Friern Library, Colney Hatch Lane, Weds. from Sept. 26, 8~10pm. Evolution and environment, including fossil study and pollen analysis.
Barnet College

As mentioned last month, details of classes at this College were given to us before the printed prospectus was available and there are therefore some alterations in the details we printed in August.

The principal one is definitely an improvement: the fee for the third year course of the Certificate in Field Archaeology of London University (on the post-Roman period in SE England) is £8, not £15 as stated.

Fees quoted for the other courses at Barnet College were also too high. Three “terms of 2-hour classes in Family History will cost £12, not £15; two terms of 2-hour classes in Local History at East Barnet Junior High School will be £8, not £10.

In Addition, there is a 3-term course in Local History at Barnet College itself, on Mons. from 7.30-9.30 pm, fee £12.

The above classes are all “non-vocational” and this type of class begins at the College in the week starting Mon. Oct. 1.
NEWS FLASH

One day conference on Town and Country in Roman Britain. Sat. Oct. 6, 10 am-5 pm. St A1bans School, Abbey Gate, St. Albans. Tickets (£1.25) and further details from E J Heathman, 92 Charmouth Rd, St. Al bans, AL1 4SQ.
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GAZETTEER OF ROMAN SITES AND FINDS: Pt. II

HELEN GORDON continues her round-up of evidence for the Romans in the Borough of Barnet.

BROCKLEY HILL. Finds from this site are recorded below, area by area. Those to the east of the A5 (the boundary between the Boroughs of Harrow and Barnet) are recorded more fully as this gazetteer particularly concerns Barnet. Finds to the west, in Harrow, are summarised, but full references are given. Numbers in the margin refer to the map printed with the August Newsletter. Numbers’in brackets after kilns are as listed by SA Castle in Trans LAMAS 27, 1976, p 225/6.

NW corner of field 412. TQ 1744 9404. Excav. 1956-8 by Mr. Ridley

1. Kiln (no 6) and pottery in south bank of pond. Mus. Lond. ref: F36

Kiln furnace constructed of burnt clay, reinforced with wasters. Quantity of miniature votive urns, frags. of poppyhead beakers and other vessels. Multi-coloured glass ring. Kiln debris. Date: c. 110-150 AD.

Present location of finds unknown

Ref: Castle, SA, “Roman Pottery from Brockley Hill, Middx, 1966 & 1972-4,” Trans LAMAS 27, 1976, 206-227 (p.225)

2. Three kilns (nos. 12-14). TQ 174 940. Excav. 1972 by S A Castle and Brockley Hill Excavation & Field Work Group

Pottery kilns, one with pedestal of mortaria wasters, including stamp of DRICCIVS. Possibly worked by potters Driccius and Arentus. Pottery included ring necked flagons, reed rimmed bowls, jars, lids and mortaria with stamps of ARENTVS, DOINVS, DRICCIVS.

Date: c. 110-160 AD Present location: Mus. Lond

Ref: Castle, S A, “Trial Excavations in Field 410, Brockley Hill, Pt .2,” Lond. Archaeologist, vol 2 No 4, 1973, 78-83

SW corner of field 410. TQ 17489393. Excav. 1937 by F Cottrill with LAMAS & Stanmore, Edgware & Mill Hill Hist. Socs.

3. Brooch and pottery

Date: lst c. AD

Location: some pottery in custody of Borough Librarian, LBB

Ref: Cottrill, F, “Note on the Trial Excavation at Brockley Hill, 1937,” Trans LAMAS NS 7, 1937, 686-7.

4. Pit containing pottery. TQ 175939. Excav. 1972 by S A Castle and BHE & FWG

Clay pit containing kiln material and coarseware pottery including Hofheim type flagons, South Gaulish samian and a large quantity oak charcoal. Imitation as of Claudius I.

Date: c. 50-60 AD

Present location: Mus. Lond.

Ref: Castle, SA, “Trial Excavation in field 410, Brockley Hill; Pt. I,” Lond. Archaeologist vol 2 No 2, 1973, 36-39
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Hilltop Café Sire, NW corner of field 413. TQ 175 939. Excav. 1972 by S A Castle & BHE & FWG

5. Kiln (no.11), possibly of potter Secundus, with part of furnace, 6ft. diam, of burnt clay reinforced with coarseware sherds, including mortarium of SECVNDVM & ring necked flagons, which were main product.

Date: 65-100 AD

Present location: Mus. Lond.

Ref: Castle, S A, “Excavations at Brockley Hill, Middx, 1972,” Trans LAMAS 25, 1974, 251-263

(i) Pottery

Ring necked flagon, 2-handled flagons, bowls, jars, mortaria SECVNDVS, samian, brick and tile wasters.

Date: 1st/2nd c. AD

Location: some pottery in custody of Borough Librarian, LBB

Ref: Cottrill, F, “Note on the Trial Excavation at Brockley 1937,” trans LAMAS NS 7, 1937, 686-7

(ii) Clay Pits

Excav. (a) 1947 by K M Richardson

(b) 1952 by Philip Suggett

(c) 1972 by S A Castle

Pottery found included mortaria stamped MELVS, SECVNDVS, RIPANVS, MARIMVS, MATVGENVS, SATVRNINVS, ANDIL, MERTVMAR. Ring necked flagons, jars, 2-handled bowls, amphorae, reed rimmed bowls, samian. Coins included antoninianus of Claudius II, unworn sestertius of Vespasian, sestertius of Hadrian, two 3rd c. antoniniani, sestertius of Septimius Severus.

Date: 60 AD/end of 2nd c.

Present location: pottery from (a) and (b) above in custody of Borough Librarian, LBB; from (c) Mus. Lond.

Refs: Richardson; K M, “Report of the Excavations at Brockley Hill, Middx, Aug/Sept 1947,” Trans LAMAS NS 10 pt 1 1948, 1-23

Sugett, P G, “Excavations at Brockley Hill, Middx, March 1952- May 1953,” Trans LAMAS NS 11 pt. 3, 1954, 259~276

Castle, S A, “Excavations at Brockley Hill, Middx, March-May 1972, Trans LAMAS 25, 1974, 251-263

7. Pit under road opposite Hilltop Cafe Found 1953 by Mr Robinson

Contained samian ware

Undated

Present location: in custody of Borough Librarian, LBB

Ref: Castle, S A, “Brockley Hill, the Site of Sullonicae?” Lond. Archaeologist vol 1 No 14, 1972, 324-327

8. Kiln (no.5) Excav. 1952 by Philip Suggett

Width 8 ft. lying in pit with cobbling at edge of stokehole. Pit nearby contained small amphorae with ring bases, ring necked flagons, reed rimmed bowls, mortaria stamped MELVS; coin of Constantine in soil above kiln.

Date: 70/80 AD

Present location: some pottery in custody of Borough Librarian, LBB

Ref: Suggett, P G, “Excavations at Brockley Hill, Middx, March 1952-May 1953, Trans LAMAS NS 11 pt. 3, 1954, 259-276

Gold ring found unstratified 1953

Heavy gold ring with oval bevel, probably once contained a stone, misshapen and marked as though run over by heavy machine.

Undated

Present location: Local History Collection, LBB
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Part of Brockley Hill lying to W of A5 road in Borough of Harrow – (finds listed from N to S)

SW of Green Cottage.

Kiln (no. 7) undated, observed by Mr. Upton 1965

Ref: Castle, S A, “Roman Pottery from Brockley Hill, Middx, 1966 and 1972-4,” Trans LAMAS 27, 1976, p 225

E Side of Field 154

Kiln (no. 2) dated 90-150 AD, excav. 1951

Ref: Suggett, P G, “Report on the Excavations at Brockley Hill, Middx, Aug/Sept 1951,” Trans LAMAS NS 11 pt. 2, 1953, 173-188

Kiln (no. 1) dated 100-160 AD, excav. 1950

Ref: Applebaum S H, “Sul1oniacae, 1950, Excavations at Brockley Hill,” Trans LAMAS NS 10 pt 3, 1951, 201-228

Two kilns (nos. 3 & 4) , no. 3 built on remains of no. 4, dated 100-160 AD & 70-100 AD, excav. 1951

Ref: Suggett, P G, “Report on Excavations at Brockley Hill, Middx, Aug/ Sept 1951,” Trans LAMAS NS 11 pt 2, 1953, 173-188

Tennis Court Area

Kiln (no. 10), 1st/2nd c. AD, observed by Mr. Harris 1971

Ref: Castle SA, “Roman Pottery from Brockley Hill, Middx, 1966 & 1972-~,” Trans LAMAS 27, 1976, 226/7

Hut, etc, dated 1st c. AD, excav. 1953/4

Ref: Suggett P G “Report on Excavations at Brockley Hil1, Middx, Aug 1953/4,” Trans LAMAS NS 19 pt 1, 1956, 65-75

S of Brockley Hill House. TQ 174 940

Kiln (no. 9) dated 70-110 AD, excav. 1971

Ref: Castle, S A, “A Kiln of the Potter Doinus,” Arch. J. 129, 1972, 69-88

Field 157, S of Wood Lane. TQ 174 942

Kiln (no. 8) dated 70-120 AD, excav. 1968

Ref: Castle S A & Warbis J H, “Excavations on Field No. 157, Brockley Hill, (Sul1oniacae’?) Middx, Feb-Aug 1968,” Trans LAMAS 24, 1973, 85-110

Finds from the above excavations are now either in Mus. Lond. or in custody of Borough Librarian, LBB.

II THE ENVIRON OF BROCKLEY HILL

Pipers Green Lane. TQ 1798 9328. Found 1954 by Mr. Probert; excav. 1955 by Philip Suggett.

9. Cremation urns and pottery Mus. Lond. ref: F44

Found when service trench dug to Aldenham Garage, in field NE of junction of Pipers Green Lane and Brockley Hill; further archaeological trenches in 1955 revealed nothing more. Finds included one whole Urn (now missing), frags of another urn, small ring necked flagon, frags of storage jar and samian, part of a bronze key.

Date: lst c. AD
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Present location: HADAS

Ref: Suggett, P G, “Report on Excavations at Brockley Hill, Middx, Aug. 1953/4,” Trans LAMAS NS 19 pt 1, 1956, 65-75, (p.68)

10 (i) Pottery. TQ 1797/1798 9326/9343. Found 1977 by HADAS

A scatter of pottery (291 pieces) found on field walks; including sherds in typical Brockley Hill fabric, frags. flagons, mortaria, tazze, reed rimmed bowls, etc. Also 86 pieces of building material including imbrices, tegulae and flue tile.

Present location: HADAS

Ref: HADAS Newsletter 75, 1977, 5-6

(ii) Pottery. Small quantities of tile and pottery found 1970 when a gas-main trench was dug near, and parallel to, the A5, at three points within 300 m. of Pipers Green Lane.

(iii) Pottery has also been found at the border of golf course at of Pipers Green Lane, TQ 18239315. Mus. Lond. ref: F43

(iv) And also on playing field near Canons Corner, TQ 18259292. Mus. Lond. ref: F42

Present location of (iii) and (iv) unknown

Edgwarebury

11. Pottery. TQ 1857 9433. Found 1976 and 1977 by HADAS

A scatter of pottery near foot of electricity pylon (approx. 70 identifiable pieces) and building material, including imbrex and tegulae: was found during field walking on Bury Farm estate, in OS field No.5831.

Date: late 1st-3rd c. AD

Present location: HADAS

Ref: HADAS Newsletter 72, 1977, 6

15 Blackwell Gardens, Edgware. TQ 193930. Found 1974 by house owner Mr Selby

12. Pottery. Circular piece, 3 in. diam. found in back garden. Typical Brockley Rill fabric, function unknown, possibly kiln equipment.

Dating impossible.

Mus. Lond. Ref: F761

Present location: Kept by owner

13. Tile Fragments. TQ 189 934 – reported 1958 by Godfrey Cole & 1960 by Mr. Phillips

Found in field near sharp kink in stream where earthen bank was possibly a dam. Mus. Lond. ref: F47

Undated

Present location unknown

14. Pottery_and charcoal. TQ 1792 9424 No details Mus. Lond. ref: F48

III EDGWARE

15. 4 Farm Road, NW7 (off Hale Lane). TQ 20599080. Found by house owner, Mrs. Hall.

Coin. Tetradrachm of Aurelian, mint of Alexandria, Condition probably too good to have been lost in antiquity.
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Present location: kept by owner

Ref: HADAS Newsletter 49, 1975, 2

IV BURNT OAK —~,

33 Thirleby Road. TQ 20599080. Found by house owners Mr & Mrs Whiston, 1970. Excav. 1971 & .1972 by HADAS

16. Pits, pottery, coin. About 30 unstratified sherds found in front garden; later excavation revealed rubbish pits containing further pottery frags. including colour coated ware, dishes, mortaria, flagons , lids, storage jars and a barbarous radiate of c. 270 AD.

Date: 3rd/early 4th c. AD

Present location: HADAS

Ref: “Roman Pottery from Thirleby Rd, Burnt oak, Edgware,” Trans LAMAS 29, 1978, 154-5.

V HENDON

Grove House, The Burroughs. NW4. TQ 227 894. Found 1889 by Dr. Hicks

17. Pottery, tile and brick. Six pieces of grey, red and orange-buff pottery, including a whole single-handled ring necked flagon, also roofing tile and “circular brick,” were found with some frags of bone about a foot below the surface in a gravel pit.

Date: late 1st/early 2nd c. AD

Present location: Local History Collection, LBB

Refs: Proc. Soc. Antiquaries 2nd series, 13, 1889, 16

Hendon & District Times, 13.12.1889

Robertson, E, “Roman Material found at Grove House, Hendon, in 1889,” Trans LAMAS 24, 1973, 146-150

Corner of Church Terrace/Greyhound Hill NW4. TQ 22898953. Excav. 1973/4 by HADAS.

18. Pottery. A small quantity of pottery and tile was found at western perimeter of site, including coarse redware, imitation samian, colour-coated and grey ware. Frags. which might have been from a multiple vase and a flagon neck in redware with a stylised face could be from religious vessels.

Date: late 3rd/early 4th c. AD

Present location: HADAS Ref: Sammes, E, “Moulded Face-flagon from Church Terrace, Hendon,” Trans LAMAS 28, 1977, 272- 3

111 Sunny Gardens Road, NW4. TQ 2298 8998. found 1966 by Sq. Ldr. Rideal

19. Burial urn containing Ashes and calcined bone, poss. of a child. Urn of Highgate Woods type, light sandy fabric not-identified. Height 21.5 cm, diam. 22.25 cm.

Date: end 1st/beginning 2nd c. AD

Present location: on display at Church Farm House Museum, Hendon

Ref: Robertson, B, “Human Cremation Burial from Hendon,” Trans LAMAS 22 pt. 2, 1969, 53-55

NOTE RE Item 17 above. – Tessellated pavement (16×12 cm) usually associated with the pottery is probably a collectors item, and almost certainly not from The Grove.
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Copthall Fields. TQ 232 914. Excav. 1968 by HADAS

20. (i) Pottery. Black, brown and grey~ware found at edges of road. Mainly native ware. Mus. Lond. ref: F659

Date: 1st c. AD to early 2nd c, Some pre-conquest

Present location: HADAS

(ii) Road surface. Resistivity survey indicated presence of road which subsequent excavation demonstrated in two places TQ 232 914 and TQ 2325 9120. Aligned partly NW/SE, partly NE/SW, not on line of route 167 suggested by Viatores. Mus. Lond. ref: F924

Date: by associated pottery, 1st c. AD, already declining in usage by beginning of 2nd c. AD.

Refs: Viatores, “Roman Roads in SE Midlands,” 1964 ,

Robertson, B, “An Investigation of Roman Road No 167,” Trans LAMAS 22 pt 2, 1970, 10-29

21. (iii) Lamp. TQ 2329 9030. Found c. 1963 by N Ashdown, 20 Sunny Hill, NW4

Coarse pottery lamp, 3″ diam. with engraved design, found on E side of path to allotments from Great North Way. (Possibly brought to England in modern times).

Date: late 3rd/4th c. AD Present location: kept by finder

Ref: HADAS Newsletter 25, 1973, 2; and 27, 1973, 2.

(iv) Coin, prob. Antonine, found in Archfields Allotments by L Lewis.

Present location: Local History Collection, LBB

51 Kings Close, NW4. TQ 239 893 Reported by Rolf Hansen

22. Coin. Found in garden and said to have been identified as a coin of Probus.

Present location: kept by finder, the owner of this house

Church Walk, NW4. Found 1960s by Mr. Peacock (owner of nearby timber yard)

23 Coin. Found “lying on top of ground” – possibly dropped by collector. Clipped sestertius of Hadrian.

Present location: kept by finder

The Hyde, NW9. found in 19th c.

24. Coin. gold. Mus. Lond. ref: F56

Present location: unknown

Refs: Brett-James, N G, “The story of Hendon,” 1931

Evans, E T, “History & Topography of Parish of Hendon,” 1890

26. Coin of Vespasian mentioned in local paper of Oct. 30, 1925, as having been found in Hendon. No further details.

Present location unknown.

VI Hampstead Garden Suburb

N. side of Falloden Way, NWll. TQ 254 891. Found 1974 by Garry Wadkin, 5 Brookland Hill, NWll

27. Pottery. Base of samian cup, with stamp, found during road works.

Present location: kept by finder
Page 14

VII MILL HILL. Said to have been found 1769

29. Lamp and coins, No. details.

Ref: Sharpe, Montagu, “Midd1esex in British, Roman and Saxon Times,” 1932, 113

Moat Mount Park/Moat End Farm. TQ 2168 9427. Found 1953

30. Coin. Inscription il1egible. Mus. Lond. ref: F67

Date: Probably 3rd c. AD

Present Location: Local History Collection, LBB

VIII Arkley

Ark1ey Hotel 32. Coin of Antoninus Pius said to have been found in grounds.

Present location: unknown

Ref: Viatores, “Roman Roads of SE Midlands,,” 1964, 117

IX NORTH FINCHLEY

16 Wolsetnbury, Woodside Park, N12. TQ 2499 9219. Found by A D King, 54 Lul1ington Garth, N12

33. Coin of Hadrian, found in garden

Present location: kept by finder

X BARNET

Mansfield Avenue. TQ 279 954. Found 1961. Mus. Lond. ref: F110

34. Coin struck in Constantinople 337 AD

Present location: unknown

Ref: Thames Basin Arch. Obs. Group Newsletter No 7 Dec. 1961

NOTE 1. Two separate finds of Gallo-Belgic coins in the area (which may of course have been depQsited outside the Roman period) should be recorded, as follows:

28. Coin found in Golders Green, 1926.

Ref: Inst. Archaeology Occasional Papers No. 11 1958, 150 (Allen)

35. Coin found near Barnet. Gaulish gold stater, inscribed (Evans type B8).

Refs: Allen, “Belgic Dynasties of Britain & Their. Coins,” Archaeologia XC 1944

Evans, J, “Ancient British Coins.”

NOTE 2. Some coins shown on the HADAS finds map (circulated with the last Newsletter) are not detailed above. Recent research suggests their authenticity is now in some doubt and that the same find has been reported more than once. The numbers concerned are 25 and 31.

newsletter-102-august-1979

By | Past Newsletters, Volume 2 : 1975 - 1979 | No Comments

Newsletter

Page 1

FOOD FOR THOUGHT – NEXT WINTER

To talk of winter activities when we have had as yet hardly any summer may seem unkind: but such is the popularity of evening classes, specially in archaeology, that we felt HADAS members would like to know as soon as possible what opportunities are in store.

CHRISTINE ARNOTT has prepared this round-up of evening classes that will be available next winter.

The following selection of classes gives only half the story; the other half will follow next month. This month I have concentrated on classes provided by centres where enrolment is preferable before the course commences. In Part II I hope to deal with WEA courses – often less formal as regards enrolment.

Barnet College, Wood Street, Barnet.(Enrolment for all classes at the College, Tues Sept 11, 10am-8pm, Wed Sept 12,6-8 pm)

This year the College is running classes for the 3rd year of the extramural Certificate in Field Archaeology of London University (28-week course approx. £15). On Wednesdays, beginning Sept 19, 7.30 pm, John Schofield will lecture on Field Archaeology and the Post-Roman Period in South-east England. Several HADAS members have taken the Certificate and enjoyed it considerably. It is more practical than the extra-mural Diploma in Archaeology and concentrates on southern Britain. Although obviously preferable to begin with the 1st year, students are not precluded from starting at the 3rd.

The College also offers two local history courses:

Trace your Family History, Tues from Sept 18, 7-9.30 pm, East Barnet Senior Schoo1, Chestnut Grove, Barnet, 30 weeks, app. £15.

Local Hjstory – Thurs from Sept 10, 7-9.30 pm, East Barnet Junior School, Westbrook Crescent, New Barnet, 20 weeks app. £10.

Members might also be interested in a 6-week course on Antiques at East Barnet Senior School – Mons 7.30-9.30 pm from Oct 1.

Note: the above information is given in advance of the printed prospectus, so that some facts are not yet available. A check with the College about details might be advisable.

Hendon College of Further Education Flower Lane, NW7. Enrolment at Hendon College, The Burroughs, Sept II & Wed Sept 12, 2-9.30 pm).

Archaeology in Action, a course of 21 lectures and visits, starting Mon. Sept 24, 7.30-9.30 pm. This study of man and technology from the Stone Age to the Dark Ages is being provided by HADAS – the third year that the Society has done so. The course will cover the development of building skills, ship-building techniques, irrigation, the opening of trade routes, metal-working and systems of barter, leading on to currency, weights and measures, etc. The course is designed for beginners or for those with a slight knowledge of archaeology: highly recommended for HADAS members who feel they would like to brush~up on basics.
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Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute, Central Square. NWll. (Enrolment at the Institute, weekdays 9 am~5pm, 6.15-8.15 pm -daytime only during August).

At least two classes of general historical interest are offered:

London’s Heritage, Fri, 10-12 noon, at Fellowship House, Willifield Way, NW11, beginning Sept 28, 22 lectures and 4 visits, £8.50. Those who attended a similar course last year reported Ron Phillips a fascinating lecturer – a taxi-driver who is a mine of information about London’s past.

Henrietta’s Dream – Social Change in England, 1900-1980, with special reference to Hampstead Garden Suburb. 12 lectures by Kathleen Slack, B.Sc (Soc), Weds, 8-9.30 pm from Sept 19 (£4).

As previously, the Institute offers classes for years 1 & 2 of the London University Extra-mural Diploma in Archaeology. These Diploma courses Greatly enrich one’s archaeological knowledge, and no one need fear that the lectures will be too difficult to follow or the course of study too advanced. One gradually grows in understanding and ability during the course – as I can testify from personal experience – and help is always forthcoming from the lecturers and from fellow students.

The Archaeology of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Man, Weds from Sept 19, 7.30-9.30 pm, – 24 lectures and 4 visits, conducted by Desmond Collins. £9.

