Newsletter

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Lectures to Come

A note from Dorothy Newbury.

With summer sunshine and outings behind us, we look forward to winter programme of lectures. These, as last year, will be held in the Library, The Burroughs, Hendon, NW4. Buses 83 and on 143 pass the door; buses to 40, 125, 183 on 113 par within 10 minutes’ walk, as is also Hendon central underground station.

The lecture room is open to us at 8.10p.m. when we start with coffee and biscuits, price £0.05. Members may bring guests, from whom a small donation in the coffee-tin would be appreciated. Non–members attending more than one lecture are encouraged to join the Society. Don’t forget that your next-door neighbour at the lecture may be a new member, who would welcome a friendly word from you.

Mr Buckle, the Library attendance assists us in many ways, likes to get home too — so don’t hold him up by lingering and chatting after 10.00. Are member this holiday, who years is for us with the Library, will again be our able projectionist this season.
The October Meeting

We are fortunate in having Don Brothwell for first lecture on 5 October. He is one of the foremost bones specialists (archaeological bones, i.e.) in the country, and author of a Natural History Museum best-seller, “Looking at Bones.”

The subject he has chosen, “Bones in Archaeology,” is a fascinating one. It is incredible how much information can be wrung from a careful study of skeletal material. Members are strongly recommended to come along and hear all about it on 5 October.

The remainder of the winter programme is:
November 2 – Pompeii – Dr. Malcolm Colledge
December 7 – Dinner at Tower of London and watching
the Ceremony of the Keys. (see note below)
January 4 – From muscle to Steam – – Denis Smith
the Archaeology of Energy.
February 1 -Continuity or change: a fresh look at – Andrew Selkirk
Prehistoric Britain.
March 1 – Coinage of Pre-Roman Britain – Dr. John Kent
April 5 – Denmark – Ted Sammes

Instead of the party this year December festivities he will be a Christmas dinner at the Tower of London restaurant, followed by watching the 700-year-old Ceremony of the Keys.

Details and application form are enclosed. Please complete and return to Dorothy Newbury as soon as possible — within two weeks if you can.
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West Heath Dig

By Daphne Lorimer.

The excavations at West Heath finished in September with a particularly rich haul of flints — so many, in fact, that extra-time was required to clear the remaining trenches. Approximately 100 square metres of the area at risk from erosion have been uncovered; just under 5,000 worked flint flakes and tools have been excavated. Hazelnut shells had been found and areas of burnt flint and charcoal plotted, while many possible of postholes had been examined and cast, as Brigid Grafton Green described in the last Newsletter. HADAS can fairly confidently claim to have discovered the first Mesolithic occupation site in the North London area.

The extent of the site is still unknown; but the find, by Alec Jeakins, of a flint core on the bank of a stream between the campsite and the spring suggests exciting possibilities. The GLC had kindly given permission for the excavation to continue by the Leg of Mutton Pond next year and it is hoped to determine, if possible, the boundaries of the occupied area, which may have been used seasonally over a long period of time.

No report has been received, as yet, samples taken from the spring site, from which it is hoped to obtain information about the prehistoric environment of the Heath. The GLC is also allowing us next year to conduct a limited excavation there. This will have to be strictly controlled, in order to limit damage to the flora; it is interesting that the environmentalists hope, as a result of our excavations, to reproduce conditions conducive to the regeneration of species of bog plants now missing from the area.

During the summer 104 members have taken part in the dig and the average attendance since the close of the full-time fortnight has been fourteen each day (this does not include a week during which HADAS provided a skeleton team to supervise the girls of Camden School). It has been an enthralling summer and many of us (to quote one member) “cut our archaeological trees” on this dig, while judging from the little archaeological chats over the fence, nowhere in Britain is now better informed about the Mesolithic and Hampstead!

It is hoped that members will join in the various projects planned for the Teahouse weekends and will help to piece together the clues to the past that have been uncovered during the summer. These weekends will take place on October 2/3, 9/10. 16/17, from 10.00a.m.-5.00p.m. each day. The Teahouse is at the top of Northway, NW11, near the Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute.
Pottery Processing

There are other Teahouse dates too for your diary: November 6/7, 13/14 and 20/21. Again with the kind agreement or Mr. Enderby, we have booked the Teahouse for these three November weekends in order to continue working on the pottery and other finds from the HADAS did at Church Terrace, Hendon which took place from May, 1973 to August, 1974. Ted Sammes will be organising these sessions, from 10.00a.m.-5.00p.m. each day, and all of members will be welcome.

It is possible that some work may also be done during these weekends on the Roman Pottery finds from the early Brockley Hill digs. The Brockley Hill material is now, however, in store at the Henrietta Barnett School, not at the Teahouse itself, and it will not be worth bringing the heavy cases to the Teahouse unless enough members wish to work on it. A further complication is that the Brockley Hill work has now reached a stage at which recognition of the types and fabrics, and the ability to draw pottery, are the skills required, so that some experience of Roman Pottery is needed.
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Would any members who would like to work on the Brockley Hill material during the November Teahouse weekends please contact Brigid Grafton Green and let her know the amount of time that they can spare? The Research Committee will then decide, on the basis of the response from members, whether or not to arrange for the transport each weekend of the Brockley Hill material.
Heart-Cry from our Hon. Treasurer

On looking through his records the Treasurer finds that over 90 members have not yet paid their subscriptions for the current year, which runs from 1 April 1976, to 31 March 1977. He would be happy to receive these as soon as possible, to save sending out 90 reminder letters. Subscriptions are:
Full membership – £1.00
Under 18 – 65p
Senior Citizen – 75p
Weekend in York

Report by Judith Bird.

Roman, Saxon, Viking, Norman, Medieval — that was the archaeological feast prepared for the 53 members of HADAS who set out on 17 September for a rapid survey of York and surrounding sites.

The first Roman fortress at York, at the junction of the Ouse and the Fosse, was constructed by Cerialis around 71 AD, as a military base against the North Britons. By the third century York was the centre of the most prosperous region in Britain.

We arrived in New York soon after lunch on Friday, and that afternoon Christopher Clarke, our most admirable and knowledgeable guide, took us round the city defences, including the post-Severan Multangular Tower (c 300 AD) which was inserted to strengthen the wall. In the Undercroft of the Minster we viewed the remains of the Roman basilica, which had been revealed during recent the restoration.

The Undercroft is a truly fascinating treasure house. Particularly striking was the re-assembled Roman plaster, reminiscent of the theatrical Pompeian style, and William Lee’s beautiful collection of silver, spanning four centuries from 1475. We were especially interested in the 900-year-old horn of Ulf, and an early mazer bowl.

Rain fell as we hurried along the Shambles, pausing to admire the close-packed, jettied mediaeval houses which had been built to preserve the ecclesiastical from the vulgar brawl of Commerce. We sought shelter in the beautiful 15th century Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, with its oak roof supported by the unique arrangement of cross beams.

Fears that that this might be a Spartan weekend on the campus were quickly allayed in the evening on arrival at The University of York. We had a most friendly reception from the staff, and were well-fed and warmly housed.

The next morning we set out of the countryside of the North Riding on a perfect day. We visited two impressive twelfth century Cistercian Abbeys situated among pleasant pastures. Rievaulx was breathtakingly lovely: it had sheltered about 800 monks and the ruins included kitchens, vast cloisters and a massive drain. Byland was smaller, but some striking green and yellow glazed tiles showed that these monks, despite their reputation for austerity, appreciated colour in their surroundings. In contrast we also visited the Norman castles of Helmsley and Pickering.
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The highlight of the afternoon was a visit to the deserted mediaeval village of Wharram Percy. The church, with an original Saxon Tower, was situated in the valley, and on the hill above were remains of lynchets, medieval house platforms and Saxon grűbenhäuser with sunken floors and cross passages.

