Newsletter-454-January-2009 – HADAS Newsletter Archive

Newsletter

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HADAS EVENTS 2009

The winter lecture series takes place at Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Nearest tube Finchley Central. Lectures start promptly at 8 pm – non-members £1, Coffee or tea available.

Tues. 13th January lecture by Nicole Douek An exploration of the Western Desert of Egypt

To the ancient Egyptians, the world was divided into two parts. One was “the Black Land”, the Nile Valley, with its rich, fertile soil, plentiful water and green fields. Beyond it lay the “Red Land”, the desert, the land of death, mysterious, dangerous, the physical embodiment of chaos. This lecture will explore the Western Desert, with its sea of sand dunes, its rock formations, unexpected lakes, ancient sea-beds covered with fossils. In the most remote corner of this desert is the great plateau of Gilf Kebir, with marvellous examples of the rock art of the Sahara. The five major Egyptian oases complete the picture of a fascinating and little known “other” Egypt.

Nicole Douek studied archaeology at London University – and as part of her training, she excavated a site on Hampstead Heath with HADAS. She also has a degree in Egyptology and Ancient History from University College London. She lectures at the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and a number of archaeological and historical societies. Television work for the BBC, Discovery Channel and PBS provides both fun and variety. Nicole lectures on tours to the Middle East, and in the last few years, she has been exploring areas few people have seen, following in the footsteps of the explorers who discovered and mapped the deserts of Egypt.

Tues. 10th February lecture by Tony Earle

The building of the Underground

Tues. 10th March, Tues. 14th April , Tues. 12th May to be arranged.

Brockley Hill Roman pottery project

Work continues at the Garden Room, Avenue House to process the finds from various Roman Brockley Hill finds in our care. We have finished the initial sort of the mortaria box and we are currently working on a box of mostly Jars and Beakers. With the arrival of the new laptop the work on the database has been going well with sherds (and in some cases) almost complete pots being cross-referenced with older lists/cards/publications, then labelled/bagged and boxed.

Once this first phase is completed (we have completed almost 2 out of 8 tea-chest size original storage boxes) we will go through them again for corrections, finer detail and sorting into the year they were dug.
We are at the Garden Room most Sundays 10.30-1.30pm (contact Bill 8449 5666)

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Membership Matters Stephen Brunning

Please find enclosed with this newsletter a Standing Order form. At the AGM on 10th June 2008 it was resolved to increase the rates for all categories of membership, having held the current rates since 1st April 2004.

From 1st April 2009, the new subscription rates will be: Full/corporate: £15.00 Student/under 18 £ 6.00* Each additional member at the same address: £ 5.00

Please note that the Student rate is described as: “Under the age of 18, or is over that age, but under the age of 25 AND a student is full time education”.
For those members who currently pay by Standing Order, I would be grateful if send the completed form to your bank now, with the date of first payment being 1st April 2009. This form will supersede the old one.

I would also like to encourage more members to pay by Standing Order. At the moment less than half by this method. Please consider changing to a Standing Order payment as we can save money on stamps, stationary etc by not having to send renewal notices.

Welcome to new members

A big Hello! to the following new members who have joined HADAS since July 2008: Susan Bristow, Daniel Brooks, Sarah Dhanjal, Nicole & Livia Della-Ragione, Sian John, Gabriel Moshenska, David & Emma-Jane Robinson and Joanne Udall. A warm welcome to you all! If you have not yet taken the plunge to attend one of our events, you don’t know what you’re missing! Please do come along, we would love to see you there.

Prescot Street lecture report correction (December 2008)

The speaker was in fact Chaz Morse of L-P Archaeology and not Guy Hunt. Apologies for any confusion. The report writer was certainly confused!

New exhibition at Church Farm Museum by Don Cooper

In addition to the usual toy exhibition at Christmas at Church Farm Museum, Gerard Roots has a small but fascinating exhibition entitled “Historic Views of London”, running from 13th December 2008 to 16th March 2009. The photographs are part of the Howarth-Loomes collection (the full collection is housed in National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh). Bernard Howarth-Loomes was a Barnet resident, who was a life-long collector of photographs and photographic equipment.

The current exhibition at Church Farm Museum is based on a new book, edited by Ann Saunders (a life-long HADAS member), which is being published by English Heritage. The book, called “Historic Views of London” reprints approximately half of the 350 photographs of Greater London in the collection and is available from Church Farm Museum and also W H Smiths price £19.99. If you want a flavour of the book do visit the exhibition.

