Newsletter
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THE WINTER PROGRAMME
By Dorothy Newbury.
This month sees the start of HADAS’s winter activities. We hope to have full houses again for the coming lecture season, which I trust has been planned with enough variety to suit all tastes. However, catering for 450 rugged HADAS individualists is never the easiest assignment!
As usual lectures will be at Central Library, next to Hendon Town Hall, on the first Tuesday of each month, excluding December. We start soon after 8 pm, with coffee and biscuits (price 10p), which gives members a chance to chat about the year’s archaeological exploits and to inspect the new publications on the bookstall. May I again ask long-standing members to welcome new ones and make them feel at home? Mrs Banham, long one of our coffee-making stalwarts, cannot continue this season. A volunteer to take her place would be most welcome. Liz Holliday’s expert hand will, as before, be working the projector.
For new members, buses 183 and 143 pass the Library door. It is 10 minutes walk from Hendon Central Station and only a few minutes from the 113 route (bus stop “The Burroughs”) or the 240 and 125 routes (bus stop “The Quadrant”) .There are two free car parks opposite. Members may bring a guest to one lecture; but guests who wish to attend further lectures should be invited to join the Society.
Tuesday October 7 is our first lecture, on the history of transport in London over the last 150 years. London Transport is the world’s largest urban passenger undertaking; our lecturer, John Freeborn, will describe significant events in the development of the system and its impact on the growth of London. The problems, pitfalls and triumphs of setting up the new London Transport museum in Covent Garden will also be described. Our speaker is head of interpretation and display at the museum.
The rest of the lecture programme is:
Nov 4 – Roman London: an antiquarian and archaeological history – Hugh Chapman PhD, FBA, AMA
Jan 6 – Recent Excavations on the Nile – John Alexander MA, PhD, FBA
Feb 3 – Hoards and Hillforts: Ireland in the 1st millenium BC – Harold Mytum BA
Mar 3 – Sutton Hoo – Kenneth Whitehorn BA
Apr 7 – Greek Royal Art – Malcolm Colledge MA, PhD
Of course the start of the winter programme means the end of the summer one. Before you go on to read about our final outings I want to thank those members who, as I was unable to go on trips myself this year, were kind enough to take charge. Wendy Page, Sheila Woodward, Eric Grant, Raymond Lowe and Isobel McPherson have put a great deal of work into organising the trips, while Tessa Smith attended to the domestic side of things. Every outing has been over-subscribed, which is reward in itself for everyone’s efforts.
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I would be pleased to hear from any member who has discovered an interesting place we might visit next year; and better still, from anyone who would like to take charge of an outing in 1981.
LAST OF THE SUMMER OUTINGS
A report by MARION BERRY on the September trip.
Our guide on September 13 was David Johnston, of Southampton University, who came aboard the HADAS coach at Kingsworthy and from then on shepherded us with calm, charm and competence. His first hurdle was finding on arrival at the Hospital of 5t Cross in Winchester that we had been expected the day before. However, a delightfully whimsical Brother put himself at our disposal. He wore the claret coloured gown (murrey they used to call it) and silver Beaufort badge of the Henry VI Noble Poverty Foundation, the later of the two groups which share St. Cross.
He gave us a comprehensive history of the ancient hospital from 1136 onwards; Henry de Blois, 12th c. Bishop of Winchester, the Knight Hospitallers, William of Wykeham, the great 14th c. Bishop, and his friend, John de Campeden, moved through the tale. This last man, appointed Master of the Order to repair the ravages of previous greedy Masters, was responsible for much rebuilding. He had the church paved in 1390; many of the encaustic tiles still remain. They were probably made at Romsey or Poole.
A fine brass of John de Campeden was originally set in the floor before the high altar. I remember taking a rubbing of it in 1940. Later all brass rubbing was forbidden, after a helper, coming to see to the flowers, found brass rubbers at work with a transistor blazing pop music and beer cans on the altar. The brasses were removed to the north transept.
