All Posts By

Roger

Newsletter-122-April-1981

By | Past Newsletters, Volume 3 : 1980 - 1984 | No Comments

Newsletter-122-April-1981

Newsletter No. 122 – April 1981

HADAS CALENDAR

April lecture: Tuesday April 7th : Greek Royal Art by Dr. Malcolm Colledge. This will be Dr. Colledge’s third visit to talk to us – the last memorable occasion being in November 1976 when we overflowed the Library to hear his lecture on Pompeii. Many of us will also remember him for his oratory at the Roman Banquet.

Dr. Colledge is a member of the staff at the University of London and has taught Classics at Westfield College for the last 14 years.

On April 7th he is coming to tell us how Greek Royalty threw money around, commissioned buildings and bought Art, partly for their own pleasure and partly for propaganda purposes. He will include some slides on recent finds at VERGINA in what seem to be the Royal Tombs there.

The Annual General Meeting will be on Tuesday May 19th at the Library,

The Burroughs N.W.4. Coffee 8-8.30 p.m. formal meeting 8.30 p.m. After the business part of the  meeting Bill Firth will show some slides of Industrial Archaeology, dealing particularly with the early days of the

Schweppes factory in West Hendon which was recently demolished.

A formal notice calling the AGM is enclosed with this Newsletter.

Subscriptions for the new financial year. Please see enclosed leaflet from the Treasurer, Jeremy Clynes.

MR. MAHER

We have heard with great sadness of the death of Margaret’s husband after a long illness..

PUBLIC LECTURES AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM May – July 1981

A series of seven lectures on Science in the service of archaeology

20 th May Aspects of science applied to the conservation of museum treasures Dr. Ruth Boff.

27th May Conserving major finds from the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial Nigel Williams

3rd June Scientific ways of looking at the past: the work of the BM Research Laboratory .Dr Paul Craddock

10th June The analysis of marbles from the classical world: new discoveries by scientific means. Dr. Susan Walker

17th June  Bronze disease and other ailments: the practical conservation of metal objects.  Mrs Hannah Lane

24th June The conservation of masterpieces in glass Mrs. Davison

1st July      Scientific dating techniques: Carbon 14 and beyond.         Richard Burleigh:

No tickets required:        all on Wednesday at 1.15 p.m.


HADAS GOES            MARKETING

HADAS’s latest booklet THOSE WERE THE DAYS by Percy Reboul – is selling well.               This is the first publication for which the Society has planned a marketing policy – and credit for this must go to members Mary and Henry Barnett, who volunteered to organise the marketing and sales side. That is no light job to take on and we are very grateful to them for the energy and enthusiasm with which they have tackled the task: they really have put their hearts into it.

The first step was to get reviews into the local press and into newsletters of other societies and groups.Then we sent a leaflet to Citizens Advice Bureaux, council offices and old peoples groups in the area: to Townswomen’s guilds, schools and libraries: a far wider publicity net than we have ever cast before. The catch is already being netted; schools seem particularly interested.

The booklet is also being stocked by a number of North London bookshops in fact we have already had to increase our first print from 1000 to 1500.

Have you bought your copy yet. And have you thought of buying some extra copies for Christmas or birthday presents, If not, do think about it ­every copy we sell helps the Society.

THE SUTTON HOO SHIP BURIAL

Enid Hill reports on the March lecture.

The March lecture given by ,Kenneth Whitehorn of the British Museum Educational Service was excellent – a real tour de force as one member said.

Situated in Suffolk, overlooking the river Deben, and part of a large expanse of open. heathland, the Sutton Hoo site was owned by a Mrs. Edith Pretty.         In 1938, she decided to investigate some of the tumuli on the estate. Three were opened, found to be burial mounds which had been robbed, but enough remained to place them in the Anglo-Saxon period. So in 1938, Mrs Pretty sponsored another excavation of a fourth mound – the largest in the group. A trench two metres wide was made and soon a “pattern of rivets appeared which marked the plank runs of a hugh boat more than 30 metres long. The wood and rivets had rotted away, but the rivets left a rusty impression which showed up in the sandy soil. The discovery of the boat itself was of great importance in the history of boat building, but then in the central area of the boat, a large collection of objects began to appear in a collapsed burial chamber. At this stage, the leader of the excavation, a local antiquary, Basil Brown, called in the professionals. Charles Phillips, F.S.A. led a team which included Professors Grimes and Pigott.                They completed the dig in July under the cloud of the coming war, and at a Coroner’s Inquest in August, the objects found were declared to be the property of Mrs. Pretty who then, with great generosity, presented the whole find to the nation. An astounding collection of objects was excavated from the burial chamber and Mr. Whitehorn’s  slides of many of these a very clear idea of their brilliance.The  list included  gold and garnet strap fittings, a sword with jeweled mounts, a. magnificent helmet and shield, a collection of silver (including a dish with a Roman hallmark of the period AD 49-518), a ceremonial whetstone surmounted by a finely cast bronze stag  drinking horns with silver-gilt fittings, Celtic hanging bowls, a finely wrought iron chain with its massive bronze cauldon and a purse lid, decorated with gold and garnet cloisonné work. This contained 37 Merovingian gold coins of the period. 625-630 A.D. For pleasure a six-stringed lyre of maple wood was included.

No trace of the inhabitant of this grave remains, except for a possible phosphate stain, since bone dissolves in the acid soil as it does on the Hampstead Heath site. It has been suggested that it might commemorate Raewald, a king of East Anglia who died 624-625 A. D. Whoever it was, it must have been someone with contacts as far as Constantinople and Egypt ­the home of some of the objects and a man who could command the highest craftsmanship from Celtic workers at home.       The burial, which is one of the richest of its period yet found in Europe, emphasises the high level of culture in Anglo-Saxon England.

WINGS OVER NORTH WEST LONDON

This is the working title of a research project set up to investigate  the aircraft industry which existed from the earliest days of aviation until about 1970 along the Edgware Road between Cricklewood and Colindale. A group has been formed and a small start made. However the subject is vast, but it can be broken down into small areas so that it could be worked on by many people. If you are interested please contact Bill Firth, 455 7164.   It is  hoped to reward participants with a visit to the old Grahame-White sites at Hendon aerodrome.

PINNING DOWN THE PAST Report by Sheila Woodward.

Church Farm House Museum, that lovely 17th century building which is itself such an eloquent reminder of Hendon’s past, is a fitting setting for the latest and greatest HADAS’ Exhibition, Pinning Down The Past. The formal opening of the exhibition on February 28th by the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Mrs. Edna James proved in fact to be a pleasantly informal occasion, thanks to the expert but unobtrusive management of Dorothy Newbury. Among the guests of the Society were the Borough Librarian, Mr. David Ruddom, the Borough Archivist, Mrs. Joanna Cordon, Mr. Bill Taylor of Barnet Museum, Dr. Richard Hubbard of the Institute of Archaeology, and several representatives of neighbouring societies.     Introduced by the chairman of HADAS, Councillor Brian Jarman, the Mayor spoke of the importance of studying and understanding our local heritage and of preserving our fine buildings from the past. She expressed appreciation of the work HADAS has done and was continuing to do to further these aims. After the opening, the Honorary Secretary, Brigid Grafton-Green, who master-minded the exhibition and to whom must go credit for its excellent presentation and lay-out, showed the Mayor round the exhibition

The main contents of the exhibition were described in last month’s Newsletter by Liz Sagues. She mentioned the success of the preceding Lacemaking exhibition which attracted large numbers of visitors, but the HADAS exhibition is already rivalling its predecessor and comments from visitors are very complimentary. All our exhibitors can feel justifiably proud of their achievement. I think it is fair to say that there is something for everyone in this exhibition – the nostalgia of the old photographs and old industries, the fascinating detail of scientific techniques in archaeology and the sheer fun of that splendid, never to be forgotten Roman banquet.                And how pleasant to see so many children visiting and enjoying the exhibition for they will be the guardians of the future of our past.

A reminder;          The exhibition continues until May.Opening hours : 10 a.m.-12.30 p..m. and 1.30 p.m. – 5.30 p.m. on weekdays (except Tuesday 10.a.m. – 1.0 p.m.) and from 2.30-6.00 p.m. on Sundays.

REVIEW OF THE NEW BULLETIN OF EXPERIMENTAL ARCHEOLOGY

No 1. Edited by David Johnstone M.A. Published by the Department of Adult Education of Southampton (Annual Subscription £1.)

The Adult Education Courses on flint-tool making and Roman Cookery, provided by Southampton University have been a fascinating and enjoyable introduction to experimental archaeology for many HADAS members. It will be no surprise to them, therefore, that this enterprising Department under the Editorship of its Archaeological Tutor, David Johnston, has now produced the first “Bulletin of Experimental Archaeology”.

Both in Britain and in other parts of the world, there has been a great proliferation in experimental projects in the last few years. Their range is great and extends from the rigidly controlled scientific experiment to the uncontrolled practical experience of educational groups. These provide as Mr. Johnston points out, invaluable insight into ancient technology. Mr. Johnston also considers that finance has played a big part in controlling the type of work undertaken- today most studies being perforce, modest, and undertaken by individuals or enterprising groups.            For these, an annual Bulletin such as this, can only be of benefit, especially as its stated aims are to cut down duplication of effort, provide a means of co-ordination of research and a medium of information exchange. The Bulletin provides a useful summary of recent experiments which range from Palaeolithic technology, through the manufacture of various types of Roman pottery and a variety of flue and other tiles to the mounting of Anglo-Saxon jewelry and the building of a Viking ship.        There are notes on miscellaneous projects which include an appeal for modern beavers’ incisor teeth (has any member got one?) and a useful summary in.”Current

Research with Ancient Agriculture” from Peter Reynolds. Last, but not least, the Bulletin produces a valuable list of publications.

This Bulletin is to be welcomed as a useful tool for those engaged in experimental archaeology be they professional or amateur. The Editor expresses the justifiable concern that the growth of experimentation shall not lead to a debasement of standards and a publication such as this will be of great value as a monitor. It is hoped that it will go from strength to strength.

Daphne Lorimer

THE BONES FROM TED SAMMES’ SITE

Preliminary Report on the Inhumation Burial from the excavation at Church Terrace, Hendon by Daphne Lorimer.

Four extended inhumation burials were found outside the consecrated area to the south of the west end of St. Mary’s Church – three in trench B 1 and one in trench C 1. – They were orientated to face east and no evidence of coffins was found. At the foot of the southernmost burial in trench .B 1, a small pit was found containing the carpal bones of a hand which did not appear to belong to any of the four burials. The condition of .the bones was extremely poor as the ground was completely waterlogged. Use of a trowel was precluded and the bones were cleaned with a small paint brush. The skeleton no 3 was excavated completely and photographed in situ, but WAS vandalised before an attempt could be made to preserve and raise the bones.Only fragments of the femur, skull and teeth were saved. Any attempt to estimate the sex, age and stature from such limited material must, of necessity, be very tentative since multivariate criteria are essential for any degree of accuracy.               From the evidence available, however, the skeleton was estimated to be that of a male between 35 and 45 years old and about 5 ft. 7 ins tall. ex The maximum diameter of the head of the femur was 50 moms. (Dwight 1900 gives a mean of 49.7 mms for males and 43.8 mm for females) while the mastoid processes seem large and the portion of the nuchal crest found seems well marked. (all Characteristics of the male).

Age at death When examined in situ, epiphiseal union did appear complete, the teeth had all erupted and the degree of attrition was such that an age of between 35,-45 years could be estimated from charts published by Bothwell (1965)

Stature Measurements had been taken in situ- under such circumstances accuracy must be highly suspect – and the femoral lengths from the medial condyle at the distal end to the proximal part of the head was 44.6 cms. Using the formula of Trotter and Gleser (1952,1958) a stature of 5ft.7in: was calculated. i.e. 2.32 x 44.6 x 65.53 cms  = 169.002 cms 5ft 7 ins

Note on Teeth The teeth retrieved appeared to have suffered heavy attrition and there was cracking of the enamel of the two upper first incisors:         Caries was seen on three of the Molars, but the other teeth appeared free. Two points of interest should be noted (a) a sherd of Herts grey ware pottery adhered to the soil filling the shattered skull which may give a terminus ante quem for the burial.(13th-14th.Century A.D.)  (b) Mediaeval punishment for sheep or deer stealing. Was the loss of the right hand.

References

Dwight 1900 J. Anat. Lond..24 p 61(-68                                                         

Brothwell D.R. 1965 “Digging up Bones” Brit. Mus. (Nat Hist) p 69 •

Trotter and Gleser G.C.1952 Amer. J.Phys Anthrop. Washington (n.s.) p.634-714, 1958 Amer. J.Phys Anthrop. Washington  (n.s.) 16 p.17-123.

REPORT ON THE LAMAS CONFERENCE

The Lamas Conference is always a cheerful well-attended affair and this was no exception. The two main themes were Recent Excavation and Research and Some Perspectives on the Prehistory of the Thames valley. We saw slides of excavations at Peninsular House in the City and at Clavert’s buildings in Southwark, at Tilbury Fort on the lower Thames, and a causewayed enclosure near Staines.             Two speakers dealt with Paleolithic implements and there was a splendid display of these in the exhibition. HADAS had an excellent display of animal bones from the Church Terrace dig.

Enid Hill

ART EXHIBITION the Circuit Painters

Two painting of the West Heath Dig will be on show at the Swiss Cottage Central Library from April 13-30. They are the work of Jean Gillett  (sister-in-law of Helen Gordon) and a member of the Circuit Painters who have recently concentrated on the Camden area and are showing paintings of such scenes as Camden Lock and street markets. Jean Gillett visited West Heath one day last summer and sketched the site.

NEWSLETTER APPEAL – LOAN OF A CAR: VAN

Is any member able to help with the loan of a small caravan or possibly a van for three Saturdays in late spring or early summer? If so, please contact Brian Wibberley, phone no. 440-7696. Brian is
trying to organise a small exhibition showing the activities of the society, the exhibition to be a mobile one which can be parked at various strategic sites.

ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY

From Philip Venning

Shaw, A and Clayton, K.M. British Isles: the geomorphology of the Eastern and Central England. Methuen 1979

Bickerman, E.J. Chronology of the ancient world. Rev. ed. Thames and

Hudson 1980 (From series: Aspects of Greek and Roman life)

Joukowsky, M. A complete manual of field archaeology: tools and techniques of field work for archaeologists. Prentice-Hall. 1980

Clarke, G. Winchester studies 3 – Pre-Roman, Winchester, Part 11 The Roman cemetery at Lankhills. Clarendon Press 1979

Gould, R.A. Living archaeology. Cambridge University Press. 1980

Orton, C. Mathematics in archaeology. Collins. 1980

Laing, L and J. The origins of Britain. Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1980

Sheail, J. Historical ecology:   the documentary evidence      Institute of  Terrestial Ecology (Natural Environmental Research Council) 1980

From C. Chatterton   Andronicos, M. The Greek museums: Heraklion Museum and archaeological sites of Crete

On loan from Mrs. Reichenfeld

Hsia Nal and others. New archaeological finds in China: discoveries duringthe cultural revolution. Peking. Foreign Language Press 1974

From Miss Sheldon

Carrier, R and Dick) O.L.  The vanished city:               a study of London.  Hutchinson. 1957

From Daphne Lorimer

Craft tools of yesterday. Providence Press, Ely. 1979.

From Mrs. Jean Neal

Clark G. Prehistoric England. 2nd Ed. Batsford 1941.

Childe V.G. Prehistoric communities of the British Isles. Chambers 1940

Hawkes C.F.C. The prehistoric foundations of Europe to the Mycenean age. Methuen 1940.

Presented via the Mini-mart

Time Life International 1973-74

Edney, M.A. and the editors of Time-Life Books.The sea traders.

Wernick, R and the editors of Time-Life Books. The monument builders

Knauth P. and the editors of Time-Life Books The metalamiths

Leonard, J.N. and the editors of Time-Life Books . The first farmers

Hamblin D.J. and the editors of Time-Life Books The first cities

Claiborne R and the editors of Time-Life Books The first Americans

Prideaux T. and the editors of Time-Life Books Cro-magnon man

Constable, G. and the editors of Time-Life Books. The Neanderthals

Edey M.A. and the editors of Time-Life Books. The missing link

Editors of Time Life Books. Life before man.

All in the Emergence of Man series.

Newsletter-004-June-1970

By | Past Newsletters, Volume 1 : 1969 - 1974 | No Comments

Newsletter 004 June 1970

Newsletter

Page 1

New Committee

At the start of a new season, members may like to have a note of the; Officers and Committee for 1970/71, who were elected at the A.G.M. on May 5th

Chairman : Mr. B. A. Jarman, Hon.Sec: Mrs. Grafton Green, Vice-Chairman & Archivist: Mr. E. Sammes, Hon Treas: Mrs. G. M. Isaaman, Committee: Miss J. Digby, Mr. J. de F. Enderby, Miss E. Dowling, Mr. G. E. J. Evans, Miss J. Dowling, Mr. R. Hansen, Mrs. Worby, Mr. A. Kirkwood, Mr. J. Clynes, Mr. E. E. Wookey, Mr. G. Cole

In order to spread the Committee’s work as much as possible, four sub-committees have now been appointed: Finance (Chairman Mrs. Isaaman) Research (Chairman Mr Sammes) Programme (Chairman Mr. Jarman) Publicity (Chairman Mr. Wookey)

Outings

We were very sorry that we had to cancel the outing for May 30th, owing to the fact that Blenheim Palace was not open to the public that day. Next outing: Ragley Hall, near Startford on July 4th.

Excavation and Fieldwork

Westhorpe: Surveys had been carried out on this site in Tenterden Grove (TQ235896) in August and November, 1969. At Easter, seven 10 foot square trenches were opened on the basis of the survey results (site supervisor: R. Hansen). Numerous sherds of pottery (including Bellarmine) were found, also roofing tiles, nails and clay pipes, two of which bear the initials R.B. All the finds were resting on a gravel surface, in which was discovered a post hole and small areas of burnt material. One supposition is that the gravel formed a foundation of a yard adjoining a farm building. Part of a trackway was also found, with similar pottery on its surface. On preliminary investigation, the finds suggest a possible 17/18th century date, but they are being studied. A final report will be made later.

Finchley Manor: The L-shaped remains of a moat in the grounds of the Convent of Marie Auxiliatrice, East End Road, (TQ254899) was surveyed by a small team of members under the supervision of Jennifer Digby, with the help of Mr. B. R. Martin, ARICS. It is hoped to do a resistivity survey on the site later this summer. Members will be kept informed so that those who wish may take part.

Tools: In the past, we have borrowed excavation tools from the Borough of Barnet, who have always been most helpful and generous in this respect. We should, however, like to get some capital equipment of our own, which would be particularly useful if an emergency dig arose. A number of tools we want can be bought with Green Shield Stamps. If you have any of these stamps to spare, would you please remember the Society?

Page 2

Subscriptions

A reminder from the Hon Treasurer (address already given) that these are due. She will be pleased to receive them at your earliest convenience.

A course for the Autumn

The Society has been asked to co-operate next September in a course on archaeology to be run for the first time at the Central Library, Hendon, by the Workers Educational Association. The course, taken by a university tutor, will consist of 12 2-hour lectures, one a week between September and Christmas. The cost will be Å“1 per head. This course will offer those living in or near Hendon a chance of taking part in a really interesting class right on their own doorstep, and we hope many of you will decide to join. Anyone interested should fill in the form overleaf and post it, as soon as possible, to Mrs. Green.

Exhibit on Industrial Archaeology

Recent newsletters have mentioned the small exhibit which HDAS has been asked to provide at the AGM of the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society on July 4th next, at 2.30 p.m. at the Institute of Archaeology in Gordon Square.

Now here are the final details. The exhibit will show a background map of the Borough of Barnet, plotted will the milestones of the Borough and with a representative selection of Barnet’s industrial monuments. We shall not include all of them – there are too many – but will concentrate on those on the recording of which members of the Society have worked this year.

Around the map photographs and plans of three of these monuments will be displayed in detail. The three chosen are: the Dollis Valley Viaduct (research: William Morris), Arkley Windmill (Edward Sammes) and Railway Housing in Cricklewood (Rolf Hansen).

The exhibit is being designed by Edward Sammes, who has also taken the photographs; the captions will be the work of Philippa Bernard.

Members of HDAS are warmly invited to attend the AGM; and anyone who would care to help either with the arrangement of the exhibit or in stewarding it on July 4th would be very welcome. Such offers of help should go to Edward Sammes (phone 304-4391 – after 7 p.m.).

Notes and News

Exhibition: have a nautical day and visit an exhibition on The Camera and Sailing Ships at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. At the same time, you can visit the Cutty Sark.

Essex and the sea: This year’s exhibition at Ingatestone Hall is of documents, pictures and ship models – open until 3rd October, 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m.- 4 p.m. daily (except Sundays and Mondays, but including Bank Holidays). A 28-page booklet will be on sale, price 2s.6d. It is also obtainable from County Hall, Chelmsford, but add 6d for posting.

Roman Samian Ware: The Hertfordshire Archaeological Society has republished an informative booklet on this (it first appeared as a chapter in The Archaeology of Roman Britain, by Collingwood & Richmond, 1969). Written by a great Samian expert, B. R. Hartley, MA, FSA, it costs 5s3d.

Archive Notes

  • Westhorpe excavation was referred to in issue 1.
  • The Hertfordshire Archaeological Society Google returns referring to them.
  • B.R.Hartley, author of chapter in The Archaeology of Roman Britain, is currently (October 2004) listed as Reader Emeritus in the School of Classics, University of Leeds

Book Reference

The Archaeology of Roman Britain (amazon.com)

Number-568-July-2018

By | Latest Newsletter, News, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

Number 568 July 2018 Edited by Mary Rawitzer

HADAS DIARY – PROGRAMME 2018

Monday 17th to Friday 21st September 2018: Trip to East Anglia is full. There is a waiting list.

Tuesday 9th October 2018: Unrolling Egyptian Mummies in Victorian London by Gabriel
Moshenska, Senior Lecturer in Public Archaeology, UCL

Tuesday 13th November 2018: The Rose – Shakespeare’s Secret Playhouse – a film made by
Suzanne Marie Taylor, Anthony Lewis and Siegffried Loew-Walker. The documentary film will be
introduced by one of the filmmakers, Anthony Lewis. The film’s highlight is HADAS member
Suzanne Marie Taylor’s interview with one of the world’s greatest and most respected actors – Ian
McKellen, who speaks about his own personal experience during the 1989 Save the Rose Campaign
when the Rose was partially excavated by the Museum of London. The film was premiered at
Canada House on February 2nd 2017.

Lectures start at 7.45 for 8.00pm in the Drawing Room, Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley
N3 3QE. Buses 13, 143, 326 & 460 pass close by, and it is five to ten minutes’ walk from Finchley
Central Station (Northern Line). Tea/coffee and biscuits follow the talk. .
———————————————————————————————————————————-
Annual General Meeting. Jo Nelhams (Hon. Secretary)
The AGM was held on Tuesday June 12th at 7.30 pm. It was attended by 39 members with apologies
from another 16 members.
The Constitution stipulates that the President should be appointed every 5 years and Harvey Sheldon
has accepted to continue for a further 5-year period for HADAS.
The officers remain unchanged as Chairman: Don Cooper, Vice Chairman: Peter Pickering,
Treasurer: Jim Nelhams, Secretary: Jo Nelhams, Membership Secretary: Stephen Brunning. Seven
Committee members were willing to continue to serve: Bill Bass, Roger Chapman, Robin Densem,
Melvyn Dresner, Eric Morgan, Andrew Selkirk and Sue Willetts.

Vicki Baldwin was thanked for her service on the HADAS Committee. Vicki is moving to Cornwall
shortly and will be missed on the Committee and as a regular with the Sunday morning group and as
a digger. We wish her well.

Unfortunately we had no more volunteers willing to give time to being on the Committee – more
members are very much needed.

The Treasurer gave notice that he will retire from his office at the AGM in 2019 after 15 years, so
please give this some serious thought and let the Committee know if you could be interested.
The AGM was followed by a presentation by Jacqui Pearce, a follow-up from last year’s AGM
presentation on the work of HADAS’s Finds Group. It was very detailed and extremely informative
as the finds had a story to tell about the changes in people’s domestic lives through time. Those not
at the AGM missed a treat! A more detailed account will appear separately.

Thank you to all the members who came along to the meeting.

