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Newsletter-581-August-2019

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

Number 581 August 2019  Edited by Jim Nelhams

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE AND EVENTS PROGRAMME 2019

Tuesday 8th October 2019: From Crosse & Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA excavations at Tottenham Court Road 2009 to 2010. Lecture by Lyn Blackmore.

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: A Royal and Monastic Landscape Revealed. Lecture by Bob Cowie.

Sunday 1st December 2019: HADAS Christmas Lunch at Avenue House. 12:30 – 4 p.m. including full Christmas dinner. Price and booking form will follow.

Lectures start at 7.45 for 8.00pm in the Drawing Room, Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Buses 13, 125, 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.

Membership Renewals – a reminder. Stephen Brunning.
Many thanks to those who have already paid their subscription. If you intend to renew this year and have not yet done so, I would be grateful to receive payment by 15th September 2019 at the following rates: £15 (Full), £5 (each additional member at the same address), and £6 (student). My address is on the last page of this newsletter.
It is not necessary to return the renewal form enclosed with the March newsletter. A piece of paper with your name, postal address, telephone number and email address (if applicable) will suffice. I will then be able check the details we hold are still correct. If not already done so, it would also be helpful if you could indicate your willingness to receive the newsletter by email. This helps to keep our costs to a minimum. Thank you.
—————————————————————————————————————————
Day trip by Barnet Museum & Local History Society:
Saturday, 21st September 2019 Visit to the “Mary Rose” in Portsmouth by coach. Cost £38 for adults and £15 for children (5-18) and students.
Depart Barnet Everyman at 08.15. Leave Portsmouth: c.5pm, arrive back in Barnet c.7.15pm
These trips get booked up quickly, so if you want to go don’t delay.
Friends of members are also welcome. To book, phone Dennis Bird 020 8449 0705

Trip to Leicester
Mill Hill Historical Society have a trip to Leicester on Wednesday 4th September. This will include
visits to the King Richard III Visitor Centre and the Cathedral. Meet the coach at Hartley Hall,
Hartley Avenue, Mill Hill, NW7 2HX, at 8:50 am. Coach will leave Leicester at 5:00 pm.
To book, please phone Julia Haynes on 020 8906 0563 or email haynes.julia@yahoo.co.uk.
Cost for non-members £40. Please check as may be fully booked. Last booking date – 5th August.

Silchester Peter Pickering

I went recently to Silchester with the Herculaneum Society to visit this summer’s dig, directed by
Professor Michael Fulford, who took us round and told us what is happening. It was lovely weather,
and the tents of the student diggers were scattered over the fields; just as things used to be before
almost all archaeology was hurriedly undertaken in advance of development.

Over many years Reading University have been re-excavating the Roman city, which was the subject
of a monumental campaign by the Society of Antiquaries at the end of the nineteenth century. This
year they are continuing the work on the baths which they started last year. They are uncovering the
walls the Antiquaries found and studying the stratigraphy in a way that was not possible over a
century ago. It is clear that though the Antiquaries’ plans were very accurate, and they tried to
understand the sequence of events, they did not appreciate how complicated the site was, and how
very frequently the people of Calleva Atrebatum changed or ‘improved’ their bath building.

Examining carefully the Antiquaries’ spoil (all was actually backfilled – which is what Reading
University are doing in their turn) contributes to the discovery of many small finds – including last
year for instance a gold ring – presumably lost by a user of the baths (the area currently being worked
on contains particularly objects likely to have belonged to women and children). Besides the dig
itself we saw people working on finds – one woman was extracting with tweezers tiny pieces of
charcoal from a heap of what looked like grains of sand.

Before we went to the site we had spent time in Reading Museum, where there is a large collection
of the finds from the Antiquaries’ and other early work at Silchester, rather spoilt for us by a problem
the Museum are having with the lighting in the room. And we finished the day with tea and cakes in
the mediaeval church at the entrance to the site.

High Barnet Archaeological Round-up Bill Bass

A summary of recent archaeological activity in the High Barnet area.

70 High Street
Archaeological Solutions Ltd conducted an evaluation here finding walls, floors, pits and ditches
dating to the 18th and 19th centuries. It appears that building of an 18th structure has mostly removed
any medieval evidence. Further ‘site-watching’ will be carried out when foundations are cut for the
new development.

46-48 High Street
This site is somewhat south of 70 High Street and also within an Archaeological Priority Area, is the
subject of a ‘site-watching’ condition by Headland Archaeology to check any ground interventions
here.

Former Marie Foster Home, Wood Street

This extensive site is being completely redeveloped for a replacement Marie Foster Home, MOLA
(Museum of London Archaeology) has conducted an Archaeological Evaluation with a number of
trenches across the site, with a report to follow.

In 1993 HADAS conducted a dig at the adjacent former Victoria Maternity Hospital finding a ditch
with medieval pottery which aligned with Wood Street, this ditch would have continued into the
Marie Foster Home grounds.

Service trenches
For the past few months a number of service trenches – water, gas, digital cabling etc have been dug
around High Barnet. Recently a number of trenches have appeared in the High Street. In the spoil
some finds were noted and recovered they consisted of some large animal bone with butchery marks,
tobacco-pipe1700-1770 in date and post-medieval pottery (see photo). These finds were from a
trench near 93 High Street, Barnet.

 

Hadley Green gates
The Gates on Hadley Green Road which are Grade II Listed have been temporarily removed under
archaeological supervision due to extensive works here to repair a collapsed sewer. The works
involve digging a 12m vertical hole then ‘tunnelling’ in 14m to enable the repairs.

The Ted Sammes Clay Pipe Collection Andy Simpson

Like all good archaeological units and societies, HADAS has material in long-term store that invites
further study beyond that originally done possibly 30-40 years ago as our collective knowledge of the
subject and area gradually increases, a case in point being the current evening class re-evaluation of
the Mitre High Barnet dig of 1989/90 archive that is making society greybeards such as myself who
were on the original dig feel their age!

Another group of finds currently undergoing re-evaluation is the large collection of mainly local clay
pipes seemingly inherited from HADAS stalwart and benefactor, the late Ted Sammes. For many
years these were boxed up in the HADAS ‘back room’ at Avenue House and were checked and some
re-bagged some ten years ago. However, there was a problem – there was little indication of their
actual source or context, just a mysterious sequential number marked on the individual envelopes.
Happily however, a recent search of general clay pipe paperwork in our main cellar workroom and
store revealed the original ?1970s master list of over 150 individual clay pipes or small groups
thereof. They are listed with the individual sequential number, usually found on the original brown
envelopes/grease proof paper bags within which they were first put, a note of any visible decoration
or maker’s marks, and a very general indication of the finds spot – sometimes a street or general
area, very occasionally an actual numbered address, sometimes a finder’s or householder’s name,
and sadly many with no identifiable location at all, and almost never any actual date of finding or
archaeological context, which makes the interpretation even more of a challenge. I have been
through site files, past newsletters and research committee minutes but as yet have found no other
sources of information other than what is written on the envelopes or in the master list.

However, the Sunday morning usual suspects, in particular Bill Bass, Tim Curtiss, Dudley Miles,
Janet Mortimer and Peter Nicholson (and your scribe) have cracked on and pored over the A to Z as
well as the old faithful Atkinson and Oswald clay pipe identification templates (Type AO27 dated
1780-1820 being particularly prevalent in this collection) and more recent guides to clay pipe
recording to produce a detailed record more in keeping with current MOLA standards, as well as rebagging
all the pipes with new labels.

There is a good range of dates covered from the 1640s to around 1900, with some noticeable
geographical concentrations, probably reflecting the residential areas of HADAS members and
friends at the time, including 17th century fragments from Annesley Avenue in Colindale, plus 18th –
19th century examples from Finchley, including East End Road and Avenue House, two or three
sites around Temple Fortune, and Hammers Lane, Mill Hill, along with a few late examples from
Staples Corner near Brent Cross.

One particularly nice group from the Temple Fortune area also includes seventeenth century
examples and some nice trade tokens and coins of a later date. There is also a stray clay pipe from
Portsmouth!

Recording is a week or two away from completion, and I hope to produce a more detailed overview
in due course.

The Royal Albert Hall Jim Nelhams

Friday 19th July 2019 saw the First Night of the 2019 Promenade concerts, the first of 75 concerts
ending with the Last Night on Saturday 14th September. This is the 125th season.
Most of the concerts are now held in the Royal Albert Hall (a Grade I listed building), on Kensington
Gore on the south side of Hyde Park. All are broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and this year, 24 are
shown on BBC Television.

Although individual promenade concerts had taken place before, the first full series was set up by
impresario Robert Newman and called “Mr Robert Newman’s Promenade Concerts”. Mr Newman
received financial backing from surgeon George Cathcart on condition that Henry Wood be selected
as the series conductor.

Concerts were based at The Queen’s Hall in Langham Place, next to where now stands the BBC
Broadcasting House. When Newman died in 1927, the BBC took over running the concerts, though
they relinquished this duty during WW2. In 1941, the Queen’s Hall was destroyed in an air raid, and
concerts were moved to The Royal Albert Hall where they have continued every summer since.
The year 1851 saw the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, running for some five and a half months.
Among the organisers and promoters was Price Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort. The Exhibition was
a great success in promoting Britain as a world leader in technology and made a profit of £186,000.
It was visited by over 6 million people, equivalent to one-third of the UK population at the time.
An area south of the exhibition site was purchased (and nicknamed Albertopolis) and on this was
built the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. At the
north of the area, a concert hall was built, originally to be named the Central Hall of Arts and
Sciences (appropriate since one theme of the Proms this year, the 50th Anniversary of the first moon
landing, is about space,) but the name was changed when Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone to
the Royal Albert Hall. Across the road in the park, a statue of Prince Albert surveys the front of the
hall.

The Hall opened on 29th March 1871 with a concert which included some music written by Prince
Albert himself. When the concert to celebrate the centenary of the opening took place in 1971, it
started with the same music. Jo and I, as members of the BBC Choral Society, (since renamed the
BBC Symphony Chorus) were on stage for this concert.

Apart from musical performances, the Hall has seen many uses including boxing, tennis, ice skating,
opera (in the round!), award ceremonies, and the annual British Legion ceremony preceding
Armistice Sunday.

The Hall offers tours lasting about 1 hour for £13.75, though if HADAS was to raise a group of 15+,
this would reduce to £11.00. Tours must be pre-booked. (Contact me if you are interested in a tour).

Barnet Physic Well

Barnet Physic Well is a mineral water spring which was thought to have therapeutic qualities. It was
popular from the later seventeenth century through the eighteenth century, and its visitors included
Samuel Pepys, who wrote about the visit in his diary.

In 2018, it underwent extensive refurbishment work to the mock-Tudor wellhouse. It was officially
reopened on 20 November 2018. The work was paid for by Barnet Council, Historic England and the
Heritage of London Trust.

Volunteers from Barnet Museum run public openings of Barnet Physic Well monthly, giving
everyone free access to this little-known part of Barnet’s heritage.

Please be aware that the Physic Well is in a relatively small room underground and is reached by
steep stone steps. The physic well is on the corner of Well Approach and Pepys Crescent For satnav,
use EN5 3DY. It is not far from Barnet General Hospital.

The next Physic Well opening is on Saturday 17th August. Come any time between 2pm and 4pm.
Free entry. Further 2019 dates (all Saturdays) are 21st September, 19th October and 16th November.

Memorial to Major John Cartright

Hadas newsletter 573 (December 2018) featured an article about the memorial to Major Cartright in
the churchyard at St Mary-at-Finchley. The memorial fell into disrepair and was on the Historic
England “at risk” register.

Restoration work was undertaken with £79,000 funding from Historic England, and some
crowdfunding launched by the church.

Restoration has recently been completed and the memorial was dedicated by the Rector of St Maryat-
Finchley, the Rev. Philip Davison. It looks very fine and pristine. Major Cartwright is portrayed
wearing his wig.

Afternoon Course for over-75s.

Tuesday 20th August 2;30 pm – 5:30 pm, at Museum of London Archive and Research Centre,
46 Eagle Wharf Road, N1 7ED.

Join Jacqui Pearce, for a skills workshop on pottery identification exclusively for older Londoners
aged over 75. Jacqui is a Hadas member and runs our Wednesday evening course at Avenue House
and masterminds the publication of the course research.

Jacqui is a Senior Finds Specialist at MOLA and an expert in medieval and later ceramics, glass and
clay tobacco pipes. Learn about the different types of pottery discovered in the UK, how to identify
and record them and find out how they were made. Explore sherds from Roman Londinium to pieces
of contemporary ceramics and get hands-on experience with archaeological material. Support from
Photographs from David Coates of the Finchley Society.

City Bridge Trust allows places on this workshop to be free of charge but places must be booked in
advance.

For further enquiries, please contact wrathouse@mola.org.uk or call 020 7410 2207. Tea, coffee
and biscuits will be provided.

Other Societies Eric Morgan

MEETINGS / TALKS

Tuesday 13th August, 7:45pm. Amateur Geological Society at Finchley Baptist Church Hall, 6 East
End Road, N3 3QL (corner of Stanhope Avenue). Members’ evening with various talks.

Wednesday 4th September, 6:00 pm. Docklands History Group at Docklands Museum, Canary
Wharf, E14 4AL. Talk by David Gibson – Thames Sailing Barges – A history and a future

Wednesday 4th September, 7:30 pm. London, Westminster and Middlesex Family History Society,

St Paul’s Centre 102A Church Street, Enfield, EN2 6AR. Talk by Joe Studman – The History of
Enfield’s Markets, Fairs and Festivals.

Monday 9th September, 3:00 pm. Barnet Museum and Local History Society in St John the Baptist
Church, Wood Street, Barnet, EN5 4BW. Talk by David Berguer – Holidays by rail. Visitors £2.

Tuesday 10th September, 7:45pm. Amateur Geological Society as above. Talk by Richard Puchner,
FRS – Sinkholes.

Friday 13th September, 7:45 pm. Enfield Archaeological Society at 2 Parsonage Lane, (junction
with Chase Side), Enfield, EN2 0AJ. Talk by Caroline Raynor – St James’ Gardens excavations and
the HS2 Project. Visitors £1.50.

Wednesday 18th September, 7:30 pm. Willesden Local History Society, St Mary’s Church Hall,
Neasden Lane, NW10 2TS. Talk by Camilla Churchill from Brent Archive – Brent 2020, Borough of
Culture.

Wednesday 25th September, 7:45 pm. Friern Barnet and District Local History Society, North
Middlesex Golf Club, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL. Talk by Carol Harris – Ernest Shackleton and
the Endurance Expedition. Visitors £2.

Thursday 26th September, 7:30 pm. Finchley Society, Drawing Room, Avenue House. Talk by
Peter Cox (U3A) – The State of the High Street, covering the development of retail outlets in East
Finchley, Muswell Hill, North Finchley and Church End. Visitors £2.

WALKS
Wednesday 28th August, 6:00 pm. LAMAS – walk led by Eliott Wragg in either Wapping or
Rotherhithe, exact details to be confirmed. £10 for members, £12.50 for non-members. This walk
will explore the history and features of the foreshore. Visitors without a PLA licence should not pick
things up to take away, they can point out things of interest and ask Eliott about them.

Wednesday 28th August 6.30pm – Highgate Wood – Meet at the café by the information hut.
Entrances from Archway Road or Muswell Hill Road. A Historical Walk – there were 3 Roman
pottery kilns in the wood.

OPEN DAYS
Monday 26th August. Markfield Beam Engine & Museum, Markfield Park, Markfield Road N15 4AB.
Steam Day. www.mbeam.org . Tel: 07923 459020 for more info. Engine Steaming times 12:30pm to
1:15pm, 2:00 pm to 2:45pm, 3:30 pm to 4.15pm

Sunday 1st September 11:00 am – 3:00 pm. COLAS “Totally Thames” at Fulham Palace. Day of
family archaeology. Guided foreshore visits. Display stalls.

Saturday 7th September 10:30 – 2:30 pm. Hornsey Historical Society, Old School House,136
Tottenham Lane, (corner Rokesly Avenue), N8 7EL. Local History Surgery, giving advice/help
with local history research. Helpful if you first email hornseyhistoricalsurgery@gmail.com.

Saturday 7th September 11:00 am – 2:30 pm. Enfield Transport Circle – St Paul’s Centre 102A
Church Street, Enfield, EN2 6AR. A good variety of stalls, selling all kinds of transport books,
photo’s, DVD’s, maps, timetables, tickets and other memorabilia. Light refreshments available.

Sunday 15th September 12:00 am – 5:30 pm. Queens Park Open day, Chevening Road, NW6. Lots
of stalls including Willesden Local History Society.

Saturday/ Sunday 21st/22nd September. London Open House weekend. Put it in your diary.
Programme will be published on 20th August. Includes Markfield Beam Engine on both days – see
26th August.

Saturday/Sunday 28th/29th September, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm. London Transport Museum, Acton
Depot. 118-120, Gunnersbury Lane, Acton, W3 9BQ. Focus on railway termini. £12 (con. 10).


With many thanks to this month’s contributors:
Bill Bass, Stephen Brunning, Eric Morgan, Peter Pickering and Andy Simpson

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 Roger Chapman 50 Summerlee Ave, London N2 9QP (07855 304488)
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

Newsletter-580-July-2019

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

Number 580 July 2019 Edited by Mary Rawitzer

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE AND EVENTS PROGRAMME 2019

Saturday July 27th 2019: SECRET RIVERS – at the Docklands Museum
HADAS is planning a visit to this exhibition revealing the history of London’s forgotten
rivers. Deirdre Barrie and Audrey Hooson propose an outing to the Docklands Museum. The
Museum is staging a free exhibition called “Secret Rivers”. If you have a bus pass, your
transport is also free. Quoting from the Museum’s publicity:“Secret Rivers uses
archaeological artefacts, art, photography and film to reveal stories of life by London’s rivers,
streams and brooks, exploring why many of them were lost over time”

We will meet either at Bank Station DLR platform at 10.30, for West India Quay or at 11.00
in the museum coffee shop. The museum requests that groups book in advance, so rough
numbers are needed. Full details in last Newsletter. Please contact Deirdre Barrie
dlbarrie@tiscali.co.uk (020 8367 0922) or Audrey Hooson AudreyHooson@icloud.com.

HADAS 2019 Long Trip. Monday 23rd to Friday 27th September 2019: We have booked
the hotel for our long trip in 2019. Details will follow in due course.

Tuesday 8th October 2019: From Crosse & Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA excavations at
Tottenham Court Road 2009 to 2010. Lecture by Lyn Blackmore.

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: A Royal and Monastic Landscape
Revealed. Lecture by Bob Cowie.

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. .
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Two exciting day trips by Barnet Museum & Local History Society:

Saturday, 6th July 2019 Visit to Richborough Castle and the Town of Deal by coach.
Cost £25 for adults (£20 EH members, bring your card) £10 children (5-18) and students.
Depart Barnet Everyman (formerly Odeon) Cinema: 08.15
Leaving Deal: c.5pm; arrive back in Barnet c.7pm

Saturday, 21st September 2019 Visit to the “Mary Rose” in Portsmouth by coach. Cost £38
for adults and £15 for children (5-18) and students.
Depart Barnet Everyman at 08.15. Leave Portsmouth: c.5pm, arrive back in Barnet c.7.15pm
These trips get booked up quickly, so if you want to go don’t delay.
Friends of members are also welcome. To book, phone Dennis Bird 020 8449 0705

Annual General Meeting. Jo Nelhams (Hon. Secretary)
The AGM was held on Tuesday June 11th 2019 at 7.30pm. There were 40 members in
attendance and apologies from a further 33. It was good to hear from over 70 members.
Andrew Selkirk, a former Chairman and longstanding Committee member, resigned from the
Committee earlier this year as he has moved house, but has remained a Vice-President and
will be due for re-election in 2023.

Jim Nelhams has stepped down as Treasurer, but has remained as a member of the Committee
and Roger Chapman was voted in as his successor. The other officers have remained the
same: Chairman, Don Cooper; Vice-Chairman, Peter Pickering; Secretary, Jo Nelhams; and
Membership Secretary, Stephen Brunning. There were 2 new additions to the Committee,
David Willoughby and Rodney Burt, while Bill Bass, Robin Densem, Melvyn Dresner, Eric
Morgan and Sue Willetts are remaining as members.

The death was announced of Derek Renn, a very longstanding Life Vice-President who
passed away on 31st May 2019. Condolences have been sent to his family.

The AGM was followed by a presentation by Harvey Sheldon, ‘Imperial Rome’s North-West
Frontier: can it explain Britannia and Londinium’s role within the Province?’

An interesting AGM and thanks to all who attended.

HADAS finds course: 2019-2020 “Finds in Focus” Don Cooper
Here is the flyer for the finds course starting in October 2019. The course is very popular and
there are, at the moment of writing, only three places left. If you want to participate please
reply immediately as it is first come first served.

Hendon & District Archaeological Society Finds Group
Course tutor: Jacqui Pearce BA FSA MCIfA

A 22-week course in post-excavation analysis to be held at Stephens House (formerly Avenue House), East
End Road, Finchley N3 3QE on Wednesday evenings, 6.30–8.30, starting on 2 October 2019

This year we will be focusing on recording the medieval and later finds from the Mitre Public
House in Barnet. We are aiming to produce a short article summarising the work of the Finds
Group on this site. Regular presentations and professional tuition will be provided throughout the
course. This is an ideal opportunity to gain – or increase – your experience of working with and
handling a wide variety of archaeological finds. Teaching sessions on the various types of finds will
be complemented by practical handling and recording sessions. Our aims are to introduce the
various types of finds and provide hands-on opportunities to become more familiar with postexcavation
procedures, while working toward publication.

All are welcome – it doesn’t matter whether or not you have experience of working with
archaeological finds!

Course fee: £295 for 22 sessions. To book, contact Don Cooper (details on back page) or Jacqui
Pearce (pearcejacqui@gmail.com; tel. 020 8203 4506). Please make cheques payable to HADAS and
send to Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet EN5 5HS.

HADAS May Lecture Jim Nelhams

The May lecture, “50 Years of Recording London’s Industrial Heritage”, was delivered by
Professor David Perret, currently Chair of the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society
(GLIAS). A medical researcher by profession, David has been interested in industrial archaeology
for many years. One of his interests is stationary steam engines and he is a past President of the
Newcomen Society. David was also a contributor to the All Party Parliamentary Group Report on
Industrial Heritage issued in 2018.

In 1998 GLIAS began development of a database which the society could use to record site
information. The database has been in development ever since. He noted a wide variety of locations
and items recorded, some of which have disappeared, some that remain, and some of which have
changed their use.

Examples in transport included the Euston Arch, demolished in 1961, and the London to Croydon
atmospheric railway. This had two pumping stations one of which remains, having been converted
as a water pumping station. Another example was the viaduct built between 1834 and 1836 for the
London and Greenwich Railway, requiring around 60 million bricks made in Sittingbourne and
transported to the site by barge. Although widened and strengthened, the viaduct still has all 878
arches and is a Grade II listed structure.

