newsletter-447-june-2008 – HADAS Newsletter Archive

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HADAS DIARY – Forthcoming lectures and events

Tuesday 10th June – HADAS Annual General Meeting 8pm. At Avenue House. Followed by some interesting talks and snippets relating to members’ recent activities.

Sunday 22nd June 1pm – 3.30pm Members’ Annual Get-together, Avenue House Don Cooper Don Cooper, chairman of HADAS, will be hosting a get-together over a glass of wine and nibbles for members, and especially for those who have recently joined. This will be an opportunity for new members and old to chat about what they would like HADAS to do over the coming years and, if the weather is kind, to try out some of our equipment such as the Resistivity Meter, GPS handsets and the Metal Detector. We will also have a book sale for discontinued items from our library. So do come along to meet old friends and make new ones.

Saturday 5th July – Outing to West Sussex

Join June Porges and Stewart Wild on a summer outing through the lovely Surrey and Sussex countryside, visiting Butser Ancient Farm & Experimental Archaeology Site and Fishbourne Roman Palace. It’s many years since HADAS has visited either of these sites and in each case there have been new discoveries, improvements and additions. Full details and booking form enclosed.

Wednesday August 27th – Sunday August 31st:

Annual HADAS Long Weekend Staying at Bishop Burton College near Beverley, Yorkshire. Please note that this is now fully booked, but we are creating a waiting list as invariably someone drops out. Contact Don Cooper or Jim Nelhams (see end page)

As usual lectures & the AGM take place at 8pm at Avenue House, 17 East End Rd, Finchley N3 3QE.15-min walk from Finchley Central tube. Buses 82, 143, 260, 326 & 460 pass close by. Parking very limited directly outside, but plentiful nearby. Non-members £1. Tea, coffee, biscuits 80p