HADAS has a vacancy

As mentioned in the AGM report above, Jim Nelhams, who has been Honorary Treasurer of HADAS
for the last 14 years, has said that he will not be seeking re-election to that post at the 2019 AGM.
The Honorary Treasurer is one of the most important officers of the society. Jim has kindly offered
to shadow his replacement and explain the ins and outs of the Treasurer’s task.

If you would like to be considered for this honorary post please get in touch with either Jim or Don –
contact details at the back of this newsletter.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Membership Subscriptions Stephen Brunning (Membership Secretary)

Subscriptions for 2018/19 were due on 1st April. Many thanks to everyone who has already paid.
If you intend to renew, but have not yet done so, please send a cheque by 1st September to my
NEW ADDRESS as stated on the back page of this Newsletter. The old address in Mill Hill quoted
on the renewal form that was sent out in March should be ignored. Many thanks, Stephen.
________________________________________________________________________________
We have all been inundated with privacy policies recently. You will be pleased to know that
HADAS has one too and we publish it as follows:

The Hendon and District Archaeology Society (HADAS) personal data policy

May 2018

HADAS is committed to protecting your personal information, it’s your information, it’s personal
and we respect that. Our privacy policy gives you detailed information on when and why we collect
your personal information, how we use it and how we keep it secure.

Who we are and what we do:

The Hendon and District Archaeology Society (HADAS) is a registered charity in England and
Wales (charity no. 269949). Our web site is www.hadas.org.uk . Our purpose is the advancement of
archaeological and historical research and education for the public benefit with particular reference
to the archaeology and history of the London Borough of Barnet. Our members help us to achieve
this by paying an annual subscription which we use to further our purpose.

The personal data we hold and how we collect it

We collect personal data when a new member completes the information on the membership form.
This includes the member’s name, address, phone number, email address and payment details,
including any Gift Aid declaration as well as stated archaeological skills. If during membership a
member tells us of any changes, we will hold the new details in place of the old ones.

We hold members’ personal data for the following purposes:
 To keep a record of our members’ subscriptions paid and other payments for trips and events
 To claim Gift Aid on subscriptions and donations
 To send our regular newsletter to members either by post or email
 To inform members about events, lectures and other activities

We do not share information with other members (other than the Committee), or with other
organisations except the Charity Commissioners for Trustee’s details, the Inland Revenue for Gift
Aid and the newsletter printer for names, postal addresses and email addresses). Our newsletters are
deposited with the British Library.

Access to your personal information

You can request to see, amend or delete the current personal information that HADAS holds about
you. We cannot delete archived information. If you ask us to delete all the current personal
information that HADAS holds then we will not be able to provide you with the benefits of
membership.

How we protect your information

Members’ information is stored on virus-checked computers and files are exchanged via Dropbox.

How long will we hold your personal information?

If you ask us to delete your details, resign, or your membership subscription remains unpaid for 12
months after it becomes due, we will remove you from the membership list and will not contact you
in the future (unless you contact us to ask us to resume contact with you.

We keep records (Gift Aid) as long as required to comply with statutory requirements. In most cases
this will be for 6 years from the end of the tax year you resigned.

The Silver Caesars at Waddesdon Manor Audrey Hooson

On display at a Waddesdon Manor until July 22nd is ‘The Silver Caesars: A Renaissance Mystery’.
Known as the Aldobrandini Tazze, these twelve Renaissance standing cups each consist of an
intricately engraved dish showing a very selective version of the important events in the lives of each
Caesar, derived from the work of Roman historian Suetonius (written in the early second century
AD). Each has a statuette of the Caesar in the centre and a later added foot.

For those interested in the work of Renaissance goldsmiths the exhibition is important. However the
detailed engraved scenes are fascinating in themselves and also for the not always flattering
depictions of the Caesars.

The mystery is where they were made and for whom, as well as their history since then. There is a
very good booklet with excellent photographs to help with the stories.

The exhibition finishes on July 22nd, so there is still time to get there.
For more details see: https://www.waddesdon.org.uk/whats-on/

Barnet Medieval Festival Don Cooper

HADAS had a stall at the Barnet Medieval Festival which took place at Barnet’s Rugby Football
ground in Byng Road on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th June 2018. The weather was sunny and hot for
the two days.


Re-enactors of the Battle of Barnet and the 2nd Battle of St Albans were out in force and re-fought
the battles with great gusto on both days to the enjoyment of the huge crowd.
There was a lot of interest in HADAS and the event certainly brought HADAS to local people’s
attention, who may not have heard of us before. Thanks to all who manned the stall and helped in
any way.

Abbey Road, Barking, Archaeological Excavation Robin Densem

Your correspondent went to visit the public open day in June 2018, having seen this publicity poster:

There were perhaps twenty visitors on site when I arrived around 11.30am. I was delighted to see Jo
and Jim Nelhams there. We joined a group of perhaps seven other visitors, including people from
other archaeological societies, while other parties were simultaneously being shown around the site.
We were conducted around the excavations by one of five or so Thames Valley Archaeological
Services (TVAS) archaeologists who were on site. TVAS is a commercial archaeological company
that has been commissioned to carry out the archaeological investigation of the site, in advance of its
redevelopment.
The historical background is that: “Barking Abbey was founded by Erkenwald, later Bishop of
London, in about AD 666 on a site possibly between the River Roding and its western tributary, the
Back River. It was dedicated to St Mary and St Ethelburga. In about AD 870 it was destroyed by the
Danes and not restored until about AD 965. Following its restoration it became one of the greatest
nunneries of England, the Abbess having precedence over all the other abbesses. The present ruins
date to the 12th century, when the abbey was rebuilt. Further alterations and rebuilding were
carried out in the early to mid 13th century. In 1377, the Abbey estate was devastated by floods, from
which it never fully recovered. The Abbey was suppressed in 1539, during the Dissolution of the
Monasteries, and dismantled in 1541.” (Historic England Barking Abbey: List Summary Entry
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1003581 accessed 16th June 2018).


As it was the week-end, no archaeological excavation work was actually being carried out. Gravel
paths bounded by site fencing had been laid out to enable safe and easy access (the gravel paths had
been laid over areas where archaeological excavation had been concluded).

The large 1.28ha (3.16 acres) site is proposed for redevelopment for housing, to provide blocks of
apartments. The former buildings of a late 20th century retail park (Abbey Retail Park) had been
demolished, and an archaeological evaluation (trial trenching) had been carried out on site by TVAS
in September 2015 (Hull G 2016 Abbey Retail Park (South), Abbey Road, Barking, London Borough
of Barking and Dagenham: An Archaeological Evaluation. Thames Valley Archaeological Services
report http://tvas.co.uk/reports/pdf/ARE15-191evreport.pdf ) (accessed 16th June 2018).
Our archaeologist explained that there had been a history of previous archaeological work by other
organisations on the site, and this had not been published in any detail. An interim report by Ken
MacGowan on the 1980s/1990s fieldwork on Barking Abbey was published in Current Archaeology
magazine no. 149 (1996).


Planning consent for a residential development has been granted with archaeological planning
conditions for archaeological excavation in advance of redevelopment, including a requirement for
public access and engagement, hence the open day. The archaeological work is being carried out as
commercial archaeology, so is part of the planning and redevelopment process. The present work is
subsequent to the initial evaluation and is an archaeological excavation to achieve ‘preservation by
record’. There are some fifteen archaeologists working on the site (on weekdays). The
archaeological excavation is to last for several more months.


Our enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide was one of the TVAS site staff and had been a
professional archaeologist for around ten years and clearly enjoyed giving site tours. He said that
parties of schoolchildren had been visiting the site during the past week. (I think it is much easier to
achieve public access and engagement within commercial archaeology when this is required through
the planning process, as is the case for this site).

The site lies immediately west of and outside the scheduled extent of Barking Abbey that lies on the
opposite, east side, of Abbey Road – part of the abbey remains are laid out in the public park there.
The site lies to the east of and close to the present course of the River Roding.
From what I gathered (foolishly without making written notes at the time), the earliest deposits on
the site were natural sand and gravel overlain by alluvium (waterlain material) into which some
prehistoric features, pits and animal enclosures, had been cut. These prehistoric features hadn’t been
recorded in the previous archaeological work on site and so are ‘new’.
There had been some flooding over these prehistoric features in later prehistoric times and the
overlying alluvium developed into a palaeo-soil into which Saxon features had been cut. No Roman
features have been found, so far, but Saxon hearths found on the site contained re-used Roman tile,
so there had been Roman activity in the vicinity. This is emphasised by the past discovery of some
Roman tombstones from elsewhere in Barking.


A major discovery on site was a silted up former branch of the River Roding, running north-south
within the site, near its western boundary. Both sides of the ancient watercourse had been exposed
and were revetted with timber posts and planks. The timbers would in due course be subject to
dendrochronological dating, and Saxon dates are expected. The timbers appear to represent a dock
and/or quay and would have served the abbey and its outer precinct within which it lay. It was
explained the course of the north-south River Roding has been migrating westwards over time, as its
former courses have silted up. It still flows today, immediately west of the site.

A north-south stone wall near and within the eastern boundary of the site was the western wall of the
inner precinct of the medieval abbey. The stone inner precinct wall had enclosed the medieval
abbey church and the ‘core’ abbey building, including the abbey church and cloisters, which lay
immediately east of the site, on the other side of Abbey Road. These remains lay within the modern
Abbey Park where a medieval monastic church, St Margaret’s Barking, still stands within the park
and where other monastic structural remains are displayed.

Most of the redevelopment site was outside but immediately west of and adjacent to the (inner)
abbey precinct. So the site, lying in the outer precinct in the medieval period, would still have been
under the control of the abbey and could be expected to contain industrial and other nonecclesiastical
abbey functions. The branch of the River Roding that has been found on the site would
doubtless have serviced the abbey and its activities. Importantly, it seems possible that the Saxon
abbey church had stood on the visited site.


Finds included prehistoric pottery and struck flints, Saxon pottery and loom weights, and a rare metal
object thought to have been used as an incense burner.

The excavation will run for several more months. It is intended that a publication will be generated,
to include the results of previous archaeological investigations on the site.

Other groups were being conducted around the site as our tour ended, and as I was leaving the site
yet more visitors were coming in. It was great to be able to visit the site and see the excavations and
the finds, and to see the enthusiasm of the archaeologists on site.

Modern commercial archaeology (ie that funded by developers as part of the planning process) is the
successor to the former voluntary and/or publicly funded and perhaps erratic ‘rescue archaeology’.
Rescue archaeology had been carried out in England from the middle of the twentieth century by
locally based amateurs and then with again locally based professional groups (‘units’) through to the
formalisation of commercial archaeology in 1990, with the publication of Department of the
Environment’s Planning Policy Guidance 16 (PPG16) that year that came out in the wake of the
Rose Theatre and other site controversies in 1989.

The continuing preservation and investigation of the historic environment depends upon
archaeology and heritage continuing to be written into the local plans of local planning authorities
such as Barking and Dagenham, and the work of planning archaeologists such as those in the
Historic England Greater London Archaeology Advisory Service who are the nominated
archaeological advisors to most London Boroughs. An essential element is the Historic England
Greater London Historic Environment Record which collects and makes sites and monuments
information for Greater London available – no mean task!

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS compiled by Eric Morgan

Tuesday 10th July 7.45 pm. Amateur Geological Society, Finchley Baptist Church Hall, East End Rd,
N3 3QL (opp. Avenue House): New Zealand Geology. Talk by Ros Mercer (Essex Rock Society.)

Monday 16th July, 8.50 am. Mill Hill Historical Society Coach Trip to Oxford. Morning explore
city pm: Blue Badge Guide walking tour. Cost £36 (members £34). Coach pick-up also 9am Hartley
Hall, Mill Hill Broadway NW7. Leave for home 5pm. To book: send cheque & sae to Julia Haynes
38 Marion Rd, Mill Hill, NW7 4AN (tel: 020 906 0563, e-mail: haynes.julia@yahoo.co.uk) or book
on-line: www.millhill-hs.org.uk.

Friday 20th July, 7 pm. COLAS , St Olave’s Hall, Mark Lane, EC3R 7BB. Civil War London. David
Flintham talks on the dramatic 1640’s, both civil and military. Visitors £3, light refreshments after.

Saturday 21st July, 11am-3pm. Enfield Archaeological Society. Open Day: Excavation, Elsyng
Palace, Forty Hall. At 1.30 & 2.30 talk by Mike Dewbrey on the latest finds. Limited places.
Book: www.enfieldpresents.co.uk or tel: 020 8807 6680. £3. See June Newsletter for more details.

Saturday 21st July, 1.30-3.30 Barnet 1471 Battlefields Society, St. John the Baptist Church, junction
High St/Wood St, Barnet EN5 4BW. Putting the Battle of Bosworth into the Landscape. Talk by
Richard Mackinder. Non-members £5. Refreshments.

Friday 27th July, 10am. Enfield Museum. Dugdale Centre, 1st Floor, 39 London Rd, Enfield EN12
6DS. Archives in Focus: Family History Sources for Enfield. Talk, John Clark (Local Studies).
£3. Advance booking advised: www.dugdalecentre.co.uk .

Sunday 29th July, 2pm. Enfield Society. Heritage Walk. Starting Southgate Station, travelling to
Southgate Green via side roads & footpaths. Free, but limited places. Book in advance, sending
details & sae to Heritage Walks, The Enfield Soc., Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield EN2 0AJ.

Tuesday 7th August. Camden History Society. Coach trip to Sandham Memorial Chapel & The
Vyne. (Stanley Spencer paintings/a Tudor house). Cost £35, or £25 NT members. Includes talk at
chapel. Price of mid-morning refreshments not included. Pick up: 8.30 Marks & Spencers, Camden
High St; 8.45 Waterstones, Hampstead High St; 9 am Swiss Cottage, outside Library. Send sae &
cheque for Camden History Society to Jean Archer, 91 Fitzjohn’s Ave, London NW3 6NX.
Enquiries: 020 7435 5490.

Wednesday 8th August, 3.30 pm. LAMAS. Visit Painted Hall, Old Royal Naval College,
Greenwich. The conservation project will be nearly complete, allowing close-up access to the
ceiling, plus guided tour of paintings at 4pm. £12.50 (£10 members). Book (places limited).
Information/booking: Jane Sidells jane.sidells@btinternet.com.

Saturday 11th to Wednesday 15th & Saturday 25th to Wednesday 29th August. Copped Hall Trust
Archaeological Project: Field Schools 2018. Continuing investigation into the development of a
grand Tudor House, Copped Hall, near Epping, Essex. Two 5-day field schools. Suitable for people
already familiar with the basic techniques of archaeological excavation & recording seeking to
develop their skills. £100 (WEAG members £50). Also 14/15th, 18/19th & 21st/22nd July: Taster
Weekends. Also Sunday 26th August, 11am-4pm: Open Day. For more details and tickets:
www.coppedhalltrust.org.uk and www.ticketsource.co.uk/coppedhallevents.

Tuesday 14th August, 1-1.30pm. Museum of Enfield. Dugdale Centre, 1st Floor, 39 London Rd,
Enfield EN12 6DS. Boys & Girls Come Out to Play: Chase Farm School tapestry & cup remnant.
Talk, Joe Studman on the care of orphaned or deserted children in Victorian Enfield. Free.
Refreshments.

Tuesday 14th August, 7.45 pm. Amateur Geological Society (see 10th July above for address).
Members Evening. Short talks by members. Displays, photos, specimens, field trip reports.

Thursday 16th August, 10.20am for 10.30 start. Mill Hill Historical Society. Walking Tour of
Hampstead: art & architecture in Hampstead & Belsize Park. Anne-Marie Craven (Blue Badge
Guide). £12 (£10 members). Meet Hampstead Tube. Book by Wed. August 8th. Booking details as
for Society’s 16th July coach trip above.

Sunday 19th August, 3.15-4pm. Forty Hall Estate, Forty Hill, Enfield EN2 9HA. Hidden Treasures:
a guided tour of Forty Hall portraits. Led by Joe Studman. The stories behind the paintings of the
people who lived at the Hall. £5. To book see Enfield Archaeological Soc. 21st July details above.

Thursday 23rd August, 6.30pm. LAMAS. Cannon Street Area for Foreshore Walk. Led by Eliott
Wragg (Thames Discovery Programme) to explore the history and features of the foreshore near
Cannon St. £12.50 (£10 members). Meet Cousin Lane Stairs, nr Banker pub, adjacent Cannon St
railway station. Booking required, details as LAMAS Wed. 8th August above.



With many thanks to this month’s contributors:
Stephen Brunning, Don Cooper, Robin Densem, Audrey Hooson, Jo Nelhams

Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman Don Cooper 59, Potters Road, Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8440 4350)
e-mail: chairman@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Secretary Jo Nelhams 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: secretary@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Treasurer Jim Nelhams 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Membership Sec. Stephen Brunning 22 Goodwin Ct, 52 Church Hill Rd,
East Barnet EN4 8FH mob: 07534 646852 e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
Join the HADAS email discussion group via the website at: www.hadas.org.uk
————————————————————————————————————————-
The August 2018 Newsletter Editor will be:
JIM NELHAMS
Tel. 020 8449 7076
61 Potters Road
Barnet RN5 5HS
e-mail: jim_nelhams@hotmail.com
Copy to him by Wednesday August 18th please.
The August 2018 Newsletter Editor will be:
JIM NELHAMS
Tel. 020 8449 7076
61 Potters Road
Barnet RN5 5HS
e-mail: jim_nelhams@hotmail.com
Copy to him by Wednesday July 18th please

Newsletter-357-December-2000

By | Past Newsletters, Volume 7 : 2000 - 2004 | No Comments

Newsletter-357-December-2000

Season’s greetings to all o members and their families
and all good wishes for a happy New Year

HADAS DIARY

Tuesday 9 January An evening with Derek Batten sharing the Time Team’s Visit to his Castle in Towcester prior to the programme’s showing on TV.

Tuesday 13 February Lecture Aspects of Roman Tunisia by Kader Chelei

Tuesday 13 March Lecture Waltham Abbey Gunpowder Mills (an outing to this site is being planned for August)

All lectures start promptly at 8,00pm at Avenue House, East End Road,  Finchley. N.3 and are followed by questions and coffee. Meetings close at 10.00pm


 One Man and His Castle                                                           by Derek Batten
 

In life it’s amazing how one thing leads to another. Had I not mis-spent my youth in the Gaumont and Odeon cinemas (not to mention the New Bohemia and the Rex) I would never have developed an interest in the American Wild West, never taken part in the archaeological work done

at Little Big Horn in 1985 and subsequently, and never have seen myself as a very amateur archaeologist. Thus it was in 1997, with a substantial windfall jangling in my pocket, I saw an estate agent’s board advertising “Castle and Moat For Sale”, within two miles of my Northamptonshire home – and I never knew it was there! I had to submit a sealed bid and wondered whether I’d fixed on the right number. The rest, as they say, is history…

The Mount (my castle) covers some 1.72 acres, is sort of triangular in shape and has a very deep (25 feet in places), well-preserved and quite dramatic moat, There is quite a bit of tree cover, particularly around the edges, and it occupies a dominant position on a ridge overlooking the valley of the River Tuve in south Northamptonshire. It was certain- ly used in Norman times as a ringwork. a sort of squashed motte with all the buildings inside the perimeter moat.

How nice, I thought, to do the odd day’s digging on my own castle to while away my declining years. Alas, I had reckoned without English Heritage, as I has bought a Scheduled Ancient Monument and I’m not allowed to go up there and break wind without their consent.I also realised the need for a proper earthwork survey, geophysical investiga­tions and and professional control. All very expensive.

In conjunction with Northamptonshire Heritage a management plan was produced. This is a detailed document which sets out the history and plans for the future, including a report from the local Tree Officer recommending that certain trees be removed because they were a dan­ger to the archaeology, or to persons or property. I sent a copy of the management plan to the village but, of course, no-one really bothered to read it. Then I applied to have twenty of the one hundred and thirty trees removed and the balloon went up! Nasty letters, petitions, protests, a bit in the local newspaper and general bad feeling. This was not helped by the fact that two neighbouring gardens were encroach­ing on my land. More bad feeling, verbal and physical confrontation and worst of all, horrendous lawyers’ bills.

I suppose it was Bridget’s idea and persistence that made me approach Time Team. Nothing much happened but I had another go as a member of the Time Team Club at the same time as they were in touch with the County Archaeologists about a possible location. Two lovely researchers came to look at the site in February, Bridget plied them with home-made soup, bread and cheese. I opened my best bot­tle of Cab. Sauv. and it all happened from then.

April, then October and finally the end of July were suggested as likely dates and I was rewarded with three of the most exciting days of my life. Everyone involved with the project, Tony Robinson, Mick Aston et at could not have been nicer. There are a number of human stories that space does not permit me to recall but I have promised Dorothy to speak at the HADAS meeting in January and to show the professional video that we took of the whole exercise. Incredibly, and because of Time Team’s influence, I made peace with the village and settled my boundary dispute in front. of the cameras. Quite how much will appear in the Time Team fifty-minute programme remains to be seen. At this moment I do not have a date for transmission but I promise that HADAS members will know as soon as I do.

(Readers of the SAGA Magazine will have read about Derek and his cas­tle in the September issue.)

KING ALFRED’S GRAVE

In King Alfred’s day, monastic life was not flourishing, a fact of which he was very aware, having received little formal education himself as a boy, although he had made two journeys to Rome by the age of ten.

After the society’s lecture in October about Archaeology in Winchester, and the search for King Alfred’s grave on the site of Hyde Abbey, I referred to the book “The Life and Times of Alfred the Great” by the late Douglas Woodruff, who gained first class honours in history at New College, Oxford. As we heard in the lecture, Alfred did found New Minster, Hyde Abbey in Winchester and intended it to be a place of learning where learned monks from abroad were to be encouraged to reside, there being a shortage of scholars in Wessex. To quote from Douglas Woodruff:

At the time of Alfred’s death ” the New Minster was not ready and he was buried in the old, and when, a year or two later, the New Minster, soon to be Hyde Abbey, was ready, his body was transferred there, apparently with the full acquiesence of the canons of the Old Minster, because, they said, he troubled them by appearing at night and walking in their cloisters on a way which much alarmed them. At the Reformation, when Hyde Abbey like all other religious houses was suppressed and then despoiled, the tombs of the Saxon kings were not spared. Some of the bones were later gathered into wooded caskets and placed above the chancel in Winchester Cathedral, but all mixed up. There they remain.” I hope this may be of interest to members of HADAS.

Margaret E. Phillips

SPECIAL OFFER TO MEMBERS

Some years ago Bernard H. Oak, a local resident, published a book entitled “A History of Mill Hill in its Environment”, which was sold through local book­shops and libraries at £17.50. Bernard is now able to offer copies to members of HADAS at a special price of £3.00. If you would like a copy please ring Brian Wrigley on 020 8959 5982 and he will arrange for all orders to be delivered to one address for collection.

 

RECENT PLANNING
APPLICATIONS

58 Gervase Road, Edgware, Middx, HAS OEP for front, rear and side extension;

81 Gervase Road, Edgware, HA8 OEW for rear extension.

Gervase Road joins Thirleby Road where sherds of Roman pottery have been found and this area is close to Hanshaw Drive where HADAS is involved in an excavation.

WANTED: A PROFESSIONAL INDEXER

Is there a professional indexer in the Society? We need one to contin­ue the index of Newsletters started by Bridget Grafton Green in 1961, which reached 1976, This provides an invaluable reference tool to past events and activities of the Society. Can anyone help complete the job? Please contact Dorothy Newbury an 020 8203 0950.

NEWS OF MEMBERS
A sad note to end the year, with the news of the deaths of three long­standing members, each of whom contributed much to the Society in their own way:

Olive Banhain, a founder-members, died on 11 October, her 94th birthday.

In her last letter to me she said she was going to reverse her age from 93 to 39, Olive and her husband, Jim, were very active in the Society. HADAS started with fifteen members and was very soon producing a newsletter, for which Jim addressed the envelopes and then delivered them by hand. Olive outlived Jim by many years and she came on all outings including out first week-end away to Ironbridge and Wroxeter in 1974. On day trips many members will remember the large tin of sweeties she always brought to pass round the coach. On our first trip to Orkney in 1978 she came round with a bottle of sherry which she shared round the dormitory. We felt like naughty schoolgirls having a midnight feast! Olive often reminded me of the fun we had in Orkney all those years ago.