Other work has been in recording Thames crossings, including Tower Bridge with its steam boilers,
Hammersmith Bridge and the Brunel Tunnel. Other static steam engines included a Newcomen
engine house at the New River Head in Islington and the beam engines at Kew and Crossness.
David stressed the importance of creating and maintaining the record of industrial archaeology.
There were lots of problems and Lottery funding was drying up.

The London Canal Museum Celebrates Ice Heritage Weekend – July 2019

Celebrate the life and story of Carlo Gatti (1817-1878) and the contribution he and his family made
to London’s life. Saturday July 27th (Gatti’s Birthday): Enter a competition to make a decorated
birthday cake. See website for rules. £1 entry fee including museum admission. Ice cream making
demonstrations, Victorian style. Family activities, design an ice cream sundae and other table-top
fun for children (morning). Gallery talks and display about Gatti and the ice trade. Adelphi
Afternoon Cream Tea 2.30-4pm £15 (£12 concessions) including museum entry (book in advance).
Information and bookings at www.lcm.me.uk/ihw. Evening, 7.30pm: Gatti’s Music Hall, presented
by the Players’ Theatre Company, an evening of music hall entertainment reminiscent of the
Victorian era. Traditional dress welcome. £25 (concessions £23) including glass of Swiss wine with
Swiss cheese. Book in advance. Sunday 28th: Ice Trade Sunday. Visits underground to the
Victorian ice wells (fit adults and teenagers only). Normal museum entry charges. Explore the only
preserved and accessible commercial ice wells in England on this rare open day, part of the Festival
of Archaeology. Sensible shoes essential! Supported by the Swiss Embassy, London, and Commune
do Acquarossa (Dongio) Switzerland. Ice cream making demonstrations, Gallery talks, pre-booked
boat trips. 12-13 New Wharf Rd, N1 9RT. 5 minutes walk from Kings Cross/St Pancras.

Thames Discovery: causeways, river stairs and ferry terminals – Melvyn Dresner

Following on from Gustav Milne’s April lecture (Newsletter 578, May 2019), the Thames
Discovery Programme launched the CRaFT project (Causeways, Riverstairs and Ferry
Terminals) in June. The project will help discover, or rediscover, the stories of these ‘landing
places’, the people who used them, those who relied on them for their livelihood and the changes
brought about by bridges and new modes of transport.

The Thames Discovery Programme, City of London Archaeology Society and the Institute of
Archaeology at UCL are working together on this project. There are many ways to get involved,
such as through archive work, foreshore fieldwork, discovering features in paintings or literature,
blogging, foreshore photography and recording. It is not just about getting muddy, there are others
ways they need your help.

If interested to find out more please email: angela.broomfield@yahoo.fr

Festival of Archaeology 2019 Sue Willetts

The 2019 Festival of Archaeology is being coordinated by The Council for British Archaeology
with events taking place over a fortnight from Saturday 13th July until Saturday 28th July. The
theme this year is archaeology, science and technology.

The website https://festival.archaeologyuk.org/ allows searching of events by area, type of activity
and by period such as Roman, Medieval.

Thomas Gresham 500th Anniversary Exhibition Sue Willetts

As part of the 500th celebrations for Gresham College the Guildhall Library has a free exhibition
about Sir Thomas Gresham, Tudor trader, shipper, spy and founder of both the Royal Exchange and
Gresham College. It explores Gresham’s life and some of the amazing items in the Gresham history
collection at the Guildhall.

The exhibition is open Monday-Friday, 9.30am-5pm (Wednesday till 7.30pm) at the Guildhall
Library and is completely free. It’s open from now until mid-September. More information:
https://guildhalllibrarynewsletter.wordpress.com/2019/06/03/new-library-exhibition-sir-thomasgresham-
tudor-trader-shipper-spy/

Visit to the Rose Theatre Jim Nelhams

LAMAS run monthly walks and visits under the heading “LAMAS LATES”.
See http://www.lamas.org.uk/lamas-lates.html for more information. A notice of a visit to the Rose
Theatre was circulated to HADAS members and five of us went along.

The site was found in 1988 when buildings were being redeveloped. Harvey Sheldon, HADAS
President, explained that the original dig had been allowed 5-6 weeks while the builders took their
Christmas Holiday. It had been expected that the remains of the theatre would then be permanently
buried and destroyed, but there was much public pressure, including by prominent members of the
acting profession, resulting in a building redesign incorporating horizontal rather than vertical
beams, so allowing the retention of the site. The buildings are now 30 years old and due for
renovation.

The Rose was built by Philip Henslowe in 1587. In 1592, Henslowe’s step-daughter married
Edward Alleyn, who went on to found Dulwich College. Dulwich old boys are known as Old
Alleynians. Many of Henslowe’s papers including accounts and records of plays have survived in
archives at the college.

The dig discovered inter alia gallery walls, two stages and the arena floor. The site was covered in
1989 to protect it from building works and the weather. The remains now exist within a basic shell
with no heating or toilets, but have survived. They must be kept wet to preserve the timber. A small
viewing gallery is usable for events and to raise money. Lighting indicates where walls have been
found. Some of the original structure is beneath an adjacent building and not accessible.

The site is run by The Rose Theatre Trust, founded in 1989, of which Harvey is Chairman. The
Trust has a lease of the site until 2042. Because the site is kept under water, it must be monitored.
Jane Sidell, in her role as Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Heritage England, has been
monitoring since 1999, checking the water levels and the acidity of the water.

For more information about The Rose and their events sees http://www.roseplayhouse.org.uk/

Trip to Orkney Janet Mortimer

I have recently returned from a long-anticipated holiday in Orkney with fellow HADAS member,
Barbara Thomas. We were part of a small group of eight (three of whom were Americans) who
went on a mini-bus tour with Orkney Archaeology Tours, led by leading archaeologist and bone
expert, Dave Lawrence. Dave and his fellow archaeologist wife had gone to Orkney to work, and
ended up living there permanently as, it seems, have many other archaeologists including HADAS’s
own Daphne Lorimer. It is not hard to see why – the almost over-whelming amount of history that
surrounds you everywhere you go on each island of Orkney could keep you interested for a lifetime.
Our first day started with a drive around Scapa Flow to Ophir Round Kirk and the 12th century
Earl’s Bu, which was the site of a large Norse drinking hall. We then went on to Skara Brae. I had
wanted to go there for years, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. We went to the nearby Skaill House,
owned by the man who discovered Skara Brae, and one of the highlights for me was the large
cabinet with carved wooden doors that came from one of the ships of the Spanish Armada. It is
amazing to think that on this small patch of land it is likely that there has been continuous
occupation for the last 5,000 years, with finds not only from the Neolithic period, but also the
Bronze Age, Iron Age and the Vikings.

Later we went to Kirbister Farm Museum. This is a fine example of how people lived in Orkney
until comparatively recently (this one was occupied until the 1960s) and the lay-out is actually not
too dissimilar to the houses at Skara Brae. The peat-burning hearth is in the middle of the floor
with a hole in the middle of the roof to let the smoke out, and there is a bed area carved into the
stone of the wall. It was also the place where Annie Lennox filmed sequences for the video of
“Here Comes the Rain Again”. On the way back to the hotel we visited the magnificent Broch of
Gurness.

On the second day we took the ferry across to the island of Hoy to visit the Hackness Martello
Tower and Napoleonic battery. We started in the barracks room where we were greeted by a man
resplendent in his Napoleonic uniform. He was a friend of Dave’s who was an authority on the
subject and we got a special tour. If you have seen the film “Zulu” you would recognise the lay-out
of the barracks – identical to the hospital block in the film. Apparently they were all built in exactly
the same way around the world so that the men could move in and know exactly where everything
was, including which bed was theirs. Their food ration was fairly meagre but they had a daily drink
allocation of a gallon of beer (weak or “small” beer – but still a gallon!) and a big mug of gin. Helps
to pass the day, I suppose! We then climbed up into the Martello Tower – the only one made of
stone instead of brick. Our uniformed officer showed us around and then we climbed up onto the
top, where he showed us the huge gun, able to revolve around 360 degrees, and we marvelled at
how he managed to keep his hat on in the fierce wind that was blowing.

After this we went to the beautiful Rackwick Bay then onto see the Dwarfie Stane. This is a huge
block of stone which has been carved out into a Neolithic burial chamber and is quite
magnificent. There was a sea eagle nesting nearby but, despite the best efforts of the RSPB who
kindly let us look through the telescopes they had set up, we didn’t manage to see it.

The next day we started off on a walking tour from our hotel in Kirkwall to marvel at the puzzling
architecture of the Earl’s and Bishop’s Palaces and to visit the Cathedral. Interestingly the
Cathedral is not owned by the Church, but is owned and maintained by the people of Orkney.
We then jumped back into the mini-bus and headed off to the Rennibister Earth-house. This is
accessed by climbing down a ladder in the courtyard of a farm into an underground chamber. The
underground experience was good preparation for our visit later in the day to what was (after Skara
Brae) my favourite place to see – the Cuween Cairn. For this we climbed up a steep slope, then
were issued with thick gloves and knee pads and we had to crawl through a dark tunnel into the
Cairn where we viewed it by torchlight. It was large enough to stand up inside and there were four
side chambers, three of which you could climb into. Unusually 24 dog skulls were found in this
tomb, along with human skulls.

Our next call was over the Churchill Barriers to the Italian Chapel, which is astonishing. It was
made of an old Nissen hut during the war by Italian prisoners and it shows what a beautiful
structure can be made with limited materials, just as in Neolithic days.

The following day we went to Stromness which is very different from Kirkwall, and has the feel of
an old-time seaside town. We had a stroll around and visited the art gallery and museum, then we
were off to Maeshowe. Although this is very impressive, we had to join a guided tour with a crowd
of other people, so it was sometimes difficult to see exactly what the guide was pointing out. We
saw the Viking Runes and the Orkney dragon, and the guide told us what some of the runes
meant. In the mini-bus later Dave told us what some of the other ones said which I will not repeat
here for fear of offending. Suffice to say that they were the usual boasts of young men about their
conquests in rather graphic terms!

The next day we caught the ferry over to Rousay for a day viewing brochs and cairns. We visited
Taversoe Tuick then went onto Blackhammer Cairn. Personally I found this terrifying as we had to
walk through a field of frisky young bullocks to get to it, but thankfully they had disappeared by the
time we came out. We then went to Midhowe to see a very impressive Cairn in which they found a
disproportionate amount of skeletons exhibiting signs of congenital deformities and other
illnesses. The nearby broch was fascinating, dwellings clearly laid out, and even a rock-carved
inside toilet!

Our last day started at the Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stenness. Later we walked over the
causeway to the uninhabited island of the Brough of Birsay to view the Earl’s Palace and for those
brave enough (not me!) to lay down and hang over the cliff edge to see the puffin nests. We
finished our visit to Orkney visiting the last working water mill at Barony Mills.
We had a great week seeing a variety of history from Neolithic days right through to the recent
history of WW2 which was made even better by the running commentary by Dave as he transported
us around from place to place. I particularly loved his tales from the Orkney Sagas with people with
memorable names such as Magnus Barelegs and Oliver the Violent. It really was the trip of a
lifetime

Restorations Jim Nelhams

It’s always nice when something you think has gone returns.
The book “The Blue Plaques of Barnet” published by HADAS in 1973 included a plaque that was
on the wall of “The Castle” public house at the junction of Hermitage Lane and Finchley Road in
Childs Hill. Then the building was closed and demolished to make way for a block of flats.
Concern was raised about the whereabouts of the plaque and HADAS was advised that it was being
stored by Barnet Council. The flats are now complete and it is nice to see that the plaque is on the
new building close to the front door.


Another pub that closed was Ye Old King of Prussia just south of Finchley Central Station.
This became a restaurant named The Chicken Society serving chicken in varied forms. Perhaps the
chickens have gone back to roost, because the building now contains “Ye Old King of Prussia”
again. The internet identifies this as a neighbourhood bar with craft beer, cocktails and pizza. So
maybe not as it was, but still serving beer.

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS compiled by Eric Morgan

Tuesday 9th July, 7.45 pm. Amateur Geological Society, Finchley Baptist Church Hall, 6 East End Rd, N3
3QL (opp. Avenue House): Triumphs & Disasters in Engineering Geology. Talk by Prof David Norbury.

Monday 15th July, 12.30pm. Mill Hill Historical Society Tour of Spencer House, 27 St James’s Place,
SW1A 1NR. Cost: Members £12 (concessions £14. Meet 12.20pm for Tour. To book: first contact Julia
Haynes, 38 Marion Rd, Mill Hill, London NW7 4AN (tel: 020 8906 0563, haynes.julia@yahoo.co.uk) to
check availability and payment procedure.

Wednesday 17th July, 7.30pm. Willesden Local History Society Guided Walk meeting at Neasden Station,
Neasden Lane NW10, finishing at The Grange, Neasden Roundabout, NW10 for a talk on its history,
followed by refreshments.

Friday 19th July, 7pm. COLAS, St Olave’s Church, Hart St, EC3R 7NB. Medieval Mass Burial at St Mary
Spital: Excavations 1999-2002. Talk, Don Walker (MoLA). NB originally scheduled for Friday 21st June).

Saturday 20th July – Sunday 29th September. Stephens House & Gardens (Avenue House) Hospital for
Heroes. Exhibition remembering 100 years since Avenue House became the central hospital for the RAF,
and its use as a hospital during, and in the aftermath of, WWI. Free entry, but a minimum £2 donation to the
work of the Avenue House Estate Trust would be welcome. Opening times: Wednesdays, Saturdays &
Sundays 2-4.30pm.

Sunday 21st July, 12-5pm. Stephens House & Gardens: Summer Garden Fete. A packed day of fun and
games with food, craft stalls & brass band. Free admission.

Tuesday 6th August. Camden History Society . Outing to Saffron Walden & Kentwell Hall Departing
promptly 8.30am, Camden High St, outside Marks & Spencer’s; 8.45am; Hampstead High St. (outside
Waterstones); Swiss Cottage (o/s Library) 9.00am. Send SAE and full details, where joining, name etc, with
cheque for £35 (includes coach, tip, and admission to Hall), payable to Camden History Society, to Jean
Archer, 91 Fitzjohn’s Ave, London NW3 6NX (Tel: 020 7435 5490).

Wednesday 14th August, 11am. Mill Hill Historical Society . Walking Tour of Bloomsbury. Meet 10.50 for
11am start, Russell Sq tube. Finish nr. Foundling Museum. Booking details: see Monday 15th July, above.

Friday 16th August, 7pm. COLAS, Address: see Friday 19th July. Members’ Evening.
Talks by COLAS members. Visitors £3. Light refreshments after.

Sunday 25th August. Markfield Beam Engine & Museum, Markfield Park, Markfield Road N15 4AB.
Steam Day. www.mbeam.org . Tel: 07923 459020 for more info.

With many thanks to this month’s contributors: Don Cooper, Melvyn Dresner, Eric Morgan,
Janet Mortimer, Jim Nelhams, Jo Nelhams, Sue Willetts
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 Roger Chapman 50 Summerlee Ave, London N2 9QP (07855 304488)
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

Newsletter-579-June-2019

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

Number 579 June 2019 Edited by Melvyn Dresner

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE AND EVENTS PROGRAMME 2019

Tuesday 11th June 2019 7.30 pm Annual General Meeting, Jo Nelhams
This year’s meeting will be followed by a lecture from our President, Harvey Sheldon, entitled
“Imperial Rome’s north-west frontier: can it explain Britannia and Londinium’s role within the
province?” We hope that many members will attend showing their support for those who
voluntarily give their time by standing for the committee and organising HADAS. Without them
there would be no society. Tea and coffee at the meeting will be free of charge. If you are unable to
attend, please send your apologies to Jo Nelhams by email (jo.nelhams@live.co.uk) or phone (020
8449 7076) Please note early start time.

Saturday July 27th 2019 SECRET RIVERS – at the Docklands Museum
HADAS is planning a visit to this exhibition revealing the history of London’s forgotten rivers. As
announced at our last lecture, Deirdre Barrie and Audrey Hooson have proposed an outing to the
Docklands Museum on Saturday 27th July. The Museum is staging a free exhibition starting from
24th May called “Secret Rivers”. If you have a bus pass, your transport is also free. Quoting from
the Museum’s publicity:

“Secret Rivers uses archaeological artefacts, art, photography and film to reveal stories of life by
London’s rivers, streams and brooks, exploring why many of them were lost over time.
“The intriguing histories of the River Effra, Fleet, Neckinger, Lea, Wandle, Tyburn, Walbrook and
Westbourne will all feature in the exhibition. Each river will highlight a broader theme such as
poverty, industry, development, effluence, manipulation, activism, sacred association and
restoration.”

The museum requests that groups book in advance, so although we require no deposit, rough
numbers are need. There is a coffee bar at the museum and other places for lunch close by, or you
can bring your own sandwiches. Will meet either at Bank Station DLR platform at 10.30, for West
India Quay or at 11.00 in the museum coffee shop. Please contacts Deirdre Barrie (020 8367
0922) dlbarrie@tiscali.co.uk or Audrey Hooson AudreyHooson@icloud.com

HADAS 2019 Long Trip. Monday 23rd to Friday 27th September 2019. We have booked the
hotel for our long trip in 2019. Details will follow in due course. The hotel is: Best Western
Aberavon Beach Hotel, Aberavon Beach, Port Talbot, SA12 6QP.

Tuesday 8th October 2019: From Crosse & Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA excavations at
Tottenham Court Road 2009–10 by Lyn Blackmore.

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: a royal and monastic landscape revealed by
Bob Cowie.

Lectures are held at Stephens House & Gardens (Avenue House), 17 East End Road, Finchley, N3 3QE, and start promptly at 8 pm, with coffee / tea afterwards. Non-members admission: £2;
Buses 13, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central station (Northern Line), is a 5-10 minute walk away.

History of Clitterhouse Farm, Hendon Roger Chapman

The inaugural memorial lecture for Dorothy Newbury MBE (15th February 1920 – 13th February 2018) was given by Roger Chapman on 12th February 2019.
Clitterhouse has been known by many names – Clater’s House, Clutterhouse, Clitherow and Clytterhouse being some of them. The Clitter part of Clitterhouse is thought to originate from the word ‘clite’ or clay and has been roughly translated to mean ‘clay house’. The early history of Clitterhouse Farm is vague, clouded in mystery, tied up in disputed Charters and ripe for historical myth making. Earthen banks identified by aerial photography, were suggested to form a moated enclosure and defence line against Viking invasion across to Oxgate lying on the western side of the Edgware Road. In the past it was speculated that the Farm may have been a Viking raided homestead, blackened by fire, and then restored as: ‘A house of clay … of such thickness of wall that even a modern bullet would scarcely penetrate.’

From these ashes, Clitterhouse, the clay house ‘probably arose.’ It is a great story but evidence to support it is thin. The land is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 though Hendon is mentioned. In the Domesday Book (1086) it is estimated that Hendon had a population of 250 with enough woodland to support 1,000 pigs. By 1321, the time of the Black Book, there was still a great deal of woodland in existence, but less than at the time of Domesday. Clitterhouse Manor starts with Robert Warner, lawyer and one time under Sheriff of Middlesex. In 1439 he granted the land to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital on condition that a Chaplain and four youths would pray for him. Green, a son-in-law of Robert Warner secured a payoff from the will, on payment of a sparrow hawk, of sixty acres of land, six acres of pasture and 36 acres of woodland in Clitterhouse. Not a bad transaction for a sparrow hawk. The manor was eventually released to the hospital in 1446. The Farm remained in the ownership of St Bartholomew’s until 1921. The hospital’s property in Hendon was augmented in 1446 by two nearby estates granted by Henry Frowyk and William Cleeve, Master of the King’s Works. The first, called Vynces, lay north of the Clitterhouse estate and the second, Rockholts, lay south of the road to Childs Hill.

A survey in 1584 of Clitterhouse Farm “now in the tenure of Edward Kempe” was undertaken by Ralfe Treswell. At this time the farm was over 200 acres comprising 18 fields, each with a perimeter woodland strip, 2 woodlands, an orchard, farmhouse, outbuildings and a moat. Emphasising the importance of woodland, at the time, the survey identifies 1295 ‘timber trees’ on the farm. Timber was the building material of choice and would also be used for fencing, wattle work and in large quantities for fuel. The farm land extended to the ‘West High Waie’ (Edgware Road) and was bordered to the south by land belonging to the Abbey of Westminster. To the north the landowner was Sir Roger Cholmeley, founder of Highgate School. Primary access to the farm was via a trackway from a feature called ‘Clitterhouse Cross’, presumably a wayside cross or Calvary, on the ‘West High Waie’ and this ran past fields called Great Rockholts, Noke Field and Great Camp to the House and then a track ran (roughly on the alignment of Claremont Road today) past Bente Field, Hill Field and Great Vince, out past Whitefield Gove which was on Cholmeley’s land. Edward Kemp occupied the farm in 1610 when his house was broken into and a woman’s violet coloured gown worth 40 shillings and other personal goods were stolen. Three men and a woman were charged. Two of the men were ‘at large’, the other man pleaded not guilty and was acquitted. The woman, Joan Eliott, stood mute and for that reason was condemned to a punishment called “peine forte et dure”. She was laid on her back under a great weight and on alternate days was fed small quantities of bread or water until she died. One reason she may have stood mute is by
not pleading she would avoid forfeiture of property. This type of harsh punishment was abolished in 1772, though its last use was in 1741. Thomas Kempe was resident during the time of Cromwell and in his 1667 will left the lease of the farm to his son, Edward, with all the ‘corn, hay, cows, sheep etc.’ Edward continued at Clitterhouse until 1674 when he responded to a ‘hue and cry’ raised against highway robbers who had held up the mail coach on the Windsor Road and then fled across country from Hanwell to Harrow. All available able men in Hendon mounted their horses and tried to cut off the miscreants. Edward Kempe was to the fore and as he approached them, on the narrow lane leading to Hampstead Heath, they fired and he fell from his horse with a bullet in his side. He survived for 24 hours. The villains were caught, taken to Newgate gaol, and eventually executed. The body of their leader, Francis Jackson, was hung in chains on a gallows tree between the Heath and Golders Green. The Kempe’s kept a connection with the Farm until 1794.

By 1715 a new plan of the Farm, prepared by Robert Trevitt, shows a much reduced woodland area, only 19 acres out of 203 total. Most of the woodland strips surrounding the fields had been grubbed out and a further 7 acres were lost by 1753. This plan also contains a superb drawing of the farmyard in 1715 showing timber framed and weather boarded buildings making a tight group around the farmyard. John Roques 1746 plan ‘10 miles around London’ shows a range of five farm buildings called ‘Claters House’.