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REPORT ON APRIL LECTURE

Andy Simpson
BRISTOL’S CLIFTON ROCKS RAILWAY By PETER DAVEY

This excellent and enthusiastically presented talk by an acknowledged expert on the history of Bristol, in particular its former tramway system, began with the classic quote from the secretary of another society ‘Dear Mr Davey, It is difficult to get good speakers so I am writing to you’! Mr Davey travels widely, giving talks on the Bristol Tramways and Clifton rocks railway in particular; his late father was a tramways enthusiast in the 1930s/40s so he inherited, and maintains, an extensive photographic record of the horse-and-electric operated Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company which succumbed to the Blitz in April 1941 (The Bristol Tram Photograph Collection). He also has an extensive collection of Bristol Tramways relics – seats, saloon doors, a staircase, destination boards, blinds & boxes, enamelled signs and other components – all housed in a private museum near his Bristol home. The wealthy residents of Clifton objected to the proletarian horse trams being extended to their superior suburb, but the Clifton Rocks funicular railway, situated in the dramatic River Avon Gorge close to the wonderful Victorian suspension bridge, was approved as it ran in a tunnel and would not spoil the beauty of the gorge. It took two years to build, financed by promoter and publisher George Newnes MP (knighted in 1895), who was also involved with the still extant Lynton and Lynmouth railway, a way being blasted through the limestone rock in 8ft chunks from March 1891 using a largely Canadian workforce. Its ceremonial opening was on 11th March 1893, with a top station at Clifton adjacent to the Avon Gorge Hotel and a bottom station on Hotwells Road, where connection could be made with the horse, and later electric, tramcars of the Bristol Tramways and Carriage Co. On the first day 6,220 passengers were carried, and a souvenir gilded medallion issued. Normal fares were originally 1d up, but just ½d down! (2d and a “penny ha’penny” by 1928). From 1912, for 3d, a passenger could take a round trip from the Tramways Centre to Hotwells, climb to Clifton by railway and back by bus and tram. The unique four-track tunnel had tracks laid to the gauge of 3ft; depending on the weight of the passengers in the two pairs of cars, the 500ft long journey took around 45 seconds to climb 240ft! The railway was hydraulically operated, with a water reservoir top and bottom, with water pumped up by a Crossley gas engine and recycled. The descending car enabled the other to be pulled upwards. The semi-elliptical brick-lined tunnel was lit by gas and the cars were spring-mounted on a chassis which itself was mounted on a steel water tank. Safety was paramount; each train had three sets of brakes and there never was an accident. At the top station there was a way through into the well-remembered, now derelict, hotel ballroom, where the last dance was held in 1974. There were four trains, in two pairs operated independently of each other, mounted on individual water balance tanks, with two more built at the same time (1892) for the still-extant Bridgnorth Castle Hill railway in Shropshire. At the base of the line was the station at Hotwells Road, whose façade now faces directly onto the modern Portway. Passenger numbers were never large, and the railway went into receivership in 1912. Bristol Tramways operator George White bought the lease in November 1912, but with rising losses it finally closed on 1st October 1934, everything remaining in dusty limbo with the trams parked at the bottom station until the outbreak of war. The four tram bodies were removed early in 1941 and burnt at the tramway graveyard at Kingswood Depot, where all Bristol’s redundant trams were despatched between May 1938 and October 1941. During World War II, part of the upper end of the tunnels was used from 1941 as a public air-raid shelter complex with terraced seating in three separate shelters, protected by some 60ft of rock above. Access to the air- raid shelters was by ticket. At the bottom was a major BBC transmission facility with transmitters, studio, recording and control room and emergency diesel generators which ran from early 1941 until 1945, providing programmes for home and overseas, although the BBC – who had originally seen the railway tunnel as a home for their Symphony Orchestra – rented parts of the tunnel through until 1960. The BBC even staffed their own Home Guard unit. There was also a War Department facility for plotting the balloon barrage defences, and from March 1940 BOAC had offices and storage facilities there too. Ventilators and air-conditioning were installed in the tunnels and level floors put in over the tracks; Since 2005 the Clifton Rocks Railway Trust (www.cliftonrocksrailway.org.uk) – a small but enthusiastic band of volunteers – have been busy clearing out decades of accumulated hotel rubbish from the tunnels and have refurbished parts of the top station, reinstalling an original turnstile dragged up from the base of the tunnels where it had been thrown in the 1940s. Other relics have also been recovered such as fragments of barrage balloon – part of the tunnel was used by the barrage balloon section of Imperial Airways (later BOAC) for balloon repairs. At the top station also, remarkably, can be seen track remains and the partly concreted-in remains of two winding wheels, complete with lengths of winding cable. At the bottom station, even the ‘Clifton Rocks Railway’ wording remains visible.

Occasional guided tours of the remains have been possible, and the author of this note was fortunate to join one such tour in early 2007, guided by Peter Davey himself. Ownership of the Hotel, which facilitated such tours, has now changed and the tours were temporarily suspended, but are starting again with the 17/18 May 2008 open weekend. The new owners of the hotel are Cathay Pacific Airways.
An excellent lecture, much enjoyed by all, and the speaker answered a number of questions, formally and informally, afterwards with members being able to purchase postcards and other souvenirs of the railway.

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The Wars of the Roses: Military Thought and Practice

Members who are interested in the Battle of Barnet and in military practice and archaeology may like to know of an all-day conference on September 27th arranged by The Richard III Foundation, Inc. [sic] at the Market Bosworth High School and Community College, Station Road, Market Bosworth, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Speakers and their topics will include: •David Baldwin – Reconstructing a Medieval Battle: Stoke Field 1487 •Glenn Foard – Warfare in a Medieval Landscape: finding Bosworth battlefield •Prof Anthony Goodman – Richard III as a Military Commander •Dr David Grummitt – Military Thought and Chivalric Expectation: Edward IV’s 1475 French campaign •Dr Paul Stamper of English Heritage – Battlefield Conservation, Designation and Display: aims and approaches from across the world. •Prof Matthew Strickland – The Price of Defeat: The treatment of prisoners in the Wars of the Roses.