Hampstead and North West London Historical Association

The above branch of the Historical Association meets on Thursdays at 8pm at Fellowship House, Willifield Way, London NW11. There is no problem with parking. Visitors are welcome at £3.00, members of Fellowship House, 50p.

22 January. Visions of heaven and hell: the medieval travel experience according to the monks (illustrated). Professor Jane E Sayers (University College London). Professor Sayers has written very extensively on the Middle Ages, notably the definitive biography of Innocent 111 (1994). She has a special gift for describing everyday life in monasteries, as in ‘The Chronicle of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds’, while ‘At the time of Geoffrey Chaucer’ social life and customs between 1066 and 1485 are illumined in vivid detail.

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The Hendon ‘Jadeite’ axe & Project JADE Alison Sheridan and Bill Bass

In 1975 ‘Master’ Steven Jacob found what seemed to be a Neolithic polished stone axehead under a rose bush at the rear of 19 King’s Close, Bell Lane, Hendon (TLAMAS Vol 28, 1977). The axe was mid to dark green in colour, 224mm long x 72mm wide x 26mm thick. It was examined by Dr Ian Kinnes of the British Museum, and by Dr Alan Woolley and his colleagues at the Department of Mineralogy of the then-named British Museum (Natural History). Dr Kinnes thought it could be a Neolithic jadeite axehead imported from the Alps, and it was published as such in TLAMAS. The material was then identified by Dr Woolley as nephrite – a similar-looking material which does outcrop in the Alps, as well as elsewhere in the world, and the axehead was included in a list of jadeite and nephrite axeheads from Britain and Ireland that was published in 1977 (Jones et al. 1977). It has since been in the safe-keeping of Church Farmhouse Museum, Hendon.

In November this year, the axehead was studied once more, this time by an international team of researchers from Projet JADE – a French-led project, directed by Dr Pierre Pétrequin and administered through the University of Franche-Comté in Besançon, that is examining all Alpine Neolithic axeheads from the whole of Europe. Thanks to the efforts of the team’s GB and Ireland Co-Ordinator, Dr Alison Sheridan (who grew up in Mill Hill and works for National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh), and to her colleagues in the British Museum, the team brought their equipment to the British Museum and analysed 114 axeheads and wristguards from various places in Britain, Ireland and the Channel Islands.

From its shape, Dr Pétrequin – who has undertaken much ethno-archaeological research in Papua New Guinea and who is familiar with ‘ethnographic’ axeheads – recognised that the Hendon specimen was not actually a European Neolithic object at all, but rather a New Zealand axehead. This was confirmed when it was analysed. Two non-destructive methods were used: the measurement of specific gravity (which involved lowering the object into water), and reflectance spectroradiometry, which established the mineral composition of the axehead. This technique, which measures the sub-surface absorption of light (at various wavelengths), is borrowed from the world of remote sensing: the same basic kind of equipment was recently used on Mars, for example, to test for signs that water had been present. The results confirmed that the material is indeed nephrite – a kind of stone used for axeheads (and many other objects) in New Zealand.

It may be, therefore, that this axehead had been brought to Britain in the relatively recent past, by a previous occupant of the house, and thrown out into the garden when it was no longer of interest. Such things are a relatively frequent occurrence, and this would certainly explain how the axehead came to be lying under a rose bush, bereft of any kind of archaeological context.

Although it is perhaps disappointing to learn that the Hendon axehead will have to be removed from the list of British Neolithic specimens, it nevertheless has an interesting story of its own to tell.

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Day 3. of HADAS long weekend – Lincoln

After breakfast we again boarded our big red bus and set off for a day in Lincoln. Our first stop was a pre-arranged tour of the Cathedral after which we could choose to visit all or some of the many attractions of Lincoln.