The decline of woodland continued and in a survey of agriculture un 1794 hay was a key crop and in the neighbourhood of ‘Harrow, Hendon and Finchley there are many hay barns capable of holding 30 to 50 and some even 100 loads of hay’. Hendon by the time of the Tithe apportionment map of 1843 was 91% (7330 acres) in meadow and pasture use with just 0.04% of land (283 acres) in arable production and a miniscule 40 acres (0.005%) woodland. Clitterhouse Farm, now tenanted by Jonathan Caley, reflects this with the majority of fields shown as meadow and only some as arable. In the 1860s the coming of the Midland Railway Company cut Clitterhouse Farm in two (north to south) and led to the building of Claremont Road. The land west of the railway line became Brent Sidings in the 1880s. From 1876 until 1915 the Brent Gas Works supplied stations from Mill Hill to St Pancras, including the Midland Hotel and the railway workers cottages called Brent Midland Terrace (1897). Between 1884 and 1913, the influential suffragette Gladice Georgina Keevil (1884 – 1959) lived at Clitterhouse Farm. At age 6, she won a prize for her clay modelling at the local kindergarten. In February 1908 she was one of those arrested with Emmeline Pankhurst in taking part in a demonstration outside the House of Commons.

Keevil’s picture was taken in 1910 by Colonel Linley Blathwayt (died 1919) at Eagle House near Batheaston, Somerset. Where she (and other suffragettes) went to recover and celebrate a prison sentence for the cause. Here with shovel in hand after planting a tree.

By the First World War, Clitterhouse farmland was much reduced in size, becoming a dairy farm, which was 100 acres in extent and had “40 cows in full milk” producing 10 quarts per day on average. Land had been for Hendon sewage works in the 1880s, and to Hendon fever hospital (1890-1929). The estate remained the property of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital until 1921, when it was sold to the War Department; it was later split up among private developers. Hendon Urban District Council acquired some of the land for playing fields and to provide a new home for Hampstead Football Club in 1926 (which became Hendon FC in 1946).

In 1913, the southern part of Clitterhouse farm became the Beatty School of Flying (a joint venture with early American aviator, George Warren Beatty 1887-1955, and Handley Page). This became the Handley Page’s Cricklewood Aerodrome and factory during 1917. Handley Page developed and tested Britain’s first bombers. After the First World War, passenger flights to the continent became popular. In 1929 the Aerodrome was closed, and the land became Laing’s ‘Golders Green Estate’. Jean Simmons, the actress, was brought up on the estate. Shortly after 1926 Hampstead FC (Hendon FC from 1946) rented some of the land from Hendon Urban District, finishing Clitterhouse as a farm. The rest of the land became a public open space. From 1920 to 1938, Cricklewood Studios occupied part of the aerodrome; these were the largest film studios in the UK. To get an idea of the film studios in action: https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/how-make-your-first-silent-movie-count

The Clitterhouse Farm Project
The Clitterhouse Farm Project was founded in early 2013 by local residents – who all live within a five-minute walk of Clitterhouse Farm. They are working to protect the historic Victorian farm outbuildings from demolition and to secure their future, so the entire site can be transformed into a vibrant, creative and sustainable hub that supports the community and small businesses. They wish to provide a compatible and flexible space relevant to the needs of the local population and to create a tangible improvement to the area before, during and after the Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration. They have secured over £100,000 crowdfunding in December 2018 for community café and workshops including money from the Mayor of London’s Good Growth fund. They are slowly working through the planning stages, as they hope to start on site later this year.

Working closely with the Clitterhouse Farm Project, HADAS members excavated trenches in the garden area to the south of the building in 2015 and in 2016 trenches were dug to the north and along the front of the current buildings. From these we found the foundations of what we believe to be the Wheat barn (see below) and traces of the moat. Our finds include small amounts of pottery from the 12th century along with more extensive amounts from later centuries. The excavations suggest that the older range of buildings should be found under the car park.
The line A–A runs is roughly along the front of the current building as shown in the photo below.

Environmental Samples
Mike Hacker collected environmental samples during 2015 dig, the assemblage of pollen and spores (Scaife 2016) were found to be typical of other moats fills. This shows the vegetation diversity of the local human habitats sealed into the ditch or moat. The sources include grassland/pasture; thatching; animal faeces and offal waste (animals fed on hay); and river/stream courses which may have flowed into the ditch. The arboreal pollen is largely oak and hazel, from the wider region and most likely managed woodland, though with birch and elm. Pollen of sedges, grass and willow from damper conditions of the moat associated with a phase of silting/drying out of the moat; perhaps after abandonment. There is a strong representation of cereal pollen: more likely from secondary than local cultivation such as domestic waste – human and animal faeces, offal and from dumped waste food and floor coverings.

HADAS aim to carry out more work over the coming years to expand our knowledge of the development of this important moated farm. With the new café we hope to contribute to a small permanent diplay of material and archaeological finds. Clitterhouse Farm covers more than a thousand years of history from Viking raids, dairy farming, highway robbery, the coming of the railway age, suffragettes, pioneers in aviation for war and commercial travel, early Cinema, the rise of out of town shopping centres and much more. There is still much more to discover.

Bibliography
“Cricklewood High School and Kindergarten”. The Middlesex Courier. 31 July 1891. p. 3. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
Andrea McKenzie, “This Death Some Strong and Stout Hearted Man Doth Choose”: The Practice of Peine Forte et Dure in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century England”, Law and History Review, Vol 23, No 2, Summer 2005
Dr Rob Scaife, Pollen Analysis of Samples from Clitterhouse Farm (CLM15) (007), Visiting Professor of Palaeoecology, School of Geography and Environment, Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton 2016
David Sullivan, “The Westminster Corridor: Anglo-Saxon Story of Westminster Abbey and Its Lands in Middlesex”, 1st January 1994, Historical Publications Ltd
Patricia Warren British Film Studios: An Illustrated History, London: B.T. Batsford, 2001, p.22

Arkley Greyware medieval pottery production, South Hertfordshire Melvyn Dresner
The material found at the Arkley kiln site (Dyke Cottage), Barnet was discovered in 1959/1960 (including a complete pot). The HADAS finds group (led by Jacqui Pearce) help re-package and process the finds in 2014/15. We also undertook some further chemical and petrographic analysis including linking the kiln site with consumer sites. We are in process of writing up this research, as well as continuing to working on other Barnet sites, where this type of pottery was used (e.g. Ye Olde Mitre Inne, Barnet dug by HADAS in 1989). This report is part of this ongoing work.
The Arkley Brick – One piece of kiln furniture returned to the HADAS archive from Barnet Museum by Derek Renn earlier this year, which is part of the evidence of pottery production in Barnet since the 11th century. The material found at the site was medieval greyware – South Hertfordshire. This was mainly waste pottery sherds; material that failed as usable pottery due to production faults, as well as kiln furniture – fire bars and parts of the dome of the kiln. The finds were found in pits cut into the clay. The kiln itself was not found.


Medieval Barnet and wider landscape

The Romano-British tradition (Renn 1964) of pottery manufacture was known along the route of Watling Street between Brockley Hill and St Albans, which is to the north and west of Arkley, though continuity with pottery of 11th century is unlikely. We know St Alban’s Abbey owned the land around the site (Taylor 1995). St Alban’s Abbey, with the shrine of England’s first martyr, became prestigious and important. Throughout most of the medieval period it was England’s premier Benedictine abbey with numerous daughter houses stretching from Tynemouth in the north to Binham near the Norfolk coast. The Abbey was one day’s ride from London. The first Norman abbot was Paul of Caen from 1077 to 1093. By 1100 the Great North Road had been built, with two early settlements at East Barnet and Barnet Gate (or Grendelsgate). The Market charter was granted by King John in 1199. Manor court were sometimes held at Grendelsgate. According to Renn (1964), the Barnet Court Book shows a flourishing community by 1245. He suggests the Potters Lane may date from 1247. Woodland would be split between lord of the manor (St Alban’s Abbey) and peasants who worked the land, would have had rights such as firewood. The potter would need access to fuel (wood, charcoal), water for processing, clay (geology, clearings, glades), the market, organisation, and subsistence. Pottery at Arkley marks the transition from domestic production for use within the household to larger scale production for the market. The rule of Benedict had a particular attitude to craft and the market, which help us understand the potter’s world.

“If there are craftsmen in the monastery, let them practice their crafts with all humility, provided the Abbot has given permission….
If any of the work of the craftsmen is to be sold, let those through whose hands the transactions pass see to it that they do not presume to practice any fraud…
…and in the prices let not the sin of avarice creep in, but let the goods always be sold a little cheaper than they can be sold by people in the world, “that in all things God may be glorified.”
Renn (1964) suggests that the 13th century Arkley kiln would be a vertical kiln, where pots were stood on a platform of firebars radiating from a central support, with hot fumes escaping through a hole in the dome. Domestic refuse includes sheep and ox bones; metal slag; micaschist whetstone, oak, beech and birch charcoal. Wasters that were under fired; dunted; or spalled. Also included building material – such as chimney pots or roof finials. He parallels finds here with South Mymms castle.

Pottery Fabric
The pottery found at Arkley can be classified into four types (SHER 1, 2, 3 and 4). Over seventy per cent of the pottery is course medium oxidised (SHER 3). Around 25% is reduced course ware (SHER 1). Fine ware makes up around 3% of the estimated number of vessels, with 2% reduced (SHER 2) and 1% oxidised (SHER 4). Work continues….


HADAS Finds Group, sorting South Hertfordshire from Ye Old Mitre Inne, Barnet, March 2019

Bibliography
Renn, Derek (1964). Potters and Kilns in Medieval Hertfordshire.
Taylor, Pamela. The Early St. Albans Endowment and its Chroniclers, Historic Research, Volume 68, Issue 166, June 1995
St. Benedict’s Rule for Monasteries http://www.gutenberg.org/files/50040/50040-h/50040-h.html#chapter-57-nl-on-the-craftsmen-of-the-monastery

West Heath mystery, Orkney and HADAS Melvyn Dresner
HADAS has a long link with Orkney and its archaeology, we are trying to locate a missing video.
Daphne Lorimer’s worked with HADAS on the West Heath Mesolithic site, Hampstead during the 1970s and 1980s, which was pioneering – helping to bringing together scientific techniques with community archaeology, lithic analysis and environmental sampling. Daphne was awarded an MBE for her equally impressive role in Scottish archaeology in Orkney and as founder of the Orkney Archaeology Trust. Janet Mortimer has just returned from an archaeological tour with tales of Daphne, and a mystery to be solved. There was a film made at West Heath in 1970s, and where is it now? What we know, is on the HADAS trip in 2000 to the Orkneys, members were shown around by Jane Downes and Julie Gibson. One afternoon included a visit to Daphne’s place ‘Scorradale House’ she had laid on a ‘high-tea’ and some displays including a video of a TV programme made at the West Heath dig of which Daphne was heavily involved and co-author of the dig report. Janet found out that Daphne’s archaeology-related books and reference material went to Archaeology Institute at Orkney College, University of the Highlands and Islands. So far no video. Dudley Miles is visiting Orkney next month on his trip to the Northern Isles. I return for a third season to work at Ness of Brodgar, any clues much appreciated.
More info about Daphne Lorimer here: http://www.orkneyjar.com/archaeology/dhl/dl/index.html and also HADAS newsletter (409 April 2005). Some photos from HADAS dig at West Heath in 1970s.

Surprisingly Rewarding on the Thames Foreshore Catriona Stuart
Catriona Stuart gives her take on Thames foreshore archaeology.

Only 7 miles away from the Quadrant Stone, the biggest available archaeological site in England – the Thames Foreshore, revealed twice a day at low tide. This isn’t news to you. But maybe its availability for archaeological research and its’ urgency because of the rapidly changing foreshore – is! At low tide 5th century fish traps, ancient causeways, river crossings have all been observed. Boats, both building and breaking, smaller craft put to other uses, rituals both old and current (Hindu ceremonies) evidence of all are to be found on the foreshore.
Apart from the Roman Bridge across the river, originally the main traffic along or across the river was by boat. Car boot sales a totally modern invention? Not exactly. Imagine a Briton pulling their boats up onto the Thames foreshore when Romans occupied London and selling their goods in exactly the same way. This happened just upstream of the Londinium – the Roman port was downstream of the Roman wall. Who when stepping over water into an unstable boat who hasn’t worried about dropping something into the water, to be lost beyond retrieval? Nothing has changed.

The collection of fast flowing tributary rivers and canals fusing to become the Thames, finally turns into a wide meandering river flowing over flat lands of thick mud. These dangerous wet mudbanks were made usable by folk who lived on the riversides sinking all their rubbish onto the riverbanks. From offcuts of leather shoes tied in a bundle thrown in at Tudor Greenwich, to the debris from the Great Fire of London. (I am still looking for signs of burn marks on the broken 17th century roof tiles that litter the foreshore under Cannon Street railway arch). Clearly to be seen at Bermondsey and Rotherhithe are the remains of World War Two bomb damaged buildings pushed onto the foreshore!

Once there were slow vessels going through a crowded river, powered by sail or physical rowing docking, mooring tight to one another. There was steam and mechanically powered boats. This, in the life of river traffic was only for a short length of time. Since the change in 1960 to container shipping, and the opening of the London Gateway container dock at Tilbury 30 miles from London, the Thames’ old docklands is now an open river with comparatively little river traffic. The Thames is travelled by large river buses going at speed. The wake from these river buses rapidly runs up the foreshore eroding both it and everything on it. Downstream of Teddington Lock the foreshore is also subject to tidal movement. There is also deposition of mud from the many tributary rivers. So the foreshore is subject to both deposition and erosion at the same time! Hence the constant change of the foreshore from week to week! The Thames, both the river and the foreshore reflects its continued use by humans for well over 2,000 years. Everyone is allowed onto the Thames foreshore.

Digging into the foreshore is NOT allowed without a Port of London permit. Everything taken from the foreshore is subject to the scrutiny of the Museum of London and officially belongs to them. You are likely to find things of amazing interest, however finding something of monetary value is very unlikely. Nevertheless, with all of everyday London life going on unnoticed only a few meters unseen above, standing on the foreshore of the Thames cocooned in silence, while being surrounded by 2,000 years of tangible often visible history is a very, very, special experience, and yours to enjoy. If you would like to learn more contact www.thamesdiscovery.org Port of London www.pla.co.uk shows Tide Tables under the strap line of safety/hydrography.

Cerne Abbey Site Re-Assessed Charles Leigh Smith
Inspired by Mick Aston referring to a village about to be demolished he mentions that its remnant features might become part of a palimpsest. Aston, like W. G. Hoskins, liked maps – if only they could speak! They do speak to archaeologists of the landscape. Historic sites with dispersed structures often remain a puzzle; but, sometimes illuminated by early maps. Charlie Leigh Smith re-assesses Cerne Abbey, in Dorset, part of his Masters course at Birkbeck College, University of London.

The abbey established in 987, situated just north of Cerne Abbas village, was built towards the end of the 10th century religious reform, when secular religious establishments were being replaced by Anglo-Saxon monasteries. By the 12th century, it was taken over by the Benedictines who replaced the early church by a conventional abbey with church, chapter house, etc. The abbey could also be expected to have its own workshops, brew-house, barn(s) etc, thus allowing it to become largely self-sufficient, and private, as required by the Benedictine rule. For Cerne Abbey the problem had always been that with so few buildings remaining after the Dissolution in 1539, it became impossible to know exactly where the abbey once stood. The earliest OS map marked a cross (+) in Beavoir Field, but these locations have often been incorrect. Beavoir Field is bare grass but lies adjacent to the village cemetery.

A few abbey buildings have survived: the main gatehouse (Abbey House), Porch (a fine monumental structure), lodge (possibly a guest-house), and small barn, which lie nearby. Villagers knew that spot finds came from the back of the village cemetery, such as glazed tiles and parts of tomb effigies. The two horizontal cemetery walls suggested these were the remains of an abbey church, and the 3m (12ft) walls at the St Augustine well, might indicate these could be the remains of a South Transept. But these imaginings were based on interpretations without scientific foundation. Firstly, one of the cemetery walls (on the north side) was too narrow and was shown on an estate map dated 1768, to have been a hedgerow. Observation by John Leyland travelling to the abbey in the early 1500’s, when it was standing, noted a chapel over the St Augustine well; what is currently displayed are the partial wall remains of the chapel’s undercroft (possible pump-house). A resistance geophysical survey in Beavoir Field by Bournemouth University (2014/0071), provided evidence for a linear anomalous area under the grassy field but follow up test pitting disallowed by the landlord (Lord Digby); it was a Scheduled Monument. The subject seemed appropriate for further in-depth research.

A License for a geophysical survey was obtained from the Inspector of Ancient Monuments for West England which came with a recommendation to see the abbey in a wider contextual setting. Research used the tools available to the landscape archaeologist i.e. aerial photographs, LiDAR, OS and historic estate maps; relevant documents held at Kew, Victoria County History, and observations from local writers were reviewed and noted, each providing relevant information. But the most valuable evidence was the find-spot locations (Davey et al., 2011), detailed descriptions and layout plans from other known Benedictine monasteries (Greene, 1992), out-houses (Cook, 1961), fishponds (Aston, 1988), the Cerne abbey seal (Kew archive), and observation on the ground in Beavoir field at the western end some distance from a field gate. This last observation identified a faint linear feature on the grass surface, about 15 feet long with something hard beneath the surface. There was also a large square faced ragstone beside it. It was also evident this section of Beavoir Field had once been levelled off from prevailing downhill lie-of-the-land. It turned out this line probably marked the abbey’s west front and suggested the abbey was aligned not exactly East-West, but EbS/WbN, which would have allowed the abbey to fit with earthworks to the east. The abbey seal showed a turret on either side, and by overlaying the topographical map with Muchelney Abbey (of similar date) the location of the spot finds fell exactly where one would expect a Lady Chapel to have been. What the wider survey indicated was a private (inner religious) area, and a working (secular industrial) area for brew-house and outhouses, one likely late Anglo-Saxon.
Interestingly, a chance conversation with Lord Digby told of a time when as a boy he saw a small wheel about 6 feet in diameter set mostly below ground in the Victorian milking parlour – since demolished. This provided the clue to the site for the abbey’s water mill. This location fitted the water channels seen on the 1768 Estate Map, emanating from this spot. It confirmed the abbey’s work area. The 18th century estate map was drawn up for Mr Pitt-Rivers, who had recently purchased the abbey lands, and although he himself never lived in the village, it was he who we must thank for saving the abbey buildings that survive to this day. A meeting with his grandson (Anthony) at his hall in another Dorset town revealed the abbey’s altar, now re-used as a fireplace but whose provenance was carefully labelled. It was looked down from the other side of the room by a large painting of this once eminent Antiquarian. The outcome of this piece of landscape archaeology research was to provide an holistic layout for Cerne Abbey, but which also led to the probable site for the earlier Anglo-Saxon church, and a reasoned argument why it had come to be built in this remote location of Dorset. Hopefully, the puzzle is solved.

Bibliography
Aston, M., 1988. Medieval fish, fisheries, and fishponds in England (Vol. 1). BAR.
Cook, G.H., 1961. English monasteries in the middle ages. London, Phoenix House.
Davey, J., Belamy, P., Le Pard, G., Pinder, C., 2011. Dorset Historic Towns Project, Cerne Abbas Historic Urban Characterisation, Dorset County Council.
Greene, J.P., 1992. Medieval monasteries. Leicester University Publishing.

Architecture of London Guildhall Art Gallery (off Gresham Street) EC2V 5AE
31 May – 1 December 2019 The Guildhall Art Gallery’s forthcoming exhibition brings together works from the 17th century to the present day to illustrate how London’s ever-changing cityscape has inspired visiting and resident artists over four centuries. As part of the six-month exhibition, John Schofield, cathedral archaeologist at St Paul’s Cathedral; Dr Jane Sidell, inspector of Ancient Monuments for Historic England; and Dr David Allen and Dr Simon Elliott, historian and archaeologist respectively, will lead a series of talks on the use of stone, the tradition of bricklaying within London’s architecture, and historical insights from the Great Fire of London.

The Architecture of London will feature 80 works by over 60 artists, drawing from the City of London Corporation’s extensive art collection to examine the rich diversity of London’s buildings and its varied portrayal by artists, including masterpieces by renowned and emerging artists, such as Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach and Catherine Yass.
More details here: https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/visit-the-city/attractions/guildhall-galleries/guildhall-art-gallery/Pages/default.aspx

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS Compiled by Eric Morgan
Friday 7th June. Doors open 7.30 pm for lecture at 8.00 pm Landscape Archaeology of Northwest London, Sandy Kidd, GLAAS. Jubilee Hall, Parsonage Lane Enfield (close to Chase Side). Visitors are very welcome (£1.50 per person).

Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th June Barnet Medieval Festival 2019, Barnet Elizabethans RFC, Byng Rd, EN5 4NP

Monday 10th June 3.00 pm Beanos, Boozing & Hopping! Memories of the Old East End, John Lynch
Barnet Parish church (St John the Baptist Church, top of Barnet Hill) Cost: £2 (free for Members of Barnet Museum & Local History Society)

Thursday, 20th June. 7.30 pm – 9:00 pm, Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley in Somers Town – Charlie Forman, Camden History Society, Burgh House

Sunday 23rd June. 12-6pm East Finchley Community Festival has been taking place in Cherry Tree Wood every summer for nearly 40 years.

Friday 28th June, A Treaty of Peace, Today marks 100 years since the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the most important of the peace treaties which brought World War I to an end. The Stephens Ink Company always maintained the treaty was signed in their ink and you can learn more and view our 1919 Stationery Office copy, Stephens House and Gardens, 17 East End Road, Finchley, London N3 3QE. Telephone 020 8346 7812

Wednesday 3rd July. 5.30pm Brompton Cemetery Catacombs and Chapel Meet just inside the north gate off Old Brompton Road by the Information Centre at SW5 9JE for a tour of the catacombs and chapel at Brompton Cemetery. £10 for members, £12.50 for non-members, including a cup of tea and biscuit in the chapel following the tour www.brompton-cemetery.org.uk

Friday 12th July. Doors open 7.30pm.Geoffrey Gillam Memorial Lecture: Survivors: Surviving World War II Structures in Enfield Ian Jones EAS. Enfield Archaeological Society, Jubilee Hall Chase Side, Enfield, EN2 0AJ. Visitors £1.50.
Enfield Archaeological Society will be returning to Forty Hall this summer from the 16th to 28th of July 2019 to continue our investigation of Henry VIII’s Elsyng Palace. You need to join the society if you would like to dig. Open day 27th July. Check their website: https://www.enfarchsoc.org/

With thanks to this month’s contributors: Roger Chapman, Catriona Stuart, Charles Leigh Smith, and Eric Morgan
Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman: Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet, Herts. 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, Flat 22 Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road, East Barnet EN4 8FH (020 8440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
Join the HADAS email discussion group via the website at: https://www.hadas.org.uk

Newsletter-576-March-2019

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

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE AND EVENTS PROGRAMME 2019

Tuesday 12th March 2019: Lost and Found: The Rediscovery of Roman London – by John Clark
John Clark was Curator of the Medieval Collections of the Museum of London for many years. He
retired in 2009, but retains his connection with the museum as Curator Emeritus. While studying
the history and archaeology of medieval London, he became interested in the way medieval
Londoners interpreted the past of their own city, for they had no knowledge of what we call ‘Roman
London’. They believed London was much older than Rome, and that its city walls and ancient
buildings had been erected by legendary British kings like Belinus and Lud.
In his talk John will consider how historians began to question this story in the 16th century. With
access to classical texts rediscovered during the Renaissance, and with the natives of the newly
discovered Americas as models for an understanding of the ‘Ancient Britons’ described by Julius
Caesar, they were better placed to recognise the nature of Roman Londinium. After the Great Fire
of 1666, building works revealed remains of Roman London, and they were recorded, collected and
discussed by antiquaries like John Conyers, John Woodward and William Stukeley, setting the
scene for the work by London archaeologists that continues today.