The Archaeology of Western Asia, Thurs from Oct 4, 7.30-9.30 pm, 24 lectures and 4 visits, lecturer David Price Williams, £9.

Finally, a special class for advanced students on Stone Tool Typology, Thurs from Sept 20, 8-9.30 pm, lecturer Desmond Collins (12 lectures, 1 visit, £4).

Extra-Mural Department. London University, 7 Ridgmount St. WCl.

Many archaeological and local history classes are run by this department in central London, and some people may find it easier to attend a central class straight from work. Classes include the 4 years of the Diploma in Archaeology. Details from address above – enclose large SAE.

One University-sponsored class is at Camden Institute, Haverstock Hill, NW3: a sessional course on Prehistoric Britain, given by a new and, I am assured, enthusiastic lecturer, Bernard Johnson. Beginning Mon Sept 17 at 7.30 pm. (24 lectures, 4 visits, £8.50). Enrolment at Haverstock Hill the previous week.

The Extra-mural Department’s usual series of Thursday lectures on the latest advances in archaeology will deal, this year, with Roman Britain, a subject close to many HADAS hearts. Starting Oct. 4 at 7 pm, with lecturers of the calibre of Philip Rahtz, Mark Hassall and Graham Webster. Series £8 or individual lectures 50p each at the door.
THE LAST WORD ON ADULT EDUCATION?

At this moment when cuts in public expenditure seem to be almost the sole preoccupation of both national and local government, it is salutary to read this quotation from the Ashley Report (1954) on the Organisation and Finance of Adult Education in England and Wales:

“There is perhaps no branch of our vast educational system which should more attract within its particular sphere the aid and encouragement of the State than adult education. How many must there be in Britain, after the disturbance of two destructive wars, who thirst in later life to learn about the humanities, the history of their country, the philosophies of the human race, and the arts and letters which sustain and are borne for ward by the ever-conquering English language?
Page 3

This ranks in my opinion far above science and technical instruction, which are well sustained and not without their rewards in our present system. The mental and moral outlook of free men studying the past with free minds in order to discern the future demands the highest measures which our hard pressed finances can sustain.

I have no doubt myself that a man or woman earnestly seeking in grown-up life to be guided to wide and suggestive knowledge in the largest and most uplifted sphere will make the best of all pupils in this age of clatter and buzz, of gape and gloat. The appetite of adults to be shown the foundations and processes of thought will never be denied by a British Administration cherishing the continuity of our island life.”

No prizes for guessing the author of that gorgeous rolling prose: it was Winston Churchill, in a letter dated March 11, 1953. It is enough to warm the cockles of your heart as you set out on a cold winter’s night for an evening class on the distribution of stone axes in Outer Mongo1ia!
THE AUGUST 0UTING

The last of this year’s one-day outings will also be the longest. We are visiting Castle Acre and Oxburgh Hall in northwest Norfolk. The main site at Castle Acre is the Priory, founded 1090. The church has a fine west front dating from late 1lth/early 12th c. The monastic buildings include the Prior’s study and his private chapel.

The castle is now mainly an earthwork showing clearly the motte-and-bailey principle. The only building to survive is the gatehouse, dating from the 13th c. Oxburgh Hall is a moated house with the finest remaining l5th c. brick gatehouse in the country. The house contains needlework by Mary Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick. The National Trust has restored the beautiful parterre garden first laid out in 1850.

If you would like to join this outing, please fill in the enclosed form and return it as soon as possible to Dorothy Newbury.
THE WELSH LONG WEEK-END

… takes place from Sept 19-23. Dorothy Newbury has had one or two recent cancellations, so the waiting list is now a short one. If you have last-minute thoughts about joining this trip, please let Dorothy know so that your name can be added to the waiting list. You might be lucky and find a place.
AUGUST PLANS FOR WEST HEATH DIG

Daphne Lorimer asks us to say that as a number of diggers are free – and keen to dig – during August, arrangements have been made to continue digging on an informal basis on Weds, Sats and Suns throughout the month. Brigid Grafton Green will have a list of the site supervisors for each day, and it is suggested that members check with her for the day’s plans. It may not always be possible to provide coffee and tea, so diggers are advised to bring their own thermoses.

There will be a FULL-TIME DIG FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF SEPTEMBER. starting on Mon Sept 3, 10 am-5 pm each day. Do please turn up as often as you can during that week. West Heath is full of surprises, and we still have to find that burial!
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REVIEWS

BARROWS IN ENGLAND AND WALES by Leslie V. Grinsell. Shire Archaeology, £1.50.

This 64-page booklet, excellently illustrated – as all the Shire Archaeology series is – with plans and photographs, is by an acknowledged master of his subject. Now retired, but formerly head of the Archaeology Department of Bristol Museum, Mr. Grinsell has made barrows the special study of a lifetime. He has written many books and papers on various aspects of them, starting with his classic Ancient Burial Mounds of England 25 years ago.

The present booklet is therefore the distillation of a deep and wide knowledge. It covers the history of barrow study; deals with barrows from the Neolithic through every succeeding period to the Viking; and ends with a bibliography and an extremely useful list of museums which contain interesting barrow material.

ROMAN VILLAS by David E. Johnston. Shire Archaeology, £1.50.

Anothcr finely-produced booklet in the same series, this time by the tutor in Archaeology to the extra-mural department of Southampton University. Again there are good photographs, plans of villas and field systems and drawings of villa reconstructions and of finds.

The text investigates types of villa, their function at different periods, their architecture and interior decoration and the final intriguing, and as yet unsolved question of just what did happen to the villa estates with the coming of the Saxons. There is a final list of the most interesting villa sites to visit.

These two Shire publications are obtainable from our Hon. Treasurer, Jeremy Clynes. Please add 15p to your order for postage.

SAXON AND VIKING BRITAIN. Council for British Archaeology and Map Productions, Ltd. £1.25.

This is the first in a series of folding paper maps which CBA is sponsoring, showing important sites and monuments at various periods.

The map is based on a modern road map. It shows three cultures – Anglo-Saxon, native British and Viking – and various types of find in each culture: burials, royal residences, churches, sculptures, mints, towns, bishop’s sees, burghs and fortified sites.

Around the margins is a text, by James Graham-Campbell, which deals with agriculture, settlement, trade, transport, etc. There are small marginal settlement maps, town plans and illustrations in colour.

Obtainable from most booksellers.

POPULAR ARCHAEOLOGY published by the Argus Press Group at a subscription of £10 a year.

This new monthly magazine has Magnus Magnusson as its editor and an editorial board with some imposing archaeological names. The first issue came out in July 1979; it contains articles by Bruce Norman {editor of the BBC Chronicle programme), Barry Cunliffe, Graham Webster and Henry Cleere. In this first issue the accent seems to be on the word “popular.” If that continues, the magazine may well ,fill a Gap which no other publication touches. It will be interesting to see how it progresses. Obtainable from newsagents, who may not stock it yet, but can order it for you.
Page 5

A TOWN TRAIL FOR HENDON

The foregoing reviews are of general publications. Now we come to something nearer home – a booklet, published last week, on which HADAS and the Libraries Department of the Borough of Barnet have collaborated.

It is a Town Trail for the central area of Hendon, describing the sort of walk you might take on a Sunday afternoon, and the buildings and history you would pass on your way. Starting at Hendon Central station, it takes you by way of Shirehall Lane and Brent Street through to The Burroughs, down to Church End and finally round by way of Ashley Lane and Parson Street. Along that route lies much of Hendon’s history – and Hendon has a long history, as the Trail proves.

In this joint undertaking HADAS provided the research, the text and the illustrations for the Trail, while the Library produced finance to print it and designed the cover and the format. We hope members will find the results of this collaboration happy and fruitful.

The Library is also arranging a small exhibit, based on the Trail, at Church Farm House Museum from August 6 for several weeks. This will include the original illustrations by HADAS member Mary Allaway.
CHURCH FARM HOUSE, HENDON

Here is another chance for HADAS to collaborate with the Library. Our Borough Librarian, David Ruddom, sends us the following letter, which we are happy to print:

“Early next year the Libraries Department hope to publish a folio of information illustrated with prints, plans, drawings and photographs about Church Farm House, Hendon. We hope to be able to link the history of Church Farm with the development of the village of Hendon and include a record of farming in the area.

At this stage, preliminary research is being undertaken to check suitable material available and we are anxious to locate any illustrations, particularly early photographs, recording farming and farm workers, local shops, shopkeepers, tradesmen or local families in the Hendon area.

I should be most grateful if, through your Society Newsletter, you would bring this proposed project to the attention of your members with a request that if anyone has any illustrations or information they would allow us to use, to contact the Librarian in Charge of Special Services, Miss E A Holliday.”

We understand that the occasion of the publication of the folio (which at the moment is being thought of as something like a school “jackdaw”) will be the Museum’s Silver Jubilee – Church Farm House was completed as a museum in September 1954. We hope HADAS members may be able to help.
HADAS GOES TO COVENTRY

By Betty Jacobs.

Jupiter Pluvius looked benignly on the coach taking 53 HADAS members to Bagington and Coventry on July 14. At Baginton we met Michael Stokes, our guide and mentor for the day, who outlined the history, excavation and “reconstruction” of the Lunt Roman fort.

In the early 60s, because of the Boudiccan revolt, a large fort was hastily built, but with the quelling of the uprising a smaller fort sufficed. The excavations which began in 1965 were expected to uncover a typical fort of playing-card shape. In fact the second fort, covering some 4 acres, proved to be unique, both in shape and function.
Page 6

The eastern boundary was found to bulge curiously, in order to contain a large circular fenced and double-gated space. This, linked with numerous cavalry finds, was identified as a gyrus, Or training area for horses. This gyrus, unique in excavated Roman forts, suggests that the Lunt was a specialist cavalry training establishment. Barrack blocks in two pairs, with stabling area, adjoin the gyrus entrance, and to the north are large granaries and an equipment shed. Finds in the northeast quadrant suggest the position of the workshop or fabrica.

Entering the fort through the rebuilt 2-storey eastern gateway, with turf and timber ramparts (and look-outs, we walked on the line of the Via Principalis past the outline of the ablution block to the Principia with its sunken sacellum, the first to be found in a timber fort. The east half of the Principia may have housed the resident officer at one time, but a much larger Praetorium was found in the southeast quadrant. This building, disproportionately large for a fort manned by a single cohort, reflects the specialist nature of the fort, and suggests the presence of an officer of very high rank. The main feature of the Lunt today is the reconstructed granary lying to the east of the Principia. Now imaginatively furnished as a museum giving a vivid impression of life in a Roman fort, this building is a simulation rather than a reconstruction, as no prototype has been discovered. Based on slots and postholes, it was built by 16 men of the Royal Engineers in 10 days, using, as the Romans had done, stripped elm wood, with Roman joints and Roman-type roofing shingles. The roof was pitched to take British rainfall and the roof-space was ample for Storage of meat, wine and oil. Grain was stored to the height of 10 ft. in the body of the building. With capacity for nearly 4000 cwts, this would confirm a camp size of one cohort. Piles at ground level and louvred windows would give ventilation; elm wood has water-repellent qualities.

The working life of the fort was only some 20 years. Apparently in 80 AD it was dismantled. No coin later than the time of Titus was found in the southern quadrants. Sadly, the gyrus was not used as a ready-made rubbish pit; it was filled only with sand and gravel.

In the afternoon we drove to Coventry, which took over from Baginton as the centre of population in the 9th/10th .c. The modern ring road follows roughly the outline of ancient Coventry, giving us the scale of the place. We stopped at Whitefriars, the remains of a Carmelite Priory, where we explored the eastern range of the cloister, excavated in 1960 and restored in 1966. A large church was excavated in 1960-69 and again in 1977-8 – a richly endowed church of red sandstone, of which only the chancel and choir remain. Choir stalls indicate the size of the community: 50 friars, 50 novices, 50 others. The large nave and 2 echo-chambers under the choir stalls indicate a preaching order.

Whitefriars Museum, presently used for processing finds from various digs, is housed in a huge room (originally the monks’ dorter, or dormitory) with a vast roof of great timbers joined in many styles. A plethora of sherds await identification, and interesting medieval wood carvings cover the floor.

Mr. Stokes then conducted us across Coventry to Spon Street, which houses an impressive group of timber-framed buildings. It is hoped to add to this, so that a complete cobbled medieval street can be reconstructed. After tea, quick visits to the old and new Cathedrals and to Coventry Museum rounded off a day full of interest and contrasts. We felt greatly indebted to Eric Grant, who had arranged it so expertly, and to Mr. Stokes, whose unassuming erudition added much to our pleasure.
Page 7

THE HARVIST ESTATE

An ancient charity which still benefits various activities in our area is the Edward Harvist bequest. Recently, for instance, money from this charity was earmarked for the erection of Blue Plaques to commemorate famous people and places in the Borough.

Below GEORGE HOPKINS, Director of Financial Services and Borough Treasurer of the London Borough of Barnet, explains the background of this charity.

The Harvist Estate Trust is the subject of a Charitable Trust set up under the Will of Edward Harvist in 1610 for the purpose of repairing and amending the Highway between Tyburn and Edgware (now Edgware Road). Between 1610 and 1826 the road was subject to some Turnpike Trusts which in 1827 became invested in the Commissions of Turnpike Roads North of the Thames. As a result of amending legislation and local authority boundary changes over the following lOO years, the proceeds of the Trust were divided between the various local authorities responsible for the maintenance of the road.

The income from the Estate was derived from 333 houses, shops and workshops in the northern part of the Borough of Islington. In 1966 the Estate, then much below standard and partialy derelict, was sold to the London Borough of Islington, for development, at a price of £675,000, and income is now derived from the investment of this sum.

As the maintenance of the road which is the subject of the Trust had become the responsibility of the local authorities, a scheme was devised and became law under The Charities (Edward Harvist Estate) Order 1975, whereby the original objects of the Charity, i.e. maintenance of the road, were altered to the following:

1. The relief of the aged, impotent and poor inhabitants of the City of Westminster, The London Boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Camden and Harrow.

2. The relief of distress and sickness among the said inhabitants.

3. Provision of facilities, and support of recreation.

4. Provision of facilities, and support of education.

5. Any other charitable purposes.

A proviso is that no expenditure can be incurred which is properly expenditure due to be met from the General Rate. The Trustees and proportion of Income due to each are as follows:

Westminster 25%.

Barnet 31.02%.

Brent 27.68%.

Camden 10.714%

Harrow 5.594%

Acts and Authoritics for the setting up of an administration of the Trust:

I. The Will of Edwalrd Harvist, dated Feb. 21, 1610

2. The Metropolis Roads (Harvist Estate) Act, 1855

3. Scheme of the Charity Commissioners, July 22, 1949

4. The ‘Charities (Edward Harvist Charity) Order, 1975
Page 8

STATION ROAD BRIDGE, HENDON

A note from BILL FIRTH.

Members who use Station Road, Hendon, may have been wondering what the road works on the railway bridge are all about. In fact it is an interesting, albeit minor, piece of industrial archaeology.

When the Midland Railway was constructed in the 1860s a narrow low-arched brick bridge was built to carry what was then Burroughs Lane over the line with a road level 8-10 ft. lower than now. Over the years the bridge has been widened on both sides on metal girders and the road level has ben raised, but the original arch has remained embedded in the new structure only visible on close scrutiny from the station platforms.

The electrification of the line requires more head room for the overhead wires than the original arch provides, and it is being removed by dismantling it from above. The bridge will be rebuilt on girders. Periodic site-watching has not revealed anything very interesting – Midland Railway brick-arch bridges are fairly commonplace – but the work represents a little bit of local Industrial Archaeology worth recording.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL WEEKENDS

Knuston Hall, Leicester University’s residential adult education college, is a favourite stamping ground for HADAS members. It provides this information about weekend courses next winter:

Oct~ 5-7. Roads and Trackways (prehistoric through to Saxon)

Oct. 19-21. Recording Historic Buildings (practical measurement and drawing)

Nov.30-Dec.2. Environmental Archaeology {preservation and sampling: plants, snails, insects, bones, leather)

Dec. 14-16; Ancient Civilisations in Mesoamerica and the Andes.

Jan. 25-27, 1980. Mining/quarrying in Roman Britain and the Empire (various metals and stones, in Britain and Spain)

Feb.28-Mar. 2. Statistics for Archaeologists (dating techniques, artefact distribution patterns)

Mar. 7-9. Farming in the Iron Age (based on Butser programme)

May 2-4. The English Abbey (various Orders up to the Dissolution)

There will be, as usual, a week’s course in Field Archaeology (tutors Chris Taylor and Tony Brown) from Mar. 28-Apr. 3, for which only 12 places are available.

Full residential fees for weekends are usually £15.00 (the Iron Age Farm weekend is £16.00). The Field Archaeology week costs £45 all in.

The University of Leeds is organising its Annual York Archaeological Weekend, as it has done for seven years or so. This one will be on 16th and 17th c. York. It takes place from Nov. 23-25 and is non-residentia1 – you arrange your own accommodation. Conference fee £11.

Further details of all the above events, if required, may be obtained from Brigid Grafton Green.
Page 9

A ROMAN PRESENCE IN THE BOROUGH OF BARNET

This round-up of evidence for the Roman period in our area has been com piled by HELEN GORDON.

Evidence for Roman occupation in the Borough of Barnet lies almost entirely on the west side. Watling Street was probably in use soon after the Claudian invasion of 43 AD, and pottery was being produced at Brockley Hill from between 50 and 60 AD. As yet no evidence for a Roman posting station on this important road, or for Romanised villas, has been found, although the people whose burials were uncovered near the road must have lived in the region.

Hendon evidence suggests the possibility of settlement near Church End and Hendon Grove, and rubbish pits at Burnt Oak indicate possible habitation there. The tenuous route 167 must have led somewhere; it appears to have followed high ground between the Silk Stream and Dollis Brook, but its destination is now well masked by modern suburban building.

The remaining chance finds add little to the picture, but it seems possible that suburban gardens and building sites, watched at the stage when drainage and foundation trenches were cut, might yet reveal material to expand our understanding of the communities, probably of farmers, who inhabited Barnet during 400 years of Roman rule. Further study of the hundred and Parish boundaries might show the cultivated areas as defined during that period.

GAZETTEER OF ROMAN SITES AND FINDS: Pt. I

The plan of this gazetteer is to deal first with the two Roman roads for which we hove evidence; and to continue with sites and finds area by area, beginning in the northwest corner with our principal Roman site at Brockley Hill and proceeding anti-clockwise through to Barnet.

The Gazetteer has been divided into two parts purely for space reasons. Pt. I covers more general points; while Pt. II, which will appear next month, will detail the finds. The map printed with this issue should be used for Pts. I & II.

Watling Street

Watling Street (the name derives from a Saxon group, the Waecingas, who settled near Verulamium; the Roman name is unknown) ran from The Channel ports through London to the northwest. It is Iter II of the British Section of the Antonine Itinerary. Between Marble Arch and Verulamium it is thought to have followed the line of the Edgware Road and Stonegrove to Brockley Hill, where it made a short turn north north east before resuming approximately its original line alone the modern A5 to Verulamium; this twist was probably made to avoid marshy ground.

The road forms the western boundary of the Borough of Barnet, except for a short distance in West Hendon where the boundary is further west than the road; taking in part of the Welsh Harp and the Cool Oak area. Significantly, parish boundaries follow the line of Watling Street for a long distance.

However, archaeological evidence for the road is slight. In the Brockley Hill area it has been suggested that the alignment lay either to the east, west or underneath the modern road. In 1949 Helen O’Neil suggested a route to the east, based on topographical evidence, but this has not been confirmed by excavation. Twenty-five years ago Philip Suggett (at the instigation of an observer who later became a HADAS member) found some evidence of the ditches characteristic of Roman roads on both sides of the modern road and a 13 1/2 ft. width of gravel, 2 ft. thick, beneath it. Stephen Castle’s more recent excavations have uncovered sections of an early road in a distance of 250 yds. on the west side. It consisted of a gravel-capped clay bank with irregular side ditches; 1st, 2nd and 4th c. artefacts were found in the ditches.
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Brockley Hill has been suggested – but not proven -as the site of a posting station, Sulloniacis, which is shown on the Antonine Itinerary 12 miles from Londinium and 9 miles from Verulamium.

Possibly a pre-Roman road already connected the Verulamium district with the Kent area, crossing the Thames at Westminster, and the Romans improved this route. Evidence from Southwark shows that they built a road connecting this crossing with London Bridge between 50-65 A.D. Excavations at Verulamium indicate that the road there was built between 43-49 AD. Watling Street was therefore almost certainly in use by 50 AD and possibly earlier. The date of the metalling at Brockley Hill is unknown; nor was it possible to date the metalling of an early road observed in 1902 and 1924 in the Edgware Road near Marble Arch.

References:

Rivet, A. L F, “The British Section of the Antonine Itinerary” Britannia I, 1970, 34-82

Margary, I D, Roman Roads in Britain, 3rd ed. 1972

O’Neil, H E, “Watling Street, Middx.” Trans LAMAS, NS X, 1951, 137-8.

Suggett, P G, “Report on the-Excavations at Brockley Hill, Middx, March 1952-May-1953,” Trans LAMAS NS XI, pt. 3, 1954, 259-276.

HADAS Newsletter, 94; 3-4.

Castle, S A & Warbis, J H, “Excavations on Field No. 157 , Brockley Hill (Sulloniacae ) Middx. Feb-Aug 1968”, Trans LAMAS 24, 1973, 85-110.

Southwark Excavations 1972-4, LAMAS & Surrey Arch Soc Joint Publication No 1, 1978.

Viatores Route 167: London-Hampstead~Hendon-Mill Hill-Barnet Gate-Verulamium

Norden, Camden and others suggested that an ancient road ran northwards across Hampstead Heath, continuing along Brent Street, Parson Street, The Ridgeway, Highwood Hill and eventually reaching St. Albans. An alternative route after Brent Bridge was also suggested: across The Burroughs and down Colindeep Lane to join Watling Street. This undoubtedly was an old road, but there is no evidence that it was Roman, and the marshy nature of the ground at Colindeep Lane makes it improbable. Another ancient way was reported by historians across Hampstead Heath Extension and via Temple Fortune Lane, Bell Lane and a footpath to The Burroughs; a coin (No. 22 on the map) was found on this route.

The evidence given by the Viatores in 1964 for route 167 through the Borough of Barnet includes:

1. Reported observation of agger on either side of Nan Clarks Lane and along the road and footpath past Hendon Park Farm (TQ 217943), and near Barnet Gate (TQ 218 948, 217 953, 217 956).

2. Reported observation of metalling near Barnet Gate (TQ 218948, 217956) and on the edge of Barnct By-pass (TQ 212966).

3. Roads and footpaths lying on the route included Milespit Hill, The Ridgeway, footpaths at Hendon Park Farm, Barnet Gate.

4. Names associated with a Roman road included (i) ancient “streets” – Brent Street, Parson Street, Dole (or Dold) Street; (ii) Caldecote, Chaldecote or Chalcot, all of which appear on early maps as the derivation of Chalk Farm.

