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News Letter No. 178 December 1985

COMING EVENTS.

Tuesday December 3rd, 7:30pm. Christmas Party at The Meritage Club Church End Hendon.

Come and enjoy our informal buffet, with good food, wine and a variety of homespun activities which we hope will amuse you. There will be plenty of time to talk and revive old memories. Bring those HADAS snaps along: – we see plenty of cameras in use on our expeditions, but never see the results!

If you ring DOROTHY NEWBURY, quickly, on 203 0950, there is still time to book.

Numbers are flexible since there is no seating problem but we must know how much food to provide. ACT NOW.

Tuesday January 7th. The Archaeology of Hedges and Woodlands by Dr. Oliver Rackham.

Tuesday February 4th. Neolithic Arran by Dr. Eric Grant.

SEARCH YOUR CONSCIENCE

Some time ago, Daphne Lorimer lent, and lost track of, some precious slides of an Iron Age village at Skaill Earth, Deerness, Orkney.They show, among other things, a series of Round Houses was it to you she lent them? She would very much like to have them back. RING 458 5674.

STAR CARR REVISITED. Report by Michaele O’Flynn. B.Sc.

TONY LEGGE was unfortunately unable to give the November HADAS lecture, but we were exceedingly lucky that Dr. Peter Rowley-Conwy was able to take Tony’s place at very short notice. Dr. Rowley-Conwy is working with Tony on the re-analysis of Star Carr. This is the most famous Mesolithic site in Northern Europe and maybe even the World, and is of great interest to us as it is of very similar date to our West Heath Site: Star Carr is radio­carbon dated to c7500 BC and West Heath T L dating – to c.7675 BC. It is only due to the excellent work in 1949/1951 of Graham Clarke that this re-evaluation can take place, as they are looking at the original data and building on the work.

Star Carr is in the Vale of Pickering and it has been suggested that it was a lake shore camp where refuse was discarded into the prehistoric lake. Due to the wet alkaline conditions there is excellent organic preservation and the following varied assortment of items have been found: a tree with axe marks, a ‘platform’ (which some have argued could be just a chance natural accumulation of wood rather than for habitation), a paddle (implying the use of canoes perhaps), plenty of early Mesolithic flint, antler points, animal bones, and the famous antler skull caps.

Answers to two questions are presently being sought. Firstly, at what time of year was the camp occupied? And secondly, for what purpose? The recent re-analysis has concentrated on the animal bones of which there are decreasing numbers of red deer, elk, aurochs (wild ox), roe deer, and wild pig. The bones have been compared with modern bones of the same species of known animal age, in order to determine the age of the prehistoric. bones at the time of the kill. The jaws have also been compared with modern jaws, for tooth wear analysis, and can be aged from this. Knowing at what time of year the young are born one can then use the ages of the animals to assess the approximate month of the kill. The roe deer mandibles gave a striking pattern.of a one year old summer kill, two year old summer kill and third summer kill with no winter roe deer. The red deer and elk data also shows a mid-summer kill for the young, but adult red deer cannot be differentiated.

This interpretation as a summer occupation is in contrast to Clarkes’ own theory of a winter camp based on the concept of deer migration. Red deer are now not thought to migrate in woodland areas, and the implication is that they were present at the lake shore all year round and were killed in summer due, to the presence of man at that time. Frazer & Kings’ other classic argument of a winter/spring site based on the antler analysis has also been disputed, as antler being a very important raw material could be carried from site to site at different times of year. Indeed two-thirds of all antlers (shed & unshed) found at the site are worked.

In trying to answer the second question the bone assemblages were compared with those of modern Eskimo and Caribou hunters, from kill sites, hunting camps and villages. The best match was with a hunting camp, and the argument put forward is that the heads were left in the place where the animals were killed, hence the low proportion of skull bones; but the jaws were brought back to the camp for the meat and then left. The front legs were eaten at the camp by the hunters and the bones left, and then the best meat from the back legs was taken to the village. This would be a compact load to carry containing good meat, and fits with the low proportions of rear leg bones in the assemblage at Star Carr.

Dr. Rowley-Conwy then talked a little of the Danish Mesolithic sites, where the prehistoric shoreline ‘.as been preserved due t. the land having risen. Unlike in England where our Mesolithic coastal sites have been drowned in the North Sea, the bones are lucky enough to have inland sites and coastal si-ces, and they show the range of possible functions for a Mesolithic site. Some have been shown to be large all year round base- camps with_no’, particular specialisation, others were specialist hunting camps only occupied at certain

seasons where afew people went for a short time for local reasons; for example Ring loster was a pine marten camp of winter/spring occupation. Other sites show large amounts of whale, seal, small cod, oyster and even swan bones.

In summary it has yet to be resolved definitely whether Star Carr was a permanently, settled base camp, seasonal base camp or seasonal hunting camp: but Dr. Rowley-Conwy showed us how through their research they have come to the conclusion that star Carr was a hunting camp occupied in the Summer.

ENFIELD AND WORLD WAR II.

Our colleagues in Enfield Archaeological Society have just published the second instalment of ‘Enfield at War’. The first part dealt with 1914-18, and was published 1982. Now comes 1939-45: both booklets are by EAS Chairman, Geoffrey Gillam.

The booklet is abundantly illustrated with evocative photos: photographs are what will make the history of 1850 onwards so much more vivid and comprehensible to future historians than any earlier century can ever be. The pictures in Enfield at War show, too, how soon one forgets – for instance, what food shortages were really like. A picture of a food queue a good hundred yards long in an Enfield suburban street brings it all back; and what ‘an insight you gain into the reality of the Blitz from a photo of a communal grave for 1940 air raid victims at Lavender Hill cemetery. Photographs of flattened buildings may look much the same in Beirut, 1985, or High Road, Ponders End, 1940 – it’s the Censor’s instruction on the Ponders End picture to “block out” the identifying features he has marked that brings it all home.

Mr. Gillam starts with the early signs of possible conflict in 1935 and takes the story right through, in nearly 60 pages, to the clearing up in 1945 and the healing of the physical scars of war since then. He ends with this note:

“Attempts are being made by the Enfield Archaeological Society to protect at least one communal shelter in the Borough. The events which caused these sites to be built have now faded into the respectability of history, and the surviving monuments of the Second World War have an equal claim for preservation as do Roman forts, medieval castles and other archaeological sites.”

Enfield at war, 1939-45, costs £4 (including postage) ‘from Geoffrey Gillam, 23,Merton Road, Enfield, Middlesex.

WEST HEATH ROUND – UP 1 9 8 5. by Margaret Maher.D

espite appalling weather it was a successful season, with the site open 6 days per week for 3 months – June, July and September.

27 sq.metres were excavated in an area to the NE of and butting on to the 76-81 excavation. All trenches were dug to a depth of 40 cms in 2 cms levels. All finds were recorded with three co-ordinates, with the exception of chips of less than 1 cm, which were recorded by the quadrant and level only. As in 1984, volunteers learnt to use the Quick Set level easily and rapidly. All spoil from the top 30 cms was sieved through 8 mm and 4mm racked sieves and the residue wet-sieved in 2 mm sieves.

A total of 12500 flint finds have been recorded and entered and a small number (c.200) remain to be marked. Myvanwy Stuart has started work on the burnt stone and numbers are expected to reach between 8-10,000. The most notable finds were a tranchet axe, two fabricators and several lumps of ochre.

39 people took part in the digging and another 10 participated in other ways such as surveying, finds processing and photography. Volunteers included this year 3 from the Institute of Archaeology, 4 from U.C., and 5 Extra-Mural diggers. West Heath is thus an approved site for U.C.C, and the Institute and for the Extra-Mural Diploma and Certificate.

Sales of information leaflets and offprints from the site were less than in 1984. £40 in 1985, £70+ in 1984. This was due to several factors –the-most important being the summer weather which I am assured is not the wettest since records began. There were far fewer walkers on the Heath as a result. The information table was at a greater distance from the trenches this year, and this resulted in the theft of some leaflets, and in numbers of people reading and then replacing the leaflets without buying. More volunteers prepared toman the table at weekends would partially solve the problem.

Up to the time of writing, no permission for excavation in 1986 has been received. However, Mr. Challen has expressed his willingness to maintain the enclosure fence and to keep an eye on the site until we re-start work next year. As he says: “HADAS is part of the place now, after all these years”.

LAST WORD ON ONIONS?

Dear Brigid,

I may as well add my ‘two penn’orth’ to the scallion discussion.

There never was any doubt in my mind about the strong onion connection, my mother – ­a Hertfordshire lass – always called small spring onions scallions; and also the leggy shoots which come up from onions stored in the larder when she noticed an onion starting to shoot she would let it grow and in due course we would get it in a salad.

I note that the Concise Oxford Dictionary lists them as ‘Shallot: long-necked onion without normal bulb.’ yours, TED SAMMES.

SITE-WATCHING.

The following applications, which might be of some Archaeological interest, have appeared on recent planning lists:

1266-82, High Rd, N20 & land at rear in Athenaeum Road 3-storey block

Land adj. 131, Marsh Lane, NW7. Detached house with basement (amended.)

Ambulance Station Site 165 High Street Barnet

Elstree Moat House, Barnet By-Pass, Boreham Wood

Old Central Public Health Laboratory. 175 Colindale Avenue NW9

1 Pipers Green Lane, Edgware. 2 detached houses

The Hawthorns, Barnet Rd. Arkley. 3 detached houses

Land adj. Oakwood, Oaklands Lane, Arkley detached house (outline).

Members who observe signs of activity on any of these sites are asked to inform n Enderby (203 2630).

COMMITTEE CORNER.

The Committee met on November 1st. The following matters arose during discussion:

£25 will be sent as a donation to the Hampstead Garden Subury Institute Rebuilding Appeal.

Phyllis Fletcher reported a rise of 22 in paid-up Membership: 370, as compared with 348 at the same time last year.

A liaison group has been set up to discuss the monitoring of the proposed Water Board pipeline across the North of the-Borough (see Newsletter 171, May, 1985, p5). The group consists of representatives of HADAS, of the Stanmore & Harrow Historical Society, of the Borough of Barnet and of the Greater London Archaeological Service.

Documentary work on maps of the Stapylton Road area of Chipping Barnet, where HADAS hopes to dig, has been completed.

The lecture course on ‘Aspects of Archaeology’ which has been provided by HADAS lecturers during the autumn term at the Hornsey Historical Society’s headquarters will continue for a second term after Christmas.

HISTORIC FARM BUILDINGS GROUP.

The recently formed Historic Farm Buildings Group held its first conference in October its inaugural AGM during that conference.

The Group’s first Chairman is a HADAS Member of longstanding – Nigel Harvey,

recently retired from the Ministry of Agriculture, who lives in Hampstead Garden Suburb. He

sums up the inaugural weekend, held at West Dean Collge, Sussex, as showing ‘a good spread interest from many disciplines;’ and adds that ‘wherever people look, there is much more to be found in the way of old farm buildings than one at first expects.’

As Author of The Industrial Archaeology of Farming in England and Wales .(published by Batsford in 1980) Nigel Harvey seems an excellent choice as Chairman, and we send him HADAS’s warm congratulations. We also look forward to hearing from him from time to time about the activities of the Historic Farm. Buildings Group. Meantime, he has sent the Newsletter a copy of the new Group’s first press release which sets out the objects of the Group as ‘the advancement of the study of the history of farm buildings in the British Isles, including their related equipment and the agrarian and economic systems of which, they formed part, and the promotion, where appropriate, of their conservation!

The press notice also points out that old farm buildings are ‘the structural documents of agrarian history with much to tell us about the pattern of rural settlement, reclamation and enclosure, about farming systems, building techniques and the lives and work of our rural ancestors. The fact that these buildings are rapidly disappearing as modern farming abandons their use, adds urgency to the task of recording and examining those which survive.

Membership is open to all interested in the past, present and future of old farm buildings. The Annual Subscription is £5, payable on January 1st.

COMING EVENTS.

Barnet & District Local History Society will hold their AGM in the Council Chamber, Wood Street, Barnet, on November 27th at 8:p.m. After the business meeting there will be talk on-Hadley Wood, by Andrew Pares, whom many Newsletter readers know – he has been a HADAS member for more than 10 years.

The BDLHS 54th Annual Report mentions with proper and justified pride that Barnet Museum has comfortably exceeded the figure of 5,000 visitor during the past year.

SPRING TERM COURSES AT THE CITY UNIVERSITY (TELEPHOLE 253 2399 Ext.3268J9)

The Ancient World II. Mediterranean Civilization from Early Greece to the fall of the Raman empire. Tutor Geoffrey T. Garvey. Wednesday 6:30 – 8:30

Archaeology in Roman London. Recording and dating techniques. Roman town, planning, building methods. Londinium as a unit in Brittania. The legacy of Rome as it affects the modern City. Tutors. Ken Steedman, Simon O’Connor Thompson. Thursday 6:30 -‘8:30.

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. Dept. of External. Studies. Rewley House, 1, Wellington Square, Oxford.OX1 2JA.

In January 1987, an impressive lecture series on the Seaborne Trade in Metals and Ingots

Lecturers include Barry Cunliffe and Paul Craddock.

The Late Roman: Town.-Weekend course, 17th – 19th January, 1986.

Study Tour of Normandy 21st- 28th .June,, 1986.

DETAILS OF ALL THESE COURSES FROM THE ABOVE ADDRESS.

Members who are increasingly aware of the overlap of Archaeological and wildlife interests in undisturbed areas will be interested in a volume recently published by OUDES.,

Archaeology and Nature Conservation is available from Rewley House, price £7, including £1 postage.

MARY LEAKEY’S FOOTSTEPS

There were some 15 familiar HADAS faces at the Prehistoric Society’s well-attended 50th anniversary lecture on Nov 15.

The speaker was Mary Leakey over from Kenya for the occasion. She spoke particularly about work at Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli, but began by saying that not only was this a celebration for the Prehistoric Society but also for her, too, because 50 years ago this year she took part in her first dig, on a Clactonian site with Kenneth Oakley: she must have started archaeology at a pretty youthful age.

The most famous thing from Laetoli of course, are the footprints.

Potassium argon tests have given the Laetoli tuffs dates between 3.59 and 3.77 million-years. About three and a half million years ago an active volcano Sadiman near Laetoli (it is still there, but extinct today) puffed out a very fine ash. .This covered everything nearby to a depth of about half an inch. Then came rain moistening the ash so that it began to take footprints of every, animal and even every bird that walked across it.

Among the animals were elephants, rhinos, giraffes, antelopes, pigs and hares; birds included ostrich and guinea fowl. Most important of all were three hominids who already, at that remote date, were walking with a fully upright, bi-pedal gait: two were side by side, one with a much larger print than the other; while a third came in at an oblique angle to cross the trail of the first two. Reckoning the length of a human footprint at 15% of normal stature, the largest hominid stood about 4½ ft tall.

The hot sun dried the footprints quickly, almost as if they had been in cement and within days Sadiman erupted again and deposited another half-inch layer, sealing them. In fact, the process of deposition, rain and hardening went on for some little time, so that when the first of the foot-prints was found some 8 years ago there was a layer about 8 ins thick, made up of a series of these very thin depositions. Something that required the most delicate excavation, particularly since Laetoli is well covered in vegetation and there were problems of root damage well. Ultimately hominid footprints were uncovered over a distance of 77 feet.

This is not the first time that Mary Leakey has told the Prehistoric Society the footprint story. That was at an ordinary Prehistoric Society lecture some years ago, and one HADAS member who had been present on that first occasion reminisced about it. It was, she said, an electrifying lecture – particularly since Mrs Leakey had laid out casts of the prints across the

floor of the hall, exactly as found.

Mary Leakey had come to England not only for the Prehistoric Society meeting but also for the opening by the Queen on Nov 20 of an exhibition called The Human Story, on human evolution over millions of years. It is at the Commonwealth-Institute in Kensington High Street until Feb 23 and should be well worth a visit. Open Mons-Sats 10-5.30 pm, Suns 2-5 pm; admission £1, OAPs/under 16s 50p.

OUT AND ABOUT IN ST ALBANS

Members may be interested in this letter from the St Albans & Herts Architectural and Archaeological Society about a book they are publishingon Dec 9: :

“At a tribute to the memory of Geoff Dunk, for years our Publicity

Officer; we are publishing a collection of some 40 of his articles on local history, entitled ‘Around St Albans with Geoff Dunk.’ The book will be A4,60 pp of illustrated text, price 4.50 from Dr Norman Kent, 20 Jennings Rd,St Albans, packing and postage free.”

NEWSLETTER No. 177: NOVEMBER 1985

PROGRAMME NEWS

Tuesday November 5: A Reappraisal of Star Carr, by Tony Legge

Tony Legge, environmental archaeology specialist, will be known to many members who attended the University of London Certifi­cate in Field Archaeology first-year course at HGS-Institute last year, or through ‘his work in the extra-mural department of

the university.

The original excavation of this Mesolithic site at Star Carr in Yorkshire (about 7,500 BC) revealed a dense concentration of flint, bone, wooden and other implements and ornaments, the richest collection of material of this period so far found in Britain. The finds are at Scarborough Museum, the Museum of Archaeology at Cambridge and the British Museum,

Tony Legge and colleagues have been studying the environmental material again and have reached important new conclusions

His lecture promises to be stimulating and informative.

Tuesday December 3: Christmas buffet party at the Meritage Club, Church End, Hendon (same place as our Arabian Night last year). The HADAS cooks are having a sabbatical this year. We hope that all our new members will come along, and a lot of our old members too, who we never seem to get to know beyond names on the members’ list. Please write to Dorothy Newbury, 55 Sunningfields Road, Hendon NW4., if you can come, enclosing your remittance. Tickets – £3.50 per person – will then be sent with your December Newsletter.

Tuesday. January 7: Archaeology of Hedges and Woodlands, by Dr Oliver Rackham.

THEY CAME FROM FAR AND WIDE…

The MINIMART on October 5 again exceeded expectations – thanks to all those members who so gallantly help each year (and some new ones), or cook for Brigid’s food stall or Tessa’s lunches, We get a good attendance from the public – some are becoming regular customers, so our goods must be worth buying. In fact, our fame must be spreading as one gentleman came from Victoria and gave June his phone number in order to be notified in good time next year.

The same gentleman was so loaded with his purchases that he had to ask Nell for a lift to the station – What a Wonderful service HADAS provides. And it all paid off to a grand total £925.

We would also like to thank several members who could not attend, but sent in donations to boost our takings.

Dorothy Newbury

OFF TO A FLYING START

Edward Sewell reports on the first lecture of the 1985-86 season, on October 1

What a flying start to any season we had, with the first lecture of the 1985-86 series given to us by Christopher Stanley, who for 20 years has been archaeological field officer for the Middle Thames Archaeological Society and in 1979 received the Vinten Award for his contribution to aerial archaeology.

Five thousand years of the history of our islands passed before our eyes in just 90 minutes and all from a completely new angle for most of us. We were treated to stone circles and burial mounds, so clear from the air and often not visible from ground level. The Roman’ forts, towns and villas appeared in fascinating detail temples, shops, houses and streets outlined, even the ruts in the Roman roads showing. Iron Age hill forts and later stone fortifications revealed their strategic locations in our landscapes.

We saw stately palaces and country houses in their gardens and parks as their original designers and owners could never have viewed them.

The development of villages, towns and cities could be seen, from hut circles and medieval strip layouts, through Regency Bath and on to modern London, culminating in the National Westminster Bank tower in the City, the shape of which – derived from the Nat West logo – is visible only from the air.

Thanks were given to Mr Stanley for the visual treat and his interesting and witty commentary. I for one would like to see many more of his fascinating and detailed views in the future.

At the October meeting members heard news of two HADAS’ invalids.

Our chairman, Councillor Brian Jarman, convalescing near Hurstmonceux, sent his best wishes for the coming lecture season and regretted greatly that he could not be with us. After nearly five weeks in .hospital, he is now much recovered, but still has to have regular check-ups in hospital and is on a very strict diet.

Another familiar face which was greatly massed was that of Mrs Connie Mason,-who has dispensed-HADAS’s coffee-and-biscuits-so cheerfully over the years. She is at the moment in the Royal Free Hospital at Hampstead – and very sad at missing the-last of the summer outings and the start of the winter season. Well-wishers could send her cards – she is in the Jex Blake ward

After the October lecture, a bunch of four keys was found under a seat -‘Yale key’, Chubb security key, a mortice-type key and a car or cashbox key. The library has been informed, but there is no claimant so far. Ring 203 0950 if they are yours.

SALES TALK

The monthly HADAS sales table has moved to a more comfortable position in the coffee room, where we hope members will take a fresh look at the stock before each lecture. Our own publications and the extensive range of Shire books are inexpensive and well worth attention: why not send a few instead of Christmas cards?

COMMITTEE CORNER

The committee met on September 27. Here is a selection, from a long agenda, of some matters it considered:

Membership: Phyllis Fletcher reported a total paid-up membership since the start of the HADAS year (April 1, 1985) of 354, which compared reasonably with the same time in 1984. Nine new members had joined in the previous two months. Her suggested “Cut-Off” list of those who had not yet paid their subscriptions was considered and approved. Long-time members Mr and Mrs Levison, of Barnet Lane, Edgware, had sent a most generous-donation of £100 to the society.

The Programme Secretary reported that a small profit made on outings this summer would help towards offsetting the charge for the lecture hall in the coming winter.’

West Heath: Permission has again been granted by the authorities to dig at West Heath next summer, during a period from mid-March to September. ”Our exact programme will be finalised later.

25th Anniversary of HADAS’s founding occurs next year. To celebrate, Ted Sammes hopes to arrange an exhibition – possible under the title One Man’s Archaeology – at Church Farm House Museum from October 11 to December.7 1986.

The committee decided to ask for space for a display and bookstall at ‘the LAMAS Local History Conference on November 30 next and to arrange an exhibit on the history of farming in the London Borough of Barnet.

The Prehistoric Society is organising, as part of its current programme, a General Research Day on January 25 next, at which members are invited to display their own recent work. It was agreed to ask the Prehistoric Society if a small display of the West Heath finds would be acceptable.

Adult Education Survey. HADAS has; as part of a current CBA Survey of Adult Education, completed a questionnaire on the provision of informal training.in archaeology by local societies. This included details of the courses which HADAS has promoted locally, including the current course on Aspects of Archaeology which is taking place this term and next at the Old Schoolhouse, Hornsey Historical Society’s headquarters in Tottenham Lane:

Community Radio. The society has been approached by Anthony Samuelson, of the Production Village, Cricklewood Lane, in connection with his application for a community radio station based at the village. Mr Samuelson wanted to know if HADAS members would be prepared to take part in broadcasts, either on specific historical or archaeological subjects or in general discussion. We have agreed that if his application is granted we will be happy to help.

The Photographic Group reports having started photographing the blue plaques in the borough and the buildings on which they are installed.

Listed Buildings, In the June Newsletter (No.172, p6) we mentioned that LBB Planning Department had decided to draw up a local list of buildings of architectural and historic interest. Early in August the council wrote to say that it proposed to consider for inclusion on the local list buildings. which we had suggested earlier, but that had not been accepted, for the Statutory List, and inviting us by August 31 to add any others we felt might be worthy. Unfortunately, that kind of exercise deserves months rather than weeks, of study. We have therefore not added to our original list because there has not been time to do so.

LETTERS… LETTERS… LETTERS…
From Mary Spiegelhalter:

Just a few lines from the remote south west:* We had planned to come up for the October Minimart and had arranged to stay in East Barnet for that week – but unfortunately my hip trouble is much worse and I have to go into hospital soon. It will be a long job, but I hope that next year will see me more active.

Our local group is quite active and I thought you might like to see the enclosed newsheet, Recently we went to the caves at Buckfastleigh, where the bones of elephants, hyenas, bears,- etc. can still be seen in situ – very interesting. By the way, we should have enjoyed the Sutton Hoo outing – what a well-written account. Perhaps we can join next year’s outing„.

*Long-time HADAS members Mary and Frank Spiegelhalter have retired to Bideford, in Devon. Mary enclosed a newsheet about an excavation by the Exeter Museum Archaeological Field Unit on a large site in Barnstaple, which uncovered (on different areas of the site) a bell-casting foundry, the 17th and 18th century foundations of the workhouse, with medieval deposits underneath, parts of a protective moat surrounding the castle, a path built about 1600 and surfaced with broken pottery from a nearby kiln and traces of the 17th century pottery kilns themselves.

From Robert Michel:

I am glad to say that working tide mills are not quite as scarce as. Diana Mansell fears (Newsletter no.176).

Eling tide mill near Southampton, for example, produces its stone-ground flour in time-honoured fashion, with two ebbing tides a day producing some eight hours milling time in total. Although the present mill dates from “only” about the mid-18th century, milling has a very long history at Eling.

There was at least one mill in existence at the time of the Domesday Survey and although it is not certain that it was tide-powered, there is clear documentary evidence of one being built at Eling in the early 15th century. Milling by tidal power only took place until 1936, when a small internal combustion engine was installed.

Happily the recent enlightened attitude favouring the selective preservation of industrial relics has paved the way for the mill’s restoration and presentation to the public (at certain times). Perhaps one day the development of milling at Eling will be put into a clearer context by the restoration of the former steam. powered mill built, significantly, adjacent to the tide mill but some way back from the water’s edge.

NB: The factual content of this letter, Mr Michel adds, relies heavily on research undertaken by the authors of the pamphlet Eling Tide Mill.

From Stephen Pierpoint, Museum of London

I am writing to thank the members of HADAS for all the splendid effort you have put in processing the finds from our various sites, particularly. West Tenter Street. We are still getting help from HADAS members and are most grateful.

This year has been a particularly busy and gratifying one for the unit. Our excavations at. Jubilee Hall, Covent Garden, provided an important and perhaps first decent glimpse of middle Saxon .London. At Trinity Square we excavated an interesting stretch of the rampart behind the Roman city wall. We are well advanced in our programme of excavations, in the vicinity of Spital Square near the medieval infirmary. Not only has our work shown up the medieval buildings and associated cemetery, but an underlying Roman cemetery as well. A little earlier in the year we excavated behind Pinner. High Street and found traces of medieval buildings.