Tuesday 9th April 2019: The CITiZAN Project by Gustav Milne

Tuesday 14th May 2019 50 years of recording London’s Industrial Heritage by Professor David
Perrett

Tuesday 11th June 2019. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

HADAS 2019 Long Trip. Monday 23rd to Friday 27th September 2019
We have booked the hotel for our long trip in 2019. Details will follow in due course.
The hotel is: Best Western Aberavon Beach Hotel, Aberavon Beach, Port Talbot, SA12 6QP

Tuesday 8th October 2019: From Crosse & Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA excavations at
Tottenham Court Road 2009–10 by Lyn Blackmore

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: a royal and monastic landscape revealed by
Bob Cowie

Lectures are held at Stephens House & Gardens (Avenue House), 17 East End Road, Finchley, N3
3QE, and start promptly at 8 pm, with coffee/tea afterwards. Non-members admission: £2; Buses
13, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central station (Northern Line), is a 5-10
minute walk away.

Change of dates for Lectures
Following the consultation to members in the January Newsletter regarding the dates of the lectures,
there will be no change, as the response was not sufficient to make any meaningful decision.
Jo Nelhams (Secretary)

September Trip Jim Nelhams
This will take place from Monday 23rd to Friday 27th September. We will be based at the Best
Western Aberavon Beach Hotel on the east side of Swansea Bay in an area not previously visited by
a long HADAS outing.

The cost will be £535 per person in a single room, and £485 per person sharing a double or twin
room. We have provisionally booked the same number of rooms that we used in Brome in 2018, but
that can be changed. To secure your booking, we need a deposit of £150 by Friday 15th March, with
the balance to be paid by 15th July. Payment can be made by cheque to HADAS (my address is on
the back page of this newsletter), or by direct transfer to our account at CAFBANK, sort code 40-
52-40 account number 00007253. If you have any problems with payment. Please talk to us to see if
we can help.

We do not restrict these trips to members, so if you want to bring a friend, that is fine.

Our previous trips have been written up in our newsletters so you can read about them.
If you are not sure what they involve, please give me or Jo a call and we can talk to you about them.
(020 8449 7076)

Membership Renewals Stephen Brunning
The HADAS membership year runs from 1st April to 31st March, and so all members who pay
by cheque will now be required to renew (except those people who have joined since January
this year).

Members who pay their subscription by standing order need take no action.

Please therefore find enclosed a renewal form, and I would ask that you fill it in and return it
to me, along with the appropriate amount as soon as possible. The current rates and where to
send your payment are on the form. Many thanks.

If the renewal form is not enclosed and you require one, please contact me (details on back page).

February Lecture
Unfortunately, on 12th February Jon Cotton was ill and unable to give his talk on “Prehistory in
London” which would have been the Dorothy Newbury Memorial Lecture. Luckily HADAS
Committee member Roger Chapman stepped in at short notice, and spoke to us about the history of
Clitterhouse Farm and the digs carried out there, illustrating his talk with slides.

HADAS 2018 – Brome Trip (final day) Jim Nelhams
It’s Friday and time to go home. Farewell to those travelling under their own steam. Cases loaded
and off we go. First stop Lavenham, which I’m sure some people will have visited previously
before making our way to Sudbury. Day one included a visit to Constable’s church and Flatford
Mill. Another artist – Thomas Gainsborough – to check in Sudbury.

Lavenham Guildhall Audrey Hooson

The Guildhall of Corpus Christi, built in 1529-30, with two adjoining properties forms the south
side of Lavenham’s market place. There are still many impressive lime-washed houses in the
village although the medieval exteriors front more modern adapted homes.
The prosperity of the village was based on the production of woollen cloth, particularly blue
woollen broadcloth. The Merchant Guilds were originally formed for mutual assistance to the
members and to raise funds for a Catholic Priest’s duties and to ensure suitable burials, they also
organised social activities and the celebration of saints. During the boom years of c1460-1530 they
were active in controlling the manufacture and sale of textiles and contributed to the building of the
impressive church of St. Peter and St. Paul which was built in stages from c1486-1525. Religious
guilds were dissolved in 1547 during the Protestant Reformation and the Guildhall became parish
property.

The carving and decoration of the exterior were obviously intended to impress and show the wealth
of the guild, and it is one of the few buildings to remain in its original state. There have been
several changes of use since the building ceased to be the Guildhall, all requiring modification to
the interior. From pre-1655-1787 it became the bridewell or house of correction, from 1655-1836 a
workhouse and from 1833-1836 there was a lock-up and mortuary at the back of the garden. The
only furniture currently on display is an interesting mural cupboard dated 1647 with a curved top,
on loan from the V&A.

In 1946 following a period of neglect and unsuitable restoration, the Guildhall and adjoining
buildings were given to the Lavenham Preservation Committee by the owner, Sir William Quilter,
and later after a campaign to provide the necessary £4,000 endowment, accepted by the National
Trust. The Guildhall is again used as a community building.

During our visit there was an exhibition, ‘Lavenham Guildhall, the stories of the village through
time’. The organisers had selected previous residents and researched their stories. The person that I
found of appalling interest was Ann Baker. As a child Ann was a prisoner in the Cosford Union
Workhouse in nearby Somer, living in harsh conditions. She ran away and was sentenced to three
years hard labour for embezzling goods. In 1785 now aged only 12 she ran away again, was caught
and tried at Bury St Edmunds court.

Judged an incorrigible rogue, Ann was sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia. The
convict ship “Neptune” did not leave until 1797, and the interval was spent in the Lavenham
bridewell. Conditions in the ships were very harsh and around 26% of the convicts died during the
159 days of the journey. Our guide was very pleased to tell us that Ann had descendants, who on a
visit from Australia had seen the exhibition and provided more information.

The gardens behind the three buildings have been combined and planted with dye plants and teasels
that would have been used in Lavenham’s Tudor cloth industry. A wall hanging inspired by this
local textile industry and using natural dyes, has been designed and made by the Lavenham Guild of
Weavers, Spinners and Dyers whose members regularly demonstrate their craft at the Guildhall, is
on long term loan and showed how bright the better cloths may have been.

Little Hall, Lavenham Stewart Wild

Our next visit was to the fascinating Little Hall, one of Simon Jenkins’ England’s Thousand Best
Houses. This jettied timber-frame gem dates mostly from the 1450s.

Overlooking Lavenham’s Market Place, and close to the Guildhall, the building was in all
probability built for a family of clothiers, wealthy from the wool industry of the 14th and 15th
centuries, and later ‘modernised’ in Tudor times with a hearth, chimney, an upper floor over the
central hall, and glazed windows.

It has been owned and loved since 1974 by the Suffolk Building Preservation Trust, and open to the
public as a unique museum for over forty years, run entirely by a team of volunteers who kindly
facilitated our own private visit.

At its core is a typical hall house of the period, with a great hall rising to the roof and two jettied
wings for private and service purposes. The great crown post with its supporting beam which
dominates the dormitory upstairs is evidence of the original hall and was revealed during restoration
of the house after World War II.

The house has had a chequered history, for as the cloth trade declined in the 18th and 19th
centuries, so Little Hall also fell upon hard times. No longer a wealthy family home, it was divided
into six tenements housing labourers in a variety of trades.

In 1924 the property was rescued by a pair of identical twin brothers, Colonel Thomas and Major
Robert Gayer-Anderson (born 1881) whose plan was to provide accommodation for their widowed
mother and use as their home when they were not on active service with the Army. In fact, it took
them nearly thirty years to bring the house back to a single comfortable dwelling of the 1950s.
Robert Gayer-Anderson became an Egyptologist of distinction and was given the honorary title of
Pasha by King Farouk for his services to Egypt. Much of his collection of antiquities has been
donated to museums in London, Oxford and Cairo, but lesser pieces of art and sculpture remain in
the house. He died in 1945.

During WWII his brother the Colonel was local Home Guard Commander and Chief Billeting
Officer for Lavenham and himself took in six boys evacuated from war-torn London. Evidence of
their presence can still be seen in the upstairs dormitory. Some of the boys have remained in touch
with the Trust over the years and have returned to visit.

On the Colonel’s death in 1960 the brothers left the house to be used as a hostel for art students
from The Slade, where their sister had studied, and from Kingston Art School in Surrey where their
friend Reginald Brill (1902–74) was the Principal.

Before and after his retirement Brill lived in the house and was the Warden. He was a prolific artist
and some of his work, and that of his students, remains on display to this day. Under the terms of
the Gayer-Anderson Bequest the house passed eventually to The Suffolk Building Preservation
Trust.

To round off the visit, we admired the delightful gardens at the rear, planned along Tudor lines with
a traditional English walled garden
.
Lavenham Church Harriet Sogbodjor

The church of St Peter and St Paul Lavenham is Grade 1 listed and is considered the finest example
of late Perpendicular Gothic. There was probably a church on the site in the Anglo-Saxon period,
but nothing from that period remains. The oldest part of the current church is the chancel which was
built around 1340, around which the current spectacular gothic church has been extended.

Following the Black Death, Lavenham and the surrounding area grew rich due to the wool trade.
The 14th century church was altered several times, reflecting the increased wealth of its community.
One example of this was the eastern vestry, which was added in 1440. The church was
reconstructed again between 1485 -1525. It was one of the last churches completed before the
Reformation, the work being funded by wealthy local merchants who continued to pay for its
upkeep.

Donors included the 13th Earl of Cambridge, the Branchs and De Veres. Thomas Spring, a cloth
merchant whose mark appears over 30 times on the outside of the building, contributed vast
amounts for the development of the church in his lifetime and following his death in June 1523. He
is buried within a tomb in an elaborate parclose in the church. After his death his widow ensured the
completion of the steeple and the South chapel with funds left in his will for this purpose. The tower
was designed by a mason, John Clerk and built between 1486-1495, with further work funded by
money left in Thomas Spring’s will.

The nave, aisles and clerestories were designed by John Wastrell. Features include a painted rood
screen from 1330-40 and an octagonal font, also from the 16th century. There is a church clock
without an external dial. There are late medieval stalls in the chancel, and misericords with a range
of unusual carvings. Another carved parclose contains the tomb of John Pouder who died in 1520.
On the north wall of the chancel there is the Copinger Memorial, which depicts the family of
parents and children, including skulls representing their children who had already died.

There are few brasses in the church and nearly all pre-reformation ones are lost. There is an unusual
brass of a swaddled baby and an inscription in Latin commemorating a 10-day old baby Clopton,
who died in 1631 born to Sir Symond D’Ewes, Lord of the Manor. There are also beautiful stainedglass
windows, in the decorated style, depicting scenes from the bible and angels. One window
depicts several nativity stories from St Luke’s Gospel. The west window, below the tower, shows
scenes from the gospels of St Peter and St Paul. This was restored following destruction by a WW2
bomb.

This huge fascinating church, in a small picturesque town, reflects the increasing prosperity of this
area of Suffolk and was a delight to visit.

Gainsborough’s House Ken Sutherland-Thomas

The last day of our excursion around Historic East Anglia saw us visiting the town of Sudbury and
in particular Thomas Gainsborough’s house.

Thomas Gainsborough is one of the great figures of British and world art history. In the words of
Sir Joshua Reynolds, “the name of Gainsborough will be transmitted to posterity in the history of
art”. Gainsborough is renowned not only in his advancements of portraiture to a higher level, but
also for being one of the founders of the British school of landscape painting.

Gainsborough’s house and gardens are situated in Gainsborough Street, just off Market Hill,
where there is a statue of the great man. The house, of late medieval origin, was re-modelled by
John Gainsborough (father of Thomas) after he purchased it in 1722. John put in the addition of
an elegant brick façade.

Thomas Gainsborough was baptised in Sudbury at the Independent Meeting House in 1727 as the
ninth child of John and Mary, and lived in the house until around 1740, when he came to London to
engage in the career of an artist. He returned to Sudbury between 1949 and 1752.
The house today is split over three floors, and there is a small but beautiful garden, the centrepiece
of which is a mulberry tree reputed to be over 400 years old.

On the ground floor of the house there is an exhibition on Gainsborough focusing on his life,
while the upstairs rooms focus on his art. The upstairs rooms are not large, but together with the
halls and staircase are full of portraits of the Gainsborough family and works of the artist. Some
of his landscapes are displayed. When it comes to landscapes, it is said that ‘Nature was his
teacher’.

The house also has room for changing exhibitions by other artists and there is a well-stocked
shop.

After some free time to explore Sudbury, the group re-convened for afternoon tea and cake
at the local community cafe, where we were welcomed and refreshed for the remaining
journey home.

Wrap up Jim Nelhams
So that completes another trip. Our thanks are due to those members who have contributed to our
newsletter – Vicki Baldwin, Deirdre Barrie, Jean Bayne, Collette Carlton, Don Cooper, Dudley
Miles, Peter Pickering, Andy Simpson, Harriet Sogbodjor, Ken Sutherland-Thomas, Liz Tucker,
Micky Watkins. Stewart Wild and Simon Williams – with their own styles and with their own
viewpoints.

Thanks also to Galleon Coaches and Paul Holdstock, our driver, for a smooth drive (avoiding low
bridges) – yes there are some in East Anglia. Planning is well under way for 2019 as noted
elsewhere in this newsletter.

Battle of Barnet Exhibition Deirdre Barrie
Don’t miss Barnet Museum’s exhibition about the Battle of Barnet, which can be found on the
right-hand side, near the back of the Spires Shopping Centre in High Barnet. The banners of all the
leading participants, “the victors and vanquished” are displayed, with details of their families and
how they fared in the battle and afterwards.

On the back wall is a lively painting of the battle by Agnes Allen, who painted it in 1971 to mark
the 500th anniversary of the battle.

Bulletin boards give details of the many films, stage and TV dramas devoted to the period, as well
as the search for a true likeness of “Warwick the Kingmaker”. (There seems to be only one, on the
Richard Beauchamp funerary monument at the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick).
Website: http://www.barnetmuseum.co.uk

Layers of London (Information taken from their website) Sue Willetts
Layers of London is a new project which brings together, for the first time, a significant collection
of digitised historic maps, photos and other information provided by key partners across London.
The partners include: the British Library, The London Metropolitan Archives, Historic England,
The National Archives, MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) and a wide range of national and
local archives, institutions and community groups.

The website allows you to interact with, and contribute to, many different ‘layers’ of London’s
history from the Romans to the present day. These layers include historic maps, images of
buildings, films as well as information about people who have lived and worked in London over the
centuries.

A major element of this project is to work with the public at borough level and city-wide, through
crowd-sourcing, volunteer, schools and internship programmes. Everyone is invited to contribute
material to the project by uploading materials relating to the history of any place in London. This
may be an old photograph, a collection of transcribed letters, a recorded interview, a video, or the
results of local research project. You don’t need our permission to do this, just create an account and
start contributing! Browsing the map will give you a good idea of what sort of content works best.
All content contributed to Layers of London is under a Creative Commons Licence, encouraging
respectful collaboration and sharing.

If you need it, we can offer support, equipment, training and collaborative volunteer programmes to
support you enriching the map. Anybody interested in getting involved and finding out about
volunteer and collaborative opportunities on the project should subscribe to our monthly newsletter
for updates: We hope that Layers of London will launch new local heritage projects across the 32
boroughs of London and we would love to hear from you if you have ideas to share.

Advance notice of a conference:
Medieval port of London: The Docklands History Group are holding a conference at the
Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC27 5HN on 18th May from 10 am – 5.30 pm. Price
range is £10.00 – £35.00 – See the Dockland History Group Website or contact them directly for
more information Docklands.History.Group@r1.technology-trust-news.org

E v e n t d e s c r i p t i o n
Museum of London – forthcoming exhibition
Beasts of London opens on Friday 5 April 2019 and explores the fascinating role animals have
played in shaping the capital. Be guided through time, from the Roman era through Medieval London
and right up to present day, narrated by the beasts themselves. Discover how animals – from lions and
elephants, to horses, rats and pigeons – have shaped the city and its beastly history. Step into an
immersive tour through London’s history, narrated by the animals who once lived here.

Voicing some of the animals who once roamed the city are a host of household names and include:
Brian Blessed, Pam Ferris, Nish Kumar, Stephen Mangan, Angellica Bell and Joe Pasquale.
Inspired by objects in the collection and created in partnership with the Guildhall School of Music &
Drama, Beasts of London will be a fully interactive digital installation using video projection
mapping. Tickets are on sale now.

The National Archives: Cold War Season from 4 April – 9 November
April 2019 sees the launch of a Cold War season, including a new exhibition Protect and Survive:
Britain’s Cold War Revealed, offering a fascinating look into life in Britain during the turbulent
Cold War era. The season will include a series of late openings, talks and panel discussions, film
screenings, creative workshops and family activities exploring the reality of life in Britain under the
persistent threat of nuclear attack.

Sign up to the mailing list to receive news and updates about the season, along with advance
booking for events.

Advance notice: Festival of Archaeology 2019
It is pleasing to hear that following a year off in 2018, the 2019 Festival of Archaeology will take
place from 13 – 28 July and will form part of the 75th anniversary of the Council for British
Archaeology.

The new website includes online registration guides and publicity materials

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS Compiled by Eric Morgan
(6th April item added by Sue Willetts)

Friday 8th March, Enfield Archaeological Society, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane/ Junction Chase
Side, Enfield EN2 OAJ, Romans to Saxons, results of St Martin’s-in the-Fields, Trafalgar Square,
Talk by Alison Telfer (MoLA). Visitors £1.50, refreshments, sales and information from 7.30 pm.

Wednesday 3rd April, 6.00 pm Gresham College at the Museum of London, 150 London Wall,
EC2Y 5HN. Crown, Country and the Struggle for Supremacy. Talk by Simon Thurley. Free.
On how the changing balance of power and wealth between the aristocracy and the monarchy from
the 16th to the 19th centuries has influenced today’s national cultural landscape of art and
architecture.

Wednesday 3rd April, 6.00 pm, Docklands History Group. Museum of London Docklands, No 1
Warehouse, West India Quay, Hertsmere Road, Canary Wharf E14 4AL. Riverine/Riverside
Archaeology. Talk by Jane Sidell (MOLA) £2.

Thursday 4th April, 2.00 pm. Pinner Local History Society, Village Hall, Chapel Lane car park,
Pinner HA5 1AB. Headstone Manor – the History of the House and the Recent Discoveries.
Talk by Pat Clarke (LAMAS). Visitors £3.

Friday 5th April 7.45 pm Enfield Archaeological Society, address as above. The Excavations and
Fieldwork of Enfield Archaeology Society 2018. Talk by Dr Martin Dearne (EAS), preceded by
AGM. Visitors £1.50, refreshments as above.

Saturday 6th April Bethlem Museum of the Mind 2.00 – 3.00 Talk entitled The Archaeology of
Melancholy by James Dixon at Bethlem Royal Hospital, Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham, BR3
3BX Free. Tickets available via https://museumofthemind.org.uk/whats-on/event-info/thearcheology-
of-melancholy The speaker (co-editor of the journal Post-Medieval Archaeology) will
consider an alternative approach to understanding the past, present, and future of people, things and
places. This event includes a walk of the grounds. James Dixon is a dedicated art-archaeology
researcher with interests including ‘visual archaeologies’ and aesthetics, public art, archaeology and
performance, and the incorporation of artistic practice in archaeology.

Monday 8th April, 3.00 pm. Barnet Museum’s Local History Society, St John the Baptist, Barnet
Church, The High St/Wood St, Barnet, EN5 4BW. The Second Battle of St Albans, 1461 –
Margaret of Anjou’s Triumph. Talk by Harvey Watson. Visitors £2. Please NOTE, speaker for 11th
March is Terence Atkins.

Wednesday 10th April, 7.45 pm. Hornsey Historical Society, Union Church Hall, corner of Ferme
Park Rd/Weston Park, N8 9PX. Brief History of Finsbury Park and Stroud Green. Talk by Mark
Aston. Visitors £2, refreshments, sales and information, 7.30 pm.

Wednesday 10th April, 6.00 pm. Gresham College at the Museum of London, 150 London Wall,
EC2Y 5HN. The Natural Environment of Tudor London. Talk by Professor Carolyn Roberts. Free.
Part of Gresham 500, offering a “virtual walk” around the City with Sir Thomas Gresham, with
contemporary maps, paintings and writings.

Monday 15th April, 8.00 pm, Enfield Society, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane Junction Chase Side,
Enfield EN2 OAJ. The History of Broomfield House, talk by Ivor Evans, visitors £1. Together with
Exhibition, Hidden Treasures Revealed, Broomfield House and Park, at Dugdale Centre, Museum
of Enfield, 39 London Road, Enfield EN2 6DS, until Monday 22nd April. Contains Contains prints,
phots, maps, paintings and artefacts.

Wednesday 24th April, 7.45 pm. Friern Barnet & District Local History Society, North Middlesex
Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL.The History of Shopping in London.

Talk by Diane Bursten. Visitors £2. Refreshments.

Thursday 25th April, 7.30 pm. Finchley Society. Drawing Room, Avenue House, (Stephens
House) 17 East End Road, N3 3QE. Finchley Origins – Part 1: From a Forest to a Common. Talk
by Hugh Petrie (Barnet Archivist). Visitors £2. Please NOTE time.

Friday 26th April, 7.00 pm. COLAS, St Olave’s Hall, Mark Lane, EC2 EC3R 7NB. The Trowel
Blazers: Women in Archaeology in London. Talk by Sadie Watson (MOLA). Visitors £3. Light
refreshments afterwards.

Also Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th April, 11 am – 5.00 pm, LT Museum Depot, W3 Open
Weekend. Admission £12, Concessions £10.

Tuesday 30th April, 11.30 am, Mill Hill Historical Society – Visit to the London Transport Depot,
Acton Town. 118-120 Gunnersbury Lane, W3 9BQ. Tour of London Transport Posters and Artwork
Cost = members£5.50, Non-members £7.50. Meet 11.20 am for the 11.30 am tour, at Depot. To
book by Friday 29th March. Please send cheque and S.A.E to Julia Haynes, 38 Marion Road, Mill
Hill London NW7 4AN. Cheques to be made payable to Mill Hill Historical Society.
Contact: Julia Haynes on 020 8906 0563.or email julia@yahoo.co.uk For electronic replies, please
supply your email address. Otherwise, give your name, telephone number and number of places
required, or book on line at www.mill-hs.org.uk, but send cheque.