Lincoln Cathedral by Deirdre Barrie

‘I have always held and am prepared against all evidence to maintain that the Cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have’. (John Ruskin 1819-1900)

The square limestone façade of Lincoln with its tiers of arcades, Romanesque friezes and two towers is awesomely impressive, (although two of the friezes of heaven and hell are absent and being restored). Inside the building there is an atmosphere of light and spaciousness. Despite the best efforts of 17th century iconoclasts who destroyed glass, tombs and shrines, and the fact that many of the memorial brasses were stripped away, much of great interest remains. HADAS split into two groups, each with its own guide. In 1072 William the Conqueror ordered Remigius, the first Norman bishop, to build a cathedral at Lincoln. The original cathedrals were damaged by fire and earthquake, so most of the rebuilt front dates from the time of St Hugh and Bishop Grosseteste in the 13th century. (During the rebuilding of the cathedral, St Hugh was known to carry a hod to help the builders in its reconstruction.) The two rose windows in the great transept are known as the Bishop’s Eye and the Dean’s Eye, and in recent times the 13th C Dean’s Eye was disassembled and laid out on the Cathedral floor for restoration. The man who over 16 years had to oversee the work and the reassembly of this giant glass jigsaw of 77 panels understandably said he would never undertake any similar task again. In the English Gothic Angel Choir (dedicated to St Hugh) our guide pointed out the carving of the famous Lincoln Imp, high on an archway over St Hugh’s head shrine. It was difficult in the time left to choose whether to visit the 13th century 10-sided Chapter House, the Wren Library, the cloisters, or the Treasury with its silver plate, (not to mention the tearoom). The Cathedral is above a steep hill, and HADAS members were glad they were going down to visit the local museum (The Collection) and did not have to clamber back up again.

Lincoln Castle by Jean Bayne

The East gate

The castle is entered through the East Gate and the area, just outside, encapsulates elements of the changing scenario of the castle over the centuries. Built in 1068 by William the Conqueror, close to the site of a Roman fortress, a circular Norman arch still stands amid medieval masonry. (Unfortunately, the remains of the fortress, including baths and mosaics, were destroyed in the building programmes of the 18th and 19th centuries.) Originally, a wide ditch, a retractable bridge and a portcullis provided defence here until the 14th century when two large drum towers were built and connected to the castle walls to create a barbican. Soldiers storming the gate would find themselves trapped between the towers and the gate: this space was known as the ‘killing ground.’ Cobblestones mark where the towers once stood. Lincoln Castle featured prominently n medieval warfare and was also significant in the Civil War of the17th century, being ‘disabled’ by Cromwell in 1648. The last building before the gate is the Judges’ Lodging of 1810, still in use but now up for sale! Judges descend the steps and are slowly driven a few hundred yards into the castle where the Courts sit. From the 18th through to the 19th century, the castle was also a prison and the hangman used to stay at the Black Boys Inn opposite the Lodgings. Close to the castle walls, but not easily accessible, is a Remembrance Garden for Second World War dead. Finally, our guide told us that when the gate was repaired four years ago, a time capsule for the 21st century was placed there containing symbols of modern life, including a mobile phone!

Within the Castle

Walking through the gate, past the Oriel window, said to come from John o’ Gaunt’s house, an extensive lawned area comes into view. Our guide pointed out that, unusually, the castle had had two mottes and bailies. Unfortunately, archaeologists have had only limited opportunities to excavate and, so far, only a few14 century skeletons have been found. The bailey walls, originally built of wood were gradually replaced by stone and brick and we saw a herringbone pattern in the bricks which is characteristic of a Norman building. The buildings in the central castle area include the 19th century turreted Courthouse designed by Sir Robert Smirke (1826), who was also responsible for the British Museum, and the prison, first built n 1789, and later extended in 1847.It is on the left hand side and was in use until 1878.The Magna Carta is housed at Lincoln, though currently, a replica is on display.

Cobb Hall

Cobb Hall is a 13th century defensive tower built into the wall with a semi-circular front, possibly based on a design from the crusades. It had arrow slits and probably housed a catapult type weapon on the roof. Sallyports with oak doors allowed soldiers to reconnoitre the ground outside. There were 2 levels inside the tower with fine stone vaulting and evidence that prisoners were chained and manacled there. The lower chamber, ‘the oubliette’, suggested that recalcitrant prisoners were placed in darkness and virtually forgotten. The three examples of graffiti on the walls have been attributed to the Templars who may have been kept there. And this grisly picture is continued into the 19th century. Condemned prisoners were hanged from the roof which was higher then, using a portable scaffold .The public gathered below to watch. At 12.00 on a Friday, a procession, led by the Governor, would cross the green from the prison to Cobb Hall. In those days, 200 offences led to the hangman’s noose and 38 people died in this way, the last in 1859. Public executions were banned in 1868 but they continued in the prison yard till 1877.