We will be processing the finds from all these sites over the next year and if any HADAS members are interested in helping, we continue to have volunteer sessions every Tuesday night as well as working most days of the week.

Thanks again for your help.

Editor’s notes HADAS members who have helped the Museum of London with finds processing at 42 Theobalds Road include Jean Snelling, Irene Owen, Helen Gordon and Astrid Heyman. Members who would like to volunteer to help this autumn/winter Can find out from Jean Snelling (346 3553) just what is entailed; Stephen Pierpoint’s number is 242 6620.

A SECOND HELPING OF ONIONS

Brigid Grafton Green sniffs out some more information

In the last Newsletter I mentioned two regional names, scallions and chibols, that I had found for onions (particularly shallots) and asked if readers knew any more about either of them. One thing immediately emerged HADAS is interested in onions. Five people at the first lecture came up and added to my store of information. What they said took us all over the world.

Mr and Mrs Meyer met me in the car park with the news that. Italian onions are cipolla and Spanish are cebolla; later Stewart Wild confirmed this; then (at the Minimart).Julius Baker added, the fact that German onions go by a’ similar name.

Jean Snelling pointed out that syboes was an Edinburgh variant; and Mary Spiegelhalter wrote to say that down in Devon “spring onions are chipples to country- people:

The “spring onion” usage takes us across to the other word – scallions – and also across the Atlantic, because that is what Rosalind Batch­elor says spring, or salad, onions are .called in the States.

Meanwhile, I’ve been digging about a bit, in dictionaries. I didn’t find “chibol.” in Dr Johnson, but he gives “scallion (scaloyna, Italian) a kind of onion”. A Latin dictionary provides the word “caepa” for onion, with “caepulla” for an onion bed – presumably thats the root from which modern Italian cipolla and all its variants come.

The OED provides definitions of both scallion and chibol. Scallions are a. shallots, b. Welsh onions or chibols.or c. an onion which fails to bulb: but forms a long neck and a strong blade. Chibols get a longer entry. They are said to be obsolete except in dialect; and the word originally meant either the species of Allium known as stone leek, rock onion or Welsh onions; or that it was “a young spring onion with the green stalk attached”. The first literary reference to chibols occurs’ in: Langland’s Piers Plowman in the14th century, in a passage which also mentions scallions, parsley, chives and chervil.

Finally, here’s the way Mair Livingstone, in a note to the News­letter, moved the whole subject into Wales: “‘Chibols’ in Wales: I have always assumed that this was an Anglicisation of the Welsh word for shallots, which is Sibwls. The alternative words are Sibwn and Sibol (whereas the various words for onions differ – wynwyn, nionod, etc). I checked this in the eighth edition of the Geiriadr Mawn – the ‘big’ Welsh dictionary.”

I’d be happy to have a third bite at these onions if anyone’s got any further information tucked away.

PAST SUCCESS, FUTURE?

From November 11 to December 7 Church Farm House Museum will be displaying Archaeology in Greater London, a small touring exhibition on the activities of the GLC’s London Archaeology Service, reports Gerrard Roots.

In eight well-presented panels, it shows examples of all aspects of the work of the service, from the major excavations to conservation and interpretation. There is no mention of any work in our borough. The exhibition tells a success story and therefore inevitably poses the question of how well will archaeology in London be served when this part of the GLC’s work is taken over by English Heritage.

Those unable to get to Church Farm can see the exhibition from now until November 9 at Southwark Cathedral, or from December 9 to December 23 at County Hall,

SITE WATCHING

The following sites, which might be of some archaeological interest, have appeared on recent planning application lists:

Land adjoining 41 Manor Road, Barnet

Land rear pf 36, 38 Kings Road, Barnet

131-131b High Street, Barnet

Lawrence Farmhouse, Goodwyn Ave, NW7 34 Barnet Gate. Lane, Arkley

Should members notice any signs of impending development on these sites, please let John Enderby know on 203 2630.

Lawrence Farmhouse, the fourth site on the list, for which there is an application for an extension, is a Grade II listed building.- a fine 17th-early 18th century red brick house with a steep roof and lean7-t6 additions at either end. It is said to have been built on the site of, a Tudor building known as Whytes Farm. .It appears on the 1863 OS 25in map.as “Lawrence Street Farm”. In the early 1970s it was the subject of considerable controversy when the North Hendon Conservatives made application to extend and alter it.

MORE DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES

On November 16, London University’s Institute of Historical Research is holding a day conference on the uses and problems of census data; All-day fee is £5 (payable to the Local Population Studies Society), details from Dr Brian Benson, 23 Plemomt Gardens, Bexhill-on-Sea, E. Sussex TN39 4HH.

Oxford University Department for External Studies is offering two days of lectures and discussion on English place-name studies, on November 23-24. Residential fee is £23, non-residential £16.50 (or £8 without meals). Details from Archaeology/Local History Course Secretary, Rowley House, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford OXI 2JA.

Newsletter No 176: October, 1985

OCTOBER 5th means MiniMart

HADAS PROGRAMME

Tues Oct 1 Opening lecture of the winter season, on England’s Heritage; An Aerial View, by Christopher Stanley

Sat Oct 5 Write this date in letters of fire: the HADAS Minimart, 11.30am-2.30pm, St Mary’s Church House, top of Greyhound Hill, NW4. Please let Dorothy Newbury (203 0950) or Christine Arnott (455 2751) know if you have found any more items for the Minimart. We are doing very well, but more will help; and we will be glad to hear from anyone who can give an hour or so help in the rush hour when the sale starts – and then recover over a splendid ploughman’s lunch with Tessa. Everybody please come if you can to buy or just to browse and chat. From 9 am-9.30 help is required from car owners to transport goods from Church Road to the hall.

Tues Nov 5 Lecture: reappraisal of Star Carr by Tony Legge

Tues Dec 3 or Tues. Dec 10 Our Christmas party will be at the Meritage Club, next to St Mary’s Church, Hendon, on one of these two dates. We will confirm which in the November Newsletter; meantime, please keep both free if you can.

Note: lectures are at Hendon Library, The Burroughs, NW4. Coffee from 8 pm, lecture 8.30.

IN SEARCH OF AN EARLY ENGLISH KINGDOM. Report by DIANA MANSELL on

the September outing

The recent TV portrayal of Britain’s foremost archaeological discovery, the celebrated Sutton Hoo ship burial, prompted a larger enthusiasm for the September outing than is customary – our apologies to the disappointed overflow. The 53 fortunates who packed the coach warmly thank Sheila Woodward and Dorothy Newbury for all their reconnaissance and scheduling, which produced the usual high standard now expected of a HADAS outing.

Sutton Hoo (OE hoh: a spur of land) is situated on high ground above the east bank of the Deben estuary opposite the little market town of Woodbridge.. We approached the site along a sandy track at the edge of a bean field and were greeted by Cathy the site surveyor, along with the first spots of rain which she nonchalantly accepted as part of the scene.

We gathered on top of mound 1, the barrow of the ship burial, marked out with string to indicate the position and scale of the project. The ship itself was 89ft long; lying down in the marked rectangle representing the burial chamber, Cathy clearly demonstrated its position off centre. It seems likely that some destruction to the west end of the barrow by medieval ploughing had for once proved providential. The plunderers who came at a later date seeking treasure drove a hole down the centre from the top of the extant mound, missing the burial chamber and all its riches by inches.

The treasure itself, from the world-renowned 1939 excavation, is of infinite beauty and a craftsmanship which cannot be emulated today. It is on display in the British Museum.’ Sadly, the ship is not; the acidity of the sand had destroyed its timbers, leaving only an impression of the great clinker-built rowing boat, the profile of which could be traced along the rows of rust stains from hundreds of iron rivets.

Although the grave goods constitute both pagan and Christian symbols the burial itself was of pagan ritual. All traces of the body have disappeared. The objects denote a man of great Power with contacts in Scandinavia, Merovingian France (where all the coins had been minted) and Constantinople. The most probable candidate is Raedwald, a 7th c king of East Anglia who died 625 AD.

As we watched the current excavations in the NE corner of the cite, we were filled with not a little pride at seeing one of our own HADAS members, Ann Trewick, trowelling actively – this is her second season on the site.

Great as the temptation might be to excavate another barrow, modern principles dictate a much stricter discipline of gathering maximum information with minimum destruction. The 1984-5 research directed by Martin Carver has revealed the site to be much more extensive than previously thought and has been extended into the surrounding fields and woods using a wide range of modern techniques and meticulous recording devices. As a result, it is now known that the Anglo-Saxon cemetery is superimposed on a larger prehistoric settlement spanning some 2000 years from the late Neolithic period.

Some 12-14 hectares (c 35 acres) have been surveyed and it is still grow­ing. Of particular interest in recent major discoveries are the so-called ‘sandmen:’ sandcasts of bodies in shallow graves. The most recent discovered last month – may yield important information on Anglo-Saxon religion, possibly reflecting the change from paganism to Christianity. This latest discovery was aligned approximately E-W and superimposed over an earlier grave with the body lying approximately N-S. These ‘sandmen’ are egg-shell fragile and require infinite patience and skill in handling. We were fortunate in seeing the latest experiment in preserving one in fibreglass resin, and to the inexperienced eye it looked most authentic.

Heaped on top of all the elemental difficulties, diggers have to contend with the hazards inherited from modern military exercises. Within days of retrieving the ship treasure in 1939 the country was at war and the army took over the site, leaving a legacy of scars from tank tracks and anti-glider landing trenches, together with unexploded shells and mortar bombs. Cathy told us that one such bomb found its way into a finds tray before being identified.

The sun was already drying us off as we retraced our steps to the coach to go into Woodbridge, where we were met by local historian Mrs Gwen Dyke. She regaled us with facts about some of the past worthies of Woodbridge and its more interesting sights – like the beautiful little 15c. flush work flint and stone church. A fascinating museum displayed local artifacts including a model replica of the Sutton Hoo ship and the iron rivet or clench nail found by Basil Brown, a self-taught Norfolk archaeologist, on an exploratory cut into the largest of the mounds in 1939. It led, ultimately, to the archaeological excavation that has been likened to a discovery in the Valley of the Kings.

At 2.30 we gathered on the quayside at the Tide Mill. Mr Dunnett, the Warden, told us something of its long history and how the machinery operated. A tide-mill had been in -continuous working on this site for 800 years since 1170. The present mill was built in 1793 and worked entirely by the rise and fall of the tides operating the sluice gates to fill the mill pool until 1954, when a diesel driven hammermill was installed. The diesel power could grind 1 ton of corn per hour compared to 7 or 8 cwt by water. Consequently water power was little used except for grinding cattle food, and long periods of inactivity caused the wooden wheel floats to become waterlogged and heavy, producing increasingly erratic rower. It largely contributed to the general decay of the mill. It was purchased in 1968 and lovingly restored to its original glory, and opened to the public. in 1973 – the only working tide mill in England.

•

Most of us enjoyed tea in Ye Olde Worlde cafe of 1553 – a date that seemed to have had a rather disastrous effect on the service – before leaving for home punctually at 5 pm. We all recommend that Bob, our most courteous of drivers, be high on any list of future HADAS outings.

Dorothy Newbury asks us to add that, in view of the great popularity of this trip – there was a waiting list of 20 – she and Sheila. Woodward are already planning a similar visit for next mid-August.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED – FINALLY!

To all who have not paid their subscriptions: there are still nearly 50 people who have not raid subs which were due for renewal on April 1 this year. If I do not receive them shortly I am afraid that this October Newsletter will be the last you will receive. I hope you have enjoyed belonging to HADAS.

Yours sincerely,
PHYLLIS FLETCHER

Membership Secretary

THE SONGS CHILDREN SING

Ring a ring o’roses

A pocketful of posies

A-tishoo, a-tishoo

We all fall down

Childhood beliefs – so often, alas, founded on fallacy – die hard. -Oneof mine went for a burton when I read The Singing Game, by Iona and Peter Opie, who must be the world’s greatest experts on children’s games, lore and language.

In it I learnt that ring a ring o’roses – “the first of the singing games an infant is likely to learn, the only one he or she plays with older members of the family and … therefore scorned as soon as a child becomes independent and goes to school” – does not, as I had always believed, date from 1665 and the Great Plague.

“In satisfaction of the adult requirement that anything seemingly innocent should have a hidden meaning of exceptional unpleasantness,” say the Opies, “the game has been tainted by a legend that the song is a relic of the Great ‘Plague”… that the ring of roses was the. purpuric sore that betokened the plague, that the posies were the herbs carried as protection against infection, that sneezing was the final fatal symptom of the disease and that ‘all fall down’ was precisely what happened. This story has obtained such circulation in recent years it can itself be said to be epidemic. The mass-circulation Radio Times gave it a double-page headline on June 7 1973 … lecturers at medical schools have repeated it as fact in Britain and America …” and they add acidly that ‘men of science are notoriously incautious when pronouncing on material in disciplines other than their own.’

Yet the earliest reports of the game being played in Britain are dated by the Opies to the 1880s – at Bolton-le-Moors, Lanes, about 1880; in Kate Greenaway’s Mother Goose in 1881; at two places in Shropshire in 1883; and in London and Sheffield 1891. As negative evidence they mention that “no reference to ‘ring a ring o’roses’ appears in .Pepys’s careful record of hearsay during the long months of the Plague … Defoe’s brilliant evocation in A Journal of the Plague Year does not indicate that either sneezing or redness of spots was on men’s minds …”

In course of their argument the Opies demolish another favourite myth – that in saying ‘Bless you’ when someone sneezes, you also commemorate the Great Plague. They point out that The Golden Legend, printed by Caxton in 1483, particularly mentions the goodly practice of saying ‘God help you’ when a com­panion sneezes. So while ring a ring o’roses appears two centuries after the Great Plague, ‘bless you’ was current some two centuries before it.

The Singing Game is published by OUP at £15 and is highly recommended as a bedside book: it is eminently ‘dippable’. Sadly, it is the last book from Peter Opie; Mrs Opie completed it after his death in 1982.

MAPS AT HERTFORD RECORD. OFFICE a report from JIM BEARD

A major re-development of the Stapylton Road area of Chipping Barnett including the building of a new Library, has been proposed and before building work begins there, HADAS hopes to mount at least a trial dig.

From a documentary point of view, the first step has been to check what early maps of the area are available at the Local History Collection in Egerton Gardens and at Barnet Museum; and to get photo-copies of the relevant bits; and then to go further afield, to Hertford Record Office.

There was so much valuable material at Hertford that the half-.day I had available wasn’t nearly sufficient to examine it all fully. An 1818 Barnet enclosure award map, of which we are obtaining a slide may well provide valuable information; but there are also a number of other maps of Chipping Barnet, East Barnet and Totteridge from the days before 1963, when these areas were cut out from the jurisdiction of Hertfordshire and transferred for administrative purposes to the London Borough of Barnet by the London Government Act.

Another visit to Hertford for further research is a must but meantime I have listed the Map material that is available there concerning our Borough. I felt that the list of what there is at Hertford might well be helpful to other HADAS researchers – so here it is. The first part of the list comes from the Record Office catalogue:

1. East Barnet: Late 18c; 16″ to one mile, drawn by F Taylor, 119 Chancery Lane. Names of fields, adjoining landowners, churchyards.

2. Barnet/E.Barnet/S.Mimms. Map of Barnet Manor 1817. 13.3″ to mile. Surveyor unknown. Tracing on linen. List of demesne lands, names of fields and woods, state of cultivation. Separate sheet with map. Footpaths, parish boundaries, strips in common fields, turnpike. Originals in Barnet & District Local History Society’s strongroom.

3. Chipping Barnet/E.Barnet/Totteridge/Finchley. Descriptive Register of Estate of Edward Beeston Long Esq in above parishes of Herts/Middx. 10″ to mile. Includes small maps with tables of reference of. following: Whetstone Farm; Spencers Farm, Russells Farm; ..E.Barnet Farm; Spivey Meadows The Mansion and Home Demesnes; details of School House but no map; trees and shrubs; some roads; no adjacent landowners

4. Chipping Barnet. Plan of Copyhold Estate ‘of Mr Leonard Dell in parish of Chipping Barnet, surveyed by J Taylor, 50″ to mile. Fields with acreages, table of reference at side of map, ink on paper.

5. Barnet Award 1818. 5 maps, Chipping Barnet/E.Barnet/S.Mimms/Totteridge. Lists landowners, tenants, acreages, tenure. Bound volume.

6. OS parish of Chipping Barnet, 25″ to mile, 1st ed. Acreage book, parish of Chipping Barnet„

The second part of the list comes from entries in Hertford record Office card index system, and consists of maps and plans contained in other documents. Numbers on left are Hertford catalogue numbers:

VII.C 4B

Nicholas King’s lands called King’s fields (Bray’

26323

Plan of property in High Street, Chipping Barnet, 1783

D/EBt.P1

Cherry Tree estate Southgate belonging to the trustees of Valentine Poole’s Charity. Coloured 1793

D/Z 24 P1

Plan of copyhold estate in Chipping Barnet, Property of Leonard Dell, 1797 (see 4 above)

D/P/15/18/1

Polio 28, Plans of Barnet Workhouse, 1807

D/P 15. 6/3

Detailed plans of church, 1¼” to 10ft. no date

80912

Manor of Barnet in Chipping & East. Barnet & South Mimms, 1817 (see 2 above)

178 D/ESb

Simpson’s bundle – Builders Arms. No date

D/EX 94 Z1

Marginal plan of land North of Workhouse.

D/P15.29/5

Plan of East Barnet UDC area (in Vol. of Barnet Parish Records)

DES 1/9

Chipping Barnet national School, Plans etc, showing proposed additions, 1846

DES 1/10

E.Barnet National School plans of school etc 1871

DES 1/11

New Barnet Lyonsdown Trinity C of E School, plans etc 1869-71

D/EB 1073.P1

Mansion? (Writing unclear0. Property of National Freehold Land Society 1852

D/EB 9222 P1

Printed plan of freehold building estate, plots fronting on Salisbury/Carnarvon/Strafford/Alston/Stapylton Rds. 1881

D/EEA/10

Lease of land in Wood St with plan, 1893-1920

D/P 15.28/1

Barnet (no. 2) Light Railways Order – plans etc 1901

37324

Plan of Barnet Cattle Market & Auction Offices, New Rd 1902

D/P 15A3/1

62 OS map showing proposed district of Arkley 1902

37439

Plan of church of St Marys E Barnet 1912

HCP1/1/11-13

Town area maps, land use, town and programme maps. 6” to mile 1951

HCP1/2/5-6

Town and programme maps for Barnet & E. Barnet 1958

Footnote: the most intriguing item on the list seems to be “Simpson’s Bundle”. The very phrase conjures a world of imaginary possibilities. Who was Simpson, and what was in his bundle? Jim Beard says he can hardly wait to find out. He’s going back at the earliest opportunity to unearth the truth about Simpson and his bundle – and why it has Barnet connections.

NEWS ABOUT PEOPLE

Founder member OLIVE BANHAM (familiar to anyone who. has .ever been on a HADAS outing as ‘the lady with the sweet tin on the coach’) has been under the weather suffering, she thought, from sciatica. She asks us to thank the many members who sent her ‘get well’ cards, which cheered her immensely. “Please tell them it wasn’t sciatica at all,” she writes, “but a badly sprained back. And all I did was to bend down to pick up a key. However, I’m getting quite good now at crawling.”

Also news of another HADAS invalid – who we didn’t even know was an invalid till after it was all over. Isabella Jolly, a Hendon member of some 9.years standing, was whisked away in the middle of the night for an operation. She reports she’s now back home and ‘as good as new,’ though under orders not to. Drive or garden for six weeks. However she managed the Sutton Hoo outing without wilting!

And talking of that outing, it was a great pleasure to meet ex,-HADAS member Wendy Page (now Wendy Colles and the proud mother of 4-year-old Anthony) in Woodbridge, near which she now lives. Sheila Woodward is still in touch with her; and told us the interesting fact that the Dublin surgeon who discovered – and named – the Colles fracture was a great (or even possibly a great-great) grandfather of Wendy’s husband.

Among the 1985 intake of new members is chartered surveyor DEREK J BATTEN a friend of Dorothy and Jack Newbury. He ‘is interested in an unexpected aspect of archaeology, and he wrote the following account of a field exercise in which he took part earlier this year under the title

SURVEYING CUSTERS LAST STAND

At the end of May I was privileged to take part as a volunteer in an archaeological survey of the Custer Battlefield, at the side of the Little Big Horn River in Montana USA. The project, organised by the US National. Park Service, ‘continued a 5-week survey begun in 1984. The work was carried out mainly by volunteers under the direction of professional archaeologists. I was proud to be the only non-American taking part.

In case you are not a Custer fan, the-Battle took place on June 25, 1876; and the two days following. George Armstrong Custer, CinC of the 7th Cavalry,’ had some 600 troops, together with about 40 civilians and Indian scouts. His advance was part of an overall strategy to force recalcitrant Sioux and. Cheyenne Indians back. to their Reservations in S.Dakota. Custer approached the headwaters of the Little Big Horn River knowing there was a sizeable encampment of Indians on its banks; but’without taking the precaution of establishing the the enemy strength. In fact, there is estimated to have been between 12000 – 15000 Indians of whom roughly one third were warriors – so the odds against him were heavy.

Custer divided his attacking forces into tree battalions, each with a different objective. Two of the groups, failing in their Objectives, managed to establish a defensive position on high ground and with great difficulty to hold it for three days until they were relieved by US forces coming up the river valley; but Custer himself, leading the third battalion composed of 5 Troops, was not so fortunate. He was cut off and cut up, and the relief force found only the dead and mutilated bodies about 5 miles from the defensive position.

The exact movements and eventual end of Custer are not perfectly known. Since then historians have spent much time researching possibilities and a number of different conclusions and accounts have been published. The area where the bodies of Custer’s men were found, and the defensive position, were purchased as a National memorial and are open to the public.

The archaeological survey work on the battlefield was in three main parts. First, there was a complete metal detector survey of both battle sites. Well over 5000 artefacts were found in 1984-5. Although these consisted mainly of bullets and cartridge cases, other finds included tunic buttons and buckles, horseshoe nails, a watch, parts of a Cavalry revolver and spurs.

Each artefact was identified, its orientation established and its position surveyed by means of a,transit theodolite. The artefact was bagged and taken away for subsequent cleaning. All the bullets and cartridge cases removed were sent to firearms forensic science laboratories, where it was poSsible to identify and match cartridge case with bullet, and to plot the movement of rifles and ‘ other weapons around the battle. The general conclusion is that there was, almost certainly, a Last Stand; which took place roughly in the position indicated at the present time on the Battleground. In other words, Hollywood and Errol Flynn were right after all (‘They Pied-with Their Boots On,’ released 1941).

The Custer Battlefield is unique in being the only one in the world which has marker stones indicating the places where troopers actually fell in battle. The main problem is that there are more marker stones than there are troopers known to have died

The second part of the survey involved detailed excavation of 2m squares to a depth of 200mm close to certain of the existing markers. The soil was removed very carefully and screened for bone fragments or similar objects. This was done in an attempt to -persuade the authorities that such a survey should be carried out at each marker, so that these may be positioned more accurately. Although the remains of all officers who were killed were removed in 1877, and the remains of all troopers were buried in a mass grave in 1879, in the pen­ultimate week of the 1985 survey a virtually complete skeleton was found close, to a marker. It is gruesome that the skull of this skeleton was missing, and both thigh bones were chipped in roughly the same place, indicating that the body had been slashed on each upper leg – a known way in which the Cheyenne Indians marked their dead foes. Incredibly; one boot had survived, with the bones of the foot still inside again a vindication of Hollywood, and proof that they did indeed die with their boots on.

The third part of the survey was the least successful. Twenty-eight bodies, mainly men of E Troop, are recorded as having been buried at the head of a deep ravine, but none of these bodies has been located. Trenches were dug, borings taken, and a world expert geomorphologist (also a Custer buff) gave his skilled time to try to determine how the soil pattern might have changed over these last 109 years, all in an attempt to locate these bodies. Alas, to no avail. Most, of the other amateur Custer experts were convinced that he was digging in the wrong place, and there is certainly no unanimity as to the location of the correct ravine where men of E Troop wore laid to rest.

I found that American survey methods varied between the pedantic and the haphazard. My demonstration of setting out a simple right angle by the well-established five: four: three method was greeted with a mixture of wonderment and disbelief.

Hazards in the field included cactus spines, poison ivy, sharp Yuca plant leaves, wolf spiders, ticks, fiendish mosquitoes and even the occasional rattlesnake. These difficulties were more than compensated by the wonderful team spirit amongst all of the archaeologists and volunteers, and the friendship and hospitality shown towards an eccentric English chartered surveyor.

OIGNONS A LA PLINY

The August Newsletter reported that a Roman farm-and-garden complex has been created by the Butser Ancient Farm Project beside Fishbourne Roman Palace in West Sussex. Now we have some more details of the project.

There are Shetland and Soay sheep, which are the direct descendants of the domestic sheep of southern England in the Iron Age; and Cotswold sheep, believed to be exactly similar to the.sheep introduced by the Romans. The Dexter cattle and the Old English type of goat have similar bone structure to archaeological bone evidence from Roman sites.

The field area has been sown with basic wheat cereals grown in the Roman period emmer and spelt, with areas of modern wheat to provide a comparison for yields and weed infestation.

The herb garden at Fishbourne includes two kinds of fennel, coriander, parsley, chives, caraway, borage, rue comfrey and thyme. The vineyard shows different methods. of Roman viticulture, using the Wrotham Pinot variety of grape, believed to be a direct descendant of the vines imported into Britain in the first century.