After admiring the garden and lily pond, once a fish pond stocked from the Itchen, we moved to the Brothers’ Hall, with its central hearth for a charcoal fire and a minstrels’ gallery. On the dais an oval table of solid Purbeck marble, made in the 12th c, was reputed to have come from Winchester Castle. The old kitchen beyond was fascinating, with its relics of by-gone cookery. What might have been thought of as a copper was really a giant stew pan; there were huge plates, of wood with a pewter veneer, and a row of spikes meant for hanging the meat on a screen to keep warm by the fire.
A random sample of our party partook of a quarter glass of beer and a finger of bread – a symbolic remnant of the time-honoured medieval dole for poor travellers.
We picnicked in the adjacent water meadows, with St Catherine’s Hill as centrepiece of the view. Mr Johnston spoke of it as an Iron Age fort with rather special earthworks. Then on to the excavations at Hayling Island, where the wind blew, dark-clouds loomed and rain drizzled, but Bob Downer held our attention by his obvious enthusiasm for the work being done by his 20 or so diggers of all ages and sizes. He told us of the chain of events from 1826 when Richard Scott “observed an area of stunted corn while out riding, and noted that it consisted of a circle within a square” – a concise but exact description of the temple’s plan. Spectacular crop marks appeared in the drought of 1976 and aerial photography demonstrated the similarity in plan to the temple known as “Le Tour de Vesone” just outside Perigueux in SW France (3rd Interim Report on Excavation of Iron Age and Roman Temple 1976-8).
The tea awaiting us at Newtown House Hotel was more than welcome and revived us for the final stage of our itinerary, the headquarters of the South Hants Archaeological Rescue group at Fort Widley. The view from Portsdown hill over Portsmouth harbour and the ruined Porchester Castle was spectacular.
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There was no time to see the Museum at the Fort, but going inside such a building was quite an experience. The group have the use of two old barrack rooms, with blocked up windows. Richard Bridgland, who edits their Newsletter, gave a summary of their work, and we looked at some of their finds – bone, flint, pottery, etc. We also noted that their gear included a rolled-up rope ladder for investigating deep holes.
Our grateful thanks to all who planned and carried out such a varied and interesting trip.
NEWS FROM THE RESEARCH COMMITTEE
On August 23 the Roman Group continued its investigations into the Roman road (no. 167 in Roman Roads in the SE Midlands, by the Viatores) that is believed to pass through the Borough, with a field walk from Nan Clarks Lane to Barnet Gate.
Sections of agger and metalling along this route had been positively identified by The Viatores in 1964, but the evidence today was rather harder to find. Further walks are planned. Members who are interested should contact Helen Gordon.
A CENTURY OF LONDON TOPOGRAPHY
Should you happen in the next 10 days to be near Oxford Street, take time off and go and see the centenary exhibition of the London Topographical Society at Paperpoint, 63 Poland Street. It’s on 9.30-4.30 weekdays till October 10. This remarkable society is dedicated to one purpose only: the publication, at a reasonable price to its members, of material, particularly maps, charts and drawings, on the history of London.
The inaugural meeting was held in the Mansion House, under the wing of the then Lord Mayor, on Oct 28 1880. Membership has fluctuated since, with a decline in the 1930s and a desperate low of 111 in 1942. After the war came a slow rise followed by a rapid one, so that today there are over 500 members. For the first 90 years the subscription was one guinea. In 1974 it rose to £2.50 and today it is £5 – but it’s one of the best fiverworths you can find.
For that you get for free two newsletters a year and – this is the plum – the Society’s yearly publication. Last year it was the A to Z of Elizabethan London, which is a gem. Another splendid production (so good that it did for 2 years, not one) was Milne’s 1800 Land-use Map of London and its environs (it covers part of our area) in 6 coloured – plates each about 18″ by 2′, with 3 equally large pages of introduction.
This year’s publication is well worth having – a dozen papers on aspects of London’s past, from the 17th c. clothworkers of St. Stephen Coleman parish to the history of 17 Bruton Street where the Queen was born. This volume is edited by Dr Anne Saunders (who is a HADAS member of long standing) who took over the editorial chair on the death of Marjorie Honeybourne.
PRELIMINARY RECCE AT HENDON AERODROME
By Bill Firth.