A round table discussion in the afternoon, chaired by Professor Matthew Strickland, will include honorary patron Robert Hardy. Further information: Half Moon House, 32 Church Lane, Ryde. IoW PO33 2NB, or the corporate office at 9067 Vintage Wine Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada 89148 USA (for a full package), or email Richard3Foundation@yahoo.com

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Archaeological work at Barnet College and Tudor Hall Bill Bass

In the near future Barnet College (Chipping Barnet) is due for redevelopment for a new building and campus. Archaeology South East (the commercial unit of University College London) conducted an archaeological evaluation there from 22nd to 24th April. The potential of the site should be high as it is positioned near to Barnet Parish Church, originally founded in the 13th Century, and adjacent to ‘Tudor Hall’, dated 1573. The area would have been busy in the medieval period. Indeed HADAS dug a site just south of the college site in 1990 & found medieval & post-medieval surfaces, pits and walls. Other medieval finds have been made in the vicinity.

Four trenches were dug in total by Archaeology South East, three towards the back of the College (near to the Red Lion/Toby Pub, on Fitzjohn Avenue) and one directly in front of it on Wood Street. Of those at the back, one trench contained a shallow ditch type feature found beneath a large build-up of made-ground. Running approximately north-south, undated, it was speculated that the ditch could have been a minor property boundary as it lined up roughly with one of the small alleys that come off Wood Street which may reflect an earlier medieval boundary, but the evidence was very slight and the report shows there could be other interpretations. The long trench (approx 20x2m) fronting Wood Street found made-up ground with some ‘modern’ brick features sitting on the natural clays and gravels. So, unfortunately, it seems that much of the potential of the site has been truncated and levelled away by the college building and its predecessors. It remains to be seen whether there will be any further archaeological work when the present buildings are demolished. (Thanks to Dave Fallon, Site Director, and the offices of Archaeology South East for information)

It seems that somebody jumped the gun at Tudor Hall as, just a couple of weeks before the above evaluation of the college, contractors had dug a substantial ‘service’ trench around the foundations of the Tudor Hall without, it seems, any archaeological provision. This was spotted by the keen eye of a HADAS member and reported to English Heritage, who stopped the work. An archaeological unit was sent retrospectively to inspect this ‘groundwork’; no further details are known at present.

LAMAS: 45th ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF LONDON ARCHAEOLOGISTS

LAMAS’s latest conference was held on 5th April 2008 at the Museum in Docklands and ANDY SIMPSON has once more kindly reviewed some of the more interesting papers

Work in the City and Beyond in 2007 Sophie Jackson (MoLAS)

The morning session on ‘Recent Work’ featured some fascinating updates and artefacts, as always. There were some 60 fieldwork projects in 2007. At St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square, where the late Roman sarcophagus burial was found previously, archaeological work continued on a narrow strip of land, finding an early Roman building of around 50AD, the conquest period date suggesting a military identity. Also found were five very late Roman burials and three phases of very early Saxon buildings of around AD550, with greyware pottery dated AD430/470 from exactly the period when industrial scale pottery manufacture in Britain was, at one time, believed to have ceased. Excavations in the Walbrook area found ditches and the edge of the Walbrook marsh.