With big thanks to this month’s contributors;

Stephen Brunning; Audrey Hooson; Eric Morgan; Jim Nelhams; Harriet Sogbodjor;
Ken Sutherland-Thomas, Stewart Wild and Sue Willetts.
Hendon and District Archaeological Society

Chairman: Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet, Herts. 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, Flat 22 Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road,
East Barnet EN4 8FH1 (020 8440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk

Join the HADAS email discussion group via the website at: www.hadas.org.uk

——————————————————————————————————-

Newsletter 583 October 2019

By | News, Past Newsletters, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

Number 583 October 2019 Edited by Robin Densem

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE AND EVENTS PROGRAMME 2019

Lectures start at 7.45 for 8.00pm (unless otherwise stated) in the Drawing Room, Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Buses 82, 143, 326 & 460 pass close by, & it is five to ten minutes’ walk from Finchley Central Stn (Northern Line). Tea/coffee & biscuits follow the talk.

Tuesday 8th October 2019: Andersons and Ack: The 20th Century Conflict Archaeology of London. Andy Brockman.
Abstract: The archaeology of modern conflict is one of the newest and fastest moving disciplines in archaeology. A status which is only likely to be enhanced as the two World Wars of the twentieth century pass beyond living memory.

This talk will offer a number of case studies illustrating the conflict archaeology of Greater London, including sites on London’s World War Two anti invasion stop line B, shown in the 2007 Time Team programme “Blitzkrieg on Shooters Hill,” and one of London’s first anti aircraft gun sites
built in 1915 to engage German Zeppelin raids. While examining some of the special challenges of conflict archaeology, particularly those of safety and the ethics of dealing with sometimes difficult or traumatic subjects, it will also suggest how this is a field of archaeological research where local
archaeological groups and heritage projects have a significant role to play in discovering and understanding the conflict archaeology of their communities.

Biographical: Andy Brockman has a MA in archaeology from Birkbeck College and directed the excavation of the anti aircraft gun site at Eaglesfield Park, and a survey of the former POW Camp 1020, both on Shooters Hill. A regular contributor to Britain at War magazine and other
publications, he has also appeared on Channel 4’s Time Team and conducted research for, as well as appearing in the Channel 5 documentary What the Dambusters did Next

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: a royal and monastic landscape revealed by Bob Cowie.

Sunday 1st December 2019 Christmas Party at Avenue House, 12/30pm – 4pm. The application form will be in November newsletter, with the menu which will be a Christmas lunch, with alternatives. £30 per head.

Tuesday 14th January 2020 at 2.30pm
Ian Jones
Shelters to Shrapnel, surviving traces of Enfield At War, 1939-1945

Tuesday 11th February 2020. The Dorothy Newbury Memorial Lecture
Jon Cotton Prehistory in London – some Problems, Progress and Potential

Birdoswald: A photo from 1929 and a recent visit to the Roman fort on
Hadrian’s Wall – Robin Densem

Hadrian’s Wall is a long way from our HADAS homelands in Hendon and Barnet. But this article may encourage you to visit, I hope so. I visited the Wall in June 2019 to take the photos at figs 8-11, 13, and 15-22, to illustrate some of what can be seen. Limitations on space in this issue spared you
my writing many words: the article is mainly pictorial.

There is much information on the internet, including at https://www.englishheritage.org.uk/visit/places/hadrians-wall/hadrians-wall-history-and-stories/history/sources/ and at https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/hadrians-wall/hadrians-wall-history-andstories/
history/

Fig 1 is a beauty and is an example of some of the 19th century interest in the Wall.

In Autumn 2004 Harvey Sheldon and I took a group to visit the Wall, including the Roman fort at Birdoswald. I was overcome with the beauty of the nearby River Irthing as we crossed to reach a turret on the Wall on the far side of the river. And, giving talks on the development of archaeology
for Harvey’s MA Archaeology course I began to use the famous 1929 photograph of the early stages of an archaeological excavation at Birdoswald in 1929 (fig 5) as it seems to encapsulate the early days of modern archaeological investigation, along with some social history – the contrast between the archaeological ‘toffs’ and the workers. The photograph features in many archaeology books and re-ignited my interest in Birdoswald. There is a marvellous account in Wilmott 2001 of the taking of the photograph in 1929 and the sudden realisation the next day that some of the people had been standing on Roman inscriptions re-used as floor slabs in the Roman barracks!

The location of the 1929 excavation is shown at fig 308 of Wilmott (ed) 2009
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/hadrians-wall/hadrianswall chap6/

Acknowledgements
I am grateful for help from the English Heritage staff at Birdoswald; and for other help from Megan Evans, Dr Andrew Gardner, Dr Christopher Gilley, Professor Simon James, Rob Partridge, Harvey Sheldon, Dr Matthew Symonds, Colin Theakston, and Tony Wilmott. Errors are mine.

Bibliography
Breeze, David J and Dobson, Brian 2000 Hadrian’s Wall. London: Penguin Books Limited
English Heritage History of Hadrian’s Wall https://www.englishheritage.
org.uk/visit/places/hadrians-wall/hadrians-wall-history-and-stories/history/
accessed 25th July 2019
Frere, S S 1967 Britannia: a history of Roman Britain. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
Richmond, I A 1930 “The University Excavations on Hadrian’s Wall”, The Durham University Journal, Vol. 26, No. 5, pp. 305-311
Symonds, Matthew 2017 Protecting the Roman Empire: Fortlets, Frontiers, and the Quest for Post-Conquest Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Wilmott, Tony 1997 Birdoswald, Excavations of a Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall and its successor settlements: 1987-92. English Heritage: London
https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDSarchiveDownload?t=arch-1416-
1/dissemination/pdf/9781848021365_ALL.pdf
accessed 1st June 2019
Wilmott, Tony 2001 Birdoswald Roman Fort: 1800 Years on Hadrian’s Wall. Tempus: Stroud
Wilmott, Tony (ed) 2009 Hadrian’s Wall Archaeological Research by English Heritage 1976–2000
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/hadrians-wall/ accessed 25th July 2019

Ted Sammes Clay Pipe Collection – Part 2 Andy Simpson

Many of these ‘back garden’ finds are well away from other known archaeological find spots, so I have attempted to put them in roughly geographical groups.
As mentioned on Part One in the August 2019 HADAS newsletter (newsletter number 581), these are all recorded as ‘unstratified’ and there is rarely any details of finder or date.
Those wanting full details of mouthpiece type and bowl rim milling and finish – ‘bottered or cut? ‘can refer to the fully completed MOLA clay pipe recording sheets held in the ‘Ted Sammes Pipe Collection’ folder now in the HADAS archive.

We start with finds spots roughly associated with the main Edgware Road, moving north – south;

BROCKLEY HILL
Two found during fieldwalking in the winter of 1977/78 at this well-known Roman occupation / seasonal pottery kiln site on the A5/Watling Street north of Edgware.
Three bowls were recorded, all with makers’ marks on the sides of the spurs, leading to that familiar Sunday morning cry of ‘Relief, moulded, side of spur’ (RMSS)
Complete bowl, AO25 1770-1770 Mark I-(illegible)
Bottom of bowl and stem fragment AO29, 1840-1880 spur mark JH with (illegible) London on stem,
Complete bowl, AO33, post 1840, wheatsheaf design either side of bowl, shield design on spur, with ‘SULL 53’ (Sulloniacae 1953) site code inked on stem, so presumably a VERY old find from the 1953-4 excavations by the Sulloniacae Excavation Committee in the area published in the
contemporary LAMAS transactions.

COLINDALE
Penn Court, Annesley Avenue NW9
This short, mainly residential road links the Edgware Road with Colindale Avenue, with Penn Court flats near the junction with the latter opposite the Chandos Arms pub on its street corner site. An interesting location to find an English Civil War period clay pipe bowl of type AO10, 1640-1660
and four stem fragments of possibly similar date. No trace of a maker’s mark. Not on Sammes master list. A note with the pipe fragments records that they were found approximately nine inches down in the subsoil within an area above three square feet, in the week ending 18 July 1976 – the
infamous ‘summer of ‘76’ – before heatwaves became the norm, with the added comment ‘I’m sure that the rest is down there.’

STAPLES CORNER
Further HADAS archives that have only just come to light after many years’ storage off site indicate that near that glorious jumble of concrete and bridges where the A5 Edgware Road meets the A406 North Circular south of West Hendon Broadway and the Welsh Harp, two HADAS members making a weekly inspection of road works in March 1972 found a whole layer of clay pipe fragments, nearly 1100 in all, of which just six Victorian pipe bowls, all of type AO29, 1840- 1880, and an oval stem/tip fragment now remain in the archive.
Two of the bowls had the familiar Ribbed Wheatsheaf seams, ‘RWSS’, one combined with a thorn design, one of just thorn design, and one plain bowl fragment. Another had a ‘flanged’ spur and another a noticeable forward spur. Not on Sammes master list.
An exhibition caption in the rediscovered archive records that the pipes were all of late 19th/early 20th century date and were probably fairings – for blowing bubbles, not smoking.
The find-spot was part of the fairground beside the Lower Welsh Harp public house, rebuilt in 1858 as the centre of his pleasure gardens and again in 1938, which was demolished in 1971 to make way for the southern extension of the M1 motorway at this point, to which end the Staples Corner
flyover had already been completed in 1965.
https://pubwiki.co.uk/Middlesex/Hendon/OldWelshHarpTavern.shtml
The collection includes a b/w photograph of the find spot – the embankment adjoining the former West Hendon Police Station, (now a Jewish School), below a large advertising hoarding.

FINCHLEY AREA
30 Arden Road, between A504 Hendon Lane and A598 Regents Park Road, N3 Single bowl and stem, type AO5, 1610-1640, incised mark on side of heel ?I No milling. – Sammes List 131
50 Basing Way (Off East End Road) N3 A selection of fragments;
Thee broken fragments of bowl too small to identify; 15 stem fragments of 5-6mm diameter, 13 of 7-9mm diameter and 6 of 8-10mm diameter – Offcentre bore may suggest an earlier date.
One bowl of type AO30, 1850 – 1910, with scallop and rope decoration around the bowl and rope decoration around the top. Two lugs at base of bowl for stand. Sammes Number 99
One bowl possibly AO33, post 1840, with wheatsheaves along the bowl seams, front and back. Also has ’Rope’ decoration around top of rim and 8-part scalloping around the bowl.
East End Road, Finchley Two bowls; One part bowl fragment type AO4? 1610-1640 One complete bowl and part stem type AO25, 1700 – 1770, one side noticeably burnt. Sammes No 82.

Avenue House, East End Road
One complete bowl, part burnt, type AO5, 1610-1640, Full milling to bowl edge. Sammes No 79.
One part bowl type AO27, 1780 – 1810 with part of stem. Side of spur mark MC. Sammes No 80.
One fragment of bowl with basket design. Sammes No 83.
One stem fragment Sammes No 81, orange-brown in colour.
One stem fragment relief marked Andrews Highgate along the stem.
William Andrews of Highgate, pipemaker, is recorded in 1823 and 1828 and probably working before and after these dates as well – several bowls and a stem of his were found at the HADAS Church Terrace, Hendon excavations in 1973-74.

HENDON
Over 50 years on, we are STILL finding items from the Church End Farm excavations recorded some years ago in the HADAS publication ‘The Last Hendon Farm’
Sammes List CFM 30 is another one of these – an unmarked bowl of type AO25, 1700 – 1770, finely burnished with a cut top and marked with trench/context details CEF64 K2 30, suggesting it is from the main farmhouse site, on the west side of the west wall area. The August 1969 work on the site of the former Mount Pleasant and The Retreat terraces in the Hendon Church End area soon reached natural glacial gravelly sand at a depth of around two feet where the ground had not previously been cultivated. Surviving material in the HADAS archive recorded in April 2016 includes a quantity of clay pipe from the Mount Pleasant trenches.
In one trench (in grid L5) in the garden behind Mount Pleasant, – once a row of seven small cottages built around 1870 – lying some 50ft north of the former Chequers pub, was found a small York stone paved back yard, each being some 2 inches square and 3 inches deep, possibly with a
step down through a thin brick cross-wall into a red-tiled area, and beneath this heavily pebbled brown earth dump containing broken pottery and the stems of 18th-19th century clay pipe – 33 of which remain in the HADAS archive .
A trench in the front garden (O2) produced Victorian pottery similar to that at the nearby Peacock’s Yard, drainage pipes and a well-smoked clay pipe bowl and part of stem of form AO30, 1850-1910, marked W. TINGEY HAMPSTEAD on the stem. Sammes List 78
Also from this front garden trench were; Fragment of bowl, ribbed decoration, nineteenth century, marked O2 (1) Sammes List 92
Fragment of decorated stem and spur marked WA with wheatsheaf decoration, AO27, 1780 – 1820,
Marked with trench/context O2 (2) Sammes List 93
Short length of stem with partial makers’ lettering Tingey Hampstead in relief on both sides of stem Marked with trench/context O2 (2) Sammes List 94
Victorian pottery and clay pipe was also found throughout Trenches one/J3 and two/J5 in this area west of L5, including Staffs. creamware and Brownware, and ‘modern blue and White, plus iron and bone. These trenches featured well-worked dark loamy garden/cultivated soil, the area in 1753 being fields owned by John Coles.
The partial HADAS archive retained eleven pipe stem fragments and two bowl fragments from Trench J3 and seven stems and two bowl fragments from J5, the latter also yielding a single intact clay pipe bowl type AO33 with Irish Harp decoration dated post-1840 Sammes List 96
Other pipes from the site were identified during analysis of the separate Ted Sammes curated Clay pipe archive in 2019 were;
Complete bowl, AO25, 1700-1770 Marked with rear garden trench/context L5 (2) Sammes List 77

Plus another bowl.and stem fragment of similar type with relief spur mark WH Sammes List 95
Decorated bowl and length of stem, AO30, 1850-1910 Wheatsheaf decoration around top of bowl. Marked with trench/context J5 (1) Sammes List 91
There is also a post-1840 bowl, type AO40,
A further trench was opened, then rapidly closed, when a wartime Anderson air raid shelter was the only item found.
Trench 02 yielded garden soil on natural, electric cable, four lengths of field drain in one corner running NW/SE some 22 inches below the modern garden surface, and a gas pipe. The circular field drain lengths of 4in diameter/3in bore/11.5-12in long included one of buff-coloured fabric as well as three of the usual red fabric and this and one of the others were retained as samples; they contained little evidence of silting. The straight and well-made pipes were each laid on one notably flattened edge. This trench yielded large quantities of clay pipe – 61 stem fragments remain in the HADAS archive, plus a well ‘chewed’ mouthpiece, 20 small fragments of pipe bowl and four more complete bowls, type AO30, dated 1850-1910, which links well with the construction of the houses in the area around 1870.
A similar trench in the front garden of the former The Retreat – once a row of four cottages also built around 1870 south of the Mount Pleasant row ‘produced nothing of interest’ There have been several investigations in the presumed area of the former medieval manor house of Hendon. It is believed to have been built around 1325/6 as the Abbot of Westminster’s country retreat, being rebuilt around 1550 and again in the 1720s, when named Hendon Place. Renamed Tenterden Hall, and after use as a boy’s preparatory school, it was demolished c.1934 to make way for the present Cedars Close.
The first archaeological investigations recorded on the site were those by HADAS in 1969, noted in the HADAS newsletter for October 1969.
Resistivity surveying and excavations at Westhorpe Tenterden Grove (a large nineteenth-century house with surrounding grounds off Finchley Lane) – TQ2354 8962, SMR 081979 revealed a bed of gravel approximately nine inches below the surface. Resting on this were found sherds of
17th century pottery and clay pipe stems, together with an 18th century pipe bowl. After the preliminary surveys in August and the weekend of 1-2 November 1969 noted above. seven 10 foot square trenches were opened at Easter weekend, 27-30 March 1970 on the basis of the survey results;
Numerous sherds of pottery (including Bellarmine/Bartmann stoneware jug sherds of 16th/17th century date) were found, also roofing tiles, nails and clay pipes, two of which , dated 1640-1660, bear the initials R.B – see list below. All the finds were again resting on a gravel surface, in which was discovered a post hole and small areas of burnt material.
There are also a number of clay pipe fragments; analysis in 2019 of those identified from the separately curated Ted Sammes clay pipe archive, all marked ‘TG’ include the following;
Sammes List
102 Part Bowl, Form AO10, 1640-1660, Relief Marked RB on heel
103 Damaged bowl, Form AO10 1640-60, also marked RB as above.
104 Unmarked bowl, Form AO10, 1640-60.
105 Unmarked bowl, Form AO11, 1640-1670
106 Unmarked bowl, damaged rim. Form AO15, 1660-1680
107 Unmarked bowl, damaged rim. Form AO15, 1660 – 1680
108 Unmarked bowl, damaged rim. Form possibly AO20, 1680-1710
Two other bowls assumed to be from this site are one damaged bowl, possibly Form AO9 or AO10, 1640-60, and one part bowl possibly of Form AO22, 1680-1710.

Ted Sammes photographed the substantial two-story Victorian villa named Westhorpe during the 1970 excavation when it was in an advanced state of dereliction and almost roofless.


To be continued…

AN EXHIBITION, A BOOK, AND AN EXHIBTION IN A MUSEUM
Hot Peascods exhibition! – Guildhall Library’s outdoor exhibition explores street food through the ages from 1-16th October
This free exhibition in Guildhall Yard, EC2 brings together rarely seen images of London’s street food and street hawkers from the 16th century to the 19th century. The exhibition explains how selling street food in the capital, probably, since Roman times, was often the only option for some
people who could not find alternative paid employment and used it as a stop gap until they found a better job. Sometimes requiring little more investment than a basket and the cost of the first batch of pies,
gingerbread or eels, it would keep some people out of the workhouse, while others fell into poverty and found that selling food on became their life’s occupation.

Medieval Londoners edited by Elizabeth A. New and Christian Steer will be published on 31st October and is to honour Caroline M. Barron, Emeritus Professor of the History of London at Royal Holloway, University of London, on her 80th birthday. Her remarkable career has revitalized the
way in which we consider London and its people. HADAS members may remember her excellent lecture in October 2016 on medieval women in London.
The rich evidence for the medieval city, including archaeological and documentary evidence, means that the study of London and its inhabitants remains a vibrant field. Medieval Londoners brings together archaeologists, historians, art-historians and literary scholars whose essays provide
glimpses of medieval Londoners in all their variety.
Published by University of London Press, 400 pp. Available from 31 October 2019 in print for £40.00, kindle and e-pub £32.00 and will be free Open Access pdf

Last supper in Pompeii – Ashmolean Museum, Oxford until 12th January 2020
This is an excellent exhibition which concentrates on the activities relating to food: eating and drinking but also the production and buying and selling of food and wine. There are over 400 objects which are well displayed. There are several sections which have projected backdrops which
give a good impression of the rooms in Pompeian houses. There is also a section on Roman Britain including some of the wooden writing tablets from the Bloomberg / Mithraeum site. It is advisable to buy a timed ticket as this is a popular exhibition – with an excellent catalogue for £20.00

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS Compiled by Eric Morgan
Weds 9 Oct 2pm – 3,30pm, Mill Hill Historical Society at Trinity Church, 100 The Broadway, London NW7 3T. Fiona Smith: Work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Visitors £2.
https://millhill-hs.org.uk/events/work-of-the-war-graves-commission/

Thurs 17 Oct 7.30pm – 9pm Camden History Society at Burgh House, New End Square, London NW3 1L. Cynthia Floud: What can Phyllis Ford’s Childhood tell Social Historians? Visitors £2.
http://www.camdenhistorysociety.org/events/2019/10/17/what-can-phyllis-fords-childhood-tellsocial- historians-a-talk-by-cynthia-floud
Mon 21 Oct 8.15pm Ruislip, Northwood & Eastcote Local History Society, at St Martin’s Church Hall, High Street, Ruislip at 8.15pmAGM followed by the Society’s Medieval Research Group: Medieval Ruislip. Visitors £2. https://rnelhs.btck.co.uk/Lectures
Sat 26 Oct Amateur Geological Society of North London, meeting at 2.30pm platform 1 of Canary Wharf station of the Docklands Light Railway for a walk led by Mike Howgate The Stones of Canary Wharf. Non-members £2. Do bring a hand lens. Book by contacting Mike Howgate 0208
882 2606, mobile number (for emergencies & on trips) 07913391063, email
mehowgate@hotmail.com . https://amgeosoc.wordpress.com/breaking-news-2/
Sat 2 Nov 10am to 4pm. Aldenham Transport Spectacular, held at Allum Manor House & Hall, 2 Allum Lane, Elstree WD6 3PJ. Admission £3.