In the evening Peter Addyman, Director of the York Archaeological Trust, told us about the Trust’s most recent excavations and explained how the drought had aided aerial photography by giving outlines a stronger definition. And so to bed – but no, a hard core of inexhaustible sightseers set off in the coach to view the Minster by night, splendidly bathed in golden light.

On Sunday morning we filled in a few gaps in the City, walked around the walls, and saw Micklegate Bar on which a row of hideously mutilated heads had been displayed during the Wars of the Roses. We were also fascinated by Clifford’s Tower, a quadrefoil design, a twin to another “motte” across the river.

In the afternoon we looked round the Museums and discovered exciting finds of Viking jewellery. The Vikings had also played an important part in York’s history, settling there as traders in AD 876. The traditional image of plundering Vikings in horned helmets is gradually being dispelled by evidence from the excavations at Coppergate. Pieces of Whitby jet and silver-inlaid and gold-encrusted necklaces testify to the existence of a Viking Kingdom, rather than to the presence of marauding raiders only. A wooden building, probably a Viking workshop, has been discovered, preserved in peaty sub-soil, and there is evidence that their ships sailed down the Ouse, probably carry on grain and local goods to the East.

We had an uneventful and pleasant journey home and were very grateful to the organisers, particularly Dorothy Newbury (in her roles of advisor, shepherd and knocker-up) for arranging for us a most enjoyable and absorbing weekend.
Industrial Archaeology – Trolleybus Poles

By Bill Firth.

The July newsletter carried a paragraph on tramway poles re-used as street lighting standards. A detailed survey has revealed that many such poles remain in the Borough of Barnet: on Cricklewood Lane between Cricklewood Broadway and Childs Hill, and on Finchley Road between Childs Hill and Henly’s Corner. Viewed from the top of a bus, there appear to be none in the Edgware Road, nor any between Henly’s Corner and Tally Ho, or from there north to Barnet. The road between East Finchley and Barnet, along which the Highgate-Barnet routes ran, has not been investigated.

This (September 1976) is a good moment to look at these poles in Golders Green, because new lighting standards are being put in, and it is possible to see side by side the adapted trolleybus poles, the rather ornate standards put in by Hendon Council (bearing on the Hendon Borough arms and the initials HC) and the new, plain, functional standards.

There are particular clusters actually Cricklewood Lane/Finchley Road Junction at Childs Hill, at Golders Green Station and at the Bridge Lane/Hendon Park Row/Temple Fortune Lane junction. HADAS member Raymond Lowe has photographed the different types of pole which can be seen in the Temple Fortune area.
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News about Books

With Christmas approaching we are offering for sale to members the complete range of Shire Publications, and enclose an order form with this Newsletter. Not only do these make excellent Christmas presents, but we are sure that members will find much of interest among the comprehensive range of titles.

The profit the Society makes from the sale of these books will go towards our future publications programme, which includes a third printing of Blue Plaques of Barnet (now temporarily out of print), at a cost of £155. Printing costs have risen so dramatically in the last two years that every reprint or new publication puts a strain on our resources.

Please encourage your friends, too, to order Shire Publications through HADAS — further order forms are available from the Treasurer.

One which has recently been published is to be found in the HADAS book box, as a copy was kindly presented by the author, HADAS Research Committee member Nigel Harvey.

This is Mr Harvey’s Shire Album 21, on the subject of Fields Hedges and ditches. It is a beautifully produced 32-page booklet, lavishly illustrated with photographs, maps and drawings. It discusses field systems and their history, from prehistoric to modern times; field drainage; and methods of enclosure, including hedges, stone walls, ditches, even barbed wire. The booklet costs £0.45 and is obtainable from our Hon. Treasurer.
Domesday

Some eighteen months ago (in June, 1975) the Newsletter reported a new venture in publishing – Philimore’s county by county translation of the Domesday book in paperback, edited by a Dr John Morris. This has the complete Latin text on the left-hand page and the English translation on the right.

Doomsday is one of the great source books of the local historian, and members may like to know that the volume for Middlesex (published 1975) has now been followed by the volume for Hertfordshire. In fact 34 counties are now available.

Many familiar Hertfordshire names appear in Domesday, including places bordering on our home Borough such as Aldenham, Bushey and North Mimms. What is surprising is that neither Chipping Barnet nor East Barnet appear, although both were almost certainly in existence by 1086.The Hertfordshire volume is available from Philimore & Co, Shopwyke Hall, Chichester; price (with post/packing) £2.76.
Butser in Trouble

Members who took part in this year’s June outing to Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire would be sad to learn that this splendid and worthwhile experiment in recreating the Iron Age farm has now run into serious financial difficulty. The following paragraph appears in the current Newsletter of the Council for British Archaeology:

“The generous grants made by the Ernest Cook Foundation to Butser have now come to an end, and the work is in danger of coming to a complete halt.

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The Butser Farm project is the most important venture in experimental archaeology in this country, and probably anywhere in the world. By its very nature it has are unlikely to yield rapid results — agriculture is just not like that. Certainly a mass of valuable data has already been assembled during the short time the farm has been in operation, but the most far-reaching results in archaeological terms will not become apparent for a decade or more.

The Ancient Agriculture Committee of the CBA and the British Association is urgently seeking alternative methods of funding the project. In the meantime, any contributions will be gratefully received, as well as suggestions as to possible sources of major financial subventions. Write in the first place to Henry Cleere, Council for British Archaeology, 7 Marylebone Road, NW1 5HA.”
Photography at Church Farm House Museum

Some of the many new members who have joined HADAS this summer may not know excellent local museum, Church Farm House, which is run by the library services of the London Borough of Barnet.

The farmhouse is an attractive mainly seventeenth century building at the top of Greyhound Hill, Hendon, NW4. The ground floor is arranged as a permanent exhibition or a nineteenth century farm kitchen, and eighteenth century dining room and a Victorian sitting-room. The kitchen is the most interesting of the three rooms, with its huge fireplace, spits, jacks, cooking pots and other household equipment.

The attics — which are not generally open to the public, but can be seen by arrangement — contain two open box gutters, typical of the vernacular architecture of this part of Middlesex.

The three rooms on the first floor are used for displays which change every six weeks. HADAS itself will be mounting an exhibit on local Archaeology, under the title “Archaeology in Action,” there are early next year. At the moment there is an interesting exhibition of 100 prints taken from the collection of 100,000 negatives in the files of a local firm of photographers, John Maltby.

These photographs cover the last 40 years. They include work which Maltbys, specialising at first in architectural photography, have done for various clients locally and abroad, including the old Borough of Hendon and our present Borough of Barnet. The exhibition, entitled “A Photographer’s Choice 1935-76,” continues until 17 October. The museum is closed on Tuesday afternoons and Sunday mornings.
Field Archaeology at Cambridge

A weekend residential course in Field Archaeology which may interest HADAS members will be held from 29 April to 1 May next at the Cambridge Extra-mural Centre, Madingley Hall. The course will explore the archaeological evidence visible in the grounds of the Hall and survey in detail one group of remains, a deserted village site. The directors will be known to many members: Dr John Alexander and Dr David Trump.

Madingley lies 4 miles from Cambridge in beautiful surroundings. The main building is of several periods, the earliest being Tudor. One of the Halls claims to fame is that here Albert the Prince Consort is said to have contracted (owing to bad drains,) the typhoid which killed him. Intending HADAS students need not worry — the drains are fine today! The course costs £20, all in, and you enrol with the director of Extra-mural Studies, Madingley Hall, Cambridge.

Newsletter

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Looking Ahead to Winter

As the days shorten and the end of summer comes into sight, many HADAS members begin to plan their winter activities. Will you sign on for a series of archaeology course this year? Or shall it be local history? Or an allied topic -geology, heraldry, palaeography? We Londoners are lucky in having a very wide choice, particularly if you don’t mind travelling across the city for the class you want.

