Issue No 309 January 1997 Edited by Liz Holliday

A happy and peaceful New Year to all members, their families and friends

DIARY

Tuesday January 14

Archaeology under the river alluvium of south east England

by Dr Martin Bates

Tuesday 11 February

A History of Hertfordshire by Tony Rook

Meetings are held

8pm for 8.30pm Drawing Room at Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N.3

Visitors are always welcome

CHRISTMAS DINNER

Hearsay evidence suggests a good time was had by all – it must have been quite a session as the
full account is still being written! Full report next month!

MEMBERS NEWS

We are sorry to hear that Gill Baker is back in hospital. Good wishes go to her from us all.

GARDEN ARCHAEOLOGY

Report of November’s lecture by Muriel Large “A garden is a lovesome thing, Got wot” – a cliche which does little justice to the skill and dedication archaeologists devote to their search for early gardens hidden under neglected present ones. In his talk, Brian Dix, Head of Archaeology for Northamptonshire, provided an absorbing account of how layers of grass and topsoil in the gardens of stately homes can be peeled away to reveal how past ages gardened. The classic example was, of course, Hampton Court. Here, William III’s garden plans had originally reworked the area thoroughly, to produce a slope down to the Thames. This allowed the king to see the river from his first-floor apartments and loyal subjects on the towpath could be suitably impressed by views of the palace. The work not finished until after the king’s death, occupied a team of gardeners much larger than the group who re-created it. Among the odd discoveries was the fact that the garden was double-dug in the recommended fashion near to the palace, but further away the less deep the digging and by the towpath only the top four or five inches of topsoil had been cultivated. There was also the problem of the paths; originally of sand, they had to he swept by a hoard of gardeners as soon as the courtiers and Royal family went indoors, to obliterate footmarks and restore the garden’s pristine condition. Hardly on option these days, with 750,000 visitors each year! Sand was used in the restoration for the sake of its colour but it was blended with clay for ease of maintenance.

A magnetometer and sensing equipment was used to identify the original layout, underneath the overgrown yew trees, which had been in-filled with shrubs and flowers by the Victorians. Mercifully, the garden was fully documented as originally laid out, although there was the perennial restoration problem – to which period should the reconstruction relate?

With the changes in levels, flights of steps had to be introduced where traces of the original steps were found and 33,000 box seedlings were planted to outline the overall pattern. The crowning glory was the reconstruction of Queen Mary’s Bower, an impressive 120 foot tunnel arbour or pergola, decorated this time with the arms of Queen Elizabeth II. It may be that in the future, as the planting grows, the fine woodwork will disappear under the greenery. At present, the arbour is a remarkable piece of work itself.

An unusual role for archaeologists, to construct rather than uncover and dissect, but they were entrusted to lay out the pattern and oversee the planting.Mr. Dix also described similar, although less extensive, work carried out at a chateau in Burgundy and a Jacobean house in Northamptonshire. Those of us digging our suburban gardens, unearthing broken bricks and pieces of tile, may sometimes feel that we are engaged in archaeology rather than horticulture! However, we can at least draw comfort from the examples that have resulted in new life for long-vanished gardens.

The winter edition of CADW’s journal “Heritage in Wales” includes a report of the recent discovery of a secret garden at Haverfordwest Priory. A copy of the journal will be deposited in the HADAS library.

MYSTERIES OF ANCIENT CHINA: new discoveries from the early dynasties

This exciting exhibition is at the British Museum until 5 January. It is the first great loan exhibition of antiquities from China to be seen in London for twenty years, bringing together recent startling archaeological discoveries which radically change perceptions of China’s early history. Spanning the period 4500BC to AD 200, the exhibition explores ancient Chinese beliefs about life and death. The exhibits, which come from several distinct regions of China, show that images of men and spirits inspired some of the greatest masterpieces of ancient Chinese art. Figures with large projecting eyes, cranes with towering antlers, spirits with feathered wings and suits of jade are strange and beautiful creations, many of them quite literally, mysteries.

CBA Conference: ROMAN LONDON: RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESULTS FROM THE CITY Report by Peter Pickering

Several HADAS members attended this conference on 16 November. Several others were unable to get in – it was a sell-out_

The speakers, almost all from MoLAS, varied, but were usually both good and interesting. Many new ideas – new at least to me – were put forward and I think members may be interested to learn about some of them.

Nick Bateman quoted Vitruvius, the Latin writer on architecture, who divided public buildings into three categories: those for defence (walls); those for religion (temples) and those for convenience (baths, forums, amphitheatre and the like). The absence of state temples in Roman London has often been remarked, bit an early and perhaps short-lived one has been found west of the Huggin Hill bath complex, with an unexplained building between them. The Basilica building was, despite the reputation of Roman builders, a shoddy piece of work, which had required a lot of repair during its life.

Jane Sidell reported on the environmental evidence from the East London Roman Cemetery. Work on the biological material buried with people in graves has had remarkable results_ Many graves (especially cremation rather than inhumation burials) contained food, but one had two separate deposits – one with half a piglet and a goose, and one with the other half of the piglet and a dressed chicken. Graves in different parts of the cemetery contained different types of pulses. There were pits that contained animals but no human bodies – one with a horse, a dog and a red deer, close together in a circle, and another with lots of frogs and a heron. Perhaps there had been this pit with water in it; frogs had colonised it and then a heron saw the opportunity of a meal, swooped in and was unable to spread its wings so as to fly out; but if so, why then was there nothing else in the pit? Was there some strange ritual? Jane Sidell also illustrated two imports into Roman London – one of stone pine cones (perhaps for making pesto sauce from the kernels) and the other of cannabis (for rope or medicinal purposes).