Thanks to the RAF authorities, and in particular to Fl. Lt. Olliver who showed me round, in early August I was able to make a preliminary (I hope) reconnaissance of what remains of the RAF station at Hendon.
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The present station consists of West and East Camps, separated by the roundabout at the junction of Grahame Park Way, Colindale Avenue and Aerodrome Road.
West Camp, entry to which is from the roundabout, seems to date almost entirely from the 1930s. A number of the buildings are dated 1931 and appear to be standard brick-built RAF designs of that time. The houses on the north-east side of Booth Road, adjacent to but now fenced off from the camp, are the original other ranks married quarters, but have been acquired by Barnet Council as council houses.
The entrance to East Camp is a few yards along Aerodrome Road. Just inside the gate and visible from Grahame Park Way is a large building in a black and white timbered style which was the restaurant of Grahame-White’s flying club. It is dated 1917, but it was suggested that some parts are earlier. Now used as the officers mess, I was told that there are some “interesting” rooms inside. The nature of “interesting’ must be followed up.
Also clearly visible from Grahame Park Way is a 6-bay hangar now used by the MT Section. It seems to be of similar construction to the Grahame-White hangar of 1914-19 (which we came to later) and has a lower, possibly earlier, structure at the west end.
Continuing behind this hangar and roughly parallel to Aerodrome Road, we came to a wired-up gap in the boundary fence from which the original Grahame-White gates were taken for display at the entrance to the RAF Museum. Facing the gap there is a single storey brick building with a Grahame-White emblem and the date 1915 by the entrance. Between this building and the MT hangar the early control tower is visible.
Behind the building is another long low building, said to have been used as a munitions factory during the 1914-18 war but now derelict and awaiting demolition. (This is not imminent – the building is likely to remain derelict and out of bounds until it falls down!)
From here we went on to the Grahame-White hangar which was described in Newsletter 112 (June 1980). The main item of interest was to confirm that it is the west section that is the smaller and older, not the east as the GLC description has it. This is the most derelict part of the building; it is out of bounds and fenced off as dangerous. Further the outer metal wall is paper-thin in places. The rest of the hangar is in better condition although the sliding doors are not thought to be very safe. It is in occasional use by the RAF and the RAF Museum as a workshop and for storage, but these uses are not essential.
It is reported that the estimated cost of restoration at today’s prices would be £250,000 and annual maintenance would also be required. Such a sum of money is not currently forthcoming and since the RAF does not need the building, the Ministry of Defence has applied for permission to demolish it although it is Listed as an historic site. HADAS and other interested bodies have protested and urged the authorities to protect and preserve what little remains of Hendon Aerodrome. At present all that can be said is that the MoD is in no hurry to demolish the hangar since this would cost money which is not available; but some concern is expressed that a heavy gale might render permission to demolish unnecessary.
Between the hangar and the railway are a number of brick-built RAF buildings of which several are dated 1931-2, including the Vickers block built as the station NAAFI but now a barrack block, the Bristol block (1931) built as a barrack block, and a number of workshop buildings. There is also a number of wooden huts of uncertain vintage now largely unused and generally decaying. One was the airmen’s mess and has been condemned due to rotten floors.
The south-east corner of the site has been taken over by the Department of Transport with an entrance from Aerodrome Road and it was suggested that there might be interesting buildings on this site too. Later observation from the road confirmed this. There are also some adjacent buildings occupied by contractors about which little is known.
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Following the tour inside I looked around the outside of the site from Aerodrome Road. Backing onto the contractors area there is a wall most of which is apparently the end wall of the buildings inside and in which there are a number of bricked-up entrances; clearly this needs further investigation. On the other side of the road there is a building, numbered 36, outside which there is a weighbridge marked Ashworth Son & Co Ltd, Dewsbury. To the east of this is another old building. Further east still, beyond the entrance to Peel Centre, is an old boundary wall suggesting something important behind it, but now everything seems to be modern. It must be remembered that in the early days Aerodrome Road was for access to the aerodrome only and was not the public through road that it is today. The Grahame-White site spread on both sides of it.