At No 1 New Change in the City

the former Bank of England premises at the eastern end of St Paul’s close to Cheapside and on the Roman Via Decumana, a prehistoric ground surface was found with Bronze Age features and pottery. As reported to CoLAS by Dave Saxby at their May 2008 lecture, the site was dug over 20 weeks during 2007 in two phases. It was heavily basemented, but archaeological deposits survived along Cheapside. A very early V-shaped ditch of c.AD50, complete with ‘ankle-breaker’, was located running along Cheapside, cutting the natural brickearth. It had previously been traced elsewhere along Cheapside and provided interesting evidence of possibly the earliest military occupation of Roman London. Forming part of 1.5m of Roman deposits were a series of four Roman buildings, one on top of the other and found on the same alignment, along with a line of piers of a possible 1st Century Roman temple. Some buildings with plaster and brickearth foundations, lying just above the brickearth, appear to have burnt down during the Boudiccan fire. There was a rich collection of highly decorated Roman wall plaster. Some prehistoric material was found, together with Medieval stone foundations (their cellars still being on the Roman buildings’ alignment) complete with burnt remains of floor joists from the Great Fire of London.

A site at 56 Gresham St

may represent part of the suspected amphitheatre/temples complex. Here they found the nearly complete ground plan and partial floor surfaces of a small 2nd/3rd Century square Roman temple or shrine of the classic cella and ambulatory type. (See: www.museumoflondonarchaeology.org.uk/English/News/Archive/News07/GreshamTEmple.htm)

At Heron Tower, Bart’s Hospital and the Old Bailey

the erstwhile city ditch was investigated, with medieval landfill and rubbish dumping. The Roman city wall was also located. The waterfront was investigated at Mondial House, built in 1973 and now being demolished. When built there was no archaeological monitoring and Roman and medieval deposits were destroyed without record, but one area did survive and medieval structures were recorded there when the site was again redeveloped, with some ten 15th to 17th Century brewing hearths and below them the late 13th Century waterfront with its timber wall and a massively constructed later waterfront, dated 1339, forming the eastern edge of a previously unknown dock.

At the Riverbank House site

there have been three redevelopments in 45 years, the latest being the first since 1981. At Lime St on the edge of Leadenhall Market in the City, machined out in 1974, a narrow strip remained for excavation, which revealed a Roman painted wall-plaster dump and tessellated mosaic floor from which the central mosaic had been removed before the building was demolished. The plaster is a superb, high-quality assemblage of around 120AD – forty-six bread crates of it – from a high-status room burnt in a 2nd Century fire; the building was demolished and there was little ensuing occupation above it, so the plaster dump survived undisturbed. This has permitted reconstruction, with details such as painted candelabra, fruit and flowers, birds and animals and a superb pattern of grapes on coloured panels. (See www.molg.org.uk/English/NewsRoom/Archived07/RomanWallPlaster.htm)

Excavations at Drapers Gardens, City Tim Bradley (Pre-Construct Archaeology)

This talk covered excavations in the upper Walbrook Stream area, 100m south of the City Walls, where water-lain and anaerobic conditions permitted good survival of a 1st-3rd Century archaeological sequence, although later Roman levels had been truncated. A 1st Century AD Roman timber trackway and associated ditches was found which dendrochronology showed used timbers felled in AD62, just one year after the fledgling town was destroyed in the Boudiccan revolt, plus two Roman timber fences or palisades and a ditch on an area of higher ground. A notable find was a complete domestic wooden door, associated with some five infant burials buried within small timber boxes or coffins. This is the most complete of only three such doors ever found in Britain, complete with hinge pivots with horizontal battens, and is of late 1st Century date. There were also revetted channels crossed by two small footbridges, with three phases of construction (pre-Hadrianic to late 3rd Century), and a Roman timber box drain and Hadrianic period clay- and timber-walled buildings. There were eight of these flanking a north-south street frontage, one of which had been burnt. At one end a Roman timber floor survived – a planked floor and wattle walls. Other floors were of beaten earth. Also found was a Roman opus signinum floor and a bored square wooden pipe with lead lining. A tile-built Roman oven was found, along with in situ Roman pottery. Individual building plots had distinct groupings of finds, suggesting differing activities. There were 1100 registered small finds, including a possible carpenter’s wooden rule, Roman statue head and, in a timber-lined well complete with access struts in one corner, a hoard of 19 copper alloy vessels including wine bucket and dishes, a hanging bowl and flagon of post-375AD date, and a bear skull, possibly from an animal brought down from Scotland for the amphitheatre. (See www.pre-construct.com/Sites/Highlights/Drapers.htm)