The vegetable garden bears direct comparison with a modern kitchen garden in terms of range and variety – there are three kinds of bean, lettuce, spring onions, shallots, and larger bulb onions endive, turnip, radish, carrot, beets chicory, two sorts of pea, lentils and garlic.,

Many of the plants are modern equivalents, some are exactly the same vari­eties as were grown two thousand years ago. A booklet tells us the fascinating fact that. “the onion Pliny refers to as coming from Ascalon (a Palestinian sea-port), corresponds exactly with the modern shallot, both in its description and cultivation. Oddly enough, the shallot is occasionally referred to as a. ‘scallion’ in certain parts of Britain even today, a word which is doubtless derived from Ascalon.”

I’ve met the word scallion used for shallots – but it was in the eastern counties of Ireland, Wicklow and Dublin, and that’s an area to which the Romans are not meant to have penetrated. I’ve also met the name “chibols” for shallots – in Wales. If HADAS members have come across these usages anywhere else – or if they have found other variations on the shallot theme – the Newsletter would be most interested to hear of them.

CONGRESS of INDEPENDENT ARCHAEOLOGISTS

A stop-press report by DAPHNE LORIMER, HADAS’ representative at the Congress

It would take a whole Newsletter to cover all the papers read at the Congress of Independent Archaeologists at Cambridge during the weekend of Sept 21/22. Andrew Selkirk, urged by Plantagenet Somerset Fry, had drawn together representatives from all over Britain and beyond to give us papers which ranged from the workings of America’s Earthwatch to Henry Cleere’s personal concept of Independent Archaeology; from the vanishing funds from central Government and the sparse sums provided by industry to the successful, self-financing efforts of the Jorvik Viking Trust; and from the working of local societies to the contribution of the individual researcher (some amateur, some freelance). Some papers pondered on the nature of an Independent while others explored the vast, untapped manpower resources of the newly retired and the mothers of grown-up families (did you know that the Americans call them ’empty nesters?’).

Above all, loud and clear, through practically every paper (except, obviously, that from Brian Hobley) came the anguished cry of what can only be described as the disestablished amateur – “Why are we pushed out in the cold?”

Henry. Cleere pinpointed the moment of the great divide of what he called two perfectly valid movements in archaeology in Britain. That moment came at the very peak of public fervour, when ‘Rescue’ was started and created the Units. He laid the responsibility for this polarization at the door of the very young professionals who staffed them. Their arrogance blinded them to the strengths of a system of amateur and professional co-operation which had been the envy of archaeologists abroad (he cited HADAS’s excavation at West Heath as an example of, that combination in practice).

Robert Kiln, an instigator in the foundation of the Units, was even more trenchant in his condemnation of the professional ‘Young Turks’ of the mid-seventies whose behaviour caused him to re-channel the charitable funds at his disposal away from archaeology.

There was, however, a note of hope in the Conference. It was suggested that there should be a clearing house of talent to put experts in touch with excavations; small funds are still available from commerce and there are charitable foundations able to donate sums of as much as £1000 or £2000 to projects. Robert Kiln offered to act as a clearing house for that, and he reminded the Congress that many development firms were insured against inter­ruption of their work due to archaeological discovery. A resolution was sent by the Congress to Lord Montague asking that a modest sum, in the order of £250000, should be set aside from the money granted by English Heritage in England (the Scottish Development Department and CADW for Wales should also set aside proportionate amounts) for distribution in small amounts for smaller projects by the independent sector.

These are just brief impressions of two days fascinating papers. The independent amateur archaeologist is there waiting and willing – it only needs that gifted professional (adept at man-management, public relations, inspira­tional teaching, organisation and delegation) to loosen the floodgates of man­power and talent and, as a result, the purse strings of the nation both public and private.

RECIPE FOR ROARING INFLATION

The marble head of a medieval knight which once graced a statue in Waltham Abbey is an instructive guide to the rising price of antiquities.

The statue was probably broken up at the Dissolution; the head was found between the wars then stolen from the Abbey by vandals in 1973, found again – buried – during building of a nearby council estate and sold by the builder who discovered it to a friend for 25 in 1982.

Next a local antique shop bought it for £90, then a Kensington shop paid £400 then a French business man acquired it at £7000. He sold a half-share to a London dealer, who persuaded the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to offer £36000 for it. Now a consistory court is trying to decide who it belongs to and whether it ought to be sold at all.

£5 to £36000 in three years really must be a record.

NEWS FLASHES

20th LAMAS Local History Conference will be held at Museum of London, Sat Nov 30 1985, 11.30am-5.30 pm.- Main theme: rural and agricultural history in London & Middlesex.’ Tickets Z3.00 (inc. tea) from Miss P A Ching, 40 Shaef Way, Teddington, TW11 ODQ,

On the Waterfront is title of a morning of lectures about the Port of London from Roman times to today, arranged, for Sat Oct 26 at Museum of London, followed in afternoon by a conducted river cruise. Coincides with launch of’ Gustav Milnes new book ‘Port of Roman London’. Price (book not included) £6.50. Tickets from Citi sights, 102a Albion Rd, N16.

With its current Newsletter LAMAS is circulating a 2-page Selected Reading List provided by transport expert Michael Robbins, on Transport in London for Local Historians to back up his excellent lecture at the last LAMAS Local History Conference, Material from days of horse-drawn society to age of aircraft. HADAS members wanting a copy should ring Brigid Grafton Green (455 9040).

Book Sale. On Sat Oct 19, at Education Dept., Museum of London, from 11.30am-4PM, LAMAS will be selling 700 surplus books and runs of periodicals from its library. LAMAS members and representatives of affiliated societies (and HADAS is an affiliate)-will be able to get in a 10.30 am. Prices from 10p, upwards, most in the £4 to £6 range.

The Times recently carried a photo of a farmer standing knee-deep in waving corn and holding a whole Roman pot, Complete with lid. Anyone who was on the HADAS outing to Gestingthorpe in June, 1983, would have recognised him at once: it was Harold Cooper, who showed us round his marvellous collection of Roman objects, unearthed from twelve of his rolling Essex acres in the last 35 or so years. Coins date the occupation of the site from about 50 BC-423 AD. A few weeks ago, in East Anglian Archaeology No 25, his work received its accolade: the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission did a full academic study of his thousands of finds.

To celebrate Domesday’s 900 years, the PRO will next year mount an exhibition

Apr 3-Sept 30, with documents and demonstrations by a parchment maker and an illuminator

A 13c pavement has been found, during rebuilding work, in one of central London’s few surviving medieval buildings,’ which ‘was saved from the Great Fire by a last minute change of wind. The building is the oldest Catholic parish church in the country, St.Etheldreda’s in Ely Place, Holborn. The pavement is part of the cloisters of the palace of the Bishops of Ely and is Flemish work – terracotta coloured tiles on which some painted pattern still remains. There are plans to preserve it.

Newsletter No. 175: September 1985

HADAS DIARY

West Heath. Digging restarts on August 30 and will continue all through September, 6 days a week (not Tuesdays) from 9am-6pm. If you haven’t dug at the site before, please ring Margaret Maher (907 0333) or Sheila’Woodward (952 3897) to say you intend to dig and to learn about equipment, etc.

Sat Sent 21. The last .outing .of the year will take us into Suffolk We shall go first to Sutton Hoo., site of the famous Anglo-Saxon ship burial. Current excavation has been producing further evidence, not only of the Anglo-Saxons but also of Bronze Age and Neolithic occupation. The afternoon will be spent in Woodbridge with a visit to the restored Tide Mill and a chance to explore this attractive little market town. An application .form is enclosed.

The new season.of lectures begins next month at Hendon Library, Me Burroughs, Coffee from 8 pm; lectures begin 8.30.

Tues Oct 1. England’s Heritage: an Aerial View by Christopher Stanley

Christopher Stanley, field officer of the Middle-Thames Archaeological Society, is known to several members for his wide range of aerial photographs. This will make an interesting start to our winter programme..

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS OUR. ADVERTISED APRIL, 1985, LECTURE, which had’to be changed over. The lecture .will NOT be ‘Zinc-making in Ancient India, as printed on the programme –

Sat Oct 5. A crucial date in the HADAS calendar: our main fund-raising effort, the MINIMART at St Mary’s Church House, Hendon, NW4 (top of Grey­hound Hill, opposite Church Farm House Museum). You will find a separate sheet about it enclosed with this Newsletter. Please read it – there are some points at which members’ help will be vital, so do .volunteer if you feel able to do any of the necessary jobs.

Tues Nov 5,. Reappraisal of Star Carr by Tony Legge

Lecture Information (mainly for new members): buses 183 and 143 pass the Library door, which is 10 minutes’ walk from Hendon Central Underground station_ and only a few minutes’ walk from the 113 (Edgware) bus and the 240 & 125 . (Quadrant, Hendon) buses. There are 2 free car.parks opposite the Library.

Members may bring a guest to one lecture, but guests who wish to attend further lectures should be invited to join the Society.

Will old-members please welcome new ones, and make them feel at home? New members please make yourselves known. It is -hoped that officers and committee members will went name-badges at lectures this year. Many old members, as well as new ones, don’t know who’s who, Please approach any of us with suggestions, offers of help, etc. We particularly need contacts with members prepared to .give lifts to those without transport – either on an occasional or a more regular basis, as is mutually convenient.

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

For some HADAS members this is a nail-biting time: they have been awaiting the results of Diploma and Certificate exams in archaeology which they took in June.

We haven’t managed to catch up with everyone’s results yet, but we have heard that congratulations are in order for DAN LAMPERT, who has passed the fourth year of his Diploma, after specialising in Roman Britain. He joins our steadily increasing band of degree and diploma holders.

Three members have chalked up successes in the first year of the Certi­ficate in Field Archaeology. MICHAELA O’FLYNN passed with Merit, and DR JOAN. EDWARDS with Credit; we don’t know what form DIANA MANSELL’S pass took as we learnt of it only by.hearsay – but we congratulate all three of them most warmly.

Now a different achievement – by former HADAS member ERINA CROSSLEY, who many members will remember with affection. Last month she had her.100th birthday, and celebrated it with a special Mass, conducted by Bishop. Philip Harvey and held in her own home in North End Road, Golders Green. Mrs Crossley – who has lived in, Golders Green for 75 years – was a long-time member of HADAS and a great supporter of our outings and lectures. She resigned in 1982 only because ‘I’m getting on and can’t get out to lectures as I used to.’ She is a highly talented artist and has painted many local scenes.

Paragraphs in the last Newsletter about the high-flying agility of Islay sheep provoked this comment from Cherry Lavell of the Council for British Archaeology: ‘I’m intrigued about the Islay sheep, though I’d have thought there was.no real problem about letting them keep the enclosure nicely mown! Something that is actively advocated for neglected churchyards in the south, for instance! At Butser Ancient Farm the Soays can clear 6ft in a standing jump, according to Peter Reynolds

When we passed these thoughts on to MAIR LIVINGSTONE (who, you may recall, first reported the break-in by Scottish sheep to an historic Islay churchyard) she had’an immediate answer. ‘Oh, you couldn’t let them into a Scottish churchyard,’ she said. ‘Our early churchyards have marvellous., beautifully carved figures of bishops and kings lying full-length on their tombs. Given a few months of sheep trespass and there wouldn’t .be a nose left among them.’ Shades of Robert Louis Stevenson and hip:

“Grey recumbent tombs of the dead in desert places,

Standing stones on the vacant wine-red moor,

Hills of sheep, and the howes of the silent vanished races …”

MISSING NEWSLETTERS

Last month a howl went up from two members who didn’t get their News­letters – indeed, both of them missed out for two months running.

If this should ever happen to you, please let the Editor know at once, on 455 9040 – and don’t wait for two months to elapse. We always hope to to get the Newsletter out in the first week of’ each month – and quite often we succeed. If you haven’t had a copy by, say, the 10th of the month, let us know and we’ll send a replacement.

VIEWING THE MARY ROSE. The galleries from which the Mary Rose – now on an even keel- – can be viewed in her Portsmouth dry dock have recently been enlarged. Early in August Richard Harrison, director of the Mary Rose museum,’ announced that he hoped queues to view the ship were now a thing of the past, and that ‘visitor capacity’ had been doubled.

SITE-WATCHING

Recent applications for planning permission have included the following developments which, if permission were granted, might be of some archaeological interest:

Land adj. Pymlicoe House Hadley Green. Garage & housekeeper’s flat.

(an alteration to an earlier application which we noted previously)

30 Brockley Avenue, Edgware front, side & rear extensions

St Mary’s Croft, Fortune Lane, Elstree covered swimming pool land bounded by Dollis Rd, Christs Coll. playing fields & properties in Dollis primary school
Park, N3

Croft Homeless Families Unit, North Rd 8 homeless units in 2 blocks,

Estate, Edgware (beside Edgware Gen. Hosp) car parking, access

40 Galley Lane, Arkley single storey front extension

Would members who notice any building or pre-building activity on those sites please let John Enderby know, on 203-2630?

ART IN THE BEND OF THE BOYNE

New discoveries of megalithic art have recently been reported from Knowth, one of the three great prehistoric tombs in the bend of the River Boyne, in Ireland (the others are Newgrange and Dowth). ‘Professor Eogan has found slabs carved with geometric designs; double spirals, concentric circles and chevrons. The carving is shallow grooving, made with stone tools, and the dating is 2500 BC. The decorated stones cannot be seen from ground level. The Boyne tombs have corbelled roofs; at Knowth the roof of the eastern tomb is composed of nine superimposed rings of stone, and the decorated stones are set in the sixth to the ninth rings from the bottom.

(information from Excavations at Knowth I by George Logan, . Royal Irish Academy, 1984)

CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL. AFFAIRS

Current Archaeology is already favourite reading for many HADAS members – but in case you ate a recent convert to archaeology and haven’t yet found this; excellent journal, we would like to bring it to your notice.

The current issue. -July 1985, No 97 – in addition to regular features such as the Diary, book reviews and readers’ letters; carries articles on the latest archaeological discoveries from sites as far apart as Dorchester (Dorset) and the new town of Glenrothes in Scotland.

The chronological range is equally wide: Neolithic ritual centres, a Bronze Age barrow, Roman mosaics, an enigmatic Anglo-Saxon site and medieval monastic buildings. For full measure an ‘Opinion’ piece discusses the Manpower Services Commission vis-a-vis archaeology and John Musty contributes some interesting facts about the place of the natural sciences in archaeology, in course of reviewing the :Regional Review of. Environmental Archaeology, just published under, the editorship of Dr Helen. Keeley by the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission.

Current Archaeology is published six times a year, subscription £6, from 9 Nassington Road, London NW3 2TX.

Need a late holiday? How about a

STUDY TOUR OF BRITTANY AND WESTERN LOIRE

Which is being organised by Verulamium Museum Educational Department? This will be a chance to see the famous Carnac -alignments and also to visit some of the Chateaux of the Loire valley. Basic cost £254. Dates Fri Oct 18 to Sun Oct 27. A’few vacancies still available, but apply as soon as possible to Brian Adams,. Verulamium Museum, St Albans AL3 4SW (phone 0727 59919).

MORE ABOUT EVENING CLASSES

The Museum of London doesn’t run many evening classes, but the subjects it chooses to cover are usually interesting; and the lecturers, from the Museum staff, have the Museum’s resources behind them, and can usually provide more practical material then is available to most lecturers.

This autumn two courses begin: both of two terms, both on Tuesday evenings starting Oct 1, fees for each £30. (or £15 for pensioners and. Students). From 6.30-8.30 Dr Alan Vince will take.a course on the archaeology of Saxon and Medieval London, a subject on which much new evidence (and fresh interpretation of earlier evidence) has come to light recently, some of it provided by Dr Vince himself – notably, his theory that Dark Age London centred on Aldwych.

The same evening, but from 6-8 pm, Peter Marsden offers a course with the unexpected title ‘The Archaeology of Family History.’ This is intended for students who have already done some documentary research on their own families, and they will be encouraged to continue that work. as part of the course. The idea is to use evidence from archaeological excavations of houses and occupation sites to fill gaps.in the documentary evidence, by showing the kinds of homes and. backgrounds that people of different occupations and classes would have lived in at different periods. A conservation element – of objects and • documents – is also built into the course.

You can register for the courses from Sept 11th, either in person or by post to the Education Officer, Museum of London, London Wall EC2Y 5HN. Cheques should be made out to the Museum of London.

Local Courses. The last Newsletter carried details of some local courses starting in the autumn. Here are some more:

At Owens Centre, 60 Chandos Avenue, N20, on Thurs from Sept 26, at 10 am Tony Rook onThe Egyptians.- Arranged.by Barnet WEA.,

‘At Hendon Library, The Burroughs, NW4, Weds-from Oct 9;7.30 pm, Margaret Roxan on The Romans in Spain and North Africa. Hendon WEA. .

At 43 Flower Lane, Mill ‘Hill, NW7, Weds from Oct 2 at 7.30.pm, S Cox on Aviation: An Historical Survey of its Military Application.

Post-Diploma Courses. These- all Central courses, held at either the Extra-: mural Dept, Russell Square or the Institute of Archaeology – follow much the same pattern as previous years. There are two on animal bones; one with Tony Legge, one with Mrs Sergeartson;’ one on Human Skeletal Remains, with Dr T • Molleson; one on Plant Remains, with Richard Hubbard; and one on Archaeo- Archaeogical Draughtsmanship, with Mrs H E Martingell.

The fee for these courses is £35; and most of them incorporate research work on finds from actual excavation. Brigid Grafton Green can provide more details if required.

UNDER ARMY ORDERS DANIEL LAMPERT describes the

HADAS outing of August 17

Porton Down, 5 miles NE of Salisbury, is a 6 x 2½ mile restricted area in the care of the Ministry of Defence, previously part of a large estate and consequently barred to the general public for generations. It presents an unusual and undisturbed collection of archaeological and botanical interest: there are about a hundred Bronze Age barrows and habitation sites, flint mines, ancient ditches and old trackways.

We were greeted on arrival by David James, representing the MoD Conserva­tion Office; he deals with SST (Special Scientific Interest) items. We formed up-so that he could read out site standing orders, tell us not to stray from signposted paths and then detail us into seven land-rovers (HADAS for the use of) interconnected by radio (efficiently verified in military style before departure). We drove off in closely-spaced convoy to examine the area. The drivers were MoD civilians who had volunteered – without pay – for this duty.

The barrows are late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age: 82 are bowl-shaped, 6 bell, 4 disc, 3 saucer and 1 .pond. Many were covered in scrub; some were less recognisable, having been used for target practice in the past. The largest is near Winterslow Firs, 104ft in diameter, bell shaped, 18ft high and the biggest man-made mound in Wiltshire other than Silbury Hill.

In 1814 excavation on a bell barrow by the Rev A Hutchins revealed an intrusive Saxon inhumation with contemporary grave goods, now lost, but recorded on an oil painting now in Salisbury museum. Other finds: an inhumation (head to the north) with a beaker, bronze dagger, two tanged flint arrow heads and a slate wristguard. A disc barrow over a cremation contained jewellery, ornaments, sewing implements and domestic pottery – suggestive of the Wessex culture.

We were then escorted to Easton Down. The area is divided by a complex of linear ditches: within a square mile and separated by the ditches lie a Middle Bronze Age urnfield, flint mines and two beaker settlement sites. The flint mines were discovered by Marcus Stone in 1929 and believed to be Neolithic. Over 100 U-shaped shafts may still be traced. Excavations produced antler picks and tools, axes and chisels, now on display in Salisbury Museum.

Marcus Stone excavated some beaker settlement sites in 1930: he found 10ftx5ft rectangular shaped sunken habitations probably with thatched roofs, the eaves of which would have been only slightly above ground level. The absence of stratified habitation areas suggest that these were temporary houses. Beakers with everted and in-turned rims were unearthed.

A flint cairn (cairns: believed to be monuments for those not entitled to barrow burials) excavated in 1983 produced charcoal which was sent to Harwell for radio-carbon dating: a date c 1700 BC has been recorded.

The linear ditches seem to suggest use as territorial boundaries. One extends for 3 miles. One excavation in the ditch produced beaker pottery and, at a depth of 4ft, a 3oz piece of ox bone which has been sent to Harwell for dating. Current investigation to determine how the land was parcelled up and the relevance of the linear ditches.

For botanists there were unusual wild flowers, including wild orchids Rabbits were in abundance, doing damage to archaeological remains (our guide said); and there are over a million anthills on the site.

The tour round the site was rewarding and our thanks go to David James and his volunteers who gave up their Saturday morning to provide this instructive visit.

After a picnic lunch by the Cathedral we visited Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum in the newly restored Kings House (c 1475). This has a Wessex archaeological section with detailed phases of construction of Stone­henge, artefacts from Durrington Walls henge and a display of the Pitt Rivers collection.

A very good day: Dorothy Newbury and June Porges arranged excellent weather (almost the best of this disastrous summer) and a wellorganised outing.

Tailpiece: one of the most interesting publications of the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum is a 12-page A4-size booklet on General Augustus Henry Pitt Rivers, the ‘father of scientific archaeology,’ by Mark Bowden. It was published last year and has some fine illustrations, including the famous photograph of the Neolithic excavation at Wor Barrow in 1893 and a marvellously evocative Victorian family group in which a top-hatted Pitt Rivers is shown in patriarchal mood, overlooking his wife, 6 of his 9 children and the family terrier.

The General’s early ethnographic and anthropological collections, numbering some 14000 objects and including the famous Benin bronzes, were deposited with Oxford University, where they are still to be seen today in the Pitt Rivers Museum, still arranged according to their collector’s theories of ‘the evolution of culture.’ His later collections, made after he had inherited his estate at Cranborne Chase, and containing the material from, and documentation of his archaeological excavations, were first shown at Farnham Museum in Dorset, which was created for the purpose in the General’s lifetime. Today they form an important part of the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum’s collection.

The booklet costs 60p (plus 17p post/packing) from the Museum, The King’s House, 65 The Close, Salisbury, Wilts SP1 2EN.

And, to end with, a quote from the great man, which suggests that he possessed a pawky sense of humour: ‘it not infrequently happens that well-intentioned’ persons show an irrational anxiety to have skeletons immediately re-interred, even sometimes with religious rites. I have known this claim set up by well-meaning Christians on behalf of the remains of people who would certainly have eaten them if the suggestion had been made in life.” (General Pitt Rivers, addressing the Royal Archaeological Institute at Lewes, 1883)

WELSH HARP EXHIBITION

In last month’s Newsletter we mentioned the exhibition currently showing at the Grange Museum, Neasden, on the 150th anniversary of the Welsh Harp Reservoir.

We now learn that when it finishes at Neasden the exhibition goes on tour It will be at Church Farm House Museum, Hendon, from November 16 to February 97 1986. Curator Gerard Roots hopes to include additional material as well as the exhibits shown at the Grange.

PREHISTORIC COOKERY?

Prehistoric break-throughs from Africa are nothing new in archaeology: the Leakey family and others have seen to that. Now from Kasteelburg midden site in the southwest Cape comes news of possible prehistoric cookery. The site has provided evidence of sheep and antelope in the diet. but the largest proportion of protein seems to have come from marine animals and birds. ‘Excavated pottery fragments carried an interior flakey brown coating which looked like burnt food; scientists at the University of Cape Town have been trying, by .a process known as gas liquid chromatography, to identify the substance through its fatty acids.

The values obtained for palmitic and stearic acids and their ratio to each other were compared to those for various modern species. The results suggested seal meat. As a control test, frozen seal tissue was baked in a pot for a. prolonged period the residue gave an oleic to vaccenic acid ratio close to that for the archaeological sample. It is thought that the experiments demonstrate convincingly a marine animal origin for the substance; but do not provide the name of a precise species. The seal family seems highly likely – and seal bones were found during the excavation. While the obvious conclusion is that meat was being cooked as food, it should not be forgotten that fat was also used ritually – by southern Africa tribes, arid rendering-down blubber could have been the objective.

Condensed from Archaeometry vol 27, 231-6

DANCER’S MUSEUM by CHRISTINE.ARNOTT

Ivy’ House, North End Road, Golders Green – which stands near Golders Hill. Park and close by the Borough of Barnet’s boundary with Camden carries a blue plaque on its wall which reads: ANNA PAVLOVA

lived here 1912-1931

What the exterior of the house does not tell you is that this is the home of the only museum – albeit a part-time one – dedicated to the history of the great dancer.

For some years the house has been used by the. Middlesex Polytechnic for speech and drama courses. Once a week, however – on Saturday afternoons, from 2.30-5.30 pm – the Pavlova Museum is allowed the use of one of the fine rooms on the first floor.

Members of HADAS who have helped to mount exhibitions will sympathise with the curator who has to pack everything away each Saturday evening, carefully and securely, and unpack and set.it out again the next week. There is a wealth of material stored away only a small proportion of which can be displayed at a time. Fortunately there is some storage space available at Ivy House – displays don’t have to’be transported there and back every week. Some of the Museum’s collection is, however, stored elsewhere and has never yet been on show at Ivy House.

The Poly intends .eventually to move out – indeed, this move has been expected annually for some years. When that happens, there are plans to use the .whole house as a Museum to ballet„

Although the museum is modest in size and content, I would urge HADAS members to find their way there: the visit is worthwhile if only to see the view from the upstairs windows over the lawn to the lake where once Pavlova’s famous swans sailed, and to where-a statue of the dancer – A memorial sculpture by Paulin – watches over past memories; beyond, the garden .are distant views across the valley to Harrow.

Within the room there is much to see ballet programmes, photos of costumes, of once famous people, mementos of special occasions and memorabilia of the ballerina.’ Furniture that was in her room and the atmosphere of the arranged exhibits, plus the many photographs, contrive to make one conscious of the richness of the pre-revolutionary Russian scene and the glamourous characters that fled westwards at the end of the First World War.

DETECTIVE WORK AT BATH

The Times of Aug 1 carried a report of an inspired bit of detective work by Professor Barry Cunliffe at Bath. Working not on freshly excavated finds from his dig at the temple of Sulis Minerva, but almost entirely on material long forgotten in the museum cellars at Bath, he has produced a splendid and convincing theory that there was a-hitherto unsuspected circular tholos-plan-temple in the centre of Roman Bath, probably built to celebrate the visit of the Emperor Hadrian in AD 122.