The RAF are not averse to the idea of more investigative visits, nor to photography, but the centre of the area which is completely wired off from the rest is a secret establishment and on this account there would be restrictions on photographs which might include parts of this area. Further visits will be planned, and I would be pleased to hear from anyone who would like to join one. Ring me.
NOTE. A few days after Bill Firth wrote the above report HADAS heard from the Borough Planning Officer. He wrote that when the proposal to demolish the hangar came before Barnet Council, it was decided to tell the Ministry of Defence that –
“this Council is deeply concerned about the proposal to demolish the Grahame-White hangar, in view of its significance to the historical development of Aviation in Great Britain in general “and in thrr London Borough of Barnet in particular and has requested that further consideration and publicity be given to possible alternative uses of the building which could lead to its retention and restoration.”
Good for the Council – or at least, so far so good. We hope that the recommendation to give more publicity to the matter will be followed (local papers please note) and that the suggestion of considering alternative uses will be thoroughly explored.
Any HADAS members got ideas for alternative uses?
TREASURER’S SPOT
First, a subscription reminder. The Treasurer would like to remind those members who have not yet renewed their subscriptions for the current year that those became due on April 1. Prompt renewal now will save him sending out a reminder – which will inevitably, in chronic cases, be followed by removal from the members list. Subscription rates are:
Full membership – £2.00
Under-18 – £1.00
Over-60 – £1.00
Family Membership: – first member – £2
– additional members £1 each
Second, Christmas is coming. May we make a suggestion? We have just had a reprint of our very successful HADAS notelets, featuring a spirited picture of Warwick the Kingmaker on horseback. How about using it as a Christmas card? A pack of 10 with envelopes costs 40p.
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You can buy these at our monthly lecture or by post from the Hon. Treasurer, using the enclosed form. And on the subject of Christmas presents, may we remind you that the Society can obtain the whole range of Shire Publications. We hope to include a catalogue of these with either this or the next Newsletter.
WEST HEATH
Digging continues at West Heath in October so long as good weather lasts. Digging days are Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
As much help as possible is still needed urgently on the site, but please get along as early in the day as you can (digging starts at 10 am). Once the clocks go back the shadows begin to close remarkably fast round the trenches when the lunch-break is over.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
October 26 – Mini Open Day at College Farm, Finchley, organised by the Friends of College Farm (newly formed offshoot of the Finchley Society) 2-5.30 pm. Rides, farm shop, Scout and Guide displays in paddock and a small indoor exhibit on Intermediate Technology. What’s that? Well, the Chairman of the Finchley Society defines it as “the alternative to the high technology, high growth society.”
Nov. 8 and Nov. 15 – HADAS Roman weekends at the Teahouse, Northway, NWll. Further details in next Newsletter, but put the dates in your diary now.
Nov. l5. – For those not engaged at the Teahouse, LAMAS Local History Conference, Museum of London.
During October, November, at Museum of London, Thursdays 1.10pm, Museum Workshops on subjects ranging from how to cast a Roman figure to Queen Victoria’s dolls. They offer a chance to meet specialist staff and see, close-to, objects from the Museum collections. Fridays, 1.10 pm, lecture series on London’s River, from Roman to modern times.
On October 15, at the Society of Antiquaries, the monthly meeting of the Royal Archaeological Institute will be of particular interest to HADAS. The lecture that evening at 5 pm is by David Parsons on St. Boniface. A11 those who went on the August outing to Brixworth will recall the enthralling saga of St Boniface’s relics and their travels in Europe, which was unfolded for us by David Parsons while we sat in the medieval church.
After the lecture, this year’s Lloyds Bank grants for independent archaeologists will be announced, in the presence of Norman St John Stevens, Minister for the Arts. To mark the occasion, those organisations which have already benefited from grants will be putting on small displays to show how they spent the money. That, of course, includes HADAS: Daphne Lorimer will mount an exhibit showing our surveying equipment in use.
Although RAI meetings are for RAI members, a member is permitted to introduce a visitor. Quite a number of HADAS members also belong to the RAI, so if anyone not a member has a burning desire to attend on October 15, it might be possible to arrange it. Please consult our Hon. Secretary.
NOTES FROM OUR LIBRARIAN
Any HADAS member who has signed on for evening classes may like to know that our Library contains some “recommended reading” for courses.