Picturing Roman London Barney Sloane

The afternoon session ‘Londinium and Beyond’ kicked off with this paper, looking at Images of the Empire – illustrating the idea of Roman London across the centuries. This is one of several papers that will feature in a forthcoming book on London archaeology. As far back as 1667, Christopher Wren drew Roman finds revealed during the reconstruction of St Paul’s Cathedral. London’s first archaeological ‘context sheet’ was produced by a London apothecary in 1672, showing a Roman pottery kiln in St Paul’s churchyard with coffins above it. There was then something of a gap, with more records made in the late 18th Century when in 1785 the antiquarian Gough produced a plan of walls and features found during sewer construction, even marking adjacent house numbers and details of a fine mosaic. In 1803 the famous 2nd Century Bacchus mosaic showing Bacchus riding a Tiger, now in the British Museum, was recorded in Leadenhall Street and in 1805 the Bank of England Roman mosaic was recorded as a scale drawing, possibly the first scale archaeological plan from the City of London. Billingsgate bath house was recorded in a detailed site/location plan of 1864 by architect William Tite. The Illustrated London News produced excellent reports of archaeological discoveries such as the Bucklersbury mosaic pavement (c.300AD) in 1869 with possibly the first-ever multi-context plan of the floor and heating flues beneath. This mosaic was immediately lifted for preservation, and is now at the Museum of London. The first ever excavation photo may be that taken in 1869 showing a re-used sarcophagus found at Westminster Abbey. A striking image shown was that of demolition of a length of the Roman city wall at Trinity House in 1882, with another fine view of the wall at Newgate in 1903. In 1912, the Roman ship was found at County Hall, and a timber-by-timber plan made of it – possibly the first example of a numbered drawing. By 1914, Roman pits on the GPO site at St Martin-le-Grand were being recorded, with the first example of linking finds assemblages to individual features. By 1954 Pathé News was recording moving pictures of the famous Grimes excavation of the Temple of Mithras and by 1969 the Highgate pottery kiln was lifted to preserve the actual structure elsewhere, as was done with the soon-to-be-moved, and rebuilt again, Temple of Mithras. Now we have the dawn of the digital age for archaeological reconstructions.

The Population of Roman London Hedley Swain and Tim Williams

What was the size of Roman London’s population? Something of a ‘stab in the dark’. In 1925, revised 1948, Home made the first attempt to calculate the population, looking at the walled area (some 320 acres), street pattern and house type to give a density of 140 people per acre – a population of 45,000 at its peak, with lots of open spaces. This figure stood unchallenged for many years. Estimating the total urban population needs to consider the number of people per hectare and take into account density in particular areas; identifying the size of the urban area and actual residential area – not necessarily the same – at a given time/point of development, and to include the extent of settlement in the pre-Boudiccan and pre-walled area of the 1st/2nd Century, the fort in the NW corner erected by 120AD and the walls which were added around AD 200. How big was the suburban development and the Southwark settlement? There are geographical and chronological differences in built-up areas. There was a western extension to the city around AD200. The total occupied area for each study period needs to be calculated, then less densely populated areas subtracted, such as public buildings, including baths, forum and amphitheatre, plus docks or industrial zones where space would be taken by workshops and storehouses. The residential area may have been some 100 hectares, and the likely number of people per property needs to be estimated – large townhouses with their kin and slaves may have had different populations to more densely occupied and more humble properties. Pompeii, pre-earthquake, had a population of some 19,000. High St, Londinium, based on excavations at No 1 Poultry, was a classic Museum of London exhibition of recent years, giving an excellent idea of Roman city life, complete with reconstructions and actors. Using figures from authors such as Home and Ralph Merrifield and Middle Eastern patterns of settlement, the average suggested population for pre-Boudiccan London c.AD60-61 is 9,300; for the Hadrianic period of 100-120AD some 25,800, and for AD 300 30,600. The speakers felt that the lower estimates were closest to reality.