5. Finds lying on the postulated route include a lamp and coins at Mill Hill (No 29) and a coin at Arkley (No 32); as well as burial urns at Well Walk, Hampstead.
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Evidence which might be connected with route 167 discovered since 1964 includes:

1. A stretch of road in Copthall Fields (No 2). This was revealed by a resistivity survey by HADAS in 1968, followed by excavation. Other resistivity surveys across possible lines of route 167, made between the Ridgeway and Totteridge Lane, and on Hampstead Heath, proved negative. The excavation at Copthall Fields produced pottery from the roadside ditches of lst/2nd c. date. The road found, however, was not aligned on the Viatores route; and they had postulated route 167 as of late, not early, construction. Excavations by HADAS on the suggested line of 167 at Lawrence Street allotments, Mill Hill, two digs near Brent Bridge and one near the White Swan, Golders Green Road, all proved negative.

2. The following finds: (i) burial urn, Sunny Gardens Rd, Hendon (No 19); (ii) lamp (No 21) on edge of Copthall Fields, and coin; (iii) coins in Hendon Park Farm, Moat Mount Park (No 30); (iv) pottery and tiles at Church End Hendon (No 18).

To this might also possibly be added the find of Roman material, including a flagon, in 1889 near Grove House, The Burroughs, Hendon. (No 17)

References:

Viatores, ‘Roman Roads in the Southeast Midlands, 1964, 117-125

Robertson, E, “An Investigation of Roman Road 167”, Trans LAMAS, 22 pt. 2, 1970 10-29

“Roman material found at Grove House, Hendon, 1889,” Trans LAMAS 24, 1973, 146-150

HADAS Newsletter, 63, 1976, 3~5 and 64, 1976, 4.

Brockley Hill

Excavations at Brockley Hill since 1937 have provided evidence that a pottery industry developed there soon after the Roman Occupation of Britain; production increased to a maximum in the early 2nd c and then declined, until by 160 AD little remained except a small output of mortaria. Production ceased in the 3rd c. The principal products wore mortaria and flagons of several types (ring-necked; pinch-mouthed, disc mouthed, Hofheim type, etc); but bowls (2-handled, reed-rimmed and footed bowls or tazze) jars, sometimes lidded, amphorae and a variety of other forms were also produced, mainly in a characteristic cream-pink-buff granular ware, fired in an oxygenating kiln.

The kilns that were excavated lie in a ribbon development along Watling Street, which no doubt provided easy recess to markets. Today the road forms the boundary between the boroughs of Harrow ,(on the west) and Barnet (on the east). Of 14 kilns so far discovered, 8 lie to the west and 6 to the east of the road.

Evidence suggests that continental potters arrived soon after the conquest and began to produce, for army consumption, wares such as bowls, flagons and mort aria which native potters were unused to making. Similar potteries are known at Verulamium, Park Street, Radlett, Elstree and Brickett Wood, all situated on or near Watling Street. The products of the Verulamium region were distributed throughout Britain: mortaria produced by the potter Doinus in Brockley Hill kilns have been found in Ayrshire, Caernarvon and many other sites. Domestic ware was also produced and marketed, particularly to Londinium.

When the industry began to decline, there is evidence that the potters moved on; Marinus, for instance, who had previously worked at Colchester, left Brockley Hill and moved to Warwickshire. The reason for the decline is unknown; it is unlikely that raw materials became exhausted, since clay, water and wood wore still plentiful, Howewer, it has been suggested that a general economic decline took place in London at that time: and that strong competition for the pottery market developed from kilns in Mancettcr-Hartshill and Qxford.
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There is evidence that some occupation, probably by farmers, took place at Brockley Hill in the 3rd/4th c, but little detail is known.

More than 20 potters’ names appear on stamps at Brockley Hill; but Sulloni, whose stamp is on mortaria of local fabric found at Corbridge, is not thought to have worked at Brockley Hill, although it is possible that he originally came from Sulloniacis.

Tiles were probably not made at Brockley Hill, but tile fragments have been found, including one stamped PPBRLON; this is similar to the P.BR.B and P.P.BR. found on mortaria in a Verulamium region fabric; they are thought all to have been produced at the same site. This would be the first known conjunction of tile and mortaria production in Britain, though this combination is well known in Italy. The nearest known tile kilns are at Elstree and Garston; a recent discovery of a large deposit of tile wasters in Canons Park, about l km south of Brockley Hill in the borough of Harrow, indicates the possibility of a tile kiln in that area.

Settlement at Brockley Hill.

Excavation has failed to demonstrate the substantial mansio buildings that might be expected of the Sulloniacis shown as a posting station on iter II of the Antonine Itinerary. Nor has any evidence yet been found for a settlement to house the industrial workers of the potteries.

That the name Sulloniacis is omitted from itinera VI nnd VIII, both also passing between Londinium and Verulamium, is possibly an indication of the smallness ‘of the posting station. ‘The -acis ending (in the Latin locative plural), meaning “the estates of,” and the Celtic origin of the name Sullonios, perhaps indicate that the locality was little more than a group of native farms where the pottery industry arose because of availability of clay in Claygatc Beds and the convenience of the site astride one of the principal roads of Roman Britain.

However, early historians such as Stukeley reportcd “arched vaults of brick and flint” with finds of urns, pottery, coins and other antiquities during house construction on the east side of Watling Street. Hitherto excavation has been piecemeal; further excavation might uncover substantial buildings.

Alternatively, scattered finds of pottery and building material in the neighbourhood suggest the possibility of a wider distribution of buildings. The potters themselves may have worked only seasonally, since clay is difficult to handle in winter (they may have been itinerant, as has been suggested at Highgate); in that event their habitations might have been slight summer shelters.

The identification of Sulloniacis with Brockley Hill is still speculative; though the situation approximately fits the requirements of the Antonine Itinerary, a possible alternative is Elstree. There is also speculation about the location of Lugudunum, a place indicated by the LVGV counterstamp used by the potter Ripanus on mortaria found at Brockley Hill (and at Radlett and Brickett Wood); at present it cannot be identified.

Roferences:

Castle, S A, “Brockley Hill the Site of Sullonicae?” Lond. Arch. 14, 1972, 324-327.

“A Kiln of the Potter Doinus,” Arch. J. 129, 1972, 69-88.

“Roman Pottery from Brockley Hill, Middx, 1966 & 1972-4, Trans LAMAS 27 1976 206-227.

Southwark & Lambeth Arch. Excav. Cttee, Joint Publication No 1, LAMAS and Surrey Arch. Soc, 1978.

To view the map relating to the above, select the following link.

newsletter-101-july-1979

By | Volume 2 : 1975 - 1979 | No Comments

Newsletter

Page 1

BOMBSHELL FOR LOCAL HISTORIANS OF MIDDLESEX

A shocking piece of information – shocking, that is, to anyone interested in studying any aspect of the history of the Greater London area – reached us just as this Newsletter went to press. The GLC has sold Queen Anne’s Gate Buildings (home of the old Middlesex Record Office and, since the demise of Middlesex, known as GLC Record Office, Middlesex Section) and it closes forever on June 29, 1979. The records it contains are to be removed to an “out repository” (which, we understand means a warehouse in Whitechapel).

Strangely enough this information did not reach HADAS from the GLC, – which appears to have made no effort to inform local societies whose members might be expected to have an interest in GLC records. HADAS heard what was afoot from the neighbouring borough of Brent just a week before the Middlesex Section was to close. Other local societies in our Borough were equally in the dark until we told them about it. Even more surprising, the Borough Librarian of Barnet did not know of the proposals until we brought them to his notice – and this despite the fact that many records closely concerning the history of the Borough are involved – Sessions and Poor Law records, Diocesan and Land Tax records; and some manorial records for Finchley, Hendon and Friern Barnet, to name only a few.

The GLC proposes in future to have a single Search Room for both inner London and the outer boroughs of old Middlesex. This will be Room B2l at County Hall. The room, however, has to be enlarged and updated for its new purpose, and it is therefore proposed to close completely on Aug. 31 for four months, re-opening on Jan. 2, 1980. Then, GLC warns researchers, “a large proportion of the records will be stored in an out repository and will have to be ordered at least three working-days in advance of a visit. It will be essential to make appointments.

This announcement seems totally insensitive, both in its short and long-term arrangements, to the needs of the very people that the GLC archives are meant to serve and encourage – students and research workers into the history of Greater London.

In the notice of the short term temporary closure of all search facilities there is no mention whatsoever of any arrangement to enable researchers to obtain access to essential documents during the period Aug. 31-Jan. 2. One can only assume that the authorities have given no thought at all to those who may be engaged on research projects (which may be an important part of their livelihood) for which papers held by the GLC are vital.

In the long term, the 3-day rule will put off any but the most dedicated researcher. Even a determined worker will be discouraged if he has only a small amount of time at his disposal; and we suspect that many inexperienced researchers just won’t start. The prospect of beginning a long piece of research which will lead on from one document to another can hardly be faced. Often one does not know, until one has studied one document, what will be needed next. A hiatus of three days, while the second is ordered – and then perhaps a third and fourth – is enough to daunt the most serious student.
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It seems to us a complete dereliction of duty to encourage the deposition of documents – as the GLC does – and then to create a situation in which those documents will for months be unavailable and then for the rest of their existence be so stored that research into them is frustrated and discouraged.

If GLC cannot perform properly the duties “it has taken upon itself” as custodian of the records of the London area, there is an alternative. Let it hand over to the individual London Boroughs all those papers which concern them specifically, and retain only such documents as are relative to the area as a whole. Many HADAS members have had first hand experience of the care and attention given to their enquiries by the local history custodians of the boroughs of Camden, Barnet and Harrow – and no doubt other London boroughs are similarly helpful and accessible. They would provide far better facilities for students than those now proposed by GLC.

If GLC cannot, however, bring itself to relinquish its grasp on what it has acquired, then we must try to make it see that the present proposals are just not good enough, and that space must be found to house the documents somewhere in that vast building on the south bank, where they will be available in hours rather than days. Every HADAS member who cares about this matter is asked to write to his or her GLC Councillor, addressing the letter to him at County Hall, SE1, urging him to see that the records of London are made properly available to the people of London. The four Councillors for the London Borough of Barnet are:

Peter Black, Hendon South

Brian Cassidy, Hendon North

Roland Freeman, Finchley

Dr. Mark Patterson, Chipping Barnet
THE JULY OUTING

…will be on Sat. July 14, under the direction of Dr. Eric Grant, to the Lunt and Coventry. If you have ever wanted to walk along the ramparts of a Roman fort, come to the Lunt, a bold experiment in reconstruction. If you went on the previous trip we made, there is now even more to see at the Lunt. We will also be visiting Whitefriars in Coventry, a Carmelite monastery with a fine surviving cloister and chapel. Spon Street is also on the itinerary, the site of the relocation and reconstruction of several magnificent timber framed buildings.

An application form for the outing is enclosed with this Newsletter. Please complete and return it to Dorothy Newbury as soon as possible.
DIG DETAILS

Digging at West Heath continues all through this month on Wednesdays, Saturdays (except July 14) and Sundays from 10 am-5 pm.

The late and wet start to the summer means that there is much to be done, and all volunteers are therefore doubly welcome. Please come along whenever you can.
FURTHER FACTS ABOUT HENDON’S FIRST CENSUS

Last month we published an article on Hendon’s first census. Two HADAS members have now come forward to answer some of the questions raised in it.
Page 3

Philip Venning has gone a long way to unravelling the mystery of “Mr. Coore’s Ivy House,” which was uninhabited on Census night, March 10, 1801. We had wondered if “Ivy House” might have been No. 13 The Burroughs, but Mr. Venning thinks it was further south, on the boundary of Hendon and Hampstead parishes, not all that far from the site of the West Heath dig. He writes:

“The Mr. Coore of Ivy House is, I feel sure, John Coore Esq, a city businessman who occupied the house that used to stand at the entrance to Golders Hill Park (not to be confused with an earlier house known as Golders Hill House, associated with Mark Akenside, the poet, on the site of the Manor House Hospital). He lived there from the end of the 18th c. until his death in 1804. He also owned neighbouring Ivy House which, partly or wholly rebuilt, is now part of Middlesex Polytechnic.

By 1811 Ivy House was in the occupation of John Hopton Forbes, Gent. of Ely Place. The name Ivy House was certainly in use then; a newspaper cutting of that date describes how Mr. Rogers, a surgeon, was tied up and robbed by two footpads halfway between Ivy House and the 5-mile stone (in North End Road).”

Mr. Venning has an engraving of “Golders Hill, Middlesex, The Seat of John Coore Esq” which he kindly says he would allow us to reproduce in the Newsletter. It may be that a little later we shall have space to take up his offer, and we will then be able to show you what Mr. Coore’s house looked like.

Our second piece of information comes from Geoffrey Bilson, who joined HADAS only a year or so ago. It is about Rufus King, the American Minister who was living in Mill Hill on Census night. Mr. Bilson writes:

“The standard biography of King by Robert Ernst (University of North Carolina, 1968) says that when King, a New York politician, was appointed American Minister to the UK in 1796 he lived at Great Cumberland Place, which was his residence and office while he served until 1802. He rented an estate at Mill Hill from Samuel Davies, which he used as a holiday home and country retreat. On his return to us in 1803 he lived quietly, but he became a US Senator before returning for another short term as Minister to UK in 1826.”

The Newsletter is most grateful to both Mr. Venning and Mr. Bilson for their interesting contributions.

C0RRECTION. In the article on Hendon’s First Census, when discussing Rufus King, reference was wrongly made to the American War. This should, of course, have been to the War of Independence.
MEDIEVAL FISH PONDS

One of the small, specialised groups of British archaeology is the Moated Sites Research Group which, as its name implies, concentrates on the recording and study of medieval moated manors, farms and other buildings. It produces an excellent annual report on the year’s work – the Current report, No. 6, has 50 pages packed with information plus 20 pages of plans, maps and sections.

The group has now decided to extend its work slightly by systematically collecting material about medieval fishponds. The first stop will be to note documented surviving fishponds and pond complexes.
Page 4

If any HADAS members have done research in this line of country, or if they know of surviving fishponds – there is, for instance, said to be one associated with the moat which still remains by the 18th green of Old Fold Manor Golf Club, at Hadley – and particularly, of documentary references which prove a surviving pond to have been a medieval fishpond, would they please let our Hon. Secretary have chapter and verse?
ARS COQUINARIA ROMANA- 1979 STYLE

One of the liveliest university extra-mural departments is Southampton, which has pioneered a kind of practical archaeology weekend special to itself. Several HADAS members have taken part in these imaginative 2-day courses – flint-knapping in a Hampshire quarry, for instance; a weekend making and firing Roman lamps; and a Roman cookery course held in the Domestic Science department of a Winchester school.

The cookery course (there have been two, in 1978 and 1979) was made as authentic as possible. Recipes were taken from the only Roman cook book to have come down to us, preserved through the Dark Ages in monastic libraries. These were the recipes of M. Gavius Apicius, a rich gourmet of the time of Tiberius in the 1st c. AD, who founded a school of cookery in Rome. Seneca says that one day Apicius counted his fortune and found that, having spent over a hundred million sesterces, mainly on food, he had only ten million sesterces left. He felt that he faced the prospect of starvation, and so poisoned himself. The tutor of the Southampton course estimated ten million sesterces at about £250,000 in modern money.

The only ingredients used on the course were those known to the Romans. The most notable absentees (particularly when you think of Italian cookery today) were tomatoes (discovered, with the Americas, by Columbus in l492, and first grown in the British Isles in 1554 by Patrick Bellow of Castletown, Co. Louth, Ireland}; citrus fruits (the sweet orange came from China, and is said to have been brought west and planted in Portugal by Vasco de Gama; the bitter orange and the lemon are natives of India and the Crusaders are credited with their introduction into Europe, though it is possible the Romans knew of the bitter orange, without using it); and sugar, for which honey was the main substitute (sugar, in the form of syrup from sugar cane, was known to the Romans, but used rarely and then only medicinally. It came from Asia Minor, and was probably first refined in Persia).

Unusual ingredients included liquamen, or garum, vaguely like anchovy essence and used in place of salt, an expensive commodity which was rarely included per se during cooking – even in bread making. The tutor of the course, Maureen Locke, had made enough liquamen for this weekend by boiling fish ends of various kinds in strong brine on a raised hearth in her own garden for five hours. Something of the same effect – though probably not as authentically Roman in flavour – can be obtained by mixing 2 parts of anchovy essence with one part Worcester sauce and using it sparingly.

There were also several wine preparations such as caroenum and defrutum (wine reduced in volume by various degrees for use in cookery); passum, sweet wine similarly reduced; mulsum, grape must mixed with honey; and oenogarum, which is wine and liquamen mixed. A wide range of herbs was used – lovage, origan, coriander, bay, mint, savory, sorrel, mustard, fennel, dill; and spices such as cumin and mace. One invariable rule of the Roman cook was apparently “pepper with everything” – savoury or sweet. One now-forgotten Roman flavouring, silphium, was absent, because it has become so difficult to obtain. It is used today only pharmaceutically; its other names are asafoetida, or “devils dung.”
Page 5

A highlight of the weekend was a Roman banquet, at which the guests wore full Roman dress. For this, imitation Samian tableware had been made by the University pottery department ~ for each guest a cup (similar to form Dr. 27) and a dish (like Dr. 15/17, but without a foot). A spoon and fingers were the only cutlery; between courses a basin of water and a towel came round, and plates were cleaned with a piece of bread.

The room had been decorated with copies of Roman wall paintings, the tables were strewn with herbs and the pottery department had provided copies of lst c. lamps, two of which glowed before a small altar to the lares and penates, to whom a libation was poured before the meal began. It was served by “slaves” -a part played by members of the school VIth form – who also provided the entertainment, described as being “of a chaste nature, such as the younger Pliny would have approved of.” It consisted of vivid readings (in Latin) from the classics, full of expression and lively gesture.

Experiment with an Outdoor Hearth

One morning session was given over to cooking three dishes – a patina of small fish, apricots stewed with mint and pepper and marrows cooked with cumin, rue, liquamen, vinegar and the inevitable pepper -on a raised hearth built in the school grounds on the model of the hearth found in the house of the Vettii in Pompeii.

The hearth was of brick. Its dimensions wore 45 ins. long, 27 ins. deep and 36 ins. high, using 130-140 bricks. There was a one-brick high ledge along the back and each side, invaluable for putting wooden stirring spoons during cooking. The structure was mortared at strategic points, but appeared to be mainly dry-built. It stood on a foundation of paving stones wide enough at the front to allow the cooks to work dry-shod in wet weather. A flimsy, easily movable roof of corrugated iron was supported on wooden posts, and two sides were enclosed with corrugated iron while two remained open.

On top of the raised hearth two mounds of barbecue charcoal were ignited, and a grid was placed over each. On one stood a 10 ins. tall grey ware cooking pot with a decorated shoulder, based on a design from the Alice Holt potteries, with the apricots in it; on the other, a shallow dish about 10 ins. in diameter and 1 1/2 ins. deep, of a type known from the oxford region, contained the small fish. The shallow pot cooked twice as fast as the deep one – the dish was ready in about 20 minutes; but the deep one retained its heat for a long time after being removed from the fire. If placed at the side, on brickwork already slightly warm by heat conduction from cooling, it might have simmered effectively for some time.

This was the first time such a reconstruction of actual Roman cooking methods had been triad, and some valuable lessons were learnt.

How to create a Draught.

The most important, perhaps, was that there must have been some more effective way of “blowing up” the charcoal than the method we used, which was to fan it continuously with a thin piece of pliable board. This was hot, tiring work, and the fanners got in the way of the cooks. Bellows would have solved the problem, but no remains of bellows for domestic use have been identified, nor are there any known depictions of domestic bellows. In the Wealden iron industry, however, clay nozzles or tuyeres are known from smelting sites, And it has been suggested that they protected the wooden nozzles of industrial bellows, so the principle was probably understood (see Britannia, vol. II 1971 p.210. I am indebted for this reference to HADAS member Raymond Lowe, who also suggests the employment in the kitchen of “a boy with a blow-pipe” instead of fanning).
Page 6

Fanning produced a mass of floating ash, and it seems clear that pots would have had lids for cooling, which would also have speeded the process up by keeping the heat in. Fanning also made the tall Alice Holt pot quiver ominously, and it immediately became apparent why the gridiron found in a hoard at Silchester contained a hole in the middle. It would have fitted the base of such a pot and kept it steady.

Our raised hearth was solid, but the hearth of the Vettii and other known hearths contain an arched recess at the base of the centre front. This recess is usually shown in illustrations filled with wood. Maureen Locke suggests, however, from experience that it was much more likely to have been used as a place to kick the exhausted but still hot charcoal as you re-fuelled, in order not to have it underfoot. B.G.G.
HADAS EXPLORES THE THAMES VALLEY

An account, by MARY BARNETT , of last month’s outing.

The June outing, arranged with care by Ted Sammes, was pleasantly relaxed and varied. With only a short journey ahead, the coach party, 50-strong, was able to make a later start than for most HADAS expeditions. We enjoyed without hurry the visits planned and the beauty of the wide Thames valley around Maidenhead, with its buttercup meadows cut by tributaries.

We picked Ted Sammes up near his home in Taplow shortly after the coach swung off the M4 motorway into more rural country. He explained that we were on the main Bath road, built in the 18th c. to link the capital by stage coach to Bristol and to the Bath of Beau Nash. The mail then went by horse-drawn vehicle along this road, and got there more quickly than it does today – when it can take 12 days for letters to got from Maidenhead to Slough.

In the 19th c. the road began to be superseded by the railway and bridges carrying the Great Western spanned the Bath road. They were often placed askew so that the line could follow a straight course regardless of the effect on the convenience of road users. At Maidenhead we saw Brunel’s celebrated red brick railway bridge, which has two wide arches, the spans being very shallow in relation to their width. For some years the wooden trellising used in the construction of the bridge was left in place as a safety precaution, but it was swept away when the river was in flood and the bridge continues to carry the railway quite safely.

Saxon Burial Mound

Our first visit of the day was to a Saxon burial mound at Taplow, one of the three main barrows of the late Saxon 7th c. and one of the richest in Britain after Sutton Hoo. Excavated by James Rutland in 1883, it turned out to be the grave of a chieftain called Taeppa, from whose name Taplow is derived. Digging in those days was not whst it is now. A trench was driven straight through the mound and the tools used were pick and shovel. This did no good to the gold embroidered cloth in which the chieftain was wrapped, nor to the finds, which included a Coptic drinking bowl, jewelled swords, drinking horns and some fine glasswork, probably brought from the continent.

Rutland deposited all his finds and papers with the British Museum, where some of them are displayed in the new Medieval section. He made sure of his own place in archaeological history by bringing a large granite boulder from the north of England, on which are cut his name and dates (1827-1907) as well as those of his two wives, Helen and Mary.
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The stone lies under a yew tree near the mound, which is in the grounds of Taplow Court, a mock Tudor mansion built by the Grenville family, who actually demolished the local church when they found it was too near the house. The few gravestones that survive appear to date to the early 1700s.