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If you want a particular volume ring June Porges and she will check whether it is in the HADAS collection.
She adds that books bought specially for courses and no longer needed when the course is over will gladly be given a happy home in our Library!
During the winter lecture season Mrs Porges will be at the HADAS room in Avenue House (East End Road, N3) on the Friday evening before each lecture (it will sometimes be the first, sometimes the last, Friday of the month) from 8-9 pm. Members will be very welcome to come along and browse and borrow.
The following books have been presented to the Library: The Industrial Archaeology of Farming in England & Wales by Nigel Harvey. Batsford 1980 (presented by the author)
Anglo Saxon England, 7, edi t .P Clemoes. Cambridge University Press 1978
Western Mediterranean Europe: a historical geography of Italy, Spain & Southern France since the Neolithic, by C D Smith. Academic Press 1979
Artifacts: [a introduction to early materials and technology by H Hodges. John Baker 1974
Archaeological excavations 1976. Dept. of Environment. HMS0 1977
Norse discoveries ,and explorations in America 982-1362: Leif Erikson to the Kensington Stone, by H R Holland. Dover Publications 1969 (Reprint of Westward from Vinland, 1940)
{all presented by Philip Yenning)
Medieval Pottery and Metalware in Wales. National Museum of Wales 1978
The Coins of Roman Britain by A. Burnett. British Museum n.d.
(presented by Brigid Grafton Green)
The Roman Riverside Wall and Monumental Arch in London-: excavations at Baynards Castle, Upper Thames St, London 1974-6, by C Hill, M Millett and T Blagg. LAMAS special paper No 3 1980.
Church Terrace Reports No. 9 – WANFRIED WARE
The series continues with another article by EDWARD SAMMES.
One of the more pleasurable aspects of having directed a dig is to sit down afterwards with the latest batch of washed and marked finds, pick up \n unknown artefact and muse on it. The follow-up to this is browsing through books and reports in an effort to identify the find.
One evening during the summer of 1973 my eye caught a small sherd of redware pottery from the finds in trench E3 at Church Terrace. It had a very pronounced hammer-shaped vertical rim and was glazed on the top only. Its decoration consisted of a series of concentric circles of pale green slip on the top surface. When complete the dish or bowl would have been 30 cm in diameter with the red of the fabric showing between the pale green slip.
I was defeated in my search for an analogy for many weeks until in the City of Westminster Library I came for the first time upon Ivor Noel Hume’s “Guide to the Artefacts of Colonial America”. There on p.139 was an illustration of a dish of which my small rimsherd could have been a part. At the LAMAS Archaeological Conference the following spring I hesitatingly put it on show so labelled, with a question mark. Its identification was confirmed by Tony Rook on the adjoining stand, And during the following winter I had an opportunity to show it to John Hurst, one of our leading experts on medieval and post-medieval pottery, who confirmed its origin.
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This ware, as you will have guessed, is a foreigner and is rarely found as a complete vessel on digs or in museums in England. It came from the Central uplands of Germany, today close to the East German border, between the Weser/Werra and Leine rivers. Wanfried is about 80 km south-east of Kessel, in a hilly area on the edge of the Thuringian forest.
The mind boggles at the difficulties which must have been faced and overcome in order to transport the pottery. Not only was it a long way to the sea but also in such a hilly area river rapids would have required the cargo to be unloaded several times until more tranquil waters were reached. Eventually the consignment would have got to Bremen and so could have been shipped across to England. Nothing daunted, some was re-exported to Jamestown, Virginia – or, indeed, it may have gone direct. Direct importation was not prohibited until the Staple Act of 1663 specifically stated that goods bound for the colonies could be shipped only through English ports, after paying English duries.
Much of this pottery is self-dating. as the potters have dated their dishes in central areas in white slip. As would be expected, finds of this ware are mostly along or near the east or south coasts: Newcastle, King’s Lynn, Colchester, Faversham, Dover, Poole, Southampton, Plymouth and London. It has also been found in Chester; and at Dublin and Carrickfergus in Ireland. Its period of production was 1580-1650; a nearby area produced a similar ware called Werra ware.