Even if you confine yourself to the borough of Barnet, however, there is still quite a varied choice of classes. The Newsletter has been investigating what is available within our Borough, and here is a run-down:
Archaeology

London University 4-year Extra-mural Diploma in Archaeology:

Year 1. Palaeolothic and Mesolithic man. Desmond Collins, MA. Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute. Wednesdays 7.30-9.30. 24 lectures and four visits from 22 September, 1976. Fee £6.

Year 2. Western Asia. D. Price Williams, BA. H.G.S. Institute. Thursdays 7.30-9.30 24 lectures and four visits from 23 September 1976. Fee £6.

(Note: Years 3 and 4 of the Diploma cannot be taken in the London Borough of Barnet. Year 3 lectures are either at the Mary Ward Centre or Morley College; Year 4 back to the Institute of Archaeology or Morley College. Zero, unfortunately are there any classes this year LBB in the Certificate in Field Archaeology. Indeed, to take that you have to travel as far afield as Croydon, Isleworth or Brentwood.)

Extension and Tutorial Classes in Archaeology.

ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE OF EARLY PREHISTORY. List class, lecturer Desmond Collins, Director of the HADAS West Heath dig, was mentioned in last month’s newsletter. HGS Institute, Thursdays 7.30-9.30, thirteen in meetings from 23 September, 1976. £3.

BRITAIN AS PART OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Continuing WEA tutorial class. Mrs. M.M. Roxan. Middx Poly, NW4. Wednesdays 7.30-9.30, 24 lectures from 28 September, 1976. £5.

DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Continuing WEA tutorial class. Mrs. M.M. Roxan, – 2 , Hillside Crescent, Barnet. Fridays 10.00a.m. 24 lectures from 8 October, 1976. £5.

(Note: continuing tutorial classes are normally closed to new members, but I am assured that, as HADAS members already have some background of Roman knowledge, they will be welcome. Applications to Mrs. Neville, WEA secretary.

HISTORY OF THE EARLIEST CULTURES OF TURKEY. WEA. 321 Coney Hatch Lane. Mrs. A.T.L.Kurht. Thursdays 10.30a.m. 24 lectures from 23 September, 1976. £5.

ROMAN LONDON. WEA Golders Green Library. Thursday 8.00p.m. 24 lectures from 31st September, 1976. £5 (OAPs £3).
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ARCHAEOLOGY. Barnet College. Wednesdays 7.30p.m. 10 weeks from 6 October, 1976.

INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY. as above, but starting 19 January, 1977.

Other Subjects

The following is a selection from the many courses in subjects other than Archaeology which might interest members:

DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE FROM 1500. Fellowship House, Willifield Way, NW11. Wednesdays 10.30a.m. 24 lectures from 22 September, 1976. £6.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SILVER AND OLD SHEFFIELD PLATE. HGS Institute, Tuesday 10.30a.m. 24 lectures from 21 September, 1976. £6.

WILDLIFE ECOLOGY. HGS Institute, Wednesday’s 8.00p.m., 20 meetings from 22 September, 1976. £6.

LONDON, PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. HGS Institute, Mondays 8.00p.m. 12 lectures from 20 September, 1976. £3.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE. WEA, Queen Elizabeth’s School Barnet. Mondays 8.00p.m. 24 weeks from 24 September, 1976. £5.

ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE. WEA, Council Chambers, Wood Street, Barnet. Mondays 10.30a.m., from 24 September, 1976.

GREEK ART AND ARCHITECTURE IN ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT. WEA. Queen Elizabeth’s School Barnet. Tuesday 8.00p.m. of 24 lectures from 21 September, 1976. £5.

ENGLAND’S ANCIENT CHURCHES. WEA. Queen Elizabeth’s school. Wednesday’s 7.45p.m. 12 meetings from 22 September, 1976. £3.

ARCHITECTURE OF LONDON FROM 1800. WEA. 44 Rotherwick Road, NW11. Thursdays 10.00a.m. 24 meetings from 30 September, 1976. £5.

ANCIENT MYTHS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE. EA. Middx Poly, NW4. Thursdays at 7.30p.m. 24 meetings from 30 September, 1976. £5.

LOCAL HISTORY. Barnet College. Mondays 7.30p.m. 20 lectures from 4 October, 1976.

RESEARCH INTO LOCAL HISTORY. Totteridge Village Hall. Mondays 7.30p.m. 20 lectures from 4 October, 1976.

If you want any further information about winter courses, please ring the Hon. Secretary — who doesn’t promise, but may be able to help. The for courses in the above lists which are marked * can be applied for at Barnet College, Wood Street, Barnet.
HADAS Winter Programme

And so to our own winter lectures, which are, as usual, on the first Tuesday of each month. All, except Dec. 7 start at 8.00p.m. with coffee and take place at the Central Library, The Burroughs, NW4. Details of Dec. 7 – dinner at the Tower – will be circulated with the next Newsletter.

Members already have their programme cards, but here is the list again. It contains one change from the list circulated in the programme card. Dennis Mynard cannot, after all, give the opening lecture on Oct. 5. We have been extremely fortunate in getting Don Brothwell to talk on Bones – he is a leading authority on that subject.

October 5 – Bones and Archaeology – Don Brothwell
November 2 – Pompeii – Dr. Malcolm Colledge
December 7 – Dinner at Tower of London and watching
the Ceremony of the Keys.
January 4 – From Muscle to Steam – – Denis Smith
the Archaeology of Energy.
February 1 – Continuity or change: a fresh look at – Andrew Selkirk
Prehistoric Britain.
March 1 – Coinage of Pre-Roman Britain – Dr. John Kent
April 5 – Denmark – Ted Sammes

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As well as lectures, HADAS has a number of other winter engagements. Two were mentioned briefly in the last Newsletter — the processing weekends at the Teahouse and Barrie Martin’s proposed sessions on practical surveying. Here are further details of both.

PROCESSING OF WEST HEATH FINDS will take place at the Teahouse, Northway, NW11 (near HGS Institute) October 2/3, 9/10 and 16/17 from 10.00a.m.-5.00p.m. each day. Facilities exist at the Teahouse for making tea and coffee, and members may bring a picnic lunch if they want. All volunteers will be welcome, particularly those who have helped with the dig and to know something of the material they will be handling. Even if you know nothing about flints, however, please don’t let that stop you coming — we shall find something for you to do!

Many members have helped this summer keeping up-to-date with the washing, recording and marking of finds. At the Teahouse we shall be going on to other work, including typology studies – e.g. the numbers of tools found, numbers of cores, density of flakes per square metre, etc. It is hoped to reconstruct an original flint nodule from its core and its associated flakes (an ideal project for jigsaw experts!)

Groups will work on burnt flint, manuports, posthole evidence and charcoal. Flints which had been frost-fractured, not struck by a man, will be isolated and discarded. Measurements of all blades and bladelets will be checked; large flakes will be examined for visible wear. Site plans will be constructed under various headings, e.g. concentrations of waste flakes, charcoal and burnt matter, postholes, etc.

If you plan to join us at the Teahouse it will be most helpful if you can let Daphne Lorimer know your intention in advance; but if you decide on the spur of the moment, come along unannounced.

SURVEYING SESSIONS. Sufficient members have expressed interest in learning elementary surveying for us to decide to go ahead with this project. Hon. member Barrie Martin, FRICS, is kindly taking charge of the experiment, and is lending equipment.

It is proposed to start with two Saturday morning meetings, December 4th and 11th, beginning 10.00a.m. Further meetings, if wanted, will be arranged after discussion with the group. The venue for the first meeting will be announced later. It has been suggested that practical work might be done in areas already thought to be possible sites, such as Friary Park — the suggested site of the twelfth century Friary of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. As the equipment being used will be easily damaged by damp, it is hoped to make alternative under-cover arrangements in case of rain.