The starting point for piecing together this jig-saw consisted of four blocks of stone, each slightly curved and each highly decorated. They had been dug up between 1378 and 1882, and have been in store ever since. Three of them are from a frieze, one from an architrave. Their curvature suggests a building about 9m in diameter.

Professor Cunliffe also found three fragments of a monumental carved cornice, originally discovered in 1869, which he feels might belong to the tholos building; ‘also possibly two fragments of Corinthian capitals and part of a plain column, none of which seem to fit into the temple of Minerva that he has been excavating.

The first four stones were decorated suggesting that the building was meant to Using Vitruvius’s rules for architectural columns, 7.2m high, supporting the frieze panels shows a figure with a lyre, and he consisted of representations of the gods, both on the inner and outer faces, be enjoyed from inside and outside proportion he has postulated 12 and the cornice. One of the outer suggests that the outer decoration this one being Apollo.

The theory about the temple being built to celebrate Hadrian’s visit arises from the fact that there is already evidence for the expansion of the baths complex -in the second century and Professor Cunliffe argues that the expansion may have been sparked off by the Emperor’s visit.

Which all goes to suggest that archaeological information can be unearthed in the bowels of a museum as in the bowels of the earth.

UP AND COMING CONFERENCES

On Oct 11 a one-day conference, with speakers of the calibre of Professor John Coles and Frances Pryor, will be held at the Society of Antiquaries on Recent Research in the Fenlands. Tickets (limited to 120) from Bob Silvester, Norfolk Archaeological Unit, Union House, Gressenhall, East Dereham, Norfolk NR20 4DR. Conference fee L2.50.

In the weekend of Oct 11-13 the recently formed Historic Farm Buildings Group will hold its first AGM and autumn conference at West Dean College near Chichester; Details from Roy Brigden, Museum of English Rural Life, The University, Whiteknights, PO Box 229, Reading RG6 2AG

ANIMAL CRACKERS AT WEST HEATH, 1985 MARGARET MAHER spotlights some unexpected aspects of the HADAS .dig

June 10. Woke up at 5.30 am exhausted. Lay still and recovered from a recurr­ing nightmare. It always starts the same way – a telephone call to say that two Cranes, seven goats and 24 roe deer are roaming freely around Golders Hill Park, Golders Green and Hampstead! Horror hits as I realise I must have for­gotten to lock the gate of the animal enclosure when collecting water for wet-sieving. In m dream I spend the rest of the night rounding up animals.

June 12. Big Daddy has re-occupied his quarters in an overturned bucket in the hide where we keep our tools. He is a large smug brown toad, who watches our work with benevolent world-weary amazement and is completely unperturbed by the to-ing and fro-ing of people removing shovels, finds boxes, buckets, trestles, etc. One volunteer digger, convinced the toad was lost, removed and transported him to the Leg of Mutton pond on three successive mornings – only to be greeted with a smug blink from the re-occupied bucket each time the tarpaulin was removed.

Apparently toads migrate up to 4 miles back to the pond where they were born, in order to breed. Rescuing pathetic looking toads who have fallen into the trenches has been a common occurrence in this and previous years, with the ex­ception of 1984 when we managed to provide a shallow staircase of 1 metre trenches. (Toads cannot jump, but any self-respecting toad ought to be able to hop up a few centimetres to meet the lady of his choice!) Besides, sexing toads first thing every morning in order to pair them off, to make up for the wasted night, is not a skill every digger has – or wishes to acquire.

June 15. Mopping and baling out trenches before we could begin work was becom­ing a monotonous chore until today. Not any more: Having removed all but the last 2 cms of water this morning, things started hopping and jumping in all directions. I screamed/yelped and froze, and the other diggers fell about laughing before coming to the rescue. 25 froglets, about in long, were removed to places of safety and after a search of the soles of my wellies (in case any had become trapped in the ridges) baling continued. Worse was to follow.

Several mornings later, over 100 assorted frogs were removed before work could commence. On this occasion, yours truly sat at a safe distance reflecting on her shortcomings … I’d not realised that being able to pick up frogs by the hand­ful was.a prerequisite of the good digger. I DO NOT LIKE FROGS, dear readers!

June 21. A lovely sunny morning – so unusual at this time of year. Driving through the park at 5mph gives plenty of opportunity to watch squirrels at play and admire baby rabbits which innocently and fearlessly wash their whiskers on the paths around the dig enclosure.

Arrived at the site to be informed we’ve had vandals again – Rabbits: ‘A large burrow has been started in the corner of a trench and much damage done. Peter Challen, the Superintendent of Golders Hill Park, manfully controls his laughter when confronted with distraught person demanding immediate protection from the hooligans that live in his park. He helpfully supplies chicken wire and wire cutters, and Victor Jones, Myfanwy Stewart and I spend the afternoon sewing up a chicken-wire blanket. Sewing provides leisure to plan revenge and I decide to celebrate the summer solstice by remaining on site and engaging in ritual slaughter at midnight. Cannot remember how to make snares, so go hone ­thinking nasty thoughts about rabbits.

June 22. Drizzly morning. Restrain impulse to accelerate at sight of sweet little bunnies washing whiskers on paths.

July 30. The wire worked, so that just leaves the squirrels. Very cute and appealing they are; toe, and so tame that as soon as the tea box is unloaded a squirrel appears, standing on his hind legs and waiting for food. In the past 8 weeks the team have become experts on squirrel behaviour and can now announce – for those who-wish for such information – a Preferred Diet for Scavenging Squirrels. It is, in reverse order of preference:

Tomatoes: not popular; to be stolen, bitten once and discarded.

Bread and pastry (with or without marmite, butter, cheese, etc). No strong preference for brown or white.

Apple Cores: a great favourite. Naturally whole apples preferred, but if people are too mean, cores will do.

Chocolate Biscuits. So popular that Sheila Woodward has her pockets examined for more – they eat out of her hand. All Other goods (and people) are ignored if she is eating.

Honey Nut Crunch (Waitrose). The all-time favourite: For this they will climb on Jean Snelling’s knee looking for more, even patting her folded hands in case she has some hidden away.

We often share lunch with up to seven squirrels – those of us who have any lunch left, that is.- The Squirrel Mafia can chew through leather, canvas, tupperware and wickerwork. Zips present few problems: large squirrels send in small ones if the’hole or space is too small. They started by chewing the-edges of sand­wiches, but now are so organised that they pinch whole packages.

July 31. Digging ends this week. We have survived everything so far – 40 days and 4C nights of rain, plagues of toads, frogs, rabbits and squirrels. We await the locusts and killer bees. It’s been fun and digging re-starts on August 30. Watch this space and see you?

WHY NOT RESURRECT MIDDLESEX?

The current issue of Local History (July, 1985) publishes a letter from the former Chairman of the Middlesex Society, Donald Jarvis, on the tribulations suffered recently by one of the best-known collections of records in the country – those of the ‘ancient and historic’ county of Middlesex. Difficulties began 20 years ago with the decision to make Middlesex a part of Greater London; now ‘they are being compounded by the decision to abolish Middlesex’s successor, the Greater London Council. Mr Jarvis writes:

“The proposed abolition of Greater London as an administrative entity poses a very interesting problem. There are 32 ‘Greater London’ boroughs, and those situated east of the River Lea have the county of Essex as their ‘historic parent.’ The boroughs of Bexley and Bromley are of course historically part of Kent, while Richmond, Kingston, Merton, Sutton and Croydon must claim their proud descent from ancient Surrey. If we go back before 1889, when the London County’Council was formed, we can also include Wandsworth and Lambeth with Surrey, and Southwark, Lewisham and Greenwich with Kent. The point is that the ancient counties of Essex, Kent and Surrey still exist as administrative units of local government, each having their own record offices which presumably could absorb the records of their former ‘lost’ boroughs.

‘The interesting problem is. What happens to the records of those boroughs north of the Thames formerly in Middlesex? Middlesex was abolished as a unit of local government in 1965, so where are those boroughs – some 15 in all – now going to be ‘in’? If fears expressed by the County Archivist of the GLRO are justified – that the City Corporation may not be able to cope adequately with all tho records – might there not be a case for reestablishing a Middlesex Record Office, embracing all those Boroughs formerly in that county and in the old London County Council areas?”

HADAS members of long standing will perhaps recall that our Society joined other organisations and individuals to fight (unsuccessfully, alas) the closing of the old Middlesex Record Office at Dartmouth Street in June 1979 and the incorporation of its records into the Greater London. Record Office, first at County Hall and, more recently, at Northampton Road, Clerkenwell. Perhaps we were even wiser than we knew!

Newsletter No 174 August, 1985

SWANSCOMBE SKULLDIGGERY by Tessa &-George

Recently two HADAS members visited the site of the Swanscombe skull quarry during the Nature Conservancy weekend mentioned in the June News­letter, when engraved stone markers were unveiled at the sites of the finding of three pieces of skull of this famous Paleolithic fossil. The actual skull, oldest found in NW Europe, was on show, loaned by the British Museum (Natural History Dept.), with fossil remains of mammoth bear giant elk, and fossil footprints of bison, rhino and elephant. Flint tools from the site, of various shapes and dates, filled several dis­play cases in the temporary marquees. A demonstration of flint knapping using red deer antler, added further interest.

It is rather amusing that Swanscombe Man is now thought to be Swanscombe Young Woman – ‘young’ because the skull plates had not fused together, which is something that happens in the early twenties; and ‘woman’ because of the slim neck-muscle cavity. The skull bone is thick and has features of Neanderthal man, yet it is fairly similar in shape and general appearance to that of a modern skull, so the ancestry is open to debate.

Those of you who enjoyed the HADAS. outing to Swanscombe in 1981 will be interested to learn that a large cross-section of the bank is now ex­posed to show the sand and gravel strata laid down hundreds of thousands of years ago; and this area is where some of us found discarded examples of worked flints. Rhine snail shells have been excavated in the earliest levels and give rise to the theory that the Thames was originally the source of the Rhine. It was also fun to learn that the early meanderings of the River Thames made their way here via Rickmansworth, Ruislip and Finchley, rather like a Green Line coach, until various ice ages blocked the river with boulders and ice, and it was diverted. This area, at the edge of the wide. flood plain of the Thames, and now so much higher than the modern river which flows far away in the distance, was once an indus­trial site of prehistoric man; later it was used as a gravel pit, then a municipal rubbish tip and now it is protected by the Nature Conservancy Council and is open to visitors. It is just off the A2 north of Rochester.

Note: for new members not yet fully integrated into the. HADAS “family” Tressa is Tessa Smith, for several- years a Committee member, one of the leading lights of the Roman Group and a Guardian of our- interests in the Edgware area;’ while ‘George’ is George Ingram, the Society’s former librarian, a great supporter of HADAS outings and celebrations, and never seen at any of them without a cheery smile on his face.

HADAS DIARY

Sat Aug 17 Trip to Porton Down and Salisbury. For security reasons the application form for this went out with the last Newsletter letter. Response has been good and the coach is full.

Sat Sept 21 Sutton Hoo/Woodbridge. Application form for this will be enclosed with the September Newsletter.

Sat Oct Minimart. Material is already coming in well, and we hope that you will keep) it up. Please ring either Dorothy Newbury (203 0950) or Christine Arnott (455 2751) if you have things you want to deposit or to have collected. Jam makers, please note – ‘a lb for HADAS’ added to your normal boiling will be much appreciated.

WEST HEATH. The dig closed at the end of July. A report on this year’s work will be published in a future Newsletter.

ON THE COLLEGE FARM FRONT

The end of the College Farm battle, it seems may be in sight: ‘at least tenant-farmer Chris Ower begins to feel that there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

Two weeks ago a preservation order, which protects it for the next 6 months, was slapped on the farm, and representatives of the GLC and Barnet arrived to put up notices to that effect. As reported in the last Newsletter, an application was made in May to the Historic Buildings Division of GLC to list the farm building on grounds of their importance to the-history of the dairy trade. It is understood that the GLC recom­mended listing; the preservation order is an interim measure, .to tide over until listing – which requires confirmation by the Department of Environment -finally takes place.

The ‘That’s Life’ Programme which featured the farm in June has had many repercussions. Some £3000 has arrived in cash from individuals, as well as many promises; two large firms have offered financial help and sponsorship; moves are on foot to set up a Trust for the farm, and the services of top accountants and lawyers to advise on the terms of the Trust have been provided free by a millionaire benefactor – help which Mr Ower particularly values. When the Trust is in being, Chris Ower’s avowed aim will be ‘to get the main building back to its former glory.’

The local press – both the Hendon Times and the Finchley Press – has also been helpful, and Chris Ower considers himself greatly in their debt for keeping the farm’s troubles in the news week after week.

He has good news to tell too, about the Highland cattle, in whose fate many HADAS members have been interested. They were originally sold to an independent buyer last March because Chris could no longer meet the cost of-their feed, and this fact was publicised. The cattle, however, weren’t immediately moved from the farm for two reasons: Chris hadn’t got the facilities to corral and transport them, and the buyer was short of pasture. For three Months they have remained, under sentence of depar­ture, during which time one cow produced a beautiful Calf; now there is no need for them to go, so it is hoped to re-negotiate the deal and buy the cattle back.

There are also plans to enlist the interest of the Rare Breeds Survi­val Trust, which does not at present have a centre in the London area.

All in all, there’s lots happening at College Farm – and at last they are mostly good things.

ROMAN SURPRISE. The retired archaeologist who visited 13c Dean Hall; Littledean, Gloucestershire, must have had the surprise of his life when he went down into the cellar. He looked at the masonry of which it was built once, twice and again: and realised that he was standing in a Roman building.

It is thought to be a temple-type structure: possibly a 1500 year old water shrine. A field course under the direction of Manchester University will be excavating it, during August.

MEDIEVAL POTTERY – LONDON-TYPE WARE.

by J E Pearce, A G Vince & N A Jenner (LAMAS Special Paper No 6)

The latest Special Paper of the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society deals specifically with London Ware. This is the major type of glazed pottery in London from mid 12c-mid 13c – and it perhaps continues into the 14c.

This paper is especially welcome and, like most detailed surveys of medieval material, it is long overdue. To gain a more complete picture of the ‘London medieval pottery scene it must be read, in conjunction with the report on Mill Green Ware (Pearce et al, Trans LMAS vol 33, 1982) and Herts-Glazed Ware (Jenner & Vince Trans LMAS vol 34, 1983).

It deals carefully with methods of terminology and fabric. The authors have ranged widely round museums in the Greater London area; some 67 findspots being recorded – alas, excluding any mention of Hendon, which probably has a few sherds, although most are Herts Grey Ware.

The maps and distribution figures are good and it is interesting to see that material travelled as far as Exeter, New Romney (Kent) and Kings Lynn. An attempt has been made on p 20-21 to illustrate the changes in pottery fashion by type and date. This excellent system .is similar to that used in the monumental 2-vol work on Excavations in Medieval Southamp­ton by Colin Platt & Richard Coleman-Smith (Leicester University Press 1975).

Pages 143-5 are an interesting attempt to link the capacity of drinking jugs and baluster jugs with their weight and also with the standard wine measures of the time.

There are many photographs, including four pages in colour showing 8 whole pots. There are also detailed photographs of the various types of clay ornamentation applied to the exterior of the body before glazing.

All types of product have been dealt with, including roof finials and louvres for smoke. Page 118 illustrates watering pots and on p. 46 the existence of three nearly whole ones is mentioned. Hendon can add another, found in the Church End Farm excavations of 1963. This was excavated material, but I am not sure if it was glazed.

This is a very good and welcome production: it is impossible in this space to deal with all its aspects. It is a ‘must’ for reference for anyone dealing with the medieval period.

Should you not be a member of .LAMAS and wish to purchase a copy, it is on sale at the Museum of London, price £6.00.

TED SAMMES

COMMITTEE CORNER

The Committee met on July 12 and, among other things, discussed.:

The Green Belt, which is the latest subject in the LBB series of draft topic.studies. HADAS has been invited to comment on it by early September.

The Committee decided to donate £25 to the fund for rebuilding Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute, for which a major appeal was launched earlier this year. We have always been sympathetically treated by the Institute, both in the provision of adult courses in archaeology and in help with accommodation for processing work, storage, etc. This is a chance to show practical appreciation.

West Heath, Phase I (1976-81). .Daphne Lorimer reported, on behalf of the Prehistoric Group that the Council for British Archaeology has been approached for a grant towards cost of publication of the report. The full text of the report has been in the hands of the Museum of London which had indicated that the West Heath Phase I report could be published as a LAMAS Social Paper – since as long ago as last autumn. We have been sur­prised-(and, we must confess, disappointed) at hearing nothing at all from the Museum about publication in more than six months.

West Heath, Phase II (in progress). Margaret Maher reported the finding of another Mesolithic axe making four in all from the site. She also described a recent threat to the dig from vandals – with four paws. Rabbits have been doing their bit of excavat ion too – unfortunately in the sections. Chicken wire carefully applied, has proved •the answer.

There was no report from the Roman Group,. at present inactive.

At the request of the Documentary Group James Beard has done some’ research into early maps of the Stapylton Road area of Chipping Barnet, site of a possible dig. So far he, has unearthed 8 maps, ranging in date from 1817-1914; and he is still hot on the trail.

Our newest Group – the Photographic – reported holding its first meet­ing last Month and mapping out a plan of: future action. One- assignment is to photograph the 27 Blue Plaquesin the. Borough and their settings.-.This will -provide a preliminary canter for a larger project of photographing all the ‘Borough’s Listed buildings when the new Statutory List is published. Then our Listed Building index – a valuable research tool – will carry -photos as well as description s and historical details.

The Excavation Working Party reported a Sunday spent studying, on the ground, the projected line of the Lee Valley Water Company’s _pipeline across the north of the Borough, from Rowley Lane to Brockley Hill see Newsletter 171., p- 5). A member of the Photographic Group recorded the exercise.

‘The Committee agreed to continue to oppose the traffic management scheme proposed by the Ministry of Transport for Falloden Way, Hampstead Garden Suburb. The department has chosen the ugliest and most intrusive of the 5 schemes which it considered to be available; and one which will involve the removal of 15 magnificent mature plane trees.

As always, lists of planning applications for the three planning dis­tricts of the Borough – Northern;-Central and Western – were available for members to study. It was noted that two applications have now been appro­ved to build detached houses in the Brockley-Hill area – one behind No 2 and one behind No 6 Brockley Hill,. Both are sites which should be watched during trenching. The Greater. London Archaeological Service had indicated some months ago that it might trial-trench here before development began, but we have heard nothing further of this.

The Committee noted with regret that no volunteer has been found to serve as Committee representative of our junior (under 18) members, and decided to widen its search.. Instead-of seeking -a representative among junior members only, the Committee would like to know if there is any member –perhaps in late teens. or: twenties – who would be .Prepared to be- co-opted, with the specific aim of helping to organise projects for juniors. If so, our Hon. Sec (959 5982) would be most happy to hear from her/him/ them.

MORE IN SORROW

As I have not had much response to my plea for subscriptions-in the July Newsletter, I have had to send. 100-plus (including married couples) reminder letters with this Newsletter. Please let me have your subs as soon as possible.- but if you have paid-by the time, you receive this, accept my apologies: and thanks in advance.

Please also note that in the Members List for January, 1985, I inadvertently gave the address of our Treasurer, Victor Jones, wrongly. It should be

78 Temple Fortune Lane (NOT Hill)

NW11 Tel: 458 6180

Phyllis Fletcher

Membership Secretary

27 Decoy Avenue, NW11 OES

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Here’s a footnote to our correspondence in the January/February Newsletters about microfiche. You may recall that in January we reviewed an RCHM publication by

Vivien Swan on the Pottery Kilns of Roman Britain. We mentioned then that this book, which costs £12.50 has as a microfiche insertion a gazetteer of 1400 Roman kiln sites giving the following information about each site: location, type, dating, products, excavator, bibliography.

This is a practical exercise in the difference, that fiche makes to publishing costs. If the gazetteer had been printed as part of the original publication, the cost of the full volume would presumably have been in the region of £45 which would have put it beyond most private buyers except specialists. One up to fiche.

On the other hand, the current Antiquity (No 226 -.July 1985) contains a paper by Roy Adkins which is downright contemptuous of fiche as a publishing method. It describes it as ‘already obsolete.’ The publication method of the future, in MD Adkins’ view, will be via the home computer. ‘By the end of the century,’ he writes,”excavation reports are likely to be published on computer discs or tapes, and only excavation archives will be stored on microfiche.

SITE-WATCHING

These are some recent planning applications which might be archaeo­logically interesting if they were to be approved:

Brambles, Barnet Rd, Arkley 3 detached houses (outline)

The Red Garage, Wood St, Barnet demolition of garage & erection

of a new house

Land adj..Arkley Hall, Barnet Rd 4 detached houses (outline)

Those applications for approval: there is also news of some applications which have been approved, which we noted earlier as possibly interesting. They include:

188 High St, Barnet 2-storey rear extension

land adj Lawrence Campe Almshouses, sheltered flats, access road

Friern Barnet Lane (Queenswell

School site)

36 Wood St, Barnet new office building

part of Highwood Lodge grounds, NW? 2 houses, tennis court

If you notice activity on any of the above sites, please let John Enderby know on 203 2630. Newsletter readers form HADAS’s early-warning system, insofar as development on interesting sites is concerned. If you see anything like surveyors at work or materials or machinery being moved onto a site, please give John a ring: that will alert him, so that he can arrange for foundation or service trenches (anything, in fact, which dis­turbs present ground surface) to be watched for possible evidence.

NOT FORGETTING LISTED BUILDINGS…

Recent planning lists have also contained several applications for alterations or repairs to Listed buildings. These indicate the range of historic buildings and the varied building techniques that can be seen in the Borough of Barnet – for instance:

There is an application for extensions and a front Portico for Hasmonean Preparatory School at 8-10 Shirehall Lane, NW4, a side road near the North Circular end of Brent St, Hendon. A small gaggle of listed buildings stands just there – Nos 2, 4, 8 & 10. Nos 8 and 10- are consider­ed to be of late 17c-early 18c date. ‘No 8 is 2-storeyed, with a hipped slate roof and rendered walls; No 10, also 2-storey, is in two parts, with a slightly later unifying red brick front. It has hipped, tiled roofs and a decrease-with fluted columns and cornice.

In Mill Hill two listed buildings are due for re-roofing this summer ­the Borough specifies hand-made roof tiles for this kind of job.

On Milespit Hill are The.Welches (Nos 1 & 2). It is proposed to re-tile the rear and side roofs of No 2 this summer, to match No 1, which was done recently. Both houses are early to mid-18c, two storeys with attics with flat dormer windows.. The first floors are rendered, the ground floors weatherboarded.

Re-roofing is also on the agenda for Nicoll Almshouses on Milespit Hill, originally built by Thomas Nicoll of Copt Hall in 1696. He provided a range of 6 one-storey brick almshouses, under a long red-tiled roof which will be the subject of the present exercise. These were for 6 men or women ‘who have at least- 5 years residence in the ancient parish of Hendon.’ The almshouses.were modernised in 1959 and again in 1971

The parish church of Chipping Barnet, St John the Baptist, is another listed building with alteration plans – not for the building itself, but for its curtilage. The work is described as ‘vehicular access and a hard’ standing.’ If this work should involve any disturbance of ground surface it would be worth observing, because the site has a long history. The’ church is considered to be at least a 13c foundation, possibly earlier, rebuilt in 1420 by a prosperous local maltster, John Beauchamp. It was restored and enlarged by William Butterfield in 1875, when the original nave and north aisle were retained and a new nave and south aisle added. There is a fine memorial to Thomas Ravenscroft (d.1630); his son James was a great Barnet benefactor, founding the Jesus Hospital in nearby Wood St.

Then there is an application to build a terrace of 4 houses in the garden of a listed building the walled garden of Belmont House (Mill Hill Junior-School) on the Ridgeway. This is, we understand, part of a plan to organise the renovation of a picturesque group of four 18c listed cottages nearby, which cannot be modernised until/unless other accommo­dation can be made available for the sitting tenants.

Both Belmont House and the chapel in its grounds are interesting. Belmont was built c 1765 for a Mr Hammond. One of its earliest owners was Sir Charles Flower (1763-183k), Lord Mayor of London in 1808. He owned a large slice of Mill Hill, having made his pile by provisioning the forces of George III. Two Mill Hill streets owe their names to him: Flower Lane and Goodwyn Avenue, named after his married daughter.

‘The chapel, also listed, has a different history. It was built about 1925, and was designed by John Carrick Stuart Soutar (1881-1951) FRIBA, who from 1915, when he replaced Raymond Unwin, was architect to the Hampstead Garden Suburb for over 30 years, with his drawing office at Wyldes Farm, one of the Borough’s best known listed buildings, which stands behind the Old Bull and Bush.

Finally, there is an application for a change of use for a listed building at 9 High Street, Elstree. That sets the imagination roving ­what strange changes of use that building has had in its life time. At present it is used as an office; the change of use application is for it to become a beautician’s parlour.

9 High Street, Elstree, began life, however almost five centuries ago. In. the Listed Buildings Schedule it is described like this;

“Frontage 18c on earlier partly-medieval house. Two storeys, cemented and colour washed.. ‘Three sashes, modern glazing.-Two small shop windows on the ground floor and central door. Parapet. To right is a carriage entrance with flat arch. Canted sash oriel over, with canted roof. Old tile roof, roar portion slates. Alley-way to left hand side with projecting chimney breast. The main range is a former open hall of c. 1500, with smoke blackened roof timbers, inserted floor fireplaces and chimney of c. 1600. 17c wing at rear at right angles.”

What would the medieval craftsmen who built the hall house have thought had they been able to take a pleat in time and look down from their work among the rafters, purlins and plates (which would later become smoke-blackened) into cubicles in which ladies were having their wrinkles rolled away under mudpacks or even disporting themselves in saunas?

