Newsletter

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ANNIVERSARY IN THE EAST

One of the oldest parish churches in our area, St Mary the Virgin in East Barnet, has recently started a season of celebration in honour of its 900th anniversary. The church, on the eastern edge of the Borough, stands on the hillside above Pymme’s Brook, with the possible site of a deserted medieval village on the slopes below it in Oak Hill Park. It is the “oldest building in the Barnets,” and was once parish church of a large part of the “heel” of Hertfordshire and of adjacent parts of Middlesex.

Some of the fabric of the original church, built 1080-1100, still remains, notably the 3-ft thick north wall of rubble and plaster. Originally it had 3 narrow slit apertures; today these are windows containing 13th/14th c. glass. The inner doorway on the south side is also thought to be part of the 11th c. building. Once it was an outer door but now the south aisle, added in 1868, lies outside it. The present chancel, built c. 1400, has been enlarged and rebuilt several times, the latest occasion being in 1880. The ceiling of the nave used to be thronged with flights of painted angels of pre-Reformation date, but the angels were first whitewashed and later damaged in World War II and now there are no angels left.

St Mary’s has a fine collection of 10 hatchments showing the arms of the families who lived in the l8th/19th c. parish. These are funeral plaques which traditionally hung over the entrance to the family home for a year after death, and were then moved to the parish church. The last hatchment to be added was that of the father of Frederick Cass, Rector of nearby Monken Hadley and a notable local historian.

Many events are planned for this summer. The ceremony of beating the bounds was performed on Rogation Sunday, May 11; and HADAS member Ken Vause was there with his camera to record it. A concert will be given on June 7 by the choir of St Albans Abbey; from June 14-21 there will be a week of community celebration, with a civic service on June 15 to be attended by the Mayor of Barnet.

Perhaps of special interest to HADAS members will be a daily exhibition, from June 30-July 5, of church treasures and documents. The Church’s earliest register of baptisms dates from 1553, burials from 1568 and marriages from 1582.

A souvenir booklet, price 50p, is available at the Church, with messages from the Queen and from St Mary the Virgin’s bishop until recently – Robert Runcie, now translated to Canterbury.
OF MEMBERS AND M0NEY

The Society’s 19th AGM took place on May 8 at Hendon Library. Some 75 of our 440 members were present. Vice-President Eric Wookey conducted the proceedings with his usual charm, verve and good humour -though he failed by a long chalk to beat his own previous record of getting through the meeting in 7 1/2 minutes flat. This time it took an hour – but of course there was money to discuss, and that always makes a difference.
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A special resolution, introduced by Hon Treasurer Jeremy Clynes, was passed. This will raise the annual subscription from April 1981 to £3 for full members, and to £2 for members under 18 or over 60. Family membership remains at £1 for each additional member after the initial subscription of £3.

The following were elected to serve during 1980/81:

Chairman: Councillor Brian Jarman

Vice Chairman: Edward Sammes

Hon Secretary: Brigid Grafton Green

Hon Treasurer: Jeremy Clynes

Committee: Christine Arnott, John Enderby, Peter Fauvel-Clinch, Vincent Foster, George Ingram, Dave King, Daphne Lorimer, Dorothy Newbury; Nell Penny, Ken Vause, Freda Wilkinson, Sheila Woodward, Eric Wookey.

An exotic note was introduced into what is usually a fairly prosaic occasion by Percy Reboul’s description of his current dig (you’ll find more about it elsewhere in the Newsletter). The feature he is exploring in Cedars Close, Hendon, consists of various walls, red brick arches and massive floor gratings. It is, he thinks, possibly a Victorian melon house, demolished c. 1930. Somehow, on a cold May evening in NW4 the idea of melons growing just round the corner brightened the proceedings considerably.
THE JUNE OUTING

…on Sat June 14 is to the West Midlands. The highlight will be a visit to Arbury Hall, Nuneaton, a Gothic gem described by Dr Eric Grant, who leads the expedition, as the very first Gothic mansion in England, dated c. 1780/90, built for MP Sir Roger Newdigate. It has associations with George Eliot, whose father was steward to the estate. En route it is planned to drop in on an excavation in progress.