In Maidenhead our driver cleverly found a place to park near the elegant bridge over the Thames built by Sir Robert Taylor in 1772, and still carrying the burden of modern traffic. Until 1903 it was a toll bridge; then the people of Maidenhead protested in quite modern style, with “rioting,” and got rid of the toll. Skindles Hotel beside the bridge reminded us that we were in the territory of the carefree monied roadhouse set of the 1920s and ’30s.

Our objective in Maidenhead was the Reitlinger Bequest Museum, a wonderful exampla of the activities of the travelled private collector. The late Henry Reitlineer, trained as a mining engineer, began his collection with prints and went on to amass pottery and porcelain, sculpture and painting. Housed in a delightful late Victorian house with riverside grounds, the museum was opened specially for us by Marjorie Cocke, Mr. Reitlinger’s adopted daughter. Normally it is open only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and the first Sunday of the month.

We were able to enjoy our picnic lunch at Boulters Lock because the sun made one of its rare appearances this summer. Then we drove to Cookham – once larger and more significant than Maidenhead; but now a small, sleepy town – to visit the tiny Stanley Spencer Gallery. Spencer lived in Cookham and the gallery has an interesting collection of his paintings arid drawings, including a large, unfinished typically Spencer-style picture of a Thames-side scene.

Gentle Giants

Last port of call was the Courage Brewery Shire Horse Centre, where we were introduced to the gentle, ton-weight animals by Daphne Gaynor, a guide with a knowledge of their various personalities and a nice turn of phrase. They had names like Captain, Barley, Sir Jim and Prince. Captain was a “juvenile delinquent” able to undo the bolt on his stall and refusing to work in the team drawing the drays. Prince was another “escapologist.”

Shire horses, with handsome Roman noses and feathered fetlocks, are now coming back to popularity. Costing upwards of £1000, they are cheap at the price, working well and willingly for the whole of their 20 odd years, doing the jobs tractors cannot and burning no oil. They also produce a valuable end product!

After tea at the centre we started home through Maidenhead Thicket, an area like Finchley Common where highwaymen lurked and priests once got danger money for parochial duties. It had been a lovely day.
WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS

The following have joined the ranks of HADAS in the last few months, and we welcome them warmly, hoping that they will enjoy their membership and will join with pleasure in our activities:

Corinne Angel, Edgware; Miss J E Bagot, Garden Suburb; Patricia Batt, Barnet; Josephine Bolus, N. Finchley; Cilla Bridgman, Bushey Heath; Reva Brown, Hendon; Laurian Dnvies, Mill Hill; Mrs. Finch Jakubowska, N22; Linda Gentry, Totteridge; Geraldine Healy, Kilburn; Miss D M Holburn, Stanmore; Deborah Jones, Garden Suburb; Wendy Jones, Hendon; Alex Munden, Edgware; Mrs. Myers and Alec, Golders Green; Penny Neill, NW6; Janet O’Riley, Finchley; Susan Payne, Northolt; J Pollen, Garden Suburb; Mr & Mse Roots, Hendon; Jacqueline Stearn, NW5; Frank Walters, New Barnet, Roger White, Hampstead.
Page 8

STONE ARTEFACTS IN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF BARNET

A Gazetteer, researched and compiled by DAPHNE LORIMER.

The London Borough of Barnet is not usually associated with the presence of prehistoric man, but over the years there has been a gradual accumulation of evidence that stone-tool makers did, in fact, exist within this area. Since borough boundaries are modern and artificial barriers this survey does include finds from sites just outside the Borough of Barnet – specially if the artefacts form part of a group or category.

RAW MATERIAL. The principal raw material is flint which is found as a glacial erratic in the boulder clay covering large parts of the area (see the geological survey in the June Newsletter) and probably has its point of origin in the chalk of the Chilterns. Nodules of a fair size and reasonable quality are found on fields and in gardens today, and it is presumed that in antiquity they wore to be found in greater abundance in the many streams which form the tributaries of the Brent and Lee. Hunting Groups following the courses of these rivers could well have penetrated the district and distribution of finds would appear to support this contention (though it may, of course, reflect archaeological imbalance).

Two anomalies among the finds are both considered to be imports into the area in antiquity: a polished adze of hornblend schist from Lands End, found in a Roman context at Brockley Hill; and a jadeite axe found in Hendon and considered to be imported into Britain from an Alpine source.

PERIOD. Only one Lower Palaeolithic (Clactonian) flake has been found but several possible Upper Palaeolithic and many Mesolithic pieces are known (including one major Mesolithic site). A few tools of Neolithic and Bronze Age occur, but areas of marshy ground and the spread of dense woodland from the Atlantic period on may have formed a natural barrier to occupation.

POST-ROMAN USE OF FLINT. A number of flint flakes bearing obvious signs of conchoidal fracture have been found in areas adjacent to the parish churches of Hendon, Barnet, Monken Hadley and Friern Barnet, and near Pagitt’s Almshouses in Hadley, all of flint construction. These have not been included in this catalogue although the study of flint as a building material in this area is a subject of considerable fascination.

GAZETTEER OF STONE ARTEFACTS

In the following catalogue, published finds are listed by site and type and the appropriate references given. Where no written record exists, however, a full description will be included of those finds still available. Numbers on the right correspond with find numbers on the map at the end.

BARNET – ARKLEY

30 Galley Lane. TQ 2315 9625 – No. 1

Three flakes of Mesolithic type found in the garden of 30 Galley Lane by Mrs M Stewart.

(a) Flake of pale grey translucent flint 24 mm long, 8 mm’ wide, max. thickness 1 mm. Marked undulations on ventral surface. Small piece of cortex on proximal end.

(b) Flake of dark grey flint 18 mm long, max. width 12 mm~, max. thickness 5 mm.. Some degree of wear at edges, possibly due to abrasion in the ground.

(c) Flake of dark grey flint with cortex at distal end. Length 15 mm. max. width 7 mm, max. thickness 2 mm. Some macro-wear on edges – possible spoil abrasion.
Page 9

Present location: Mrs. M Stewart, 30 Galley Lane, Barnet, Herts.

Fold Farm, Galley Lane, Herts. TQ 233975 – No.2

Two largo struck flakes were found by Trevor Johnston by a stream in a field adjacent to Fold Farm, Galley Lane. Heavy yellow clay soil with flints. Flakes prehistoric, possibly Palaeolithic.

(a) Large secondary flake of dark flint with yellow patination. Length 60 mm, ‘I max. width 70 ram, max. thickness 24 mm.Distal end retouched. ?scraper.

(b) Large secondary flake of dark and light grey flint, about one third of dorsal surface covered with cortex. Some secondary working along both sides. Length 80 mm, max. width 64 mm, max. thickness 27mm.

Present location: Mrs. M Stewart, 30 Galley Lane, Barnet, Herts.

BARNET/FRIERN BARNET BORDER.

Precise site unknown. – No. 3.

A chipped and partially polished axe of pale buff flint was found in Barnet Museum, labelled as coming from the Barnet/Friern Barnet boundary. No further information available. Axe marked with grey striations. Length 70 mm, max. width 32 mm, max. thickness 16 mm. The base may be broken. Thought to be Late Neolithic or Bronze Age.

Present location: Barnet Museum, Wood Street, Barnet.

BARNET – HADLEY WOOD

Hadley Wood TQ 255973 – No. 4

Four large struck flakes found by Ralph Walker by the bank of a stream in Hadley Wood. These flakes have been identified as possibly epi-palaeolithic (Verulamium Museum 6.4.72, whose detailed report is quoted below) but the absence of known tool types and the relative proximity of the find to Monken Hadley Church and Pagitt’s Almshouses suggests caution.

(a) Grey-black glassy flint flake with a good cone of percussion, scars and ripples.

(b) Tapering long black glassy flint 12 cm long, 6.5 cm wide, 5 cm thick. Found on surface on the path about 45 m. from the stream.

(c) Small grey glassy flint with prominent cone of percussion.

(d) Small grey-black glassy flint with prominent cone of percussion and scars and ripples.

References: Barnet Press 16.6.72 Present location: HADAS

Hadley Wood TQ 26259710 – No. 5

Flint implements wore reported to have been found by Horace B Taylor and Mr Gillard “in the fosse to the south-west of the Prehistoric camp in Hadley Wood, near the footpath loading to the bridge.” Taylor classifies them as belonging to “the Chelles period which indicates River Drift Man.”

References: Horace B Taylor “A Prehistoric Camp in Hadley Wood,” Trans LAMAS, New Series, Vol 4.

Present location: unknown.

NOTE. The Barnet Press reported the find of a “spearhead” in flint in Hadley Wood” (23.4.71) by Mr. Andrew Rasp of Heidelberg, together with a number of reputed Mesolithic flint implements from Greenhill Park, New Barnet. Mr. Rasp has the finds in Germany and it has not been possible to verify them.
Page 10

BARNET

Queen Elizabeth’s Girls School playing fields TQ 253966 – No.6

One flint flakeand two cores from which flakes have been struck found by Ralph Walker on a stream bed at the bottom of the playing fields. The stream is too small to appear on any but the OS 25 in. plan.

(a) A small grey-black glassy flint with roughly parallel sides and shaped to a point. Some secondary working.

(b) A yellow-brown core from which a large flake has been struck. Striking platform present. Length approx. 10.5 cm, width 11 cm.

(c) A grey-black glassy flint core from which flakes have been struck. Prominent cone of percussion.

A11 flint identified at Verulamium Museum as epi-palaeolithic ; measurements,etc. provided by Verulamium Museum.

Present location: HADAS

BOREHAMWOOD

South of B5378 road. TQ 18299592 – No. 7

Desmond Collins reported the find of a flint implement in Borehamwood, Herts, immediately south of the B5378 by the junction of the road with that running south-west to Elstree.

References: Mus. of Lond. K35; OS No. TQ 19 NE4

Present location: unknown

EAST BARNET

9 Ross1yn Avenue. TQ 272 951 – No. 8

A flake of dark grey flint was found at the bottom of his garden at 9 Rosslyn Avenue by Mr. Edwards. The house stands to the west of Pymmes Brook.

The flake is 58 mm long, 24 mm wide, 9 mm thick with cortex at the base. Stress marks appear on the upper surface and on the lower surface near base. The flake appears blunted down one edge and signs of wear appear on the other. Dating obscure – possibly, Bronze Age.

Present location: Mr Edwards, 9 Rosalyn Avenue, East Barnet.

EAST FINCHLEY

The Bishop’s Avenue. TQ 266875 – No. 9

A possible Neolithic fabricator found by Felix Levy in the garden of Kenmore, The Bishop’s Avenue.

Worked flint blade of grey-black flint 58 mm long, 22 mm wide and 6.5 mm thick – has a marked cone of percussion and secondary working along one side. Traces of abrasion at the end may indicate use as a fabricator. May also have been used as a knife.

Present location: Mr. Levy, Kenmore, The Bishop’s Avenue, N2.

EDGWARE

Brockley Hill (possible site of Sulloniacae) TQ 175930 – No. 10

(Finds occurred in both the Boroughs of Barnet and Harrow)

(a) Flint tools, flakes and cores found in Roman levels. Originally considered Late Iron Age, but later reports place it in early Bronze Age context.
Page 11

References:

Suggett, P G. “Excavations at Brockley Hill Aug. 8, Sept. 1951”, Trans. LAMAS, vol. XI Pt II, 1953.

Suggett, P G. “Excavations at Brockley Hill Aug. 1953 & 1954,” Trans. LAMAS, vol. XIX, Pt I, 1956

(b) Excavations north of Brockley Hill House in 1970 produced further flints considered by Dr Andree Rosenfeld to be Mesolithic.

References: Castle, Stephen. “Excavations at Brockley Hill, Middx. Sulloniacae 1970”, Trans. LAMAS, vol. 23 Pt 2, 1972.

(c) A Mesolithic flint scraper was reported to have been found at Brockley Hill by G F Cole ( TQ 1810 9499).

References: Mus. of Lond. ref: B3; OS No. TQ 19 SE4.

(d) A stone adze of polished hornblend schist found by Stephen Castle in excavations on the vacant Hilltop Cafe site in 1972. Possibly introduced as a curio in Roman times.

References: Castle, Stephen. “Excavations at Brockley Hill, Middx, March-May 1972,;1 Trans. LAMAS, vol. 25, 1974.

Present location: Mus. of London

Clay Lane – Bury Farm. TQ 19509375 – No. 11

One core und three flakes (Mesolithic) found in a field on Bury Farm immediately north of Clay Lane.

(a) Two platform conical core of pale grey cherty flint with yellow inclusions. Length 42.7 mm, max. width 24.5 mm, max. thickness 15 mm. Two flakes struck from apical platform, remainder from base.

(b) Large secondary flake. Length 88 mm, width 56 mm, thickness 19 mm. Dark grey flint with pale grey mottle. Cortex covers half posterior surface. Several small flakes have been struck from dorsal surface at bulbar end. Marked bulb of percussion and stress rings.

(c) Small flint flake of pale grey cherty flint. Marked bulb of percussion and remains of platform seen. Length 26 mm, max. width 12.5 mm, max. thickness 3.7 mm.

(d) Flint flake 25 mm long, 14 mm wide, 4.5 mm thick. Grey mottlcd flint. Marked bulb of percussion. Three flake scars on dorsal surface.

Present location: HADAS.

Edgwarebury Lane. Precise site unknown – No. 12

The British Museum record receiving a fragment of a flaked axe of dark brown flint from E G Robinson of 63 Edgwarebury Lane who found it in the Edgware district. It has been broken in antiquity and sharpened around the fracture. It is not a tranchet axe but considered to be Neolithic or Bronze Age.

References: BM accession No: 1951/7/5.4/10/6.1; OS no. TQ 19 SE29; Mus. Lond. B1Midd6.

Present Location: British Museum

Thirleby Road. TQ 20599080 – No. 13

A piece of mottled grey-black glassy flint was found during the excavations in the front garden of 33 Thirleby Rd in a Roman context. It is heavily abraded on the right edge.

References: Hendon & District Archaeological Soc: “Roman Pottery from Thirleby Rd, Burnt Oak, Edgware.” Trans LAMAS, vol 29 1978.

Present location: HADAS.
Page 12

FINCHLEY “Boulder Clay” -precise site unknown. – No. 14

Primary flake (Clactonian) of ‘Bullhead’ flint found by Lewis Abbott and acquired for Reading Museum by John Wymer.

References; Wymer, John. “Lower Palaeolithic Archaeology in Britain, (pub. John Baker), p.283

Present location; Reading Museum 135; 60/2.

NORTH FINCHLEY AREA. TQ 260920 – No. 15

Derek Roe reports a retouched flint implement to have been found in this area.

References: Roe, Derek. “A Gazetteer of the British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites.” CBA Research Report 8, 1968.

Present location; said to be in Luton Museum but could not be traced.

Finchley, Church End. TQ 2490 9056 – No. 16

Four flakes of Mesolithic type found by G Musgrove in excavations at Finchley Rectory in 1978 in a disturbed layer.

References; Musgrove, G. Report in preparation. Location; G Musgrove

FRIERN BARNET

Buckingham Avenue, Whetstone, N20. TQ 2673 9480 – No. 17

C L Clayton, 102 Grosvenor Rd, N1O, found a plano-convex flint chise1 or adze 5 1/2 in. long, 2 in. wide (thought to be a Bronze Age knife) in the garden of 69 Buckingham Avenue, Whetstone. (Measurements in imperial as originally recorded).

References: OS No. TQ 29 SEMidd6; Lond. Mus. ‘No. Dl2. Lacaille A D, Antiquaries Journal, vol 26, 1946, pp 184-5.

Present location; unknown, but thought to have been given to a museum.

GOLDERS GREEN

Eastside NWll. TQ 24908815 – No. 18

Possible core piece of pale grey flint, heavily rolled. Some cortex present. Flake scars on dorsal surface. Length 36.5 mm, width 26 mm, thickness 14 mm. Found in garden of 28 Eastside NWll. Present location; HADAS

Golders Hill Park. TQ 255,865 – No. 31

Numerous Mesolithic blades, flakes and core trims have been found in Golders Hill Park, NWll.

Present location; HADAS

HAMPSTEAD GARDEN SUBURB

Confluence of Mutton and Dollis Brooks. TQ 251 893 – No. 19

Raymond Lowe found two flint flakes in a gravel layer on the south bank of the Mutton Brook near its confluence with the Dollis Brook at the time of the enclosure of the stream.

(a) A small flake of dark brown mottled flint with cortex on one side giving a blunted back. Length 41 mm, width 5 mm, thickness 3 mm.

(b) Grey flint flake 62 mm long, 37 mm wide and 11 mm thick at mid-point. A small amount of cortex is left on the back and abrasion on the rounded end indicates possible use as a fabricator.
Page 13

Present location: Raymond Lowe, 61,Erskine Hill, NW11.

Hampstead Garden Suburb. Precise site unknown. – No. 28

A flint scraper chisel was found by Dr Henry Hicks in this area and to be lodged in Church Farm House Museum in 1932.

References: Thames Basin Archaeological Observers’ Group Index. Mus. Lond. No. Klll Hendon Parish

Present location: unknown.

HAMPSTEAD HEATH

West Heath, Hampstead. TQ 25758575, – No. 23

Three Mesolithic flakes were reported to have been found to the south-east of the Leg of Mutton pond by the Thames Basin Observers’ Group.

References: Thames Basin Observers’ Group Reports, New Series, vol 15 p8.

Present location: unknown.

West Heath, Hampstead. TQ 255 866 – No. 25

D Smith found a core piece of fine brown flint on the south side of the Leg of Mutton Pond. Length 30 mm, width 29 mm, thickness 11 mm. Abraded on lower edge. Blades may have been removed at right angles to original platform of this large flake. Identified at British Museum as possibly Neolithic.

Present location: D Smith 38 Prospect Rd, NW2.

West Heath, Hampstead. TQ 2566 8676 – No. 24

A seasonally occupied Mesolithic hunting camp on the North side of the Leg of Mutton Pond has produced over 28000 struck flakes to date, and a full early Mesolithic tool industry including cores, scrapers, a core axe and axe sharpening flakes. Some late Mesolithic geometric microliths have also boon found.

References: Lorimer, D H. “A Mesolithic Site on West Heath, Hampstead – A Preliminary Report,” London Archaeologist vol 2, No. 16, Autumn 1976, pp 407-9.

Present location: HADAS.

East Heath (Kenwood Boundary). TQ268868 – No. 26

Miss P M Dobbins, 5 Honeybourne Rd, NW5, found this site which has produced many Mesolithic blades and flakes.

Present location: Miss Dobbins and HADAS.

East Heath (near Viaduct) TQ 270 866 = No. 27

This potentially rich Mesolithic site lies on the Heath near the viaduct and above the ponds, and was discovered by J Nicholl, 3 North Rd, Highgate N6. It has produced a large number of blades, flakes and cores.

Present location: HADAS.

HENDON

King’s Close, NW4.

Jadeite axe found by Master Steven Jacob in back garden of 19 in garden soil. Neolithic import from Alpine source.

References: Hendon & District Archaeological Society, Hendon “Trans. LAMAS vol. 28, 1977.
Page 14

Jones, V, Bishop A C, Woolley A R., Third Supplement of the Catalogue of Jade Axes from sites in the British Isles, Proc. Prehist. Soc. vol XLIII, p. 290.

Present location: Town Clerk’s Office, Borough of Barnet.

MILL HILL

Flower Lane, NW7. , Precise site unknown – No. 30

A large grey flint, crudely chipped, was found in the Church Farm House Museum, recordcd as coming from Flower Lane.

Present location: Church Farm House Museum, Greyhound Hill, NW4.

Lawrence Street Allotments, NW7. Precise site unknown – No.. 21

A barbed flint arrowhead was listed as “item 12” in the catalogue of an exhibition held at the Central Library, Hendon, in 1932. The property of Norman Brett James, it was said to have been found on allotments in 1917. (According to A C Clark, former Editor of Trans. LAMAS, these are probably the Lawrence Street allotments). Listed in Barnet Library Accession list, 1973.

Present location: unknown.

SOUTHGATE

De Bohun Avenue, Nl4, TQ 282952 – No. 22

W S Smith, Sunnyside, De. Bohun Avenue, Chase Avenue, Old Southgate, N14, found a small axe of mottled fawn coloured flint in his garden.

References: British Museum Accession List No. 1927-7-5.1

Present location: British Museum

NOTE: :this piece is similar to the axe found oh the Barnet/Friern Barnet border, No. 3 on the map.

WOODSIDE PARK

Holden Road, Nl2 TQ 255 927 – No. 29

David Tessler found a grey rolled flint with some yellow mottle on the ventral surfaoe in ground to the east of the Dollis Brook in Holden Road. The flint is 95 mm long, 55 mm wide, 7.8 mm thick. It has a pronounced cone of percussion with scar. Distal end battered on ventral surface. Probably attempted blade from prepared core.

Present location: David Tessler, 75 Southover, Woodside Park, N12.

IN CONCLUSION – …thanks are due to the many people who have reported finds and sites and have generously loaned pieces for drawing and description.

Thanks are due too, to Desmond Collins for his expert help and advice; to the Keeper and staff of the Department of Prehistory at the British Museum for their co-operation and information; to Harry Todd at Church Farm House Museum and to W S Taylor at Barnet Museum for searching in every corner and cupboard for stone artefacts; and to all those who have answered my queries and provided new crumbs of information and fresh avenues of approach.

To see map of these various sites – select the following link: –

newsletter-100-june-1979

By | Volume 2 : 1975 - 1979 | No Comments

Newsletter

Page 1

NEW PROTECTION FOR OLD MONUMENTS

One of the final actions of Mr. Callaghan’s Government was to pass through all its Commons stages the Ancient Monument and Archaeological Areas Bill (which had begun life a few weeks earlier in the Lords) between 5.32 and 6.15 pm on April 4; and at 7.03 pm that same evening the Act received the Royal Assent, No. 22 of the final batch of 25 Acts to be passed before the dissolution.

The Act, which contains 65 clauses and 5 schedules, has been hailed by many historical and archaeological bodies as a major legislative advance. When it was introduced in the Commons it was described as striking “an acceptable balance between the need to preserve, or at least to record, our heritage and the requirements of developers, land-owners, farmers, mineral operators and others whose business must inevitably involve a measure of archaeological damage.”

There are at the moment 839 Ancient Monuments in State care; the new Act is the most important measure for their protection since 1913. It introduces, among other things, a system of control for monuments parallel to that for listed buildings, so that “scheduled monument consent” will be needed in future for demolition or alteration on a scheduled site. Another provision is the power to designate “areas of archaeological importance” where 6-month delays can be enforced to allow time for excavation.