The rim usually had a dash decoration (not present on our shard) in white pipe clay slip. Inside this were several concentric lines of slip. The central area carried a design, often a person in Elizabethan clothing, an animal or flowers. In this area the date was drawn in slip whilst the design was in sgraffito. A load glaze with a small amount of copper converted the white slip into pale green. Dishes were made with and without handles. The complete dish could be said to be a kind of medallion dish.
As the Church Terrace dig progressed two more small sherds were found in trenches D4 and D5. The green coloration is much deeper on these and one can only wonder how the two dishes journeyed to Hendon and where the rest of the sherds are.
For further reading: –
Hurst, J G – A Wanfried Dish from Newcastle , Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series vol 1(1972)
Naumnnn, J – Meisterwerke hessischer Topferkunst, Wanfrieder Irdenware urn 1600. Informationen aus Kassel. Jg 5 (1974)
Platt, C & Coleman-Smith R – Excavations in Medieval Southampton 1953-69. vol 2 p 165 (illustration no 1236). Cambridge UP 1975.
And the Noel Hume volume already quoted.
FROM THE NEWSLETTER POSTBAG
Dear Editor,
While we were on holiday in Yorkshire we found what was locally described as “a Druid Temple” near the village of Healy. We have been unable to find any references to it in guide books or archaeological works, and I am tempted to think it may be in the nature of a folly (albeit rather expensive to construct).
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However, some HADAS member may be able to shed light on the matter. The map reference (Metric OS series) is SE 175 787 and the site is shown on Sheet 99 about 5.25 km west-south west of Masham.
Yours sincerely,
KEN VAUSE
FAME?
Dear Editor,
I have a complaint to make.
When I go on holiday I like to get away from it all. Last month while I was contemplating the architecture in some of the older parts of Kings Lynn, a kindly lady (a perfect stranger) went out of her way to point out interesting extra information not in the guidebook.
“Where do you come from?” she asked.
“Hendon,” I said.
“Do you know Nell Penny of HADAS?”
“Do I know Nell …”!!
I am thinking about visiting the Great Wall of China next year, but don’t be too surprised if you get another letter in 1981 starting “I have a complaint to make”.
FOR YOUR BOOOKSHELF
Some reviews of recent publications.
A History of Wembley.
This long-awaited publication is the result of work by members of the Wembley History Society over a number of years, brought together under the editorship of Geoffrey Hewlett.
Its approach is down to earth. It is concerned with everyday folk as well as the “gentry.” Starting at the ice age, it ends in the 20th c. It is an ambitious project of 259 pages, including 67 illustrations, four maps and an index. I could have wished for more on archaeology. The reference to the Rundell and Neeld families on p 131 will interest Hendonians.
The book is available from the Grange Museum, Neasden Lane, and from Brent libraries, price £2.50 (or by post 75p extra). It is a good buy for all interested in the past of north-west London. A copy has been purchased for the HADAS Library.
The Roman Riverside Wall & Monumental Arch in London. C Hill, M Millett and T Blagg. LAMAS Special Paper No 3.
“Protected on the left side by walls, on the right side by the river, it neither fears enemies nor dreads being taken by storm” wrote Bishop Guy in the 11th c, looking down-river to the City of London from Duke William’s headquarters in Westminster. Did the Romans, too, regard the river as an adequate line of defence, or did Londinium have a river-side wall to complement its land-wall?
An answer to this controversial question has at last been provided by a series of excavations in the City between 1974-6. Various lengths of the Roman riverside wall were identified along Upper and Lower Thames Streets and details of its construction were studied. These details illustrate the technical ability of the Romans to vary their method of building according to the nature of the subsoil. Dating evidence indicates that “the riverside wall was built late in the 4th c, nearly two hundred years after the land-wall. In spite of its solid construction it seems to have collapsed sometime during the 11th c. Erosion seems the most likely cause, but why then did some sections of the wall fall inwards? Did it fall or was it pushed? Perhaps we shall never know.