She never forgot HADAS  and only a couple  of months  ago she sent a donation for the Minimart, which she has done every year since she left Hendon to live near relatives in her home village in Norfolk.

Olive was a school-teacher by profession and started her career in the same village to which she returned. June Porges and I attended her funeral at Hendon Crematorium on behalf of HADAS.

Dorothy Newbury

Janet Heathfield died on 16 September. She had been a HADAS mem­ber for over thirty years and in spite of being disabled, joined enthusi­astically in whatever HADAS activities were available to her. An abid­ing memory is of her at the exploratory dig near the well at East Barnet Church. Because she was partly paralysed she could only ‘dig’ by lying prone on her left side and scraping with her good arm. Each of her ‘finds’ was greeted with a whoop of delight.

Janet’s most recent activity was to try to get the 17th century village clock in East Barnet restored.

Arthur Till, a Committee Member and digging team stalwart, died sud­denly in October at the age of seventy-four.

Arthur and his wife, Vera, joined HADAS in July, 1988, two year’s after his early retirement from British Telecom. He brought to the Society his immense practical skills and a marvellous sense of humour coupled with a willingness to join in and to offer assistance and guidance as necessary. He participated in most of our excavations and would often arrive with items of site equipment prepared at home from odds and ends – the auger, safety tops for pegs and the red and white pegs them­selves made from reinforcing rods “liberated” from the site of an earli­er dig! The bookcases and shelves at Avenue House garden room were Arthur’s handiwork. His specialities were clay pipes and building mate­rials and he had recently benefited from the training in ceramic building materials identification given to HADAS by the Museum of London. There is no doubt that his humourous sayings. usually attributed to his Grannie, will long be repeated by members of the digging team! Several HADAS members attended his funeral at New Southgate where condolences were passed to Vera and her family.

Vikki O’Conner and Roy Walker
COMMORATIVE PLAQUES                                                                                                         by Liz Holiday
Many thanks to the dozen or so members who flew to their refer­ence books and cudgelled their brains to help with answers to my outstanding queries.

I can confirm that a love and knowledge of cricket is alive and well among our gentlemen mem­bers, at least five of whom have filled me in on the life and tri­umphs of Ranjitsinhji – The Black Prince of Cricket.

Three plaques I had not included in the list have been brought to my attention, including a new one erected by The Finchley Society in March this year.

Percy Reboul has very kindly offered to check the Local Collection for suitable illustra­tions, so it looks as if the final draft is not too far off. I did manage to get the text of the book I have been working on this summer to the printer in time – just- and it is due to be published on 9 December. Entitled “Chipperfield Within Living Memory”, it is based on recorded interviews with 64 long-standing residents of the village and (hopefully) gives a picture of life in a small Hertfordshire village during the 20th century. As a community project it must rate a gold star as well over 100 people have been involved in it!

BOUNDARY STONE REPLACED

An inscribed stone dated 1896 which marked the boundary between the parish of St. John’s, Hampstead and St. Pancras disappeared dur­ing roadworks in May has now been found and replaced.

PROGRESS 2000BC                                                                      By Arthur Till

” Dad, I’m cold . . .”

“So am I, Little Ug.”

“Well, can I put some more wood on the fire, Dad?”

“Sorry, Little Ug, but I’ve promised all that wood we collected yesterday to old Smog for a couple of spears and a few arrows.”

“What happened to our last spears, Dad?”

“They went rusty, son.”

‘What’s ‘rusty’ Dad?”

“It’s what happens now that we’re in the Iron Age. If you don’t keep your iron things in the dry, the next time you go to use them they’re just a heap of red rust.”

“That never happened to the old ones we used, did it Dad?” “Well, they were bronze, son, and that didn’t go rusty.”

“Why are we using the iron ones then, Dad?”

“Well, Little Ug, it’s what’s called Progress. These iron things are sup­posed to be sharper and harder than the bronze ones were, and Old Smog says that there’s not much call for the old bronze ones any more. It was just the same when we changed over from flint to bronze –

your mother and I didn’t have a decent shave for years when that came about!’

“Didn’t people complain about it, Dad?”

“They did try to, Little Ug, especially Old Chipper and his tribe. They used to supply all the people around here with their flint axes and things. But they were reckoned to be backward so they were all sent to a place called Knapsbury, so people didn’t complain much after that and bronze gradually took over. Anyway, Old Smog seems to be doing alright for himself – he’s taking over another new but and for some rea­son he’s calling it ‘Santa Fe’.”

“I’m still cold, Dad.”

“OK, son, bung a little bit on the fire, just to keep the wolves away!” “Thanks Dad.”

“Dad?’

“What now, Little Ug?”
“Where does all the smoke go to?”

“Ask your mother, son, she knows everything!”

NEW SOCIETY MUSHROOMS

Welcome to a new local history society in the Borough. John Donovan, who lived in Friern Barnet for thirty years, fulfiled a long-held ambition when he organised the inaugural meeting of The Friern Barnet & District Local History Society at Friern Barnet Town Hall in September. Forty members of the public attended and heard Andrew Mussell talk about the Borough’s Archives and Local Studies collec­tion. With the support of local resident Dr. Oliver Natelson, another keen local history enthusiast, the society has mushroomed and now boasts 95 members. The next meeting will be held at 8.00pm on Wednesday 10 January in Friern Barnet Town Hall when our own John Heathfield will he speaking.

If you would like to join the society or find out more about their aims and objectives contact John Donovan, 19 Cringle Court, Thornton Road. Little Heath, Herts, EN6 IJR or telephone him on 01707 642886

OTHER SOCIETIES’
DECEMBER EVENTS Wed. 6 Dec. at 2pm Highgate Wood
Children’s Events, Christmas Tree Sale, Cream Teas, Band, Shop. Guided winter walk from the Information Hut.(For map & details see page 3 of July Newsletter)
Wed. 6 Dec. at 5pm British Archaeological Association at Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W.1 Channel Island Churches a talk by Warwick Rodwell.
Thur. 7 Dec. at 7.30pm London Canal Museum, 12-13 New Wharf Road, Kings Cross, N.1 Enchanted Waters of the Basingstoke Canal a talk by Arthur Dungate. Admission £2.50 (£1.25 concessions)
Sat. 9 Dec. 10.15am-3.30pm Amateur Geological Society at St. Mary’s Hall, Hendon Lane, Finchley, N.3 Annual Bazaar (Rocks, minerals, fossils, crystals, gemstones. jewellery) Admission 50p.
Wed. 13 Dec. at 6.30pm LAMAS at The Museum of London. London on Ice: the Thames Frost Fairs a talk by Jeremy Smith.
Wed. 13 Dec. at 8.15pm Mill Hill Historical Society at Harwood Hall, Union Church, Mill Hill Broadway. Art History a talk by Ian Littler.
Thur. 14 Dec. at 7.30pm Camden History Society at Burgh House, New End Road, NW3. The Monuments of St. Paul’s Cathedral a talk by HADAS President Dr. Ann Saunders

Fri. 15 Dec. at 8pm Enfield Archaeological Society. The Archaeology of the Jubilee Line Extension a talk by James Drummond-Murray (£1 visitors

Newsletter-356-November-2000

By | Past Newsletters, Volume 7 : 2000 - 2004 | No Comments

volume-7—2000—2004/Newsletter-356-November-2000

No 356                                                 NOVEMBER 2000                                   EDITOR DAWN ORR

 

HADAS’ OWN – THE EVER SUCCESSFUL MINIMART  …….. SATURDAY, 14th OCTOBER


“Does anyone know what this is ?”

The annual cry of the MINI MARKETEER rises above the busy hum of chatter and hurried movement. In and out the front door we go, unloading the various elasticated vehicles – we thought there wouldn’t be any, but here they are, and the stalwarts are on parade. Absolute treasures every one!
“Thank goodness it’s not raining :”

“Hullo – haven’t seen you for ages :”

“You need a man (?!) here – let me help you :”

“When’s the coffee coming round ?”

“Have you had a meringue yet? Best ever this year!”

“Asparagus quiche, please…”

Boxes, bins, bundles open, unpack, lay out – ah, “there’s the rub…”

An object (not “of art”) emerges from careful layers of wrapping and the cry we heard comes up s “Does anyone … ?” followed shortly by “Is it priced ?” and inevitably “it” lands on the Bric-a-brac tables- a foursome in a row this year and a welcome relief from the log jam.

If I could find my way into the 21st century, I could put this onto a disk (sic!) and just ‘tweak it’ a bit each year, for indeed the formula tried and true works every time – even when effort has been made to cut it down or make it ‘MICRO’.

So the funds are still rolling in as we go to press – total to date £950

Don’t let’s destroy THE DOME – just put Dorothy in charge of it!

HADAS DIARY

 

Tuesday, November 14th HADAS LECTURE ‘Medieval London Bridges – Lost & Found’ by Bruce Watson

 

Tuesday, November 28thCHRISTMAS VISIT to GEFFRYE MUSEUM – ‘English Domestic Interiors through the Ages’ followed-by DINNER at PRIDEAUX HOUSE, HACKNEY. (Details and app. form encl.)

Tuesday, January 9th

HADAS LECTURE An evening with our member DEREK BATTEN sharing the TIME TEAM’S visit to his ‘CASTLE’ at Towcester, prior to its showing on TV.

 

Tuesday, February 13th     HADAS LECTURE ‘Aspects of Roman Tunisia’ by KADER CHELBI

 

Note. LECTURES ALL START at 8pm prompt at AVENUE HOUSE, 17 EAST END RD. FINCHLEY N3 3QE followed by question time and coffee. We close promptly at 10 p.m.

 

The October Lecture Tuesday 10th October, by Graham Scobie, who is publicity and- communications officer of Winchester City Museum.

Tessa Smith reports:

Several of us who visited Winchester as part of the Isle of Wight weekend last year met the lecturer, who showed us the excavation at Hyde Abbey. We saw how far the Abbey had extended and where the high altar was thought to have been. His lecture was a followup to that

visit.

Archaeologists search for body of Alfred the Great in Winchester car park.

The media had, of course, got it wrong again, under the auspices of

Winchester City Museum, Graham Scobie and his team have been on a dig – not for the body of Alfred, and not in the car park, but in a site claimed to be that of Alfred’s grave at Hyde Abbey, in the parish of St. Bartholomew, north of Winchester Cathedral.

The Normans established the Cathedral on the site of King Alfred’s Saxon church, where he was originally buried. At the Dissolution of the monasteries, his body was moved and re-buried near the high altar at the New Abbey at Hyde. Lead tablets had been found on 3 tombs, thought to be those of the King, Ealhswith his wife, and his son, Edward. Today the Gate house or the Abbey remains, as does the parish church of St. Bartholomew.

Five years ago, Graham began a community project to excavate at the Hyde Abbey’s outer court, to try to gain understanding of the origins of the Abbey. The brief was to excavate only to post-medieval levels in an attempt to confirm that it was the site of Alfred’s grave. The community project was not, however, the first dig in this area. In the 18th century the site was bought by the local authority to be converted into a goal during construction of a garden for the governor, large stones were discovered which revealed a stone coffin encased in lead, with a body partly corrupt. Subsequently, more coffins were found and the lead sold for 5 guineas! An 18th century plan of this area identified the sites of the three graves.

In 1866, trenches were excavated on the site, once more looking for evidence of Alfred chalk-lined coffins were uncovered but no human remains. This was the time of Burke and Hare and local animosity towards the excavation caused it to be hurriedly terminated.

In 1906, a local landowner excavated large pits by the high altar,

using prisoners as a labour force. He claimed that this was the area where the 3 coffins had originally been dug up.

Graham’s excavations have uncovered, the foundations of an apsidal east end of a church building, which had re-used earlier stone. The stone shape of a woman laid on her side, with some original paint still visible, is astonishing evidence. The team has also uncovered the 3 pits previously excavated in 1903, in front of the possible site of the high altar. A bone identified as a human hip bone has been dated to 1780. The on-going community dig is intended to give local people ‘hands-on’ archaeological experience, 1,200 people last year, with a maximum of 45 at one time. The local archaeological society was also invited to take part. There are many questions unanswered … Graham foresees 5 more years digging on the site.

RIFLEMAN ALFRED CROOK 1899  – 1917

A soldier of the Great War with no known grave.                          By Myfanwy Stewart

This obituary is based on original letters and documents cherished by his mother until her death, bequeathed to her daughter and then inherited by the writer.

Sarah and George Crook were married at the parish church, New Southgate in 1889. She had signed the register but George had only been able to mark it with a cross, as had one of the witnesses. They were a poor family and between 1891 and 1895 two sons and a daughter had died in infancy. Their son Alfred was born in April, 1899 but his father died young and Sarah married Richard Sindle in 1906. He survived the Salonika campaign and kept his ticket from Salonika to Friern Barnet as a souvenir. They both lived into their eighties.

In 1913, Alfred was working as a delivery boy and a character reference for a new job, written in March 1914, describes him as “civil and obliging”. However, by July 1914, aged only 15, he had enlisted in the army and was in the 6th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade. His army Certificate of education shows he was competent in arithmetic (“compound rules and reduction of money, avoirdupois weight and linear measurement, addition and subtraction of vulgar fractions, a simple messing account”), that he was proficient in writing regimental orders from dictation and that he could write a letter.

From the beginning the new recruits were suffering from various ailments and March 1915 Alfred was in an isolation hospital at Winchester for four days with a fever but was soon dispatched to France. In August a severe attack of group B typhoid was diagnosed and the matron of the isolation hospital in Etaples wrote to his mother that he was “very weak and ill” but that he sent his love. The padre, writing on the same day and hoping to reassure Alfred’s mother describes him as “very ill…but wonderfully bright at intervals… and a firm favourite and quite happy and content”. He recovered by the end of September but 28 days of Fever left him with an enlarged spleen and in October he was sent home on the SS hospital ship “Dieppe”, as shown by his kit bag label.

Alfred convalesced at Woodford and by November was back in barracks at Croydon. He was able to go to a friend’s wedding at Christmas but was inevitably sent back to France.

On the 8th July 1916 he qualified as a signaler second class and later in the month (date uncertain) was at the Belgium front. A parcel had been sent by his mother containing clothes. Army shortages are shown by the fact that he thanks her for the jersey but asks her to send another parcel so that can change my underclothes”. In October he was on active service. Only cards were allowed to be sent and his mother received one written on the 4th October. Splattered with mud and almost illegible, it reads “I am going in to the firing line tomorrow night. Will write as soon as possible… am in the best of health. Cheerio, all will meet some day Alf xxx.”

Alfred survived and in April 1917 was back in barracks in Sheerness, Kent. In a letter to his step father he writes “I am just about fed up with France, twice is enough for me”. He reveals that “Mother stopped me from going out again I am glad that she did”. He was optimistic that he would remain in England believing that the news from France was good, that the war could not last much longer and that “I think we have got them beat there”. I-le had served 3 years in the army and described himself as “an old squaddy”. Ominously all leave had been stopped except for special leave.

He had formed a close friendship with a fellow soldier, Will. He always referred to him as “my chum” – and in September 1917 he made the fateful decision to volunteer for another tour of overseas duty to be with him in the same platoon. Alfred was soon back in the trenches but came out on the 301 September only to receive bad news. By a terrible irony, almost immediately after returning to France, Will had been injured in the knee and was subsequently repatriated back to Britain. On October 1st Alfred told his mother “I wish my chum was with me” and that “when you have a chum with you, a good one like Will, it cheers you up”. Sarah Crook had heard that her son

had planned to bring Will home to meet her, she had worried about the state of their home. He wrote back to reassure her, saying that “my chum is the same as myself so you need not think anything about our home being humble”. In spite of being at the front, mail and parcels were still getting through to the men. In that first week of October, 10 letters were awaiting him from family and friends and this would keep him “busy”.

By October 10th he could not hide the fact from his mother that conditions were bad and that he was depressed. They were having “very rotten weather ..rain every day”. Trench warfare was taking its toll on the young soldier and he writes to his poor mother “I don’t think I shall last till Christmas if this weather continues…My feet are still bad from the last lot I got last winter. If I get them wet I can hardly put them down to the ground”. His premonition about Christmas proved to be only too true.

On the 22 October Alfred was still in the trenches but in better spirits as he had received a parcel from his mother. Another parcel got through in November, “packed well with nothing broke or damaged”. On the 11th he had “just come out of the trenches” again, he thanked her for the socks and gloves but said they were -expecting to go in the trenches again”.

Field cards were issued to the men in the trenches with printed sentences which the men could delete, as appropriate. Alfred sent one on the l7th November, 1917 to his mother. It acknowledged her letter and said he was well. This was the last time he wrote because he was killed on December 1st 1917.

On December 11th Sarah wrote a letter to her son which was subsequently returned to her with his effects. She does not know -how to bear” herself because she has not heard from him since the field card. “Something seems to tell me there is (something wrong ) as I have not heard … I pray night and day that you will have the strength to keep up…. It will be a poor Christmas for me for I shall be thinking of you. …God bless you and keep you safe”.

On the l3th December, Sarah could not wait any longer and she wrote to the brigade officer at Winchester. He replied on the back of her letter telling her that no casualty had been reported but on the 20th she was informed that Alfred had been wounded but that his whereabouts were unknown.

By February 1918 the Red Cross were making enquiries both for Sarah and his “young lady”, Flo, but without success until 10th July when they sent Sarah an eye witness account of her son’s last hours. Her horror can be imagined as she read the following report given to the Red Cross by a fellow rifleman.

“On December the Battalion was behind the front line in reserve between Gouzeaucourt and Villiers Pluich. The Germans were attacking. The Battalion went up to reinforce the front line, and your son was left in charge of the tents. The men were driven back, and passed the place where your son had been left, and Rfn. Penny saw him wounded. He passed by a few yards from him and shouted to him, asking what was the matter, and Pte. Crook answered that he was wounded.

Unfortunately it was impossible for Rfn. Penny to wait and see more of him, as the Germans were close behind.

There was heavy firing going on at the time and I am afraid it is only too certain that your son must have lost his life in this way, for if he had survived and had been taken prisoner you would have had news of him long before this.”

It was not until the 11th September 1918 that the official notice of missing presumed dead was sent. Sarah received £9.16s.8d back pay and his war medals. His effects included a purse, some photographs, cloth badges, cards, a full packet of Players Navy Cut cigarettes, her letter, written on the 11th December 1917 and part of the New Testament. She kept them all and they are now in the writer’s possession together with his letters, written on very thin paper in indelible pencil. He was 18 years old when he was killed and was mourned by his mother all her life until her death in 1952 at the age of 82.

Wednesday 13th September Visit to St. Lawrence Whitchurch Laurence Bentley.

Tessa Smith reports on HADAS at Little Stanmore.

 

When the grand old Duke of Chandos made his fortune as the Paymaster- General to Marlborough’s army, he spent some of it building “a most magnificent palace” (said Daniel Defoe) at Canons, and reconstructing the ancient local church of St. Lawrence, which he also endowed with some magnificent plate. The palace was later broken up to pay Chandos’s son’s debts, but the church remains, as his memorial, and it was there, blessed with a perfect summer’s day, that we met on 13th September. Our brilliant guide was Sheila Woodward, and we could not have had a better.

We began in the churchyard. God’s acre at St. Lawrence is a large one, two acres in fact, and the sense of rural seclusion is complete. We circumnavigated the church clockwise of course -visiting the grave of an incumbent whose duties were frequently interrupted by residence in the

debtors’ prison, and that alleged to belong to the ‘harmonious black- Smith’ immortalised by Handel.

The reconstructed church represents, according to your principles, a degree of insensitivity to the past, or a creative self-confidence, unimaginable in our time. There were no style censors to prevent him, when the Duke commissioned the architect, John James, to destroy much of the ancient church in 1715 to rebuild, and the result is remarkable and unique for an English parish church.

All that remains of the original is the tower, economically composed of flint, puddingstone, Reigate stone, re-used Roman tile and brick, into which has been driven a slightly pompous door, for the Duke’s private entrance, with a circular window above. This assortment of materials was, until recent times, covered by a decent coat of plaster ‘Whitchurch’ means white church. The tower is topped by anachronistic battlements of Tudor origin; clearly architectural nostalgia is not a new thing.

The rebuilt remainder of the church is of tidy brick, with large windows set in Roman arches, heavy plain stone dressings, a parapet and a slate roof, presenting in all a severe frontage to the public view from Whitchurch Lane, which leaves you totally unprepared for the “coup de theatre” which you are privileged to view when you enter.

The scene is worthy of an 18th century opera, set, say, in Prague. The Duke was evidently influenced by his experience of the German baroque on the Grand Tour. From elegant plain box pews (enhanced for our visit by flowers left over from a wedding), you face an altar surmounted by a superb oak pediment, adorned with cherubs, supported by Corinthian pillars and pilasters in oak and flanked by life-size paintings. Behind this are more paintings and the organ used by Handel as the Duke’s Composer

in Residence at Canons, and behind that a trompe l’oeil sky on the ceiling suggesting an infinite distance. When you have recovered your breath you see that the effect is truly theatrical, a proscenium arch in effect, backed by receding ‘flats’.

In front of the altar, the ceiling is tinted with a luminous ‘Adoration of Jehovah’ matched at the opposite end of the nave with a good copy of Raphael’s ‘Transfiguration’ by Bellini.

Baroque designers seemed to accept no limits, here, for example, they

could, not use stone, they shamelessly imitated it with plaster; or paint to extend their vision. This artificiality enhances the sense of theatre, especially as the paintings are used as a trompe l!oeil to enhance the perspective as well as the richness of the scene. So here, the plaster ceiling is painted to give the effect of elegant mouldings and the almost mono- chrome ‘grisailles’ are used to decorate the north wall of the nave, with the effect of biblical statuary.

When the wall was threatened with collapse in recent times, the church was closed for years while the plaster paintings were removed in sections, intact, and replaced after the wall had been repaired. This was a miracleof modern technology and a very expensive one. Several sections would have been as tall as a man and almost as wide as his outstretched arms. The Duke of Chandos would I am sure, given the choice, have repainted.

At the rear of the nave at first floor level, opposite the altar but superior to it and the rest of the congregation, is the Duke’s private pew. This is like a Royal Box, and had a private fireplace, at that time the only heating in the church, stoked from behind the wall by servants in an adjacent pew. Bodyguards – Chelsea pensioners – occupied the pew on the other side.

Leaving the nave on the north side, by the altar there is an ante-chamber to the Mausoleum, then the Mausoleum itself, designed by James Gibbs, in which the principal monument, apparently designed by Grinling Gibbons, shows the Duke in Romantoga and 18th century wig, flanked by two of his three successive wives, kneeling humbly beside him. This was carved in the Duke’s lifetime and he considered himself overcharged for it. The inscriptions on the monuments are typical 18th century advertisements of the virtues of their occupants, and like many advertisements are not entirely convincing.

After this it was a relief to enter the Lady Chapel. Located in the base of the tower in 1966, in a simple traditional manner, it recreated the sense of long historical continuity of St. Lawrence Whitchurch.

Final impressions are paradoxical. Here is a church in a setting of rural calm beside a busy road in a London suburb. Outside it appears rather severe to the passer-by, but inside it is voluptuously ornate, enhancing

a sense of private privilege, as a rich man’s chapel, designed to impress with the glory of the Duke of Chandos as well as of God. Yet the Duke is now best remembered for employing Georg Frederic Handel.
 
Other Societies’ Events, Compiled by Eric Morgan
 
Mill Hill Historical Society Wednesday 8th November at 8.15 p.m. Talk : Charles II (Prof. John Miller)

Harwood Hall, Union Church, The Broadway, Mill Hill.

Hornsey Historical Society : Wednesday 8th November at 8 p.m. Talk : Post Cards (Hugh Garnsworthy)

Union Church Community Centre, cnr. Ferme Park Road/ Weston Park N 8. Finchley Antiques Appreciation Group : Wednesday 8th November at 7.50 p.m. Talk Furniture & The Grand Tour –                Avenue House, East End Road, N 3.

‘Wesden Local History society Wednesday 15th November at 8 p.m.
Talk ancient Hedgerows of Willesden (Leslie Williams)

Willesden Suite, Willesden Library Centre, 95 High Road,NW 10. Hampstead Scientific Society : Thursday. 16th November at 8.15 p.m. Talk : Historical Stringed Keyboard Instruments (Dr. Lance Whitehead)

Crypt Room, St. John’s Church, Church Row, N W 3.

Enfield Archaeological Society : Friday 17th November at 6 p.m.