FARMING ROMAN STYLE

A site beside the Roman Palace at Fishbourne, near Chichester, is to be used to re-create a rural environment which will demonstrate aspects of life in the West Sussex countryside during the lst-3rd centuries AD.

There will be grazing for cattle and sheep, two fields in which ancient varieties of wheat, beans, peas etc will be grown, beds for herbs and a wine arbour. The centerpiece will be an octagonal… experimental earthwork with adjacent weather station. Demonstrations of agricultural processes will be given, and it is hoped eventually to include recon­structions of Roman agricultural buildings.

The project is being run in collaboration with the Butser Ancient Farm Trust, Further information from Harold Shellswell, Education/Farm Project Officer, Fishbourne Roman Palace, Salthill Rd, Fishbourne.

ABOUT PEOPLE

In July we had further news of our Chairman, BRIAN JARMAN; we hasten to pass it on because many members have enquired about him.. His cousin, who has kindly kept us in touch with Brian’s progress, reported several weeks ago that he had just begun to turn the corner.

As Newsletter readers will know, Councillor Jarman was taken ill early in May, and at that time faced prolonged medical tests. While these took place he remained at home in Hendon; but towards the end of June he went to Sussex to stay with relatives; and from there went into St Mary’s Hospital in Eastbourne for treatment.

It is always pleasant to welcome new members: but doubly so when it is, in fact, a welcome back to a former member. That is how it is with GILL BRAITHWAITE who left England (and HADAS) in 1981 to accompany her husband to the Washington Embassy. Now she’s back at their house in Hampstead Garden Suburb – and she has returned to the HADAS fold too, we’re delighted to say.

Vice-President TED SAMMES – who, as many members will know, is also’ Chairman of the Maidenhead Archaeological and Historical Society – was co-organiser of an exhibition last month at Maidenhead Library on “When Brunel’s Railway Came to Maidenhead.” It celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Great Western Railway. Most appropriately, the workmen who were building an extension onto Ted’s house at Taplow unearthed in his garden some fragments of china cups and saucers stamped with the GWR coat of arms so those went on display too, a tribute to the balmy days of GWR catering. No throw-away plastic beakers then.

HADAS member MAIR LIVINGSTONE discovered, to her great surprise, on a recent Scottish holiday that sheep on Islay can climb nimbly up and down wide-apart stepping stones set in a 5ft high enclosure wall which human beings find tricky to negotiate. She discovered two ewes and three lambs happily cropping forbidden territory among medieval monuments and Celtic crosses which the enclosure wall should have kept sheep-free at Kildalton High Cross, a 10th c. site. Then she proved how they did it by watching them do it again when they had been shoó-ed out.

So she wrote and reported the athletic animals to the Argyll and Bute authorities, who have now solemnly decreed that, in view of the sheeps’ climbing abilities, stricter measures must be taken.

MILL HILL WALKABOUT

A report by MARY O’CONNELLon the July outing

A short sharp shower just before the off’ did not deter a couple of dozen HADAS hikers from setting out from the Rising Sun at Mill Hill on our summer walk..

Happily the sun returned as John Collier, secretary of the Mill Hill Historical Society, led us to the home of colonial administrator. Sir Stamford Raffles and the estate of his friend and neighbour William Wilber­force, champion of slaves and builder of St Pauls Church on the Ridgeway. The Wilberforce barn and lodge are in the good hands of Conservation Society members,’Mr and Mrs Kramer, who kindly invited us in to view the’ base of an old stone staircase which they have incorporated in their hall.

Later we were fortunate to be asked into the quaint old Post Office, home-of Mrs Dulcie Rispoli, to see the waterpump preserved in her sitting room.

John Collier told us odd tales about familiar houses like Highwood Ash, from which Celia – “the ‘Fienne’ lady on a white horse” . rode to Banbury Cross to visit her uncle on one of her many equestrian journeys through 17c England.

We heard that accounts still exist to show that oxen were once shod at the Old Forge; that Cardinal Newman took cartloads of fish to sell in London to help pay for his Missionary College; and that Sir James Murray employed his numerous children to sort through the paper slips bearing definitions for his Oxford English dictionary.

The Three Hammers pub was once within earshot of a smith, a stonemason and a joiner, and a school cottage has a pathway paved with inkwells. Mill Hill school is built on a Dissenters foundation and many trees and bushes there were planted by 18c botanist Peter Collinson whose home was nearby.

All this and a great deal more you may read in LBB’s Town Trail No 2: Mill Hill Village, by John Collier (25p).

As we neared the end of our trail, thunder rolled and we fled to St Vincent’s, where Sister Esther and the Vincent de Paul nuns had prepared a fine tea for us. The beautiful chapel and their centenary exhibition provided a fitting climax to a very enjoyable afternoon.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT DRINKING HORNS?

The 1985 Bulletin of Experimental Archaeology describes the insights that ‘a simple experiment done properly’ can give, The experimentalists were 12-year-olds at Spalding Grammar School, Lincs, and their work was recorded by their schoolmaster, Peter Ryde, in Teaching History No 36, June 1983.

The boys answered their own questions while making and using drinking horns. Trial and error solved problems of cleaning and working the very raw horn material, which was delivered direct from the abattoir; and questions such as ‘how do you hold it?’ and ‘what do you do if you want to put it down before it is empty’ were easily answered in practice (in the last case, the capacity proved disappointingly small, so the problem can seldom have arisen in antiquity).

Peter Hyde’s practical advice will simplify this particular experiment for teachers wishing to follow his example. “But be warned,” he says, “it’s rather a gruesome business, and you will need to do as much as possible out of doors or the smell will haunt you in your dreams.”

LOOKING AHEAD TO AUTUMN

Maybe it seems early days – especially in the kind of summer we’ve had so far – to be thinking of autumn and winter courses: but you may like advance notice of some local plans.

First, there are University extramural courses at HGS Institute: The Certificate in Yield Archaeology enters its second – or Roman – year, with a course on the Romano-British period in SE England by Margaret Roxan on Thursday afternoons, starting Sept 19, 2-4 pm. The course costs £30 but ­and this is the first time with a university course – pensioners pay half-fee. Don’t be put off if you didn’t do the first year in 1984: the Certi­ficate years need not be taken seriatim.

The Institute also offers a Diploma course in the History of Art: this year 16c High Renaissance, on Thurs, from Sept 26, 10.30am-12.30, E M King.

An evening non-diploma course in Egyptology is likely to be popular: Thurs from Sept 19, 7.17-9.15 pm, lecturer A Roberts. The above courses are each 2 terms. Enrol at HGS Institute, Central Sq, NW11 (in person or by post). Office open 9-5 except from Aug 5-27 inc, when the Institute is closed.

At the invitation of the Hornsey Historical Society HADAS is organising another “Aspects of Archaeology” course this year at the Old Schoolhouse, 136 Tottenham Lane, N8, where we have held courses before. As an experiment, this will be in daytime – 9 lectures and 1 visit on Mons, starting Sept 30, 1.45-3.45 pm.

The lecturers – Daphne Lorimer, Sheila Woodward and Brigid. Grafton Green – have chosen topics which closely interest them and the range is therefore aide – two linked lectures on underwater archaeology and its techniques, one dealing with a ‘drowned’ Mesolithic site off the Danish coast, the other with a French Neolithic lakeside village. Three’lectures are on famous archaeologists – Schliemann and the search for Troy, Leonard’ Woolley and excavations at Ur and Mortimer Wheeler, whose digs ranged from St Albans to Mohenjodaro. Town life in Roman Britain and Roman gods and burial practices are other subjects. A second, post-Christmas series is under consideration. HADAS members who are interested can get further information from Brigid Grafton Green (455 9040)

A MISSING LINK AT YORK?

The two missing centuries in the history of York – those years when the Anglian city of Eoforwic flourished, from the 7th-9th c. AD, may at last have been discovered. It was the success of the bustling, rich Anglian settlement which attracted Viking marauders and led to the founding of Viking Jorvik.

A dig on the site of the Redfearn National Glass factory at Fishergate, prior to development of the site as a hotel and houses, was aimed at exca­vating the priory of Gilbertine canons (the only medieval monastic order of English origin, founded by St Gilbert of Sampringham). In fact it not only uncovered part of the priory, but nearby it found pits, stakeholes, cesspits and ditches associated with Anglian artefacts – about 30 pieces of hand-made pottery, decorated glass beads, a silver finger ring, a copper-alloy strap-end with traces of red enamel, a 7c bronze spoon, clay loom weights and a bone comb fragment.

The site – at the junction of the rivers Foss and Ouse – would have been well suited to a trading station, and was down river from the decaying Roman fortress and city – in a similar situation to Anglo-Saxon Southampton, a site of similar date.

So far only narrow trenches have been opened, but it is hoped, if the finance can be found, to do an area excavation – and to establish without doubt the Anglian missing link.

EXHIBITIONS. Grange Museum, Neasden Lane, NW10 till Sept 14, 150th anniver­sary exhibition on the Welsh Harp Reservoir (part of which lies within our Borough). Victorian technology of the dam which holds back a water supply for London’s canals, scientific importance of the lake as a waterfowl haven and recreational uses of the reservoir and its banks by Londoners. Mons-Fris 12-5 pm (Weds 12-8 pm), Sats 10-5.

Church Farm House Museum, Hendon, “Miss Holgates Hendon – Pages from a Victorian Lady’s Sketchbook.” Hendon scenes drawn by Agnes Beattie Holgate in the ’50s of the last century are an interesting record of a world we have now lost until Sept 8.

Newsletter 173 July 1985

HADAS PROGRAMME

Sat July 20 Mill Hill Walk – meet 2 pm at Rising Sun, junction of Highwood Hill and Marsh Lane. The walk will be compered by John Collier, Hon Sec of Mill Hill Historical Society. An application form is attached – please complete and return to Dorothy Newbury, as we need to know numbers.

Sat AUG 17 Outing to Porton Down & Salisbury. Application form for this is also enclosed. Please return it as soon as possible – for security reasons names for this visit must be submitted 6 weeks ahead.

Sat Sept. 21 Sutton Hoo/Woodbridge

Mon/Wed July 1-3. HGS Institute Open Days. HADAS will be playing its part, by invitation, in this event. We shall have a bookstall at the Teahouse in Northway, NW11, on the evenings of July 1-3 inc. and on July 3 We shall also mount a small display.in the Institute hall. Several members are kindly helping to man the stands.

WEST HEATH. Throughout July the site will be open 6 days a week – not Tuesdays. – from 9 am’-6 pm. Please come and dig – you will be very welcome. It would be most helpful if intending diggers who have not yet worked on the site this year could let either Margaret Maher (907 0333) or Sheila Woodward (952 3897) know their intentions in advance.

LOTS OF ROMAN POTS

Three HADAS members – Tessa Smith, Ann Trewick and Brigid Grafton Green_- spent the best part of a June Saturday changing over the Roman displays in one of the ground floor rooms at Church Farm House Museum Hendon. Last August we had mounted exhibits in two cases there. Now the Museum has acquired a third showcase, and all three are at present devoted to finds from or facts about the Roman potteries at Brockley Hill, Edgware.

One case tells the history of the site and shows some photos from early in the 1950s. It’s surprising how much archaeological tech­niques have changed in 30 years – no JCBs, no area stripping, just 3ft wide trenches being dug by spade – not a trowel in sight. The ‘site hut’ of 1954 was a tent with a positively prehistoric dip in its roof, and the prevailing fashion among male diggers was wide Oxford ‘bags’ – nothing like today’s limb-hugging jeans. Female diggers were clearly a rarity.

Another showcase is devoted to small finds from Brockley Hill – almost all non-pottery, though there is a small thumb-pot which was part of a votive offering and an antefix for masking the join of imbrex and tegula’ on a roof. Otherwise, glass is the predominant material — used in beards, handles, bowls, etc. – though bronze coins and a clear paste intaglio also feature.

The third case is a mixed exhibit: a cremation burial from Pipers Green Lane (an eastward turning half-way up Brockley Hill) is displayed at one end; there is a shell of Samian ware; and a group of vessel types’ in which Brockley Hill potters specialised: lids, mortaria, jars etc

The exhibit will probably be at the Museum for some months, but we hope as many HADAS members as possible will seize an early chance of looking in to inspect the Society’s latest offering.

BLACK HISTORY

Recently HADAS had a letter from Paul McGilchrist, a GLC researcher working from the Greater London Record Office, about an interesting and unexpected research project, He is studying Black people in the history of London, and he writes:

“As you may be aware, the history of Black people in Britain is of relatively recent interest to academic historians; and whilst their work has shown something of the involvement of Black people in British life, there is still a great deal to be learned about the lives of those who numbered some 14-20,000 in London by the beginning of the 19c.

There are a number of sources which may yield new information about Black people, and it occurs to me that local historians may have come across occasional references to Black people.- by chance if not intention. I am thus writing to all London local .history- societies in order to assess the amount of information that may have been gathered in this way,

I would be most grateful if you could let it be known amongst your members that I would like very much to get in touch with anyone who may already be working on this particular subject; or anyone who has found references to Black people – however inci­dentally – during their searches of local records.”

What we wonder, is the first documental reference to a Black in the London area? Were there any Blacks in the ranks of the Roman auxil­iaries stationed in Britain in the first four centuries AD? Does anyone know of a Roman inscription which indicates African origin either for its subject or for the person who put it up?

From the 16c occasional references to ‘blackamores’ occur; it is in the 18c, however, .with the development of British colonial policy, that such references become more frequent. A recent Camden History Review, No. 12, had a long article on Dido Elizabeth Belle, born 1763. a Black protégée of the 1st Lord Mansfield of Kentwood; and the article, mentions several liberated slaves who made names for themselves in 18c London.’

HADAS members, who have any information for Mr Gilchrist can write to him at the GLC Anti-Racist Programme;-Director-General’s Dept. County London SE1 7FB, The Newsletter would also be interested to hear about our members discoveries,

SITE-WATCHING

Recent Borough planning lists have carried details of the following applications for planning permission which might, if granted, be of some archaeological interest:

Site of former Hand & Flower public house,

1250 High Rd, N20

Land rear of Arkley Rise, Barnet

Land adj. East Finchley station, fronting High Rd, rear East ‘End Rd

Members who notice activity on any of the above sites are asked to let either John Enderby (203 2630) or Christine Arnott (455 2751) know.

REPORTS FROM GROUPS

The following two reports complete the five given originally at the AGM. The other three reports appeared in the last Newsletter.

INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Major event of the year was a visit to the historic buildings at Hendon Aerodrome last July. An important result of this visit is a con­siderable addition to our photographic records, both black and white (thanks to Lawrence Bentley) and colour slides (thanks to-Paul Wernick). It is hoped that the latter can be shown to-members on a suitable occasion.

Hendon Aerodrome was also the subject of the HADAS display at the 1984-LAMAS Local History Conference, the theme of which was the history of transport and communications in London.

The Borough of Barnet is not an industrial area and much local in­dustrial archaeology is on a fairly small scale and often associated with the demolition of industrial monuments. During the past year we have been concerned {sometimes together with other groups or people who would not regard themselves particularly as industrial archaeologists) in ensuring that HADAS has a good record of a number of sites, including the decorative frieze on the Gaumont Cinema at Tally Ho, Cricklewood Station and Carlton Forge, which is what remains of the locomotive depot at Cricklewood Yard. One monument was lost during the year when one of the two Handley Page aircraft factories went up in flames during the summer bank holiday weekend.

The Society’s lectures are for all members but it was the Groups recommendation that Dr Robert Carr should be invited to lecture on the Industrial Archaeology of London’s Docklands which was the subject of the November lecture.

BILL FIRTH

DOCUMENTARY GROUP

Documentary work of varying kinds has continued through 1984-5. Here are some of the projects handled, in which 8 members have taken part.

First, on-going research: one such project is the Farm Survey, which started 6 .or 7 years ago and which, it often seems, will never end: In­formation for it certainly still trickles in regularly from different sources. The survey has so far produced -a useful card index of some 250 ‘farms (most of which no longer exist) with details of the earliest documentary evidence for each farm – it may be a mention in a census list, a rate book; an early news cutting, a map; also included are details, when available, of the owner or tenant; of where – if it no longer exists ­the farmhouse once stood, with an OS grid ref if possible; and of when it was demolished.

The Survey has also produced some back-up material which is valuable for exhibitions, in the form of old photos and photocopies of documents. The topic for next November’s annual Local History Conference at the Museum of London is to be the rural and agricultural history of Middlesex; so the HADAS Farm Survey will provide useful material for that.

The Farm Survey also ties in neatly with a project launched last summer nationwide by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, in which HADAS is taking part. This was described as ‘a Domesday survey of every barn in England and Wales, built of traditional materials, whether still in agricultural use or converted.’ SPAB has issued forms to be filled in for each barn. HADAS hopes to record the remains of any tradit­ional Barns left in the Borough of Barnet; Alec Gouldsmith has already done some work on this in the Barnet area, and Sheila Woodward is doing the same for Edgware.

Another on-going project has been Nell Penny’s study of the papers of the Hendon overseers of the Poor, held in the Local history Collection in Egerton Gardens. The results of her research, have been lodged with LBB Libraries, who hope to publish them as an illustrated booklet. Nell has published two short pieces in the Newsletter in the last year as a result of her work on the rather unexpected topic of vermin (hedgehogs, polecats foxes and sparrows) December 1984 another on a 1799 Hendon Vestry dinner in March, 1985,

While we’re on the Newsletter, research into Thomas Ashmole’s links with East Barnet, and the history of the house he lived in – first called Mount Pleasant, then Belmont finally Heddon Court – was published in the September 1984 Newsletter.

Indexing the Statutory List

Since 1974 the Borough of Barnet has been waiting for its Statutory. List of Buildings of Architectural or Historic Interest to be up-dated by the Dept of the Environment. Some 18 months ago the DoE vroduced a new draft List to be studied and amended before the final up-dated List was produced. Using.thet draft list as a basis, Christine Arnott began to make a now’ and up-to-date index of Listed buildings in the Borough. This, again, is a long-term project.

As well as on-going projects, the Group is called on from time to time to deal with one-off enquiries or recording. One such was when we heard from a HADAS member on the staff of the Public Health Laboratory at Colindale, Mair Livingstone that the old buildings there were likely to be demolished. This had been the centre at which lymph for Public vaccination was prepared and distributed since the start of compulsory vaccination permission was obtained for Albert Dean to photograph the laboratories, calf-houses, etc. He has taken a set of colour slides and proposes also to get some black and whites. The photos and information will probably be for record only since Albert says the buildings, though functional and unto date for their period, are deadly dull architecturally.

Another one-off project .arose .when we heard that three new, nature trails were to be made at Scratchwood Open Space, involving the digging of ditches,. Christine. Arnett investigated the history of the area – the most singular thing about it was its almost total lack of history – and a visit was made to watch the work in progress. It turned out to be very shallow –more scratches than ditches.

One London wide issue which has much exercised the Documentary Group has-been what was going to happen to the historic collection of material housed in the Greater London Record Office – documents, Photos, maps, drawings – when the GLC was abolished. We have tried to keep this impor­tant matter, particularly the fact that the collection should not on any account be broken up between boroughs, in front of the four MPs who represent our borough in Parliament. It was a relief to learn a couple of months ago that arrangements are being made for the Corporation of the City of London to take over the collection intact.

I must regretfully report one failure. Some 18 months ago we asked a new young member, who was studying history, to undertake research into the Barnet end of the Welsh droving trade in the 18c/19c. This he agreed to do, but he has now written to say that he must give the work up because of approaching university exams; and he doubts if he will be in the area once the exams are over. We are very sorry, because the subject is an interesting one and a good deal of work has been done at the Welsh end. We would have liked to have tied our end up.

This leads me on to a final point: we would be happy to find some’ more ‘documentary researchers. In addition to the droving trade project, which we’d like to resurrect, We are particularly anxious to find one or two members ‘prepared to research the history of the Stapylton Road area of Chipping Barnet, starting with a chronological comparison of any maps available. We hope to mount a dig there soon, in advance of redevelopment.
There are other projects too. We could use more helpers on both the Barn and the Farm Surveys; and we had an interesting enquiry recently about the age of a footpath from Burtonhole Lane to Totteridge, beside which a silver penny of Henry III has been found. If there are takers for any of those subjects, please let me know.

BRIGID GRAFTON GREEN

We are glad to say that since the above report was made, one of our new members, James Beard, has kindly agreed to undertake the Stapylton Rd research. But we’d still like volunteers for other jobs ….

EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY

The Bulletin of Experimental Archaeology, published annually by Southampton University, always contains something new and interesting. The 1985 issue describes an experiment in absorption of foodstuffs by ceramics.

A pilot study of the porosity of unglazed ceramics of Roman type with regard to foodstuffs was carried out by J M Oetgen and reported in Bulletin 2 (1983-4) of the Experimental Firing Group. The aim was to test whether or not there is any advantage in burnishing or slip-coating a pot.

The experiment measured the uptake by mass, of chosen foodstuffs, at a surface of known area, over given time. 75 fired clay slabs, variously slip-coated, burnished and untreated, were immersed in honey, milk, starch solution, olive oil and red wine, and dried. The results indicated that there is no consistent difference between the permeability of treated and untreated surfaces, except in the case of olive oil. The surfaces could be easily cleaned, without detergent; residual flavour was not tested. Two weeks later there was no noticeable decomposition of residues, or smell. It was accepted that cooking pots can be sterilised by strong heating.

THOSE SUBS AGAIN

a reminder from Phyllis Fletcher I am sorry to report that over 150 members have not yet renewed their subscriptions, due on April 1 this year. Please send them to me as
Soon as possible so that I do not have to send reminder letters to you all quite a mammoth task in itself. The subscriptions are as follows:

Full members £5.00

Under 18 3.00

Over 6o 3.00

Subsequent members of same family 1.00

Family membership: first-member. £5.00

Additional members. each 1.00

Corporate member (Schools, societies, etc) £6.00

My address is: 27 Decoy Avenue, NW11 OES

THE EAST ENDERS

Newest museum in the Borough of Barnet is the Museum of The Jewish East End, housed in part of one of the Borough’s finest Listed buildings ­the early 13c Manor House of Finchley, in East End Road, N3.

The Manor House stands on an historic site. According to Finchley historian the late C 0 Banks, its written records date to the 13c. There is a scheduled ancient monument – part of a moat – in its grounds. It was, until 1981, the convent of the Sisters of Marie Auxiliatrice, a Roman Catholic order.’ They sold it – reputedly for £850,000 – to the Jewish Reform Movement, and it is now the many-facetted Sternberg Centre for Judaism. One of those facets is the Museum. The fact that the Manor House is in East End road is purely coincidental: the East End of the Museum’s title is London’s East End: Whitechapel and thereabouts.

On July 2 the first public exhibition opens at the new Museum, entitled ‘A Century of Migration – Jewish Settlement in the East End.’ It will probably be a forerunner of many. Scenes of East End life will be re-created in photographs, pictures, documents and objects – for instance, a typical immigrant home, a tailoring workshop, and an East London bakery. The exhibition will run till July 28, Sundays to Thursdays inclusive (not Fri/Sats) from 10am-5pm. Admission free.

COMMITTEE CORNER

First meeting of the new Committee took place on June 7. Two new members, Margaret Maher and David Trinchero, were welcomed. Among matters discussed were:

Four possible sites for trial trenches have been noted in the Stapylton Rd development area of Chipping Barnet. Before we seek permission to dig, documentary research into the history of the area is being undertaken.

Plans are in train for watching the path of the water pipeline described in the May newsletter. The Water Board considers it unlikely that work will start before autumn, and it may be later.

College Farm, Finchley, faces possible closure because it has run into debt. Because of our long involvement – since 1970 – with the farm, HADAS has been asked to help in various ways. Thanks to the kindness of tenant farmer Chris Ower, we have since 1977 had a room of our own there, which ‘provides valuable storage/working space. In the past few weeks we have therefore

1. Provided photos of the vandalised condition of the farm buildings in 1976 before Mr Ower took over (no one else had kept a record of those days). Two of these were used in a BBC1 ‘That’s Live’ TV programme on June 16. (We hope many members may perhaps have seen the programme: it featured, among other things, Finchley’s troop of cub-scouts, 3 ducks, a lamb and a Highland calf – led onto the set by Spike Milligan!)

2. Helped Jean Scott Chairman of the Friends of College Farm, to try for a second time to get the farm buildings Listed. Last time the application was turned down because the buildings were not of a sufficiently high architectural standard; this time we have tried on historical grounds.

3. We are helping to collect names and addresses for a Petition to the MP for Finchley (Who happens to be the PM) ‘to ensure the preser­vation of College Farm as a rural farm in an urban setting as an educational amenity.’ HADAS members are all asked to sign the Petition before July 3. Forms have been published in the local papers; all HADAS Committee members have forms for signing; and they will be on our stand at HGS Open Days, July 1-3.

The newly formed Photographic Group, now 6-strong, will have its first meeting on June 20.

Material for the next Minimart, on October 5, is already coming in members are asked to keep an eye out for possible saleable objects e.g. if someone is moving house. Please don’t turn down an offer because you can’t store it yourself: Dorothy Newbury (203 0950) or Christine Arnott (455 2751) may be able to help.

It was reported that 14 trenches had been opened at West Heath and that 3 were already finished.

The Congress of Independent Archaeologists at Wolfson College, Cambridge, on Sept 21-22was discussed. The Congress aims to -lay plans for doubling the contribution of independent archaeologists -like HADAS – to archaeology in Britain in the next 10 years.

One of the two convener’s, Andrew Selkirk, is a HADAS member he had written to invite the participation of a HADAS speaker, for whom he had kindly reserved time. ‘I am very much hoping that you will be able to tell us about archaeology in the big city and why you think HADAS has been so successful,’ he wrote. The Committee agreed to invite Daphne Lorimer to attend as HADAS representative and sneaker.