Members who want to join this expedition are asked to fill in the enclosed application form and post it, with their remittance, to Dorothy Newbury as soon as possible.
Other outings ahead are

July 12 – Bignor and Fishbourne (Raymond Lowe)

Aug 16 – Northamptonshire (Isobel McPherson)

Our long weekend, from Sept 19-21, will be to Southampton and the Isle of Wight. The application list is still open, and Dorothy Newbury will be glad, to hear as soon as possible from members who want to take part.
DIG NEWS

PERCY REBOUL presents a (very) preliminary report from 14 Cedars Close, Hendon, where HADAS has been excavating the back garden of a private house. This followed a report by the owner that he had uncovered an “old wall” during the cutting of trenches to lay modern land drains across his lawn. (The owner has been most helpful and co-operative and we are extremely grateful to him).

The area is one of archaeological significance, being near the site of the old Tenterden Hall (sometimes called Hendon Place) which was demolished in the 1930s and the supposed area of various medieval and Tudor structures. There has, however, been little or no evidence concerning these last two items.
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Excavation quickly revealed that the brick wall was certainly substantial, being some 80 cm wide and 120 cm high. It was also pierced by an arch 80 cm high and 100 cm wide, with a brick floor. Another arch was found a little lower and it is probable that the wall, which may be over 20 m long, is pierced by a series of arches. The whole structure is exceptionally well built and has been well preserved by virtue of being completely buried beneath the soil.

Our first trench, to the south of the wall, revealed the above information and the finds included typical glazed middle to late 19th c. pottery and a nice clay pipe bowl of the same period. Our old friends the oyster shells were also much in evidence.

Investigations by Ted Sammes and Dave King (who has also done an excellent scale drawing of part of the wall) of early maps of the area showed that the site is almost certainly the walled kitchen garden of Tenterden Hall. The 25″ OS maps of 1863 and 1904 show a glass-house complex within the garden and further confirmation was provided by a study of the 1836 Tithe map and the associated books which describe “a melon ground, gardener’s cottage, sheds, etc.” So we called it the Melon House – which may not be right, but sounds unusual!

Since that time it has been all action. A trench on the north side of the wall, much to our surprise, revealed another and probably earlier wall, 23 cm wide, also with its own arches – although differently centred. A splendid Victorian cast-iron grill, the sort you see in greenhouses, was found. This was about 100 x 50 cm and contained the name “J. Weeks, Chelsea.” Old directories show Weeks as “hot-house engineers;” they ceased trading in 1908. We have some of their early advertisements and a catalogue entry, but anyone who could throw more light on them, or on melon houses, would be doing a useful job for us. Associated with the grill were numerous flower pots, metal clips, putty, glass and lead strips – all indicating a greenhouse complex.

In the last few days we have found some Tudor bricks and a whole series of intriguing drains and the top of a brick dome arrangement which defies description but may be quite early. It is causing us that agitated speculation which makes it all worth while. More later!

Percy Reboul would be happy to have a few more volunteer diggers for Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Numbers must be limited owing to the nature of the site; and strong pick-and-shovel diggers rather than neat trowellers are required. Please ring Percy if you can help.

Speaking from West Heath, Hampstead, DAPHNE LORIMER says that there, too, the cry is Diggers Wanted! However, as most members know, West Heath calls for trowelling and sieving, not heavy manual work.

The site is at its best just now. Last year’s trenches are almost finished and new trenches in a rich area are waiting to be started; Daphne hopes members will come whenever they possibly can, on Weds., Sats (but not Sat. June 14, when there is an outing) and Suns from 10. am – 5 pm.