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The last part of the report, and for me the most fascinating, deals with a spin-off from the wall excavations. A number of carved stone blocks from an earlier period were re-used as building material for the wall. Tom Blagg, known to many HADAS members who studied Roman Britain for their diploma, has meticulously measured the size and shape of the blocks and catalogued their designs. He has then patiently and skilfully pieced them together like a gigantic jigsaw. Many pieces of the puzzle are missing, of course (and what excitement when a key piece, missing at the end of the 1975 excavation, turned up during the 1976 dig) but enough remain to give a glimpse of two of the public monuments of Londinium: a monumental arch and a screen of gods. We know so little of the public face of Roman London that this unexpected discovery is a joy indeed.
Other interesting contributions deal with a panel of four Mother Goddesses, perhaps from a temple precinct, and two inscribed altars, one of which records the name of a hitherto unknown Roman Governor of Britain. The whole publication is full and clear, if a trifle repetitious, and it is accompanied by all those specialist reports without which no archaeological publication can now be considered complete.
S.W.
East Barnet Village
Gillian Dear & Diana Goodwin pub. 1980 by Barnet Press Group, at 50p (Proceeds for St. Mary’s Church, East Barnet)
This well-researched 15-page booklet (which includes 4 pages of illustration) fills a gap. Little, has been written recently about either New or East Barnet, and the latter, particularly, has a long history.
As our June Newsletter reported, East Barnet church, St Mary the Virgin, this year celebrated its 900th anniversary. The booklet opens with the Saxon charter granting Huzeweg (Osidge) Wood to the Abbey of St Albans. Early documentary evidence for a settlement at East Barnet is scanty (which does not necessarily mean that there wasn’t one) but records of courts hold under the auspices of St Albans Abbey are in existence from 1237. In 1291 there is mention of a mill at East Barnet; in 1406 a Will mentions a bridge, called Katebrygge, across Pymmes Brook (named after William Pymme who owned the surrounding land from 1307-27). The booklet does not, alas, mention the theory which has frequently been put forward that near the top of the slope running from just below the church down to the water meadows of Pymmes Brook is the site of a deserted medieval village.
Evidence is, of course, much more frequent for the settlement of East Barnet from Tudor times onwards. It includes some details of the original manor house, still standing in 1558; by 1612 there is documentary evidence for a “newly-built house” (called Church Hill House) on or near the site.
We meet, too, the various better known inhabitants of the area – Arbella Stuart, James I’s cousin, in hiding here for a few months; Elias Ashmole, of Ashmolean fame; Ralph Gill, a 17th c Keeper of the Queens Lions at the Tower; Sir Simon Haughton-Clarke, of Jamaica, who lived in East Barnet 1810-1832 and was said to be “the riches commoner in England.” He lost much of his fortune as a result of the work of another commoner who lived in the Borough – William Wilberforce, of Mill Hill, who achieved the abolition of slavery and changed the basis of the sugar trade on which, no doubt, Sir Simon’s fortune was founded.
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There is much detail of interest to the archaeologist about the various large houses (most of them now gone) which stood in East Barnet during the last 300 years. Indeed, a HADAS field worker might well find it fruitful to take this booklet as a starting point and try to plot, by map and on the ground, the precise sites of some of these buildings.
B.G.G.
WINTER COURSES – A FURTHER INSTALMENT
Scientifically-minded members may be interested in a new part-time degree course starting soon at the North East London Polytechnic in Romford Road, E15. It is a 4-year BSc in Archaeological Sciences, developed with the co-operation of Tony Legge of the London University Extra-mural Dept. It is aimed, the Poly tells us, primarily at those who already hold the extra-mural Diploma in Archaeology, which many HADAS members now have. However, the Poly is also prepared to enrol students with no formal archaeological qualifications who are able to show proven ability through experience, publication, etc.
The course involves 9 hours attendance weekly; fees this year are £45. The first-year tutor is Richard Hubbard, who has advised us on palaeobotanical problems at West Heath. In the early years of the dig he made several meteoric visitations to the site; armed with a rolled umbrella and a latchkey. He has the reputation of being one of the fastest talkers in the business.
The Poly authorities stress that although the course provides the end product of a BSc degree, it requires no previous scientific qualifications. “We will teach all the science and mathematics required” they promise. HADAS members who would like to read the scheme in detail (it runs to 108 pages) should contact Brigid Grafton Green.