Sat 2 Nov 10.30am – 4.30pm. Geologists’ Association Festival, including exhibitors from the world of geology, including fossil and mineral displays. University College London, Gower Street, London WC1 6BT. Free event https://geologistsassociation.org.uk/festival/
Sat 2 Nov 10.30am – 2.30pm Hornsey Historical Society Public Local History Surgery , held at Hornsey Historical Society, 136 Tottenham Ln, London N8 7EL. Telephone 07531866714 or email hornseyhistoricalsurgery@gmail.com in advance to book a half hour appointment and to let the Society know the advice and assistance you require.
Mon 4 Nov 2pm-3pm, British Film Posters – An Illustrated History: Sim Branaghan at Finchley Church End Library, Gateway House, 318-320 Regents Park Rd, Finchley, London N3 2LN. Free admission. https://www.barnet.gov.uk/sites/default/files/yol_barnet_libraries_a5_prog3_hg3_0.pdf
Weds 6 Nov 5.30 for 6pm – 8pm, Docklands History Group at Museum of London Docklands, West India Quay, (off Hertsmere Road) London E14 4AL. Robert Hampson: Conrad and the docks and the river. Visitors £2.. https://www.docklandshistorygroup.org.uk/page3.html
Thurs 7 Nov 2pm – 3pm Guildhall Library, Aldermanbury, London EC2V 7HH. Robert Stephenson: The Gruesome History of Bodysnatching. Free event but tickets to be booked in advance via Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-gruesome-history-of-bodysnatchingtickets- 66661064037
Thurs 7 Nov 8pm Pinner Local History Society, Pinner Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner HA5 1AB. Pat Clarke: Mrs Marshall, Pinner’s Other Domestic Goddess. Visitors £3.
https://www.pinnerlhs.org.uk/programme16 –
Fri 8 Nov 7.30pm for 7,45pm Enfield Archaeological Society, Jubilee Hall, Parsonage Lane Enfield (close to Chase Side). Neil Pinchbeck: Flints and Mammoths: London N13. Visitors £1.50 https://www.enfarchsoc.org/lectures/
Weds 13 Nov 2pm -3.30pm. Mill Hill Historical Society at Trinity Church. 100 The Broadway, London NW7 3T. Dorell Dresseekie: An Act of Faith – The Story of The North London Hospice. Visitors £2. https://millhill-hs.org.uk/events/an-act-of-faith-the-story-of-the-north-london-hospice/
Weds 13 Nov 7.45pm 7.30pm for 8pm Hornsey Historical Society. Professor Ian Christie: The World’s First Film Studios? Putting R. W. Paul Back on the Map for his 150th Birthday: Visitors £2. https://hornseyhistorical.org.uk/talks/
Sat 16 Nov 10.30am – 4pm London and Middlesex Archaeological Society local history conference
In Sickness and in Health: The wellbeing of Londoners through history. Weston Theatre, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, London WC2Y 5HN. Various speakers, local society displays, refreshments. Tickets £12.50 if bought up to 31st October, thereafter £15.
http://www.lamas.org.uk/conferences/local-history.html
With thanks to this month’s contributors:, and Eric Morgan

Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman: Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet, Herts. 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, Flat 22 Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road, East Barnet EN4 8FH (020 8440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
HADAS website: www.hadas.org.uk

Newsletter-575-February-2019

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

Number 575 FEBRUARY 2019 Edited by Andy Simpson

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE AND EVENTS PROGRAMME 2019

Tuesday 12th February 2019: Dorothy Newbury Memorial Lecture.
Prehistory in London – some Problems, Progress and Potential by Jon Cotton
Having taken early retirement from the Museum of London in 2011 after 33 years as an archaeologist and curator, Jon is now a freelance researcher with a long-standing interest in London’s early past and the archaeology of the river Thames. He will be drawing on these interests for his talk on ‘London’s Prehistory; Problems, progress and Potential’

Tuesday 12th March 2019: Lost and Found: The Rediscovery of Roman London by John Clark

Tuesday 9th April 2019: The CITiZAN Project by Gustav Milne

Tuesday 14th May 2019 50 years of recording London’s Industrial Heritage by
Professor David Perrett

Tuesday 11th June 2019. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

HADAS 2019 Long Trip. Monday 23rd to Friday 27th September 2019
We have booked the hotel for our long trip in 2019. Details will follow in due course.
The hotel is: Best Western Aberavon Beach Hotel, Aberavon Beach, Port Talbot, SA12 6QP

Tuesday 8th October 2019: From Crosse and Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA excavations at Tottenham Court Road 2009–10 by Lyn Blackmore

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: a royal and monastic landscape revealed by Bob Cowie
Lectures are held at Stephens House & Gardens (Avenue House), 17 East End Road, Finchley, N3 3QE, and start promptly at 8 pm, with coffee/tea afterwards. Non-members admission: £2; Buses 13, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central station (Northern Line), is a 5-10 minute walk away.

Avenue House Quiz Nights Steve Brunning
Good at quizzing? If so, HADAS needs you! We field a regular team at Avenue
House but require more members to make up a table of ten people.
The cost is £15 which includes supper, plus a cash bar. All the money raised goes
towards the upkeep of the house and gardens. The advertised dates so far this year
are Thursday 14th March and Thursday 23rd May at 7.30pm.

If you are interested please email membership@hadas.org.uk and I will add you to
the list for further information.

Andrew Selkirk writes:
Reluctantly and sadly, I am resigning from the Committee of HADAS. We have
moved from North London to West London, and I fear it is not really feasible to
attend committee meetings any more. We are downsizing, so we are giving up our
wonderful family home in North London, where we spent 47 happy years and are
moving to a cottage in Kew where we will be nearer our grandchildren – indeed we
hope to have them only 200 yards away.
It has been a bit of a struggle to get rid of all the junk that we have accumulated over
the years, especially with my books. I calculated that I had nearly 7,000 books and I
have got rid of nearly 2,000 of them, but it means that the remaining 5,000 are all
packed up in cardboard boxes in the garage – I am longing to get some shelves up so
that I can get my library back!
But I shall be sorry to leave HADAS behind. I will still of course remain a member
and I shall be proud to continue to be a Vice-President, but you will only see me
occasionally. But HADAS has been a great experience for me. I was Chairman for
17 years (1986 to 2003), indeed I was parachuted in from the top as Chairman. I
had a hard act to follow as my predecessor, Councillor Jarman, was an influential
member of the Barnet Council and did a brilliant job representing the interests of
HADAS on the Barnet Council, which alas I could not do.
At the time the Society was run by three formidable ladies who between them
organised the great excavation on Hampstead Heath. There was Bridget Grafton
Green, who was a journalist and publicised the Society. There was Daphne Lorimer
who studied animal bones and who eventually retired with her husband to Orkney
when she invited the Society for a memorable outing. And there was Dorothy
Newbury, the baby of the trio who was a printer who printed the Society’s Newsletter
– her son still does – and also ran the Minimarts which kept the Society afloat
financially – and were great fun.

And I was very fortunate in having a wonderful support from Brian Wrigley and
Victor Jones, from Denis Ross and Ted Sammes and Peter Pickering, from Bill Bass,
Andy Simpson, Eric Morgan and many others, thanks to whom the society ran
remarkably smoothly. I was sometimes at a disadvantage as I did not actually live in
the borough, but in Hampstead, but I got to know the London Borough of Barnet
fairly extensively by chasing round all the excavations the Society carried out.
I have been very fortunate to have been succeeded by Don Cooper who has now been
Chairman even longer than I was, and I know that I am leaving the Society in very
good hands. I have joined a new local society, the Richmond Archaeological Society
who also seem very lively, but I hope occasionally to make my way back to North
London and keep in touch with HADAS. My thanks to you all!
(I am sure the whole of HADAS will wish to note their appreciation to Andrew for all
his years of support to the society – ED)
Below – Andrew and Wendy Selkirk at the ancient Greek city of Paestum, southern
Italy

Barnet Medieval Festival 2019

The organisers of this year’s Barnet Medieval Festival are calling for the local
community to support the return of the Festival on 8th-9th June 2019. This two-day
family festival will feature living history camps, re-enactments of the Battle of Barnet
(1471), firepower displays, have-a-go archery, medieval traders’ market, community
stalls, children’s activities, food and drink.

Volunteers and donations are both needed to make this event happen again – we
welcome all offers of help, especially with fundraising, publicity and stewarding.
Please get in touch with Susan Skedd at barnetbattleproject@gmail.com.
(HADAS attended this event last year, and a great time was had by all- Ed)

Brome Trip day 4 Jim Nelhams
After the previous day’s panic over the cancelled boat trip replaced by a trip to
Orford Castle, Thursday was to follow our schedule. Another castle, this one at
Framlingham, interesting to contrast with Orford, the first having a keep with no
curtain walls, and Framlingham with curtain walls but no keep. Then onwards to visit
the East Anglia Transport Museum, as recommended by Andy Simpson, followed by
the Aviation Museum at Flixton.

Framlingham Castle Claudette Carlton

Framlingham Castle is built on a high point overlooking the town. It was built about
1190 of local flint and a soft limestone material often used in East Anglia. An entry in
the Domesday Book (1086) noted that Framlingham was held by Hugh Bigod, who
came to England in the army of William the Conqueror.

The Bigods and their successors had a part in many dramatic events in the country’s
history. In the war of succession between Stephen and Matilda, one Hugh Bigod was
made Earl of Norfolk. When the Barons forced King John to accept the Magna Carta,
two Bigods were among those listed as its enforcers. They married very well, and in
1397, Norfolk became a Duchy. The Howards inherited it in 1488.

Later Dukes were exiled for treason, executed for treason, one commanded Richard
III’s troops at the Battle of Bosworth and died in the front line, one led the English
forces to victory at the Battle of Flodden Field in 1513, one was executed in 1547 on
Tower Hill for annoying Henry VIII.

In 1553, Mary Tudor rallied her army at Framlingham, and rode to London, being
crowned Queen on 1st October. Another Howard Duke was executed in 1572 for
harbouring ambitions to marry Mary Stuart and overthrow Elizabeth.

In 1635 the castle was sold by an indebted Howard to Sir Robert Hitcham, and when
Sir Robert died in 1636, the castle and its estates went to Pembroke, his old college at
Cambridge University. His will instructed that “all the castle saving the stone
building be pulled down and a poorhouse be set up. The castle passed to English
Heritage in 1984.

The castle has a defensive deep dry ditch around it. What’s left of the castle is the
curtain wall, some 10m high and 2.3m thick. The wooden door at the entrance of the
castle dates from c1513, and above it are the arms of the Howard Dukes of Norfolk.
The curtain wall has 13 towers, with arrow loops at two levels. There are two stone
chimneys dating from about 1150. Other decorative chimneys are from the Tudor
period. The castle well, near the gate, is 30m deep.

The only building remaining with the castle walls today is Framlingham’s poorhouse,
which provided work and lodgings for the town’s poor from the 17th to the 19th
century. There are five medieval stone heads set into its façade. The wall walk
provides wonderful views of the castle park, its mere which is fed by the River Ore,
and the countryside. The huge space within the walls is now used for concerts and
events.

East Anglia Transport Museum Andy Simpson
Readers will be unsurprised to hear that this was a much-anticipated visit for me. I
know the EATM very well, visiting it two or three times a year for tramways group
meetings, but its multitude of London connections and friendly atmosphere always
make it a pleasure to visit. This museum originated in 1961 when four local
enthusiasts acquired the body of a Lowestoft tram for restoration after 30 years as a
summerhouse.

The collection grew, and the museum was founded on its present site – then a disused
meadow- in 1965, the first tram running in November 1970, extending ‘into the
woods’ in 1982, and the trolleybus route, since extended, first ran in January 1971 –
the first museum trolleybus to run under trolleybus overhead anywhere in the
country. The narrow gauge ‘East Suffolk Light Railway’ was added in 1973, and land
has now been purchased at the rear of the site to virtually double the size of the
museum.

The site has been developed as a museum of street transport, designed to show the
development of mechanical transport over a century or more, with an emphasis on
local items, plus housing the extensive collection of the London Trolleybus
Preservation Society (LTPS) – the only place in the world where four London
trolleybuses can be seen on one site – that’s a third of the total survivors of an
original fleet of over 1800 vehicles! Currently all four are operational. Three more
can be seen in London – one at the London Transport Museum at Covent Garden and
two at the LT Museum Acton Depot large object store opposite Acton Town tube
station.

Our own steed for the standard three circuits around the site – one of just four in the
country where a trolleybus ride is still possible, the others being Sandtoft, Dudley,
and Beamish – was London Transport Number 260. This is one very lucky
trolleybus! It is officially a London Transport Class C2 with an AEC664T chassis and
Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Works body, delivered new on 2 July
1936 at a cost of £2,286.3s.8d.

It spent all its operational life at Stonebridge depot, until withdrawn on 27 August
1959 for inclusion in the former British Transport Commission Museum of Transport
at Clapham to represent the ‘standard’ London trolleybus.

However, two years later it was decided that the more original condition No 1253
should be preserved instead – this now being at the LT Museum at Covent Garden.
Poor old 260 was sold to George Cohen’s ‘600 Group’ for scrap on 18 July 1962, two
months after the last London trolleybus ran in the Wimbledon/Fulwell area. From
1959, Cohen’s scrapped all London trolleybuses in an area behind Colindale
trolleybus Depot (the last in September 1962) and 260 was virtually their last such
purchase. As she was being coupled up to Cohen’s vehicle at Clapham, she was
purchased by two founder members of the LTPS and stored in Reading, from where it
made enthusiast tours of the Reading and Bournemouth trolleybus systems. Its tour of
Bournemouth on 30 June 1968 made it the last London trolleybus to run under power
on public streets! We were lucky to get her for a run, as she had been specially
cleaned up for the annual EATM Trolleybus event the following weekend.
After a most enjoyable couple of hours, it was time to move on from road transport to
air transport…

Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum, Flixton Andy Simpson
As it says on the museum leaflet; ‘65 Historic aircraft, 25,000 exhibits, covering civil
and military aviation in East Anglia from the pioneer years, through World Wars I
and II to the present day. Special displays on Boulton & Paul, World War II decoy
sites, aviation archaeology, Link Trainers, Home Front, model aircraft, aero engines,
uniforms and equipment’

And what displays! A large, and much extended, main display building, smaller
buildings covering RAF Bomber Command, 446th Bomb Group USAAF, Royal
Observer Corps and RAF Air-Sea Rescue and Coastal Command.

Every nook and cranny of the eight-acre site is crammed from floor to ceiling, and
usually into the roof, with items, and with captions covering the people as well as the
equipment. Plus a handy cafe and well stocked bookshop AND second hand books.
Plus a number of aircraft on outside display, some admittedly showing the effects of
prolonged outdoor storage. And all free! It is tended by a committed band of
volunteer enthusiasts. And even a nature walk down to the River Waveney, as
explored by one or two of our group. A real aviation enthusiast could probably spend
all day there to properly take it all in!

The museum is handily placed behind the Buck Inn, which has limited opening hours
as another of our group found out…

I had long wanted to visit this museum. One thing top of my list to see was the
excavated crash site remains of Vickers Wellington Mk 1 bomber L4288 which came
to rest in a river bank near Bury St Edmunds following a mid-air collision with
another No. 9 Squadron Wellington in October 1939, sadly killing both crews, nine
men in all, and was recovered in 1982/3.

This is one of the largest chunks of airframe I know of from any such excavation –
virtually the entire centre section, with engines, nacelles and wing spar. An
impressive memorial.

The basic Wellington wings, engines and undercarriage went on to be used in the
post-war Vickers Viking airliner, as remembered by one or two of our group. The
military version of this was the Vickers Valetta, the C.2 VIP version of which is
displayed at Flixton.

A number of us were able to board the aircraft and be expertly shown round by
enthusiastic new volunteer ‘Naval Pete’ proudly wearing his Royal Navy aircraft
carrier Lanyard. VIP seats – and the cockpit seats – were duly sampled.
Also of interest to me were the Boulton and Paul exhibits – two of which, the
Overstrand bomber nose and P6 biplane replica, were worked on by my late father
and myself at their original home with the Boulton Paul Association at the former
Boulton Paul factory in Wolverhampton.

The museum originated with a meeting of local enthusiasts in 1973, with aircraft
arriving on site from 1974. I must return one day! I’ve already promised them a bit of
the former RAF Museum Blackburn Beverley transport that I ‘souvenired’ when she
was scrapped back in 1990.

This seems a logical place to sneak in my usual….

‘Transport Corner’ Andy Simpson
I have been spending much time lately as a reader at the British Library, St Pancras,
mainly researching Birmingham area electric tramways for publication in that
dentist’s Waiting Room favourite, the quarterly historical journal Tramway Review
(available on prescription, sorry subscription, only). The odd more local snippet of
gen does appear along the way however.

Under the heading ‘Middlesex Tram Lines To Go’ the November 8 1941 edition of
the ‘Transport World’ weekly journal records that as part of the wartime scrap drive
for high-quality steel, Middlesex County Council had approved schemes by Hendon,
Southgate, Twickenham, Ealing and Tottenham councils for taking up redundant
tram lines in their areas, which would realise a total scrap value of £10,000.

The tracks in question in Hendon would presumably be those along the Edgware
Road, which had been formally abandoned on 24 October 1936, following closure of
Hendon tramcar overhaul works in April 1936 and conversion of the route to
trolleybus operation on 23 August 1936 and use of the Hendon works yard for
scrapping of redundant tramcars for a few months afterwards, just as with the
trolleybus scrappings there 26 years later mentioned earlier.

I always keep an eye on Edgware Road roadworks just in case, and have seen short
lengths of tram rail re-laid crossways as road supports and the cut-off bases of
trolleybus poles in front of the former depot site, but no in-situ tracks – unlike those
on Barnet Hill which appear to be largely intact and buried today, at least around the
railway bridge at the foot of the hill.

Some years ago, pavement relaying outside the site of the former Hendon
tram/trolleybus depot uncovered the cut-of bases of the former overhead support
traction poles.

Progress at Stephens/Avenue House Andy Simpson
The Sunday morning gang continue to make good progress with the post-excavation
work on the dig held last summer on the outbuildings, with some unusual small finds,
including an interesting couple of fossils, and a few coins – 1986 and 1991 two pence
pieces and a Spanish 50 cent coin dated to 2000! It says a lot for the corrosive state of
the soil, or the poor quality of the coins, when you see how corroded these 30 yearold
coins have become.

Nearly all of the finds are now washed, marked, bagged and recorded on the
appropriate record sheets.

We seem to specialise in CBM – (ceramic building material) – brick, tile, concrete and
pitch, which once coated the outer walls. We use MOLA standard recording sheets to
record the pottery, clay pipe, glass and CBM.

Although most of the pottery and glass, and a few scraps of clay pipe stem, are
Victorian or modern, there is some older ‘background’ material, including yellow
borderware and Metropolitan slipware covering the period 1550-1700.
Members are welcome to visit and view progress- we are there most Sunday
mornings from 10.30 till 1.00pm

Institute of Archaeology Graduate Open Evening
Start: Feb 20, 2019 5:00 – 7.00 PM UCL Institute of Archaeology, 31-34 Gordon
Square, London WC1E OPY

The UCL Institute of Archaeology will hold its next Graduate Open Evening for
those interested in masters courses or research degrees, as well as for those students
already accepted onto a programme. During the evening Institute staff and current
students will be on hand providing talks, tours and information about masters and
doctoral opportunities at the Institute as well as advising on course content and the
admissions process.

Programme 5.30pm: Introduction and welcome to the UCL Institute of
Archaeology: a world leader by Andrew Reynolds, Graduate Admissions Tutor 6pm:
Tour of the Institute building including the Archaeology Collections; Wolfson
Archaeological Science Laboratories; Conservation Laboratories and Archaeobotany
Laboratories. Refreshments will be available throughout the evening.
Registration This event is free, however registration is essential. Please register
using Eventbrite

The UCL Institute of Archaeology is the largest and one of the most highly regarded
centres for archaeology, cultural heritage and museum studies in Britain, as
evidenced by its top position in university league tables and National Student Survey
results. It is one of the very few places in the world actively pursuing research on a
truly global scale and has an outstanding record of training doctoral and postdoctoral
researchers. Its degree programmes offer an unrivalled variety of courses on a diverse
range of topics, fieldwork and placement opportunities.

Any enquiries about the event may be directed to Lisa Daniel. –
ioa-gradadmissions@ucl.ac.uk

Other Societies’ Events Eric Morgan
Monday 11th February, 3pm. Barnet Museum & Local History Society St John
the Baptist, Barnet Church, Jcn High St/Wood St, Barnet EN5 4BW Festival Gardens
Battersea Park, 1951 – The Leftovers. Speaker T.B.A. Visitors £2. Please Note new
venue.

Wednesday 13th February, 2.30pm Mill Hill Historical Society Trinity Church,
100, The Broadway, NW7 3TB Votes For women; Challenging the Mythology Talk
by Dr Mary Sawnsky

Monday 11th March 3pm Barnet Museum & Local History Society Address as
Above. Hop on a Bus Speaker T.B.A. Visitors £2, but please note new venue.
Also Barnet Physic Well, Corner of Well Approach & Pepys Cres, Barnet EN5 3DY
is reopening, monthly, on Saturdays from February. For opening times and dates
please visit http://www.barnetmuseum.co.uk/ – also for names of speakers.

Wednesday 13 March, 2.30pm Mill Hill Historical Society Address as above.
From Philadelphia to Mill Hill – Talk by Letta Jones on the story of botanists Peter
Collinson and John Bartram. Preceded by A.G.M.

Friday 15 March COLAS, 7pm St Olave’s Hall, Mark Lane, EC3R 7BB London’s
Waterfront from the C12th to the Great Fire of 1666. Talk by Dr John Schofield, FSA
on how four excavations of Medieval & later waterfront in the City led to
understanding the people of Medieval & Tudor London. Visitors £3.

Friday 15 March, 7.30pm Wembley History Society English Martyr’s Hall, Chalk
Hill Road Wembley (top of Blackbird Hill, Adj. to Church) The Museum of All
Brent Life – London Borough of Culture, 2020 – Camilla Churchill & Stephanie
Wilson. £3.

Saturday 16 March, 11am – 5.30pm LAMAS Conference of London
Archaeologists Weston Theatre, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN.
Morning session Recent Work till 1pm, Lunch. Afternoon session The Thames & its
Tributaries from 2pm. Tea 3.30-4pm, & Displays of work and publications upstairs in
Clore Room. Cost (inc. tea) early bird price (before 1 March) £15, full price £17.50.
Tickets from Jon Cotton c/o Curatorial Dept, MoL, London Wall EC2Y 5HN
joncotton1956@gmail.com

Wednesday 20 March, 6pm Gresham College at Museum of London. Addr. As
above. Art & Power in the English Aristocratic House. Talk by Prof. Simon Thurley
FREE. Shows how from the c.16th Aristocratic families deployed their collections &
their buildings.

Thursday 21st March, 8.15pm, Hampstead Scientific Society Crypt Room, St.
John’s Church, Church Road NW3 6UU The Roman Water Pump Talk by Dr
Richard Stein. This talk is part of Science Week. Refreshments in Interval.

Wednesday 27th March, 7.45pm, Friern Barnet & District Local History Society
North Middx. Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL The
Palace of Westminster – The First 1000 Years. Talk by Barry Hall. Visitors £2.

Tuesday 28 March, 7.30pm, Finchley Society Drawing Room, Avenue House
(Stephens House) 17, East End Road, N3 3QE Village Life in Finchley Talk by
Helen Allen on The Story of Finchley Garden Village. Visitors £2. Note early time.

Saturday 30 March, 10am – 4.30pm West London Local History Conference
University of West London The Paragon, Boston Manor Road, Brentford TW8
9GA. Entertainment. Please see the Richmond Local History Society’s website for
more info, www.richmondhistory.org.uk

With thanks for newsletter contributions this month to; Stephen Brunning;
Claudette Carlton; Don Cooper; Eric Morgan; Jim Nelhams; Andrew Selkirk;
Sue Willetts

Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman Don Cooper 59, Potters Road, Barnet, Herts. 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, 1, Reddings Close, Mill Hill, London
NW7 4JL (020 8959 6419) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
Web site: www.hadas.org.uk
Discussion Group; http://groups.google.com/group/hadas-archaeology

Newsletter-574- January-2019

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No. 574 January 2019 Edited by Peter Pickering
____________________________________________________________________________________
HADAS DIARY – Forthcoming lectures and events

Tuesday 8th January 2019: NO LECTURE

Tuesday 12th February 2019: Dorothy Newbury Memorial Lecture.
Prehistory in London – some Problems, Progress and Potential by Jon Cotton

Tuesday 12th March 2019: Lost and Found: The Rediscovery of Roman London by John Clark

Tuesday 9th April 2019: The CITiZAN Project by Gustav Milne

Tuesday 14th May 2019 50 years of recording London’s Industrial Heritage Professor David Perrett

Tuesday 11th June 2019. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

HADAS 2019 Long Trip. Monday 23rd to Friday 27th September 2019
We have booked the hotel for our long trip in 2019. Details will follow in due course.
The hotel is: Best Western Aberavon Beach Hotel, Aberavon Beach, Port Talbot, SA12 6QP
Tuesday 8th October 2019: From Crosse and Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA excavations at Tottenham
Court Road 2009–10 by Lyn Blackmore

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: a royal and monastic landscape revealed by Bob
Cowie

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. .