Will any members who have not already indicated their interest in joining the group please let either Daphne Lorimer or Brigid Grafton Green know?
Field Walking

The walks held earlier this year proved both popular and successful. They produced one scatter of some 70 pieces of Roman Pottery, suggesting that we had discovered a possible Roman site. It has been decided to arrange further field walks this winter — whenever we can sandwich them between other engagements.

The first walk will be on Sunday the 26 September, at 10.00a.m. probably in the same area we walked earlier — one of the fields of Edgwarebury Farm, near Brockley Hill. Organisers are Ann Trewick and Daphne Lorimer, and members who are interested should contact one of them for further details.
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Friern Barnet Summer Show (Aug 20/21)

Brian Favell send this report.

Once again considerable interest was shown in the HADAS exhibit of material from the dig at St. James the Great — the church which is only a few hundred yards away from the Show tent. The farm bygones from Totteridge, kindly lent for display by Mr. And Mrs. Morley of Laurel Farm, also drew much attention — we even had an offer to buy!

The Society showed a wider range of publications than usual, including many of the excellent Shire publications. HADAS sells these on Shire’s behalf and takes a percentage of the profit. The booklet on tracing a family trees was particularly popular, and we sold out. On the lighter side, we were offered many suggestions for attracting more attention, ranging from selling knitted trowel covers to starting a dig in the marquee.

HADAS would like to thank all those who acted as stewards during the two days, especially Mrs. Hooson and Mr. & Mrs. Vause, who spent long periods on the stand in a Turkish bath atmosphere. Ann Trewick supplied exhibition material and Daphne Lorimer kindly set up. Brian Wibberley, Sue Craig, Julian Sampson, Duncan McMillan, Jeremy Clynes and Brian Favell all did sterling work.
Fund Raiser’s Corner

A note from Christine Arnott.

The following interesting items have recently been donated to the Society for fund-raising. As we are not planning a fund-raising effort until next year’s minimart, this note may alert any member who fancies a bargain before then:

8mm projector for home movies. Second hand, but in good working order — £3.

Basket, lined, with yellow nylon (washable) for keeping baby’s etceteras … new — £1.50.

Pair lady’s brown court shoes, slim fitting size 7, as new £1.

Continental coffee set for 4, with pot and jug, in “old gold” pottery — £1.

For further information, please ring Christine Arnott or Dorothy Newbury. Prices quoted are a guide — any reasonable offer will be considered.
West Heath Dig – The Posthole Saga

One question that many passers-by ask at the West Heath dig is “What else have you found besides flints?” In fact there have been a number of other finds, the archaeological significance of which has yet to be fully assessed.

The principal subsidiary findings have been burnt stones, charcoal scatters (sometimes containing quite large pieces of charcoal), stones which are not natural to the site (dubbed by our Director “manuports”, which has become one of the “in” words of the dig) and ?postholes. We hope to discuss more about all these in the Newsletter from time to time, starting this month with ?postholes (the “?” Is important, by the way, just to remind ourselves that we haven’t yet satisfactorily proved that they are postholes).

The evidence for possible postholes has grown steadily. One was found in the second week of May; since then we have notched up between 30-40, some more convincing than others. The first sign of a ?posthole usually appears towards the base of layer 2, about 15 cm below modern ground surface, as a circular mark, 5-10 centimetres in diameter, where the soil is noticeably soft and usually paler than the surrounding packed orangey sand. The smaller examples could perhaps be better described as ?stake rather than ?postholes. At this stage the soft circle is marked with a wooden marker and left with about 6 cm of orange sand all around it, while the rest of the trench is cleared.
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Each ?posthole is then dealt with individually. All the soft filling is removed with a teaspoon or “widger” (a tool as invaluable on a dig as it is when singling seedlings in the garden). The soft material is dug out until hard orange sand is reached in all directions, sideways as well as downwards. This is the first stage in showing whether the supposed posthole looks convincing. Sometimes the soft area spreads out under the hard sand to form a rough-edged horizontal trough or depression, such as might have been made by a root or small animal; when this happens it can be eliminated as a posthole. Sometimes, however, the hole retains its shape and size and still looks like a genuine posthole for a further 15-20 cm in depth. Usually about half the ?postholes noted in initial digging are disapproved by this individual treatment.

Those that are left are measured for depth, diameter and their angle in the ground, and are then cast in fine plaster of the type used for ceiling mouldings. The plaster is mixed to the consistency of thick cream and poured into the cleaned hole. The official name of this process is “gravity casting.” A wire hook, for use in handling the cast of later, is inserted before the plaster sets. The cast normally dries completely within an hour or two. It is removed and labelled with its trench and posthole numbers.

The fill for each excavated posthole is kept separately in a labelled plastic bag. It is hoped to test one or two fills for acidity, to see if the pH reading differs from that of the surrounding sand.

A further examination of the cast can also suggest whether or not the ?posthole still looks convincing. In one trench – No. VIIIK — 15 possible postholes were noted during preliminary excavation. Eight of these, when the fill was spooned out, seemed worth casting. Of the casts, three now look as if they are of holes made by wooden stakes cut to serve as posts. The remaining five are dubious.

Few of the convincing postholes (of which there are some 15-20) are vertical in the ground. If these did contain posts, these were pushed in at an angle, usually between 60° and 75°.

The first post hole discovered was sectioned, not cast. We dug a small trough in front and to each side of it, and then cut across the posthole itself so that it was halved. This posthole could then not be cast, but it could be photographed; and it gives quite a remarkable picture of the lowest 10 cm or so of a stake, cut obliquely across the base to a point at one side, which had been stuck into the ground at an angle of about 80°. The posthole fill stood out clearly pinkish-grey against the surrounding orange sand. The decision not to section succeeding postholes, but to cast them, was taken because it was felt that casts provide more lasting and informative evidence.

During the winter further work will be done on the ?posthole evidence: for instance, we shall plot the acceptable postholes onto a large plan, to see if they make any discernible pattern. This, and an analysis of the angles, may suggest whether or not the posts could have been used to support some kind of shelter or windbreak of skins. The “dubious” casts also need study to see if they could perhaps represent a posthole whose shape has been disturbed by root action or, with one or two which might be double postholes, whether there may have been two separate insertions of a post at slightly different angles. You can be sure that if any more deductions are made from this evidence, the Newsletter will carry another thrilling instalment.
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The West Heath dig will continue on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays till Wednesday 15 September which will be clearing-up day. Volunteers are still very welcome — please come whenever you can. Digging 10.00a.m.-5.00p.m., and any member who does not know the site can get details from either Daphne Lorimer or Brigid Grafton Green.
The August Outing – To Cotswold Country

By Vincent de Paul Foster.

Crickley Hill, Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds, is a mere 2-hour coach ride from Hendon. It was our first port of call on the August outing. The hillfort has truly magnificent views across the Vale of the Severn. Those old hillfort builders certainly knew how to pick a site.

We were met at the entrance of the outer ramparts by Philip Dixon, Lecturer in Medieval Archaeology at Nottingham and Director of the Crickley Hill excavations. After explaining the layout of the fort, he told us its history. The site was occupied during both Neolithic and Bronze Ages, and is in area of approximately 3.6 hectares, enclosed by a ramparts rising to 2.7 m at the east end, with a ditch some 2.4 m deep. The other sides are so steep that additional defences there were unnecessary.

The earliest defences were constructed in the 6th/5th centuries BC of timber lacing. This method, also usable with stone revetting, obtains maximum strength by securing horizontal cross timbers through the body of the rampart, with connecting vertical posts at front and rear. This rampart was destroyed by fire. The northern entrance, in the last phase of construction, consisted of stone bastions with an enormous curving defensive hornwork.