Footnote: Mislaid- the one remaining whooper swan. His trumpeting on the pond beside the site is much missed, but the ducks are having a lovely time!
NEW MESOLITHIC SITE ON HAMPSTEAD HEATH

In April this year Desmond Collins was delighted to be shown a superb mesolithic blade from an area at the edge of Kenwood, close to the site found earlier by HADAS member Phyl Dobbins. The blade (found by Tony Hilton of Sandstone Place, Dartmouth Park Hill) was of pale grey cherty flint, 60 mm long, 13 mm wide and 5 mm thick. Mr Collins describes it as a fine example of blade core technique, resembling the best found at West Heath. It has, however, semi-abrupt retouch on both sides.
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Other flakes have now been found and Desmond Collins reports that a different stratigraphy to that of West Heath is indicated. The finds are appearing at the depth of 27-30 cm below modern ground surface; and the evidence is that the podsol is deeper and mixed with pebbles.

This significant site is being closely watched and all finds are being recorded. Daphne Lorimer.
SURVEYOR’S DELIGHT

By Brian Wibberley.

Examination of the David & Charles (Brunel House, Newton Abbot, Devon) re-issue of the 1890 OS Record sheet No 71 London proved to be of surveying interest. The text appended to the map was written by Dr J. B. Harley, who mentions not only base-lines, triangulation and the like, but also comes near HADAS territory.

“The station at Hampstead Heath was re-visited in 1799 by the Board of Ordnance Surveyors under the direction of Capt William Mudge … with the ‘great theodolite’,” he writes, “… but at Hanger Hill the tower was obliterated because of the ‘wind blowing the thick and darkened atmosphere of London between the stations’.”

One or two interesting features have been noted already, such as, the presence of “the windmill on Hadley Green – but not the one at Arkley, although some brick kilns are shown near Barnet. The Finchley Road crossing with Golders Green Road and North End Road near the present memorial clock is shown in its more pristine state before the Northern Line was in existence, and when Littlewood Farm was the only building near this Junction.

There are many more little delights to be seen and discovered, and interested members are recommended to investigate further.
FARM INTO MUSEUM

By Nell Penny.

The current exhibition at Church Farm House Museum, running until July 5, celebrates 250 years of working farm and 25 years of a museum organised by the Borough’s Library department.

The first recorded farmer at Church Farm was Daniel Kemp who in 1688 rented the farm from the lord of the manor of Hendon, the Marquis of Powis. In 1764 Mr Broadhead bought the farm; his descendants, renamed Brinkman, owned it until 1918.

The most important tenant during this period was Andrew Dunlop, who came to Hendon from Scotland in 1870 and lived in the house until his death in 1904. He seems to have worked a considerable acreage, for when his daughter was married he gave a supper to 30 farm servants. Dunlop’s family sold the house to Hendon Council in 1944; the land had been sold piecemeal earlier for housing development and to create Sunnyfields Park. After 1945 the Council twice decided to demolish the house, so it must have given considerable pleasure to the Mayor, Norman Brett James, a notable local historian, to open it as a museum in 1955.

(EDITORIAL – Mr Brett James was not the Mayor – see correction in Newsletter 113 for more information)

One exhibit explains the construction of the house and the materials used. Seventeenth c. builders were as anxious to conserve heat as their 20th c. successors. They laid a thin layer of thatch on the rafters before they tiled the roof.
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There are 18th and 19th c maps of the local area: one drawn in 1754 records such field names as Thistlely Downage and Great Hundred Acres which are perpetuated in street names today. Photographs of the house from the second half of the 19th c. until today show the changes from rural to suburban Hendon. Butter making equipment is a reminder that this important farm function may have been carried out in what is now the museum’s storage cellar.

It selection of farm tools and horse harness from the museum’s own collection is supplemented by loans by Mr and Mrs Morley of Totteridge. And there is information about the aforesaid Andrew Dunlop who was a considerable Hendon worthy.

The former rather seedy parlour furniture in the downstairs front room of the Museum hats been replaced by a display of library publications. Latest of these is an attractive Jackdaw-type kit about Church Farm. It costs £1.80 and is the work of Library staff who are also HADAS members – David Bicknell, Joanna Corden, Elizabeth Holliday and Gerrard Rootes. Mike Shearing did the art work and design.