The Observatory Tower

We walked along the castle walls, with the cathedral in our sights, towards the Observatory Tower. This structure takes its name from a round turret on the top of the tower which was added by Governor Merryweather in 1822 in order to study the stars. (His enemies maintained that it was really to spy on female prisoners!) However, our guide preferred to call it Ranulf’s Tower because during the Civil War of 1141 between Stephen and Matilda, Earl Ranulf was granted part of Lincoln Castle by Stephen as a bribe and was able to build the tower.

The Lucy Tower

Further along, up 54 steps, we reached this tower. It was placed on the top of the most prominent of the two mottes; the first keep in the castle. This was so named as it was built by Lucy Taillebors, said to be the granddaughter of Lady Godiva, an important and wealthy woman in Lincoln. It was twice as high as it is now with thick inner and outer walls and a well. Clearly defensive and symbolic, the wooden stairs could be burned when all were inside and water poured down the clay sides of the motte to make the ground slippery and deter attackers. It was central to the siege in 1217 by Henry the third. Inside the tower little upright stones had been placed in the ground. These turned out to be footstones (not headstones) for hanged prisoners, buried here in non-consecrated ground. The last man hanged here was buried in the Lucy Tower.

Prison Chapel

Felons and debtors were kept prisoner, women as well as men. In 1846, the Separate System was introduced. This reflected the idea that prisoners should be kept isolated from each other with the minimum of contact Twenty two and a half hours were spent in their cells with a bible for company to encourage reflection on, and remorse for, their sins. When they did meet for exercise they were masked and veiled and had to hold on to a rope with knots as they moved round. But the most poignant exemplar of the system was the prison chapel. Each prisoner went into a separate box from which only the chaplain could be seen. The women sat at the front, heavily veiled. Only condemned prisoners were left to sit in open seats in a row at the back as they were considered to be beyond redemption. A coffin was placed at the front when a hanging was imminent. Needless to say, this cruel treatment did not work. Prisoners often went mad with the enforced isolation and the system was subsequently abandoned. But when the prison was moved outside the castle, the chapel was left behind intact. The atmosphere was bleak and gloomy. Many prisoners were held in Lincoln too, for transportation to Australia; 1.200 in all. These are some of the main aspects of the castle, a dominant symbol of political power, brought to life by our enthusiastic and lively guide.

The Museum of Lincolnshire life by Andy Simpson

Whilst most members of the party proceeded to a tour of the ramparts of Lincoln Castle and a personal flypast by the RAF (Grrr!), I made a solo visit to this excellent quadrangle courtyard arranged Lincolnshire County Council run museum, seduced by the siren call of a locally built First World War tank – a 1917-built ‘Mark IV Female’ armed with five machine guns and named ‘Flirt’ , for the cognoscenti. On loan from the Tank Museum at Bovington, Dorset, she was restored in Lincoln by her original makers, Rustons, some 20 years ago. She stands in the transport gallery alongside a selection of Ruston built standard and narrow gauge diesel and petrol powered industrial locomotives. Other collections on view here in rooms around the courtyard include agriculture and rural life, showcasing Lincolnshire farm wagons and machinery; a working diesel road roller ; a splendid cast iron gent’s urinal; steam traction engines ; vintage motorcycles ; period room settings and shops such as living rooms , wash-house, parlour, kitchen, bedroom and nursery, a Co-op, Post Office and Draper, and craftsmen’s workshops including Stone Mason and basket maker , and the small but informative Royal Lincolnshire Regiment display. Located only 10 minutes or so walk from the Castle on the Burton Road, and close to one or two (sadly unvisited) local ‘real ale’ pubs, details can be found on www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/museumoflincolnshirelife . There are also regular temporary exhibitions, currently one on local engine makers Napier. A Victorian schoolroom accommodates school parties. A couple of pounds admission charge well spent.