Inside the fort Iron Age longhouses, unique to this country, have been excavated. The more common roundhouses have also been found. There are also 2 sets of Neolithic ditches; the earlier is of the usual causewayed camp type, with interruptions. The later is continuous and deeper than usual with a bank behind it. This season’s 5-week dig has about 100 volunteers, mostly very youthful. We ate our lunch at the outer ramparts, and were startled to watch, from a distance, the mad rush of diggers to their lunch, at the nearby Civil Defence camp, as soon as klaxon sounded. Philip Dixon had warned us of his daily stampede, but I thought he was joking. British Olympic Selection Committee, 1980, please note — this is a hot-bed of potential 3 1/2 minute milers.

We travelled partly along the Fosse Way to next stop — Chedworth Roman Villa, accidentally discovered in 1864. It lies in an attractive, secluded, wooden niche at the head of a small valley, facing east and overlooking the River Colne. From being a rather utilitarian domicile in the second century AD, the villa was later enlarged and made more luxurious. It has some notable fourth century mosaics. One has geometric pattern bordered by scrolls emerging from vases. Another, of the seasons, shows Spring as a girl with birds and flowers, Summer as Cupid with a garland, Winter as a cloaked man with a dead branch and a hare. Autumn has almost disappeared. Finds of coins show that life continued at the villa until at least the last quarter of the fourth century.

Eric Grant has returned from the seclusion of Harpenden (we have greatly missed him at many HADAS occasions since he went to live there a year or two ago) to plan and lead this outing. As always, both staffwork and compering were excellent, and for this many thanks both to Eric and to Dorothy Newbury.

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West Heath becomes a Training Dig

The West Heath dig took on a new dimension between 14 July and 21st: it became, in part, a training dig. Ann Collins, wife of our Director, Desmond Collins, brought along a group of fifteen students, aged thirteen and upwards, from Camden School for Girls, to do a weeks archaeology as a special end-of-term project. None had been in a trench or had used a trowel before: most were quick and willing learners and seemed to enjoy themselves.

HADAS provided experienced diggers each day to help with any archaeological problems which arose, to organise the supply of tools and equipment, the mantling and dismantling of the sieve, the supply of elevenses and tea and the recording and marking of finds. Many thanks to the members who stepped in to help with this worthwhile job: Nicole Douek, Helen Gordon, Brigid Grafton Green, George Ingram, Helen O’Brien, June Porges, John Squires, Myfanwy Stewart, Philip Venning, Freda Wilkinson.

Talking of the sieve, another word of thanks must go to HADAS member R.W.Martin. For a very small cost of some of the materials, he made the excellent sieve which we have been using on the site for the last six weeks. Every bucket of spoil from the trenches has gone through its two meshes, and many additional flint flakes and blades have come to light as a result.

Originally, for the first month of the dig, we borrowed a sieve from London University Extra-mural Department; it is a pointer to the value set on this equipment that we were asked to ensure it for £100. Mr Martin saw the borrowed sieve, and realising that we had to return it, kindly offered to make a replacement. His sieve incorporates a number of improvements on the original, and HADAS is proud to possess such a useful piece of equipment.
Digging Dates

The West Heath dig will continue into September, probably ending on Wednesday 15 September. There will be no digging on Saturday 7 August, when there is a HADAS outing.

As the holiday season is in full swing, and many regular diggers are away, volunteers will be especially welcome on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, even if they can spare only an hour or two. Digging is from 10.00a.m.-5.00p.m. If you’re not sure where the site is, ring Brigid Grafton Green for further information.

West Heath has provided HADAS with 2 unexpected honorary members: a pair of delightful and friendly of ducks. They turn up every morning a few minutes after the first digger arrives; and a regular as clockwork, they waddle stiffly across the site three more times each day — for morning coffee, lunch break and tea.

The stiffness is due to the fact that their wings have been cut cruelly short and are held out from their sides at an angle. They can’t fly. They are extremely tame, and the park keepers think they were pets dumped in the park by an owner who no longer wanted them.
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When on-site they eat bread and biscuits ferociously, use the flint-washing bowl for noisy drinking and even try to bathe in it (one just fits at a time). They are most gregarious and you often find your shoelaces being searchingly explored by a long blunt beak in search of worms!
Follow-up to West Heath

The West Heath investigation will not end with the closing of the dig in September. It is intended to study the material from the site throughout the coming winter. As a first step, with the kind connivance of Mr. Enderby, the Teahouse in Northway, Hampstead Garden Suburb, has been booked for the first three weekends in October (2nd/3rd, 9th/10th, 16/17th) for work on the finds. Will all members who would like to help please note the dates — we shall be at the Teahouse from 10.00a.m.-5.00p.m. each day and all volunteers will be welcome.

An autumn course at H.G.S. institute may also interest many who have dug at West Heath. The lecturer is Desmond Collins and the subject “Advances in Knowledge of Early Prehistory.” There will be twelve lectures, designed particularly to update the knowledge of those who have done (or partly done) the London University External Diploma in Archaeology. Those who have taken Part I of the Diploma during the last four years will already have covered most of the ground; but people whose Diploma is four or more years old will find the course particularly valuable. Lectures will be on Thursdays, 7.30-9.30p.m., in Room 8 of the HGS Institute, starting 23 September. Course fee £3, and you can enrol now at the Institute.
The Art of Archaeological Surveying

One of our Honorary Members is Mr Barrie Martin, FRICS, ARVA. On many occasions and on various sites he has deployed his skill as a surveyor on HADAS’ behalf.

When he was working recently at West Heath setting up a datum he suggested that, if enough members were interested, he would be willing to teach a small group the rudiments of archaeological surveying — for instance, levelling — during the coming winter. The Research Committee, feeling that several members might like to take advantage of Mr Martin’s offer, responded enthusiastically to his overture. We hope to settle the details of the project in the next month or two, and to get the group working at weekends in the late autumn.

As a preliminary, would any member who is interested in learning some elementary practical surveying please let the Hon. Secretary know, so that we can estimate of the possible size of the group?
Hendon St. Mary’s Brasses

Members may like to know that the Society has bought some offprints from the Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society (vol. 26, 1975) of No. 16 in the series of articles recording the brasses of churches of Middlesex.

No. 16 deals with Hendon St. Mary’s. It is by H.K.Cameron, MA, PhD, FSA, and records all the brasses at present in the church, both old and new. It is illustrated; and as a bonus the brasses of Heston Church are also in the offprint.

Copies are available from the Hon. Secretary price £0.55 including postage.
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August Outing to Crickley Hill and Chedworth Roman Villa

On a Saturday 7 August the Society will visit an important excavation at Crickley Hill, where Philip Dixon of Nottingham University is proving that hill forts can be extremely complicated structures and that their internal lay-outs are not always as expected.

A visit will also be made to Chedworth Roman Villa, a well-known site belonging to the National Trust. Not only is it located at the head of a charming Cotswold Valley, but it is also an extensive, well laid out site with selective restoration of certain buildings.

An application form for the outing is enclosed. Please return it as soon as possible to Dorothy Newbury.
York Outing

Looking ahead, the last outing of this season will be our weekend in York September 17-19 inclusive. The coach for this event is already fully booked, but Dorothy Newbury will be happy to add your name to her short waiting list, if you like to take a chance on a possible cancellation between now and mid-September.
A Medieval Pottery find in Arkley

(TQ 229 966) By Edward Sammes.

Do you look down every hole in the ground at which you see a workman digging? If not, try it down it often pays dividends.

When the men from the Gas Board dug a small trench in the concrete driveway of Mrs. Myfanwy Stewart’s house in Galley Lane, Barnet, she was amazed to see pottery sherds sticking out of the side. She collected the pottery and showed it first to archaeological friends and then to the Museum of London, who in turn contacted HADAS.