Footnote. An interesting slant on the continuity of local building practice is provided by the farm accounts of the manor of Hendon for 1326, preserved in the Muniment Room at Westminster Abbey. They record that the roofs of the barns at the new Hendon Rectory, comp1eted that year for the lord of the manor, the Abbot of Westminster, were all thatched first and then tiled over the thatch. This roofing method must have gone on for at least 500 years. Ref: Trans LMAS, vol. 21; Pt 3, 1967, p 159.
MORE THAN JUST DIGGING

Research Committee Corner

This may be the digging season, but not everyone wants to – or can – get down on hands and knees with a trowel. So the HADAS research committee has other work on hand, some of it related to excavations, some quite separate, which is waiting for members, experienced or not.

Under the committee’s new structure, described in the last Newsletter, research projects are largely divided on a period basis, from prehistoric to industrial, and work underway ranges from study of field walk finds to compilation of a gazetteer of industrial sites. Members interested in joining should contact the group leaders, listed last month, or the committee chairman Sheila Woodward, or secretary Liz Sagues.

It would be of great help to the research committee if members who have any material finds, documents and photographs, or anything else relevant to the Borough’s past could let Sheila Woodward or Liz Sagues know about them. In that way, valuable research resources can be recorded and duplication of effort can be avoided.

After that request, something in return: there have been requests in the past for the names of people to contact for advice and information should anything of archaeological interest arise in specific areas of the Borough. So here they are:

Hendon: Helen Gordon

Finch1ey: Paddy Musgrove

Barnet: Myfanwy Stewart

Cricklewood, Childs Hill, Golders Green: Bill Firth
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Hampstead Garden Suburb: Brigid Grafton Green

Totteridge: Daphne Lorimer

Edgware: Sheila Woodward

Hampstead: Philip Venning

Two research groups will be meeting in the near future.

The Documentary Group, now six strong, will be meeting for the first time on Thursday evening, June 5. More members will be very welcome. If you would like to come along, please give Brigid Grafton Green a ring for further details.

The Industrial Archaeology Group will discuss future plans on Wednesday June 25 at 8 pm. Please let Bill Firth know if you expect to attend.
HENDON – CRADLE OF AVIATION

Nearly 6 years ago – to be precise, in autumn 1974 – HADAS, along with other amenity societies in the Borough of Barnet, was invited to suggest ways of updating the Statutory List of Buildings of Architectural or Historic Interest, originally drawn up under section 32 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1962.

Some 30 members took part in the Society’s survey of buildings which followed. As a result, in November 1974, we submitted a 4-part folio of suggestions to the Borough Planning officer, including a section devoted to the preservation of street furniture such as milestones, horse troughs, drinking fountains and post boxes.

Alas, the new Statutory List for the Borough of Barnet has still not been published. We were thanked for our work at the time and told we should see the results fairly soon: but the years have slipped by and the Planning Department is still waiting to hear what the DoE – the central department ultimately responsible – is prepared to do as regards Listing. No wonder patience is an essential virtue in local government.

Meantime Barnet occasionally makes further ad hoc additions to the old Statutory List. The most recent, made just over a year ago, were two on the former Hendon Aerodrome, which is one of the cradles of aviation in this country. BILL FIRTH now provides notes on the two latest additions to the List:

GRAHAME-WHITE HANGAR. Former Hendon Aerodrome, NW9. TQ 221 901

This building has been Listed on account of its historic interest.

It was erected partly prior to 1914 and partly in 1919 by Claude Grahame-White, the great pioneer of British aviation. Unfortunately it is inside RAF Station Hendon and is therefore not normally accessible, but it can be seen from Grahame Park Way and particularly well from beside the Battle of Britain Museum building adjacent to the RAF Museum.

The hangar is in two parts. The east section is smaller, and older, and is built of load-bearing brickwork with “elliptical (roof) trusses of timber lattice webs.” Photographs look very like the Belfast truss roofs of the hangars in the RAF Museum. The newer part is a 4-bay steel-framed structure with full height sliding doors on the north side.

The official description says the east section. Distant observation and a photograph of the NE corner suggest that it is the west section which is older.

A photograph of the interior shows that the “office” section was named in large letters THE GRAHAME-WHITE COMPANY LIMITED.
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FORMER ENTRANCE GATES TO THE GRAHAME-WHITE AVIATION COMPANY LIMITED.