The provision which has received most publicity, however, is the one which makes it an offence to use a metal detector without permission either on a scheduled Ancient Monument or in a designated Archaeological Area. In commenting on this clause in the debate, the under-Secretary of State for the Environment remarked that treasure hunting “may be an innocent pastime but in irresponsible hands these devices can lead to irreparable damage and loss of knowledge.”

We hope the new Under-Secretary will feel equally strongly on the subject.
THE SOCIETY’S l8TH AGM

…took place on May 15 under the expert and friendly Chairmanship of Vice-President Andrew Saunders, Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments at the Department of Environment. Between 70-80 members were present.

The following were elected for the year 1979-8Q; Chairman, Councillor Brian Jarman; vice-Chairman, Edward Sammes; Hon. Secretary, Brigid Grafton Green; Hon. Treasurer, Jeremy Clynes. Committee; Christine Arnott, John Enderby, Peter Fauvel-Clinch, Vincent Foster, George Ingram, Dave King, Daphne Lorimer, Dorothy Newbury, Nell Penny, Ken Vause, Freda Wilkinson, Sheila Woodward and Eric Wookey.

Three official reports were presented on the Society’s activities during 1978-9: the Annual Report, the Treasurer’s Report and the Research Committee Report. Two themes of special importance emerged from them.
Page 2

The first was that although we now have a small room at Avenue House where we keep books and records and 3 or 4 people can work, we are still without, and still desperately need, a real headquarters. If any member can suggest how HADAS might obtain the use of a large room, with some means of lighting and warmth, available at weekends as well as during the week, will they please, without hesitation, let any member of the Committee know about it? The room needs to be big enough to take 20/25 members at a processing session; and HADAS would have to be the sole occupant, so that the room could be locked when not in use and work in progress left undisturbed.

The second problem is a vital as the first and perhaps, given the help and goodwill of members, it may prove easier to solve. It was set out by our Hon. Treasurer like this:

“It isn’t often you hear a Treasurer asking for money to be spent: but we now have adequate resources which I should like to see put into existing and new projects. But we have a major problem: we are desperately short of human resources, and I appeal to all members to volunteer their help in completing our outstanding” projects and enabling us to launch new ones.”

Do ~ feel you can reply to the Treasurer’s call for help? What the Society needs badly are people prepared to take responsibility for organising, or helping to organise, a project – which may be a long-term, wide-ranging one like the farm or the parish boundary survey; or may be a one-off occasion like a single outing or lecture.

There are also projects already in being whose organisers would like more help – for instance, Sheila Woodward in Edgware, George Ingram for his survey of nonconformist churches, Myfanwy Stewart with site watching.

If you are prepared to offer any kind of help, please let either Jeremy Clynes or Brigid Grafton Green know.

There is one specialised subject on which we would greatly appreciate help – photographic development work. Do any members possess their own dark rooms and developing facilities? If so, would they be prepared to develop prints and transparencies taken by other members for the Society? HADAS would, of course, reimburse their expenses. ===HADAS JUNE DIARY

Sat. June 16. outing with Vice-Chairman Ted Sammes, who will meet us at Slough – and take us through pretty Thames countryside to Maidenhead and Cookham. He will provide a good mixed bag of visits – a Saxon burial mound; the Henry Reitlinger Museum, with collections of pottery, sculpture and drawings; the Stanley Spencer gallery, devoted to the works and memorabilia of the artist; and Courage’s Shire Horse Centre. If you want to take part, fill in the form enclosed with this Newsletter and return it as soon as possible to Dorothy Newbury.

All Weds, Sats and Suns in June except June I6. Digging at. West Heath, 10 am-5 pm. We have much to do this year, so please come as often and as long as you can.

Proposed Dig at Church Crescent, Finchley. We are still marking time here, waiting for problems of sale and ownership of the site to be resolved. If you have already notified Paddy Musgrove of your interest, you will be informed as soon as a date is fixed for the start of the dig.
Page 3

NEW SHIRE PUBLICATIONS

Prehistoric Stone Circles, by Aubrey Burl. Price £1.25

Aubrey Burl, author of this new volume in the “Shire Archaeology” series, has produced a very readable summary of facts and current theories about the origins, purpose, development and regional variations of these dramatic monuments.

He considers the inspiration for their origin to lie in the large circular burial mounds of Eastern Britain which often covered deep circular ditches or rings of stones or posts. The earliest stone circles, however, lie round the coasts of the Irish Sea and were, he thinks, built by the stone axe traders. Their association with celestial events was, he considers, symbolic rather than practical and pointed to their use as seasonal ceremonial meeting places for some form of ancestor cult.

The stone circle reached its zenith in size and form in its middle phase (the period of metallurgy and the beaker) when some were huge and all Were elegant. Oval was the predominant shape and there is evidence that, regardless of size, different regions used preferred numbers of stones and, indeed, developed their own architectural forms. Every inhabited area had its own stone circle.

The late period produced small clusters of circles, possibly the product of individual families, with distinctive district characteristics. There is no evidence of stone circles after 1200 BC.

Profusely illustrated, this stimulating little booklet is an excellent introduction to Aubrey Burl’s major work “The Stone Circles of the British Isles,” and is very handy to slip into the pocket. D.R.L.

Roman Roads, by Richard W Bagshawe. £1.50

In the same series is this booklet by an engineer who has included many new photographs taken in the course of field work as well as an excellent selection of air photos and reproductions from early maps. After a brief history of Roman road studies, in which pride of place of course goes to the work of that king of amateur archaeologists, Ivan Margary, the author gives notes on Roman road construction (illustrated by sections), a chapter on maps and documentary evidence, suggestions for tracing unknown Roman roads and information on how to record them when found. He provides a select bibliography and ends with – for this size book- a magnificent 30 pages of illustration.

This is a good, clear introduction to a fascinating aspect of archaeology which has provided many field archaeologists with the interest of a lifetime. B.G.G.

Clay Tobacco Pipes, by Eric Ayto. Shire Album 37, 60p

The author of this very readable 32-page booklet, Eric Ayto, has himself manufactured clay pipes as a craft potter since 1972.

The Album starts by tracing the origin and development of the clay pipe from the 16th c. until its decline after the first world war. It goes on to describe the pipe-makers themselves and the various techniques and stages of manufacture. Finally it describes how to date pipes, how to collect them and how to trace the makers.

The booklet is well written and well illustrated, and should be of great interest to anyone who has ever found a clay tobacco pipe, either in the back garden or on an archaeological excavation. J.C.

The three books here reviewed can be obtained from the Hon. Treasurer, Jeremy Clynes. Please add l5p to your order for postage.
Page 4

THE LOCAL TROLLEYBUS

By Bill Firth.

The current exhibition at Church Farm House Museum, which lasts until June 24, has been arranged by the London Trolleybus Preservation Society and recalls with pictures, maps and relics the time when the trolleybus was an everyday form of transport in what is now the London Borough of Barnet.

The first trolleybuses ran in the area in July 1936 and the last in January 1962, so that the period covered is only just over 25 years and its end is less than 20 years ago. This comes as a surprise to many who used trolleybuses regularly when they were the new, modern transport.

The exhibition can be viewed from three standpoints, all well covered within the restricted confines of the Museum. (No attempt has been made to display an actual trolleybus, but there are models). The technical aspect is covered by frogs or switches, insulators and other apparatus from the overhead (as the wires are technically known) together with wiring layouts and some vehicle equipment. Of most interest is the chance to look closely at items from the overhead which, because of its elevated position, remained a mystery to most of us.

The operating angle again is illustrated by items which the general public does not normally see -vehicle time cards, time and duty schedules, fault delay records, overtime dockets, licences, regulations, bye-laws and so on. One item which caught my eye here was the tester for dud coins – do bus conductors still have them, or are our coins now of so little value that they are not worth counterfeiting?

Lastly there are the nostalgic items, route maps, fare schedules, tickets and in particular photographs, all of which are of scenes in the Borough of Barnet. The fare schedules are a harsh reminder of what declining traffic and inflation have done to fares: in 1947 one could travel from Holborn to North Finchley by a rather roundabout route via Finsbury Park, Turnpike Lane, Wood Green and Friern Barnet or, more directly, from Moorgate to Barnet via the Angel, Highgate and Finchley, for lOd (about 4p).

The photographs will have most appeal to anyone who is not a trolleybus enthusiast. It was good to see that the 1909 trials at Hendon (later Colindale) depot were not forgotten and there is a particularly good series of the terminus at North Finchley, but everyone will surely find something here to please them.
HADAS TO THE “RESCUE”

Every HADAS member who has taken part in a Society digs – Burroughs Gardens, Church Terrace, West Heath, Finchley Rectory – has helped on a rescue dig and thereby retrieved, before it was too late, information which enabled an ‘i’ to be dotted or a ‘t’ crossed in the history of the area. This has been because HADAS has acted as a watchdog and local authorities, the Borough of Barnet and the GLC, have shown wisdom and understanding. Such is not, however, the inevitable practice and there are areas where whole chapters of our past will remain unwritten forever because the evidence has disappeared under the ravages of time, weather and, above all, man.

‘Rescue’, the British Archaeological Trust, was formed to try to do for the whole country what HADAS tries to do in Barnet. Rescue also tries to do a bit more: it is instrumental in the formation of local units, provides scholarships to train archaeological personnel, acts as a super watchdog, seeks funding and aid for archaeological projects and plays an active part in the education of the public (young and old) in the appreciation of their fast disappearing heritage.
Page 5

To have any effect at all, Rescue needs every bit of support and help it can get. With this Newsletter is a form for membership and/or donations. I do most earnestly urge all members who feel they can make a contribution, however small, to do so. Our future may be rooted in our past but, today, the bulldozer and the ‘fast-buck’ are loosening those roots. DAPHNE LORIMER ===THE DAY THE COACH ‘BLEW UP’ Jacqueline Hall describes how HADAS met with triumph and disaster in North Kent.

The Society outing on May 12 had one unforeseen and unusual feature – coach trouble, something that no HADAS outing has suffered before.

Disaster struck before we had reached our first objective, Oldsbury Hill Fort near Ightham in North Kent. The engine of the coach overheated and boiled dry. When the radiator cap was removed to pour in some water (borrowed, in a watering can, from nearby field sprinklers) clouds of steam poured out. We limped down to Wrotham and rang home for a relief coach to meet us further along the way.

The delay meant some rapid re-thinking by Sheila Woodward and Wendy Page, who were organising the trip. They decided to cut out the hill fort and make instead for our second objective, Coldrum long barrow at Trottiscliffe. This was reached by a pleasant walk along a country footpath. It must once have been most impressive in its proportions, having originally measured 70 by 55 ft. The mound has disappeared, leaving the four huge sarsen stones of the burial chamber standing exposed to wind and weather. Some of the bones of the 22 skeletons found in the chamber arc to be seen in the small and isolated Trottiscliffe Church.

After lunch our rogue coach set off for Chiddingstone along delightful rural roads. After looking at the beautifully preserved 16th/17th c. houses, owned by the National Trust, and the nearby quaintly-shaped “chiding” stone, we moved on to Penshurst, where our relief coach was expected. However, the “relief” had beaten’ us to it. It had not only arrived before us but, not finding us there, had returned promptly to London.

Penshurst P1ace, however, put every worry about coaches, rogue or relief, out of our heads. We explored the intricacies of this medieval house with its Tudor additions; and its notable Great Hall dated 1340 with a central hearth. The gardens, too, were a joy, with miles of perfectly trimmed yew hedge and many goldfish pools.

Our coach returned us safely to London after a memorable outing. Special thanks are due to Sheila and Wendy for coping with crisis so calmly and competently, and to our coach driver, who never lost his cool even when his coach did!
HENDON’S FIRST CENSUS

Historians who study Census returns usually begin in 1841, considering that Census the first which gives real detail about individuals. In many areas that is true. In our Borough, however, we are fortunate: for the parish of Hendon (not, alas, for any other part of the Borough) we have the original returns (not just microfilm copies) from three earlier Census, containing a good deal of information.

(NOTE – the following appeared in Newsletter 101 in July 1979 —

C0RRECTION. In the article on Hendon’s First Census, when discussing Rufus King, reference was wrongly made to the American War. This should, of course, have been to the War of Independence.

End of NOTE)

The first Census countrywide was taken on the night of March 10, 1801, when there was no Civil Service to mastermind it. This and the Censes of 1811, 1821 and 1831 (the last is the only one for which we have no Hendon returns) were taken by parishes. The Overseers of the Poor took charge of the count. Questions were oral, not written and, from a modern historian’s point of view, were not really the right questions – they did not deal, for instance, with age or marital or family status.
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From 1841 the whole thing became more streamlined. Registration districts (which had come into being under the 1827 General Registry Act for the registration of births, deaths and marriages) were subdivided into Census Enumeration districts; in that year there were 35000 Census Enumerators, and the questions became more searching.

In general the figures of the four earliest Census are considered of doubtful historical value. The three sets of Hendon returns, however, are reasonably detailed. They are contained in small, paper-covered books – not quite as large as modern school exercise books – the unlined pages of which have been ruled up by the assessors in faded ink. They are divided into Hendon North End and South End – the way the parish was administered for Vestry purposes.

The 1801 Census occupies four small books with only, on average, 5 pages used in each book. The two South End books give a total of 1177 persons. The enumerators (Thomas Littlewood and James Goodyer for one book, William Geeves for the other) have carefully totted up the numbers of people on each page. The North End enumerators (William Dell and William Buckingham) do not add up each page. The total for the North End districts appears to be 695, making a total of 1872 inhabitants for the whole parish in 1801.

The way the questions were posed also differed between North and South End. Obviously this was the start of the project, before the formula had been clearly worked out and laid down.

Both North and South Ends start with columns for “number of house” and “name of occupier.” Both have -though not in the same position on the record – columns for “number of fami1ys” in each house and total “number of persons.” In the South End books “persons” are subdivided into male and female and there is a final column “how employed” which is in turn subdivided into “agriculture”, “trade” and “unoccupied.”

The North End books are more complicated with more columns. They have a “trade or occupation” column following “name of occupier.” This is not subdivided, so that ,instead of type you get the actual occupations – farmer, housekeeper; labourer, gardener, Gentleman, carpenter, “taylor”, smith, mantua maker, “poor” (in which poignant category are 8 persons, all widows), stagemaster, captain in the Navy, baker, attorney, carrier, dealer, wheelwright, bricklayer, Army agent, builder , shoemaker, merchant, postman (not our kind of postman) and shopkeeper.

There are also separate columns in these books for children, male and female; servants, male and fema1e; and one for servants’ employment, , not always filled in. When it is the commonest occupations are gardener, footman, groom, coachman and “boy”! The servants column also apparently includes living-in apprentices. John Lodge, smith, has 2 male servants who are also “smiths; farmers have servants who work in agriculture; a baker has a baker servant; and a carpenter with 3 servants (2 male, one female) puts the word “Prentices” against their occupation.

There are also columns headed “inmates, male and female” and “inmates occupation”. This category may cover lodgers, some of whom are perhaps permanent like those of the mantua maker, whose house harbours 3 “inmates” besides herself – and others who may be birds of passage (3 publicans’ houses have “inmates” on the night of the Census). There arc sometimes children, noted as such, among the “inmates, ” which may mean children boarded out by the parish.

More information can therefore be wrung from the North End books, but it is not as clear nor easy to interpret as that in the South End books.
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A word about that column “number of house.” It does not mean a street number. No streets are either numbered or named, so there is no way of tolling where you are, either in South or North End, except that in Mr. Geeves’ South End book two entries give some, clue – one for the Almshouses, which must be Daniel’s Almshouses (where Church Road joins The Burroughs); and, another for the Workhouse at the end of The Burroughs (where Quadrant Close now stands). The workhouse is entry 46. It contains 19 males and 38 females – 4 employed in agriculture, 24 in trade and 29 unoccupied. The entry following, No. 47, must surely apply to some adjunct to the Workhouse, though it is merely called “Mr. Goodyers;” in it there are 52 males and 4 females, with 6 persons employed in trade and 50 unoccupied. (Incidentally, Nicolls Almshouses in Mill Hill – that is, in North End – are not identifiable in this Census). The “number of house” goes through each book seriatim. There are 379 inhabited houses in Hendon parish in 1801.

On the last page of each book is given the number of uninhabited houses on Census night: 5 in South End, 10 in North End. For each un-occupied house the name of the “proprietor” is given; and a column headed “l’ occupier” stands for “late occupier.” Here again is a clue to where we are in the parish. In South End one uninhabited house is “Mr. Coore’s Ivy House.” There is today, on the north corner of The Burroughs On Watford Way, an interesting group of 4 18th c. houses, Nos. 9, 11, 13 and 15, of which No. 13 is still called Ivey House. Was this, perhaps, Mr. Coore’s, uninhabited on the night of March 10, 1801?

Two entries are of themselves particularly interesting. One is totally unexpected. It is for house no. 121 in North End, and it is for “His Excellency Rufus King, American Minister, ” living with one male and one female servant. Perhaps some HADAS member with a taste for documentary research might care to ferret out who exactly this gentleman was. Was he, only 25 years after the American Civil War, the first Minister to be appointed to Britain? Is it known where precisely his house was in Hendon? Did it serve as his office as well as his home?

The other entry is bizarre – and a commentary on social mores. It occurs in South End and is the entry for house No. 69. The occupier is Mr. Lockier, the number of “familys” is 1 , the persons are male .2, female 22, making a total of 24, one of whom is engaged in agriculture, two in trade and 21 are unoccupied. What a family, by any standards!

We hope to discuss in later Newsletters the other early Hendon Census of 1811 and 1821.
MILESTONE FOR THE NEWSLETTER

This is the 100th issue of the Newsletter, which began life in October, 1969, with a slim l 1/2 pages, a circulation of under a hundred and the promise of appearing at “about 6-weekly intervals.” Towards the end of 1971 it began with an occasional hiccup to arrive almost monthly and to be a full 2 pages.

There have been other milestones. No. 20 (Sept. 1972) was the first 4-pager; July 1974 saw us dressed up with a printed heading and the now familiar HADAS logo; in October 1975 we conformed to up-to-date usage, changing from foolscap to A4 size. April 1976 was the first 6-page issue; and in May 1978 we crept up to 8 pages:. This month we are a bumper 11.

Another innovation – thanks to the professional skill of Freda Wilkinson – was the institution of an Index in 1977. The first one covered issues 1-70, Oct. 1969-Dec. 1976. Since then Mrs. Wilkinson has kindly put her talents at our disposal annually, providing separate indices for 1977 and 1978. These, being an essential tool’ for researchers, have added a new dimension to the use of the Newsletter, particularly in libraries. Incidentally, any member who would like to have these indices can, by letting our Hon. Secretary know, do so at a cost of 5p a page.
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This seems a very proper moment to announce further extension of the Newsletter’s scope. From now on we hope sometimes to include line illustrations – maps, sections, plans, the occasional page of drawings of pottery and small finds. You may have noticed that we had a successful trial run for this new venture last month, when we included a reproduction of a 19th c. advertisement.

With this Newsletter comes our first map, to accompany the opening article in ~ series by HADAS members which we shall publish on different aspects of archaeology in the Borough. Mike Purton, a recently joined member, starts the series with the article which follows, on Geology in the Borough of Barnet. He hopes in a later paper to describe how geology has affected human occupation and activity in the area.
THE GEOLOGY OF THE BOROUGH OF BARNET

By Michael Purton

Introduction. The accompanying map shows the outcrops of geological deposits in the area and this article attempts to describe briefly their character and the history of their formation. The time scale involved is considerably longer than that for archaeology and extends over 50 million years. Considerable changes have taken place during this time, starting from when the area was below the sea level when the London Clay was being deposited and continuing through periods of uplift and several glacial periods to the present day.

London Clay. The oldest deposits exposed in the area are those of the London Clay which was laid down about 50 million years ago. It is present over the entire area and has a maximum thickness of over 400 ft. All the other deposits in the area can be considered as lying above the London Clay.

The London Clay is a stiff brown clay when exposed at the surface but can be seen to be dark-grey or bluish-grey when freshly exposed in cuttings. The colour change is due to the chemical action of weathering which also tends to dissolve fossils. As a consequence, fossils are rare at the surface but many have been recorded in the past during the cutting of the Archway Road and the construction of cuttings and tunnels when the railways were being built. These fossils included mammals, reptiles, birds, fishes and plant remains (including palms and sequoia) which indicated a sub-tropical climate at the time of deposition. The deposits are interpreted as being formed from the mud from a large river and laid down, in estuarine or marine conditions.

Claygate Beds. The London Clay is succeeded by Claygate Beds which are composed of alternations of sand, loam and clay and are regarded as being transitional between the London Clay and Bagshot Sand. The change in character is interpreted in terms of the shallowing of the sea after the deposition of the London Clay.

The Claygate Beds are exposed on higher ground in the area at Hampstead, Highgate, Mill Hill, Totteridge, Arkley and Elstree.

Bagshot Sand. The Bagshot Sand occurs only in the area capping the high ground at Hampstead and Highgate. The deposits were laid down some 45 million years ago and are composed of 60-80 feet of white and yellow sands with layers of loamy material, occasional layers of small rolled flint pebbles and a bed of ironstone. The base of the series is taken at the top of the first prominent underlying clay bed and is marked by springs, including that giving rise to the Leg of Mutton pond.
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The Bagshot Sand represents a further shallowlng of the sea following the deposition of the Claygate Beds. There are no further marine deposits in the area following the Bagshot Sand. An extremely long time gap of over 40 million years occurred before subsequent Pleistocene deposits were laid down in the area. During this time the whole area was lifted above sea level and the beds were gently folded to give the present saucer-like configuration of the London Basin with the Chalk outcropping at the margins (the Chilterns and the North Downs). These changes occurred only very gradually and it is only because of the long period of time involved that the effect appears so great.

PLEISTOCENE

During the Pleistocene period, which covers the last two million years, the land was above sea level and the geological history is interpreted in terms of climatic changes, glaciations and changes in sea level. For a complete understanding it is necessary to correlate deposits with those outside the area and this requires contributions from many disciplines. Active work relating to the Barnet area is still in progress.

Most of the Pleistocene deposits in the area are river deposits laid down on valley floors. These occur at different levels which arc related to changes in past sea levels. When a fall of sea-level occurs, rivers will cut down through the old valley floors leaving the original deposits as terraces on either side of the new valley floors. Several terraces hove been identified in the Thames Valley and the Vale of St. Albans and these reveal a complicated history against which the deposits in the Barnet area must be considered.

Pebble Gravel. The oldest of these deposits is the Pebble Gravel which, due to subsequent erosion, now occurs as a thin capping over the highest land in the area at Stanmore, EIstree, Arkley, Barnet and Totteridge, with small remnants at Mill Hill and Hampstead. The Pebble Gravel is composed mainly of flint pebbles, some reaching the size of a hen’s egg. There are a number of minor constituents which indicate a source to the south in the weald. Thus it is concluded that the deposits were laid down by a river (or rivers) which drained northwards and that there was no river on the present course of the Thames.