Talk: Excavating the Crypt of Christ Church, Spitalfields (Jez Reeves)
Jubilee Hall, Junction of Chase Side/Parsonage Lane. Visitors ti, Wembley History Society Friday 17th November at 7.30 p.m.

Talk : Parish Boundaries (Malcolm Stokes)

Church Hall, rear of St. Andrew’s Church, Church Lane, Kingsbury. Friends of Barnet Libraries ; Monday 20th November at 8.15 p.m. Talk : The Secret Power of a Sacred Treasure

Church End Library, Hendon Lane, Finchley, N 3.

 

The Jewish Museum, Finchley  Sunday 26th November at 3.30 P.m.

Talk :

Whitehall & the Jews 1933 — 1948 (Dr Louise London)

The Jewish museum, 80 East End Road, Finchley, N 3.

The Finchley Society  Thursday 30th November at 8 p.m.

Talk : The Life of Samuel Pepys – his London (Andrew Davies) The Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N

 

 

North London Transport Society: Saturday 18th November, 11 am-4 pm Enfield Transport Enthusiasts AUTUMN BAZAAR at St. PauIs Centre, Enfield Town, Corner of Church Street and Old Park Avenue.

London & Middlesex Archaeological Society: Saturday 18th November, 10am-4pm – 35th LOCAL HISTORY CONFERENCE: Crossing The Thames at the Museum of London, London Wall. Admission £4.00. Details and application forms from: 36 Church Road, West Drayton, Middx UB77 7PX

Museum of London Study Days. For Bookings telephone 020 7814 5777

 

Saturday 25th November

Saturday 9th December

“Riche was th’array” – Dress in Chaucer’s London

Speakers include our President, Mrs. Anne Saunders

Registration 10.00 am, Close 5.00pm. Entry £15.00 (Conc. £10) incl Tea/Coffee

Exploring the identity of people living in early Roman

London. Speakers include Mark Hassell (UCL Institute of

Archaeology) and other Historians & Archaeologists.

Registration 10.30am, Close 4.30 pm. Entry £16.00 (Conc. £10).

 

SOAS Russell Square WC1; Near Eastern Collections, Collectors & Archives in Landon

Monday 6th November         The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Antiquities- Stephen

Quirke, UCL.

 

Monday 20th November        The Petrie Palestine Collection- Rachel Sparks, UCL.

 

   ‘The London Assessment Document’                                                              Peter Pickering

It was a decade ago that PPG16, the Planning Policy Guidance Note “Archaeology and Planning” came into force and brought archaeology into the planning process, so that archaeological work was funded by developers as a condition of their getting planning permission. In the same year English Heritage and the Museum of London Archaeology Service decided to produce an assessment of the current state of knowledge of the archaeology of Greater London. This was long known as the “London Assessment Document”; it has now, at last, appeared, under the title The Archaeology of Greater London – An assessment of archaeological evidence for human presence in the area now covered by Greater London.”

It has seventeen accredited authors, not to speak of editors and the like. The result is an impressive synthesis, with descriptive chapters covering each period from the Lower Palaeolithic to the post-medieval, all but the last with its own gazetteer of sites and finds (necessarily selective, especially for the extensive Roman and medieval remains from the City and Southwark) and no fewer than fourteen separate maps, locating the sites and finds listed in the gazetteers. (The symbols on these maps are, I fear, rather small for my aging eyes, and people like me should furnish themselves with a magnifying glass.) There are, throughout, full references to original publications (the bibliography spans 27 pages) which does not make for easy reading, but then that is not the purpose of the book – it is rather, as it says, intended to serve as a research framework and as a wider archaeological management framework, and to meet local, regional and national enquiries. It is a definitive but not a permanent book – as the foreword points out, the more quickly it begins to seem in need of revision the more successful it will have been in achieving its aims. The text is broken up with a number of sober illustrations, some showing diggers in their traditional postures, and one or two where artists have been allowed to produce their impressions.

Naturally, I had a special look at the items relating to the London Borough of Barnet. A word of caution here; since West Heath is in Camden and Brockley Hill partially in Harrow a first glance suggests something has been omitted; in fact, the heroic days of HADAS on West Heath have earned a full paragraph, longer than that on the Temple of Mithras.

This publication will be followed by another one setting out an Agenda for future archaeological research in Greater London.

 

Commemorative Plaques

As many members of HADAS will know, one of the society’s major current projects is to produce an updated version of our booklet on the commemorative plaques to be found in the Borough of Barnet. Liz Holliday, our former secretary, has completed the text and it is now undergoing final checking. There are a number of queries and Liz would appreciate some help from members All these queries can be solved by visiting a reference library and the Local Studies Collection. At present Liz is in the final stages of editing another book due to be published in December which must be ready for the printer for November.

The queries are:

1.    The date when the plaque to Peter Collinson was erected.

2.     The date of publication of Fanny Trollope’s novel The Widow Barnaby – 1838 or 1839.

3.    William Callley’s date of birth, 1788 or 1789. Date when the plaque was erected.

4.     Who was Ranjitsinhji (a friend of the cricketer C.B.Fry)

                Harry Beck’s date of birth.

5.    When did Amy Johnson obtain her pilot’s licence – 1928 or 1929?

6.  Who was responsible (i.e. what organisation) for erecting the black plaque to Emil Savundra?

7.   What date(s) was the series Handcock’s Half Hour broadcast?

8.   What does “copt” in Copthall mean?

9.   When did the Victoria Cottage Hospital open – 1887 or 1888? When was the plaque erected?

10.                   There is a plaque to Kenneth Legge in Windsor Open Space (N.3), Who was it erected by and when?

Below is a complete list of the known plaques. Does any member know of any others lurking anywhere in the borough?

PEOPLE:

Birt ACRES, Ove ARUP, Harry BECK, William BLAKE, William CATTLEY, Eric COATES, Peter COLLINSON, Robert DONAT, Joseph GRIMALDI, C.B.FRY, Tony HANCOCK ,Myra HESS, Holbrook JACKSON, Gilbert JESSOP, Amy JOHNSON, Kenneth LEGGE, John LINNELL, Thomas LIPTON, David LIVINGSTONE, Nicholas MEDTNER, Eric MORCOMBE, James MURRAY, John NORDEN, Robert PAUL, Anna PAVLOVA, Frank PICK, Stamford RAFFLES, Harry RELPH, Emil SAVUNDRA, Fanny TROLLOPE, Raymond UNW1N, Harry VARDON, Benjamin WAUGH, Evelyn WAUGH, William WI LB E RFO RC E

PLACES:

Abbot’s Bower NW4, Cattle Pound NW4, Church House NW4, Copt Hall NW7 Court Leet & Court Baron NW4, Parish Cage NW4, Phoenix Theatre N2, Rosebank NW7.St. Mary’s School N3, St. Paul’s Church NW7, Sulloniacae (Edgware), Tollgate NW2.Tudor Hall (Barnet), Turnpike (Edgware), Victoria Cottage Hospital (Barnet), Wylde’s Farm NW11

We also need a picture researcher to help finalise the illustrations. For the People, section Joanna Cordoii has already identified those portraits that are available through the National Portrait Ga1le6 but there are still a number for which we need to find illustrations – either of people or the houses where they lived or the plaques themselves. For the Places section we need illustrations of the houses or their sites. Would someone be prepared to visit the Local Studies Collection to undertake a search?

All answers to the questions above and offers of assistance to Liz Holliday please.

newsletter-354-september-2000

By | Past Newsletters, Volume 7 : 2000 - 2004 | No Comments

newsletter-354-september-2000

HADAS Diary

Wednesday September 13: Visit to St Lawrence Church Edgware with Sheila Woodward. The HADAS Programme combined this with a visit to Boosey & Hawkes. Unfortunately, this was cancelled, and should not have been listed in the August Newsletter.

Details and application form enclosed with this Newsletter.

Early September: Fieldwork at Hanshawe Drive, Burnt Oak. We now have permission from the Borough of Barnet to investigate, including some excavation, at this site (see May Newsletter) and we hope to be able to start in early September.
Would anyone interested please get in touch with Andrew Coulson (020 8442 1345) or Brian Wrigley (020 8959 5982).

Tuesday October 10: The new lecture season opens with Archaeology in Winchester by Graham Scobie — a follow-up to our Portsmouth and King Alfred weekend in 1999.

Lectures start at 8pm in the Drawing Room (ground floor) of Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N3, and are followed by question time and coffee. We close promptly at 10pm.

Saturday October 14: MicroMart — our annual fundraiser and social get-together.
Details, for old and new members, are on a separate sheet enclosed with this Newsletter.

Saturday October TBA: The seminar De-mystifying Resistivity with Bill McCann will definitely go ahead.
Date and details will be given in the October Newsletter.

Andrew Selkirk and Vikki O’Connor report:
Out of the ashes… pots of success

On the weekend of July 30-31, HADAS joined forces with the St Albans Archaeological Society for an experimental archaeology weekend: we set out to fire some replica – pots of Bronze Age type, most of them made by HADAS members.

As an introduction to the project we were given a talk in early June by Janet Miles of the St Albans group; they also gave us a bucket of clay from the Cutts Wood (Bronze Age) site which we used to make some vessels. HADAS collected clay from the Highgate Wood area (with permission) and from Brockley Hill — from the riding school adjacent to the scheduled Roman kiln site (thanks to proprietors Debbie and Chris). We also got clay samples from Arkley when we surveyed and dug test trenches recently, and another from Hadley Wood.

HADAS members went through the whole process of creating a suspension of clay in water, letting it settle, draining the clay until it was usable, then tempering with crushed oyster shell and crushed burnt flint (the flint came from Cutts Wood— thoughtfully pre-burnt by our Bronze Age ancestors!).

We made the pots on Wednesdays and Saturdays at Avenue House, over a period of two months. Although we attempted to recreate Bronze Age types many of the forms could only be described as “rustic”.
With the help of our guests we set out to College Farm, in Fitzalan Road, Finchley, where we were able to build our bonfire — we thought we ought to start with the simplest form of pottery firing, just a bonfire made of logs, not a kiln.

As many members know, College Farm was estab­lished early in the 20th century by Express Dairy, as a model farm to show how milk was produced. It is now owned by a trust and the resident farmers, Chris and Jane Owers, kindly allowed us to set up our fire there.

We kept a close watch on the temperature of the fire. Two thermocouples were used to record the tempera­ture, but unfortunately there was only one thermometer, so a protective cage of concrete slabs had to be erected, making it possible to approach the great heat to change the leads of the thermocouples. In this way we could keep readings going throughout the night.

The temperatures turned out to be a great surprise. The desired temperature of around 400 degrees was quickly reached, but it then fell back to around 200, and remained there as long as the fire was stoked. However, once the fire was banked down for the night, and no more fuel was put on, the temperature began to rise steadily, and reached 350 degrees by time the fire was eventually pulled apart at 4 o’clock on Sunday after­noon, when the pots were revealed.

Did we succeed? YES!
When the embers were removed, there on the bot­tom of the pit were the pots — almost all of them complete. Only a very few had “blown”, and all of them had roasted to a very satisfactory hardness.

After the pots had been admired, they had to be allowed to cool down a little, and then it was possible to start removing them from the embers. Bill Bass began the task gingerly with a rake (see picture left). When the cooling had gone a little further some intrepid members of the St Albans society started removing the pots with smaller utensils to take them over to a corrugated iron sheet where they could cool more rapidly.

The pots (pictured below) were rather black when they came straight from the firing, but it will be interest­ing to see how they look after they are properly cooled and washed.

They were grouped according to clay source, and their positions recorded:- The St Albans group are ana­lysing the results of the firing and the effects of tempera­ture in the various areas of the kiln floor.

Coincidence or not, the Brockley Hill and Highgate Wood pots fired with no breakages whereas the other types were far less successful.
Our thanks to the St Albans Society for joining us in this, to all the HADAS members who put in so much hard work and to everyone who donated wood. It was impossible to gauge in advance how much fuel we needed with a few twigs to spare.

Buildings at risk

English Heritage has issued the 10th edition of its register of buildings at risk in Greater London. It includes 17 in Barnet, 14 listed Grade II and three in conservation areas.

The listed buildings are: The Grahame White factory and offices and the G-W Hangar at Hendon Aerodrome, in very bad condition. Hertford Lodge, The Bothy and The Water Tower, East End Road, Finchley. Hertford Lodge is in poor condition, the other two buildings are described as very bad. These are new entries on the list. Friern Hospital, fair condition. Christ’s College, Finchley, fair condition, The Martin Smith Mausoleum at Golders Green Crematorium, poor condition. No.8 Shirehall Lane, Hendon, poor condition. Eller?’ Mode, Totteridge Common, poor condition. The Manor House, Totteridge Common, poor condition, new entry. – The Cartwright Memorial in St Mary’s Churchyard, Finchley, poor condition. The Physic Well, Barnet, poor condition. The Lodge to Finchley RC High School, N12, fair condition.

The three conservation area buildings are: St Mary’s Churchyard, Hendon, poor condition. The Garden Build­ing, Waterlow Court, Heath Close, NW11, poor condition. St Mary’s Churchyard, Finchley, poor condition.

Thirteen of these buildings were on previous lists and nothing seems to have been done about them. Those at Hendon Aerodrome are entries of long standing.

In the pipeline

Brian Warren contributes part of an answer to the Pipe Puzzle posed in the August Newsletter: When I read the words “Smith” and “Gifford” it took me back to July 1977 when I was given a small piece of pipe stem with on one side the words “IFFORD ST” and on the other “SMOKE SMIT”. I wrote to Adrian Oswald, who suggested the pipemaker was Richard Smith, Upper Gifford Street (BAR 14, 1975, p146). I have now consulted Kelly’s Directory for 1876 (Guildhall 9 6917/122) and discovered that Richard Smith, tobacco pipemaker, was at 24 Upper Gifford Street. Therefore what does the number 49 mean? Richard Smith made pipes from 1868-99. Graham Javes also responded to the call for information: According to a book by Brian Bloise of the Southwark and Lambeth Archaeological Society, there were two R. S. Smiths, one at Upper Gifford Street, Caledonian Road, 1858-1899, the other at Gifford Street in 1898. Richard Smith is assumed to have been the father. So far, there are no clues about the “boxing” figures.

Make a date for Bangor

During our Orkney visit in July, Jackie Brookes, David Bromley and Dorothy Newbury discussed the weekend away for 2001. Bangor University in North Wales was suggested. For the last two or three years Dorothy has said “this must be my last weekend away for HADAS” — she has been organising them for the past 20 years. So she was delighted that Jackie and David were happy to take over (David’s son is a student at Bangor). They are planning already for four days, Thursday to Sunday September 6-9, Put these dates in your diary now.

Members news                                           from Dorothy Newbury

Mary O’Connell is recovering in Taunton from a hip replacement operation and hopes to be back in London soon. In the next Newsletter she will give details of the possibility for members to visit Boosey and Hawkes individually if they wish (this follows the cancellation of the planned visit there on September 13).

Following the entry in the August Newsletter (page 3), the Time Team visited Derek Batten’s “ring work” with great success. It is hoped a Channel 4 TV programme about the excavation will be shown in January or February. Derek will be sending in a preliminary report for the Newsletter.

Browsers’ corner

Birkbeck College — view the subjects, order a prospectus, check events: http://www.bbk.ac.uk

You never know what you’ll come across next on the net. The University of St Andrews Archaeological Diving Unit site http://www.st-and.ac.uk/institutes/sims/Ada/6news.htm has news of their recent work in Orkney, operating out the harbour at Stromness, working with Ian Oxley of Heriot-Watt University who is researching the German High Seas Fleet scuttled in Scapa Flow in 1919. Historic Scotland is considering designating these wrecks as scheduled monuments, which would not prevent divers visiting but would make any disturbance/removal illegal. The Scapa Flow survey uses the latest equipment, begged, borrowed and bought, and includes side scan, magnetometer and seabed characterisation, also sonar imaging which has to be seen to be believed — it is so good. A visit to this site is recommended if you like technical stuff.

The sites to watch

Brockley Hill House: demolition and construction works have now started and are being monitored by Oxford Archaeological Unit. The Sites and Monuments area should not be affected. (Information from Robert Whytehead of English Heritage)

Canons Corner-Spur Road, Edgware: National Grid proposes to build a head house for the shaft of its tunnel linking Elstree and St John’s Wood. Parking area is also in the planning application. Robert Whytehead has advised that an archaeological mitigation strategy should be prepared for the entire area of ground disturbance. 36 Fortescue Road, Burnt Oak (joins Thirleby Road where Roman pottery has been found): single storey rear extension.

English Heritage has recommended the following sites for archaeological investigation:

72 High Street, Barnet — may affect medieval remains in the area.

3 Salisbury Road, Barnet — may affect possible medieval and earlier remains near the High Street.

32A Totteridge Common, Totteridge N20 — may affect medieval remains of Totteridge village.

On course for winter

· Many HADAS members have benefited from the courses on archaeology and history run by Birkbeck College. For anyone who might be wavering this autumn, why not attend the open evening on Tuesday September 5, 4pm – 8pm, Malet Street, London WC1.

· Harvey Sheldon has arranged another season of Thursday evening public lectures at the Institute of Archaeology, 20 Gordon Square. This year’s topic is Human Evolution with various speakers. To book for this short course, V10X17, which starts on October 5 and costs £60 (£30 concessions) you need an enrolment form from the prospectus. (There used to be the option to pay at the door for individual lectures. Watch the next Newsletter to see if this still applies.)

HADAS member Jack Goldenfeld is again running his course Introduction to Archaeology 1 at two centres West Herts College. The course is designed to describe and explain the science of archaeology, to cultivate an awareness of the past and the recognition of its effects on the world of today. As well as dealing with archaeo­logical theory, it will study site examples of all periods and from many locations world-wide. The only entry qualification required is an enquiring mind!

The courses are at: Dacorum Campus, Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, starting Monday September 25, and Cassio Campus, Langley Road, Watford, from Wednesday September 27, 7.15pm – 9.15pm at both. Details from Jack on 01923 285225 or from the Adult Education Offices at each campus: Dacorum 01442 221542, Cassio 01923 812052.

Many in HADAS mourned the death last November of Freda Wilkinson, long a valued and active member. By profession, she was a highly-respected indexer, and here we publish extracts from an obituary written by Cherry Lavell, originally published in The Indexer, Vol. 22 No. 1, April 2000. It is followed by further tributes from members.

We are honoured to have had her among us

After recounting Freda’s early years — she was born in Lincoln in January 1910, cared for her craftsman father after her mother died while Freda was in her teens, then in her mid-30s moved to London and worked for a consultancy, then ran a ‘little school for small children” — The indexer article continues:

“Freda had never wanted to be a homebody but in 1958, aged 48, she married James Wilkinson, settling into a large house in Hendon. James was much older but they shared many enthusiasms, including archaeology, natural sciences, Fabianism and filling the house with books. It was probably when James became ill that Freda discovered her undoubted talent for indexing, which would enable her to work at home in the intervals of looking after James (who died in the late 1960s).

She joined the Society of Indexers (SI) in January 1968 and her first index was to a popular work on fish and chips — what a good start! Another book was on Venice and its gondoliers, but she gravitated naturally towards archaeology, becoming one of its very best indexers. Her orderly mind also found a talent for accounts, and on becoming SI Treasurer in 1974 she set about transforming a rather homely system into proper double-entry bookkeeping, continuing until 1980.

She was deeply engaged in fostering SI’s relationship with our affiliated societies; another valuable, even vital task she performed for SI was to introduce John Gordon to us in the mid-1970s: in her new neighbour she recognised an outstanding administrator who could, and most certainly did, revitalise our then sagging Society. She became a valued assessor and examiner at both levels of the Society’s qualifications; she also sat on the Editorial Board of the Indexer.

Besides all this she was attending conferences (both archaeological and our own), Touring Italy (she especially admired the Etruscan civilisation’s equality between men and women), amassing books on a wide variety of subjects, enjoying Shakespeare, and quietly

collecting an A-level in English — aged 64. Her keen

interest in art took her to painting courses and art exhibitions, her love of gardens and architecture led her to visit National Trust properties around the country.

She became an SI Vice President in 1983, relinquishing the position in 1991 but still keeping the liveliest interest in the Society. There is no doubt that if she had been born a couple of decades later and with better opportunities she could have made her mark as an academic —but then she might not have joined our Society! She cared passionately for the Society’s advancement and certainly made a strong contribution to it, for which she was made an Honorary Life Member. We are honoured to have had her among us.”

Margaret Maher writes: Freda and I met on our knees, literally, at the Mesolithic site at West Heath in 1976 and quickly found we shared a passion for flint artefacts and prehistory. On the surface a quiet, unassuming person, she had hidden depths, so getting to know her was a process of continual discovery. She had a marvellously dry sense of humour and a nice sense of the ridiculous.

At an age when most people are slowing down she pursued a wide range of interests. Apart from digging, attending conferences, lectures and classes, she travelled to archaeological sites with HADAS and with the Prehistoric Society. Cataracts briefly curtailed her activities, but as soon as the first was removed she resumed her indexing work, two of the later volumes being Derek Roe’s The Late Glacial in NW Europe (CBA 1991) and Nick Barton’s Hengistbury Head, Dorset (OUP 1992).

I enjoyed Freda’s company and in the last 10 years I particularly admired and respected her courage in the face of crippling illness. It was a friendship from which I felt I gained much.

Daphne Lorimer writes: Although the love of Freda’s archaeological life was flint it was through her skills as an indexer that I first met her. She had just rejoined HADAS when I first became a member, and was constructing a card index of artefact find spots in the Borough of Barnet, complete with map references. There was great excitement when I reported a struck flake from almost the same spot as a Roman coin (alas, it never turned out to be a multi-period occupation!).

It was, however, at the West Heath Mesolithic site that I really got to know Freda. She was there come rain, come shine, and for her, she said, West Heath was not so much a dig “but a way of life”. Her digging technique was exemplary and her knowledge of flint invaluable.

In the winter months, she was one of the happy band of six who went, once a week, to the Quaternary Room at the BM to help Clive Bonsall catalogue the Epping Forest Mesolithic material. It was a great privilege as well as great fun and after two years we felt we had a pretty good knowledge of the English Mesolithic tool types.

Freda’s last gift to West Heath was to provide the report with an index, one of the few BAR Reports, if not the only one, to be so completed.

Freda was a good friend, a knowledgeable archaeologist and one of the characters who stamped their imprint on HADAS in its early days.

Dorothy Newbury adds: Freda was a very knowledgeable and active member, and a regular digger at Ted Sammes’ excavation at Church End, Hendon, before West Heath. One of her most valuable contributions to the society was the production of an excellent index covering every HADAS activity in its early years.

HADAS has a great day out in Dover

Messing about in boats

After an early and gloomy start we made our way to Aylesford Priory, for coffee. Our route had been care­fully planned to cross the QE2 Bridge — a very impres­sive and elegant structure, (which I felt looked very similar to the second Severn crossing, between England and Wales). Well worth the diversion.

Aylesford Priory was founded by the Carmelite friars in 1240. It was dispossessed by Henry VIII and re­established as a pilgrimage centre in 1949, the buildings now a mixture of modern and medieval. In addition to being a place of retreat, and providing hospitality to weary travellers (i.e. us!), there is a pottery and shop.

The next stop was Dover Museum, in particular to see the “Dover Boat”. We were met by Keith Parfitt, the project field director, who gave us an introductory talk. After a short video we looked at the boat itself, the centrepiece of the museum’s Bronze Age display.

Built of wooden planks sewn together with twisted yew and sealed with moss and wax, the boat is believed to be 3,000 years old and is considered the earliest known example of a sea-going vessel. About three- quarters of its length survives (fortunately including the front). It was not possible to recover the rest because of its depth below street level. The recovered remains were soaked in a wax solution and freeze dried.

The other displays in the museum used figures and artefacts to show various stages in the history of the town. This included a series of models showing the development of Dover as a port. While most people were still marvelling at the earliest example of a cross channel ferry, Andy Simpson had the extra excitement of finding, among the exhibits, the brake handle of a Black Country train! Greg Hunt

Seeing the light

Twelve of us trekked down a lovely track to the South Foreland Lighthouse. The current lighthouse was built in 1843 to protect shipping from the Goodwin Sands just off the shore. From here on December 24 1898 Guglielmo Marconi made the world’s first ship-to-shore radio trans­missions and, subsequently, the first international radio transmission to Wimereux in France 28 miles away.