Re-sited at the entrance to the RAF Museum, Grahame Park Way, NW9. TQ 220904

Iron gates of simple vertical bar design with a top panel of pierced capital lettering THE GRAHAME-WHITE AVIATION CO LTD. The original date and position of these double entrance gates is at present uncertain. It is believed that they are pre-1914; and they stood at the now wired-off entrance in Aerodrome Road (TQ 219819) where the pedestrian entrances still have iron gates of similar design. The building immediately inside this entry carries a winged symbol with the letters G and W intertwined, and the date 1915.

There are very few industrial monuments of importance in our Borough, so HADAS was happy that these two had been Listed.

However, the ink was hardly dry on Bill Firth’s notes above when we were informed by the Borough Planning Officer that the Ministry of Defence proposed to demolish the Listed hangar.

We have therefore written urging Barnet to do all it can to protect any buildings or other installations which still remain at what was Hendon Aerodrome and thus to safeguard the early history of one of our most important modern industries. For many years Hendon’s name was synonymous with excellence in aviation, and we should be proud of that. It is not just by chance that the coat of arms of the Borough of Barnet is surmounted by a crest with a 2-bladed Airscrew.
HELP!

A small working party has made a valiant start on clearing the out-house at College Farm, Finchley, which farmer Chris Ower has kindly lent us for storing and working on finds. Volunteers are still badly needed, however, for jobs such as painting. Any surplus pots of cream or white emulsion paint would also be gratefully received. Shelving is to be put up to store finds. Volunteers to help please contact Brigid Grafton Green.

The greatest need initially is to get the electric light system working. We have installed a strip light, but unfortunately there is a short at the switch box, and we need a knowledgeable electrician to check what is wrong. We shall be most grateful if any HADAS member can help with this problem, either personally or by recommending an economical electrician.
A FLAWLESS DAY IN OXFORDSHIRE

Report by CRAIGIE BESWICK on the first 1980 outing.

The church of St James the Great at South Leigh, Oxon, was the first place we visited on May 17. The earliest chapel on the site was probably Norman, and was perhaps re-built and enlarged between the 13th/16th c. A Norman window and door survive, as do Early English and Perpendicular windows. The greatest glory of the church, however, is the murals, discovered during restoration work in 1872 under four coats of whitewash. Four can now be scan, and a fifth is partly visible. The paintings are 14th/15th c; those depicting the last judgement are still a most vivid warning of the perils of the evil life.

In the largest painting, round the chancel arch, souls are being summoned from their graves by trumpeting angels. The archangel on the north side, dressed in white, calls forth the saved, who are received by St Peter at the gates of heaven; the archangel on the south, clothed in dark colours, marshals the damned, some of whom, bound together with a spiked band, are dragged towards the flames of hell on the south wall.
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Next to the painting of hell is a large picture of the archangel Michael weighing a soul. In his left hand he holds a sword, and in his right a balance of judgement with two panniers, one occupied by a soul, the other by a devil trumpeting to attract other devils to his pannier in order to weigh it down towards the soul’s damnation. But at the other side the Virgin Mary redresses the balance with rosary beads.

Next stop was North Leigh Roman villa, one of the largest in northern Europe. The site was first excavated in 1815-16 and again in 1908, when money was raised for more work and for conservation. In 1952 the Ministry of Works took responsibility for the site, which covers about 13 acres.

Buildings included living rooms, dining rooms (some with hypocausts”) and bath houses; they were constructed between the 2nd-4th c. Some fine mosaic pavements have been uncovered in the geometric style favoured by the Corinium (Cirencester) school. One, now protected from the weather, is in good enough condition to give a fair picture of the craftsmen’s skill. The villa may have supported a hundred Romanised Britons.