The pottery is thirteen century grey coarse ware, and gritty to the touch and possibly sand-tempered. Mrs. Stewart found more than 100 fragments in the area about 1/2 metre by 1 metre. The collection contains rims, body sherds and bases. The rims are usually rectangular in section. One or two pieces have applied strap decoration.

The find-spot is only 1/4 mile from Dyke Cottage (TQ 233 964) where in 1959 a complete cooking pot was found. Subsequent excavations at Dyke Cottage produced fine-bar fragments and sherds of pots, jugs and dishes. The Dyke Cottage finds are reported in “Potters and Kilns in Medieval Hertfordshire,” by Derek Renn (Herts Local History Council, 1964).

The pottery in this latest find is so concentrated that it may be dumped kiln waste, again indicating medieval kilns in the area.
Museum and Exhibition News

Those who went on the first outing of this season will remember that Waltham Abbey Museum at 41 Sun Street, Waltham Abbey, was specially opened at a late hour for our visit, Until 31 October this Museum and will be open at weekends — Saturdays 10.00-4.00p.m. Sundays 3.00-5.00p.m.

Archaeology in Southwark is the title of a small exhibition showing the work of the Southwark Archaeological Excavation Committee. The exhibition, at Bear Gardens Museum, off Bankside, contains a range of Roman and Medieval finds, together with photographs and drawings. It opened on 11 July and will close 12 September 1976. Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday noon to 4.00p.m. Sundays 12.00-5.00p.m. entrance £0.10, and there is a Shakespeariana display in the same building.

NEWS FLASH. The Museum of London is expected to open in December.
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https://www.hadas.org.uk/cgi-bin/nl/nlarchive.pl?issue=066&page=4 Issue 66 page 4] HADAS on Show

This seems a good point at which to report on the various displays which HADAS itself has put on this summer. It has been a very busy season.

First, the Parent-Teacher Association of St. Mary’s Junior School, Hendon, asked us to mount a small exhibit at the school’s Summer Fair on 26 June. Percy Reboul and Vincent de Paul Foster did so; and their work was clearly appreciated. The Headmistress wrote thanking us for a very interesting exhibit and sending a donation to the Society’s funds.

Then in early July John Enderby, Principal of the Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute, invited us to take part in Institute Week. This involved a small display of publications at the Teahouse several evenings running; and on Wednesday 7 July an additional and larger exhibit in the Institute Hall showing material from the West Heath dig. Daphne Lorimer, Jeremy Clynes and Harry Lawrence organised all this between them. A number of publications were sold and considerable interest was aroused in the West Heath site. In fact we hear that the Mayoress, who has been a HADAS member for some years and was officially visiting the Suburb that evening, became so interested in the West Heath flints that the Mayoral timetable almost went for a burton.

In the same week of July, this time under the organisation of Christine Arnott and a band of stewards, HADAS had a successful stall at Finchley Carnival, which resulted in a welcome addition to our funds. The total was swelled by a generous contribution from one of founder members, Miss P.M. Simmons, who still keeps in touch with us from her retirement at Whitstable in Kent.

Finally, from 12-17 July HADAS went on show at the new Brent Cross Shopping Centre. This was an excellent shop-window for us, and resulted in many new members and the sale of a number of publications — not to mention the general interest in archaeology which was engendered.

At Brent Cross, Daphne Lorimer provided an exhibit on the West Heath dig, including a show-case of flints, a fine series of photographs by Peter Clinch and some excellent drawings by Colin Evans. Brigid Grafton Green and Ann Trewick staged, with the kind permission of the Borough Librarian, a display of Roman Pottery and other artefacts from Brockley Hill, with drawings by William Morris; and Ted Sammes arranged an exhibit of materials from and photographs of the Church Terrace dig of two years ago. Nell Penny helped with both setting up and taking down.

Special thanks are due to the team of “strong men”, under the organisation of Jeremy Clynes, who humped heavy glass showcases and exhibition panels to the Centre from all over the Borough; thanks, too, to those who lent us cases, screens and transport and helped in other ways, and to the band of highly responsible stewards, organised by June Porges, who manned the stand throughout shopping hours.

These various displays involve much time and effort for those who arrange them. This year there has been a splendid response from members who were asked to help. In all, over 50 members have been involved: a real corporate effort from a Society whose main strength lies in the enthusiasm and the diverse talents of those who belong to it.
Friern Barnet Summer Show

One exhibition is still to come this summer — our stand at the Friern Barnet Show on 20th/21st August. We plan to display material from last year’s dig at St. James the Great, Friern Barnet and some farm byegones from Totteridge, kindly lent for the occasion by Mr. And Mrs. Morley of Laurel Farm.

Stewards are needed for both days, and members who can spare an hour or two — particularly those who live in the district — are asked to contact Jeremy Clynes.
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HADAS goes into Norfolk

A report on the July outing by Joanna Wade.

Nell Penny said that she had worked very hard at everything — and especially hard at the weather — when she organised the HADAS outing to Castle Rising and King’s Lynn on 10 July. Efforts were entirely successful. Everything, including the weather, was perfect.

Castle Rising, our first port of call, and its attendant village stand on a hill, commanding a wide view over the surrounding plain. The castle is almost hidden by the extensive earth ramparts of its outer and inner baileys, which possibly have Roman or Saxon foundations, for the site is an ancient one. The present castle was built about 1150 by William de Albini. From 1329 it housed Isabella, “she-wolf of France,” the mother of Edward III, in semi-confinement after she had been overthrown by her son.

In appearance the building is remarkably complete, squat and also extremely beautiful. Its outside is decorated with interlacing blind arcading, while the entrance is up a long flight of stone steps: hard to defend, but doubtless magnificent for processions.

The Great Hall has corbels carved with grotesque faces and an arcaded gallery running its length — attractive and, we felt, engagingly homely. The castle was not vast or riddled with dark staircases, but was of a manageable size and light. Despite having undergone much alteration, it was easy to understand its geography.

We ate our picnics in the sun, and many were loth to move down to the village to see the church, Bede House and the village cross. Those who did found a small, sleepy colony somewhat spoilt by modern houses, in every way different from our next stopping place, the town of King’s Lynn. It was fascinating to compare these two places, whose history is so intertwined. An old rhyme expresses the situation:
“Rising was a seaport town
When Lynn was but a marsh,
Now Lynn it is a seaport,
And Rising fares the worst.”

Rising, with its old foundations, had for long been a thriving coastal port, whereas Lynn, set in marshy country, was not attractive to early settlers, and was not established until the end of the eleventh century. Then the diversion of the Ouse, plus general prosperity in Europe, made it opportune for merchants to settle at Lynn; and as the harbour at Rising slowly silted up, Lynn grew. It became the third most important port in England, and as it thrived its merchants built themselves great towers (a 16th century one still remains) to demonstrate their wealth and to watch for their ships’ return. Wharves and warehouses crowded upon one another and the treasures of the town accumulated.

At Lynn, for the first time in HADAS history, we were given a civic reception, being greeted most charmingly by the charter Mayor in Trinity Guildhall, a fine basically 15th century building with an impressive eighteenth century assembly room and other additions. Here we met our two excellent guides. It is impossible to do justice to the town in a couple of hours, but they managed to show us a great deal, beginning with the regalia.
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The most stunning item was King John’s cup, in enamelled gold of wonderful workmanship and tantalisingly unknown provenance. We were also shown the town’s original King John Charter and the “Red Register” (1307), said to be the oldest paper (as opposed to parchment) book in existence.