We were first shown the Generator Room which is below ground level. Here the fuel, originally oil from sperm whales, was stored. The next floor was the Weights Room and contained the mechanism for oper­ating the lamp. The weights are winched up through the central pillar. This was followed by the Watch Room where the keeper on duty would have spent most of his time. In this room Marconi sent out his signals.

Next was the Lamp Room. Lamp on, cage rotating gives flashing effect — 3 white flashes in 20 seconds. Lenses give the 3 flashes, black panels give a pause. One complete rotation takes 40 seconds. Last but not least was the balcony. From here we had a marvellous view of the coastline and local points of interest such as a windmill used for electric power and a white house in the bay where Noel Coward and Ian Fleming had lived.

The English weather was not at its best, regretfully, and we were certainly blown about, but it was a most exhilarating experience. Judy Kazarnovsky

Waiting for Henry VIII

A tour of Dover Castle at any time is an experience, but when the fortress is “en medieval fete” as it was when we arrived, the atmosphere was of history come to life. Colourful booths were selling their wares, one with chickens on a spit, tents had pennons streaming, arch­ery was in progress and among the many townspeople was a Mistress Quickley on the arm of a halberdier. Yes, there were soldiers too, some in clanking armour, all being serenaded by a villager playing what appeared to be a medieval form of bagpipe..

This all the way to Constable Gate, the entrance to battlement walk, from which up a steep incline is Palace Gate, the entrance to the Inner Bailey. Here are the precincts of the strongest royal castle in the country, built by Henry IL

It was an inspiration on the part of English Heritage to foster one’s imagination of the age by indicating the impending arrival of the great King Henry VIII to his royal residence. Large wrappings presumably holding his tapestries and trappings of wealth lay on the floors, while in his bedchamber the sumptuous royal four- poster clad in red and gold was being made ready. Rich, carvings adorned his tiny chapel dedicated to Thomas Becket — the only part of the keep remaining unaltered.

On a day such as this, one tends to have a historically romantic impression of Dover Castle, but the visitor is constantly reminded that this massive fortification was a stronghold serving its country from 1170 to 1945.

In 1216, Hubert de Burgh constructed tunnels for defence, modified in the Napoleonic Wars in 1797 and subsequently of immense value to the three services during the two World Wars. Totally secure additional_ underground barracks were constructed 50 feet below the cliff top, complete with a hospital now made to appear very realistic with bloodied bandages in bowls and surgical instruments everywhere (including a saw!). There were, too, meals on plates ready for the garrison at the end of their tour of duty. Not to be forgotten is the castle’s finest hour in May 1940 when Operation Dynamo – the evacuation of 338,000 soldiers from Dun­kirk – was directed from the underground barracks.

This cliff-top site has been occupied since the Iron Age, and within the castle walls there still stand the remains of a Roman lighthouse and a restored Anglo- Saxon church. The pharos was built by the Romans in the second half of the first century to guide ships across the Channel to the newly-developed port of Dover, and although little remains it is still a remarkable structure.

So much in so comparatively small an area. An inspired excursion indeed. Rita Simpson

Other societies’ events

London Canal Museum
Thursday September 7, 7.30pm
Talk: The Royal Military Canal, by Hugh Compton.
12-13 New Wharf Road, King’s Cross (£2.5 0, £1.25 concessions). Amateur Geological Society

Tuesday September 12, 8pm
Talk: Insects in Amber, by Andrew Ross.
The Parlour, St Margaret’s Church, Victoria Avenue, Finchley. Kenwood Estate

Wednesday September 13, 2pm
Lecture & walk: Humphry Repton at Kenwood, by Stephen Daniels. Starting outside the entrance to Kenwood House, Hampstead Lane (£3.50, £1.50 concessions). Booking: 020 7973 3693.

Barnet & District Local History Society
Wednesday September 13, 8pm
Lecture: Forty Hall 1629-2000, by Geoff Gilham.
Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road, Barnet.

RAF Museum
Thursday September 14, 7.30pm
Talk: Amy Johnson, by Peter Elliott. Grahame Park Way, Colindale. Enfield Archaeological Society

Friday September 15, 8pm
Talk: Excavating Past Londoners — Archaeology on Cemetery Sites, by Hedley Swain. Jubilee Hall, Chaseside/Parsonage Lane, Enfield. Willesden Local History Society

Wednesday September 20, 8pm
Talk: Bygone Kingsbury, by Geoff Hewlett.
Willesden Suite, Willesden Library, 95 High Street, Willesden Green. Kenwood Estate

Sunday September 24, 11am
Guided walk of the Estate, by an estate ranger. Starting outside the Visitor Information Centre (near restaurant).
Finchley Society

Thursday September 28, 8pm
Talk: The Story of Hampstead Heath, by R.W.G. Smith.
Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley.

Exhibitions

Kenwood House until September 24

Eat, Drink and Be Merry: The British at Table 1600-2000

Heritage Open Days* September 16 and 17

London Open House* September 23 and 24

(*Usually inaccessible or fee-charging properties open free)

Conferences

British Association, Archaeology & Anthropology Section Annual Festival September 6-12 at Imperial College, South Kensington

Wednesday September 6: Lecture and field trip: The Politics of Death and Burial in London — Commoners and Kings. 10am illustrated lecture by Gustav Milne, 11.30 depart on foot and by Underground for Westminster Ab­bey (ends 1pm).

Monday September 11: Lecture and field trip: A Catastrophic History of London. 10am illus­trated lecture by Gustav Milne, 2.15pm de­part on foot and by Underground to the City for visits to selected sites and the Museum of London.

For both, the lectures (venue: Pippard Lec­ture Theatre, Sherfield Building) are open to all, the tour numbers are limited to 15. Tickets, £10 inclusive, on the day.Throughout the festival: afternoon walks with Dr Eric Robinson, who lectured to HADAS last year.

CBA south-east and SCOLA joint conference
October 28, at the Edward Lewis Lecture Theatre, Windeyer Institute, 46 Cleveland Street, London {near Goodge Street Station; map with ticket). Subject: Cult and Ritual in London and the South East. Speakers include Mike Webber, Angela Wardle and Chris Thomas.
Tickets, to include a light lunch, are £12.50 (£10 for CBA and SCOLA members) from Shiela Broomfield, 8 Woodview Crescent, Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Kent TN11 9HD (01732 838698). Please include a stamped addressed envelope and make cheques pay­able to SCOLA.

Thanks to Eric Morgan and Peter Pickering for providing this information

Newsletter-352-August-2000

By | Past Newsletters, Volume 7 : 2000 - 2004 | No Comments

Newsletter-352-August-2000

HADAS DIARY

 

August 19       Outing: visiting Iffley and its 12th century church, then to Wallingford, a Saxon

fortified town, finishing at an Iron Age hill fort at Cholesbury. Your Time Lord is Bill Bass. Booking form within.

 

September 13 A stroll around St Lawrence Church, Edgware and Boosey & Hawkes, Hendon, with Sheila Woodward and Mary O’Connell.

 

October 10      New lecture season opens with Archaeology in Winchester by Graham Scobie, a

follow-up to our King Alfred outing in 1999.

 

October 14      Micro Mart – our annual fun fundraiser — be there!

Also in October, we are arranging a Saturday afternoon seminar De-mystifying Resistivity to be led by former MoLAS archaeologist Dr Bill McCann, a leading authority on geophysical surveying. Information about date, venue and time will be announced in the Autumn.

GADEBRIDGE ROMAN VILLA                                                                     A MILLENNIUM EXCAVATION
Our man in Hertfordshire, John Saunders, has news of the Berkhamsted and District Archaeological Society’s current project and invites HADAS members to visit the Gadebridge excavation, west of Hemel Hempstead, which runs from 24 July to 18 August.

Gadebridge Villa site was fully excavated by Dr David Neal, FSA,- between 1963 to 1968 and at the time it was one of the most completely excavated villas in the country. Dr Neal has taken advantage of the millennium impetus to organise a four week project in an adjacent area, with the Berkhamsted Society participating. Also playing no small part in the work is Matthew Wheeler of the Decorum Heritage Trust. Matt visited HADAS in April to talk about Ted Sammes Senior.

Two other excavations carried out by Dr David Neal at Box Lane, Hemel Hempstead and Gorhambury, St Albans, have shown evidence of Iron Age structures and it is intended to investigate whether the Gadebridge Villa site is older than was at first thought, using new techniques not available when the first excavations were carried out. The original excavation will not be touched but the main buildings will be discernible having been defined by lines drawn in sand on the site. John Saunders had the delight of ascending in a 60 foot high crane to photograph the site and reports that the sand has been very effective. There is public access, with display boards describing aims and current state of the work. Further details and location map for those who wish to visit the site are on page 2.

It is believed that this villa may have originated around AD75 and was abandoned or destroyed around the middle of the 4th century. Originally it was possibly a farmstead but, being close to Verulamium, it was considerably extended after the Roman invasion of AD43. Up to AD138-161 the building was basically of timber construction but a stone building with corridors and wings was erected by the early 3rd century with additional wings built to create a courtyard and the bath house was enlarged. Between around AD300 and 325 a large bathing poor was added as well as a considerable number of heated pools, suggesting that the villa’s main purpose had become that of a bathing establishment.

THE SITE, ENTRANCE IN GALLEY HILL, IS OPEN TO VISITORS DAILY BETWEEN 10.00 AM – 4.00 PM

 

MEMBERSHIP A REMINDER

For those of you who have not yet renewed, we would remind you that subscriptions for the year 2000/2001 were due on 1 April and we are now one third the way through our accounting year.

Next year, 2001, is HADAS’s 40th birthday and it is good to see our membership numbers currently are holding steady at over 300.

 

SUMMER IN THE SUBURBS

This year’s Hampstead Garden Suburb Festival had to contest with a double whammy of diabolical downpours and Wimbledon finals, both seemingly keeping the punters home and dry, as a damp HADAS crew sheltered under the trees with a slightly soggy display. The crew – Roy Walker, Eric Morgan, Andrew Coulson, Peter Nicholson and Vikki O’Connor have either shrunk or gone curly! On a bright note, however, we sold £30 worth of publications and it was nice that many visitors to our stall were already HADAS members although several membership forms were taken away.

We also had a small presence at the East Barnet Festival (corner of a table run by HADAS member Janet Heathfield for the Friends of the East Barnet Clock). The weather was much kinder that day, and Eric Morgan ‘clocked up’ a fiver’s worth of book sales for HADAS and Janet gained a mention in the local Advertiser with a prize for sweet peas.

 

MORE PRESS

One of Barnet’s local newspapers, The Press, has run a feature “The Barnet Story” and in the April 27 edition concentrated on the Romans, Brockley Hill in particular. Wishing to provide the best overview for this important pottery centre, they contacted HADAS and Tessa Smith was able to discuss the history of the site and show some of the pots from the Suggett collection to their journalist Daniel Martin.

The resulting article not only included a lovely colour photograph of Tessa with two complete Roman vessels but also provided excellent publicity for the Society, raising our profile within the Borough.

 

KENWOOD ESTATE – Lectures and guided walks 2000

Wednesday 9th August, 7.30, lecture and walk on Bats at Kenwood led by David Wells, English Heritage, meeting outside the Restaurant.

Sunday 27th August, 11 am, guided walk of the estate by an Estate Ranger.

Further information and booking from Visitor Information Centre on 020 7973 3893.

 

 

SECRETARY’S CORNERA meeting of the Committee was held on 16 June 2000.

The following were among matters arising:

1 Jackie Brookes, Andrew Coulson, Eric Morgan and Peter Nicholson were

welcomed as new members of the Committee.

2 In order to allow for the previous dispatch to members

of all relevant information, in  future the AGM will be held in June instead of May.

3 The search is still going on for suitable alternative storage premises such as a garage.

4 It was agreed to purchase and renovate a salvaged theodolite and also to consider building a low cost resistivity kit.

5 The Society could become archaeologically involved at a site in Hanshawe Drive, Burnt Oak, and further involved in the Silk Stream Flood Alleviation Scheme.

6 Among events in the pipeline (over and above the normal programme of lectures and outings) are a study day on resistivity in October, kiln building as part of National Archaeology Weekend and a joint meeting with the Manor House Society in June next year.

 

SITE WATCHING AT HADLEY

In July 2000, a new house was built in the garden of Century House, Camlet Way, Hadley some 30 metres west of the present house. The site was watched by John Heathfield, who reports as follows:

The site is important because of its proximity to the site of the Battle of Barnet. It was originally part of Enfield Chase and is shown on the 1777 map as “Mr Smith’s new intake”. The present site boundary follows almost exactly that shown on the map.

The contractors excavated a hole some 20 metres by 20 metres and 4 metres deep. The baulk showed some 25/30cm of leafy topsoil. All the clay spoil was dumped at the rear (north) end of the site, which was densely covered with 25/40 year old trees with very few mature trees.

Several lorry loads of brick rubble were brought in to the front (south) of the site to provide hard standing for machines. No finds of any kind were made. Where top soil had been put aside for later use it was carefully examined with no result.

 

BARNET GATE MEADOW
John Heathfield has also provided an interesting piece of information to add to our file on the site that we surveyed recently. The old Barnet Militia had a rifle range at Arkley in 1859 which John pinpoints to the actual field we surveyed. Amongst other things, they practised digging trenches. Although John suggested that the anomalies which HADAS discovered could possibly be the result of middle-aged Victorian gentleman playing soldiers, Chris Allen’s computer analysis of our data shows a spread out effect which appears to equate with the varying depths of gravel laying on the clay. We only surveyed a portion of the upper end of the field, but if we do return we will be watching out for overshoots.

 

TIME TEAM AT THE MOUNT

HADAS member, Derek Batten, has written from Paulerspury, near Towcester, with some exciting news. For the background see the February 1999 Newsletter.

You have been kind enough to publish from time to time in the HADAS Newsletter reports of my archaeological involvement on various Indian Wars Battlefields in America. Two years or so ago you also reported that I had purchased– an extensive Norman Ringwork, a Scheduled Ancient monument known as The Mount close to my home here in Northamptonshire. Members may be interested to know that Time Team will be carrying out one of their three- day investigations at The Mount on 27m, 219 and 29m July. Hopefully this will become a TV programme early in the New Year.

The main fascination to me of ownership of The Mount is that so much of its history is unknown. Time Team will, I hope, unravel some if not all of its mysteries and it will be fascinating to see just how they work. I will let you have a report for publication in the Newsletter in due course if you feel this will be of interest.

Derek’s original article about the purchase of The Mount told us that he “intended to release the latent archaeological and historical potential of this historic Ringwork” but we never realised it would be carried out in such a manner. We, of course, eagerly await his further report and the Time Team broadcast.

 

A VISIT TO HALLSTATT                                                                                                                                 MALCOLM STOKES

 

It is unlikely that a tourist visiting Neanderthal or Swanscombe would find much evidence of early man, but Hallstatt in Austria is more rewarding. It could well be called “Salt Lake City” as “Hall” and “Salz” (in “Salzburg”) mean salt and the settlement is perched precariously on the edge of a 125m deep lake on the steep slope of the 3,000m high Dachstein.

The neighbouring salt mines have been exploited from the Neolithic period (c.3000 BC) and the salt was distributed from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. From about 800 BC the miners started to use bronze and iron to make tools to aid salt extraction. A mine can be visited on the Salzberg, “Salt Mountain”, 1030m high and accessible by cable car. A tour and film focus on the remains of a 3,000 year old miner preserved in the salt, discovered in 1735 but then buried in unconsecrated ground.

Hallstatt became famous in 1846 when the salt mine manager excavated 1,000 graves over eighteen years. Half were cremations with rich grave goods. The excavation of a further 1,000 graves led to the naming of the early Iron Age as “Hallstatt” (1000 – 500 BC). Some of the finds can be seen in the local history museum though many have been distributed to Vienna and elsewhere.

The museum displays a wealth of bronze and iron weapons, tools and ornaments as well as Backpack of hide and leather, probably belonging to a salt miner pottery and jewellery.

Amongst organic finds are a shoe, cap, wooden bowl, pieces of fabric, a torch of pine sticks and a large backpack made of leather. A Palaeolithic hand axe illustrates the earliest human activity, but the first evidence of mining comes with the Neolithic tools of 2500 BC.

The Romans arrived in the mid-1st century AD and built a settlement on the shores of the lake. There are records of continuous mining since the end of the 13th century when salt was a valuable commodity providing Salzburg with its wealth and power. From the 18th century salt has been valued as a health cure in spas. Although the salt mines are still exploited  today, the wealth of the area comes from the ever- growing tourist industry to this very picturesque spot.

The Catholic parish church, the higher of the two in the photo above, has a graveyard and charnel house — the Beinhaus. Each skull shown has the former occupier’s name written on it; you may be able to make out “Maria Steiner” or “Matthias Steiner” in the picture, whole families being grouped together. 700 of the 1,200 skulls stored here since 1,600 have been decorated with crosses, flowery patterns using ivy, rose and oak motifs, together with additional information such as date of death, age and profession. What makes these skeletons unusual is that the fine bones at the back of the eye sockets have survived.

Malcolm looked up the town sites on the Internet before booking his holiday and recommends this to other would-be European travellers, as you may find the local tourist office offering additional attractions not advertised by the standard holiday companies.

 

BARNET CULTURAL STRATEGY CONFERENCE       Eric Morgan 

On Friday 23rd June I attended on behalf of HADAS this all-day conference organised by Barnet Council at the Middlesex University’s Hendon campus in the Burroughs.

The morning started with a talk about the Cultural Strategy Partnership for London, which contains ten proposals for the new Mayor and London Assembly on behalf of London’s cultural communities. Archaeology is mentioned in two of these proposals. One is where culture has an important role to play at the local level. This includes researching and promoting interests in local history and archaeology. Cultural organisations such as local museums could not exist without the committed, unpaid work of their supporters. The other is to promote debate on

environmental, heritage and archaeological issues, and

recognition of their value to,

London’s economy as well as its culture and communities, and to work with museums and other conservation bodies to ensure that new ways are promoted to allow conservation, contemporary use and access to co-exist. After a short break, we split into several small workshops and seminar groups. I attended the one on Heritage and tourism, which included representatives from local museums, libraries and other historical societies. It emerged from the group that Barnet has more listed buildings than any other London borough and seventeen heritage sites, but all need promotion and transport should be improved to some sites.

At the end of the day, it was revealed what emerged from the other groups. Another one was on cultural diversity, from which it transpired that there was lack of community space and funding, but libraries came off well.

In the introduction to the draft of the Cultural Strategy for Barnet, already produced, mention is made of museums, artefacts, archives, libraries, built heritage and archaeology, etc., and there is a section which lists all of the areas of the borough with a brief history of each. One of its policy objectives in its Regeneration issue is to recognise the importance of Barnet’s heritage and history, also one objective in its Community Development issue is to develop libraries, etc. as ‘community resources’.

 

HIGH STREET LONDINIUM — An exhibition at the Museum of London, 21 July – 28 January, 2001 has a full-scale reconstruction of three Roman timber-frame buildings found on site – a baker’s and hot food shop, a carpenter’s workshop and a shop containing a range of produce from around the Empire. Visitors will be able to stroll along the street, into the houses and handle the replica furniture, textiles and tableware.

 

OUTING TO OXFORD AND BROUGHTON CASTLE                                                                   Barry Reilly

Broughton Castle        

A cool and overcast morning in June saw us heading to Oxford by way of Broughton Castle on our first outing of the new millennium. Despite some navigational problems – large coach, small lanes – we arrived at our first destination in good time. The Castle is set in a delightful estate populated largely by sheep, several of which shyly greeted us by the car park.

Broughton Castle, a moated manor house built in 1300, was owned by William of Wykeham before passing in 1451 to the second Lord Saye & Sele (family name Fiennes) whose descendants have lived there ever since. The building was much enlarged in Tudor times when splendid plaster ceilings, oak panelling and fireplaces were introduced. Building activity gave way in the 17th century to political activity. William Fiennes, lord at the time of the Civil War, was a Parliamentarian and after the nearby Battle of Edgehill in 1642, the Castle was captured and occupied by the Royalists. In the 19th century neglect by a spendthrift heir ironically saved Broughton from too much Victorian ‘improvement’.

Our tour started in the Great Hall where the original bare stone walls are combined with 16th century windows and a pendant ceiling dating from the 1760s. It contains arms and armour from the Civil War. The Dining Room is in what was the original 14th century undercroft and contains a fine example of 16th century double linenfold panelling.

Amongst other rooms, Queen Anne’s chamber is memorable for its magnificent Tudor fireplace and the ‘squint’ in one corner looking through to the private chapel. The Oak Room in the Tudor west wing is particularly impressive with its wood panelling and the unusual feature of a finely carved interior porch. At the top of west wing is the secluded Council Chamber where opposition to Charles I had been organised. This gave us access to the roof and a fine view of the knot garden below and the moat, well stocked with fish to judge by the anglers along its banks.

Incidentally, those members who weren’t on this trip may nonetheless be familiar with Broughton Castle since it provided settings for the film Shakespeare In Love starring a member of the Fiennes family.

  After lunch we set off for Oxford where our primary destination was the Ashmolean Museum with its diverse collections of British, European, Egyptian and Near Eastern antiquities and Western and Eastern Art. They range in time from the earliest man-made implements to 20th century works of art. The treasures are many, particularly the Egyptian antiquities, the Greek vases and the Chinese stoneware and porcelain. The collection of Bronze Age stamp seals from Babylon and Nimrud are outstanding. With so much to see we could only sample our favourite interests.

Being short of time meant that only a few of us found our way to the Pitt Rivers Museum but we were well rewarded. Cramped and dimly lit, the old-fashioned display cases are stuffed with exhibits and barely legible captions; this is the way museums used to be and it’s wonderful. Strange and beautiful objects from around the world crowd the cases: masks, mummies, textiles, toys, shrunken heads, a totem pole three floors high and even a witch in a bottle! All in all an inspiring conclusion to another fine outing from the two Mickys. Our thanks to you both.

 

ROMAN POTTERY FINDS AT DOLLIS HILL                             Eric Morgan reporting for HADAS

For three weeks in June MoLAS carried out a dig in a field in Brook Road, opposite the former Post Office and Telecom research station, and just outside our Borough. It is on high ground not too far from the line of Watling Street and is thought to have been a Roman agricultural settlement with a possible quarry pit.

MoLAS opened up three slit trenches. They found plenty of Roman domestic pottery dating from the 3rd and 4th centuries AD when the farm was possibly occupied, so is later than Brockley Hill. It is mainly coarse pottery with some other ware. It was reported that, as the dig continued, more artefacts were revealed, including mortaria for mixing pesto, traces of burnt barley and colour- coated pot fragments. The pottery consisted mainly of orange-red Oxford ware and grey Alice Holt (Farnham) ware. They also found plenty of tile including roof, floor and flue tiles, indicating that they had some form of heating.

The site is owned by Thames Water, who plan to build a reservoir there. It was also reported that it’s a “hugely significant” find because up till now there has been no real evidence that the Romans were living in these parts. The report continued “But it was not until ancient building materials were found that MoLAS realised that a busy Roman farm once stood on the site.” They discovered enough material to suggest the presence of some buildings. There is also evidence of a large farmhouse with a tiled roof. It looks as though the farm had been divided into separate fields used to grow mainly wheat, and pastures for cows and sheep. It is impossible to say for sure, but the farm could have been used to produce provisions for Londinium, taking a day to reach there, and there were enough roads to carry the cargo.

 

SUSSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY AUTUMN CONFERENCE
SATURDAY 21st OCTOBER

Gender, Material Culture, and Us

Women’s lives in the past are commonly perceived as “long skirts, childbirth and cauldrons”. This conference will explore the reality behind the caricature, from peasants, princesses and priestesses to the pioneers of archaeology in Sussex and further afield.

One of the speakers is Theya Mollison on the subject of the people of CATAL HUYUL at home. Ticket prices, venue and full details from Ian Booth, Barbican House, 169 High Street, Lewes, BN7 1YE, tel: 01273 405737.

 

THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS

The HADAS August 1998 Newsletter carried a report from Peter Pickering of his visit to the Roman gold mines at Dolaucothi in Carmarthenshire. The Summer 2000 edition of The National Trust Magazine now reports that these workings might be up to 3,000 years old which makes them pre- Roman. According to The National Trust, who own the gold mines, this discovery may mean that the site is as significant in archaeological terms as Stonehenge and Avebury.