A 2O-minute drive took us to Minster Lowell, whore we picnicked in a meadow that sloped gently down to the River Windrush. To the left were the towering ruins of the huge manor house built in the first half of the 15th c. by William, 7th Baron Lovell of Tichmarsh. In the mid 18th c. Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester, dismantled the buildings. Some continued to be used, mainly for farming, but in general they fell into decay. A drawing by Alan Sorrell gives his idea of what a magnificent manor house once stood there. Enough is loft of lofty walls and beautiful archways to confirm that it was a building of great grandeur.

We were reluctant to leave Minster Lovell. The perfect early summer day, the winding river, the rich green meadows and the architectural beauties made many of us decide to go back some day and linger. But now it was back into the coach and on to Oxford. Some of the group spent an absorbing hour in the Pitt-Rivers Museum admiring the fine ethnographical collection, while others enjoyed a visit to the Ashmolean, the oldest public museum in the country. {Elias Ashmole, the 17th c. antiquarian who gave his name to the Museum, has links with the Borough of Barnet.. He lived at Belmont, Mount Pleasant, East Barnet, where Ashmole School, in Burleigh Gardens, near Southgate station, commemorates the fact).

It was a most successful and pleasant excursion. We are indebted, as always, to Dorothy Newbury, who came out early on Saturday morning to see the coach off at the Quadrant. We were sorry that she could not come with us. We should like to thank the organisers, Sheila Woodward and Wendy Page, not only for all the work they did that day, but also for the immense amount of preliminary preparation that made the arrangements so flawless. We also thank Mrs Banham for her customary generosity in passing a box of delicious sweets round the coach.

Tailpiece from one of those who explored the delights of the Pitt Rivers Collection.

It is a glorious mixed bag of objects and facts which can best be described as a Jack Horner collection: you put in a thumb and (almost always) pullout a plum!

As an anthropologist General Pitt-Rivers pioneered the theory that the arts of mankind (using the word “arts” in its widest possible sense) progressed by a process of evolution. To prove this, he built up an immense collection of objects, classifying them in series which showed how complex and specialised forms evolved from simple, generalised primitive ones.
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Because he began as a soldier (he was at the siege of Sebastopol) his collection, and his theory, started with weaponry; it ended by covering virtually every aspect of life. Here is just one example -from darkest Yorkshire – of how the theory is demonstrated in his collection.

Under the heading Avril, Arvil or Arval Bread there is a description of biscuits made for the funeral of Mrs Oliver, who died on Nov. 7 1828, aged 52. These delicacies were contained in wrappings, one of which is on show, inscribed with three devout quatrains by T. Robinson, Surgeon, of Settle. It was customary at that time to distribute specially prepared biscuits to mourners in these pious packets, sealed with black wax.

Next, the ancestry of Mrs Oliver’s funeral biscuits is taken back a stage further. The 19th c. custom, we are told, was probably derived from the earlier tradition of “sin-eating,” by which the sins of the deceased were transferred, for a fee, to a parson who consumed food and drink handed to him over the coffin. That habit, in turn, is suggested as being a survival of a much earlier prehistoric cannibalism by which, if you ate a part of the deceased, you inherited his virtues and, even better, his abilities.

So Mrs Oliver’s biscuits link up in a remote kind of way with the brain eating customs of Borneo head hunters and the supposed habits of one of our earliest ancestors, Pekin Man.
FAMILY HISTORY

Members of the North Middlesex Family History Society are currently producing two indices. One is of the 1641 Protestation Rolls for the county of Middlesex (60 parishes). The other is of Monumental Inscriptions pre-190O for Middlesex. The fee for using an index is 75p plus 10p postage. Full details are obtainable from the Hon. Sec, Mr H.F.B. Moore.
Church Terrace Reports: No 5

A FORGERY AND A FOREIGNER.

The series continues with another article by EDWARD SAMMES on coins from the site.

THE FORGERY

Forgeries appear early in the history of coins, either using vary debased alloys or plated coins. There is evidence for them in Greece as early as the 5th c. BC. They were common during the Roman Empire, first during the reign of the Severi, a dynasty founded by Septimius Sevarus (AD 193-211), and secondly in the troubled period between AD 271-286.

J. J. North, in vol 2 of English Hammered Coinage, considers that only coins made at a later date to deceive collectors are forgeries in the numismatic sense; others throw light on the conditions of the period and should be accepted as articles of interest and value.