At the church of St. Margaret we saw the two great Flemish brasses, the largest in England. One of them, (to Robert Braunche, 1364) is famous for the “Peacock Feast” depicted upon it. We went on to see Hampton Court, a mediaeval merchant’s house built round a courtyard and Thoresby College. Unlike many places, Lynn’s is not a story of constant thoughtless destruction of historic monuments. It is watched over by an amazingly dynamic Preservation Trust, which has restored an impressive number of buildings and converted them to modern use, as old people’s flats, a youth hostel and so on.

As we walked to see you at the Duke’s Head Hotel we passed the latest acquisition of the Preservation Trust, bought only the week before. The exterior looks like three houses, possibly of different periods. Inside, we were told, is a Norman Hall-house — one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of its type in Britain. When next we go to Lynn perhaps it will have been restored and we shall be able to see its full glory.
Accessions to the HADAS Book Box

Among recent additions to the book box are the following:

The Archaeology of the London Area: Current Knowledge and Problems. London and Middlesex Archaeological Society Special Paper No. 1.

Medieval Research Group Report No. 22, 1974.

Fieldwork in Medieval Archaeology (1974) by Christopher Taylor.

Iron Age Communities in Britain by Barry Cunliffe (presented by Mr. And Mrs. Frauchiger).

British Prehistory — a New Outline, edit. Colin Renfrew (presented by E. Sammes).

Ordnance Survey Map of Roman Britain, 3rd Edition, 1956 (presented by Miss R.D. Wells).

Many thanks to all those who have contributed to the book box during the last year.
New Members

In the last Newsletter we welcomed 51 new members of HADAS — but it should have been 52. The name of one new member, Mr Richard Button, who joined the Society on the West East dig, was omitted. Our apologies and a belated welcome, to Mr Button.

A further nineteen people have joined us in the last month, so the Newsletter takes the opportunity of saying hello to them to, and wishing them well in their membership of HADAS. They are:

John Altmann, Golders Green; Henry Barnett, East Finchley; Peter Clayton, Wisbech, Cambs; Miss P.M. Dobbins, West Hampstead; Arye Finkle, North Finchley; Eileen Flack, Hadley; Mrs. A.V. Harrison, Kings Langley; Miss Helen Jampel, Finchley; S. Jampel, Garden Suburb; Miss I. Katchoorin, Cricklewood; Mrs. Moriarty, Garden Suburb; Jacqueline Nathan, Golders Green; Margaret Osborne, Cricklewood; F.M.J. Pinn, Golders Green; Miss G. Scarles, Hendon; Barbara Shandy, Colindale; Hilary Silk, Colindale, R. Weinman SW10 Brien Wibberley, Barnet.

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Charity Status

Following the adoption of several changes in our Constitution at the AGM in May, the Charity Commissioners have just confirmed the Society’s status as a Registered Charity.
HADAS on Display

Ancient and modern will come together this month in juxtaposition — under the aegis of HADAS.

The modern is the most up-to-the-minute shopping centre in Britain, at Brent Cross. The ancient are flint tools of c. 6,000 BC, Roman pots of the 1st/2nd centuries AD and medieval finds from late Saxon times onwards.

The authorities at Brent Cross have offered HADAS — and we appreciate their gesture very much — the use, for one week, of a fine large corner site on one of the main avenues of the new Centre, near the area occupied by Messrs. John Lewis. We have accepted with pleasure, and plan to set up an exhibit on the Society’s work. It will include finds from the West Heath dig, from the Brockley Hill Roman Collection and from the Church Terrace dig of two years ago.

Setting up will be done on Sunday 11 July and the exhibit will be on view from 12 July to 17 July. We hope that any members who visit Brent Cross during that time will look in on the HADAS stand; and if you can spare time to help with the stewarding that week, please let committee member June Porges know — she will be happy to hear from all volunteers.
Finchley Carnival – July 8-9-10

HADAS will have a stall at the above Carnival this year. A small exhibit will demonstrate the range of the Society’s activities, but our main effort will be to collect additional funds.

Volunteers to “man” the stall between the hours of 2.00 and 6.00p.m. on the dates above will be most welcome — offers of help, please, to Christine Arnott.

We are hoping to some sale small objects under the banner “Miscellany”. Some have been retained from the March Minimart, but further items will be gratefully received, either by Christine Arnott or Dorothy Newbury.
The June Outing

Report by Bob Pettit.

The June outing, on a beautiful, sunny day, featured two remarkable Sites in Hampshire – Butser Ancient Farm and Portchester Castle.

EDITORIAL NOTE: Portchester can also be spelt as PORCHESTER. Portchester has been used here to keep consistency with early Newsletters and allow consistent searches.

Butser Ancient Farm is situated on a spur to the north of Butser Hill near Petersfield. We approached on foot from the summit of the hill, cooled by a fresh breeze and with its circular thatched roofs and hayricks, the farm looked like a small African native settlement.
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Peter Reynolds, the Director of the Project, greeted us and outlined the scientific work of the farm. He explained the development of “experimental archaeology” (see June newsletter) and how that by using evidence from archaeological excavations and fieldwork together with documentary sources, he and his team had set out to recreate and operate an Iron Age farmstead dating approximately to 300 BC. By asking “How does it work?” The team had proved nine out of ten generally accepted hypotheses invalid and had drawn some significant conclusions.

For example, the widespread use of hazel rods in house-making and the construction of animal pens, indicated the coppicing of hazel. This inferred a service industry as well as a producer, which in turn suggested an infrastructure within the society. This meant that instead of subsistence farming, a surplus economy was maintained.

Mr Reynolds explained that sheep were kept in a rotational system of pens, and this method had been shown to improve the quality of the grazing. Recent aerial photography had shown such a high density of Iron Age occupation in Southern England, that the problem now was how to explain the gaps!

We were shown the Soay sheep from St. Kilda, which are the breed closest to the evidence of the type of sheep kept by the Iron Age farmers. With brown fleeces, (which are not clipped but pulled off), this breed of sheep look like goats and can run like deer.

We also saw the plot of typical Iron Age crops – Einkorn, Club Wheat and Woad. Unfortunately, the cattle had been moved from the farm due to lack of grass this year.

We then examined the two dwelling-houses — one with a centre pole (non-functional structurally) and thatched with wheat straw, the other larger, (about 40 ft in diameter and 20 ft high) and thatched with river reeds. The larger hut made a cool auditorium in which to listen to Mr Reynolds’ lucidity. He explained how grain was stored in pits and how his experiments had shown that this method of storage was considerably more successful than modern silos. Mr Reynolds also explained that there were no holes in the hut roofs for the escape of smoke, as the smoke was useful for curing meats and ridding the thatch of insects.

So quickly did the time pass, that we had to leave the farm without seeing a large part of the work. We did, however, make time to visit the farm’s demonstration area beside the A3, established in co-operation with Hampshire’s Queen Elizabeth Country Park. Here similar projects to those on Butser Hill are being carried out. The public can wander round, look at the animals and plants being tended, ask questions, buy explanatory booklets (and woad seeds!) and watch a demonstration of spinning and weaving soay wool using an upright warp-weighted loom.

After a fine tea at the “Vanity Fair” in Fareham (munched to the background of Greek music) we drove on to the coast.

Portchester Castle stands on a low-lying promontory on the North Shore of Portsmouth Harbour. It is immediately impressive with its large Norman keep and Roman Walls still standing to full height.
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The Roman Outer walls with 14 of the original 20 bastions, enclose a square of about 600 ft. The two main gates, centrally sited on the East (water) and West (land) sides are Medieval. In the northwest corner are the Norman and Medieval inner bailey and keep, separated from the outer bailey by a moat with water. There is enough standing, with Richard II’s palace and other houses and chambers in various states of decay, to appeal strongly to the imagination and to repay exploration. Plants cling to the walls and give the place a comfortable air.