A number of Committee members indicated that they also intended to be there, it is hoped that the Society will have a strong representation so any member who would like to go is urged to do so. The residential fee is £36.00 (non-residential £8). Apply to Andrew Selkirk, 9 Nassington Rd, London NW3 2TX as soon as possible. (Note: we are happy to report that Mrs Lorimer has accepted the invitation and will represent us).

It was reported that Popular Archaeology had published an article, with 5 pictures, in its May issue on Phase 1 (1976-81) of the West Heath dig. This was a summarised version, prepared by HADAS, of Daphne Lorimer’s lecture to the Society last March. The Committee agreed to investigate the possibility of obtaining off-prints. (Note: they have proved obtain­able, and members who would like one – or more – can get them at 30p each (add 15p for post/packing) from Joyce Slatter, 5. Sentinel House, Sentinel Square, NW4 2EN

IN THE NEWS AGAIN

May was a good month, publicity wise, for HADAS. In addition to the piece on West Heath in Popular Archaeology, we also had a pat on the back in the May Local Historian, quarterly published by the British Association for Local History. They said of HADAS ‘as usual this Society’s monthly Newsletter is well worth reading’ and went on to summarise the discussion on microfiche in our January/February issues. We return the compliment by pointing out that Local Historian itself is well worth its £7.50 postal subscription (£5 to members of BALH). The current issue includes articles on traditional building styles; 16c-17c hand-writing; using a computer for Census data; the Gentleman’s Magazine as a quarry for facts; as well as book reviews, news paragraphs and a list of the latest local history publications. Write to BALH, the Mill Manager’s House, Cromford Mill, Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 3RO if you are interested in subscribing.

MINTON’S RUSTIC TILES. In the April, 1984, Newsletter there was an account of

work then being done by Su Russell in the old dairy at College Farm. The interior was being stripped of many layers of paint to reveal the original blue and white tiles which adorned the walls from 1883, when the farm was built by George Barham of the Express Dairy Company, There were several different kinds of tiles: a series showing rural scenes; another with stylized flower heads and leaves; and a frieze of bursting pomegranates.

Now, as part of the campaign (mentioned in Committee Corner) to get the farm buildings listed, the dairy has been inspected by Kathryn Huggins, representative of the Tiles and. Architectural Ceramics Society (HQ at Ironbridgc Gorge Museum). After her visit Ms Huggins wrote:

“The interior of the dairy is quite splendid and the tiling is much more extensive and impressive than I had assumed. Clearly all the tiles in the dairy date from the original completion of the buildings in 1833 and have survived in a very complete state. The most strik­ing are perhaps the fine collection of rustic scenes which were made by Mintons of Stoke-on-Trent and may well be designs by William Wise, one of their best-known designers. The other frieze and border tiles are typical of Mintons 1880s production, one having a rather Japanese design.”

A number of tiled dairies were erected in the seconds half of the last century when tiles became popular, not only for their decorative qualities but also for their hygiene and easy-clean virtues. The most elaborate was the Royal Dairy at Windsor (Frogmore) which also used Minton tiles and which is now in urgent need of conservation. The example at College Farm is a rare survival and the completeness of the interior tiling makes it a worthy case for preservation, also of interest are the tiles on the walls of the roof looking over the ‘milking parlour. These are later than the dairy, probably early 1920s and possibly made by Craven Dunnills of Jackfield. The Society would certainly support the case for the listing of the buildings at College Farm. I will speak to Hans van Lemmen, one of the organisers of last year’s Minton exhibition at Stoke-on-Trent, to see if he can provide any other specific information about the rustic series and their designer.”

George Barham and his younger son, Arthur, who ran the Dairy Supply company, a Subsidiary of the Express Dairy, must both have known well the Royal Dairy at Windsor which Ms Huggins mentions. The Dairy Supply Company received the royal warrant in 1888 for supplying the royal dairies with utensils. The Express Dairy Company provided extra milk and cream to Windsor when Queen Victoria was entertaining large parties; it also bought excess milk from the royal herds when it was not needed at Windsor.

OBITUARY. Another link with HADAS’s past was broken at the end of May, when Phyllis Simmons died at the great age of 90. She had been a member of the Society from its early days, and although of recent years she had been living in retirement with her brother at Whitstable, she always kept in touch with us. She was a regular benefactor of the

Society, always sending a donation towards the Minimart, as well as acting guarantor for several of our early publications. We shall greatly miss her cheerful letters, and we send our warm sympathy to her brother.

COUNTRYSIDE CHARTER

The Countryside Commission has recently published a Countryside access Charter, covering rights of way and what you can take on them – Prams, wheel-chairs, dogs – and recreational rights. It. ends with a reiteration of the Country Code. Issued (free) with the Charter is a booklet which has the following to say about metal detectors:

“You may carry and use a metal detector, but you are not permitted to disturb the ground surface in order to remove an object the instrument detects. To do so may be trespass, criminal damage, or even theft. The prohibition applies to beaches as well as to-open countryside. It is an offence to damage a scheduled ancient monument.

Public access to common land does not extend to damaging the ground surface or removing anything from beneath the surface.”

HOT LINE FROM CHINA

Aubrey Hodes – several of whose letters have been published in recent Newsletters – has been in touch again from Hua Qiao University where he is teaching. This time he writes to Dorothy Newbury:

“The trip to Cumbria sounds attractive you know, Dorothy, after a year in China your excursions seem not tame at all, but in fact more alluring than before: I would love to see Sutton .Hoo with all of you – if the trip is after Sept 15, please reserve two places for me. I’m sure it’s the first time anyone has reserved a place on one of your outings from

8000 miles away – can I claim a HADAS record?

Chinese food is very different from the fare in London’s Chinese restaurants, which has been skillfully adjusted to suit Western taste buds. Fujian cuisine is based on seafood – so we have lots of squid, oysters (cooked, never raw), mussels, sea cucumber, octopus pork -duck for ban­quets, lamb never, beef rarely. Plenty of vegetables: green peppers, cabbage, turnips, greens. Fruit is excellent oranges and satsumas, apples, pears, bananas. Fujian is sub-tropical, like southern Spain or Sicily. Starting to come in now are watermelon, lychees, mangoes, papaya and honeydew melon -.yum: But no cheese, yoghurt or butter – Chinese dislike dairy products and say they turn sour in the body. We are given fresh milk for breakfast as a special concession to Westerners.

The Cantonese eat almost anything. I saw the main market in Guangzhou .and couldn’t believe my eyes: wild owls, monkeys, snakes, armadillos, anteaters, dogs, cats, lynxes, rats and badger. There is a Chinese saying ‘the Cantonese eat anything with legs except a table.’

People here are very friendly and hospitable.’ In the villages around the campus people have never seen a ‘pointed nose’ or ’round eyes’ before. When I strolled around there, children ran screaming for their mothers: The parents invariable told the children I was friendly, and made them shake my hand or touch me. In some remote towns on my recent 3000-mile journey around South China, 10-15 people stood by my table to watch me eat. I picked up a single peanut with my chopsticks – considered a test of dexterity- and some of them clapped: I am ending my year with a great affection for China and Chinese people …”

Not much archaeology there, perhaps – but Aubrey enclosed, as he always does, various archaeological cuttings and postcards. One from the China Daily described an extraordinary 400-year-old burial recently unearthed in Guangzhou.

It was of a woman who had died on Nov 6, 1579, and whose burial de­monstrated techniques, of a most sophisticated kind for preserving a body. As a result her copper-coloured skin is still slightly elastic, she has a complete set of teeth in place and her joints can still be bent.

Her body was packed around with bags of camphor and the coffin was filled with silk – many layers of silk quilts within a body-shaped silk covering. Inside all this the woman herself was dressed in 6 silk, cotton and brocade undergarments, a skirt and two pairs of trousers. The tomb was buried under 20 layers of granite slabs. The tomb chamber had been filled with lime, under which was a thick layer of resin weighing 500 kilos. The coffin housing the body was contained in a larger coffin and the space between the two coffins was filled with tung oil to keep out any air. Buried with the woman were 8 blue and white porcelain jugs, clothes and silk and cotton materials., A pair of tombstones with epitaphs are the biggest yet to be unearthed in Guangzhou: over.2000 characters engraved on one of them have provided important historical and artistic information.

HADAS GOES TO CUMBRIA Report by Enid Hill

The weather was unkind, but the HADAS weekend of June 21/23 lived up to its usual excellence, thanks to efficient organisation by Isobel McPher­son and skillful driving by Hans Porges and Christopher Newbury – the latter having kindly stepped in to the driving seat when another member driver failed

We arrived Friday midday in two minibuses at the park of Levens Hall on the edge of the Lake District to inspect an excavated Neolithic ring cairn with its circle of stone which had contained two burials of different dates; and also a possible medieval corn-drying kiln. We then drove to S. Cumbria to see the extensive red sandstone remains of Furness Abbey ­an important early 12c foundation until its dissolution in 1537. With land in the Furness peninsula, in N. Cumbria, Yorkshire and in Ireland and the Isle of Man; its abbots were considerable feudal landlords who developed agriculture, sheep rearing and iron working, while providing charity and education.

Saturday was our big day. From our comfortable country-house hotel near Broughton we drove to Barrow Museum to meet Huberta Robinson, the Museum’s deputy director who spent the day with us explaining archaeological sites as well as fauna and flora of the district to the great appreciation of the entire party.

We went over to Walney Island where surface finds of Mesolithic, Neo­lithic and Bronze Age have been made – flint microliths, cores, scrapers, blades and arrowheads. Many Langdale axes of about 2500 BC have also been found on Walney and the mainland, and it is thought that this area was a centre where rough-outs were polished. Everyone was entranced by the rich variety of flowers, including orchids, and by the sight of a swan sitting on her nest at the edge of a tarn. We moved to another site on the south of the island where we found ourselves surrounded by a herd of steers listening to our lecture. Fortunately, they retreated as we advanced.

Next we visited a probable Bronze Age double stone circle on Birkrigg Common; then on to Skelmore Head to see a hillfort with bank and ditch, possibly Bronze Age. Finally, exhausted, we looked at Urswick Church with its Anglian cross fragment of c. AD 850 and its curious 3-decker pulpit, lowest seat for the clerk, next for the reader of the lesson and top for the parson.

Back to the hotel for bath and dinner, and up on Sunday to find it raining again. However, we had a good visit to Swinside megalithic circle, set in a circle of hills and with a distant view of the sea. Personally I find Swinside, Long Meg and the Keswick circle some of the finest monuments in Britain – even allowing for the superiority of Stonehenge and Avebury, Most people went back to the hotel, but a few pressed on to Heathwaite to see the unusual cairns there., and after a quick lunch we all drove back to London.

(The Newsletter thanks Enid for providing this report within 12 hours of returning to London – a performance worthy of Fleet Street!)

Newsletter No 172: June, 1985

ANNUAL GENERALMEETING: FINANCIAL OUTLOOK HEALTHY

Bad weather – it was. raining cats and dogs outside – caused a low attendance at the Annual General Meeting at Hendon Library on May’ 14 only 33 people. The Chair was taken by our newest Vice-President, Ted Sammes.

Apologies for absence included those of Councillor Brian Jarman Chairman of the HADAS Committee 1984-5; the Meeting was sorry to learn that he had been unwell or some little time and was undergoing various medical tests. It was agreed to send Mr Jarman our deep regret at his illness and our best wishes for his quick recovery.

As Mr Jarman had been unable to produce his usual annual report, our. Hon Secretary stepped in with thanks to some of those who help the Society throughout the year, including officials of the Borough of Barnet and in particular Librarian David Ruddom and his staff; and to those members responsible for seeing that the Newsletter reaches you safely each month. Special thanks were recorded to Mrs Mason, who for many years has looked after pre-lecture coffee for us at the Library. Owing to Mr Mason’s increasing ill-health she feels she must give this up. We are most grateful to her for her quiet and gentle help, and we feel very Pad that we are likely to see Mr and Mrs .Mason less often at lectures and on outings.

The Hon Treasurer’s Accounts which were approved unanimously, presented a healthy picture, with a surplus for the year of £669.08. Total membership recorded by our Membership Secretary to March 31, 1985, was 388 – just 2 down on last year’s 390. The Society’s Accumulated Fund, when the 1984-5 surplus is added, comes to £3539.48, as against £2780 last year – and we have no debts. A vote of thanks was passed to our Hon. Auditor, Ron Penney.

It did not escape one eagle-eyed member that the year’s surplus was still £119.72 short of the total made by last October’s successful Minimart. This was the proper moment to voice HADAS’s grateful appreciation of the work of Dorothy Newbury and Christine Arnott ­without which we would have been in the red on the year.

There was a report, from our Hon Secretary on the Excavation working party followed by reports from our four groups – Prehistoric, Rom an, Industrial Archeology and Documentary. We propose to follow last year’s pattern and publish most of these reports in full – you will find three of them elsewhere in this Newsletter.

Our remaining Vice-Presidents were then confirmed (we have lost two in the last year, the Bishop of Enfield, now Bishop of Peterborough, and the late and fondly remembered. Eric Wookey). They are: Mrs Rosa Freedman, Mrs Brigid. Grafton Green; Miss Daisy Hill, Sir .Maurice Laing, Edward Sammes and Andrew Saunders.

There were four nominations for the 4 officers of the Society, so the following were declared elected:

Chairman: Councillor Brian Jarman

Vice Chairman: Brigid Grafton Green

Hon. Secretary: Brian Wrigley

Hon. Treasurer: Victor Jones

The HADAS Committee consists of the Society’s officers and 13 other members. ‘Two members of the 1984-5 Committee had resigned: Peter Griffiths, who has been abroad for much of this last year, and who is now moving out to Royston; and Tessa Smith, who has been an active and hard-working committee member and will be greatly missed: she was warmly thanked for all the work she had put in.. There were 13 nominations for the J3 vacancies, so the following were declared elected:

‘Christine Arnott; John Enderby; Phyllis Fletcher;’ Daphne Lorimer;’ Isobel McPherson; Dorothy Newbury; Nell Penny; June Porges; -Michael Purton; Edward Sammes; Sheila Woodward; Margaret Maher; David Trinchero.

It was noted during the evening that the bookstall at the Museum of London is now under new management which appears to be sympathetic to the display and sale of local society publications – something which HADA might find it worthwhile to investigate.

After business was over, slides showing some HADAS events of 1984′ were shown – visits to Repton and to West Stow, the weekend at Lincoln, the walk around Hampstead and Our Arabian Night. Dorothy Newbury and Ted Sammes acted as commentators, and Ted included some excellent-slides of the Prehistoric Society disporting itself on its 50th birthday.

CALLING ALL MEMBERS

… to the. Aid of HADAS

There were a number of appeals for help with different aspects of HADAS’s work during the course of the AGM, and we thought we would focus attention by quoting them separately. The strength and effectiveness of any voluntary society like ours depends almost entirely on the amount of help its members are prepared to give – so we make no apology for reminding you that:

1. We badly need typing help from time to time. Can you type? Do you have a typewriter? Would you be prepared to use it, even once a year, for HADAS?

2. We make a small but steady income by having a bookstall at our own meetings and at outside functions. Sometithes. we have to turn down invitations because there is no one to run the bookstall. Would you be prepared occasionally to help?

3. The Roman Group – once a most active component of the. Society seems to have fallen on evil times. If you are interested in the Roman period, and would like occasionally to get together with other like-minded members, please think Seriously about joining this group and helping to resuscitate it.

4. Number of projects were mentioned in the Documentary Group report with which help would be welcomed. If you have ever thought about trying your hand at research, now’s the very moment to turn your thoughts into action. Particularly helpful would be an offer to research a site in. the middle of Chipping Barnet on which we hope to dig.

5. As mentioned above, our highly valued ‘coffee lady,’ Mrs Mason has had to give up. If you would be prepared to organise or to help with-pre-lecture Coffees next winter please say so now.

Volunteers for the above should apply to any committee member

APPEAL for people prepared to man the information stall in June and July

The excavation provides the longest consecutive period in the year when the existence of the Society, and some aspects of its work, can be demonstrated to the world at large (or rather, to the world and his wife as they walk on Hampstead Heath). The fact that HADAS members are ‘at the fence,’ ready to answer simple questions from the public, results in considerable goodwill towards the Society in an increased membership and in donations.

The busiest times are afternoons (2-5.30pm)- especially weekends and, Bank Holidays. A regular stint is not necessary, nor is an exhaustive knowledge of the site – the questions really are simple. The offer of ONE SINGLE AFTERNOON in June or July would be much appreciated,- as would a call to me on ‘907 0333 from anyone prepared to offer their time.

DIGGERS. Site open 6 days a week – not Tuesdays – from May 31 to July 31, 9AM – 6PM MARGARET MAHER

HADAS. PROGRAMME

Fri/Sat/Sun Juno 21-23. Weekend in South Cumbria

Sat July 20. Mill Hill walk

Sat Aug 17. Porton Down/Salisbury

Sat Sept 21. Sutton Hoo/Woodbridge

Sat Oct 5 Minimart

SWANSCOMBE MAN

June 29, 1985, will be the 50th anniversary of the uncovering of one of Britain’s most famous archaeological finds – the Swanscombe skull, found at Barnfield Pit, Swanscombeent. It consisted of two parietals and the occipital of a young woman (even though it’s called. Swanscombe ‘Man’) who lived around 250,000 years ago, in what is known as the Hoxnian interglacial. These are the oldest human remains known in Britain. Swanscombe is a 2-phase site, the lower levels with a. Clactonian stone-tool industry, overlaid by an Acheulian industry.

Dartford Council and the Nature Conservancy are co-operating to celebrate the occasion.. The Barnfield Pit site will be open to the public on Sat June 29 from 11 am – 4’pm and on Sun June 30 from 10 am-4 pm. There will be an exhibition, geological sections to inspect and flint knapping to watch, and on Saturday morning a commemorative plaque will be unveiled, by Magnus Magnusson. A specialised tour of the sites for archaeologists and geologists, is being organised on Mon July I. Further details from P. Boreham at Dartford Borough Museum (0322 27666,

ext 146).

ABOUT PEOPLE

Congratulations to MARY O’ CONNELL who, as mentioned in the April Newsletter, took the examination for City of London guides this spring. She not only passed and is now a fully qualified guide – but she passed in the top five. It sounds as if HADAS now has the prime requirement for a London Walk – a top-class guide all of its own.

It was a great pleasure to see DR DAVID COGMAN at the AGM – it’s many a long day since he has been able to join us on that sort of occasion. It was sad, however, to learn that his father, WALTER ERNEST COGMAN, one of our founder members, had died about six weeks before, at the marvellous age of 97: he had been hoping very much to make his century: As well as being one of our founders, Mr W E Cogman, a former civil servant, used to be our auditor. He resigned from HADAS in 1974 during the severe last illness of his wife, also a member. Dr Cogman is a talented archaeological photographer, and took most of the photos of our early digs at Church End Farm and the Paddock, as well as of the Roman road investigations in Mill Hill and Copthall. We hope that now he’s broken the ice again we shall see him at other HADAS functions.

TOMB OF AN EMPEROR. They’re digging again at, one of the world’s great sites – to the east of the Chinese city of Xian, where in 1974 the 7000 larger-than-life terracotta warriors were found, buried in serried ranks. This time Chinese archaeologists hope to uncover the fabled underground palace which is the tomb of Qin Shi Huan (221-207 BC), China’s first Emperor, said to have been buried amid the most priceless treasures. Eleven years of tests have, it is thought, pinpointed the place, one test was for mercury – and it proved that the ground in one area contained very high levels. This corroborates ancient records which said that liquid mercury was piped into Gin’s completed tomb to give the effect of rivers and oceans accompanying the dead.

(Condensed from. The China Daily).

SITE WATCHING

Recent applications for planning permission

Former LTE Sports ground, Deansbrook Rd, Edgware

Northway School, The Fairway, Edgware

The Bungalow, Hendon Wood Lane

Land adj. The Paddocks, Rowley Lane, Arkley

If these applications are approved, the sites might be of some archaeological interest. If members therefore notice any building activity on them, please let John Enderby know (203 2630).

He would also like to know about signs of activity on six sites on which development has recently been approved by the Borough of Barnet:

Land at the rear of 2 Brockley Hill (3 Pipers-Green Lane)

Orchard Lodge, Hazel Mead, Barnet Rd

Five Bells public house, East End Rd, East Finchley

Hadley Memorial Hall, Hadley High

Glebe House, Camlet Way, Hadley

FIELDWALKING

An interesting symposium is being organised in the autumn by the Surrey Archaeological Society on the techniques and results of field-walking. It will be on Sat Oct 26 at the University of Surrey, Guildford, from 10 am-4.45 pm.

Experienced field walkers from various southern counties will speak of their methods and discoveries – in Wilts, Hampshire, Berkshire, at Silchester and in Kent and Sussex, and it is hoped that there will be ample time for general discussion. Local societies are invited to put’-on displays. As a result of the symposium, Surrey’s Excavation Committee intend to produce a recommended standard method for walking a field, recording finds and publishing results.

Several HADAS members have already expressed interest in attending the symposium, in the hope that it may inspire us to breathe fresh life into our own field walking programme. Anyone who would like to join a party to attend the symposium should let Brian Wrigley know (on 959 5982), mentioning whether they would be prepared to take a car or if they would need transport. Tickets cost £5.80 (with lunch) or £3.50 (without), from Mrs Susan Janaway, Fieldwalking Symposium, Surrey Archae­ological Society, Castle Arch, Guildford, Surrey GU1 3SX.

LISTED BUILDINGS

It sounds as if the long-awaited up-to-date Statutory List of Buildings of architectural or Historic Interest for the Borough of Barnet is about to see the light of day. If it appears in the next two or three months – and that is the informed guesstimate of Barnet’s Planning Department – its gestation will have taken nearly eleven years. Longer, even, than an elephant.

It was back in 1974 that the phrase ‘up-dating the Statutory List’ was first bandied about in Barnet. That year all local amenity societ­ies were invited to put forward ideas for buildings to be included in the List; and HADAS, along with many others, accepted the invitation. We provided a list divided into 4 categories of buildings.

After that it took until April 1983 for the Dept. of Environment to issue a draft list, up-dated to show with which of the proposals they were prepared to agree. That draft list, however, contained many errors and omissions. LBB Planning Department went through it with a fine-tooth comb in order to point out the mistakes. The DoE then went through the mistakes and decided whether they really were mistakes. Finally four weeks or so ago DoE sent agreed amendments to Barnet.

Next stage is for the List and the amendments to be dove-tailed in a word processor so that a final up-dated, corrected, 1985 statutory list can be issued. It is hoped to provide copies – probably for sale – this summer to the many persons and groups in the Borough who want them. We shall be anxiously waiting to get our copy, although we have been greatly helped during the last 2 years by an unamended copy of the draft list with which LBB kindly provided us.

The Planning Department has another idea up its sleeve: that is to have itsown list of buildings which are of .local interest even though the DoE has not seen fit to award them national ‘Listing’ status. Once the Statutory List has been issued, Barnet’s planners intend to start work on this ‘local’ list. .A preliminary step has already been taken Barnet has checked with other London boroughs and has found that many of them operate ‘local’ lists. A building on a local list will not have any legal protection enjoyed by a building on the Statutory List; but the fact that it is considered worth local listing will, it is hoped, increase public awareness and appreciation of its architecture and/or historic interest.

BRONZE AGE RUBBISH. There’s nothing like a good rubbish pit, so far as

Archaeology is concerned. As witness the work currently in progress in Wiltshire village of Potterne… There, a midden covering 12 acres, dated to between 1000-700BC, with deposits from 40cm-lm deep, is being excavated. Glauconite from the greensand bedrock has entered into a stable compound with the organic, material in the midden and produced mineralisation – and preservation – of seeds, bones and other organic substances. Even the haematite-coated pottery has been mineralised so that it looks like new instead of rather grotty.. Part of the spoil-3% – is being watersieved through a mesh of 600 microns in order to recover very small seeds and rodent bones. The remains of shorthorn cattle, sheep, deer, pig, dog and horse (coming into use as a riding animal in the late Bronze Age) have been identified.

(from a report in The Times, 17.5.85)

GREATER LONDON RECORD OFFICE

As a footnote to comments in the April Newsletter about the proposed takeover, after the GLC’s demise, of the Greater London Record-Office-by Corporation of the City of London, here’s-a quote from a letter to Times: of May 17, 1985:

‘Where there are units Within the Greater London Council service that have developed a renown and excellence which’ should not be ‘dissipated by termination or dispersal, then in accordance with the corporation’s long tradition for serving the London area as a.whole, it is willing to consider undertaking certain of these functions where it has experience, if this will benefit London and suitable arrangements can be made.

In implementation of this policy it has indeed been agreed in principle that, should the Greater London Council be abolished next year, the Corporation of London will take responsibility for the Greater London Record Office and we have no doubt-that the combination of our proven expertise with the expertise of the membels of. that office will ensure-no diminution in .the .excellent service provided.

We are much too proud of our skills and our service to London and the country over the centuries to take on a responsibility which we do not intend to carry out effectively and economically.

The letter was signed by the Chairman of the Library Committee of the Corporation of London.

ANNUAL REPORTS FROM THE GROUPS

Prehistoric Group

During the past year the Group’s activities have been entirely devoted to the Mesolithic site at West Heath, Hampstead. As most of you will know, .the first phase of digging was completed in 1981 and since then many hours of work have been devoted to the preparation of material for publication in the final phase I report. During this last year all the ends have been tied up, the report – a very substantial document ­has been typed and a copy is now with the Museum of London, who have expressed the hope that it may eventually be published as a LAMAS Special Paper. Financial considerations are the cause of the present delay publishing is now a very costly business.

During the year we were delighted to obtain our first scientific dating of the site: 9625 -900 BP: The method used was thermoluminescence i.e. the measurement of light emitted by the alpha particles of mineral crystals when subjected to heat. Burnt stone recovered from the site was used for its dating, which was done for us by Mrs Joan Huxtable of the Research Laboratory of the Dept of Art & Archaeology in Oxford.