From trench D3 a coin was excavated in January 1974. It came from beneath a layer of fallen or dumped roofing tiles. Its appearance suggested that it was a corroded copper coin. Attempts to clean it in alkaline glycerol wore unsuccessful and in a partly cleaned state it was submitted to the Dept of coins and Medals at the British Museum.
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There it was cleaned and identified as a forgery of a groat of the reign of Henry V (1413-22), Mint of London. The high copper content of the alloy was the reason for the original confusion. There are two explanations for the coin. It could be a contemporary forgery; or it could be one of a later date, the mid-15th c. being suggested. Soon after the accession for the first time of Edward IV in 1461 he was faced with a monetary crisis and coins were then struck of lighter weight. With those two monarchs we are dealing, so far as Henry V is concerned, with the later phase of the Hundred Years War with France; while with Edward IV we are in the Wars of the Roses.

The groat (4d) was introduced into the English coinage in the reign of Edward I during a recoining, 1279-80. It continued in use in Britain until 1355, when it was withdrawn; it remained in use in India and British Guiana until 1945. It still has a limited use in forming part of the Royal Maundy money.

THE FOREIGNER

The Middle Ages saw the decay of feudalism; towns and cities grew up under a middle class more law-abiding than the barons, and by the 14th c. much wealth had been accumulated through trade. Wool was shipped to F1anders and wine imported from Bordeaux. Fleets of ships from Venice and Genoa brought luxuries from the Mediterranean. As has already been noted in Reports 2 and 3, small change was often scarce. To remedy this, money of low denomination of continental origin was often used. One such source was Venice.

The foreign coin found on the dig has been cleaned and identified as a silver soldino from Venice about 1450. It is badly worn and it was not possible to identify the Doge who issued it. Money was issued in Venice from 1280 until the end of the Republic in 1797.

The Venetians usually set sail in May, when the weather was fair, going to Flanders and England. In England they built up a trade in wool, mainly through London, Sandwich and Southampton. The fleets of galleys in which they sailed brought, besides their wares, large numbers of small coins, many in base metal. They came to be called galeyhalpens, i.e. Galley Halfpence. They circulated illegally in the country during the 15th c. Successive laws against them had little effect, and our coin is one such. Some were still being imported in the 16th c.

I am indebted to Miss M. M. Archibald and Mr S. A. Castle of the Dept. of Coins and Medals at the British Museum for arranging the cleaning and identification of these two coins.

Further reading:

Finn P – An article on the Groat, in Coins & Medals, May 1969, vol 6, pp 383-4

Laing Lloyd R – Coins and Archaeology, Weidenfeld & Nicholson 1969

North J J – English Hammered Coinage; vol 2, Spink & Son 1960

Seaby H A – Standard Catalogue, British Coins. Revised periodically. 11th edition 1972
FAREWELL TO A HENDON CHURCH

George Ingrain writes of the late United Reformed Church, Brent Street.

This small church had been closed for loss than two years (since September 1978) when the demolition men moved in to pull it down last month. Many passers-by paused to watch the destruction, and to murmur “What a shame!” Its going breaks another link with mid-19th c. Hendon.
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The earliest recorded meeting of the founders of the church was on Aug 4 1854, when they decided to build a Congregational church. It was so called till about 1972, when the name was changed to United Reformed Church, as a result of union between the Presbyterians and Congregationalists.

In 1854 a suitable piece of land was secured “in the best part of the village, with a frontage on Brent Street of 80 ft and a depth of 150 ft, for £12 a month on a 99-year lease, with an option to purchase within 10 years for £300. At this time “the parish consisted of an area of about 8500 acres and a population of about 3500… there was the small central village of Church End around the 12th c. church of St Mary, with nine other hamlets over the countryside from Mill Hill in the north to Golders Green in the south, a land of sloping meadows, meandering streams and pleasing vistas. One of the hamlets was named Brent Street and the thoroughfare of the same name running through it, alongside which our church is built, is reputed to have been from earliest times the regular way taken by travellers into London from the Midlands and Northwest.”