Members please read and respond. Jo Nelhams
The HADAS lectures clash with the LAMAS lectures on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, which some
members like to attend. A proposal was discussed with the Committee that in 2020 the HADAS Lectures
be moved to the 3rd Tuesday of each month. The 2019 lectures will continue on the 2nd Tuesday, as
these are all booked.

PLEASE RESPOND TO THE SECRETARY BY EMAIL, LETTER OR PHONE BY JANUARY
31ST 2019 CONTACT DETAILS ON THE BACK PAGE OF THIS NEWSLETTER.

Farewell to a long standing member

It is with great regret that we have received the very sad news that Henry Burgess (better known as
Harry) passed away on November 6th, in the Arkley Care Home. Harry was a long standing member
having joined HADAS in April 1994. He was involved with a variety of interests. He was a keen metal
detectorist with the Herts & District Metal Detectoring Society, venturing out into the Hertfordshire and
Cambridgeshire countryside, on their approved sites. He also loaned equipment and provided guidance
for some exploration of the Battle of Barnet site. Harry was also a member of the East Barnet Shooting
Club, enjoying pistol shooting, and was also on their rota for duties, both opening and closing the club on
Thursday evenings, and recording the members’ scorecards in their club competitions. Harry also
dedicated over 25 years service to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution as a volunteer fundraiser and
souvenir secretary of the local RNLI branch, Barnet, Finchley & Friern Barnet District.

His main career was spent working at the BBC TV Centre where he was a supervisor in the
Mechanical Engineering workshop. It was their responsibility to maintain the studio equipment monitors,
camera and lenses etc, until the corporation decided to shut the workshop and outsource the service. His
later work was locally at the Homebase Store in New Southgate, until retirement age.

Harry also enjoyed the HADAS holidays, organised by Jim & Jo, and went on many, both
individually, and later on with his wife Marilyn, when she too retired. Unfortunately, ill health prevented
Harry from being an active member since 2016, and also Marilyn, who became his full time carer. He did
however keep up to date with the Society’s activities as he was an avid reader of the newsletters.

HADAS Christmas party 2018 by Don Cooper

The HADAS Christmas party this year took place on Sunday, 9th December 2018. This year the weather
was kind to us, unlike last year when only a small number made it to the party because of snow.

Thirty-two members and their guests assembled at 12.30 at Avenue House on the Stephens House and
Gardens estate for nibbles and drinks before sitting down to a festive meal of turkey or salmon with all
the trimmings followed by Christmas pudding with cream and brandy butter, or fresh fruit salad and
cream.

To make sure we kept mentally alert, Vicki Baldwin
produced a table quiz full of intriguing questions.
After eating our fill and doing our best in the quiz, it was
time to draw the raffle with its many prizes and announce the
answers to the quiz. This was followed by coffee or tea,
mince pies and/or a slice of the cakes that Liz made.
The most important part of the Christmas party is to meet up
with friends and catch up with all their news.
All-in-all the party was a great success and thanks are due to
Peter Pickering for his part in the organisation, Vicki
Baldwin for the Quiz, Liz Gapp for the cakes, Jo Nelhams,
Melvyn Dresner and Andy Simpson who helped decorate the
room and all who contributed to the raffle prizes.

The Rose Theatre: Shakespeare’s Secret Playhouse presented by Suzanne Marie Taylor on
13th November Liz Gapp

The November 2018 meeting took the innovative form of a short introduction by Suzanne Marie Taylor
to a 30 minute film called Shakespeare’s Secret Playhouse, which was funded and produced by herself
and Anthony Lewis. Both of them had main narrative roles in the film, which tells the story of the
discovery and excavation of the remains of the Rose theatre.

As Sir Ian McKellen, the renowned actor, had been heavily involved in the movement to preserve
the Rose theatre, he was contacted to see if he would contribute his views. To their great delight, they
were invited to meet him at his house. They took some pipe replicas of pipes found in the Rose
excavation. This was fortuitous as they found he collects pipes.

Suzanne outlined the structure of the film, designed to appeal to schoolchildren as well as adults.
For example, there was a portrait of Shakespeare whose mouth and eyes moved at appropriate times and
also included a spoof film called The Lost Valley of London throughout conducted by Anthony Lewis in
intrepid English Safari Hunter role.

After an initial glitch with the sound equipment, the film started with Anthony walking to where
the Rose was found. Simon Hughes, the local MP at the time, sets the scene, explaining why all the
entertainment, including the theatres, was situated outside the City of London in the sixteenth century.
The Rose theatre constructed in 1587 was the first of the Elizabethan theatres to be built. It survived until
1605 when it was abandoned due to proposed lease increases which Philip Henslowe refused.

Julian Boucher, Senior Finds Specialist at MOLA, who excavated the Rose in 1988-9, gave a tour
round the present day site. This showed the water preserving the site, and the red lines highlighting the
foundations of the Rose. From these red lines a series of drawings, starting from ground level and going
to the final theatre drawing, showed the presumed structure of the theatre.

Ian McKellen describes the theatre project going public and the reason for the campaign to
preserve it. Later, he describes his surprise at how small the Rose theatre was, and that the actors were in
easy reach of the audience which was in the open air. An interesting innovation was the auditorium raked
for easier viewing. The entire Rose would fit into the auditorium at the modern Globe theatre.
Harvey Sheldon, chairman of the Rose Board of Trustees, described discovering the Rose theatre
remains 30 years ago, and the reason for the foundation of the Trust to preserve it.

Many valuable papers relating to the Rose theatre are kept at Dulwich College, deposited by
Edward Alleyn, the eminent contemporary actor who founded the College of God’s Gift, now Dulwich
College. Shown in the film was the Diary and Accounts book for the Rose kept by Philip Henslowe, his
father-in-law,- a copy of this book is available from Foakes 2nd Edition by Philip Henslowe. Starting in
1592, with renovation details of the theatre, it lists performance and income details of a Hamlet and a
King Lear predating Shakespeare’s first known performance of his plays of those names. Also included is
Henry VI part I, premiered at the Rose on 3 March 1592.

The discovery of the Rose theatre was due to the demolishing of Southbridge House which had
been built over two thirds of the Rose and was to be replaced by a new office block due to be built by
Ivory Merchant, which in its original design would have destroyed the Rose remains.

Scholars, the theatrical world, and the general public worldwide felt that the Rose was so
important historically that its remains should not be destroyed. This sentiment resulted in a concert to
create publicity to put pressure on the government to get the Rose preserved. A huge gathering in 1989
including the theatrical world’s pre-eminent people (Dustin Hoffman, Vanessa Redgrave, Judy Dench,
Irene Worth, Dame Peggy Ashcroft etc.) It culminated in a recorded amended speech from Henry V by
Sir Laurence Olivier, who was too ill to attend. The recording was organised by his son, Richard, and
ended ‘Thank God for Harry, England and the Rose’. The government backed down and provided a £1
million grant. One consequence was Planning Policy Guidance 16, which made archaeological
investigation a condition of planning permission, rather than discoveries being made haphazardly, thus
upsetting building schedules.

Jane Siddell, PhD, MCIfA, describes how she looks at the water quality once a month to check the
site is neither too dry, acidic or alkaline. There is apparatus to monitor the oxygen levels – the lower the
better for anaerobic preservation of the remains.

Many more people appeared in the film. It described the demands on the Elizabethan actors, by
Lizzie Conrad Hughes, Rose Volunteer and actress. Play runs were for 1, 2, or, if popular, 3 days. If there
was a new play, there would be 5 or 6 weeks to learn it, while maintaining the play run schedules. A play
could be put on at a day’s notice, so the actors had to have an active knowledge of 30-40 parts at one
time.

There was a new design by Sir Nicholas Helm RIBA, who describes the redesign. The new
building is called Rose Court. The theatre’s remains are covered in sand and water to preserve them for
the future. This had to be done to replicate the original anaerobic marshy conditions that had preserved it
since its original burial. Red lighting outlines the theatre, and a viewing platform has been built, which
also allows actors to play to an audience of about 50 people.

The website for the Rose theatre is roseplayhouse.org.uk which is available for all who wish to
know about the project and possibly offer their help.

The film is on YouTube, entitled Shakespeare’s Secret Playhouse: The Lost Valley of London.

Brome Trip day 3 Jim Nelhams
Wednesday dawned bright and breezy. We had planned a leisurely start leaving at 9:00 for a two-hour
boat trip on the River Deben. This would give us a view of our second stop at Woodbridge Tidal Mill and
the country adjoining Sutton Hoo. As the mill only operates following high tide, we had a fixed
appointment to visit it. At 8:15, we received a call to say that because of expected high winds, the boat
operators had cancelled the trip as being potentially unsafe. Luckily, in our planning, we had identified
another possible visit in the same area – so off we went to Orford Castle.

Orford Castle Jim Nelhams
We had not visited the castle beforehand, so our information came from the English Heritage handbook.
We emailed ahead to announce our visit, but our message was not read until after we arrived. Access and
parking proved to be difficult for our coach, as was pedestrian access, with wheelchairs impossible, and
no toilets. Thanks to Simon Williams for accepting this and setting off in his buggy to explore the village.

The castle was built by Henry II in the twelfth century to protect against foreign invasion. Its position on
high ground provides a good view of the coast, and the access from the coast to Framlingham Castle,
owned by Henry’s rival, Hugh Bigod. In World War 2, this function continued as it served as a radar
station.

Only the keep of the castle remains, surrounded by extensive earthworks. Archaeologists have
excavated parts of the original curtain wall, but the task is incomplete. We are used to keeps that are
square or rectangular – not so Orford. The main section is circular, a basement containing the well, and
two high halls, one above the other. Surrounding the core are three towers, one, slightly larger than the
others, containing the staircase. The halls have two floors of side rooms in each tower. The innovative
layout of the halls provided a grand and impressive residence.

Clearly the Chaplain must have remained in his chapel for long hours, since he was provided with
his own latrine.

In the upper hall is an exhibition curated by the Orford Museum Trust, with documents and artefacts
of local interest. From the roof, there is a good and strategic view of the surrounding countryside and
coast.

Time to visit the village centre for a coffee.

WOODBRIDGE TIDE MILL – molendinium aquaticum marinum. Vicki Baldwin

In common with so many other examples of our working industrial and pre-industrial heritage,
Woodbridge Tide Mill owes its continued existence to a small band of dedicated volunteers.
A mill at this location is first referred to in a 12th century document granting Baldwin of Ufford
easier access to his mill. In the Middle Ages the mill was a source of income for the local Augustinian
Priory. It was listed as a valuable asset in 1340, but when the Bishop of Norwich visited 200 years later,
the parlous state of the mill was blamed for the poverty of the Priory. However, if the Priors did
redevelop the mill, as Woodbridge Priory was one of Henry VIII’s early casualties during the Dissolution
of the Monasteries, the church would not have reaped the benefit. The person to whom the Priory’s land
and mill were granted, Sir John Wingfield, had no family and the property reverted to the Crown upon his
death. Elizabeth I granted the estate to Thomas Seckford for £764 8s 4d. The Mill subsequently passed
into the ownership of a succession of families until in 1808, following substantial redevelopment, it was
sold by the Cutting family. The current building probably dates to this time and has only survived the
subsequent changes to the milling methods and machinery due to the fact that in the late nineteenth
century the then owners, A. Hayward and Sons, had it enclosed in corrugated iron sheeting. Unattractive
to the artists and photographers maybe, but an armour that enabled the structure to withstand the
introduction of a diesel engine and hammer mill in the 1950s.

The tide mill featured in the Craftsman series made by the Shell Company film unit. But it was
already in disrepair, having staggered on for the previous 30 years in need of replacements for vital worn
parts of the mechanism. An appeal for funds enabled the roof to be repaired, but in 1957 the 22 inch
square oak shaft broke. This would have been the end of tidal powered milling on the Deben if it had not
been for the efforts of local enthusiasts. Following a talk by local historian Norman Scarfe in 1968, Mrs
Jean Gardner discussed with him the possibility of purchasing the mill at auction with the intention of
restoring it. She was successful in her bid and subsequently the Woodbridge Tide Mill Trust was formed.
They have managed to restore the mill to a working condition and indeed it is possible to purchase flour
ground by the mill in the gift shop. Very good it is too! Keeping the mill in good enough repair for
visitors to appreciate this historic building means a constant fight for grants and funding. If you have the
chance, this is a fascinating place to visit if you are in the area. https://woodbridgetidemill.org.uk/

Sutton Hoo Dudley Miles

Sutton Hoo is the most important archaeological site in Britain, and it revolutionised historians’ views of
the so-called Dark Ages, showing that they were capable of producing treasures of the highest quality and
sophistication. In 1939 Edith Pretty commissioned Basil Brown to excavate mysterious mounds on her
land, and he found the tomb of a seventh-century king, perhaps Rædwald of East Anglia.
Almost all HADAS members will have seen the treasures from the site in the British Museum, but
the displays in the site museum include replicas of the most important artefacts such as the wonderful
helmet, purse lid and belt buckle. There are also original finds such as from the burial of a young warrior
with his horse.

Edith Pretty’s house has been restored to give a picture of how it would have looked in the 1930s,
and several people said that it was more interesting than the site museum. It was an interesting experience
standing on the mound of the famous ship burial, but the view of it from the nearby viewing platform is
blocked by a tree.

The site is now closed for refurbishment.

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS compiled by Eric Morgan
Please check with the organisations before setting out in case of any changes / cancellations.
Many organisations expect a small contribution from visitors.

Tuesday 8th January 7.45 pm Amateur Geological Society Finchley Baptist Church Hall East
End Road opposite Avenue House What gives minerals and gemstones their colour? Talk by Robin
Hansen

Thursday 31st January 2.30 pm. Finchley Society. Drawing Room, Avenue House The Highgate
Society, Past Present and Future Talk by Elspeth Clements (Chair) and Jan Morgan on the highs
and lows of planning applications. NOTE AFTERNOON MEETING

Sunday 3rd February 10.30 am Heath and Hampstead Society. Guided walk on the history of the
Hampstead Heath ponds. Led by Marc Hutchinson. Meet at Burgh House, New End Square NW3 1LT.
Lasts about two hours. Donation £5.

Thursday 7th February 7.30 pm Camden History Society Burgh House, New End Square NW3
1LT The campaigns to save Kenwood. Talk by Helen Lawrence.

Thursday 7th February 8.00 pm Pinner Local History Society Village Hall, Chapel Lane car
park, Pinner HA5 1AB. Gog and Magog – Giants in the Guildhall (London’s legendary guardians).
Talk by John Clark

Tuesday 12th February 1.00 pm Society of Antiquaries Burlington House, Piccadilly W1 Anne
Mowbray Duchess of York, a 15th century child burial from London. Talk by Bruce Watson. Free –
limited places, book on www.sal.org.uk or 020-7479 7080.

Wednesday 13th February 7.45 pm Hornsey Historical Society. Union Church Hall, corner
Ferme Park Road/Weston Park N8 9PX. The history of the Regent’s canal Talk by Roger Squires

Friday 15th February 7.30 pm. Wembley History Society English Martyrs’ Hall, Chalkhill
Road, Wembley, HA9 9EW (top of Blackbird Hill, adjacent to church) The General strike in
Wembley and Willesden Talk by Christine Coates.

Friday 15th February 7.00 pm. City of London Archaeological Society. St Olave’s Church Hall,
Mark Lane EC3R 7BB Thames Landing Craft. Presidential address given by Gustav Milne about
the causeways, river stairs and ferry terminals on the tidal Thames. Preceded by AGM.

Monday 18th February 8.15 pm Ruislip, Northwood and Eastcote Local History Society
St Martin’s church hall High Street Ruislip Saxons at the Adelphi, Strand. Talk by Douglas Killock.

Wednesday 20th February 8.00 pm. Edmonton Hundred Historical Society. Jubilee Hall,
2 Parsonage Lane/junction Chase Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ Evacuees in World War II. Mike Brown.

Wednesday 20th February 7.30 pm. Willesden Local History Society. St Mary’s church hall,
Neasden Lane, NW10 2TS (nr Magistrates Court) Living in Meyrick Road Church End. Talk by
Sophia MacGibbon on the origins of the people who moved to this working class street.

Tuesday 26th February 10.30 am. Enfield Society Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane/junction Chase
Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ. The History of Quilling. Talk by Judith and Christine Hughes.

Wednesday 27th February 10.30 am. Enfield Society Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane/junction
Chase Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ. Charles Lamb in Enfield and Edmonton. Talk by Joe Studman.

Wednesday 27th February 7.45 pm Friern Barnet and District Local History Society North
Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane N20 0NL. Dabs and DNA detects
criminals Talk by Chris Truran

Thursday 28th February 2.30 pm. Finchley Society. Drawing Room, Avenue House
Improvements to Victoria Park – latest developments Talk by Matthew Gunyon, Barnet Council
Green Spaces team. NOTE AFTERNOON MEETING

Friday 8th and Saturday 9th March. Current Archaeology Live 2019. Conference in the
University of London Senate House, Malet Street WC1E 7HU. Wide range of expert speakers
sharing the latest archaeological finds and research. For details and tickets visit
www.archaeologylive.co.uk or ring 020 8819 5580

With many thanks to this month’s contributors: Jo and Jim Nelhams, Don Cooper, Liz Gapp,
Vicki Baldwin, Dudley Miles and Eric Morgan

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 Court, 52 Church Hill Road, East Barnet
EN4 8FH (0208 440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk

October Lecture

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Tuesday 9th October 2018 7.45pm for 8pm: Motor Launch M.L. 286-The Not So Silent WWI Movy
Hulked at Isleworth Ait by Suzanne Marie Taylor. The talk/lecture will describe Motor launch M.L. 286-also known as a Movy, a veteran of World War I
and World War II. Built for speed in 1916, she began her adventurous life as a spirited submarine chaser as a part of The Grey Patrol in World War I. In World War II, M.L. 286 was one of the Dunkirk Little Ships, which took part in Operation Dynamo in 1940-by which time, she was named Eothen. In the 1980s Eothen was a houseboat until she was abandoned on the Thames foreshore at the back of BJ Wood & Son Boatyard at Isleworth Ait. In the present, it would seem that M.L. 286 lies stationary in the boatyard of Isleworth Ait. Yet, is she stationary? This talk will examine M.L. 286 as vibrant material culture which is continuously moving and evolving, and becoming a dynamic part of the boatyard landscape. This talk will highlight how M.L. 286 continues to evolve through the dedicated volunteer work of The Thames Discovery Programme, and what the future could possibly hold for her. This talk will aim to highlight how M.L. 286, is still very much a Movy.

Newsletter-571-October-2018

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No. 571 OCTOBER 2018 Edited by Robin Densem
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
HADAS DIARY – Forthcoming lectures and events

Lectures, the finds group course, and the film are held at 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 lecture.
Wednesday 3rd October – Finds Group Course recommences. The weekly meetings are on Wednesdays,
from 6.30 to 8.30pm. There may be one or perhaps two places available. Please contact Don Cooper if
you would like to discuss and learn availability– if there is space it is possible to enrol after the course has
started.
Tuesday 9th October 2018 7.45pm for 8pm: Motor Launch M.L. 286-The Not So Silent WWI Movy
Hulked at Isleworth Ait by Suzanne Marie Taylor
The talk/lecture will describe Motor launch M.L. 286-also known as a Movy, a veteran of World War I
and World War II. Built for speed in 1916, she began her adventurous life as a spirited submarine chaser
as a part of The Grey Patrol in World War I. In World War II, M.L. 286 was one of the Dunkirk Little
Ships, which took part in Operation Dynamo in 1940-by which time, she was named Eothen. In the 1980s
Eothen was a houseboat until she was abandoned on the Thames foreshore at the back of BJ Wood & Son
Boatyard at Isleworth Ait. In the present, it would seem that M.L. 286 lies stationary in the boatyard of
Isleworth Ait. Yet, is she stationary? This talk will examine M.L. 286 as vibrant material culture which is
continuously moving and evolving, and becoming a dynamic part of the boatyard landscape. This talk
will highlight how M.L. 286 continues to evolve through the dedicated volunteer work of The Thames
Discovery Programme, and what the future could possibly hold for her. This talk will aim to highlight
how M.L. 286, is still very much a Movy.
Thursday October 11th – Quiz at Avenue House – 7:30 – £15 including a cooked supper.
HADAS regularly fields a team. Contact Stephen Brunning if you would like to be involved.
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.
Sunday 9th December – HADAS Christmas Lunch at Avenue House. 12:30 – 4 p.m. £30 including full
Christmas dinner.

CHARING CROSS Stewart Wild
Jim Nelhams pondered in the last newsletter, with reference to Charing Cross station and the nearby
Eleanor Cross, on the origin of the name Charing. I must say, I think an etymology of “chère Reine” (dear
Queen) is rather ludicrous.

The Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names (2001) may be more helpful: Charing Cross
Westminster. The first part of the name is recorded early, as Cyrringe c.1100, Cherring 1198, La
Cherryng 1258 and’ La Charryng 1263. Derivation Old English c(i)erring (turning or bend), which may
refer either to the bend in the River Thames here, or to the well-marked bend in the old main road from
London to the West (Akeman Street, the Great West Road).

Personally I prefer the river derivation, as the Thames at this point makes a spectacular 90-degree turn
from a northerly to an easterly course which would have been unmissable, and significant, to eleventhcentury
Londoners settled nearby.

CHARING CROSS, AND THE EQUESTRIAN STATUE Robin Densem
Jim Nelhams wrote in the last issue (no. 570) that the folk etymology is that the place-name was perhaps
derived from “Chère Reine”. I took his mention of folk to be a warning that the derivation may or may
not be reliable – as it was folk etymology. It post-dated earlier variations of the place-name for the place.
The site (Site) of the original wooden Eleanor Cross is where the equestrian statue of Charles I stands, at
the south end of Trafalgar Square. The stone replacement cross on the Site was destroyed in 1647.

There is a story about the statue, cast by Le Sauer in 1633, and said to be the earliest equestrian statue in
England. The bronze statue had been ordered by Charles I’s Lord High Treasurer, Richard Weston, for
his garden at Roehampton. In 1649, John Rivett, a brazier or bronze-smith, was ordered to destroy the
statue, but instead he buried it in his garden. Rivett made a fortune by selling fragments of bronze,
purportedly from the statue. These were purchased by Roundheads and Cavaliers, respectively to either
rejoice in the destruction of the image of the king, or to have and treasure a memento of him.