Imagining Health Care in Roman London Ralph Jackson

The origin of London seems to be as an unofficial traders’ settlement around AD50. By the time of the Boudiccan revolt a decade later it had acquired an administrative role. There is a suggestion that an area near Moorgate may have been an artisans’ quarter, including doctors.

Satellite, Parasite, or Just London? Richard Reece

There is little evidence for the native British occupation of the future site of Londinium prior to the Claudian invasion of AD43. Then a muddy river bank sprang quickly to life. What was the motive for its formation? By comparison, Edward I’s 13th Century new towns didn’t always work – a motive is needed for agglomeration, towns/cities don’t just form on their own. Londinium could have formed as a money-making centre or to stop trouble in a newly occupied territory. It could either be self-financing or be worth financing as a satellite – a convenient ‘socket’ into which to fit the Roman ‘plug’, with encouragement for conspicuous expenditure.

There may have been a drop in trade in the 3rd Century, with some ‘slack water’ – a different balance of imports and exports and an increase in self-supporting industries – leading to slackening trade as the province of Britannia became more self-supporting and then leading to a possible reduction in customs duties. So was the satellite province still worth servicing to keep it Roman, but not to the extent of maintaining expensive basilica buildings, etc? Perhaps they may have gone out of use. London could have been gradually changing from a profitable, self-supporting satellite into an expensive parasite. So who would want it? Not the Britons, who had their own local centres – Civitas capitals. However, the Empire would need a point of contact. Deciding what Londinium means needs more than sets of archaeological data. Is it a typical Romano-British city? How does London compare with other places – the regional capital at Cirencester for instance, or the Western Empire’s provincial centres such as Trier or Lyons.

Glass in Roman London John Shepherd

As recorded by contemporary Roman writers, the introduction of glass blowing made glass production much cheaper, meaning it could be used for utilitarian purposes and it could be cleaned and reused. That there are relatively few Roman glass fragments in the archaeological record is due simply to recycling in Roman times; broken glass, known as cullet, was widely re-used. Items that have survived tend to be from pits/wells/cemeteries where they could not be retrieved. There is no evidence of new glassmaking from Roman London, just of glass recycling/reworking from the 1st-4th Century from all over the city, including the waterfront, Tower of London and Moorgate areas, the latter dating to the mid 2nd Century. There is little evidence of what Roman glass furnaces were actually like. The Regis House site saw glass blowing from the 60s-70s AD. The huge cullet dump found at Guildhall Yard in the 1990s yielded some 50kg of window glass, vessel glass and a little glass-working waste.

It may be possible to judge the repertoires of individual glass blowers through their cullet dumps. It would seem that clear glass was of higher status than coloured glass, being used for high value items. Around AD70 the writer Pliny recorded colourless fragments as being of the highest value, and crystal-like colourless fragments have been found in London of this date. Glass cutting dates back to the second millennium BC. Up to c.60AD, ground and polished banded/millefiore glass vessels were common; from around 70 to 100AD the highest value glassware was of the cut and colourless variety. Many high quality cut glass vessels have been found in Southwark, though facet-cut beakers are found all over London. More utilitarian products included jars and jugs for domestic use.