 

YOUR STARTER FOR TEN… A PIPE PUZZLE

It was a hot sticky day in June and we had just been to the Mitre in Barnet High Street where HADAS excavated in 1990, to view the spoil heap left by recent excavations by a professional unit and it appeared, surprisingly, that one of the HADAS trenches may have been re-excavated On returning to Whetstone to continue the debate, this little clay pipe bowl sat brightly in the flower beds of a nameless hostelry, asking to be rescued. Arthur Till is investigating but could any other members shed some light on the maker and date of this clay pipe fragment? The stamped lettering is: SMITH 49 GIFFORD and the characters appear to be boxing.

 

Oxford University Department for Continuing Education Day Schools

March 2000 marked the 100th anniversary of the start of the excavations at Knossos in Crete supervised by Sir Arthur Evans. A weekend course is to be held in Oxford, 13-15 October, to coincide with the Centennial Exhibition in the Ashmolean Museum and will cover all aspects of this famous site.

Also at Oxford is a 1-day school on Twentieth-century Military Archaeology on Saturday 21st October. This aims to explain how professionals and amateurs are collaborating to analyse how these military sites functioned, what remains today, with examples of specific projects.

Details for both these courses are available from OUDCE, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA, tel: 01865 270380.

newsletter-351-July-2000

By | Past Newsletters, Volume 7 : 2000 - 2004 | No Comments

newsletter-351-July-2000

HADAS DIARY

22 July(Sat) Outing to Dover with Tessa Smith & Sheila Woodward

 

29-30 July Hadas Archaeological Weekend

Experimental Archaeology at College Farm (Details Enclosed)

 

19 August(Sat) Outing to Wallingford with Bill Bass Details in later Newsletter

 

[10-14 July Orkney Weekend-arrangements finalised but contact Dorothy if you would like to put your name on the waiting list ]

EXCITING DISCOVERIES

 

The Millennium has started propitiously with news of important international finds ranging from lost cities under the sea offshore from Alexandria

to underwater treasures off Cyprus,and a decapitated skeleton near Stonehenge.There is enough here to keep several teams of archaeologists at work for years if not decades, establishing the facts and speculating about their implications for long held theories while developing new ones.

In many cases the national archaeological services cannot cope; if progress is to be made experts and funds from richer countries need to be slotted in. There are sensitive issues here about who controls the nature and extent of

excavation,where and by whom finds will be processed,who will have a right to display them eventually; is policing adequate against an underground

that spirits away precious objects and seems to be ever more powerful; among many more.

That is what makes archaeology such an interesting study/hobby-something new is always on the horizon: treasured theories are overturned ,dating

altered,sequences rearranged,while new technology borrowed from other disciplines provides more ways of analysing the past.If TV programmes are an indicator of growing interest in our subject, we can take pleasure in the increased airtime that is devoted to different aspects of archaeology. These range from the quick and dirty 48 hour dig in a corner of one of our towns or villages, to reconstructing the major artefacts of early times in

order to establish the technologies available and how they were used, and to tracing the broad development of civilisations over the world, and their possible influence on each other.

Archaeology has something for everybody.[Ed]

 

 

THE REVIEWER’S TALE ROY WALKEROne of our best-sellers in the HADAS bookshop is Percy Reboul’s “Those were the days”, a collection of memories of life in Barnet between the two World Wars taped by Percy in the late 1970s. It is an excellent example of how oral history can be presented. We are very fortunate because Percy has compiled a further selection of stories from Barnet’s past, “Barnet voices” – this time published in the Tempus Oral History Series, 1999, price £9.99. The recordings are from the 1970s and 1980s and encompass a wide range of social backgrounds, occupations and ages. The London Borough of Barnet is, of course, the common factor and as each tale is fully illustrated with photographs of the period this book cannot fail to appeal to the diverse interests of our membership.

There are the childhood memories of Dorothy Egerton who moved to Sunningfields Crescent in 1902 at the age of seven and attended Ravenscourt School. Sheep grazed opposite her house where Sunnyhill Park is today. The Tram Driver’s Tale concludes on a collision between a number 62 tram and a steam traction engine near Wembley Church with the latter left as a wreck, while in The Railwayman’s Tale the railwayman himself suffered terribly the consequences of his collision with a train. The Farmer’s Tale interested me as it provided background to the photograph of Harry Broadbelt I first saw in John Heathfield’s “Around Whetstone and North Finchley in old photographs” – he ran Floyd Dairy where Whetstone Police Station stands today. We hear from the voice of the rabbit in BBC Radio’s Winnie the Pooh, from a “Law Officer” based at Bowes Road School responsible for apprehending truants and from a Mill Hill GP who qualified in 1915 warning of the dangers of relying upon computers to make a diagnosis!

For those born within the Borough the stories are guaranteed to awaken earlier, personal memories of Barnet; for those who moved into the area later in life, as I did, then this book provides real people with which to flesh out the bones of Barnet’s past so far gained from other local historians.

 

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL– by VIKKI O’CONNOR

 

MARTHA WALSH’s small book of memories strings together a series of anecdotes about the family members and their circumstances during her father’s lifetime, 1796-1864. She describes her father as full of fun, with an interest in poetry, politics and science. His enquiring and innovative approach to medicine, especially during a cholera epidemic in 1832-33 earned him an excellent reputation. However, when he decided to commercially manufacture the writing ink he had invented, his professional ‘friends’ apparently told him that he would ‘lose caste’ if he went into business!Looking at the family through Martha’s eyes, one can understand her father’s deterioration after the death of his first wife and their little girl, or smile at the fortunes of Justine, the French housekeeper. The warmth of Martha’s description of her mother and their life in Finchley are so fresh that I kept having to remind myself that she was talking about 1852, not 1952, even when she writes of haymaking and blackberrying. First published in 1913, the book has been re-printed with the permission of Martha’s grand-daughter. If you decide to dip into this little treasure (don’t just read it once) it will cost you £3.00 plus 31p postage from: Norman Burgess at 28 Vines Avenue, Finchley, N3 2QD, or visit the Stephens Collection – Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays 2 – 4.30pm, at Avenue Hse.

 

AND SHORT IS BEAUTIFUL TOO…..Highgate Literary and Scientific Society’s recent Highgate 2000 – A Journey Through Time exhibition depicted Highgate life through themes: schools; roads; churches, shops; pubs; personalities and, of course, the cemetery. The exhibition proved to be a great success, the recipe for which appears to be a brilliant team effort with individuals taking responsibility for a section and, being given a free hand, coming up with their personal interpretation of their chosen subject. The pity is that, after all this effort, there were only thirteen days available to the Society to view the results at

their premises in South Grove. The society was established in 1840 when they took this building, formerly a school.

There were several good browsing-hours-worth of material in the displays. Tales of John Betjeman’s schooldays caught my attention, as did the old Highgate custom “Swearing on the horns”. Margot Sheaf, one of the contributors to the exhibition, wrote “Each Highgate inn had a set of horns mounted on staves – a ram for one inn – a stag for another. At least three out of five passengers entering an inn from their coach had to Swear on the Horns. This ancient custom has been preserved through the centuries and is still taking place at several Highgate inns where it is often used as a means to support local charities.”

The exhibition brochure, sponsored by Hamptons, summarised the history of Highgate but, despite requests by many visitors, there are presently no plans to re-run the exhibition or produce a publication. However, some of the display boards will be on loan to other groups over the coming months, says Malcolm Stokes, one of the exhibition organisers.

The impressively ultra-modem and expensive display case generously on loan from the Museum of London was maybe a tad `over the top’, but their collection of Highgate Wood Roman pottery doesn’t usually leave the confines of London Wall. Some flints from the same site were displayed; these finds were almost incidental to the Roman kiln excavations, and were not associated with a known Mesolithic camp-site. Is this HADAS’s cue for ‘another West Heath’? Can Alec Jeakins be persuaded to return to London to tramp Highgate Woods for the evidence?

The City of London Corporation owns and manages Highgate Wood, no easy task with the high numbers of dog-walkers, commuters, joggers, and whole families, trampling everywhere every day. The resulting erosion is being countered by blocked off areas and the planting of young trees and woodland plants. Surprisingly, there are over fifty species of tress and shrubs. In the middle of the Wood is a Visitor Information Centre – well worth seeing. ‘Cindy’, one of the Wood’s rangers who lives on site, has helped to create a museum-in-miniature, aimed at all ages, where there are free leaflets on the history of the wood, and on the nature trails. Amongst the caterpillars, fungi and bird displays you will find a space dedicated to archaeology, with pieces of Roman pottery from the 1970’s excavations wonderfully and trustingly available for everyone to touch. Students from Birkbeck College surveyed the ancient earthworks which might have formed part of a tribal boundary. These are marked in red on a map at the far end of the Visitor Centre; if you do spot this it could be interesting trying to project the line into the urban jungle surrounding the Wood.

If you decide to wander along there, bus routes 134, 43 and 263 all run past Highgate Wood, with the 102, 234 and 143 passing the East Finchley/Cherry Tree Wood end. There is of course the Northern line – Highgate (long haul up to road level for the less fit) and East Finchley. Amenities include toilets, children’s playground and a bright little café. Enjoy…

OK, call me a nerd but, having often wondered about the destination of the centre tracks at Finchley Central on my way to work, a few years ago I ambled through Cherry Tree Wood and actually coming across the tail end of these tracks my heart beat a little faster (no, a lot, actually). Nowadays, of course, I justify this by calling it ‘Industrial Archaeology’. (You can see the East Finchley sidings from Highgate Wood – and the old Railway Bridge at Bridge Gate – number 6 on the map – get your anoraks out now!)

FURTHER INFORMATION: The Highgate Wood Manager 020 8444 6129.

UPDATE

RESTORATION of EAST BARNET VILLAGE CLOCK (c.1680)

We have made progress, I am happy to report. A Committee, the Friends of the East Barnet Clock Tower has been formed to get the clock restarted and put back in its proper place – the clock tower on the roof above the newsagents in Clockhouse Parade.The clockface has been re-gilded,and the movement is being overhauled. We are negotiating with the owners to have the clock tower strengthened before re-installing the clock. If all goes well, we hope to have everything ticking by New Year’s Eve 2000 – the

true Millennium! Wish us luck.           Janet Heathfield

 

BARNET GATE MEADOW INVESTIGATION

We have now done a couple of weekends exploring, by digging and augering, the ground in places where our resistivity testing showed anomalies of possible interest.We opened up four small trenches and found in each, below the topsoil, a layer of pebble gravel above a clay subsoil, with no indication it was anything other than natural formation. As might be expected, all the trenches yielded the usual assortment of post-medieval earthenware, stoneware and clay pipe fragments from manuring of the fields. The site was arable until recent years. In two further areas we confined ourselves to augering which gave similar results.

Whilst we shall make a more detailed examination to compare our resistivity readings with the ground exploration, it does appear fairly obvious that the resistivity variations result from natural variations in the in the depth of the clay layer below the topsoil surface, giving a deeper water-holding pebble gravel layer in some places (lower resistivity), and a shallower one in others (higher resistivity).

Our Member Christian Allen has kindly produced a computer diagram of the resistivity results which should give a professional air to our eventual report!

Brian Wrigley/Andy Simpson

newsletter-350-June-2000

By | Past Newsletters, Volume 7 : 2000 - 2004 | No Comments

newsletter-350-june-2000

 

HADAS Diary

 

Saturday 24 June OUTING TO NORTH OXFORDSHIRE with Micky Cohen and Micky Watkins. Details and application form enclosed with this Newsletter.

10 – – 14 July  ORKNEY WEEK.

Details are now finalised. We are fully booked with a short waiting list but your name still can be added should you be interested. Please contact Dorothy Newbury as soon as possible.

 

Saturday 22 July OUTING TO DOVER with Tessa Smith and Sheila Woodwood. Details and application form with July Newsletter.

 

29-30 July HADAS ANNUAL ARCHAEOLOGY WEEKEND Experimental archaeology at College Farm! Further details are on page 4.

 

Saturday 19 August OUTING TO WALLINGFORD with Bill Bass. Details and application form will be in a later Newsletter.

 

The Ted Sammes evening

 

Our April meeting was dedicated to memories of HADAS founder member, the late Ted Sammes, who has left the Society a generous bequest. Long-standing member Sheila Woodward chaired the evening and spoke of her personal memories which she has reproduced for the Newsletter.

I joined HADAS in 1974 and must first have met Ted at outings and lectures during 1975. I soon came to appreciate his special qualities. For a start, there was the sheer breadth and depth of his archaeological knowledge. He seemed equally at home discussing a prehistoric chambered tomb or a Roman villa, Saxon pottery and pins or medieval floor tiles. He could speak authoritatively about different types of building bricks, about coinage and trading tokens, about delftware, about wig-curlers. The list seems endless. Ted’s experience in the baking trade was grist to his archaeological mill, as were his wartime experiences in the forces and his many subsequent travels in this country and abroad. His father had been a professional photographer and Ted developed a similar skill.

Being a perfectionist himself, and by nature cautious, Ted was always inclined to play devil’s advocate. Someone once said to me that every organisation needs a Ted Sammes! Any attempt to rush precipitously into a new project would be restrained by Ted’s “Have you checked on…?” “Are you sure that…?” or “Have you considered whether…?” This inclination to check over- enthusiasm and urge caution could give an impression of crotchitiness and ill-humour. In fact, Ted was immensely kind-hearted and always ready to share his archaeological knowledge and expertise. I often had cause to be grateful for his help and encouragement.

As a founder member of HADAS, Ted acknowledged his debt to the Society which fostered and helped him to develop his love of and interest in archaeology. That Society, in its turn, now acknowledges its debt to Ted Sammes and remembers him with great respect and affection

 

Matt Wheeler, the Curator of the Decorum Heritage Trust in Berkhamsted, provided a delightful insight into the Sammes family background.

I first came across Ted Sammes in 1997 when he phoned me up and told me that his father, Edward Sammes was a photographer and cabinet maker who had once lived in the village of Bovingdon and then later Boxmoor which are both near Hemel Hempstead. He wanted to know whether the Decorum Heritage Trust would like to provide a permanent home for his father’s collection of postcards, photographs and tools etc. Ted knew of the Trust because he had previously loaned some of the postcards to our current Chairman, Roger Hands and his wife Joan for use in their “Book of Boxmoor”. Ted Sammes evening (continued)

I expressed great interest and visited Ted at his home in Taplow. I learned a great deal about his father’s life and at the same time collected the extensive collection of postcards, photographs and other ephemera. At a later date I hired a van and went with Ted and one of our volunteers to his father’s old flat in Hendon in order to collect a large tool chest and his father’s workbench. Unfortunately, we picked the hottest day that summer to do the move. Things were not helped by the fact that Ted was already quite frail at the time and so we had to literally hoist him in and out of the transit. So there we were in the 90° heat struggling with this large, cumbersome tool chest and workbench on the second floor of a block of flats in North London which had no lift!

Now housed at the Trust’s Museum Store in Berkhamsted, the tool chest in particular is an absolute gem containing tools that have been lovingly cared for as well as examples of Edward’s carving. There’s even a little motto on the inside of the lid which was placed there by his mother. It reads:

Sloth like rust consumes

Faster then labour wins

While the used key is always bright

God helps them that helps themselves.

Lost time is never found again.

Edward Sammes was born in Chipping Ongar in Essex in 1883, the son of John (“Jack”) and Alice Sammes. The family moved to the village Bovingdon in 1887 in order to run the Wheatsheaf beerhouse (still there today). As with many Victorian couples, Jack and Alice produced quite a few children two daughters Emma and Alice and five sons including John who helped his father run the beerhouse and Edward.

In the collection we have a pewter mug which was apparently used at The Wheatsheaf. It serves no practical purpose now because it has a big hole in it which was caused by an incendiary bomb that hit the family’s house in Hendon during the Second World War.

We also have an account book which shows the pub’s

weekly takings for the period 1887-1892 – ie the time

when Jack Sammes was there. The takings tend to be the highest during the months of August and September and this was probably because those were the harvest months when agricultural labourers had a few more pennies in their pocket. The highest weekly takings shown in the book were during the week of 30 August 1891 when they took £10 l0s 5 1/2d. The book also shows the accounts for Jack’s side-line business of painting and decorating.

There are many items in the collection which relate to the family’s time in Bovingdon. including an invitation card for the village celebration of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee and a photograph of Edward and other pupils of Bovingdon School in 1890.

When Edward reached the age of 16 (in 1899) he became apprenticed to Robert Smith of Hemel Hempstead at a cost of £20 for training as a cabinet maker. He obtained his indentures five years later. In 1903, Edward’s father died suddenly at the age of 58 and the family moved to Oxford Villa in St John’s Road, Boxmoor. Edward continued working for Mr Smith until 1906 but soon afterwards set up on his own with a workshop on the corner of Kingsland Road and Wharf Road. He set up a business as a cabinet maker, furniture restorer and commercial photographer.

For his photography, he had no special premises nor studio but used the box room over the front door for day work and the scullery for developing and printing after the family had gone to bed. Most of the postcards in the collection date from the period 1905-1914 so you could say that the golden period of photography as far as Edward was concerned was in fact the Edwardian period. This was true throughout the whole country – the period 1900 to 1914 was the golden period for postcards as they were the most widely used form of communication before telephones became the norm. Edward’s postcards were of the standard size, the size used by most photographers since 1899 and each one would have been individually printed hence their rarity.

Edward used a “Junior Sanderson” quarter plate camera manufactured by Houghton’s throughout his career. He was commissioned by people to take pictures of their loved ones. Many of these portraits were never intended to be posted and so they don’t have post marks on them. His camera captured every period of a person’s life from birth to death. Edward also photographed people’s houses, pets, cars, businesses, local clinics and hospital parades.

When the First World War began in 1914, Edward moved to Hendon as he worked as a supervisor at the Aircraft Manufacturing Company at Colindale in the section producing wooden components of aircraft. During this period his main contact with Boxmoor was his visits whilst courting Dorothy Ella Sharp (known as Ella) who was originally from Berkhamsted but later lived in the Dell on Roughdown Common. They were married in 1917 at St John’s Church. They then lived for a couple years in Hendon and in 1920 their only child, Ted was born. They moved back to Boxmoor shortly afterwards together with their baby son.

Edward was also very interested and involved in local politics and in particular with the Hemel Hempstead Labour Party. During the period of 1905 to 1931 he was at various times the Honorary Secretary, the Chairman and Vice-President of the Hemel Hempstead Labour Party. He was also an agent during the elections of 1922, 1924, 1929 and 1931. He even helped to establish the Hemel Hempstead Co-operative Society in 1906 and served on its management and educational committees.

When the family came back to Boxmoor they moved to 129 Horsecroft Road which they rented from James Loosley, a retired butcher of St John’s Road at a cost of just under £4 a month. In theory, this looked to be an ideal move because the house also had a workshop at the back. However, things quickly turned sour as life for the Sammes family was becoming a hard struggle to make ends meet. After the First World War, postcards had lost their popular appeal. People began to use the telephone and postcards became more expensive for the photographer to produce – the cost of paper increased and there was an increase in the postage rate from halfpenny to a penny. In such a climate, the Sammes family soon fell behind with the rent and by September 1927 things had got so desperate that the family arranged for Walter Greey the auctioneer of Hemel Hempstead to hold an auction and sell off all their possessions. We are lucky enough to have a copy of the poster in the collection. Basically, they were planning to sell everything they owned – pillows, beds, Windsor chairs, books, tools, the work bench, chest of drawers. Fortunately, at the eleventh hour, a kindly friend loaned the family enough to pay off their debts and the sale was ‘cancelled.

In 1928, Mr Loosely took proceedings against Edward Sammes at the County Court in St Albans for owing him £31 in rent and not vacating the premises. Edward was taken to court again in February of that year and by March, he removed some of his possessions out of the premises and the family moved temporarily to an address near Boxmoor Station. It was during this move that all his negatives were lost. Not long after in December the family moved to Hendon.

It was in Hendon that Edward and his wife spent the rest of their life. His interest in politics continued as he was a founder member of the Hendon South Labour Party and acted as an agent for its first candidate. He still remained active in the local co-operative movement and was also one time editor of the “Hendon Citizen”. He died in April 1969 at the age of 85. During his relatively short period of commercial photography he achieved a legacy of over 200 photographs of this area. We are very lucky that Ted Sammes kept his father’s collection intact as it provides quite literally, a “snapshot” of what life was like in Edwardian Dacorum. The Dacorum Heritage Trust, in particular, is fortunate that Ted donated this wonderful collection with us before he died and for that reason the names of Edward and Ted Sammes will continue to be remembered with great fondness by people in Dacorum.

Joan Hands, wife of the Chair of the Dacorum Museum Trust, attended the evening and presented a copy of the “Book of Boxmoor” to HADAS on behalf of her husband Roger as Ted had contributed a chapter to the book.

Gerrard Roots, Curator of Church Farmhouse Museum, Hendon has now prepared some 120 exhibitions at the Museum, the first being HADAS’s, Pinning Down the Past. This was planned by Brigid Grafton Green and Ted Sammes. He and Ted did not always see eye to eye and there were some “lively” exchanges of views. One Man’s Archaeology was another of Ted’s successful displays. In the 1980s Ted wanted to do an exhibition on the history of the Labour Party, a cause close to his heart, but they didn’t do it much to Gerrard’s regret. Ted always arrived at the Museum with lots of bags but would never reveal what was in them. Discussing his excursions over the years to Spain, Malta and Turkey, Ted revealed “1 think that without HADAS I would not have visited these places”. Gerrard recalled how Ted, having battled with one committee or another and arriving at an impasse, saying “What can one man do?” Well, according to Gerrard, he did an astonishing amount!

Brian Boulter of Maidenhead spoke of Ted as a friend and colleague; they met when Brian joined Weston Research in Dagenham in 1954. Ted began work as a lab boy with H W Neville’s at Acton, and his father went with him to the interview. When they said how much money he would receive, with a review at the end of a year, his father said he wanted it in writing. Soon after, when the firm would have liked to pay him more, they couldn’t because the pay rate was in writing! His job was testing flour and he worked at Walthamstow and King’s Cross, possibly attending Acton Tech. At the outbreak of war Ted joined the Army and volunteered for a hush-hush project as a radar mechanic because of his scientific experience, albeit food technology – but where he was posted there was no radar! Re-trained in radio, he went to Naples when Vesuvius erupted.

After the war, Ted’s firm was bought out and they moved first to Dagenham, then to new labs in Chessington a couple of years later, then finally to Taplow where, after years of commuting, Ted came to live. His job latterly involved visiting watermills and windmills, an interest which spilled into his private life. giving an inspiring talk on mills to HADAS following the AGM in May 1995.

Brian got to know Ted gradually and, learning of his interest in local history, introduced him to the Maidenhead Archaeological Society. He also became involved in the Maidenhead Civic Society who set up a Museum which Ted had lobbied for which despite a lease on premises for only six months was very successful.

Pam Taylor, ex Borough Archivist and HADAS member, knew Ted from the 1980s when he visited the Borough Archive. She explained that he had a great sense of where things fitted in. He also had a “chip on his shoulder’ and put on an irascible front. HADAS wanted at that time to produce an archaeological history up to 1500. Everyone queued up to do the prehistoric and Roman, not the medieval, so Ted and Pam set to work on the medieval section but experienced a conflict between archaeology and history. The resulting publication is of course, the HADAS standard A Place in Time. However, Ted and Pam emerged from this collaboration as friends. He didn’t bear grudges – although he was bitter towards organisations and how they just didn’t work. In Ted’s last month’s Pam only saw him a couple of times, and recalled visiting his home to collect some items and records for the Archive. She was impressed by the organisation of his attic – the place where the majority of us throw things into heaps. There was a library of items carefully sorted and, although he was not fit enough to ascend the steps, he was carefully explaining the correct angle of drop for the boxes coming out of the loft. We could understand how Pam’s one regret was not having had time for more visits.

HADAS Chairman, Andrew Selkirk, first knew of Ted because of the Prehistoric Society book Discovering South East England. Ted directed excavations at Church End in 1973/74 and the exhibition Pinning Down the Past. Andrew went down to Maidenhead, and wrote a four-page account of the excavation because Ted published the objects rather than the excavation itself.

In 1994 Ted was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries; a worthy body formed in 1717 Acceptance of a nomination is decided by the black ball system, the nearest thing these days to a public hanging. If you get six white balls you are okay, but when Ralph Merrifield put Ted’s name up there were no black balls whatsoever.