Digging Phase 2 began in June 1984 and continued until the late autumn. Margaret Maher directed the dig in which 74 members participated (not all at once!) Twenty-one square metres were excavated and about 6000 flint artefacts were recovered, plus a similar quantity of burnt stone.

This season’s dig is already underway despite somewhat inclement weather. Fifty-six sq m. have been gridded, and 12 sq m. are currently being excavated. It is too early to say more than that satisfactory progress is being made. During April a DoE team surveyed an area of some 900 sq m. with a Fluxgate Magnotometer linked to two Epson com­puters, giving an instant print-out. Preliminary results showed no anomalies outside the known area of the site, i.e. we do not appear to be by-passing any important feature full report is still awaited.

SHEILA WOODWARD

Roman Group .

We can’t offer a verbatim report from this Group because TESSA SMITH, who spoke for them, did so off the cuff, and we didn’t realise quickly enough to get ‘our rusty shorthand working. So this is a paraphrase.

She mentioned processing – last May the Group had one of its Teahouse weekends to study further the Brockley Hill finds – and the exhibition on Roman pottery techniques mounted last August in a down stairs room at Church Farm House Museum. This is, in fact, still on display, but not for much longer. It will shortly be changed for a different exhibit of Brockley Hill material, which will occupy 3 large show cases instead of the two that have been used hitherto.

But it was what didn’t happen in the year 1984-5 that really worried Tessa. She could not report – as had happened in previous year’s special meetings, outings or research projects undertaken by the Group.What’s the reason? Just that interest among HADAS members in things

Roman seems, to Tessa’s great regret, to have declined – and she could not pinpoint why.

Excavation Working Party

The Working Party had Meet regularly during the year, continuing to review site-watching and research activities with an eye to possible digs again, no urgent rescue operation has cropped up during the year, and no excavation has been put forward by the Working Party although of course West Heath continued in 1984 and has re-opened this year (see. Prehistoric. Group report).

Site-watching is now being co-ordinated by John Enderby and Christine Arnott, and we are grateful to them for their efforts.

A proposal has been put forward to apply for a Lloyds Bank grant for archaeomagnetic dating of the Hadley. Wood earthwork. As will be known from the Newsletter, we are setting up co-ordinated resistivity survey and photographic teams. We continue co-operation with the Greater London Archaeological Service.

Two matters which we have particularly under review at present are:

1. The Water Board pipeline across the north of the Borough, described in .the May Newsletter, for which volunteer watchers are required.

2. The Borough’s proposed new Library site in the Stapylton Road area of Chipping. Barnet, where there may be a possibility of permission to make a trial excavation before building; we should be very pleased to hear from any members enthusiastic to dig.

BRIAN WRIGLEY

Annual reports from the other two groups – Industrial Archaeology and ‘Documentary Group – will appear in the July Newsletter.

BIRTHPLACE OF ALEXANDER THE.GREAT? About five years ago there was the excitement of the tomb of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander, being found at Vergina, in Northern Greece: now Greek archaeologists think they have uncovered the building in which Alexander was born. This is the foundations of a palace, occupying 15 acres, at Pella, near Vergina. It cannot but be the palace of the Kings of Macedon,’ says Mary Siganidou, director of the dig. (Reported in The Times, 5.5.85)

AIR PHOTOS

The Department of Environment’s collection of some two million air photographs built up since the 1940s, has since last October become the responsibility of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England). It has been amalgamated with the National Monuments Record collection of half a million air photos, making a very substantial archive.

The photographs were taken (mainly by the RAF) between 1945-63 at scales ranging from 1:2500 to 1:30,000. It is intended that the collection should be made available for public use, and enquiries about photographs of specific areas should be made to the Air Photos Unit, RCHM(E), Fortress House, 23 Saville Row, London W1X lAB (734 6010 x337).

VEGES – OLD AND NEW

Two recent news items illuminate the origins of well-known vegetables, one commonly used for animal feed and the other a favourite human delicacy.

The horsebean, used mainly for horses and, cattle, is the last cultivated member of .the pea and bean family .to have an unknown and undated progenitor. Now an Israeli scientist suggests a Levantine origin. He has analysed as horse beans 2600 seeds found in a heap in a corner of a Neolithic room on a site 5 miles northwest of Nazareth, dated between 6500-6000 BC; ‘that’s ‘2000 years earlier than any known horsebean. The evidence that they were cultivated is not conclusive but they could have been. Science vol 228 No 4697

Then, tomatoes hitherto the tomato has been considered to have a Now World derivation discovered by Columbus (along with America) and cultivated in Peru and Mexico long before his arrival there. Now the Chinese may have a counter claim to being its country of origin, according to the China Daily of Feb 27, 1985.

In 1983 a Han dynasty (206BC-AD 27) tomb was excavated in Chengdu. Nine cane and bamboo plaited baskets were found, apparently containing. Rock-hard, carbonised food remains – almonds, rice, chestnuts, it was thought; to soften them they were covered with a damp, sterilised blanket. When the blanket was removed a month later germination had started and there were about 40 green shoots. These were grown on, and a year later they began to bear fruit, which at first looked like dates, but swelled to egg-size and reddened. They were tomatoes, though not entire­ly like modern ones. Now the question which is exercising Chinese archaeologists and palaeobotanists is whether the tomb in which the seeds were found was intact – or had there been an intrusion at some time in 2000 years? There seems’ to be some doubt about the evidence.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

The European Science Foundation; based on Strasbourg has now published the second in its series of Handbooks for Archaeologists ­on Dendrochronological (or tree-ring) Dating. (The first, reviewed in an earlier Newsletter, was on Thermoluminescence Dating).This 55-page booklet covers the general principles and procedures of tree-ring dating how to take samples of wood, interpretation and the limitations of the method. These is a bibliography and a list of the laboratories in Europe which, deal with dendrochronology (5 of them in the UK). Copies can be obtained from the Council for British Archaeology, 112-Kennington Road, SE11 6RE, free – but please enclose an sae at least 9½” x 6½” and stamp it with 31p in stamps.

The first fascicule of the new series on the 1972-76 digs at Grimes Graves has boon published by the British Museum at £10 It isan analysis of the Neolithic antler picks .from Grimes Graves and Durrington Walls, by Juliet Clutton-Brock. The current CBA Newsletter remarks that it throws much new light both on the selection and fabrication of picks and on the age-structure of herds and their relationship with the Neolithic human population.

The Hornsey Historical Bulletin is always worth reading and the 1985 issue, No 2C, which is just out, is no exception. HADAS members will find Joan Schwitzer’s paper, ‘The Soda Water Site Explored’ particularly interesting. That’s because in 1978, at the invitation of the Hornsey Historical Society, some HADAS members took part in a short dig, directed by Tony McKenna, at the soda water site, just behind a chemist’s shop in Highgate High Steet. Dr Schwitzer records it thus: “Around the foundations of the stables adjoining the soda water site’ as it came to be called, a ‘rescue dig’ was undertaken by members of HADAS, by the Archaeological Society of the Polytechnic of North London, and by Tony McKenna, an archaeologist from the Museum of London. So far as is known, no detailed report on any of the archaeo­logical work has so far been published. An explanation of when the factory started, how it worked and when it closed down has been lacking.”Dr Schwitzer’s excellent 11-page paper proceeds to remedy some of these omissions. She tells the story, from documents, of Henry Dunn’s pharmacy, with its outbuildings in which ‘artificial mineral waters’ were made, from 1830 onwards, including some interesting material on the origins and increasing popularity of carbonated water ­the beginning, in fact, of the soft drinks industry in this country and, indeed, in the world. Malcolm Tucker, of GLIAS, contributes material on the archaeology of the site. Some unexpected facts emerge. Dr Schwitzer points out that in the20 years from 1822-42 carbonated water had ceased to be a fad of the rich and had become a common commodity. Later, it gave a new word to the popular vocabulary, ‘codswallop.’ This was derived in part from the name of the inventor of the widely used ‘Codd’ bottle with a glass marble closure, Hiram Codd, a London soda water manufacturer in the Caledonian Road; the bottle displaced those with cork and wire fastenings after its invention in 1870. Codd bottles were also found on the Highgate site.

Copies of the Bullet in cost £1.95, plus 33p post and packing, from the Hornsey Historical Society, The Old Schoolhouses 136 Tottenham Lane, N8 7EL; or if you would just like a copy of Dr-Schwitzer’s paper that has been off printed at 95 pence.

OLDEST DINOSAUR IN THE WORLD. A dinosaur skeleton 225 million years old has turned up in the Painted Desert of Arizona. The animal was about the size of a large dog, with a long neck and tail. It is 3 or 4 million years older than any dinosaurs hitherto found in North America – and probably in the world.

Newsletter No. 171: May, 1.9.85

PROGRAMME NEWS.

Tues May 14.Annual General Meeting. By tradition the Chair at the AGM is taken by one of our Vice-Presidents. This year it is Ted Sammes turn to officiate. Business meeting at 8.30 (but come for coffee at 8 pm as usual) followed by slides and short talks by Members. If anyone has a few interesting slides, please ring. Dorothy.Newbury.„(203 0950) as more volunteers will be most welcome.

Sat May 18. CANCELLED outing to Cambridge. It is much regretted that our plans for this fell apart when the original compere became ill and it was then discovered that the colleges are closed to the public during May because of examinations.

Fri-Sun June 21-23 Weekend ‘in South Cumbria

Sat July 20. Mill Hill walk

Sat .Aug 17. Porton Down

Sat Sept 21. .Sutton Hoe

Sat Oct .5. Revised date for 1985 Minimart. Please change the provisional date given on your programme card (which was ‘Oct 12 tp be confirmed’) to Oct 5; if possible, do it now, while you think of it.

WEST HEATH DIG

The dig re-opened in-the week-end of April 20-21, and we shall be reporting on it as it progresses

Meantime, you may like to have again the details of days and times: Digging will go on .four days a week (Fri, Sats., Suns, Mons) until, the end of May, from 9 am. In June and July the site will be open six days a week. All diggers – including the inexperienced will be welcome. Please bring your own 3″ or 4″ inch pointing trowel and a kneeler and wear soft-soled shoes.

For further information, .contact either Sheila Woodward.(952 3897) Or Margaret Maher (907 0333)..

From our MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY comes this message…

Many thanks for the good response to subscriptions due in April. I am being kept busy doing lists, paying money into the bank and acknowledging same. Keep up the good work this month. Thank you for the kind wishes many of you have sent.

With grateful thanks for prompt payments,

sincerely,

PHYLLIS FLETCHER

ALL THINGS TUDOR. The Museum of London is going Tudor for the next two months. In May and June Wednesday lectures (1.10 pm in the theatre) will cover such subjects as Stow’s Survey of London, Tudor architecture, the Elizabethan theatre, Tudor maps, Tudor poverty and Tudor shinning. Some Thursday Workshops (in the Education Dept, 1.10 pm) also link, up with the Tudor theme: on May 23, recent Tudor finds in the City; on June 13, Tudor coins.

ZINC MAKING IN ANCIENT INDIA Report on the April lecture

by ALEC GOULDSMITH

It is always a pleasure to welcome back Dr Paul Craddock because he

usually has something original to say.The April lecture proved no exception.

During his previous talk on ‘Early Metallurgy’ he had mentioned the discovery of huge dumps of spent retorts and other refractory materials scattered over a wide area of hillside around the mining area of Zawar in the province of Rajasthan about 300 miles north of Bombay. He had now been back with a team made up jointly from the University of Baroda,’ the British Museum and Hindustan Zinc Limited. This talk covered their findings so far.

He promised not to be too technical and indeed his first slide reassured us. It was a High Street ironmonger’s shop displaying many galvanised %iron products. Zinc, he said, is now a common and relatively cheap metal, but this was not always so. It was only in the 19c that it became so in Europe.

From about 1600 all metallic zinc had been imported through the Dutch and British East India Companies. Historians were never quite sure where the metal came from, but the most likely sources were India and/or China, The Romans, of course, knew brass from about 100 BC; but this alloy of copper and zinc had been made by heating finely divided copper and calamine (zinc oxide) in.a closed crucible with charcoal at around 1000 C, When the zinc dissolved in the copper. Calamine could not be reduced to metallic zinc by the normal smelting methods of those days, because at temperatures over 900°C it volatilised away. It was not until the 13c that the relationship of calamine and zinc was understood. Then an Englishman, William Champion, in Bristol, designed a furnace with an external condenser and produced metallic zinc in Britain. Was this a re-invention, or had the knowledge been brought back from the East? After all, Bristol was the port of entry for the zinc.

At Zawar the zinc/lead ores outcrop along the tops of the hills. Old shafts run down steeply into the hillside to a depth of 22m or so, with galleries running out. Mining was carried out by ‘fire-setting’ .i.e. building fires of wood to neat up the rock and then pouring water over it. This is shown by .the amount of wood-ash still left.. Iron chisels and some rather unusual pestle like hammers were also found. Wooden chutes were still in situ. Samples from these and other wood gave a C14 date of 2000 years BP. Some potsherds in the same area were dated to the 2nd century AD.

The most exciting find however was made in the valley below. Usually in excavations of this kind complete furnaces are never found,* The picture is built up by piecing together the evidence from stratified-fragments within the heaps. On the third day of the excavation, however, one of the Baroda team spotted the corner of a refractory plate sticking out from a heap of debris on the side of a goat path. Excavation round this revealed first the edges of furnace walls and then the tops of retorts still in situ. Eventually seven complete furnaces in a row, each of 36 retorts, were uncovered: This bank of furnaces was dated to the16c. Another larger bank was found later dating to the 18c.

Using analyses of the residues in the retorts, together with evidence from the recipes in medieval Indian books on medicinal chemistry and alchemy, it was now possible to decide how the operation was carried out. Roasted ore together with charcoal, salt and sticky substances such as treacle and gum were rolled into marbles. These were then charged into an open clay retort which was fitted with a funnel-shaped condenser which had a wooden stick passing through the hole to stop the charge falling out when the retort was turned over. The inverted retorts were then placed in the holes of the supporting plates. A fire was built in the top part of the furnace round the retorts, the oxide was reduced and the zinc distilled off into the lower cooler part where it condensed and ran into collecting vessels. The wooden stick burnt away and would have fallen out after the charge had fritted.

Scientific examination of sections of the vitrified retort walls suggest temperatures of 1100 C, which was the temperature recommended the retort process used in Europe during the first half of the 20c. The whole process was estimated to have taken about 9 hours, during which time the temperature would have had to be closely controlled. This procedure was probably the most complex and sophisticated pyrotechnical operation in use before the Industrial Revolution.

Dr Craddock speculated that up to and during the Roman period the mines were probably operated for lead and silver, followed by a period of inactivity. From around 1300 AD zinc became the prime objective using a distillation process which carried on into the late. 18c. Certainly the presence of many elaborate Jaen temples in the neighbourhood suggest a. big population in the 14c-15c. It is perhaps ironic that in the late 20c Hindustan Zinc are installing at Zawar a process and plant developed by RTZ at Avonmouth in Bristol.

It was most lucid talk on a specialised subject, much appreciated by members, as shown by the many and varied questions that arose. Bill Firth proppsed a vote of thanks that was warmly endorsed.

For those interested in pursuing this subject further, a Conference on “2000 Years. of Zinc and Brass” is being organ­ised at the University of Bristol in conjunction with the Historical metallurgy _Society and the British Museum for June, 7-9 1985. Further information from J H Bettey MA PhD, Dent. Extramural Studies, University of Bristol, Wills’ Memorial Building, Queens Rd, Bristol BS8 1HR.

FRAUD AMONG THE FOSSILS? One of the most famous fossils is Archaeopteryx, 160 million years old, considered hitherto as the link between reptiles and birds because of having a reptilian bone structure covered with feathers. Six specimens are known, the two with the most clearly defined feathers being in East Berlin Museum and the Natural History Museum, South Ken. Now five physicists (one of them. Sir Fred Hoyle) have publish­ed a paper in the British Journal of Photography (No 10, March 8 1985) describing a photographic analysis they have made of the two specimens. They strongly, suggest that the feather impressions were added after the fossils had been found in a Bavarian lime quarry. Is Archaeopteryx about to join Piltdown Man?

PREHISTORIC SOCIETY 50TH ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE: A report by

NORWICH, March 29-31 BRIAN WRIGLEY

There was a respectable representation of HADAS – even if not so large as on other occasions – at the conference; once we had got used to the time-consuming walking (much of it on aerial walkways) necessitated by the somewhat trendy architecture of our campus accommodation in the hospitable University of East Anglia, it was clear that all were enjoying themselves Considerably, solicitously directed from place to place by Aubrey Burl, the Meetings- Secretary, with much visual aid from a black­board map. And what places: On the first evening, from’ Grahame Clark’s opening address by coach to the Lord Mayor’s generous wine reception and by coach hack to a convivial suppers

The Prehistoric World: a Celebration of Diversity was the theme of the Conference. (we were let into the secret: the speakers were chosen firstl, and a theme had to be found afterwards to cover their subjects!) Indeed, the subjects ranged in time from the Mesolithic to the Romans, and in place over Africa,. America, Australia, China, Boreal Eurasia-and Japan. Nevertheless, from such notes as I was able to scribble whilst the lights were on between slides (‘Ex oriente Lux’ I muttered) some sort of common thread does seem to appear: that apparently simple societies may be more complex than we often believe, so that for instance. Hierarchy, settlement and systems of exchange (everyone meticulously avoided calling it ‘trade’) may exist amongst hunter-gatherers and are not (nor even is.pottery) necessarily indicators of agriculture; and there may have been a considerable level of complexity, social stratification and urbanisation in Precolonial Africa.

Not all that was said, clearly, was to the liking of Lewis Binford, who abandoned his prepared paper to regale us with anecdotes of the practices of hunter-gatherers from his own experience,. to make his point that our interpretation of archaeological evidence should be based on as wide a knowledge as possible of human behaviour.

Richard Bradley sought in his break-neck ¾-hour to cover Britain for 4000 years, from the introduction of agriculture to the Romans. In charting progress from funeral to ceremonial monuments to votive deposits to defensive settlements he mentioned periods of expansion and contract­ion and conspicuous consumption – but it did seem to me a charting of the activities more of ‘prehistorians than of prehistoric people. His speaking surprised me by being much more logically structured than his writing, in my experience, and it was A lively performance that kept all awake.

The outstanding feature of the Conference which I think, stand as an important landmark in. archaeology, was Colin Renfrew’s plea to re-introduce the study of linguistics as an aid to understanding the spread and development of ethnic groups; taking as’his important example the Indo-European group of languages, he put forward, to the obvious anguish of many present, the hypothesis that the proto-Indo-European language was spread across Europe from its homeland (‘Urheimat’ he even called it) in Anatolia by the waves of farmers bringing their now Neolithic culture amongst the Heaven-knows-what-speaking Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.

It was good to be there.

STEAM TRAIN LANDMARK. Cricklewood is to lose a landmark, according to the Hendon Times of March 21 last – the Carlton Forge, which has stood on the Edgware Road for a century or more. It was part of the Cricklewood Motive Power Depot of the Midland Railway (later the London, Midland & Scottish) and was maintenance base for many famous main line steam locomotives. British Rail has sold the property to an oil company; a self-service filling station will partly replace the present buildings.

PIPE-LINE ALERT

HADAS owes Tessa Smith a big debt for keeping a sharp eye on the Society’s interests, particularly in the Elstree/Edgware area. Recently she discovered that the Lee Valley Water Company is planning to lay a trunk water main from Arkley, in the Borough of Barnet, to Ivor in Bucks. Part of the proposed line will run under the northwest corner of our Borough. Tessa suggested we contacted the water company – so we did.

Now they have-kindly provided scale drawings of the scheme. The route starts at Rowley Lane, south of Rowley Lodge (TQ 2189 9564) and runs southwest until it cuts below Barnet Road just south of Stirling Corner and north of Hyvor Hall. It Crosses Hyver Hill and then the Barnet Bypass (at app. TQ 2080 9491), It goes under the wooded area on the east of Scratch wood Open Space (under Thistle Wood and skirting south of Boys Hill Wood) and on below the north part of Mill Hill Golf course, going under the railway line just south of Elstree Tunnel (app TQ 1982 9446).

The route then enters and traverses the Bury Farm fields, passing to the south of Bury Farm buildings and north of the interesting area of the Clay Lane dog-leg. It crosses Edgwarebury Lane at app TQ 1908 9409 and moves on across more Bury Farm fields to the Watford Bypass, which it reaches at app. TQ 1804 9367. It then traverses the fields between the Bypass and Brockley Hill, which it approaches at app TQ 1775 9354. It then goes on, in the Borough of Harrow, below the open ground to the west of Brockley Hill, skirting the south side of Pear Wood

The whole route, traversing one of the least built-up areas of the Borough, is of potential archaeological interest – it’s almost like having a large trial trench dug for us through areas known to be of possi­ble medieval and probable Roman interest: quite apart from any unknown quantities -which may turn up from other periods. We know, from our own field walking, that the whole Bury Farm area is important for Roman finds.

To watch the digging of the water pipe trench through the Borough therefore seems to be a top HADAS priority. Maybe it’s just pipe dreaming (if you’ll forgive the pun) to imagine that the water board may just happen to uncover a Roman mosaic …

When we told the Lee Valley Water Company of our interest, they promised to keep us in the picture; at the moment the position is that they will let us know as soon as a pipe-laying programme has been approved.

Meantime John Enderby, in charge of HADAS site-watching, feels we should begin to get geared up so that we can go into action, if necessary, at short notice. He already has a little list of possible pipe-watchers whom he proposes to contact; but if any member would like to take part ­either because he/she lives near the areas concerned or is mobile and would be able to travel and watch at short notice – please contact John on 203 2630 and add your name to his list. A group of 7 or 8 watchers will be our aim.

ANOTHER MARY ROSE? The waters of Poole Harbour, Dorset, hide the remains of an early 16c Spanish trader of the type in which Columbus sailed to America in 1492.. Amateur divers working under a surveyor from the National Maritime Museum have found enough polychrome pottery of Iberian Isabela’ type to date the vessel to between 1475-1550. The wreck was found when a fisherman asked members of the local sub-aqua club to free his nets, which had caught on something on the seabed. Investigation of the wreck by the club, under professional direction, continues, and the prognosis is that this will prove to be an important underwater project.

COMMITTEE CORNER

The final meeting of the present Committee, prior to the AGM, took place on April 19; the following were among matters discussed:

A contribution of £25 will be made by the Society to Christian Aid, in memory of Vice President and founder member Eric Wookey. Er Wookey’s daughter has suggested that we ask for this to be earmarked for-Ethiopian famine relief, as this was a charity dear to her father’s heart.

College Farm. We were sorry to learn that our suggestion of organisations ‘adopting’ College Farm animals by paying their weekly food bills had been turned down although. we appreciated Chris Ower’s reasons. Such a project would have been difficult to operate, Mr Ower felt, on a working farm where animals may come and go. The Commitee decided to investigate other possible ways of helping.

Blue Plaques of Barnet. After the Hon. Treasurer had reported hold­ing a large stock of the second edition of this HADAS pamphlet, for which sales are now slow it was agreed to offer the booklets at a much reduced price of 25p. This is a real snip, and any HADAS member who would like to take some (how about using them as small presents – much cheaper than todays birthday. cards?) should get in touch with our publications manager, Joyce Slatter, 5 Sentinel House, Sentinel Square, NW4 2E1.

Scientific Dating Awards. We reported last month (under the News­letter item An Award for HADAS’) the suggestion that we might apply for one of the new Scientific Dating Awards under the Lloyds Bank Fund for Independent Archaeologists. The Committee decided that, as soon as certain preliminary work had been done, we should apply for an award to meet the cost of dating the ditch-fill at the Hadley earthwork.

HADAS on TV? The question mark is because, as this is written, we are not sure when – or indeed if – the Society will be on the telly; It was reported to the Committee that Thames TV had asked HADAS to put, in a TV news programme, the archaeological side of the case against the use of metal detectors on Elstree Open Space. An application to-use-a detector there had been made to Barnet Council some weeks ago by the Herts. & District Metal Detection Society. Barnet had turned the applica­tion down, partly on HADAS’s advice. Thames TV decided that the pros and cons of the decision would be of interest as a local news story. As members will know, Roman Watling Street skirts the whole western border of Elstree Open Space: which means that every part of it is within walking distance of one of Britain’s great Roman highways – and the Romans were determined ribbon-developers. For this alone – and there were other reasons – the Society would have advised against the use of metal detectors in such a sensitive area.

Our Hon. Secretary, Brian Wrigley, accompanied a Thames TV team to Edgware, starting at Brockley Hill, just south of Elstree, to explain this objection. He pointed out, on the ground, the wealth of Roman find spots thereabouts. Thames said they hoped to use the interview soon: perhaps, by the time you read this, they will have done so.

INVITATION TO HADAS MEMBERS

Our colleagues in Camden history Society have sent us their programme for the rest of this year, with an invitation to attend their meetings. Your members will always be welcome,’ their Hon. Secretary, Jane Ramsay, writes, and no charge is made.” We see that their August lecture will feature HADAS – it’s on West Heath, by Margaret Maher. .Here are the details of the list:

May 22 7 Pm. Huguenots in London by Rosemary Weinstein (Holborn Lbry, Theobalds Rd). This will no doubt link with the Museum of London’s Huguenot exhibition, ‘The Quiet Conquest,’ which opens on May 15.

June 12, 6.30 pm. Annual Meeting and talk on Waterhouse, the architect, by Robert Thorne of the GLC Historic Blgs Div (Prudential Assurance Blg, Holborn)

Aug. 22, 7.30 West Heath dig, by Margaret Maher (Swiss Cottage Lbry)

Brian Wrigley reviews

BRONZE AGE METALWORK IN SOUTHERN BRITAIN

by Susan M Pearce. Shire Archaeology (£1.95

Having spent some time recently reading about bronze weapons, I was much interested to see this new (1984) publication. Appropriately enough for this series, Dr Pearce says she has tried not to linger on contro­versies in a book intended to introduce and encourage. Having no inhib­itions myself about being controversial, however, I will say that I found it disappointing that so much received wisdom’ is presented so un­critically. As she says in her introduction, typology remains fundamental in spite of its severe problems’ (I think she must, after reading some of the works that I have in the last two years, have wished she could use a much stronger phrase!); some explanation of what these problems are would have been welcome.