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OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS Eric Morgan

Tuesday 3rd June 2-3pm BRASS FARTHINGS: 17C TOKENS OF TRADESMEN, GENTRY & CITY FATHERS Talk by Robert Thomson. Harrow Museum, Headstone Manor, Pinner View

Wednesday 4th June 8pm THE HISTORY OF KENWOOD Talk by Philip St Pride. Stanmore & Harrow Historical Society, Wealdstone Baptist Church Hall, High St, Wealdstone

Thursday 5th June 10.30am INDUSTRIES ALONG THE EDGWARE RD – A Historical View Talk, Mill Hill Library, Hartley Avenue, NW7

Thursday 5th June 7.30pm LONDON’S LOCKS, DOCKS & MARINAS: THEIR HISTORY Talk by Jeremy Batch. London Canal Museum, 12-13 New Wharf Rd, Kings Cross N1

Friday 6th June 7pm FIFTEEN YEARS OF THE TIME TEAM Talk by Tony Robinson World Monuments Fund St George’s Church, Bloomsbury (includes viewing the restored church & a review of WMF projects, tickets £20-30 from 020 7730 5344 or www.wmf.org.uk/activities)

Sunday 8th June 2-4pm THE BATTLE OF BARNET Guided Walk by Paul Baker Meet Junction Great North Rd/Hadley Rd Cost £6

Monday 9th June 3pm PRE-REFORMATION SURVIVALS IN PARISH CHURCHES IN ENGLAND Talk by Graham Javes (long-standing HADAS member) Barnet & District Local History Society. Church House,Wood St, Barnet (opposite Museum)

Sunday 15th June 4pm LEGENDS OF BARNET, HISTORICAL ENTERTAINMENT, including “The Battle of Barnet” by Denis O’Brien, “The Ghosts of Oakhill Park” by Liz Lea, “Dickensian Barnet” by Susi Earnshaw, “Remembering John Betjeman” by Baz Swain, “Sweet Music of the 1940s” by BMG Group. Theatre in the Park, Oakhill Park, Church Hill Rd, East Barnet

Wednesday 18th June 8pm THE HISTORY OF SILVER ST, ENFIELD Talk by Harold Noble. Edmonton Hundred Historical Society Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane/junction Chase Side, Enfield

Wednesday 18th June 8pm SEVEN PARISHIONERS OF STRATFORD-ATTE-BOW: 700 Years of Life in Bow. Talk by Michael Peet. Islington Archaeology & History Society Islington Town Hall, Upper St N1

Friday 20th June 7pm RECONSTRUCTION OF THE TUDOR KITCHENS AT HAMPTON COURT: Experimental Archaeology at work Talk, Marc Meltonville COLAS St Katherine Cree Church Hall, Leadenhall St EC3

Friday 20th June 7.30pm SONGS OF TRANSPORT Terry Lomas Wembley History Society St Andrew’s Church Hall, Church Lane, Kingsbury NW9

Saturday 21st June 2.30pm GUIDED PANORAMIC WALK TO THE TOP OF ST PANCRAS WATER TOWER, via Islington Tunnel West London Canal Museum 12-13 New Wharf Rd, Kings Cross N1

Sunday 22nd June EAST FINCHLEY FESTIVAL Cherry Tree Wood (off High Rd, East Finchley)

Sunday 22nd June 12-4pm SUMMER FAIR All Saints Arts Centre 122 Oakleigh Park Rd North, N20

Sunday 22nd June LEE VALLEY FESTIVAL Tottenham Marshes (off Watermead Way N17, nr Stonebridge Lock), incl., 1.30pm, Legends of Barnet (see 15 June)

Wednesday 25th June 8pm COMIC & SATIRICAL POSTCARDS Talk by Hugh Garnsworthy. Friern Barnet & District Local History Society. St John’s Church Hall, Friern Barnet Lane, N20

Thursday 26th June 7.30pm KINGS CROSS: Illustrated talk, Angela Inglison (author of new book of photos of the area). Camden History Society. St Pancras Old Church, St Pancras Rd NW1 (preceded by AGM)

Thursday 26th June 7.45pm BARNET BOROUGH ARTS COUNCIL: AGM Arts Depot, Nether St N12

Thursday 26th June 8pm KRUGER NATIONAL PARK Talk by Roz Avery (preceded by AGM). Finchley Society. Drawing Room, Avenue House

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