The building was opened on July 18, 1855. The architectural description states that the church was built in:

“the decorated style of the 15th c. The western front has four entrance doors, which are flanked on either side by heavy octagonal turrets surmounted by decorated spires. The material employed is Kentish ragstone laid in random courses and pointed triangularly in dark mortar. The facings to the windows, doors and buttresses are of Bath stone. The original windows were of stained glass by Lavers of London. The roof is carried by heavy, darkly-stained oak hammer-beams and left open to a considerable height . .. originally designed to seat 400, and the total cost, including the freehold of the ground, was approximately £3500. In 1876 a gallery was added which provided additional seating for 100 people.”

A “progressive Sunday School” had been established before the building of the church, in premises used for a day school in New Brent St. Later the Spalding Hall was built and the Sunday School was transferred there. The number of scholars regularly exceeded 200.

On the night of Sept 19 1940 both church and Spalding Hall were hit by bombs. After first-aid repairs the usual services were “faithfully maintained in a rather dismal church.” It was not till the final repairs including new windows and an overhaul of the organ were completed 10 years later that a full recovery was possible, with help from the War Damage Comm.

We are indebted to the Rev L. Al Stringer, last Pastor of the Church (1969-77) for providing a copy of the Centenary Booklet, on which much of this article has been based.
NEWS FROM THE HADAS LIBRARY

Our now Hon. Librarian, June Porges, invites members to meet her at Avenue House one evening to browse through our books. Please ring her to fix a date. Meantime, these are some recent additions:

Presented Anonymously:

Branigan, K.- Foundations of Palatial Crete: survey of Cretan Bronze 1970

Briard, J. – Bronze Age in Barbarian Europe: megaliths to Celts. 1976

Cartledge, P. – Sparta and Lakonia: regional history 1300-362 BC. 1979

Craik, E M. – Dorian Aegean. 1980

Johnson, S. – Later Roman Britain. 1980

Wacher, J. – The Coming of Rome. 1979

Journal of Mithraic Studies vol 2 pt 2 1978

Art History vol 2 pt 4, Dec 1979

World Archaeology vol 2, pts 1, 2 & 3, Juno & Oct 1979, Feb 1980
Page 12

TROLLEY POLE SURVEY

along FRIERN BARNET ROAD, LONDON N11 by Master B. G. Wibberley & Mr B. L. Wibberley MSc, CEng, MIM prepared for: Hendon & District Archaeological Society November 3, 1978.

This survey was carried out at the request of Mr W. Firth, representing the Industrial Archaeology section of HADAS. The express desire is to record that some twenty years after the last trolley buses ran in the area, some trolley wire support poles were still standing, although in course of replacement. These few poles were still in existence because of their continued use as lamp standards or power cable support poles.

A small extension to the original suggestion was carried cut because it was discovered that a number of other lamp standards were also being replaced as part of the same renewal programme. These included two concrete standards, denoted type 3, on Woodhouse Road; and four ornate Cast iron standards, denoted type 2, interposed with the trolley poles along Friern Barnet Road. According to Mr Firth these latter standards were bought second-hand from Hendon Council by the Friern Barnet Council. The fact that the HC initials below the coat of arms had been removed from three of these standards would appear to confirm this. A unique style of standard, not due for removal at present, was discovered on the railway bridge. This has been recorded here and is denoted type 4.

It is worth noting that the present writer witnessed what was perhaps the beginning of the end for these interesting pieces of street furniture. Being a frequent commuter along this road, I was surprised to see one evening some months ago that one of the cables slung across the road was burning. No doubt this occurrence reflected the rather poor condition of the cables, a situation which perhaps galvanised the Engineers Department of the Borough of Barnet into its present action of replacing not only the wiring but the adapted trolley poles too.

The following page shows the plan of the area in which the survey was carried out; and after that comes a page of detailed sketches of trolley poles and lamp standards. All distances have been measured in metres.

(EDITORIAL – to view these pages, select the following links. Page 15 shows the map. Pages 13/14 show the sketches – split over two pages since the original is larger than A4)

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