At the end of the evening there was time to look at the displays put together by Sheila Woodward, Dorothy Newbury and Tessa Smith, to raise a glass and chat a while. But when Ted’s portrait, which had overlooked the evening’s affairs, slipped onto its face – we understood he had had enough and it was time to go home. Dorothy Newbury has asked for the Society’s thanks to go to all who helped prepare beforehand and on the night.

 

Members’ News

Congratulations to Danny and Helen Lampert who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last month. They joined HADAS in its very early years and have been active members ever since.

Following hard on their heels are Arthur and Vera Till who recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Those who have excavated with Arthur will not be surprised to learn his wedding day was on 1 April!

Mary O’Connell will be entering hospital in Bristol, near her daughter, for a hip replacement in June. We send our best wishes and look forward in due course to a resumption of one of the most popular events of the HADAS calendar, Mary’s annual London walk and visit.

At the time of writing, Dorothy Newbury is resting after a minor operation on her legs and no doubt will be on the fully-active list long before her doctor would wish.

 

Our lecture season starts again in November and at last our booking problems with Barnet Council have been resolved, writes Dorothy Newbury (Programme Secretary). The Drawing Room on the ground floor of Avenue House has been booked for the second Tuesday of each lecture month until 2003. Special thanks must be given to June Porges for organising our speakers, often providing refreshments for the long distance ones, and to Vikki O’Connor for relieving June from the job of “coffee lady”. We should also thank “the boys” for arranging the projector, screen, tables and the bookstall. The change to lecture start time of 8.00pm with coffee afterwards is working well but please remember we must vacate the room by 10.00pm promptly with all cups returned to the back table.

 

HADAS Annual Archaeology Weekend 29 – 30 July (revised date)

This weekend is dedicated to experimental pot-firing at College Farm, Fitzalan Road, Finchley. Volunteers are needed to advise and/or participate in this high-profile event especially those with experience in any aspects of clay- working, pot-making, decorating and kiln-firing. There will be other events on the weekend which will need supervising so please contact Bill Bass on 020 8449 5666 if you have some time to spare between now and the end of July or on the weekend itself.

 

The Bricks of Brockley Hill                                                             by Brian McCarthy

 

As reported in the February Newsletter, Peter Nicholson and I have been attending the Museum of London Specialist Services Laboratories at Eagle Wharf Road to learn how to identify the ceramic building material (CBM) that was collected from the Brockley Hill fieldwalk in the summer of 1998. The grant from English Heritage is to cover the cost of our instruction, the supervision of our earlier work and the eventual write-up of the results for publication.

To date we have spent five full days together at Eagle Wharf Road which we thought was all that had been paid for. However, it seems that because we came together each time, MoLAS, by some peculiar arithmetic, has worked out that we are entitled to another one and a half days. So far we have worked through virtually all the boxes of samples that Bill Bass transported to MoLAS for us and now we are ready to deal with the remainder.

Our instructor is Dr Ian Betts (who lives in the Borough of Barnet) and is the head of the CBM section. Under his watchful eye, we have been going through each bag for each 2 metre square, one piece at a time. We first look at the sample through the binocular microscope and identify the fabric type by comparison with those in the MoLAS type library, Every clay has a different chemical content and, after firing, has an individual physical appearance which can be seen in the microscope. In the main, most of our Roman samples consist of four different types – all similar – and it is assumed that they all originate from different clay pits in and around the Brockley Hill kilns. We now have a set of our own type samples so that work done locally will be assessed to agreed national types.

After identification by type, the samples are weighed, measured and special features noted and all recorded on a separate form for each 2m square. The final decision is whether to retain or throw away and the usual course is the latter, unless there is something different or unusual about it. So far we have seen Roman tegulae, imbrex and brick and, in addition, a considerable quantity of post-medieval peg tile, pantile and brick. These too are fabric typed, weighed, assessed, recorded and retained or thrown.

Much work remains to be done and we hope to do it at Avenue House or elsewhere, involving as many people as possible. However, we have found that recognition of type samples is a slow and laborious process so it is going to take quite a lot of time. If you are interesting in acquiring a new skill, we hope to organise some weekday or weekend sessions in the near future.

Finally, Ian Betts, who we cannot thank enough, has suggested that he comes to us for our next session to help sort out any problems and keep us on the right road. That will leave the last half day to be devoted to drawing it all together at the end.

We have found it to be a fascinating and illuminating experience with friendly and helpful people. Hopefully, we will be able to pass on our knowledge in an equally amiable way.

The “C” Team: Peter Nicholson has already set up his “B” team comprising himself and two others, and is working one or two afternoons a week at Avenue House. In turn, these two are just about ready to work on their own. However, we need to get a “C” team going as soon as possible. Peter and Brian will spend a few sessions instructing two new people to get this going. This could be arranged for a weekday or Saturday. Please contact Vikki O’Connor (020 8361 1350) if you are interested. We are keen to get the processing finished before this winter.

 

HADAS project at Barnet Gate, Arkley

Following our recent resistivity survey at the Meadow at Barnet Gate off Hendon Wood Lane, permission was obtained from the Countryside Officer of Barnet Council to undertake trial-trenching in the areas where anomalies were noted. Work will have commenced over the Bank Holiday weekend but we fully anticipate continuing with weekday and weekend working for a short time. If you are interested in participating in this project, please contact members of the team.

 

A return to Sunninges Grove Philip Bailey

The story of Sunninges continues, but first there is a correction to the item received from Brian Warren in the May Newsletter, page 3. The second line should have included the word “not” as follows.- “He (Philip Bailey) suggests that “Sunningas Grove” was not within “Enfield Chase”, but if . .” Philip is aware of this omission and his follow-up below allows for it,

As Brian Warren quite rightly pointed out in his article in the last Newsletter (349) Sunninges Grove did lay within the Manor of Barnet in the 16th and 17th centuries according to the boundary descriptions of the Enfield Chase. I was aware of this but felt that since I was looking at the history of the grove in the 13th century and earlier, I did not feel that this had much bearing on its position in relation to the boundary at that time, particularly since as Brian pointed out, it was so close to the boundary in the 17th century that it actually formed part of it.

My assumption that the grove was outside Barnet was admittedly a bit misleading but was based on the somewhat confusing 13th century references to the grove. In my article I was simply pointing out the existence of the grove, and have little understanding of medieval land transactions or for that matter Latin, in which some of the original references appear, so don’t claim fully to understand the situation in the 13th century. I assumed that by “acquired’ it was meant “purchased” but since the grove was twice acquired by the Abbey in the 13th century I have come to the conclusion that it doesn’t. I therefore had assumed that when the reference in Cass says that the grove was acquired by the Abbey from the widow of Henry Frowick that this was the point at which the grove was included within the Manor of Barnet.

Since Sunninges Grove seems (at least to me) to have had a confusing early history I list below all the references to it that I am aware of. There does however seem little doubt that both Henry de Frowick of Old Fold and also the Priory Hospital of St John Jerusalem (in Clerkenwell) both held the grove at different times. If it seems strange that Henry Frowick held the grove when his land was some distance away north of Barnet, it must be equally strange that it was also held by the Priory of St John who locally held Friern Barnet to the west of Barnet when Sunninges Grove was on Barnet’s eastern boundary.

On the point of Moneland, I suspect that Brian is right in thinking that it was next to Old Fold. There are several references in the manor rolls to land within Barnet Manor laying next to Old Fold, although they are more specifically positioned there, and I list those also below.

References to Sunninges, Moneland and Old Fold

c 1260-90        Item, adquisivit de Ysabella, relicta Henrici de Frowik, quandamlquendam gravam in Est Barnet quae

voatur “Sunninges grave”. (Also, acquired from Isabella, widow of Henry de Frowick a certain grove in East Barnet, that is called “Sunninges Grove.”) Gesta Abbatum EB by Cass pg 13, SM by Cass, pg 71.

1280    Richard Doget conceded and quit-claimed to the Lord Abbot 2d of annual rent which Henry de Frowick was

wont to pay him for a certain ditch of that grove which the Abbot has of the great hospital. (Cat Hill in East Barnet was formerly known as Doggetts Hill) Manor Rolls, translated version in Barnet Museum.

1260-90           Item, perquisivit de Fratre Joseph de Chauncy, Priore Hospitalis Jerusalem in Anglia, unam gravam quae

fuit Henrici Frowik in Barnet. (Also, acquired from Brother Joseph de Chauncy, Prior of the Jerusalem Hospital in England, a grove that was Henry of Frowick’s in Barnet. Gesta Abbatum SM by Cass, pg 71.

1272 “Moneland” 2 acres and a house next to the land of Henry de Frowick. Barnet Rolls, translated version. Regarding Old Fold, from Barnet Rolls:

1262 …1 acre of land next to the Old Fold

1272 …Robert Smalhak renders an acre of land next to the “Old Fold”

1291 …Rosa Geoffreys surrendered an acre of land which lies next to “le elde folde”

1291 …Richard le Rede surrendered a messuage [house] lying up to Oulde Folde. (Richard le Rede appears in the Rolls in 1290.)

1292 …an acre of land under Olde Foulde

1347 Et una acre terra jacet sub le Elde Folde, inter terram quondam Agretis le Rok et terram quondam Ricardi Spryngold, et quam acram idem Ricardis quondam tenuit ad voluntatem domini per virgarn. (And one acre of land lying under “Le Elde Folde” between land formerly Agretis le Rok and land formerly Richard Springold …etc.

Also perhaps relevant to Old Fold:

1317 John de la Penne Barnet Subsidy Rolls, Cass, pg 15.

1344 William atte Penne (de La Barnet.) Forged deeds of lands at Barnet and a messuage at South Mimms. This led to a trial by assize at St Albans. Gesta Abbatum SM by Cass, pg 18,19.

 

Avenue House Consultative Conference, 10th  April 2000                        by Andy Simpson

 

This was a follow-on conference to that held last year and previously reported in Newsletter No. 342, September, 1999, which considered the future of the 10.2 acre Avenue House Estate, Finchley, both House and grounds (excluding Hertford Lodge) where HADAS rents the garden room as an office and library/archives store. The writer of this report again attended as HADAS representative. It was reassuring to see that Council bureaucracy maintains its traditional

standards – my formal invitation arrived the morning

after the conference.

The same user groups as last time were represented, including Friends of Avenue House and the Finchley Society. Research undertaken by the existing 9-member Avenue House Steering Group on the estates’ future management was set out in a proposals document, duly discussed at the meeting, which was chaired by Councillor Susette Palmer, Chair of the Steering Group, which was set up by the Council to develop the arrangements and report back.. The new Estate Manager, Anne Denison, appointed in January, was

present – a positive step, as promised by the Council at

the last meeting. She is presently working on a business plan for the estate, which it is hoped will be running independently through devolved management by June 2000 as a self-supporting limited company run by a management committee at arm’s length from Council control.

It is intended that the new body will have a constitution and officers, through whom it will act. This management body will include one Council member from each of the main political parties, ‘casual user’ and ‘leaseholder’ representatives, Barnet Voluntary Services Council, the Finchley Society, Friends of Avenue House Estate and Friends of Parks groups, and up to three co-opted specialist advisors such as Kew Gardens. The association would elect its own chairperson and have the power to appoint sub­committees to cover staffing, budget etc. Meetings would be in public, with the Council as Corporate Trustee informed of all decisions. A Council officer may act as Treasurer to carry out the managing group’s instructions if finance was available and they corresponded with the agreed operating plan. Council grants could be applied for and a twice-yearly public forum will be held to review and comment on the Annual Report, and once for consultation on the Operating Plan and Budget, prior to their submission to the Council. The committee must comply with all charity rules and would set all facility hire charges; the Council will be entitled to use rooms, on payment of a fair charge. After two years operation the position will be reviewed. As it will remain as Corporate Trustee, the Council will require to see and approve the annual operating plan, budget and accounts and Annual Report to the Charity Commission and reserves the right to intervene in the event of financial mismanagement or similar problems which could endanger the future of the estate. As stressed before, the estate needs to work within the bounds of the Stephens Trust and there is no endowment to meet initial running costs such as staff salaries. There may be a public appeal to raise back up funding. The issue of safeguarding staff pensions is under investigation as an admitted body under the Borough of Barnet Pension Fund. The Council expects any new managing body and the estate to operate without Council subsidy.

This was purely a consultative conference – the

elections to the management body of representatives of interested groups had yet to occur at the time of writing. The Council hoped to leave this largely to the groups concerned by suggesting they meet up and select their candidates. There was some discussion as to who should qualify; I had to remind the meeting that HADAS were both a resident group and one of some 40 casual user’ groups and organisations through their hire of rooms for lectures and other meetings, though not enough to qualify for the proposed ‘casual user’ qualification level of 10 meetings per year. I again had to point out that as leaseholding residents we were present in the Garden Room most Weekends even if not hiring a function room 10 times a year. The ‘qualifying level’ will hopefully be set lower in the end.

It was suggested that expert groups such as English Heritage (who did not take up the previous offer of a seat on the Steering Group), The National Trust or Kew Gardens might be co-opted to the committee for specialist advice. The Council had held talks with the Hertfordshire Building Development Trust as possible managers of the estate but this possibility was not proceeded with, but contact would be maintained in an advisory capacity.

A questionnaire on the Steering Group’s proposals was circulated; HADAS have completed and submitted theirs, generally agreeing with the proposals but insistent that the status and rights of established local user groups such as ourselves who provide services to the Borough and local residents must be protected, and not be lost to the interests of commercial organisations. Further developments are awaited.

 

Governing London: lessons from 1000 years                     by Ann Saunders

 

On 11 April, about seventy historians and other interested individuals gathered at the Museum of London to hear a series of lectures on the governance of the capital. The speakers were:

Dr Derek Keene (Centre for Metropolitan History) Roots and Branches of Power 1000-1300

Dr Caroline Barron (Royal Holloway) Shaping Civic Government 1300-1550

Dr Ian Archer (Keble College, Oxford) The City and the Challenge of Metropolitan Growth 1550-1650 Dr Vanessa Harding (Birkbeck College, Landon) Parishes and Powers in the Metropolis 1650-1750

Dr Roland Quinault (North London University) From National to World Metropolis: Governing London 1750-1850 Dr John Davis (Queen’s College, Oxford) New Challenges and New Authorities 1850-1920

Professor Ken Young (Queen Mary and Westfield College, London) Ideals and Reality 1920-1986

Dr Tony Travers (London School of Economics and Political Science) Abolition and Reconstruction 1986-2000

The standard of scholarship and lecturing was high; happily, all the texts are to be published in a future issue of The

London Journal. The discussion was spirited if – as one might expect – inconclusive. None of the mayoral candidates

was present, as far as your reporter could tell. Never mind. A good time was had by all, and before you read this, we shall have a mayor. Wonder what will happen next?

City of London Archaeological Society at the Tower of London

The COLAS National Archaeology Weekend (22-23 July from 9.00am till 4.30pm.at the Tower of London) will have many hands-on exhibits as well as foreshore collecting. COLAS would welcome assistance from HADAS members with finds identification skills who can help at this event.  Please contact Vice Chair, Carol Bentley.

 

Other Societies Events Compiled                                         by Eric Morgan

Amateur Geological Society Tuesday 13 June at 8.00pm.

Talk: The Pleasures & Pitfalls of Writing Geology for the General Public (Susanna Van Rose) The Parlour, St Margaret’s Church, Victoria Avenue, Finchley, N3. (£1.00 donation)

Barnet & District Local History Society Wednesday 14 June at 8.00pm.

Talk: Bandstands – Parks and Seaside (with music) (Paul Taylor)

Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road, Barnet.

Willesden Local History Society Wednesday 21 June at 8.00pm.

Annual General Meeting.

Willesden Gallery, Willesden Green Library, High Road, NW10. (£1.00 donation)

Hampstead Scientific Society Thursday 22 June at 8.15pm.

Annual General Meeting followed by Scientific Entertainment.

St John’s Church, Church Row, Hampstead, NW3 (Wine & Cheese £2.00)

Finchley Society Thursday 29 June at 8.00pm.

Members’ Evening including Barnet at War by Percy Reboul. Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N3.

 

CBA Mid Anglia Summer Conference

Saturday 10 June, 10.00am – 4.30pm at the Plinston Hall, Broadway, Letchworth, Hertfordshire. Morning Session: The Treasure Act, 1996

Afternoon Session: The Voluntary Recording of Portable Antiquities

Tickets £10.00 available from Mr D Hills, 34 Kingfisher Close, Wheathampstead, Herts, AL4 8JJ.
Cheques payable to CBA Mid Anglia Region.

 

Exhibitions & Festivals

Manor Park Museum until 8 July.

Made at New Canton: the story of Bow Porcelain 1750-1776.

Romford Road, London, E12.

This exhibition commemorates the 250th anniversary of the factory which was situated on the banks of the River Lea near the Bow Flyover and Stratford High Street. The exhibition will be open from 10 00am to 5.00pm on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and from 1.00pm to 8.00pm on Thursdays.

Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution 3-15 June (See May Newsletter for times)

Highgate 2000: A Journey through Time.

Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution, 11 South Grove, London, N6.

Included in the exhibition are several Roman pots from the Highgate Wood kilns and flints from the same site on loan from the Museum of London. HADAS members might wish to compare these with the Brockley Hill and West Heath finds respectively.

Church Farmhouse Museum 3-18 June.

Twin Towns Exhibition with ceramics, art and photographs from Barnet’s twin towns in Israel, Germany and Cyprus.

East Finchley Community Festival Sunday 18 June.

At Cherry Tree Woods, opposite East Finchley Underground Station.

East Barnet Community Festival Saturday & Sunday 1-2 July.

At Oak Hill Park, N20. HADAS will have a display and book stall at this event.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Residents’ Association

The Hampstead Garden Suburb Festival 2000 will run during the month of July, with a special day planned for Saturday 8 July on and around Central Square. HADAS members from all over the Borough are welcome to help with the HADAS stand (contact Vikki O’Connor on 020 8361 1350) or just come along to browse.

 

Newsletter-567-June-2018

By | HADAS, Latest Newsletter, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

No. 567 JUNE 2018 Edited by Melvyn Dresner

HADAS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The AGM is on Tuesday 12th June at 7.30pm and the relevant reports and papers have been circulated with the MAY Newsletter. Please take the time to read them and come to your Society’s AGM meeting, it is important. If you are unable to attend, please send your apologies to the Secretary before the meeting.

The current Committee is rather depleted in numbers and the Society cannot exist without the volunteers who deal with all the administrative work, accounts, organising field and digging activities, outings and responding to numerous enquiries. In earlier days there were a number of members, not necessarily Committee members, who were happy to research and arrange a day outing, but unfortunately these members are no longer able to do this, or have moved away or passed away. Your current officers have been in their positions for nearly ten years or in the case of Don and Jim 15 and 14 years respectively. The long outing this year will be the 10th one organised by Jim and Jo. It has also become more difficult to find members willing to do write ups for lectures, which is really a once a year contribution. The current people, Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary and Membership Secretary took over these positions when they were relatively young, in their 60s, and retired from full time employment, but we are all much older now and do not have quite the same stamina.

Your Society needs more volunteers to help spread the load as well as thinking about all the roles needed to run the Society. Without that the Society will die.

There will be followed by Jacqui Pearce giving a talk about the Lant Street excavation (undertaken by Birkbeck students in 1999) which the Finds Group have been studying again this year.

Upcoming Dig Bill Bass

HADAS are planning an excavation in Avenue House Gardens from Saturday 23rd June to Sunday 1st July. The site is the Water Tower, Laundry and Greenhouse complex adjacent to East End Road. We have dug here a couple of times previously and this will be a continuation of the project to define the limits of the complex and the nature of it. All HADAS members are welcome, further details in due course. Contact: Bill Bass bill_bass@yahoo.com.

HADAS DIARY

9th and 10th June from 10.30am – 4.30pm, Free Entry: HADAS will be at the Barnet Medieval Festival (Barnet Museum) a living history camp; battle demos; medieval traders; archery and gunnery displays; Battle of Barnet reenactment; food stalls; children’s area; beer tent or two, Barnet Elizabethans Rugby Football Club, Byng Rd, Barnet.

Monday 17th to Friday 21st September 2018: Trip to East Anglia is full. There is a waiting list.

Tuesday 9th October 2018: Unrolling Egyptian Mummies in Victorian London by Gabriel Moshenska, Senior Lecturer in Public Archaeology, UCL

Tuesday 13th November 2018: The Rose – Shakespeare’s Secret Playhouse – a film made by Suzanne Marie Taylor, Anthony Lewis and Siegffried Loew-Walker. The documentary film will be introduced by one of the filmmakers Anthony Lewis. The film’s highlight is HADAS member Suzanne Marie Taylor’s interview with one of the world’s greatest and most respected actors-Ian McKellen, who speaks about his own personal experience during the 1989 Save the Rose Campaign when the Rose was partially excavated by the Museum of London. The film was premiered at Canada House, 2nd February 2017.

Lectures start at 7.45 for 8.00pm in the Drawing Room, Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Buses 13, 143, 326 & 460 pass close by, and it is five to ten minutes’ walk from Finchley Central Station (Northern Line). Tea/coffee and biscuits follow the talk.

Historic Environment Record Melvyn Dresner

Stuart Cakebread has one of the most important jobs in London’s archaeology as manager of Greater London Historic Environment Record, part of the Greater London Advisory Service, Historic England. He provided an overview of his career and development of the Historic Environment Record (HER) and his famously inebriated relative. He has held this job for 11 years. Before that he worked for 18 years for the National Trust in the south-west and south-east England. Cakebread explained how the HER (and its predecessors) had been an important part of planning and archaeology since the 1960s. These records are the responsibility of each county, except in London, where it is funded directly by central government. The earliest card index was developed in Oxfordshire in the 1940s. The original Sites and Monuments Records were a drawing together of County, Museum and other archives into one place. The advent of PPG16 in 1990 and preserving archaeology by recording accelerated the creation of such records. By the 1980s and 1990s, the card index began to be replaced by computer records. Terminology used varied from one county to another county for similar objects. The need for standardisation was based on three concepts: monument, event and source in the 2000s – “The Historic Environment: a force for our future” and “Power of Place: the future of the historic environment” set the scene for this change. The HER brought together the whole historic environment of landscape and built heritage into one record. In the 1970s, there was no London-wide record; it was under the control of such bodies as Greater London Council (GLC) and Museum of London. The GLC Historic Buildings Department had a particularly good record of buildings. By 1990s there were 65,000 records. The HER today covers all of London apart from the City of London and Southwark. He explained what they are working on now includes classifying information on a four-tier system across London: large major; major; minor and very minor inside and outside Archaeological Priority Areas. They are also working on the role of volunteers, recording people and event-based records such as the First World War or the Great Beer Flood of 1814. He told the story of his distant relative Jane Cakebread, renowned drunk, who was arrested more than 200 times under the Inebriates Act. Finally, he spoke of the new generation of software being developed by the Getty Conservation Institute and World Monument Fund’s Arches Project https://www.wmf.org/project/arches-project which provides open source web-based software to open heritage information to all – being piloted in Lincoln; launch May 2018 and can be applied more widely.