Short Courses in Islington
The City University (Northampton Sq, EC1) has sent us details of its courses, which are in some respects a bit unusual. Most are of 10 lectures only (there are a few of 20 lectures), which means that a fresh round of courses starts in January 1981. Pre-Christmas courses do not begin until the week of October 13, and you can enrol either now by post or in person at the first lecture. Ten-lecture courses usually cost £6.
The University thinks a new course on Surveying for Archaeologists might be particularly appealing to HADAS members. The 10 lectures cover the construction, use and adjustment of modern survey instruments, the theory and calculations needed for large-scale work, using chain survey, traverse, tacheometry, plane table, etc, and the techniques and methods on site for setting out base lines, level datums and grids, as we11 as recording and plotting. Lectures are on Weds, starting Oct 15.
All lectures at the University are from 6.30-8.30 pm. other pre-Christmas courses include America before Columbus (Weds); Ancient Civilisations of Central Mexico (20 lectures, Thursdays); Archaeology of the pre-Biblical Holy Land (20 lectures, Weds); The Sumerians (Tues, fee £4.50); and Roman History and Civilisation (Weds).
There are some interesting courses in the post-Christmas programme too, which will be mentioned in the next Newsletter.
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PUBLIC LECTURES
The Thursday public lectures at the Institute of Archaeology have become something of an institution over the last few years. There will be 18 this year on the general theme of subsistence economies, at a fee of £10 for the series or 60p for single lectures, payable at the door.
They start on October 23 at 6.45 pm with Late Glacial Hunters in Central Europe, and go on through hunter-gatherers in various areas, reindeer herders, African pastoralists and early agriculturalists. Unfortunately none of the lecturers’ names were known when the Newsletter went to press.
The Extramural Department also informs us that Richard Hubbard has been given the use of the Institute of Archaeology laboratory for his post-Diploma course on Plant Remains in Archaeology, on Mondays, starting Oct. 6 (fee £13). Students are invited to apply for this to the Extra-mural Dept.
WEEK-ENDS AWAY
Knuston Hall, near Irchester, Northants, has long been a happy hunting ground for HADAS weekenders. From the current programme the following stood out as likely to be of interest:
Wood for Archaeologists – Nov. 28-30 – Graham Morgan
The English Village – Nov. 7-9 – Chris Taylor & others
Understanding Stoneworking in Prehistoric Britain – Dec. 12-14 – M W Pitts & C Wickham-Jones
The Neo-Assyrian Empire – Jan. 23-25 1981 – Dr Harriet Martin
History in the Hedgerow – May 1-3 – Max Hooper
Roads and Trackways – May 29-31 – Chris Taylor & others
These courses cost £20, including 2 nights at Knuston and all meals. Further information from The Principal, Knuston Hall, Irchester, Wellingborough, Northants NN9 7EU.
ROUNDING UP A STRAGGLER
In the last Newsletter we mentioned most of the WEA courses available in our Borough. We missed Friern Barnet branch, however, because we could not contact the secretary. Now we have caught up with their activities, and here are the details:
English Heritage (historic houses and gardens). Mrs Pamela Dormer, Weds. from Oct 1, 2.30-4.30 pm, Assembly Rooms, 321 Colney Hatch Lane, N11
Egyptology, Mrs R C Abbott. Thurs. from Oct 2, 10-12 noon, venue as above
Romans and Ancient Britons – British Archaeology from the New Stone Age to the Roman period. Peter Macrae. Thurs. from Oct 2, 8-10 pm South Friern Library, Colney Hatch Lane.
All courses are 24 lectures. Fee £15, pensioners £12.50
AUTUMN AND WINTER HOLIDAYS
The Snowdonia National Park Study Centre, where HADAS stayed on last year’s Welsh trip, has several interesting courses for anyone wanting a late break.
Oct 12-17 – Introduction to Industrial Archaeology
Nov 8-14 – Field Work in Archaeology
Feb 14-20 – Roman and Native in Snowdonia
Further details from Plans Tan Y Bwlch, Maentwrog, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd LL41 3YU.