The Roman Remains of Lincoln by Peter Pickering

After HADAS members had left the Cathedral, I led a party of those interested to see the visible remains of the upper Roman city, reminiscing nostalgically about my childhood in what was still, then, primarily a Victorian industrial city, separated from its cathedral and castle by the aptly-named Steep Hill. We passed the conserved remains of one of the churches which may have begun late in the Roman period and finished with the demolition of the Victorian one of which the father of a school-friend of mine was Rector. Then we saw in the Bail the circular granite setts which mark the position of the columns forming the frontage of the Forum, and turned off to the so-called Mint Wall, which was in fact the north wall of the Roman basilica – an extremely rare survival of a Roman building wall in Britain, of stone with bonding-courses of tiles. Then at the north end of the Bail stands Newport Arch, the inner face of the north gate of Lincoln in its third-century form, somewhat rebuilt after a lorry got disastrously stuck under it in 1964. We walked to the right along East Bight, to see some fragments of the city wall and of the water tank which stored water from the aqueduct. East Bight was blocked by building works, and so we could not proceed to the remains of the east gate, at the front of the Lincoln Hotel, but a few of the party went the long way round to see it.

The Collection

At the end of our day in Lincoln, the arrangement was that we would all meet at the oddly-named archaeological museum called “The Collection”. This purpose-built building houses an excellent collection of finds from Lincoln, a good cafe & shop as well good facilities. However, many visitors probably don’t find it because a search for Lincoln Archaeological Museum on the internet turns up a blank! After a good look round the museum and a welcome drink the big red bus appeared again and we returned to Bishop Burton for our evening meal.

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The THAMES DISCOVERY PROGRAMME (aka Thames foreshore survey Mark 2)

is finding its feet. It has a new website: http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/

There will be a number of ways to get involved, including fieldwork, contributing local history information and following the project online.

The plan is for a repeating series of introductory events. Attendance at the training sessions is essential to become a FROG and to be covered by the project’s insurance.

Session 1 – an introduction. Not essential if you have taken part in foreshore work. Before (first was on 22 Nov) Session 2. In-door training. Next 24 January 2009 Institute of Arch. Essential. Advanced booking necessary. Session 3. Outdoor training. Next 14 & 15 Feb 2009. Custom House, Upper Thames St. Attendance at Indoor Training first is essential. Attend Sat or Sun. Keen types can go to both days.

If you miss this cycle of events, the process will start again with an ‘Introduction to the TDP’ at LAARC on 27 Feb 2009 6-8pm

You can contact the Thames Discovery Programme team via: LAARC, Mortimer Wheeler House, 46 Eagle Wharf Road, London N1 7ED, enquiries@thamesdiscovery.org Tel: 0207 5669310 The team recommend email as they are seldom at their desks.

Info kindly supplied by Rose Baillie

LAMAS 43rd Local History Conference – A short report on the lectures by Don Cooper

I and, at least, a half-a-dozen members of HADAS attended the 43rd LAMAS Local History Conference on 15th November 2008 at the City of London School for Girls by the Barbican. The conference was well attended, and the stalls of London’s history societies lined the auditorium selling their books and pamphlets. There were four main presentations during the day as well as the presentation of the LAMAS publications award to Wandsworth Historical Society for their publication “Putney and Roehampton in 1665: A street directory and guide” by Dorian Gerhold.

The first speaker, the new president of LAMAS, Professor Caroline Barron, gave us a fascinating talk on the on how foreign visitors viewed London between the time of William FitzStephen’s description of London in the 1170s and John Stow’s Survey of London in 1598. Their views are very important; to see ourselves as others see us adds another dimension to our knowledge of London and its residents during this period. She described the visit of various Italians, Germans, Dutch and French who kept diaries or wrote tales of London and Londoners.

In the second talk, Peter Barber of the British Library (it was he put on the great map exhibition) at the library two years or so ago), described the maps of London through the ages pointing out the fact that all the maps were in one way or another political propaganda. He gave some fascinating examples of “pretend” streets inserted in order that breaches of copyright can be detected, Ordnance Survey maps that omit some “defence” installations as well as maps drawn specifically to identify areas such as of poverty, ethnic or religious origin where the results lean towards the position taken by the map commissioner.

The two after lunch speakers dealt with recent surveys of London. Colin Thom of English Heritage considered surveys between 1894 – 2008, whereas Dr Cathy Ross dealt specifically with the so-called “forgotten survey” taken in the 1930s that deals with “life & Labour”.

The final speaker – Stefan Dickers – introduced us to the Bishopsgate Institute and an old LAMAS collection of 3000 glass slides of London that was left behind when they moved in 1977. These have now been “scanned” into a computer and are available on the Bishopsgate website.

After tea and a browse around the stalls it was time to leave and reflect on an excellent conference.