Dollis Hill Gravel. The next oldest deposits arc those of the Dollis Hill Gravel, which occur at Dollis Hill, Hendon, Finchley and Southgate. It can be shown that at this time, some 600,000 years ago, the Thames (or, more strictly, its precursor) ran through the Vale of St. Albans past Watford, St. Albans, Hatfield and Hertford to the east. Careful analysis of the structure and composition of the Dollis Hill Gravel shows that it was a river deposit (not glacial, as indicated on geological maps) formed from a river following the present course of the Wey and Mole in Surrey which then flowed north-eastwards in a valley between Hampstead and Mill Hill to join the proto-Thames near Hoddesdon.

At about this time the period of the Anglian glaciation occurred; this was the only glaciation in which the ice reached the area. A glacier flowing from the main ice sheet to the north crossed the Chalk outcrop through the Stevenage gap, flowed into the then Thames valley and into the valley of the Dollis Hill Gravel. This had the effect of blocking the outlet of water from the valleys so that lakes formed into which fine sands and silts were deposited. When the lakes eventually overflowed they cut new drainage channels to the south east. The effect of this was to divert the Thames to its present course and completely to reverse the drainage in the Brent Valley from a northeast to a southwest direction.

Boulder Clay. The maximum advance of the ice was as far as Finchley, where the terminal moraine is left today as a mass of boulder clay stretching from Whetstone to Finchley, East Finchley and Muswell Hill, overlying the Dollis Hill Gravel and the thin lake deposits.
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The boulder clay is a tough bluish clay containing pebbles and larger fragments of flint, chalk, Jurassic rocks from the Midlands and occasional igneous rocks from Scandinavia, indicating a northerly and easterly origin of the ice sheet from which the glacier flowed. The boulder clay also contains lenses of sand and gravel.

Subsequent geological history follows the general pattern of the present with rivers flowing in their present valleys but at lower levels so that a series of river terraces have been formed. Two terraces (Boyn Hill and Taplow) occur in the Brent Valley and Neolithic implements from terraces of the same age at Yiewsey in West Middlesex have been described by Desmond Collins. During the time in which these deposits wore being 1aid down there were two glacial periods, the Wolstonian some 200,000 years ago and the Devensian 30-40,000 years ago (in general, it is not possible to correlate these glaciations with the classic Alpine sequence). The ice sheets in these glaciations did not reach so far south and consequently, did not have such a drastic effect on drainage in the area.

(EDITORIAL NOTE – The reference above to Neolithic implements should read PALAEOLITHIC – see correction on page 10 of Newsletter 111 – May 1980)

The latest deposits are those of alluvium in the floors of the present river valleys.

SOURCES R L Sherlock, British Regional Geology: London & Thames Valley. HMSO, 1960

H B Woodward, Geology of the London District, Mem. Geol. Surv; 1909

P L Gibbard, Middle Pleistocene Drainage in the Thames Valley; Geol. Magazine; 1979, 116 (1), 35-44

Hampstead Scientific Society, Hampstead Heath, Its Geology and, Natural History. T Fisher Unwin 1913, 41

This account is based on a limited examination of the available literature, not on first hand experience.

Tho London and Thames Valley booklet gives a general background; a detailed local description is given in the Hampstead Scientific Society publication, chapter II.

Further information came from H B Woodward’s 1909 account of the geology of the London area which was based on mapping carried out before the area became built over.

The Pleistocene Geology is less straightforward to decipher than the Tertiary and the account relies heavily on a recent Paper by P L Gibbard in which temporary deposits in the Finchley area have been of decisive importance in the interpretation of the history of the drainage in the Thames Valley. This work emphasises that it is not only local archaeology but also local geology which depends on the examination of temporarily exposed sections.

Geological maps were also used, as were the facilities of the Geological Museum library. This library is open to the public (10 am- 4 pm weekdays) who may also consult members of the Institute of Geological Sciences (HADAS members have in fact been able to use this service in connection with West Heath finds).

Theo Museum itself is worth a visit. On the first floor a large scale model shows the geology of the Thames Basin. More recent displays are on the ground floor, but on the upper floors some older displays dealing with mineral workings are of as much interest to industrial archaeologists as they are from the geological point of view.

Finally, the author wishes to thank Dr. J C Robinson of University College, London, for introducing him to the more recent literature.

(EDITORIAL – For accompanying map, select the following link)

newsletter-099-may-1979

By | Volume 2 : 1975 - 1979 | No Comments

Newsletter

Page 1
SUMMER DIGGING PLANS

…at West Heath – a note from DAPHNE LORIMER.

Digging will begin at West Heath for the 1979 season (our fourth) on Sunday, May 20. Last year’s back-filling will be removed and the trenches laid out during the previous week-end. We are not opening up on Sat. May 19 because there is a Society outing then. It is hoped that, by that time, the weather will have recovered from its usual spring ‘vapours’ and will permit our efforts to go ahead uninterrupted by rain or sleet. (Should an unexpected heat wave occur in early May, diggers are urged to ring me, as an earlier start would obviously be desirable).

It is hoped to dig, as usual, from 10 am-5 pm on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays (except Saturdays of HADAS outings). There are 10 trenches, started in 1978, to be finished, and these are the richest of the whole site. The tool-types recovered last year from these part-dug trenches nearly equal in number the total from all other trenches put together; and the total number of struck flakes from these 10 trenches slightly exceeds the total for the whole 1976 dig, when 29 trenches were concerned. The 10 trenches plus the intervening undug squares therefore: promise exciting and rewarding digging. It is not proposed to continue the excavation after the end of September and, unless there is strong pressure, excavations will not take place during the main holiday period, mid-July to mid-August. Nor will there be a training dig this year. It is hoped to have a full-time week – probably at the beginning of September. Since the season will be shorter than in previous years, it is hoped that members will make every effort; to turn up in large numbers to excavate this very rewarding area.

… and at Church Crescent Finchley – news from PADDY MUSGROVE.

As announced last month, we had hoped by now to have resumed digging at Finchley in continuation of last year’s Rectory Close excavation.

There have, however, been some problems concerning access. As soon as these have been overcome, I will advise the starting date to all those who have already volunteered to work on this site. Although publication of last year’s work must await the completion of this year’s dig, one interesting by-product of the 1978 season can be reported now. On the site we were approached by the caretaker of the nearby old people’s flats in Rectory Close, who asked if we knew anything about bottles. He then led the way to a garden plot where the soil contained a considerable quantity of broken bottle glass and which had yielded three intact corked bottles containing liquid. The “contents of one bottle,” kindly examined for us by Mr. Alfred King FPS, turned out to be – water!

The bottle, of green glass, is moulded without any seam and has an applied lip about 13 mm. deep. The lip retains traces of a hard dark-grey material presumably used for sealing the original cork. The bottle is well shaped, but with one large “tear” and various smaller ones. Its neck is relatively short – about 50 mm. out of a total height of 232 mm. The sides are straight and the diameter of the base is 80 mm. The diameter just below the shoulder is about 2 mm. more. A shallow depression in the base, together with a central moulded ‘pimple’ are hangovers of the old kick and pontil mark. The cork, though slightly decomposed, was still airtight. The bottle has a capacity of approx. 70 cl. i.e. that of a modern European wine bottle, and is ‘un-English’ in general appearance.
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Finchley water supplies of over 100 years ago were none too savoury. Could these bottles have held supplies from some more acceptable source? What was the idea of burying them? To keep the contents cool? Has any one come across this practice elsewhere? Comments would be welcomed.
MAY 5TH – A DATE FOR OUR SURVEYORS

Thanks to the vagaries of the British winter, our superb new level has remained unused during the past few months; and newly learnt skills have, no doubt, rusted. It is therefore proposed that a survey will be made of the location of a possible old moat or pond in the grounds of the demolished Grove House, off The Burroughs, NW4. Members who helped to survey the mound in nearby St. Joseph’s Convent will remember a long narrow pond which still exists there. On early maps this is shown continuing for some distance northwards into what is now Hendon Grove public park.

Will all members interested in brushing up their surveying please let Daphne Lorimer know and arrive at the entrance to the park (beside the fire station in The Burroughs) at 10 am on Sat. May 5? Please bring notebook and pencil. Barrie Martin will lead the operation.
THE KITCHEN AT CHURCH FARM HOUSE MUSEUM

Many members will have heard with regret that this attractive kitchen was recently burgled. Here it is described by GERRARD ROOTS, a HADAS member who is Museum Assistant at Church Farm House, where he was appointed some months ago when Harry Todd retired.

Although Church Farm House is a 17th c. building, the kitchen is arranged as it might have been at the beginning of the 19th c. Of most interest is the large fireplace, which was uncovered during the restoration of the Museum. The fireplace had been bricked in and a range introduced, presumably in the 19th c. As it stands now, the fireplace, with its sophisticated chimney crane and weighted spit-jack, represents the highest stage of kitchen development before the widespread use of cooking ranges, thanks to mass-production in the 1850s.

Of the larger items in the kitchen may be noted a massive refectory table, an early 19th, c. We1sh dresser and a plate-warmer of a type so unusual as to suggest that it was home-made. Smaller items of interest include a fine example of a salamander – used for browning food – floor and table rushlight holders, a curious Victorian glass fly trap, and stone jars for beer stamped with the names of Hendon brewers.

The fireplace has been photographed recently, and it is hoped that a blown-up photograph, together with a diagrammatic key to the objects in the fireplace, will soon be on display at the Museum. In addition, a leaflet is being produced which will give a more detailed description of the contents of the kitchen. The Museum’s stock of kitchen material has been sadly depleted in the last few months. In part this has been due to the return of a number of pieces which had been on loan since 1959 from the Museum of English Rural Life at Reading. In addition, a burglary at the Museum at the end of February removed several articles of value; including a fine copper kettle and a 17th c. child’s cradle. As a result, we are most anxious to build up our collection of domestic items again. At the moment there are no funds available to purchase items, but the Museum would welcome donations of domestic material especially – but not exclusively – material pre-1900.
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The kitchen attracts a great deal of interest from visitors to the Museum. We hope by an increased collection and by documentation of material to attract even more.

Note: HADAS members who have kitchen objects which they would be prepared either to donate or lend to the Museum may care to ring Mr. Roots (during Museum hours) to discuss possibilities with him.
RESCUE RECORDING AT NEW SOUTHGATE

During this winter, HADAS member Harold Cover has been doing a good deal of tombstone recording. In addition to being part of the group which, under the leadership of Ann Trewick, is working in the churchyard of St. James the Great, Friern Barnet, Harold also kindly volunteered to do a small piece of rescue recording which was needed at New Southgate {formerly Great Northern) Cemetery, where – taking the cemetery as a whole – 170000 people ate buried and there are sections for different religions -Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Jewish and C. of E.

Last summer HADAS learnt that the company which runs this cemetery intended, if planning permission could be obtained, to allow a small part of the land to be developed for housing. Some 70 graves might be affected. Accordingly we sought permission to record any of the stones which were legible. The company was most co-operative, and we are very grateful to them. Arrangements were made for Mr. Cover to do the work this winter.

The cemetery had been opened in 1861 and all the graves concerned were in the oldest part, known as ‘W’ section. It was the custom in mid-Victorian times for London parishes to lease ground in the new cemeteries then being made in what is now outer London. ‘W’ section was leased by the parish of St. George the Martyr, Bloomsbury, and early interments were exclusively from the Bloomsbury area.

In fact only 19 stones were sufficiently legible to record, and those took a bit of unearthing, as ‘W’ section is densely overgrown, with saplings sprouting from graves and sometimes splitting the stones. Harold describes the preliminary work as “hacking and scraping!”

In addition to the stones he recorded, both with inscriptions and careful drawings, he was able to obtain from the cemetery Superintendent the official record of interments. This does not give inscriptions, but it provides some valuable information: the name of the person buried, his address, date of burial, age, number of the grave and the person responsible for it. A breakdown of this information shows that the total number of graves in W section, was 74, in which there were 229 interments. The majority of burials were therefore of paupers” in common graves with no headstone or grave identification, though there may at the outset have been wooden markers. Nothing remains of these markers today, so the a Superintendent’s list is the only evidence. The Superintendent also provided a plan of the area which originally came under the parish of St. George, with the grave numbers concerned.

No interments have taken place in this part of the cemetery since the beginning of the first war, so the period covered is exclusively 1861-1914. Mr. Cover points out that the addresses on the Superintendent’s list are interesting because they suggest, for instance, that one place – No. 21 New Ormond St, Queen Square – must have been an institution (perhaps a workhouse or hospital) since 22 of those buried in the 1860-70s came from there. Inmates of other workhouses and hospitals are mentioned: Middlesex Hospital, St. Marylebone Workhouse, Charing Cross Hospital, Colney Hatch Asylum, Caterham Asylum, the Consumption Hospital at Hampstead, Islington Workhouse, Holborn Union Infirmary and St. Lukes Workhouse.’ The first burial from a parish other than St. George’s, Bloomsbury, occurs in 1868, when Fanny Aldred, of Friern Park, aged 5 months, is buried. Later there are burials from Southgate, Hornsey, Highbury, Crouch End, New Barnet, Kilburn, Stoke Newington, East Barnet and other places.
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The Great Northern Cemetery had its own small railway station (see Newsletter No. 77, July 1977, for more about this), the signal box of which, called Cemetery Up, remained in existence until about four years ago. It is, however, rather surprising to find that the address of one person buried is given as “Great Northern Cemetery’ station. What is the story behind this? Who was Phyllis Eveline Lovell, aged 36, buried in 1883? Was there a resident porter or station master, and was she his wife? Was she a vagrant who sheltered on the station only to die there? It seems too macabre to suggest that she was a mourner at another funeral, stricken down suddenly on the platform and promptly buried!

Of the stones which Mr. Cover recorded, the one which takes us furthest back in time is that of Sara Bailey, who died On May 29, 1871, at the age of 92. She is a direct link with the 18th c. and was born before the French Revolution. Her headstone does not record where she lived, but the cemetery records do at 20 Queen Square, Holborn.
SUMMER OUTINGS

By Dorothy Newbury.

Was it the postal strike or the wintry weather that held members back on our projected April outing? Regrettably it had to be cancelled through lack of numbers.

SAT. MAY 19. Our outing into Kent is packed with interest and I am sure will bring the applications flooding in again. Please complete the enclosed form and send it to me with your remittance as soon as possible.

SAT. JUNE 16. (please note change of date – not June 9 as stated in the last Newsletter) will give us a day out in the Maidenhead area, led by our vice-chairman Mr. Ted Sammes who now lives there. Ted always managed to bring out the unusual and unpublicised details on his outings.

SAT. JULY 14 takes us on a return trip to Coventry. It is seven years since we last visited The Lunt -the reconstructed Roman fort ~ and much additional work has been done since then. This trip will be led by Dr. Eric Grant, who has taken us on many successful outings in the past.

SAT. AUG. 18 will be the last day trip of the season. Raymond Lowe will take us to Castle Acre in northwest Norfolk, the site of the Cluniac Prior founded by William de Warrenne in 1090, along with one of the grandest motte and bailey castles in England. Time permitting, we will also visit moated Oxburgh Hall.

Sept. 19-23. Our long weekend has reverted to autumn – five days in North Wales, arranged by Jeremy Clynes. Application forms have already been sent out, and the coach is full, with a short waiting list. Anyone else who might be interested is very welcome to have their name added to it.
ALL ABOUT PEOPLE

Congratulations to Joanna Corden and small son Gregory Hamilton, who made his safe arrival in the world a few weeks back. Joanna, now on maternity leave from her job as Borough Archivist, is well-known to Newsletter readers through her recent series of articles on archives.

Good news, too, from long-standing HADAS member Harry Lawrence, who is glad to see the back of what was, for him, ‘a long, tough winter. F1u and chest trouble laid him low, and we missed him greatly at lectures; now, he is better and plans to join some of the summer outings.
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Congratulations also to Margaret Maher and Dave King, two West Heath stalwarts, who have been accepted by the Institute of Archaeology for full-time university courses starting next autumn.

And welcome back to several HADAS members who had spells in hospital this winter but are now out and about again: Nicole Douek, Laurie Gevell and Liz Aldridge.
THE ETRUSCANS – NOT SO ENIGMATIC AFTER ALL

Anne Thompson reports on the April lecture.

“The Etruscans are not so familiar because they did not leave a literature like the Greeks and Romans, but in their time they were as important,” said Geoffrey Toms in his talk on April 3. Yet they were a dominant group of powerful independent city states growing up in the 8th Co and reaching their apogee in the 5th CG BC. Their wealth was based on metal resources which attracted trade from every corner of the then-known world, seen in the objects in their tombs. Rome itself developed under Etruscan (Tarquin) kings and only in the 3rd c. shook them off and itself emerged as a world power.

They are enigmatic insofar ns their language in a borrowed Latin or Greek script, was not fully understood yet, and because there is little direct evidence of the living Etruscans on archaeological sites. Their hill top towns overlooking fertile, farmlands are largely unexcavated, being built over by the: medieval towns of Tuscany. Etruscan carved stone work was built into medieval walls. Recent work at Masarotto, north of the Arno, has however excavated one street grid plan.

More than any other people they actually reproduced the life of the living in huge “cities of the dead” outside their settlements, and these are accessible to archaeologists. As a result, this sophisticated society is no longer enigmatic as once it was. Unlike the Egyptian pyramids, these cemeteries housed the remains of tens of thousands of families of all classes. Air photography reveals landscapes entirely covered with tumuli arranged in “streets”, with street doors surmounted by family names, tombs cut out of the soft tufa rock to form completely realistic houses inside, with. a knowledge of corbelled and cantilever roofs. A series of excellent slides showed details of the stone-carved beds, furniture, household objects and weapons which accompanied the dead, especially fine in the Tomb of Reliefs at Cerveteri. The vivid colours and fresh, lively details of wall paintings particularly at Tarquinii, depicting scenes of feasting, dancing and hunting, gave a strong impression of Etruscan enjoyment of the quality of life. Finely made bronze work and jewellery showed a strong Greek influence but entirely transformed to their own more “human” style.

At question time one member ~ a dental surgeon by profession – told of his delight at finding in the museum at Florence several Etruscan skulls with bridging plates in the lower jaw – some in gold and some (presumably poorer patients) in bronze!

A few days after the Etruscan lecture the Editor met a HADAS member, a doctor, in the local supermarket. “1 couldn’t get away from Hospital last Tuesday,” she said. “I wanted to go to that lecture badly, but I expect there’ll be a good write-up in the Newsletter. The reports on lectures are: usually excellent.”

For that unsolicited testimonial the Newsletter is most grateful: but it is even more grateful to the members who so kindly and willingly agree to write reports. We sieze this chance, at the end of the lecture season, to thank all those who contributed in this way last winter: Edgar Lewy, Paul Craddock, Lilly Lewy. (who “covered” the Christmas party for us), Helen Gordon, Enid Hi11, Bi11 Firth and Anne Thompson. May their pens grow ever stronger!
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THE TRAVELLER’S TALE

Another in the series, by PERCY REBOUL of transcripts from tape recordings.

I am 86 years old, was born in Bermondsey, and worked for over 40 years as a commercial traveller. I went to an ordinary Board School in Bermondsey. In those days they had a ‘labour’ exam and if you passed it you could leave school at 13 – which I did.

I started work immediately afterwards with Dunn Bros, leather manufacturers who made materials for bookbinding. The job was advertised (I think in the Daily Mail) and I did clerical work – invoices and wage sheets.

After about 3 years a friend told me of a clerical job in a firm called Dussek Bros. The firm started, I believe, in 1828, when Mr. Dussek took a 40-gallon barrel of naphtha on a truck down a major Bermondsey shopping centre with its barrows on both sides of the road. The stalls were lit by naphtha flares and he supplied the costermongers with a ‘fill’ for their lamps. He then bought pitch from the gasworks, which he made into a caulking compound and sold to the Deptford victualling yards. He built up the business from there.

The wage was 10s. a week, but the firm was just round the cornet from where we lived. The firm supplied materials such as creosote, putty, pitch and bitumen to builders’ merchants. To give you some idea of prices in 1908, creosote was 4d a gallon (I saw a gallon can the other day for £1.78p); putty was 4s.6d a hundredweight!

When I returned from the war in 1920, the guv’nor offered me a job on the road. My customers were builders’ merchants in London, but as time went by a lot of building started on the outskirts of London and we took to supplying direct to builders. When I first started selling in North London I used buses to travel. A ld fare on the tram took me to the Thames bridges. I walked over the bridge and took buses to call on my customers. A lot of time was spent waiting for buses, so the firm bought an open Morris 2-seater. The South London traveller used it one week and I would use it the other. The trouble was that neither of us knew how to service it and it eventually broke down. Having got used to a car I couldn’t do without one, so I asked the guv’nor to lend me enough money to buy a Clyno – one of the worst cars I ever bought as the makers were going broke at the time. Amazingly, I earned enough to pay the guv’nor back with ease, but in 9 months the car was a wreck.

My main customers in Barnet were Prentice Bros, Chivers Bros and a big glazing firm, Central Tile & Glazing Co, to whom we sold putty. Today, only Chivers Bros remains, although under new management, and they are a first-class firm. I knew the Chivers brothers personally. The brother that did the buying was a difficult man. If I quoted him 1s.9d for American turps he would ring up a competitor in my presence and try to get a better price. A typical order from the firm in those days would be a hundredweight of putty, 5 gallons of American turps, 5 gallons of turps substitute and 14 lbs. of pitch – total cost about £10. Later, as they grew in size., they would buy 40 gallons of creosote at a time.

In the early days delivery was by horse and cart. We had our own stables and liverymen. In about 1925 lorries were brought in. We had 3 coopers for making the barrels which were returnable at 10s.
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We had a tremendous export trade. We sent out drums of coal tar at 4 1/2d a gallon to Africa for delivery to Tanganyika where the railways were being built. We had our own barges and the materials were sent from Surrey Docks. When they arrived at the African depot, natives carrying a can in either hand travelled on foot up country for many miles to the site where the tar was required.

Dussek’s factory was a collection of old buildings with a canal behind. The pitch shop, for example, was in an open building which housed huge open 5-ton vats heated by an open fire burning wood and coal. On one terrible occasion the vat caught fire, boiled over and a workman was burned to death.

The whiting for the putty came by sailing barge from Purfleet – about 60 tons at a time. A gang of our own workers would contract to unload it for a price. The first thing they did was to get 4 gallons of beer from the local pub to wash down the dust. Once the job was started, it had to be finished in one go. They took large sacks down into the bottom of the barge, filled them with whiting, climbed up a vertical ladder to the deck carrying these one-cwt sacks; crossed the canal and into the putty shed via a runway of boards which bounced up and down. Learners had problems in working out the ‘bounce’ and would often fall off with their hundred-weight bags on top of them. The work was terribly hard.
EXERCISE HAY-TEDDER – A CONTRIBUTION TO LOCAL INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY

By Nigel Harvey.