Following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, eight of the regicides who had signed the death
warrant of Charles I were executed at the Site. The Site was chosen so these regicides would look south at
the Banqueting House on Whitehall where their order to execute Charles I had been carried out in 1649.
Meanwhile also in 1660 the equestrian statue was unearthed by Rivett from his garden. He refused to give
the statue up to Lord Weston’s son, and by gift or purchase it came into the hands of Charles II, and was
erected on the Site in 1675, where it still stands, the earliest equestrian statue in England.

The execution by beheading of Charles I on a makeshift scaffold in front of Banqueting House in January1649. The king called for two shirts so he wouldn’t shiver in the cold. He
is reported to had said “the season is so sharp as probably may make me shake, which some observers may imagine proceeds from fear. I would have no such imputation.”

SOME EARLY DAYS IN ROMAN SOUTHWARK Robin Densem
I arrived again at Montague Close, SE1 one Sunday in late May 1972 to volunteer on what would have
been a third season for me on the local Southwark and Lambeth Archaeological Society excavation on a
17th century delftware pottery site. Their site was full, but they thought there might be space down the
road at Harvey Sheldon’s site at 207 Borough High Street (207BHS). There I was set to work shovelling
what I later realised was natural sand and gravel! I asked about coming back another day, and there was
some discussion in the background, out of my earshot – the site supervisor said they would be open again
on Wednesday, so I returned. The site supervisor was the late Eric Ferretti who was to be my mentor for
the next fifteen months. Apparently there had been some concern I was too noisy but he had felt I might
just be useful. This site was being excavated on behalf of the Southwark Archaeological Excavation
Committee, SAEC, founded in 1962, for which Harvey was their Field Officer. Later I discovered that
Harvey led a band of archaeologists who had excavated several Roman sites, including Highgate Wood
(with A. E. Brown), and various rescue sites, in advance of redevelopment, in the East End of London, a
site in Clapham, another in Cambridge, and a major site, Toppings Wharf, in Southwark, by London
Bridge. I eventually realised much of this work was funded by grants from the Directorate of Ancient
Monuments and Historic Buildings (DAMHB) of the Department of the Environment, working in liaison
with the Inspector and Assistant Inspector of Ancient Monuments for London, and by grants from the
county archaeological society, the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society.

At 207BHS we had other volunteers on site on the weekends, working alongside a few full-timers who
were funded, and on Wednesdays to Fridays there were far fewer, if any volunteers, apart from me! So,
after a few days Eric said he would like me to open a trench, and it was suggested I should purchase a
double-sided notebook, with graph paper alternating with lined paper.

We worked in imperial scale and drew plans at one inch to two feet, so at 1:24. I remember being worried
that it was difficult to record relationships, as we generally only drew the extents of features, not layers –
all this was to change in the early 1980s with our adoption of the ‘single context recording system’ that
involved the planning of all layers and features, so plans could be overlain to discern relationships.
My trench, and I was so proud to have a role, was trench 4 and it contained the eastern edge of the gravel
metalling of the Roman bridge approach road, Stane Street, and its underlying ‘agger’ or bank of dumped
sand and silt, laid of a raft of timbers. The seriousness and commitment to recording was all-present, and I
began to learn about the complexities of archaeological stratigraphy, and a little about finds.

207BHS on a week-end day in summer 1972. I am sitting on the end of the far trench
wearing a white helmet, and writing in one of my notebooks.

BARNET IN CONTEXT: DATA FROM THE GLHER Robin Densem
Archaeology Advisors and Greater London Historic Environment Record (GLSMR) staff at
Historic England Greater London Archaeology Advisory Service (GLAAS). Photo: Robin Densem.
I had great plans to study the historic environment record (HER) data for the extent of the London
Borough of Barnet, but have only just started! My idea was to quantify the HER entries by period, and
see what this told me about the archaeology and history of Barnet. This idea goes back to 1976 when
Harvey asked me to look after the archaeology of Lambeth for his archaeological unit, the Southwark &
Lambeth Archaeological Excavation Committee, and I began researching local archaeology then.
Meanwhile in the City, John Schofield and Brian Hobley of the Museum of London’s Department of
Urban Archaeology began from 1978 “suggesting to every developer that they should pay for the
necessary archaeological work on their redevelopment site.” (John Schofield 1998 Archaeology in the
City of London 1907-91 (Museum of London). Harvey established the Museum’s Department of Greater
London Archaeology in 1983, having been instrumental in establishing the Greater London Sites and
Monuments (GLSMR) record that saw the employment of its first staff member, Pete James, in 1982.
We had achieved some developer funding for prominent sites from 1983, and then, largely George
Dennis, developed the use of archaeological planning conditions in Southwark from 1985, including for
the Rose Theatre in 1989. That year saw several sites in the news, as archaeological excavation work
found sites that needed preservation. In the reorganisations that followed, the GLSMR was taken into
English Heritage and is now the GLHER that is a marvellous and essential source of archaeological
information.

There is some information about GLAAS and its constituent GLHER on the internet at:
https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/our-planning-services/greater-london-archaeology-advisoryservice/
. The website explains “The GLHER is a comprehensive and dynamic resource for the historic
environment of Greater London. From the earliest human occupation to the present day, its data supports
the work of the Greater London Archaeological Advisory Service. Our computerised record contains over
87,000 entries providing data on archaeological sites, historic buildings, historic parks and landscapes,
finds and heritage features, and supporting sources of information.” (accessed 22nd September 2018).
My hope is to use the GLHER data for Barnet to identify historic houses and mansions, and maybe to
give some lectures about them. Some of the buildings still stand today.

As part of my background reading I counted the number of archaeological projects in each London
borough from 1972, the first year for which the London Archaeologist magazine took to publishing an
annual round up of archaeological fieldwork. The full table is a bit too big to publish here but if you email
me, robindensem@btinternet.com, then I should be able to email the table to you. Some extracts:

My conclusion is that I have more work to do. I have been a great believer in a theory that there is more
archaeology on sands, silts and gravel then on London Clay, but is this true? And how much of Barnet is
on London Clay? A problem is that such theories can become self-reinforcing, as if sites on London Clay
are rarely investigated, then the truism that there isn’t much there appears proved! And I haven’t started
looking at Rocque’s map of London and Ten Miles Round of 1746 that I expect covers at least part of
Barnet. And there are many more maps that I hope to look at. Meanwhile I am very grateful to Laura
Hampden of the GLSMR for providing Table 1, and to her colleague Rebecca Seakins for my visit.

HADAS AT THE HENDON PAGEANT Don Cooper
HADAS had a stall at the Hendon Pageant which was held at the Royal Airforce Museum on Saturday
15th September 2018. It was a well-attended event. Andy Simpson, Bill Bass and I were there to represent
HADAS. The highlight of the event was a fly-past by the last surviving airworthy Lancaster Bomber in
Britain – a splendid sight.

QUEEN ELEANOR’S JOURNEY – PART 2 Jim Nelhams
When Queen Eleanor died in Harby in Northamptonshire on 28th November 1290, King Edward decreed
that her body be carried back to London for burial. The procession could only move in daylight, so it took
12 days to reach London. The King also ordered that a cross be erected at the places where they stopped
for the night, the first now being in Lincoln. There being not that many suitable stopping points on the
journey south, most were at religious establishments. In Lincoln her body was embalmed, probably at
the Gilbertine Priory. Parts of her body were sent to the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral for burial,
where they still rest, and part of the cross which was erected is now in the grounds of Lincoln Castle.
Next stop was Grantham, though no part of this cross remains. Following this, stop three was in
Stamford.

Stamford’s cross stood for approximately 350 years, and to confirm this we have two eye-witnesses. The
first was Captain Richard Symonds of the Royalist army, who visited Stamford briefly on his way from
Newark to Huntingdon on Saturday August 22nd 1645. He wrote the following in his diary,
‘In the hill before ye into the towne stands a lofty large cross, built by Edward I in memory
of Eleanor whose corps rested there coming from the north.’

The cross was probably destroyed by Cromwell’s forces during the commonwealth.
On January 16th 1745 William Stukeley wrote to a fellow antiquarian:
‘Our surveyor of the turnpike road opened up a tumulus half a mile north of Stamford on the brow of a
hill by the roadside and there discovered the foundations of the Queen’s Cross, the lower most tier of the
steps intact and part of the second, tis of Barnack stone, hexagonal, the measure of each side thirteen feet
so the diameter was thirty feet. It stood on a grassy heath called by the towns people Queens Cross’.
Stukeley also noted that the Grantham Cross decoration almost certainly contained Eleanor’s coat of
arms.

In the 1960s, a stone spire was erected at Castle Dyke, Stamford. Is this connected?
Stop 4 was at the village of Geddington, in Northamptonshire, where there was a Royal hunting lodge.
The cross is the best preserved of the remaining crosses and is unusual having 3 sides.

(Hadas visit to this
cross is recorded in
Newsletter 257 –
August 1992.)

EXPLORING THE OCEANS (PART 2) Jo Nelhams
James Cook’s Second Voyage
Having returned safely from his first voyage, much of the praise was directed to Joseph Banks, a useful
passenger and wealthy landowner from Lincoln and an amateur botanist. He had provided most of the
scientific personnel for the first voyage.
A second voyage was planned and the Admiralty’s instructions were to sail south from the tip of Africa to
search for the Great Southern Continent. Cook needed the summers in the Antarctic and suggested
circumnavigation in the higher latitudes in the winter months.


Joseph Banks was very keen to go on a second voyage and this time two ships would sail. The ships
selected were the Resolution, 462 tons and a smaller one the Adventure, 336 tons. Since the Resolution
had been selected, Joseph Banks wanted modifications to be made for his large party of naturalists,
scientists and the artist Joseph Zoffany to be accommodated. After some work had been done on the ship,
it proved to be unstable. Joseph Banks also thought that he should be in charge on the ship. After these
disagreements, Joseph Banks and his party withdrew and the Resolution and the Adventure, with
replacement naturalist, artist and draughtsman left Plymouth on July 13th 1772.

An artist and astronomer were included with those aboard. The artist was William Hodges and the
astronomer a Yorkshire man named William Wales. He took care of the chronometer, a copy of the
invention of John Harrison, which gave accurate time for the calculation longitude. Harrison’s
chronometer had been used on other ship’s voyages and had proved to be very successful. In later life
William Wales became a tutor at the Royal Mathematical School, located within Christ’s Hospital School
in the city. He was the first master there to have had considerable practical experience of navigation at
sea, which needed real mathematical knowledge.

Wales had kept a detailed logbook on board. One of his students at Christ’s Hospital was Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, and his poem, “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner”, has significant parallels with Wales’
descriptions of the voyage.

The Antarctic waters were very different from the Arctic waters. In 1773 Cook sailed across the Antarctic
Circle, the first man ever to do this. Penguins, seals and whales were not good for eating. Visibility was
often poor and there was much ice and the area of sea free to sail gradually decreasing. He had come as
far as a sailing man could go. In the poor weather the Resolution and Adventure lost contact. They knew
that a possible parting was long foreseen and the Adventure, if adrift, had her orders to make for Queen
Charlotte Sound, New Zealand.

When the Resolution reached Queen Charlotte Sound the Resolution and Adventure were reunited. The
Adventure had scurvy aboard the ship. Cook made sure that they consumed fresh food and the Adventure
was restored to being scurvy free.

The circular plan was an ideal method of investigating the South Pacific. They sailed to the east of the
longitude of Tahiti. From first crossing the Antarctic Circle in January 1773, Cook spent the next 2 years
exploring the southern oceans. On March 21st 1775 the Resolution anchored at the Cape of Good Hope.
During that time he had discovered new groups of islands in both the Atlantic and Pacific. The Resolution
had not lost a single man to scurvy or anything else avoidable. Three were lost by drowning and one from
a disease brought aboard. After 5 weeks at the Cape of Good Hope Cook sailed for England and in July
1775 dropped anchor off Spithead, but “Terra Australis” was still a mystery so there was great
disappointment at the results from this second voyage.
To be continued: Third Voyage next newsletter.

OTHER SOCIETIES & INSTITUTIONS EVENTS, compiled by Eric Morgan
Until 4th November 2018, Museum of London Bluecoats in the City: 350 Years of Christ’s Hospital, a
small, free display open daily at the Museum of London, London Wall, London EC2 5HN, 10am to 6pm.
October 2018 is Huguenots Month in Spitalfields, London. For programme visit:
http://www.huguenotsofspitalfields.org/walks-events.html or contact: Charlie de Wet at
info@huguenotsofspitalfields.org or telephone 020 7247 0367. Huguenots of Spitalfields is a registered
charity promoting public understanding of the Huguenot heritage and culture in Spitalfields, the City of
London and beyond.
Wednesday 10th October 2018, 2.30pm. Mill Hill Historical Society, Supporting Churches for 200
Years, The National Churches Trust, by Eddie Tulasiewicz, Head of Communications and Public Affairs.
The talk will be held at Trinity Church, 100 The Broadway, London NW7 3TB.
Saturday 13th October 2018. Local London Guiding Day. There are free walks, lasting up to 60
minutes by guides from Camden, Clerkenwell and Islington and Westminster.
Friday 19th October 2018, 7.30pm. Wembley History Society, 7.30pm, Power Play, a tale of Victorian
values (the life and times of Mary, Dowager Duchess of Sutherland), by Bruno Bubna-Kasteliz. The talk
will be at English Martyrs Hall, Chalkhill Road, Wembley,HA9 9EW. Visitors £3.
Thursday October 25th 2018, 8pm. Finchley Society, Major Cartwright’s obelisk … and other fine
tombs in Finchley Churchyard by Dr Roger Bowdler. Major Cartwright was an early advocate of
American independence, universal (male) suffrage, the abolition of slavery and many other causes. The
talk is at 8pm in St. Mary-at-Finchley Church, Hendon Lane, London N3. Visitors £2.
Thursday 1st November 2018, 8pm. Pinner Local History Society, Watford’s Bronze Age Hoard, by
Laurie Elvin, a local archaeologist. The talk will be in the Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner
HA5 1AB. A £3 donation from visitors would be appreciated.
Saturday 3rd November 2018, 10am to 6pm. Aldenham Transport Spectacular, an indoor transport fair,
held at Allum Manor House & Hall, 2 Allum Lane, Elstree and Borehamwood, WD6 3PJ. Admission £3.
Saturday 3rd November 2018, 10.30am – 4.30pm. Geologists’ Association Festival, including exhibitors
from the world of geology, including fossil and mineral displays. University College London, Gower
Street, London WC1 6BT. Free event.
Saturday 3rd November 2018, 1.30-3.30pm. Barnet 1471 Battlefields Society, The Knights Templar, by
Robert Stephenson. The talk will be held at St John the Baptist, Barnet Church, Junction of High Street
and Wood Street, Chipping Barnet, Hertfordshire, EN5 4BW. Visitors £5, and the Society asks for
donations/money in the hat towards tea/coffee and cake.
Wednesday 7th November 2018, 8pm, Stanmore and Harrow Historical Society, The Ellen Burgin
Lecture: Historic Greenwich, by Diana Burnstein. The talk will be held at the Wealdstone Baptist
Church, High Street, Wealdstone, Harrow, HA3 5DL. Visitors £3.
Friday 9th November 2018, 8pm (doors open 7.30pm), Enfield Archaeological Society, Walbrook
Mithras Temple Reconstruction, by Sophie Jackson, MoLA. The talk will be held at the Jubilee Hall at
the junction of Chase Side and Parsonage Leane, Enfield, EN2 0AJ. Visitors £1.50.
Wednesday 14th November 2018, 2.30pm. Mill Hill Historical Society, The Oldest House in London, by
Fiona Rule. The talk will be held at Trinity Church, 100 The Broadway, London NW7 3TB.
Wednesday 14th November 2018, 7.30pm for 8pm, Hornsey Historical Society, The Folklore and
Traditions of the Tidal Thames, by Mark Lewis. The talk will be held at Union Church Hall, (corner of
Ferme Park Road/Weston Park) N8 9PX. Doors open at 7.30pm for the sale of refreshments and
publications and talks start promptly at 8pm.
Thursday 15th November 2018, 7.30pm, Barnet Museum and Local History Society, How to Capture a
Castle by Julian Humphrys, from the Battlefields Trust. The talk will be at Pennefather Hall, St Albans
Road, EN5 4LA. Tickets on the door: member £3, visitors £5; 18 & under free. Refreshments included.
Thursday 15th November 2018, 8pm, Historical Association (Hampstead and Northwest London
Branch), Harold Godwinson: his family and career, by Dr Ann Williams, FSA, FRHistS. The talk will be
held at Fellowship House, 136A Willifield Way, NW11 6YD and are followed by free refreshments.
Visitors £3.00. “There is no difficulty with parking.”
Friday 16th November 2018, 6.30pm for a 7pm start, City of London Archaeological Society, A
Sarcophagus and a Roman Road in Southwark, by Ireneo Grosso. The talk will be held at St. Olave’s
Church Hall, Mark Lane, London EC3R 7BB. The lecture is followed around 8.30pm with an opportunity
to chat with the lecturer and fellow members over tea and biscuits, with an optional extension to an
adjacent pub. Visitors are asked to sign the visitors’ book and to donate £3 toward expenses.

Saturday 17th November 2018, London & Middlesex Archaeological Society, 10.30am to 6pm,
53rd Local History Conference: “An Emporium for many Nations”: London shaped by trade. Various
speakers. The conference will be held in the Weston Theatre, Museum of London, London Wall, London
EC2Y 5HN. Tickets £12.50 until 31st October 2018, and £15 from 1st November 2018. Tickets can be
purchased using PayPal via the LAMAS website http://www.lamas.org.uk/conferences/localhistory/
local-history-conference-2018.html or by post from Patricia Clarke, 22 Malpas Drive, Pinner,
Middx. HA5 1DQ, and do provide your name and address, a cheque for the requisite amount, and a
stamped addressed envelope so your ticket(s) can be posted to you.
Saturday 17th November 2018, North London & Essex Transport Society, 11am to 2.30pm, Enfield
Transport Bazaar. The bazaar will be held at St. Paul’s Centre, 102, Church Street, Enfield EN2 6AR.
There will be no bus display at this event, but up to forty selling stalls. Light refreshments available.
Admission £3, accompanied under 16 years of age free.
Wednesday 21sat November 2018, Willesden Local History Society, 7.30pm, First World War in
Willesden, by Margaret Pratt. The talk will be held in St Mary’s Parish Centre, St Mary’s Parish
Centre. Neasden Lane NW10 2TS. There is limited parking in Church Path.
Saturday 24th November 2018, Amateur Geological Society-North London, 10am to 4pm, Mineral,
Gem & Fossil Show. The show will be held at Trinity Church, Nether Street, Finchley, London N12 7NN.
Admission £2, accompanied children under 12 years of age free.


With many thanks to this month’s contributors:
Don Cooper, Eric Morgan, Jim Nelhams, Jo Nelhams, and Stewart Wild


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 Flat 22 Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road,
East Barnet EN4 8FH (0208 440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
Join the HADAS email discussion group via the website at: www.hadas.org.uk

Roman Kiln site Highgate Wood publication

By | HADAS, News | No Comments
NEW: The Roman Pottery Manufacturing Site in Highgate Wood: Excavations 1966-78
Author: A E Brown and H L Sheldon. Paperback; 205x290mm; xii+392 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white (70 plates in colour). (Print RRP £60.00). 456 2018 Archaeopress Roman Archaeology 43. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784919788. Epublication ISBN 9781784919795.
Book contents page
Excavations over a period of eight years uncovered at least ten pottery kilns, waster heaps, ditches and pits, but only a few definite structures. The pottery from the site indicates a period of operation extending from the first half of the 1st century AD to the later 2nd century. The pottery made at the site included initially a vegetable tempered handmade ware, but subsequently the bulk of it consisted of a grog tempered ware and then pottery in a sandy fabric which is well known from assemblages in London. The type of kiln varied with the pottery fabric; there was possible evidence for a pre-Roman pit firing, and later kilns set in ditches were of the twin flued type, eventually replaced by the more familiar above ground kilns with raised floors. Changes in pottery fabric were reflected in different methods of clay preparation, which led to changes in the function of the various ditches, the stratigraphy of which, along with the variation in the fabrics, was significant in enabling the four broad phases into which the site has been divided, to be proposed.

The report includes a very detailed analysis of the forms and fabrics of the pottery made at Highgate. Finds of prehistoric flintwork and pottery during the excavation, and of material of later date, together with the observation of earthworks and historical research, have been used to show the place of the pottery kilns as an element in the exploitation of the woodland of northern London over the last eight thousand years.

About the Authors
TONY BROWN was a member of the academic staff of the University of Leicester for over thirty years, moving there in 1964 as an Assistant Staff Tutor (Organising Tutor for Leicestershire). In 1966 he became Organising Tutor for Northamptonshire and in 1968 Staff Tutor in Archaeology. From 1990 he held a joint appointment with the School of Archaeological Studies, retiring in 2001 as an Emeritus Reader. During the earlier part of this period he engaged in rescue excavations for the Department of the Environment (Roman pottery kilns at Harrold in Bedfordshire and the Roman small town of Towcester in Northamptonshire), thereafter concentrating rather more on fieldwork and documentary studies of the medieval and post-medieval landscapes of the English Midlands. He has latterly interested himself in the relationship between European and native styles of artillery fortifications in South-east Asia. He has written or collaborated in the production of some sixty papers and either singly or with others written or edited books on the topography of Leicester, medieval moated sites, garden archaeology, Roman small towns, archaeological fieldwork, and antiquarian writing in the 18th century. He edited the journal Northamptonshire Archaeology and its predecessors from 1966 to 1984.

HARVEY SHELDON has been involved in London archaeology since the early 1960’s. He was Field Officer for the Southwark and Lambeth Archaeological Committee from 1972 until 1975, then Head of the Department of Greater London Archaeology in the Museum of London from its establishment in 1975 until 1991. During this period he was also a part-time tutor in the Department of Extra-Mural Studies University of London, and later, in the Faculty of Continuing Education, Birkbeck, University of London. From the late 1990’s until 2010 he had responsibilities for the faculties archaeological field programme and for the direction of its MA in Field Archaeology. Since 2011 he has been an Hon. Research Fellow in the School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy at Birkbeck. He part-edited and contributed to Interpreting Roman London: Papers in Memory of Hugh Chapman, (Oxbow 1996), and London Under Ground: The Archaeology of a City (Oxbow 2000). More recent articles include: Enclosing Londinium: the Roman landward and riverside walls in Trans London Middx Archaeol Soc 61 (2010); Roman London: early myths and modern realities? in Hidden Histories and Records of Antiquity: LAMAS Special Paper 17 (2014); ‘Rescue’: Historical Background and founding principles in Rescue Archaeology Foundations for the future (2015) and Tony Legge and continuing education at the University of London 1974-2000 in Economic Zooarchaeology (2017). Harvey is also directly involved in many aspects of London archaeology and he currently chairs both the Rose Theatre Trust and the Council of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society.