The Archaeology of First World War Roger Chapman

Mark Smith, who is a military museum curator and specialist in military medals, gave a lecture on the archaeology of the First World War, allowed members to handle material from both the First World War and Second World War including a piece of a Spitfire shot down over Woolwich, south-east London. He is a member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides and a regular expert on the BBC’s Antiques’ Roadshow. He presented stories from the First World War in an engaging and effective manner and from his extensive collection of battlefield artefacts circulated many objects round the audience, which members were thrilled to handle. He started with a gruesome story of bullet wounds. During the Boer War bullet wounds from the German made Mauser rifle frequently passed straight through British soldiers. Medics treated the entry and exit wounds with disinfectant, dressed them and the soldier went away to recover. The same Mauser rifles and bullets were being used on the Western Front in 1914 and Medics treated them in the same way and yet four days later the soldiers started to die. The cause of death was soon identified. In the heat and dry of the South African sun the bullets carried no infection. In the damp, the mud and manure, the fields of northern France farmland, the bullet took dirt and infection deep inside the soldiers’ bodies leading to their death. The solution was to use a rifle rod, a three-foot-long metal cleaning rod, dipped in disinfectant by the medic and passed through the soldiers wound from entry to exit to clear out any of the muck. Mark illustrated this point with a rifle rod he had found on a trip to France and to make clear to his audience that before making the cup of tea at the end of the lecture they should, after handling the objects from the battlefield, be sure to wash their hands. Mark explained that he first visited the battlefields in 1986. He didn’t realise that metal detecting was banned at the time. He went with his girlfriend and while she went off to have a wee in the woods he started to metal detect – finding scraps of metal on every sweep of the detector. His girlfriend came back with two steel helmets. There was so much material of destruction used in such a concentrated area over four years that there is still a massive amount to be found lying in the fields. Indeed, the French Army have estimated that it will take them 600 years to clear the battlefields of the material used. Much of that material is dangerous. Even today six people a year, on average, are killed fiddling around with live ammunition. Mark took the audience through the early months of the war explaining the Schlieffen Plan, which sent German troops around the French fortress line by violating the neutrality of Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg to drive into northern France. The British Expeditionary Force marched to Mons – the join between the Belgium and French Armies and near here John Parr (of North Finchley and the Middlesex Regiment) became the first British soldier to die. He is buried in the St Symphorien Military Cemetery some six paces away from George Ellison the last British Soldier to die in the war. The closeness of the first and last burials is symbolic of the concentration of this war in such a small area. Throughout numerous stories of a similar nature that Mark used to illustrate this enthralling lecture he circulated more objects from the battlefield including the following: bayonets; High Explosive Shells (not live, fortunately); three pronged spikes used to maim horses and men; and cap badges from many British regiments. Mark took us through the battles of the Marne, the Somme, Thiepval, Verdun and many more ending with the final German surge in early 1918 and their retreat and final surrender on the 11th hour of 11th day of the 11th Month 1918. To finish Mark led us back to Britain but this time to the Second World War and the Spitfire that crashed outside Woolwich Barracks in 1940. At 5.51pm on Saturday 31st August 1940, thirteen Spitfires of No.603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron took off from their base at Hornchurch, on a defence patrol. Over London they engaged Messerschmitt Bf 109E’s of Jagdgeschwader 3 and in the ensuing dogfight Spitfire, Serial No.X4273 was either in collision with, or shot down by Lieutenant Walter Binder, of 1 Staffel Jagdgeschwader 3. The pilot, Flying Officer Robin McGregor Waterston, was possibly already dead when his Spitfire crashed at Repository Road, near the Royal Artillery Barracks, on Woolwich Common, at 6.30pm. Through extensive research Mark had pieced together the story and following its broadcast on TV he received, a year or so later from Canada, a letter from the relatives of the guard on duty that day at Woolwich Barracks which also contained a piece from the Spitfire with, written on it, a short explanation from the Guard about how he came by it. Mark circulated the piece of the Spitfire.

Freedom Pass Outing Harriet Sogbodjor & Terry Dawson

To encourage members to engage with London’s history and archaeology Harriet Sogbodjor and Terry Dawson gives their account of this May’s Freedom Pass outing to the London’s newest museum, London Mithraeum. The morning was spent at the historic Guildhall, which has been the centre of civic government for over 1,000 years. First we visited the remains of the Roman Amphitheatre, which was discovered in 1988 beneath the Guildhall Yard. Unlike most amphitheatres it was built within the city walls. It had seating for 6,000 to 10,000 people and was built in the 2nd century to replace an earlier wooden theatre. The Guildhall Art Gallery houses an interesting collection of late 18th and 19th century paintings. The Guildhall itself contains many 19th century monuments – as the policy of the Common Council of the City of London was to erect monuments to honour national figures of outstanding achievement. After lunch we walked to the London Mithraeum in the Bloomberg ‘Space.’ At ground level there is a large wall display of finds from the site, including the earliest example of a writing tablet found in London, which was referred to in Dr Roger Tomlin’s recent HADAS lecture. By clicking on a picture of one of the finds, on a digital interactive tablet lent for the visit, one could learn more about the object and a swipe lead to further information about that type of object. On the mezzanine floor there were displays providing more information about the Mithraeum, the God Mithras and Mithraism. This included a map showing sites around the Roman Empire where pictures or statues of Mithras slaying the sacred ox had been found. These included sites in Italy, Syria and Germany, as well as in York and London. Finally we entered the Temple of Mithras, 7 metres below modern pavements. We saw a recreation of the Temple as it was on the last day of excavation in 1954. Through haze, light and sound the experience of attending a ceremony in the Temple was evoked before the lights came on for us to explore the ruined Temple. We learned that women did not actually attend the Temple when it was in use. We would like to thank Deidre and Audrey for organising a great day out. Sadly only 5 other HADAS members were there to experience it.
Photos: Head of Mithras (left), first written record of London (left) and sole of a Roman shoe (right)

Italian style in the British Neolithic Samantha Brummage

I was born in Hillingdon, I grew up in Ruislip, and I now live in Uxbridge, Middlesex. My Father is from the northern Italian mountains, and my Mother from the west London suburbs via the East End. My choice of PhD research could have been Roman archaeology, the Italian Renaissance or even the Etruscans or Terramare of the Po Valley, but I decided to keep it matrilineal and closer to home with the slightly less exotic Mesolithic-Neolithic of the Colne Valley, West London and Western Home Counties (depending on your perspective!). My project is using Historic Environment Records as a gazetteer of published and unpublished excavations, and chance finds for the area, which falls roughly within what would have been the Colne Valley landscape between 8,500 and 2,200 BC. The range of material available in these archives is crucial for understanding early prehistoric life in Britain because it looks at patterns on a landscape scale; it involves studies of isolated finds, artefact scatters and pit clusters as much as house or monument plans or geographically bounded features. People travelled widely at this time and occupied a variety of places in diverse ways, and this is something that site-specific archaeology would have trouble picking up. A recent visit to the wonderful Spelthorne museum in Staines highlighted to me just how widely some people were moving, and the sorts of long-distance connections that were being established even then.

Photo:


Jadeite axe-head found by Mr Frank Wood on Staines Moor 1981

The moor itself has been common land since 1065 and has never been ploughed due to its low-lying position in the valley and resultant flooding. This axe could only have ever been picked up as a chance find. Apart from the specifics of this location, Neolithic axes don’t tend to be found very often in stratified deposits, and jade axes have most often been recovered from water. It has lost the vibrant green colour of some of the other axes found elsewhere in Britain but, according to research carried out by the French-led Projet Jade, it will have come from one of only two sources in the high Alpine region of Italy; the Mont Viso south-west of Turin, or the Mont Beigua near to Genoa. These axes were unlikely to have been made for practical purposes such as felling trees, but their exact purpose is open to interpretation. Similar axes from these sources have turned up all over Britain, from Scotland to Canterbury to Dorset, and in several locations within the central and greater London area. This brings my northern Italian and north-west London ancestors into contact even earlier than I had supposed! See the National Museums Scotland for more details on Projet Jade: https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/scottish-history-and-archaeology/stone-age-jade-from-the-alps/

Guernsey pre-historic and historic sites and happenings Sandra Claggett

Guernsey, nestling in the Channel Islands 30 miles west of Normandy so close to France and yet a part of Britain has a lot to offer and is full of history. Although it is only 12 miles long there is a lot is to see as well as beautiful bays, sunsets and food but I will concentrate on a few examples of the pre-history and history which is crammed into Guernsey.

The Prehistoric period
Starting from around 4,500 BC there are long mounds such as Les Fouaillages in L’Ancresse Common in the north of the island. The first phase dates back to this time and it is stated as one of the largest and earliest monuments in Europe. There were over 35,000 finds excavated from 1976, which are now in Guernsey museum in Candie Gardens, St Peter Port. Another early site is Le Dehus – a prehistoric passage grave about 10 meters in length dating from 3500 BC. It is amazing to go inside this monument and specially to see on one of the capstones which has a humanoid face with beard, arms, hands and what looks like a strung bow carved into the roof as in Photo 1, below. There are also standing stones such as Castel Menhir dating from the late Neolithic 2,500BC and La Gran’mère du Chimquiere from the same period. Both are shaped into the female form; the latter has two phases as it is thought the Romans later modified the face to be framed by curls. Today she is still revered by locals who put garlands around her neck for good luck before weddings and sometimes place coins on her head.

The Romans
There were Roman settlements and a Romano Celtic or Gallo-Roman ship that sank because of a fire onboard around AD 280 that has been partly preserved. Coins found on board are used to date the sinking. The fire burned the deck, which then collapsed into the hold containing over half a tonne of pine tar. This would burn with a black smoke and be visible for miles and when the ship sunk the tar set into a solid lump trapping over 1,000 objects. A reconstruction is shown in Photo 2.
Photo 1: Le Dehus – a prehistoric passage grave; and Photo 2: Romano Celtic or Gallo-Roman ship

Castle Cornet
This guards the main bay of St Peter Port and dates from 800 years ago although the site had earlier Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery remains. A plan of Castle Cornet is shown in Photo 3, below. It has had a long and interesting history and I will mention a few instances here. King John lost the Duchy of Normandy in 1204 but kept the strategically important Channel Islands and since then there has been a fear of invasion by the French. Our history of war with France includes The Hundred Years’ War and during this in 1338 the French managed to hold the castle while it was sieged for seven years. The French also invaded in 1372 and the Guernsey militia fought against them. A later gruesome story is of religious intolerance. The protestant martyrs Catherine Cauches and her two daughters Perotine Massey and Guillemine Guilbert burnt at the stake. Perotine’s husband, a protestant minister, had been banished in 1554 when Roman Catholic Mary I came to the throne. The women were accused of non-attendance at church and being found guilty they were burnt in 1556. While on the pyre Perotine gave birth to a boy child, which was saved but then ordered to be put back into the flames. During the English Civil War, the royalists captured the lieutenant governor colonel Russell and the three parliamentary commissioners for Guernsey, Jurats Peter de Beauvoir, Peter Carey and James de Havilland. The three commissioners were told that there was urgent news for them on board a ship called the George ship. Once on-board they were sent as prisoners to Castle Coronet where after being imprisoned for 43 days they cut a hole through the floor of their room and made three ropes from old musket match. They escaped despite being fired at by muskets and just before the governor of the castle had received a writ to execute them! There were six forts built on Guernsey, most from the eighteenth century. An example of the continual use and adaptation of these sites to current needs is Fort Grey. This was built on the ruins of an earlier castle in 1803 as part of the coastal defence against possible French attack. It had 12-14 guns protected by a 10-foot-thick wall. The Guernsey militia used the fort during World War I and during the German occupation in World War II as an anti-aircraft battery.

The First World War
The oldest air force squadron was formed in 1914 in Guernsey as No.1 Royal Navy air service and was renumbered 201-squadron on the formation of the air force in 1918. Although men and women joined the war effort from the beginning the island wanted to send its own regiment so the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry Regiment was formed in 1916. The regiment fought in the battle of Cambrai in 1917, a reconstruction is shown in Photo 4. During and after the war the cost of living on Guernsey rose steeply with many families managing on the pay sent by their soldier husbands or on an army widowers’ pension. A lot of men had been badly wounded during the war and were discharged back to the island, unfit for work.

 

Castle Cornet and Photo 4: reconstruction battle of Cambrai in 1917

The Second World War
This war had a different effect on the island as it was invaded and occupied for five years by the Germans. It was a difficult time with many families being separated. There is a very good occupation museum and the occupation is the time period to a new film out called the ‘Guernsey literary and potato peel pie Society’. Curfew was 9pm if the islanders were not inside they could be shot. People were very hardy and survived food deprivation, having meals of fried onion and substitute food including tea made from bramble leaves, coffee from acorns, sugar from beef syrup and flour from potatoes. There was a ban on swimming and fishing in case they used this opportunity to help the resistance somehow. Occasionally the rules were relaxed so that locals could include the fish in their diet. As well as suffering from the loss of freedom and food deprivation some were working behind the scenes with the resistance even if not actually fighting. One of my favourite passive resistance stories is of a flour machine imported from France, which had a deliberate fault in the electrical starter, which meant that it regularly failed melting the fuses. The Germans asked Mr Lambert a French electrical engineer to repair it promising 100kg of flour. He deliberately sabotaged it to ensure that the starter failed every two or three months so that the Germans would continue to call him in on a regular basis to fix it and he got paid in flour. People have lived on Guernsey for 12,000 years and nowadays Guernsey is a peaceful and popular tourist destination. It is well worth a visit, with lots of interest for archaeologists and historians as well as those seeking a relaxing break.

Brown Stout: the rise and fall of the “City of London Brewery” Melvyn Dresner

As part of a Community Lecture programme sponsored by Thames Tideway and organised by Thames Discovery Programme I gave a talk on the City of London Brewery. This is a summary of that talk.

As a member of Foreshore Research and Observation Group (FROG), I visit the foreshore at Cannon Street on a monthly basis observing erosion, deposition and exposure of archaeology on the foreshore. The most dramatic erosion is to the east of Cannon Street railway bridge. This is the site of the City of London Brewery, known as the Hour Glass Brewery, and during the early 19th century one of the greatest breweries in the world in terms of scale of production. On the foreshore today, we can see exposed wooden piles, coarse Victorian concrete and pipe work from the late 19th century brewery. We can also see evidence of much earlier water-supply in the form of elm water pipe below the level of the current wall. This material is exposed by erosion in the last 10 or so years and over the last 2-3 years is being fairly rapidly being eroded away, much of the early 20th century barge beds in this area has been washed away around 1.5 metres depth of material has disappeared. This erosion continues to expand in area under Cannon Street railway-bridge.
Photos: features on the foreshore

We know from documentary evidence that by the early 15th century there was brewing activity on site. Self-organisation of the brewers probably dates to the late 12th century to the Guild of Our Lady and St. Thomas Becket. The brewers were granted right to regulate their trade in 1406. This documentary evidence is supported by the archaeology of sites along the waterfront showing stone hearths/furnaces used for heating water for dyeing or brewing, see further reading below. Later in the 16th century, the site was associated with Henry Campion, who became Queen Elizabeth’s brewer. The area adjacent to the site was called the Steel Yard, which was the German trading community in London, also founded in the early 15th century. Today, Hanseatic Walk sits above the brewery site. We still find German stoneware on the foreshore today and that tells of trade across the southern North Sea and Novgorod in the eastern Baltic. By the Great Fire of London in 1666, there were 16 breweries around Thames Street that were destroyed in the fire, as well as the Brewers’ Hall. Brewing was re-established on site after the Great Fire and by the early 18th century, we see the development of London porter, and the development of stronger, Brown Stout, and for export, Russian Imperial Stout. The Calvert family came to dominate brewing from the 18th century through to the 19th century. London reached the zenith of porter production by 1823 with 1.8 million barrels with the Calvert family as the leaders; peak porter to coin a phrase. The Calvert family acquired the Hour Glass Brewery in 1759 making them London’s foremost brewers in 1760. They consolidated production in 1821 at the Hour Glass Brewery. By the 1850s they were eclipsed by other London brewers, such as Barclay Perkins directly opposite on the Southwark bank. In 1860, the City of London Brewery was formed to take over the Calvert’s Hour Glass brewery. By 1866, Cannon Street Station opened next to the brewery. During the 1860s the brewery invested in new technology such as refrigeration. The brewery was rebuilt in the 1880s. The existing river wall is all that remains of the last brewery. It is possible to see the base of the two towers at each end of the building facade, as well as lintels from the doors and windows. We can see pads where cranes would have been fitted; pipe-works; and the corbels that protected the structure from barges. By 1922, the Hour Glass brewery stopped brewing beer ending at 500 years of continuous brewing on the site. The last two decades of the building’s history was as a warehouse. And briefly during the 1930s, as Decca’s Thames Street recording studio from here: Django Reinhardt, Stefan Grappelli, George Formby, Peter Pears (his debut later leading to his collaboration with Benjamin Brittan) and BBC Symphony orchestra all recorded at the former brewery. German bombs hit the building in 1940 and 1941, with the building finally being demolished in 1942.

Further reading
L Fowler and A Mackinder, Medieval Haywharf to 20th-century brewery: excavations at Watermark Place, City of London, (MOLA Archaeology Studies Series 30), 2014
Lyn Pearson, The Brewing Industry, Brewery History Society for English Heritage, Feb. 2010
John Schofield, Lyn Blackmore and Jacqui Pearce, with Tony Dyson, London’s Waterfront 1100–1666: excavations in Thames Street, London, 1974–84, Archaeopress Archaeology, 2018

Birkbeck Archaeological Society: Training Day Bill Bass
Stephens House and Gardens in Finchley, East End Road, London N3 3QE
Birkbeck Archaeological Society (BAS) and current Birkbeck students at Avenue House

On the 24th March HADAS conducted a ‘Training Day’ on behalf of BAS, the idea being that not all students attending Birkbeck courses get a lot of ‘hands on’ experience of fieldwork such as, planning in ‘Archaeological Priority Areas’, finds processing, resistivity surveying and so on. As HADAS has a certain amount of experience in these matters it was thought a good idea to arrange a day where students could partake in and gain an insight into a variety of similar activities and learn about the activity of the society. Melvyn Dresner worked with BAS committee members to discover what students might want to learn and pulled together a Handbook for the day. The day started in the Dining Room of Avenue House with a PowerPoint presentation and talks by Roger Chapman and Robin Densem on various methods and practice in the local council planning process, the meaning and use of ‘Archaeological Priority Areas’, tracking sites through the likes of ‘Historical Environmental Records’, co-operation with the Greater London Archaeological and Advisory Service (Historic England) and the differences between professional units and volunteer archaeology. Vicki Baldwin and Peter Nicholson later used the same space to explain the HADAS archaeological archive, our reports, books, maps and the publishing of sites. The HADAS Basement Room supervised by Andy Simpson and Janet Mortimer was used to explain finds processing techniques e.g. handling, washing, marking, recording and packaging of finds, there was also a display of a couple of past HADAS digs. The Garden found itself being the base for practicing ‘resistivity surveying’, the laying out of base and grid lines, the methods of ‘levelling’ with the use of a ‘dumpy level’, finding benchmarks, mapping and so forth overseen by Don Cooper, Tim Curtis and myself.

Bill explaining the principals of site survey


Don and Tim explaining Earth resistivity survey (left), and Janet explaining finds processing (right)


Bill overseeing the use of the dumpy level (left), Vicky explaining on site recording (middle) and Tim overseeing geophysical survey (right)
The outcome of the days work was not only a learning experience for Birkbeck students, it was also a great learning experience for HADAS members, and provided archaeological results that we can add to the record for the site. The results of earth resistance survey undertaken by Birkbeck students with Hendon and District Archaeological Society (HADAS) – using a 10 by 10 metres grid is shown below (left) and photo (right) shows extent of grid:

Initial feedback appears to indicate that it was a worthwhile exercise for the 15 or so students who could apply some ‘hands on’ knowledge to their classes or further afield with several joining the ranks of HADAS membership. The event was free to participants being seen to be an experimental basis for possible further such ‘training days’. A couple of weeks later heavy rain “recreated” the ornamental pond (10th April 2018).

The Art of Hedge Laying and Ancient Hedgerows Melvyn Dresner

Hedges and hedge-laying has a long history. Hedge-laying probably goes to the 18th and 19th century (Pollard, Hooper and Moore 1974) – although the craft may have much earlier origins. Hedges are laid to create a stock proof barrier, regenerate an overgrown and dying hedge, as habitat for small field and hedgerow animals as well as birds, wind protection, prevent soil erosion, or to thin an overgrown hedge to gain more space in the field. At Barnet Environment Centre, we had the pleasure of looking after 7.5 acres for educational and environmental purposes and have many types of hedges. Earlier this year (February), we had a training session hedge-layer with Stephen Gibson – a Hertfordshire based hedge-layer. He learnt the art of hedge laying from Middy Page, who he describes as “… a well known local character, of the like that only comes along once in a life time.”
Middy was from Romany Gypsies from Welham Green area of Hertfordshire. Gibson describes on his website some of Middy’s work along the Great North Road, towards Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire, laid, during World War Two, by Middy, his father and the Land Army Girls, to help increase the food yield.

Hedge-laying at Barnet Environment Centre, February 2018

Hedge-laying is part of hedgerow management. Hooper’s Hypothesis is that species diversity will increase over time, as bird-ferried or windblown seeds take root in the shelter of the hedgerow. Regular trimming will help new species establish, by controlling existing species. The formula may also work for other reasons e.g. because of remnants of mixed woodland, or due to hedges before about 1700 tending to be plants of mixed species. The formula can assist in dating hedges back to the Anglo-Saxon period, with reasonable degree of confidence. There is archaeological evidence for hedgerows in Britain in the Roman period at Bar Hill Roman Fort in Dumbartonshire, and Farmoor in Oxfordshire. Modern types of billhooks were in existence before the end of the Iron Age. Evidence for hedges during the Bronze and Neolithic ages can be found. The Enclosure movement got underway in the 16th century, changing forever the open landscape of most of the country. Enclosures continued to the mid 19th century: c.200,000 miles of hawthorn hedge was planted in the Parliamentary Enclosures during the 18th and 19th centuries (Mabey 1996).

Sources
Friends of Barnet Environment Centre, http://www.fobec.org.uk/wp/
Stephen Gibson’s website http://www.hedgeandhazel.co.uk/homepage
Hedgelink www.hedgelink.org.uk/index.php
The Conservation Volunteers https://www.conservationhandbooks.com/hedging/the-hedgerow-landscape/hedges-in-history/
Richard Mabey 1996, Flora Britannica, Sinclair-Stevenson
E Pollard, M D Hooper, and N W Moore 1974, Hedges, Collins New Naturalist
South of England Hedge Laying Society http://sehls.weebly.com/why.html

Plane Wall: an Installation by David T. Waller and John R. Waller
21st April to 29th September 2018, In the basement of Stephens House, you can visit a special exhibition that explores ideas of nostalgia and memory a type of archaeology of childhood, you can enjoy it as an exploration of the world of model aircraft. Entry is free entry and they are collecting for a charity called Combat Stress. Open 10am – 5pm Saturdays and Sundays only, except 29th July, 5th August and bank holiday weekend, Stephens House and Gardens, East End Road, Finchley, London N3 3QE.

Other Societies’ Events Eric Morgan
Sunday 24th June, 12 noon-6pm, East Finchley Community Festival has been held in Cherry Tree Wood for nearly 40 years, lots of stalls, entertainment, food and a bar.

Saturday 30th June, 100 years of Roe Green Village, Village Green, Roe Lane NW9 (opp. Entrance to Roe End), Centenary Village Day, 12 noon – 11.00pm, stall, live music, arts and craft.

Tuesday 3rd July, 5.30pm, LAMAS walking tour of the Inner and Middle Temple, led by Marion Blair, Cost £10 members, £12.50 non-members, book via jane.sidell@btinternet.com

Thursday 5th July, The Jewel in the Post-War Crown: a Retrospective for the 70th Anniversary of the NHS: Kevin Brown, Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, Holborn Library, 32-38 Theobalds Road London, WC1X 8PA UK Visitors £1

Friday 6th July, Enfield Archaeological Society, 8pm Geoffrey Gillam Memorial Lecture: Geoffrey of Monmouth’s London: from New Troy to Lud’s Town, John Clark, Jubilee Hall, Parsonage Lane Enfield (close to Chase Side). (EAS digging at Elysng Palace (Forty Hall) from 11th July contact fieldwork director, Dr. Martin Dearne martin.dearn@tesco.net and http://www.enfarchsoc.org/lectures/

Thursday 12 July, 7.30pm Street Fight 1455: 1st Battle of St Albans, Harvey Watson, Pennefather Hall, St Albans Rd, EN5 4LA

Sunday 15th July 12:00 – 17:00, Centenary Garden Fête – Inky’s Place 100 years, 2018 sees the 100th anniversary of Henry Inky Stephens bequest of the House & Gardens.

Thanks to our contributors: Bill Bass, Roger Chapman, Harriet Sogbodjor, Terry Dawson, Eric Morgan, Sandra Claggett, Suzanne Marie Taylor and Samantha Brummage
Hendon and District Archaeological Society

Chairman: Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet, EN5 5HS Tel. 020 8440 4350
chairman@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Secretary: Jo Nelhams, 61 Potters Road, Barnet, EN5 5HS Tel. 020 8449 7076
secretary@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Treasurer: Jim Nelhams, 61 Potters Road, Barnet, EN5 5HS Tel. 020 8449 7076
treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Membership sec: Stephen Brunning, 1 Reddings Close, Mill Hill, NW7 4JL membership@hadas.org.uk
Web site: www.hadas.org.uk
Discussion group: http://groups.google.com/group/hadas-archaeology
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/102507436381/