In the middle of March Council workmen clearing scrub along the south-west corner of Arrandene Open Space, opposite the junction of Wise Lane and Parkside, Mill Hill, uncovered a long-abandoned agricultural machine. One of its two wheels was broken but otherwise it was in quite good condition. Mr. Philip Bloom, a local resident who by happy chance combines agricultural and engineering experience, recognised it as a hay tedder and informed the Society of the find. The immediate problem, its removal to a safe place, was solved by the Secretary with varied local co-operation. Mr. Chris Ower of College Farm, Finchley, kindly offered it an appropriate temporary home and the Territorial Army equally kindly offered to move it there. On March 25, by courtesy of the Commanding Officer, Major Burton, a detachment from 240 Squadron, Royal Corps of Transport (Volunteers), under Mr. Kevin Nisbet, arrived by land rover and lorry with a remarkable multi-purpose lifting and shifting vehicle called an Eager Beaver and carried it off to Finchley. The whole task was completed in under 2 hours. The Society is most grateful to all concerned.

Physically this rusty relic recalls Emmett rather than sunny hayfields. But its historical interest is considerable, for it tells us much about the life and work of our remote as well as our recent ancestors.

Until the general use of root crops in the l8th c, grass dried into hay by exposure to sun and wind was the only winter fodder available for the ruminant livestock on which the farmer depended for milk, meat, leather and power. So the supply and quality of hay were major limiting factors to food production. But haymaking is a laborious process which involves the cutting, repeated movement and final stacking of more than a ton of easily damaged material for every large beast inwintered. Further, the time for cutting grass when it is at its best and for making it into hay are at the mercy of a singularly unpredictable climate. Nobody knows bettor than the farmer that one should make hay while the sun shines. But he also knows that, within certain limits of time, he must make hay whether it shines or not. Speed or working alone can avoid or decrease the damage which nature can inflict at will. Our ancestors, working with scythe and rake and the power of the human body (which engineers reckon at one-eighth of a mechanical horsepower) must have suffered fearful wastage of both quantity and quality of hay in bad seasons. And when hay was scarce, first animals and then men went short of food. It is significant, that the symbol of the patron saint of farming, the forgotten Walstan of Bawburgh, was not a plough but a hay rake. The tradition continued. Readers of Mrs Gaskell’s mild classic will remember that in Cranford in the early 1800s hay at the proper season was permitted subject at the most aristocratic country tables … and the state of clouds or of the weather-glass were inquired into as diligently as speculations on the St. Leger or calculations of a contested election.” There were centuries of actual or potential hunger behind such conversations.
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Yet it was long before haymaking was mechanised. Ploughing and cultivating were mechanised, in the sense that animal power replaced human power, very early. Haymaking was not mechanised until the first half of the 19th c, when the horse drawn mower, the horse drawn rake and the horse drawn tedder began to replace human muscles and hand tools. The tedder, which by a system of rotating tines spreads and scatters the grass to speed drying, played an important part in this technical revolution. Indeed it was originally called “the haymaking machine,” an exaggerated but not wholly unjustified name for an implement which so greatly eases the task of enabling nature to convert grass into hay.

The tedder now at College Farm was manufactured by Bamfords Ltd of Utoxeter, a famous agricultural machinery firm founded in 1839 and still going strong. It carries a number, apparently 11308, but its date of manufacture is unknown since records of sale have been destroyed. But it is an example of a model called “Progress” which was first marketed in 1885 (and continued in production until the end of the second world war.

EDITORIAL NOTE: The original wording of the Newsletter is as follows: “(Opposite we reproduce a page of Bamford’s 1892 catalogue, showing the “Progress” in all its glory.)” As it is not possible to transcribe pictures, please look at the image of page 9 of the original Newsletter by selecting the following link.

Original text continues —

It illustrates the skill of the early Victorian engineers who invented a machine which in basic design changed little for over a century, and of their successors who so successfully mass-produced it. In addition, however, it shows agricultural change.

For sometime in the later 1930s, a date which Mr. Bloom established by the type of welding used, a drawbar was fitted to this horse drawn tedder to convert it to tractor haulage. So the tedder reflects one of the greatest of all technological changes, the coming to the fields of cheap reliable and versatile inorganic power.

Presumably this tedder was abandoned when farming ceased in the area. So it also illustrates more change. It was left in a corner of a farmer’s field. It was found in a suburban recreation ground.

Getting the hay tedder into Chris Ower’s care at College Farm ought, we feel, be only stage one of its reclamation. What HADAS would like to do is to repair the machine (the main item, which might require some blacksmithing, is the re-attachment of the detached-wheel) and to rub it down and repaint it. Bamfords say the original colour was sky-blue, with the wheels picked out in scarlet, so it would make ~ colourful item for the collection of farm byegones which Mr. Ower talks of trying to build up at College Farm.

Are there any members who would be prepared to undertake such a project this summer? If so, please let Brigid Grafton Green know – your help will be much appreciated.

DON’T FORGET THIS MOST IMPORTANT DATE – TUES. MAY 15, 8 pm, CENTRAL LIBRARY NW4 : THE HADAS AGM.

newsletter-098-april-1979

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Newsletter

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THE SUMMER PROGRAMME

After one of the nastiest winters in living memory; spring is nearly here again; and that means that, like the birds, Dorothy Newbury is beginning to chirp gently about summer pleasures ahead.

The details of the 1979 programme of outings is not yet complete, but Dorothy says this will be the general shape of it:

Sat. Apr. 7. The first outing will be a half-day spent with the Hornchurch Historical Society, who will show us, at Upminster, Essex, a well-preserved smock mill and a 14th/15th century tithe barn which houses a folk and agricultural museum. An application form is enclosed. As the date is very close, please complete and return as soon as possible.

Sat. May 19. Kent and Surrey

Sat. June 9. Maidenhead district

Sat. Ju1y 14. Coventry and The Lunt

Sat. Aug.18. Castle Acre, near Swaffham

Sept. 19-22. Trip to Snowdonia

More details about the programme in the May Newsletter.
FURTHER DIG AT FINCHLEY

Trial trenching near the site of the old Rectory of St. Mary’s-at-Finchley is shortly to be resumed. Digging during April and May 1978 yielded a quantity of medieval pottery, mainly 13th-15th c., and some struck flakes, probably Mesolithic. Unexplained, however, was a strange feature cut into the natural boulder clay at a depth of more than 2 m.

Permission has now been obtained to dig on the adjacent site in Church Crescent, in the hope of clarifying this mystery, and work will begin on or about Easter weekend (April 14-16). Diggers, experienced and otherwise, are needed, and are asked to telephone Paddy Musgrove for further details.
HENLY’S CORNER – IN THE ICE AGE

By Helen O’Brien.

The Pleistocene ice-sheets really did stop at Henly’s Corner (which is the junction of the Finchley and North Circular Roads). What has become almost a local folk legend was confirmed recently by the Geological Museum, in answer to a query from HADAS, prompted by current road improvement proposals. But the Finchley glacier did not, as popularly believed, come from the last glaciation but from a much earlier one, approximately a quarter of a million years ago – known, in English terminology, as the Anglian advance; or as the Mindel glaciation in the European Alpine sequence.
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To ease traffic congestion along the North Circular Road a number of alternative road improvements have been proposed; one suggestion is to submerge the North Circular in a tunnel. If this takes place and excavation of this magnitude occurs, what evidence for glaciation might we expect to see at Henly’s Corner?

Certainly not large deposits – the ice sheet at its furthest-ever-point of southerly advance lacked energy to carry big material; but boulder clay would be visible, containing broken rocks derived from the earlier Cretaceous and Tertiary geological periods, some possibly from as far afield as Scandinavia. Also, of course, there would be flint but, surprisingly, most probably very broken and unsuitable for knapping. And should the tunnelling expose the underlying blue London clay, this too would show evidence of glaciation by fossil ice wedges. These form in frozen ground and by their size indicate the depth of permafrost. Today they would be recognised as silty deposits infiltrating the clay where the ice wedges melted.

If the deep tunnelling scheme is approved – or, indeed, when any scheme of largish scale is undertaken at Henly’s Corner to improve the traffic situation -HADAS may have an opportunity to inspect these interesting geological strata and to ascertain whether by any chance this area could have provided, in the Mesolithic, the source of flint for the hunter-gatherers of West Heath. In view of what the Geological Museum says, however, this now seems to be a less likely and less promising source than we had previously hoped.

(Note: HADAS has already notified the Department of Environment that if and when any work is undertaken at Henly’s Corner the Society would like an opportunity to watch the site, in view of the possible geological and archaeological interest).
THE LAST LECTURE …

of this winter season will be on Tuesday, April 3, at Central Library, The Burroughs, NW4. (coffe 8 pm, lecture 8.0). It will be on The Etruscans and will be given by an old friend of HADAS’s , Geoffrey Toms.

Members who took part in our first ever weekend outing in the autumn of 1971 – to the Ironbridge Gorge Museum and other Shropshire sites will remember that one of our guides on that trip was Geoffrey Toms, then Warden of the residential adult education college at which we stayed, Attingham Park; and that he was a tower of strength in crises and a notable guide, particularly around the impressive ruins of Wroxeter (Roman Uriconium), where he had been helping annually to organise the training dig run by Dr. Graham Webster.

Mr. Toms has now joined the staff of the Museum of London as Education Officer. He has led a number of study tours to Greece and Italy and is well qualified to speak to us on those interesting and mysterious people, the Etruscans.
TUESDAY, MAY 15

is the date of the Society’s Annual General Meeting. A notice convening it is enclosed with this Newsletter. The business part of the Meeting rarely lasts more than half an hour. For the remainder of the evening you will be able to see a HADAS-eye-view of the past year on slides: places we visited in 1978 and some of the thing we did.
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Dorothy Newbury, who is organising this entertainment, would be particularly glad to hear from members able to lend three or four slides showing the last three outings of 1978, which were: Berkhamsted and Picotts End (June 24, 1978); Framlingham and Heveningham (Aug.12) and the Cotswolds (Sept 16). If you have anything which you think would be useful, please ring Dorothy and let her know.
THE FINDS OF FLINDERS PETRIE

By Christine Arnott.

Members may like to know that it is possible for the public to visit a most fascinating collection in the Department of Egyptology at University College, London. This is the Petrie Museum, which is open from Mondays to Fridays (10 am-12 noon and 1 pm-5 pm) except for a 3-week summer recess. Access to the museum is from the north end of Malet Street (opposite Dillons University Bookshop) through the DMS Watson Library on the left hand side, to the first floor where further guidance will be required to negotiate a labyrinthine approach through the Natural Sciences Library.

In a comparatively small space is housed a wide range of exhibits, mainly from Petrie’s excavations, but also showing important acquisitions from the Egypt Exploration Society’s Nubia and Saqqara digs and the Sir Henry Wellcome bequest.

The Petrie Museum is a teaching, research and study collection which aims at showing Egyptian archaeological material in its original excavated context, and of illustrating the development of Egyptian culture, technology and daily life.

A Guidebook is available (price 20p) explaining the layout and aims of the museum. Petrie’s famous system of sequence dating is explained and the relevant pottery sherds are shown in the adjacent case.

The artefacts displayed range from Palaeolithic flints through pre-dynastic material to funerary portrait masks of the Graeco-Roman period. The shelves are full of objects to attract one’s attention – unlike the British Museum with its concentration on single individual pieces of superb workmanship. There is therefore n special opportunity to gain a wider knowledge of Egyptian ways of life and objects in normal use. This is particularly relevant to the artefacts from the town of Lahun in the Fayum (the Delta area), built for the workers on the Middle Kingdom pyramid and temple of Sesostris II at Lahun. These include tools used in the work, such as mallets, chisels, levelling rods and plumb bobs; also agricultural implements – sickles, winnowers, hoes as well as everyday objects used by the inhabitants and toys for their children.

There are many lines of research that can be followed – the development of the slate plate, for example, or the use of faience from its beginnings in the archaic period. The wide range of material used in sculpture and jewellery is well represented.

Finally the research assistant in charge – Mrs. Barbara Adams – is very helpful and will give the benefit of specialist knowledge or display additional material packed away in drawers. I do hope this short account will encourage HADAS members to taste the delights of this absorbing collection.
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THANKING ALL MINIMARTERS

(or should it be “martyrs?”)

That annual jamboree, the HADAS Minimart, took place on March 3. As always under the expert and highly efficient organisation of Christine Arnott and Dorothy Newbury, it not only took place it also took off.

Cheerful helpers sold to satisfied buyers and the stalls were crammed with goodies. We needn’t tell you how much behind-the-scenes work that last simple statement involved; nor how many donors gave generously and how many collectors provided time and transport.

Members took the chance – as they always do – to turn this into a social as much as a commercial occasion, so that anyone who eavesdropped will not only have overheard discussions about apple chutney and second hand football boots, but also erudite titbits on geological strata, bones, methods of field walking, soil samples and old railway engines.

It was particularly nice to see some members who don’t always get to ordinary HADAS meetings – for instance, one of our Vice-Presidents, Daisy Hill, was doing trojan work among the clothes racks; Liz Aldridge worked up a good trade in Shire and HADAS publications at her doorway bookstall; and Marjorie Errington presided over something new in Minimart trading – a “Grot Shop” which sold mini-priced bargains.

The comment which would have most delighted the two organisers’ hearts – because it showed appreciation of the hours of careful preparation which are always put in beforehand – came from a member who said “It’s a real pleasure to come to this sale – it’s always so clean and well laid out and everything is priced.”

That accolade for excellent staff work is deserved. Best of all, however, is the final hallmark of success: HADAS netted over £500.
REMINDER FROM THE TREASURER

The Society’s new financial year commenced on April 1, and all subscriptions are now due for renewal. A form for this purpose is enclosed with this Newsletter and should be sent to the Hon. Treasurer, Jeremy Clynes. Current subscription rates are:
Full membership – £2.00
Under-18 – £1.00
Over-60 – £1.00
Family Membership: – first member – £2
– additional members £1 each

Forms are available from the Treasurer to pay subscriptions by bank standing order.

The Society has a small stock of the publication London Clay Tobacco Pipes, by David Atkinson and Adrian Oswald, at the greatly reduced price of 25p, plus l5p postage. Copies are available from the Treasurer.
THE SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

A report on the March lecture by BILL FIRTH.

Another good audience this time braved the rain to attend Kenneth Hudson’s lecture on March 6.
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Mr. Hudson’s second industrial revolution is based on oil and electricity and his alternative title was “twentieth century industrial archaeology.” His interest in it is at least as much social as archaeological and social aspects were duly stressed in his examples.

The remarkable thing about so much 20th c. industry is that despite the enormous amount of paper which it turns out, it is very poorly documented and such records as remain are very valuable. However, people are still alive who can tell of their experiences and tape recordings give valuable evidence.

With the aid of slides we were taken through a series of interesting examples, including retailing and the change of scale which has occurred: upper class one-store food shopping at Harrods or Fortnum and Mason has now, in the supermarket, become the norm for all; council housing (20th c. successor to the Victorian village) and its decline in standard; and examples of company history, including Suttons Seeds, Fyffes Bananas, Chappie (now Pedigree Pet Foods), Wrigley, Walls, Heinz, Carreras, Shredded Wheat, Berni Inns and Burtons.

Heinz was the first hygienic American food factory” in this country (c. 1920); Wrigley and Shredded Wheat were others which set a new standard. Fyffes popularised the banana and set up a rail distribution network to satisfy demand – now superseded by road transport. Before the 1939-45 war Chappie could cope with the demand for pet foods from one modest factory on a trading estate at Slough. The rise, decline and recovery of “Burton the Tailor of Taste” is recent history – but how many listeners knew that Burton’s stores had billiard halls built above them? And that when the decision was taken to modernise Burton’s “image” and get rid of the billiard rooms, hundreds of second hand billiard tables had to be let out gradually onto the market, lest the bottom should drop out of it? That is why you will often find an ex-Burton bill1ard table in unlikely places like Kuala Lumpur or Accra.

Mr. Hudson commented on the changes which have occurred, the pictorial evidence and the social effects. Often the change has been one of scale – an industry outgrew its original site. Many of us felt some relief when in discussion it was suggested that some industries are now tending to move back to operating in smaller units.
A PLEA FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

One point which Kenneth Hudson made abundantly plain in his lecture was that, as an archaeological society, all those of us who are capable of doing so ought to be moving around with a camera at the ready photographing the all-too-ephemeral artefacts and usages of our century. If everyday objects are not recorded while they are in use, they often disappear without trace.

Even in the last 30 years so many things, once familiar, have vanished; and others are clearly on their way out. How often nowadays do you see a policeman on point duty? When did you last observe a telegraph boy delivering a wire? Where are they now, the pony-drawn milk-floats that used, only 25 years ago, to deliver our daily pints?

Do you remember the old-fashioned grocer’s shops where tea and coffee were weighed out, even after the second war, on intricate and beautiful brass balances which stood on the counter? Or the strange “systems,” often in draper’s shops, travelling along overhead wires or in curious quick-turning capsules inside a cylinder, which carried invoices and change between shop assistant and counting desk? Is there a shop left anywhere which, like Chesterton’s wicked grocer, “keeps a lady in a cage” to look after the cash?
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What happened to the blue police phone boxes which once stood at busy junctions (luckily HADAS photographed a few of those in the Hendon district before they were all removed). Are there still District Messengers? Do you remember the glowing glass jars of beautiful shape, filled with liquids of scarlet, emerald and amber, which hypnotised you in chemists’ windows? The list of vanished, half-remembered objects and habits is almost endless. The constant thing about it is that everything changes, and today the change is sometimes so quick that no record survives.

All this brings us to one of HADAS’s most urgent needs of the moment – more photographers. We would like to build up a “bank” of competent photographer-members on whom we could call in moments of need. Half a dozen or so members have helped us nobly in this way in the past (Peter Clinch, Ted Sammes, Alec Jeakins, Raymond Lowe, to mention just a few). They cannot, however, always be available, and some of them have many calls on their time. We were therefore delighted when two of our newer members, Harry Day and Nigel Gore, came forward after Kenneth Hudson’s lecture and offered photographic help. We hope to ask both to do some assignments in the near future.

Not all HADAS’s photographic work is in the Industrial Archaeology field (where Patrick Smith has done very valuable work for the Society. In addition to Industrial Archaeology work – which can range from the decorated tiles in a butcher’s shop to a railway bridge or an early lamp standard – there are pictures to be taken on digs, tombstone recording, the farm buildings survey, and so on; almost every project undertakes has a photographic side to it.

Interiors, as well as, exteriors, are sometimes needed, so ability to work with flash is useful. Black and whites for record purposes, angled shots which can be blown up for exhibitions, colour transparencies for the Society’s slide collection: all are in demand. Copying illustrations from books, or photographing parts of maps is also a valuable skill. Our aim is to lodge the negatives of all photos taken for the Society in our Photographic File, which will be kept in our room at Avenue House. The Society, of course, pays for the cost of film, and for any prints which it needs.

If you feel that you can help by undertaking any of this kind of work, we shall be delighted to hear from you – please give our Secretary, Brigid Grafton Green, a ring and let her know.
BUMPER DAYS FOR THE BOOKBOX

Books of many kinds have been rolling in to our Hon. Librarian, George Ingram, in the last few months. Below is a list of the latest additions. If you would like to borrow any of them, give George a ring and if it is not already “out” he will bring it along to the next lecture. (References are to the categories and numbers on the Hon. Librarian’s master list).
Anthropology 1 History of the Primates, W E Le Gros Clark. 9th edit. With revised time scale, 1965, Brit.Mus. (Nat. Hist)
9 Social Evolution, Gordon Childe, Fontana 1951
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Archaeology General 126 Man the Toolmaker, Kenneth Oakley, BM
173 Still Digging, Mortimer Wheeler, 1956
174 Cave Drawings. Exhib. by Arts Council 1954
Arch Foreign F35 Egyptian Religion, E A Wallis Budge, Routledge Keegan Paul. 1899 reprint 1975
F36 Egyptian Magic. ditto
F37 Egyptian Gods, Alan W Shorter. RKP reprint, 1978
F38 Antiquities of Ur, C Leonard Woolley. Introduction to BM exhibition, 1936
F39 Scrolls from the Dead Sea, guide to BM exhibition, 1935
Arch. GB 202 Excavation of Maiden Castle, R E M Wheeler (not Roman) (reprint from Antiq. Journal July 1936

vol. XVI, No.3
Local History 61 Fenton House, Hampstead. Country Life 1953
198 London’s Lost Railways. Charles Klapper. Routledge Kegan Paul 1976
199 Church Farm House. Borough of Hendon. 1962
200 Camden History Review – 5. Camden History Society, 1977
231 Camden History Review – 6. ditto. 1978
232 Hampstead, a London Town. E F Oppe. 1951
233 Ancient Priory and Present Church of St. John at Clerkenwell. Thos. W. Wood & Henry W. Fincham. 1903
234 London before the Conquest, W R Lethaby. Macmillan 1911
Roman Britain 184 Roman Britain. BBC pamphlet. c. 1956
185 Roman Ship on the site of New County Hall. LCC booklet
Misc 159 How Men Worship, F H Hilliard. Routledge Kegan Paul reprint 1978
211 The Truth About Cottages, John Woodforde, RKP reprint 1979
Unnumbered: Periodicals Proceed1ngs of the Prehistoric Society, vols. 38-42, 1972-76
Current Anthropology, June 1978
World Archaeology, vol. 10 No 2, Oct. 1978
Nat. Geographic Magazine, Jan. 1951
Guides Wisley Gardens. Royal Hort. Soc. 1970
Savill Gardens, Windsor Great Park
Norwich (set of 4)
Canterbury
Sandwich
Chipping Camden
Burghley House, Stamford, Hunts
Somerleyton Hall, Suffolk
Chawton House, Hants (Jane Austen)
Bramall Hall, Cheshire
For young readers The World We Live In. Collins,1957

These have, for the main part, been given by various members, including Elizabeth Holliday, Helen Gordon, Brigid Grafton Green, F. Meyer and several anonymous donors. To all of them, many thanks.
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LIFE IN ROMAN SOUTHWARK

Also recently added to the Bookbox are two newly-published volumes on Excavations in Southwark, 1972-74. They are reviewed below by SHEILA WOODWARD.

As their first joint publication, the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society and the Surrey Archaeological Society have produced the report on the Southwark Excavations from 1972-74. Its two volumes and 619 pages may seem rather a daunting “read,” but they are packed with a wealth of fascinating information. After a general introduction to the history of Southwark, each of the seven sites excavated is dealt with in detail. The individual reports are very comprehensive and the text is amply supported by plans, sections and drawings of the pottery, glass and small finds. Specialist analyses of the organic data are included.

Although the sites were confined to small areas of current building development and in all cases the Roman levels had been disturbed or partially destroyed by the digging of post-medieval cellars, careful excavation ensured the recovery of a vast quantity of evidence about life in Roman Southwark. Fragments of painted wall-plaster indicate that even the wattle-and-daub houses of the lst c. settlement were not without embellishment, and the stone foundations of the 3rd c. levels suggest increased affluence and more substantial building.