One problem which I have certainly found is that of terminology. Whilst it is, in a way, refreshing to come across a book on this subject which does not complain about the terms traditionally used, it seems a little hard on the beginner to use those terms without explanation – for instance, that ‘halberd’ doesn’t’ really mean a halberd which would

be recognised as who we know, actually used an-implement which they called by that name; or that dirk’ doesn’t mean a dirk, that would be recognised as such by someone who wears one as ‘part of his national costume. And I have to wonder what a ‘leaf-bladed rapier.(p38) would look like (it is not ilIustrated).; but then I wonder about ‘leaf-shaped’ anyway what leaf? It certainly doesn’t seem to be the same leaf for leaf-shaped swords, leaf-shaped spears and leaf-shaped arrow heads!

It is a shame that it is really, I suppose, impossible to write a generally accepted summary of this period that is not either liberally spattered with ‘perhaps’ ‘and may be’ .and ‘some think’ (which would make it unreadable); or alternatively, contains a series of firm state­ments, any of which are disputable, on the evidence, and many of which appear to say things we could not possibly know from the evidence. The author goes mostly for the latter alternative, with the result that in a good few places the dreaded circularity of reasoning and: intellectual arrogance, (of her sources, not of herself, I’m sure) show through. Arrogance? Well – neither type proved to be very popular throughout southern Britain’ (.p12); doesn’t that really mean that archaeologists haven’t (yet?) found many there? Particularly is this true in the Middle Bronze Age, which virtually exists only as a group of bronze artefacts, mostly found without dating context, which typology has decided should be called Middle Bronze Age. One must surely be cautious about any sub-division into further ‘phases,’ still based entirely on typology; to go on and say that a certain type ‘continued to be made in Phase X’ is really saying no more than that ‘we have decided that that type should be included in the group which we have called Phase X.’ This, surely, is circular?,

Granted, that in a book meant to summarise current thinking, one has to take that thinking warts and ail; but a passing reference here and there to the wartiness might be a considerable help to the beginner.

Some of the drawings appear to be a little wobbly, and comparison of some other drawings of the same objects suggest that it is the draughtsman’s shake rather than any irregularity in the original object:

An interesting suggestion is that some of the multiple finds which have been put under the all-embracing term ‘hoard’ are more likely to be debris from the settlements which are otherwise scarce. This links interestingly with the recent article in Current Archaeology No 94, where Robert Gourlay and John Barrett suggest that the Dail no Caraidh ‘hoard’ was a result of multiple deposits and call for a rethinking of what many so-called ‘hoards’ represented.

We apologise for two errors which crept into the April Newsletter.

The first was in Ted Sammes’ remarks about the finding of Lindow Man and the report on him in the current issue of Antiquity. Ted said that Antiquity can be read at LBB Central Library in the Burroughs.’ The Borough Reference Librarian, David Bicknell, rang to say that alas, that is no longer so.

The Library used to take Antiquity, a quarterly, for 40 years; but in 1931 they gave it up. No doubt this was in one of the economy drives which have been hitting almost all aspects of our library service in the last few years.

The second error concerned College Farm. We had reported, after seeing an item headed ‘College Farm Sells its Highland Cattle,’ in-the Hendon Times of March 21 that the Farm’s Highland cattle had gone. ‘

HADAS member Mrs P S Karet, who lives in Fitzalan Road near the Farm, rang up to say that the cattle – four of them – are still in residence. They are a great pleasure to her and to all who live nearby – specially the cow which produced a most delightful calf a week or two ago.

BUILDINGS IN LBB. News of two well-known buildings in the Borough this month. Good news about the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley – said to be the oldest in London and perhaps in Britain. It received a last-minute life-saver of £100,000 from the GLC, without which it would have faced demolition in favour of an office block. Bad news, however, about the Borough’s only Grade I Listed building, Edwin Lutyens’ Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute, which started building in 1909 and was completed in 1930. It is suffering from structural deterioration, will cost £2,500,000 to restore. A public appeal for half a million has been launched. ‘If successful, the Dept of Environment will find the other two million.

NEWSLETTER NO. 169 March 1985.

PROGRAMME NOTES.

Tuesday, March 5th. Annual Constantinedes Memorial Lecture –

by Daphne Lorimer on the WEST HEATH EXCAVATION

Daphne will start her lecture with a resume of this Mesolithic site and its surroundings, telling how a HADAS Member, Alec Jeakins, first suspected its presence while walking on Hampstead Heath and how the excavation (Phase 1) developed in the next six years from 1976-1981. This is the nearest Mesolithic site to London which has so far been found and in 1977 HADAS entered it in the BBC Chronicle Contest reaching the final six. Daphne, who was site Supervisor during these six years will be showing slides, a display of photographs and a selection of the finds.

Her talk will be of great interest to all those who took part in the dig but also to those who have since joined the Society and to our many Members who do not participate in our dirt Archaeology activities.

The lecture is a tribute to our founder, the late Themistocles Constantinedes. His daughter, Miss Vivienne Constantinedes hopes to be present.

Tuesday April 2nd. England’s Heritage: An Aerial View. Christopher Stanley.

Tuesday May 14th. Annual General Meeting.

All the above at Central Library, The Burroughs, Hendon, N.W.4, Coffee 8.p.m. Lecture 3:30.p.m.

Saturday May 18th. Outing to Cambridge. Andrew Powell.

Friday June 21st/23rd. Weekend in South Cumbria. Isobel McPherson.

This is a beautiful area, seldom visited and rich in Archaeological interest. We hope to visit several prehistoric costal sites, a late Neolithic (megalithic) circle, a Bronze Age circle and three hill-sites of Pre-Roman occupation,, as well as the ruins of Furness Abbey and the extensive site at Heathwaite, which seems to have been settled first in Neolithic times, though most of the visible remains are now thought to be Early Mediaeval.

WRITING IN ROMAN BRITAIN – VINDOLANDA AND BATH …

Report on a lecture by Mark Hassell on 5th February.

The particular interest of the Vindolanda and Bath writings lies in the information they contain of ordinary people’s lives, the ordinary soldiers of the early second century in Vindolanda, and civilians of the fourth century in Bath. Roman Britain apparently lacked native authors and most Roman monumental inscriptions contain only formal information such as an individual’s status, age or career; but here in Vindolanda a soldier had written thanking for a parcel he had been sent, containing socks, two pairs of slippers and two pairs of underpants.

At least two earlier forts underlie the vici alongside the major Vindolanda fort, visible to-day near Hadrian’s Wall; the later occupation has happily sealed off these earlier forts, leaving their organic remains, in an exceptionally good state of preservation. Small pieces of wood thus preserved and excavated during the last fifteen years, have been found under close examination to be covered in fine ink writing in the old Roman cursive script. Some are letters such as the thank you for the socks and pants, or one about the 50 oysters sent to a convalescent by a friend. Others are lists of provisions, such as barley, wine, beer, fish sauce, etc; the words “per privatum” often appear on these lists, probably meaning “on private account” – are we reading here the Roman equivalent of NAAFI accounts?

Sentences such as “I write to you from winter quarters in Vindolanda” and mentions of names of people or places and dates help fill in information about this first hundred years of Roman occupation which is still a dark period in our knowledge. For example one letter referred to a visit by Marcellus a Govenor whose decorations for military valour in Britain are known from inscription elsewhere; Vindolanda must have seen heavy fighting at that time.

The richness of the Bath writings lies ‘in the details of the curses recently excavated from the hot spring. Curses were written on thin sheets of pewter, tin or lead, which were rolled up end cast into the sacred waters for the attention of the goddess Minerva. These curses also reflect the pattern of human life. For example the curse of the man who had lost his towel, and named a string of possible thieves ­perhaps they had been bathing with him when it was stolen; and a man who had lost his cloak cursed the thief up and down “whether he was a man or a woman, a slave or a free man”, the curse running on to wish various evils on him -.death, and no sleep and no children etc. until the cloak should be returned.

Other examples of informative writing included a scrap of a soldier’s diploma from which the whole document has been reconstructed by Dr. Roxan,(well-known to many HADAS Members) whom Mark Hassall named as the world authority on military diplomas.

The many such informative items detailed in the lecture help to put flesh on the skeleton of roman Britain, outlined by Archaeology, and Mark Hasall’s lively presentation gave us a vivid new picture of life at that time as seen through the eyes of the writers.

FOOTNOTE.

Members who never enjoyed one, or both, of Mark Hassall’s lectures may be interested in a short course at Oxford on The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, including lectures on the evidence from inscriptions for military organisation, for civil and civic life, religious belief and practice and one on the ‘curse tablets.’ Tutors: Dr. Graham. Webster and Dr. Roger Tomlin. This course runs from April 13th – 14th. Full residential fee £24.00. Details from The Archaeology/Local History Course Secretary, Oxford University, Department of External studies, Rewley House, 3-7,Wellington Square, Dxford. GXI 2JA.

Correspondence re “Pop Arch”

This is a happy ending.Last month we told the unfinished story – from a reader’s eye view – of the problems which were bedevilling the journal ‘Popular Archaeology.’ It hadn’t appeared since last August. we were keeping our fingers crossed that it would manage to publish its January issue, and it just made it – by a whisker. The Newsletter copy arrived from the Newsagent on January 31st.

Now we’ve had a letter from ‘Pop Arch’, which says:

“The February copy is now available, and I have Great pleasure in enclosing it. I must say how much I appreciated the comments (in your February Newsletter) regarding our magazine, and can only apologize for the omission of copies since September 1984… It is not just distribution problems which we had to contend with, but also printing and general production.I would appreciate it if you could make some mention in your next Newsletter to the effect that Popular Archaeology is alive and kicking.'”

That we’re delighted to do.

COMICS

Do you remember April Fool’s Day last year when we unveiled the plaque on Finchley Memorial Hospital to the memory of Grimaldi the clown? The vicar of the Clowns’ Church, Father Michael Shrewsbury, who was present at the unveiling writes:-

“The Sunday was drab and grey but wonderfully enlivened by the motley as once again the Clowns came to Church. On the 3rd of February some forty Clowns paid their annual visit to the Clowns’ Church, Holy Trinity, Dalston in Hackney, the headquarters of Clowns’ International and the St. Francis gallery of Clown pictures. Strictly, there were only one or two Clowns and the remainder Augustes.

The day began with the annual meeting of Clowns’ International followed by the scrimmage for corners in hall and gallery to don the motley; the greeting of old friends and the meeting of new. At 4.00pm began the great procession into Church – clouds of sweet incense, Cross, Candles, Preacher (Canon Sebastian Charles of Westminster Abbey) Clowns’ Chaplain and – of course the Clowns, one complete with huge snake!

During the Service tribute was paid to the great Grimaldi. The President of Clowns International, Ron Moody, laid a Chaplet in the Grimaldi corner while the Chaplain prayed, “God our Father, we remember before you the life of your servant known as Grimaldi the Clown, his artistry, skill and invention. Surely he helped You to touch the hearts of Your children and for this we give you thanks.” This is a Collect the Chaplain composed some years ago.

With trumpets and organ, Clowns, Clergy end congregation sang ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ at the end of the Service while processing into the hall, for a ceremonial cutting of the Clown cake end a rousing show.”

The Vicar asked if any HADAS Members would like to go to the service and kindly said he would keep a couple of seats. We gave Sheila Milligan a ring as we thought Spike (who unveiled the plaque) might like to go. He would have done, but alas, had a TV appointment at precisely that time.

A GOOD DINNER

NELL PENNY takes another dip into parish records.

Gazing into my crystal ball can I see HADAS in 1999 celebrating the bicentennial of a Hendon Vestry dinner on April 24th 1799 at The Greyhound Inn? This re-creation will not be an elaborate exotic feast such as we have had recently, but a hearty, homely English dinner. The menu will he copied from the bill presented by Mr. Rayham, The publican to whom the parish had let the Inn; to the “Gentleman and Overseers.” These are the items:-

£. S. D.

Beef 19. 10

Pudens (in 1798 they had been Plumb Puddens.) 12. 0

Greans, Potaters and Melted Buter 3. 6

Horse Radish and Salt 3. 6

Bread and butter 3. 0

Ale 7. 3

Tob.(acco?) 8

Dressing (is this the cooking and serving charge?) 10. 0

Tea for 13 10. 0

Wine (about 10 bottles I think.) 15. 0

The business of “making a poor rate” was spread over a whole day with intervals for dinner and tea. On April 24th the vestry decided on a rate of 6d. in the pound. The money raised did not last the year; in November 1799 the leading parishioners had to declare another 6d rate. But this time they only allowed themselves tea at 10d a head, as they did every month when they met to pass the accounts of the overseers of the poor.

PROCESSING ROMAN BONES WITH IRE GREATER LONDON ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNIT by Helen Gordon.

Bones from 112 Roman skeletons ere in need of washing. Excavated last year in West Tenter Street, E.1 (Goodman Fields), they had lain in a cemetery to the east of the city wall since they had been buried there between the middle of the 2nd and the end of the 4th century AD. The graves were aligned – either parallel or at right angles – to the Roman road between Aidgote and Limehouse, leading towards the Shadwell Roman military tower.

In addition to these inhumations, the excavation revealed 13 in situ cremations (dated between. early 2nd and early 3rd century), some depositions, and the skeleton of a horse. The graves were not richly furnished (16 ceramic pots, 6 pairs of hobnailed shoes; 6 graves contained jewellery) and there were 6 “plaster” burials, the bodies being covered with calcium carbonate, possibly quicklime. A deep pit containing plaster, found nearby, was probably a “ritual pit” possibly associated with the plaster burial rites. Gravestones were conspicuous for their absence – probably re-used for building material; but two tombs were found, stone structures above ground level.

The condition of the skeletons varies enormously, some being represented by a few bone fragments only, while some are well preserved, with intact skulls and near- complete trunk and limbs. The bones are still in the cemetery earth, as excavated; they must be washed and packaged for expert examination for evidence (among other things) of disease or injury – we haven’t spotted any, though it is easy to see tooth wear or decay.

Four HADAS Members end one other are now taking part in this work on Monday day­times, in the GLAD premises at 42, Theobalds Road, near Gray’s Inn, under the kindly eye of Stephen Pierpoint and Bob Whythead; the latter will be reporting on the excavation at the Annual Conference of London Archaeologists nt the Museum of London on March 23rd

Though we are halfway through the skeletons, there is still need for more workers, regular or occasional – ring Jean Snelling, 346-3553. There is also an evening group (non-HADAS) working on Tuesdays.

COMMITTEE CORNER.

First Committee Meeting of 1985 was held on January 25th. Among matters discussed were the following:-

Our membership Secretary, Phyllis Fletcher, reported that Membership is holding up well this year. Tally to date for 1984-5 is 382 Members.

Each year the Society makes a donation to a worthy Archaeological cause. This year we decided to send £20 to the Hod Hill appeal, recently launched by the National Trust. Many Members will know this important Dorset Iron Age hillfort, later occupied by a Roman military garrison. In addition to being a scheduled ancient monument, Hod Hill has environmental claims. It is a Site of Special, Scientific Interest in on Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and includes a nature reserve. The Notional Trust has taught 67 acres of it; 50% of the cost has been met by grants, but the Trust is now appealing for the other half.

In November we reported that the Committee was discussing ways of celebrating our Silver Jubilee which falls in 1986. No detailed decisions have yet been taken, so we can’t at this stage tell you dates, places, etc: but you may like to know that discussion is centering on two possible functions. One, under some such title as ‘One Man’s Archaeology,’ is likely to be a public exhibition the other a buffet Christmas do at which the history of HADAS will play a prominent part.

A brief notice of the 1984 West Heath dig has been sent to the London Archaeologist for their annual Excavation Round-up.

HADAS will, as usual, mount a display and organise a bookstall at the Conference of London Archaeologists at the Museum of London on March 23rd.

The Committee passed a warm vote of thanks to Edgar Lewy who so willingly and at great expenditure of his own time duplicated the November, December and January issues of the Newsletter. Much thanks too to Christopher Newbury, without whose help the February issue and the up-to–date Members list would not have seen the light of day.

The Committee decided to write to the four MP’s whose constituencies cover our Borough – Sidney Chapman (Barnet), John Gorst (Hendon North), Margaret Thatcher (Finchley) and Peter Thomas (Hendon South) – drawing their attention again to the fact fact that the Bill for the abolition of the GLC makes no reference to the future of the Greater London Record Office and the associated History Library. This is a matter of the greatest concern to all those who have any interest at all in the history of the London area.

MORE ABOUT GLC ABOLITION.

As a footnote to the final item in Committee Corner, the current issue of the LAMAS Newsletter (issue 53, January, 1985) analyses the abolition Bill.

Under it the Government will take over GLC funding and management of the Museum of London. English heritage (the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) will have responsibility for certain great houses – Kenwood, Marble Hill House and Rangers House and for most of the powers of the GLC historic Buildings Division. As regards Archaeology, LAMAS has this to say:

“Although no reference is made in the Bill to Archaeology, it is

understood from letters from ministers and from written answers to questions in the House that these responsibilities will include the funding of the existing London Archaeological Service; there is as yet no indication how, or from what source, this funding is to be provided.”

The LAMAS Newsletter makes another point which is of particular interest to HADAS:

provision (in the Bills) is made for any of the other GLC functions in areas of our Society’s interests, the hundreds of other historic buildings and sites it maintains, its grants to local museums and to the London Museum Service – except that they will devolve to the London Boroughs.. If this happens Local Societies, such as those affiliated to LAMAS, will have an even greater responsibility to campaign for the maintenance and protection of Historic Buildings and Museum collections in

their own Boroughs”

Obviously, there may be changes as the Bill goes through its stages in Parliament; and clearly the debates on the Bill are going to be of considerable interest to anyone connected with history and archaeology in London.

SITE-WATCHING.

Applications for planning permission have been made recently for the following sites, which might have some archaeological interest:

land at rear of No,6 Brockley Hill. Edgeware detached house

any trenches in this area would be worth watching, if planning permission is granted, for possible Roman evidence.

Queenswell School site surplus land adjoining blocks of sheltered

Lawrence Campe almshouses, Friern Barnet Lane flats, access road

parking.

Its proximity to the Friern Barnet Lane Almshouses, (some of the oldest buildings in the Borough, built c 1612) makes this a site of possible interest

Land at rear of ‘Moorings,’ fronting onto bungalow, access

Galley Lane, Arkley.

Some 300 yds from this site, which is almost on the northern boundary of LEB, medieval pottery has been found in some quantity

51. High Street. Chipping Barnet. rear extension &

storage building

This site has figured before on our “interesting sites” list: now there is an amended development plan. Any site in Barnet High Street is of interest for possible medieval evidence.

Two outline applications for additions to Edgware General Hospital are of interest: trenches dug so near to the line of Watling Street are always worth watching. The proposed buildings are:

a day surgery

a laboratory building with ancillary facilities, near the present North London blood Transfusion Centre.

Members noticing activity on any of the above sites arc asked to inform either John Enderby (203 2630) or Christine Arnott (455 2751.)

OF PEOPLE. VARIOUS.

SHEILA WOODWARD and TESSA SMITH spent a Sunday afternoon recently at Hill House, the large, basically 18c mansion in Elstree High Street which is now owned by a charitable trust. Stephen Castle of the British Museum had kindly put HADAS in touch with the Warden, who had reported finding pottery and building material in the garden which he thought might be Roman.

Sheila and Tessa walked the kitchen garden between the vegetables but could not find anything earlier than a possible fragment of 18c pottery. however, meeting the Warden provided a useful contact for the future.

TED SAMMES has sent us news recently received from one of our founder members, IDA WORBY, who served on the HADAS Committee from its earliest days. She is now living in Bedfordshire – where .she celebrated her 88th birthday last November ­with her nephew Kenny Hunter and his wife who, she says look after me well.’ Mrs. Worby keeps in touch with HADAS activities via the Newsletter and occasional chats with another Member of long standing. TRUDIE PULER, for years her neighbour in Sheaveshill Avenue.

And from Canterbury came a letter from LOUISE DE LAULAY, a HADAS Member (and benefactor) since 1973, when she and her husband lived in Edgware. “It was while I was living at Edgware,” she wrote,”that I became acquainted with Mill Hill and Hendon. I have some 35mm transparencies which I should sort out and offer to the HAAS records – showing many changes in the use of land, buildings town down, new building. I wonder if freight still arrives at Edgware British Rail Station? And the

aerodrome at Hendon,— once during World War II I flew from Hendon to Scotland for a USA flight via the Azores. Much of Burnt Oak still held aviation history, in both plant and street names. And the Theatre at Golders Green; Pavlova’s home, which I am told at last is used as a school of ballet…”

Of people. various

Mrs. de Launay accompanied her letter with some abstracts of wills from Cranbrook, Kent, on which she hags been working. Here is just to give you an idea of the comparative value of money and goods four or so centuries .ago. It is from the Will of Henry ‘aching, proved on June 27th,1596:

To my two sisters named Damaris Paching and Joy Paching my

house and situated in Milkhouse Street in Cranbrook
parish, when my sisters are

To Damaris Paching, my standing bedstead and all things

thereto and 2 pairs of sheets.

To Joy Paching, a pewter platter, .a dish, a saucer, a salt.

To the sons of my uncle. Thos llis, .namely Daniel Ellis & Henry Ellis, £6.6.8d each, to be levied on the house & land. in Milkhouse Street.

To Robt Hasond 5a.

To John Hermden, .5s.

To Rich. Akers, 5s.

To John Ridings my cloak and a pair of- sheets.

To the poor of Milkhouse, 5s.

My Exec. shall bestow the sum of £1 at my burial.

Exec: Morgan Boreman. Nicholas Hughes.& Wm. Potter.
AND OF FACES. ROMAN.

It was a real pleasure to open the 1984 voIume of Britannia (one. of the two journals published by the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies) and to find in it n paper by ex—HADAS Member, Gill. Braithwaite, who joined the Society. in 197’ and resigned in 1982 when her husband was posted to the British Embassy in Washington. She dug enthusiastically at West Heath for three seasons, and also studied at the Institute of Archaeology, obtaining a 1st class degree in 1982 before departing for the States.

Her Britannia paper (vol XV 1984, 99-131) is on Romano—British Face Pots and Head Pots, and was originally part of her BA dissertation. The distribution map which accompanies it shows that the finds of face pots closest to our area occur (Verulamium) and Enfield. They belong to a group which Mrs. Braithwaite describes as being in the ‘pinkish—buff sandy ware of the region (that is, the w that is so familiar at Brockley Hill, though we know. of no face pots from there). She dates the earliest pots in this group to AD 120–160: and says:

“The earliest examples … have eyebrows. merging into a plain rim, with a stabbed beard and two pierced spouts,.but the. commonest, and seemingly

later type, c. AD 150-220, no eyebrows, beards or spouts, but three
handles equi—spaced round a frilled or rouletted rim..::,It seems possible that these handles, attached to the rim, which are so. characteristic of British second-century face pots, may have evolved from ,earlier spouts. Sherds- of around 20.to 30 vessels, as :well as one complete face pot, have been found at Verulamium, inccluding seven or eight from a recently excavated bath—house. Other examples have been found at Enfield, Bancroft Villa, Welwyn Baldock, and an unprovenanced pot is in the Ashmolean.”

AND OF FACES, ROMAN

Face pots are decorated with the masklike features of a face (brows, nose, eyes, ears, mouth, sometimes beard) applied to the wall of the pot, usually occupying the top half between maximum girth and rim. Faces are found mainly on jars of cooking-pot type, which can be with or without handles, with plain or frilled rims, or with or without rouletting, cordoning or grooving. Head pots, on the other hand, are moulded more or loss in the shape of a head with naturalistically portrayed features.’ Gill Braithwaite suggests that the two forms derive from different traditions– the face pots from the masks of Celtic and Germanic art, the head pots from the classical world.. There are no known examples of head pots from our area, the nearest found being from Colchester.The paper does not cover face-neck flagons, which are of later date. An example of. a face-neck flagon was found by HADAS at Church Terrace, Hendon, in 1974 and was published by Ted Sammes in Trans. LAMAS Vol 28,1977,272-3. Mrs Braithwaite suggests that face-neck flagons would be ‘well worth a separate study of their own. We congratulate Gill warmly on a most interesting paper, which received a well-deserved CBA publication grant. We have been able to give you only a taste of it here – should you have the chance you will find it well worth reading in full.

THE COPTHALL PROPOSALS.

Among HADAS’s valued corporate Members is the Kill Hill Historical Society. John Collier, MHHS Hon. Secretary, has sent us a copy of a letter which he is currently circulating for the Longfield Area Residents Association, as he thinks HADAS Members, particularly in the Mill Hill and Hendon districts will be interested. He writes:

“When we lasts raised the matter of the proposed Copthall Sports Stadium most people whom we contacted were against .it.

The Barnet Council’s Planning Committee has now approved the proposition in spite of opposition both inside and outside the Council. After its recommendations have been passed to the full Council … the matter will then be .considered by the GLC.

· The next step would be a Ministerial Public Enquiry.

It is at this present stage that we think decisive action should be taken by those against the scheme.. If you agree

(a) that it is wanton intrusion on the Green Belt,

(b) it will degrade the area for miles around and

(c) it will create tremendous and dangerous traffic problems

· on our already overloaded roads, then we urge you to write immediately to:‑

Mr. George Nicholson

Chairman, Planning Committee Members Lobby,

Greater London Council, The County Hall,

London S.W.1 7PB.

expressing your opposition, giving your reasons for doing so and asking him to reject the scheme.”-

Further information, if required, can be obtained from Mr. Collier at ­47, Longfield Avenue, N.W.7. 2EH (203-2611).