The keep is about 80 ft high, by 40 ft. square. Inside there are traces of wall paintings and beam decoration, modern wooden flooring and staircase. The walls are pitted with holes where former flooring beams have been sited, particularly during the 1790’s, when the place was crowded with French prisoners of war. One can climb right up to the roof of the keep for a terrific view of the castle and surrounding area.

The outer bailey contains in its south west Corner, one of the finest Romanesque churches in Wessex, dating from 1133. It also has a cricket ground in a reasonable state of repair. So it was the Romans who introduced cricket into England and not the West Indians after all!

Our thanks to Colin and Ann Evans for a pleasurable and instructive day.
July Outing to Castle Rising & King’s Lynn

This is on Saturday 10th July.

CASTLE RISING has the remains of an impressive rectangular stone keep and there have been recent excavations on the site. In the 13th century, King’s Lynn was the third largest seaport in the country. It has a Charter granted by King John, two guildhalls, two market places and merchant houses and churches as relics of its Medieval greatness. Pleasant Georgian houses recall the town’s importance in the 18th century.

Booking form enclosed with this Newsletter – please complete it and send to Dorothy Newbury as soon as possible.
Future Outings – Dates to Remember
Sat Aug 7 – Chedworth Roman villa and Crickley Hill.
Sept 17-19 – inclusive – Weekend at York.

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West Heath Site

Latest report from Daphne Lorimer.

Excavations continue at the West Heath site on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10.00a.m.-5.00p.m. Sixteen trenches have been excavated and another five or under excavation now. A large continuous area of the old land surface has been exposed along the top of the southern half of the eroding bank. Plaster casts had been made of six possible post or stake holes. A total of 2462 artefacts have been found, of which it is thought that 58 are known tool types.

Diggers are still urgently required, but members should note that the site will be closed (because of HADAS outings) on Saturday 10 July and Saturday 7 August. Apart from those days, please come along and help whenever you can.

Members of the H.G.S. Institute lecture class on the Mesolithic, which was organised in connection with the dig, visited the Mesolithic collections at the British Museum last month and were able to see comparable assemblages from other sites.
Within the Pale

Liz Sagues, who took part in the opening fortnight of the West Heath dig, sends this digger’s eye view of the lighter side of life in the HADAS trenches:

It’s a strange feeling, working inside a fenced-off part of a public park. The West Heath dog-walking public seemed to think it was a bit odd, too, as they peered over the paling at us. They were always helpful and interested, though often ill-informed. “Someone here before the Romans? Never!” “Are you looking for the Bog People?” “What are you planting?” “How much are the GLC paying you for this?”

Not everyone was happy with our activity. One man angrily questioned the amount of money the Society was spending on the site, and then told Christine Arnott: “Think of all the hungry hundreds and thousands you could feed and clothe instead of wasting your money like this.”

Then there was a lady with heart trouble who threatened to sue the Society if she had a heart attack because she couldn’t rest on her usual seat — access to it was blocked by our fence. But that story had a happy ending. Daphne Lorimer told the park superintendent, and three days later a brand new seat was in position, just outside the fence.

That seat was a problem to, for the blind physiotherapist from Manor House Hospital. “Find seat” she persisted again and again to her guide dog, as he whimpered the edge of the fence — until someone told her there was a newly erected barrier in the way.

Not all the entertainment came from those outside the fence. We made plenty of our own. Trendy “Hampstead Man” and his equally avant-garde wife evolved during one rainy lunch time. we were all crowded inside the polythene tent that kept plans, finds and us dry during the — fortunately rare — rainy spells. Unexpected heights of imagination came to light, as Hampstead Man’s simple hut took on the proportions of a studio and his wife’s furs trailed groundwards, covering sandalled feet.
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Then, another lunchtime, name of Brigid Grafton Green’s inspiration for those of us taking diploma or other exams during the dig. “Come digging in the morning”, she suggested, “then set off for the exam in your digging clothes, wearing a HADAS tin hat and with the trowel sticking out of your pocket”. It would have been ego-boosting, and shattering to the other exam candidates, but I don’t think one of us was brazen enough to try it.

John Cundy found a dinosaur (well, it look like to dinosaur even if it was only a tree root) and he and Philip Venning got incredibly muddy down the peat sampling hole. Other people’s discomfort is always good for a laugh.

We all had our share of red faces, as perfect little (and sometimes not so little) tools emerged in the sieve, while all too often just as Desmond Collins walked past. And the contortions of diggers measuring the depths of their finds — heads down, bottoms up, just like the ducks on the nearby pond — must have seemed ridiculous to any uninitiated watcher.

We laughed in turn at the television crew — the puffing, perspiring cameraman, the only one who seemed to do any real work, as he lugged his apparatus round at the beck and call of the mighty team of producers, directors, assistants, interviewers and miscellaneous hangers-on; and at the gullible reporter who swallowed, and repeated in print, the story about the ice-cap of the last glaciation being stopped at Henly’s Corner by the traffic lights!

It was a very happy site, even if the goats were rather aggressively friendly, and the swan decidedly noisy. And as well as being fun, it was distinctly rewarding to take part in a dig that is going to add quite a lot to existing knowledge of London’s earlier inhabitants.
Subscription Reminder

All members who have not yet paid their subscriptions for the current year — the treasurer reminds you that these were due on 1 April. Subscription rates are:
Full membership – £1.00
Under 18 – 65p
Senior Citizen – 75p

Please send them as soon as possible to the Treasurer, Jeremy Clynes.
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Tramway Poles – Industrial Archaeology

In various parts of London, the poles which carried the overhead wires for trams have been retained as street lighting standards. They can be recognised by their greater diameter and lack of ornamentation compared with the purpose-designed metal lamp standard. There are a number at Golders Green Crossroads. Does anyone know of others in the borough? Many Poles actually date only from the change to trolley buses, when the older polls were replaced, possibly to carry the heavier load of double wires. Anyone with information, please contact Bill Firth.
Welcome to New Members

New members crowd into HADAS thick and fast; moreover, they come from far and wide. Last paragraph of welcome was in April, only three newsletters ago. Already 51 stalwarts have joined us — we wish them well, and hope they will enjoyed being members. They are:

R.F.Allen, Hampstead; John Anderson, N17; Michael Aronsohn, Hampstead; Mrs. A.T. Baker, Hampstead; David Becker, Golders Green; Claire Bunting, N10; I. Chaikin, Hampstead; Desmond Collins, Hampstead; Paul Craddock, Garden Suburb; John Cundy, Harrow Weald; Mrs. Czarniecka and Peter Czarniecki, Cricklewood; A. Domb, Garden Suburb; Nicole Douek, Garden Suburb; John Fahy, Harrow Weald; Mr. And Mrs. Finer, Edgware; Madeleine French, Putney; Laurie Gevell, Kenton; Mavis Hammond, Totteridge; Ailsa Hoblyn, Garden Suburb; Mrs. E.M. Holliday, NW9; Caroline Hurst, Garden Suburb; Mary Knott, Putney; Dorothy Kushler, NW2; Betty Law, Cricklewood; Ruth Levenburgh, West Hampstead; J.M. Lewis, Finchley; Josephine Luce, Garden Suburb; Margaret Haher, Kenton; Mrs. Jean Nauert, Columbia, Missouri, USA; Mrs. Newman, Hampstead; Mrs. P.M. Pickett, Friern Barnet; Dr. Joyce Roberts, NW6; Mrs. M. Roswell, Mill Hill; Mr & Mrs Sagues, Pinner; Miss M. Saunders, W11; Derek Shaw, Enfield; Marjorie Stewart, NW5; Mr & Mrs Thompson, Hampstead; P.C. Townsend, NW9; Mr & Mrs Vause, East Barnet; Philip Venning, Garden Suburb; Peter Wagstaff, Pinner; Elizabeth Wallwork, SW14; Christopher Williams, Grahame Park; G. I. Williams, North Finchley; Stanley Williams, Golders Green.