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HADAS Xmas Dinner 2008

The visit for this year was the Harrow Museum & Heritage Centre at Headstone Manor, this is an interesting complex of buildings consisting of The Great/Tithe Barn, The Small Barn, Granary and the Manor House. Unfortunately we could not visit the actual Manor House on this occasion as the bridge over the moat was subject to repair and strengthening. Instead we were given a powerpoint presentation by guide Karen Cochrane in the Great Barn.

Headstone Manor is Grade One listed, the earliest parts are believed to have been built circa 1310 (dendrochronology date), the structure comprises of one remaining bay of a timber-framed aisled hall and a two-storey cross wing. When originally built, the hall is known to have been much larger with (at least) one additional bay. A unique feature is that it is surrounded by the only complete surviving water filled moat in Middlesex. The building has seen many owners, uses and extensions over the years, including the Archbishop of Canterbury (c1344) who owned the land until 1546, then a succession of tenant farmers including the Redynges family who held it for 100 years from 1397. In 1546 King Henry VIII owned it briefly, other major owners were the Rewse (1631) and Williams families. Subsequent owners added another wing in the 1770s which contained more living accommodation. The front of the house was given a fashionable brick façade at this time, giving it the appearance it has today.

Now in the care of the London Borough of Harrow the house has been under much complex repair and restoration since 2004. A modern steel frame has been inserted through the oldest part to support the timber framing and there is an ongoing program to refurbish various rooms and features. In addition there is a program of works to update and improve the rest of the grounds and site.

Other structures include the impressive Great or Tithe Barn built c1506, it is 45m long, 15m wide with 10 bays and 2 wagon porches, the framework consists of English Oak. Now fully restored this is the heart of the site with lecture/exhibition areas, teashop, book sales etc. Across the courtyard is a smaller barn of similar date used for exhibitions. The Granary built in the late 1700s was part of a dairy farm in nearby Pinner, it was decided in 1991 to dismantle the structure and move it to Headstone Manor for reconstruction.

After a drive through the dark lanes of Middlesex and Hertfordshire, dinner was held at the Moor Mill near Bricket Wood, Radlett. This is a pub/restaurant which was converted from what was a water mill Two original waterwheels are still in operation throughout the year. The building is listed with much character and even old mill workings are still intact inside. The site is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086), the mill was known to have been rebuilt in 1350 for £11 pounds. The current mill dates from 1792 and in 1992 was converted to a pub.

Both Headstone Manor and Moor Mill are well worth a visit and they are not that far away. Many thanks are due to Stephen Brunning for his organisation, planning (and persistence) on the outing and to Jim Nelhams for his assistance.

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Other societies’ events by Eric Morgan

Thur 8th Jan: 8.00pm, Pinner Local History Society, Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner. How Middlesex Churches changed after the Reformation by Pat Clarke . Visitors £2.

Thurs 8th Jan: 6.30pm (refreshments 6.00pm), LAMAS, Terrace Room, Museum of London. Hospitallers & Templars in Greater London and beyond by Pam Willis

Mon 12th Jan: 3.00pm, Barnet & Local History Society, Church House, Wood St, Barnet, (opposite museum). John Betjeman – An enthusiasts view by Terence Atkins

Weds 14th Jan: 8.00pm, Mill Hill Historical Society, The Wilberforce Centre, St Paul’s Church, The Ridgeway NW7. Unusual small properties of the National Trust by R.W.T. Smith

Weds 14th Jan: 7.45pm, Hornsey Historical Society, Union Church Hall, Corner of Ferme Park Rd/Weston Park, N8. ‘A place in the sun’ – Fire insurance for local history by Brenda Griffith Williams.

Thur 15th Jan: 7.30pm, Camden History Society, Charlie Ratchford Centre, Belmont Street, NW1 The stationary winding engines at Chalk Farm by Peter Darley.

Thur 15th Jan: 8.00pm, Enfield Society, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane/junction Chase Side, Enfield. Discovering Historic buildings in Enfield by Stephen Gilburt.

Fri 16th Jan: 7.00pm, City of London Archaeological Society, St Katherine Cree church hall, Leadenhall St, EC3 (please note change of venue). £2, light refreshments after. The archaeology of Nazareth & its hinterland from 1st century BC to the 13th century AD by Ken Dark

Thur 29th Jan: 2.30pm, Finchley Society, Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley. Our water supply – from source to tap by Ian Pilsworth. Non members £2.00

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