Portions of textiles, mostly woven wool, have been found, and rubbish pits have yielded evidence of a pleasantly varied diet – grape, apple, cherry, plum, mulberry, blackberry and raspberry have been identified, with cucumber, cabbage, mustard and dill on the savouy side, presumably to accompany the beef, pork, mutton and fish to which the bones bear witness. Analysis of the insect remains found in the rubbish pits shows that they are indicators of climatic conditions, and also of the standards of garbage disposal. And why should 20 dogs, varying in size from boxer to Yorkshire terrier, have been deposited in wood-lined partitioned pit? The most likely explanation seems to be that they were votive offerings.

Part III of the report includes detailed studies of the Roman pottery, with a most useful Kiln Gazetteer and notes on the Roman pottery industry in the London area. Of particular interest to HADAS members are the notes on the Brockley Hill industry (pp. 534 and 541).

Many examples of Brockley Hill products are included in the finds illustrated in the report, and it is clear that the settlement at Southwark was one of the main markets for pottery from the kilns in the Verulamium area. For examples of the pottery known to have been made at Brockley Hill, see the mortarium reports on pp. 128-9; p.282; p. 378; and p.459. Brockley Hill products such as flagons of various forms, including ring-necked, pinch-necked and others), tazze, lids and jars appear on all sites.

The general report headed “Roman Pottery in Southwark” states that “from c. AD 70 until at least the mid-2nd c. the Verulamium region supplied the majority (over 90%; and 70% of flagons illustrated in this report) of the flagons found in Southwark.”

newsletter-097-march-1979

By | Volume 2 : 1975 - 1979 | No Comments

Newsletter

Page 1

IF THIS NEWSLETTER REACHES YOU IN TIME, PLEASE REMEMBER THE MINIMART, OUR ANNUAL FUND RAISER, AT HENRY BURDEN HALL, EGERTON GARDENS, NW4 ON SAT. MARCH 3, 1979, lO AM-12 NOON.
CHILDHOOD IN CRICKLEWOOD

In the last Newsletter a Cricklewood firm asked the help of HADAS members in preparing a history of the area. Six members responded at once; and we also found an interesting account by the MISSES WARDLEY (who are not HADAS members). MISS ETHEL spoke of her memories and MISS WINIFRED wrote it down – and added some recollections of her own. We thank them very much for allowing us to publish their artic]e below.

I was born in 1888 Eat 2 Cricklewood Lane, opposite the Castle Inn, Childs Hill. When I was 4 years old Father and Mother and my two sisters Alice and Grace moved down the steep hill a little way. Grandfather, a cheesemonger, had come there in 1860 from Kensal Green to live in Granville House, an imposing building with two shops below and two storeys of living rooms above, as well as cellars and stables. He and Grandmother, who came from the North and had been a cook had a family of 4 girls and a boy (our Father).

Grandfathcr built five little shops opposite, with one-storey living rooms and stables and mews behind, in about 1877, intended as businesses for his 5 children. These wore Nos. 1-5 Ridge Terrace. We went to live over No. 1, which was a Corn Shop, called Wardley’s Granary. No. 2 was Ironmongery and No. 3 Drapery, with Miss Button managing it. Grandfather, Grandmother and three aunts lived at Granville House and the shop below was Wardley’s Stores, selling grocery, meat, bread and cooked meat pies, etc. which Grandmother made. At the side of Granville House was a lane called The Mead (now called Granville Road,) but then Granville Road ran through fields up to the Finch1ey Road.

In 1877 the Baptist Church had been opened in The Mead and nurseries and laundries were there. There must have been wells and ponds behind. The laundries served the large houses on the Heath and along Finohley Road as far as Oxford Street. I remember the excitement when tents were put up in the fields opposite the Baptist Chapel for a Sankey & Moody Mission in the 1890s, at which I signed the Pledge. Beside the church there was a soup kitchen and Grandfather gave bones, peas, etc for soup.

Beside Granville House in Cricklewood Lane was the Red Lion Inn and a row of cottages with long gardens in front. Clark’s candle factory was nearby.

Opposite the Red Lion was All Saints Church and the National School with Mr and Mrs Harvey as the Heads. For two or three years before I was born Mother and Father had lived with them at Garfield House, No. 5 The Ridge, with a long garden and a gate at the bottom opening onto Church Walk and a quick approach to the school.
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Down Cricklewood Lane was farmland. Mr. Dicker’s farm stretched away to West Hampstead and there was another farm opposite Cricklewood Midland Station, which had originally been called Child’s Hill Station. Halfway to the station on the right was The Tavern public house, and beside it a little low cottage. This is the only building standing today exactly as it was in 1860. Our Mother said it was a Dame School to which she went in 1861 when she was 4. A pathway opposite, called The Avenue, led to Mr. Dicker’s farmhouse.

Our Mother was born in a cottage behind The Castle Inn. Her mother had a very large family and took in washing. Mother remembered when she was about 10 walking all the way to Oxford Street with her brother, carrying laundry. When it was paid for they could buy a bun or something to eat. Mother also remembered going to a little fountain in the Sandy Gallop (see footnote) to buy drinking water.

When she was 11 she had a job as a servant in a dairy in Albany Street. She helped the women to put on their wooden yokes and attach the full pails of milk. After a time she asked for 1s 6d a week instead of 1s 3d. When it was refused she left, and obtained a job as a “tweeny” in a large house. There she rose to be cook. Then she became a cook in Grandfather’s house and Dad fell in love with her. Although their mother had been a cook too, the aunts did not think their brother should marry a cook! So Mother ran away, Father followed her and they were married.

Buckinghamshire Connections

Mrs. Poulton, wife of the Baptist Minister, had come from Great Missenden, Bucks, and this led to a close connection between our family and the farms and little Chapels there. My earliest recollection, when aged 5, was being taken by Father in the pony van which was used to take orders to the big houses. We carried a magic lantern and cylinders of gas for Father to entertain at one of the little Chapels in Great Missenden. I remember staying in a beautiful farmer’s house and seeing my hostess wearing a lace cap.

Mother worked tremendously hard, not only looking after us but cooking for all the assistants in the shops. There was no Shop Closing Act then. When the Red Lion closed at 10 pm people thought of the food they needed and we were busy until we closed at 11 pm. I remember Dad waiting up for the van to return from Smithfield Market or from the Surrey Docks where it had gone for sugar, etc. If the roads wore icy it was very late. Even if it were midnight Dad would wait to rub down the horses and see them comfortable for the night. He loved his horses and pony. I watched him doctor them, give them medicine, rub them with. Ellimans Embrocation or poultice them with linseed or mustard. He used to treat us in the same way, with no mercy!

Sugar and flour came in hundredweight sacks and had to be weighed out. I used to watch my aunt cut blue paper into squares. She would then take a square and twist it into a cup, fill it with 1 lb. of sugar and press in the top. I saw Father open a large wooden box of eggs in shavings. He would take each egg separately and test it at a light to see if it was fresh. There would be many broken ones, with which Mother used to make custard and sponge cake. There wasn’t much profit in those days. We couldn’t afford to eat the biscuits, jam and sweets Dad sold, unless it was the broken biscuits which came in a large wooden tub, almost as tall a I was. I well remember climbing up and reaching down into the tub for a special favourite.

Footnote: Sandy Gallop is Sandy Road today, and familiar to many HADAS members – because it runs down to the Leg of Mutton pond and the West Heath dig. The “fountain” was on the opposite side of Sandy Road from the Pond, about half way down the road from West Heath Road. It has vanished now, but when we looked for it in 1977 we found the ground marshy where it had been, and many water-loving plants still growing there.
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When Mother was a girl she said she seldom had meat to eat. We had it once week – a glorious sirloin of beef, hot on Saturday, cold on Sunday, made into shepherd’s pie on Monday. For Sunday breakfast we had Dad’s home made sausages, the most delicious things you can imagine.

Grandfather was a preacher in the 7th London Circuit of the United Methodist Free Churches. We have a photo of him with 28 other worthies. His heart was in his preaching and not in business, and he liked nothing better than travelling on horseback to preach.

When he died in 1899 he left Father with debts. The folk in the large houses thought nothing of running up large bills, and not paying them. Costers in the cottages were cute, sending their children to buy one ha’porth of pickle in paper or a ha’porth of jam, and the scales in those days did not balance but must go down.

Greenery Arch

I remember when Princess Christiana (of Schleswig Holstein, sister of the Princess of Wales, who was later Queen Alexandra) came to open the newly built Institute (June 30, 1896). Dad made an archway of greenery from Granville House to our Corn Shop (what was the Men’s Institute in Cricklewood Lane is now Childs Hill Library).

I remember going in the wagonette to take Grandma and Grandpa to the Wesleyan Church opposite Willoughby Road. We went along the Finchley Road, up Frognal and through to Church Row, where we had to pay at a tollgate. We walked over the West Heath three times on a Sunday to go to Heath Street Baptist Church and Sunday School. As we walked up from The Castle to the top of the Sandy Gallop the fields belonging to Mr. Rickett of Sunnyfield were on our left. The Hermitage (pulled down in 1974) was on our right, followed by the horses’ drinking trough (very much needed, specially on the. nights before Bank Holidays when the fair people with their caravans and swings and roundabouts moved slowly up the hill) and Telegraph Hill on which was Miss Schroeder’s cottage. My eldest sister had an allotment oh the top of that hill, where the artist Sir Frank Salisbury later built Sarum Chase.

Grandpa died in 1899, aged 80, and Grandma in 1904, aged 92. Our family consisted then of Gordon 3, Winifred 5, Bernard 9, (darling twin’s had died in between), Alfred 12. I was 15, Alice 17, Grace 2O. Winifred remembers walking with Gordon down Cricklewood Lane to a private school in Elm Grove called Sparkbrook College. A sweet shop opposite The Tavern sold “wiggy waggy toffee” at 8 oz a penny. You could get a good-sized bag of the black wafery stuff for a farthing. Further down, on the left, was the Home of Rest for Horses.

In 1908 the trams came down to Cricklewood, and Granville House was pulled down to widen the Lane into a road. Trams with open wooden-lath seats and open tops ran down the Lane. Later they went all the way to Barnet. Horse buses went along Finchley Road from The Castle, all the way to Oxford Street for 4d. In 1974 the shops opposite Granville House were pulled down. Our house and garden at Ridge Road is now part of the site of two rows of maisonettes with a road in between. Our house and long garden next to the Hermitage, where we lived after Ridge Road, is now the site of a large block of greyish Council buildings.

But I still see things as they were.
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PROGRAMME NEWS

Many members will have cut their teeth, as far as industrial archaeology is concerned, on Kenneth Hudson’s Introduction to Industrial Archaeology, a standard work first published some 15 years ago.

Mr. Hudson will be our lecturer on March 6; his subject is the Archaeology of the Second Industrial Revolution. Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Adult Studies in Bath, Mr. Hudson is a first-class speaker who makes his subject really come alive. We hope he will have the usual large and interested HADAS audience.

Looking further ahead, the last two dates of the winter session are:

Tues. Apr. 3. The Etruscans Geoffrey Toms, MA.

Tues. May 15. Annual General Meeting

(please note: this is on the second, not the first, Tuesday of the month).

Meetings are at Central Library, The Burroughs, NW4. Coffee 8 pm, lecture or business, 8.30 pm.
A NEW DIPLOMA

The Council for British Archaeology has recently launched a Diploma in Archaeological Practice which can be taken either by full or part-time students. This, it hopes, will come to be a recognised qualification for field archaeologists in Britain.

The academic level of the new diploma is said to be a little below first degree level. It is hoped that it will provide a qualification recognisable by employers; and, for mature students with experience of archaeology, a proof that “their knowledge is on a scientific basis and of a high standard.”

The diploma consists of 7 certificates, each of which is separately awarded. A pass in 4 certificates (which must include Nos. II, III, VI and one other) will give you a Diploma at Ordinary level. For a Diploma at Higher level you must pass all 7 certificates. Exemptions in some certificates may be made, at the CBA Academic Board’s discretion, for students already possessing qualifications such as a first or higher degree in archaeology or possibly another diploma. The 7 certificates are:

I. Introduction: the history and nature of archaeology and outlines of British archaeology in its European setting

II. Field archaeology (excluding excavation)

III. Excavation techniques

IV. Artefacts and the history of technology

V. Archaeological evidence

VI. Post-excavation handling of material and the production of reports

VII. Present structure and administration of archaeology in Britain

The CBA will act only as the examining body. It hopes that extra-mural departments and institutes of higher education will take the idea up and start offering courses for students who want to take the diploma.
CALLING ALL SITE WATCHERS

More helpers are urgently needed for the important work of site watching – and it is something you can volunteer to do even if your archaeological experience is limited.
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HADAS tries to keep an eye on building operations on every large development site in the London Borough of Barnet where a planning application has been granted – and also on any site, large or small, in certain key archaeological areas.

One tricky problem is timing. Between the time the first application for planning permission is published (we get a list of applications from LBB each week) and the actual moment, after approval has been given, that the bull-dozers or mechanical grabs move in months or even years may elapse. Once the builders start work, however, there is often only a day or two during which any useful archaeological observations can be made. Trenches for drainage or foundations may be dug one day and filled in the next, particularly in fine weather, and it is only from the sections or the up throw of those trenches that useful information is likely to come.

For that reason we need a large number of HADAS members who will keep a regular eye – perhaps over a period of months – on a site in their own immediate neighbourhood which is known to be the subject of a planning application. The moment they see any sign of activity (either building or demolition) On the site, all they have to do is to ring our site-watching organiser, Myfanwy Stewart, and tell her that something is cooking.

From that point onwards she will take over, and will arrange for someone experienced to visit the site quickly and report on the sections.

Over a hundred members of HADAS indicated, on their membership application forms, that they would be interested in doing field work; and there must be many others who, for one reason or another, never even filled in a form. If all these members would be prepared to offer Mrs. Stewart their services, we would be able to blanket the Borough with observers, and could feel that HADAS was performing properly what is one of its more important functions. Help will be valuable everywhere in the Borough; but particularly so in East, New and Chipping Barnet; in Edgware and Totteridge; and in Friern Barnet and Mill Hill.

If you feel you can help, would you ring Mrs. Stewart or drop her a line and let her know? Then when an application comes up near your home she will tell you about it and ask for your help.
OBITUARY

We are very sad to have to report that a HADAS member of long standing, Nancy Sato, died suddenly on February 21. Many members will remember Miss Sato as an enthusiastic supporter of outings and a regular attender at HADAS lectures. She also took part for 6 or 7 years in the course on Roman archaeology run in Hendon by the WEA.

Miss Sato was partly Japanese, although she had always lived in England. A physiotherapist by profession, she had a serious illness last year, but was hopeful that she had made a good recovery; as one of her friends put it, “she had the courage of a lion,” and she insisted on returning to work. She also planned to join our Welsh weekend next September. We shall greatly miss her quiet, gentle, cheerful presence at HADAS events.
BAPTISTS IN BRENT STREET

By F. M. Gravatt.

The earliest date given for the Baptist Chapel in Brent Street, Hendon, is 1832. This is in Dr. Whitley’s’ “Baptists of London,” where the entry reads:

Hendon Church formed 1832. Jonathan Gundry last mentioned 1843.
Page 6

A later entry adds the following information:

Chapel re-opened by the Shouldham Street Baptists, 1845. George Warne, 1847-57. When the Chapel was once more c1osed and the minister George Warne went to the Chapel at Sarratt.

Obviously, for Hendon Baptists to have their own chapel and minister in 1832, they must have been meeting together for some time prior to this in order to have acquired sufficient resources.

The Tithe Map of 1841 numbers plot 12O4 as The Chapel. There seems to have been a paddock and probably a cottage for the Minister, Jonathan Gundry. The chapel itself was constructed of wood and was situated in Brent Street, at the rear of what is now Holbrooks fish shop, opposite the Bell. The adjoining plot was occupied by a grocer, John Smart, from 1833: cottage, forecourt, paddock and yard. On the other side to the south was Heriot House, where Dr. Holgate lived. It was built in the 18th c, and its gardens extended to where Christ Church (built 1881) now stands.

By 1848 John Smart owned the grocery business himself, had married and had five children, Emma, John, William, Edwin and Alfred. Sadly, the three eldest died in the early 185Os, probably in an epidemic.

In 1849 John Smart added a Post Office to his enterprises, and this would have led to the erection of new premises in the forecourt of the plot. The original cottage where the business began and where all his children were born was retained as a warehouse. When the Baptist Chapel was forced to close through declining numbers, he also took this over, using it to store goods and to serve as the Post Office sorting office. Ben Walker, one time owner of much Hendon property, recalled that blocks of salt were stored in the pulpit.

The elder remaining son, Edwin Smart, opened the ironmongery in Brent Street in 1863, and later a coal business and estate agents at West Hendon. The younger son, Alfred, came into the grocery business and the use of the old chapel. John Smart died in 1897. The business and its branches at Finchley and other centres continued to flourish and by this time a new Baptist church had been formed (1873) and in 1886, had a large church in Finchley Lane.

Alfred Smart collapsed and died suddenly in Brent Street in 1913, and for a while his wife ~ Mary, carried oh the business. Eventually in 1919 it was sold to Thomas Hawes. It was his son, Timothy – a schoolboy when the family came to Brent Street – who supplied the only description of the old chapel.

“Attached to the rear of the grocer’s shop was an ancient wooden building with small dark rooms and a shaky staircase which gave access to a large room which was the GPO sorting office. This building, which was covered with ivy on the outside, the wood of this being over a foot in diameter at the base, became unsafe in the 192Os and had to be demolished. On stripping the structure the formation of the old beams and rafters showed that it had been a chapel or church and this was agreed by all taking part in the demolition. In a small loft at the top of the building a large quantity of heavy ledgers were stored, with boxes of tallow dips and lamp glasses. The weight of these contributed to the building becoming unsafe.”
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Timothy Hawes also remembered the old coach house at the rear, which actually housed an old coach. So disappeared many records of local Baptist history.

These notes on Baptists in Hendon were written by HADAS member Mrs. Frances Gravatt as part of George Ingram’s survey of the history of non-conformist churches in the Borough of Barnet.

For several years now George has been collecting everything he can lay hands on about the history of the churches of the Borough, apart from C. of E. He is on the look out for booklets produced by churches themselves; notes such as those made by Mrs. Gravatt, photographs and so on. He badly needs, however, some more help with this long-term project – particularly volunteers who would be prepared either to take photographs of churches (interiors as well as exteriors) as they are now or who would go along and talk to the minister or secretary of their local church and find out what they can about its history. All too often nowadays local churches close or amalgamate without such a record having been made, and sometimes even the building is demolished before it has been properly recorded.

If you would be prepared to help George, please give him a ring. He will be delighted to hear from you.
THE NEOLITHIC IN BRITTANY

ENID HILL reports on the last HADAS lecture.

We were lucky on February 6 to have such an expert as Dr. Barbara Bender to talk to us. She began by describing Brittany c. 10,0QO BC, at the end of the Ice Age. She showed how hunter gatherers of the Mesolithic period found there a fertile coastal plain with many sea inlets which, with the numerous rivers, made communication in small boats easy, and provided fish and shell fish, as proved by shell middens which date back to 10,0QO BC.

Fertile coastlands meant good vegetation, and geometric microliths found in the area were probably used for cutting and grating food. Flint was rare, but in the central upland of Brittany there is good hard stone; dolerite A was used for tools. At Seledin a vast axe factory has been found, dating from 3000 BC or before, and though axes of very early date have not been found, it seems that early man would have used this site for his tools.

Dr. Bender therefore concluded that life was fairly settled for Mesolithic man in sites on the coast with only a few temporary settlements on the uplands. Possibly a few people were leaders; in a male burial at Teviec, Morbihan, there was an enclosure of stone slabs, with a pile of stag antlers, suggesting importance. Unfortunately, at about 6000 BC the rise in the sea level which created the English Channel and the Gulf of Morbihan drowned many of the coastal sites of the Mesolithic period.

However, by the time the first farmers reached Brittany, probably from southern France where the Chassey culture had developed, the local people had domesticated cattle and were probably moving towards farming themselves. The evidence for the origin of the new colonisers is slight, but the plain Breton pots are similar to early Chassey ones.
Page 8

It is also not known why so many megalithic tombs were built from 3800 BC onwards. There were no big megalithic graves in southern France, but they might have been an indigenous development or copied from Iberia. Dr. Bender showed slides of several of the megalithic tombs. There are a great number in southern Brittany and a few in north and central Brittany. Owing to the acid nature of the soil few bones survive. There are a variety of megalithic graves, the early ones being passage graves, while later ones had the passage and a chamber at the far end.

At the end of the period gallery graves were very large and could take up to 200 bodies. Barnenez in the north is a vast mound of stones covering about 12 passage graves of different age, while Gav’rinis in the south – an island site in the Gulf of Morbihan dated to 3000-2500 BC – has a long passage with a square chamber at the end. This tomb is famous for its art. Of the 29 orthostats, 23 are decorated with abstract designs of spirals, half-circles and axes, all chipped in relief. This grave must surely have been that of a ruler who organised his tribe in ritual as we1l as work, such as making axas and tools and ritual pottery.

Towards the end of the Neolithic in Brittany the creation of the Carnac a1ignments necessitated great organisation. Here there are thousands of menhirs in 3 alignments, each having 11, 10 and 13 lines of stones, about 1/2 mile in length and ending at the west end in a square or circle of standing stones presumably for ceremonial purposes. Yet not long after there was a breakdown in society, and there seems to have been a shift of population to the interior.

Dr. Bender’s book, Farming in Prehistory, is in the HADAS Bookbox, and may be borrowed on application to our Hon. Librarian, George Ingram.
IDEAS FOR A SUMMER BREAK

The range of summer courses linked with archaeology increases every year. You can find everything from a weekend to a fortnight – at commensurate prices. Here ara a few, taken at random from the brochured:

April 12-25. Archaeology of S.E. Sicily. Dr. David Trump. A course based on Syracuse, Agrigento and Catania. Fee of £348 includes demi-pension accommodation, air fares, local travel and normal holiday insurance.

Apri1 18-22. How to write Local History. David Dymond at Flatford Mill Field Centre, East Bergholt, Colchester. Fee £56.

June l-3. Field Archaeology. Dr. David Trump, at Madingley Hall, Cambridge. Fee £20.

June 30-July 28. Four weeks of courses designed for both beginners and experienced students. They cover digging techniques (on a dig), surveying, archaeological photography, recording, biological data sampling and recognition of archaeological material. Based on Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. Fee £60 weekly.

J.uly 4-18. Two weeks at Kindrogan Field Centre, Blairgowrie, Perthshirc (bookings are taken for single weeks) on an Introduction to Excavation. Local Iron Age site. Suitable for beginners or those with some experience. Tutor L Thomas, fee £58 a week.

August 8-15. The Making of the Lakeland Landscape. Course, which includes a good deal of walking, is based at Brathay Field Studies Centre, Ambleside. Fee £65.

Any member who would like further particulars of any of these courses can get them from the Hon. Secretary.