David Sankey attempted to convince us that he had identified a late Roman cathedral, from a ground-plan very like that of the early St. Theela’s cathedral in Milan. Those unconvinced could believe it was a large warehouse, but even that, he argued, was evidence that London was much more important in the very late period than common opinion would have it.

Bruce Watson talked about the notorious Dark Earth. Pollen analysis has shown that this is not the remains of Late Roman gardens, and that there were not trees about. His theory was that it was evidence simply of waste land.

Finally, Professor Martin Millen from Durham talked about the status of Roman London and warned us against reading the present into Roman administrative structures. A study of the so-called provincial capitals from the western part of the Roman Empire demonstrated their great differences. He even thought that the statement of the geographer Ptolemy, that London was a town of the Cantii and therefore subordinate to Canterbury, might be legally right (it gets some support from an inscribed tablet recording an inquiry into the ownership of a wood); he thought London was something of a “gold-rush” town, settled by Roman citizens who were traders from Gaul. Although the procurator of the province would he resident in London, and it was the hub of the road network, it was, he argued, not really the governor’s capital. The governor would often be out and about with the troops, and the centre of Britain for the purpose of the state religion perhaps always remained in Colchester.

CHURCH FARMHOUSE MUSEUM

The current exhibition features Construction Toys, dating from the middle of the 19th century to the present day. You will find early wooden building blocks, kits in all types of materials made by such firms as Sarnia, Lotts Bricks, Minibrix and Bayko. There is a wonderful crane made from Meccano specially for this exhibition. Lego UK generously lent two huge drums of bricks so that pupils from Sunnyhill JMI could make models for the exhibition. The whole school took part in a Lego day, and the results are on show.

Creating its own tradition, once again the dining room at Church Farmhouse is decorated as it would have been for a Victorian Christmas, with baubles, bangles, holly and ivy. The room looks as if the family have just got up from the dining table. Decorations stay up until Twelfth Night.

The Museum will be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and also on 1 January. Construction Toys will be on show until 2 February.

NEWS FROM OUR NEIGHBOURS

Barnet & District Local History Society meet in the Wyburn Room, Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road, Barnet. At 2.45pm on Monday 6 January June and Jack Alcock will present History of the River Thames.

Enfield Archaeological Society welcome visitors to their meetings in the Jubilee Hall, junction of Chase Side and Parsonage Lane. Tea is served at 7.30; meetings start at 8pm. On Friday 17 January Ian Jones will be talking about Africa Proconsularis: Carthage and Rome in Tunisia.

The Wembley History Society will he learning about Science in 1824 and Today from Leslie Williams at 7.30pm on Friday 17 January at their meeting in the Church Hall, adjoining St.Andrew’s Church, Church Lane, Kingsbury.

The Finchley Society

meets on Thursdays at 7.45pm in the Drawing Room at Avenue House, East End Road, N3. On
Thursday 30 January Joanna Corden will be revealing Finchley from the archives

Pinner Local History Society will be holding a local history day on Middlesex Manors – then and now on Saturday 22 February from 10.00am – 4.30pm at the Winston Churchill Hall, Ruislip. Tickets cost £4. Contact Mrs Beryl Newton on 0181-866 3372.

This spring, Enfield Preservation Society will publish Fighting for the Future: the story of the society 1936-1996. There book includes 229 photographs and prints, many never published before. The book will cost £13.50 (plus £3 p&p) if you place an order with payment by 28 February. Contact Mrs Irene Smith, 107 Parsonage Lane, Enfield, Middx., EN2 OAB

EARLY BARNET AND ITS BOUNDARIES by Pamela Taylor

The early medieval history of Barnet – the manor and parish, not the London Borough – has always been very obscure, and until recently we had no information before the mid-twelfth century. The earliest part of the fabric of St Mary East Barnet has been dated c.1140, and this chimes well with the earliest known written reference, which comes in a papal bull from Adrian IV to St Albans Abbey granted in February 1156/7. (It says 1156 but is probably operating on the Julian rather than the Gregorian calendar). Bulls are known by their opening word(s), so this one, which begins with a phrase about the incomprehensible and ineffable divine majesty, is known as incomprehensible. It’s not as had as that: in fact it’s a detailed confirmation of the abbey’s privileges, (Adrian was a local St Albans boy made extremely good) and, unlike the abbey’s earlier bulls, includes a list of its churches, among them Barnet. This was at East rather than Chipping Barnet because the latter only developed after the building of the new main road to the north in the late eleventh or twelfth century, and especially after the abbots of S Albans obtained a charter to hold a market there in 1199. St Albans garnered charters of privileges from kings as well as popes, and the earliest known royal charter which mentions Barnet, again in a comprehensive list of the abbey’s properties, was granted by Henry II; it is undated (the English chancery didn’t yet regularly follow the excellent papal example), but has been assigned from its witness list to 1176. The local entry is particularly interesting because it reads “Barnet cum boscis de Scthawe, et Borham, et Huzeheog”. The woods of Southaw and Osidge were always later included within Barnet, but by the time we have regular records Borehamwood was part of the abbey’s manor of Aldenham Barnet’s boundaries with other St Albans manors were therefore still not immutable in the later 12th century, but from other references it has long been known that the separation from Friern Barnet (and with it the boundary between Herfordshire and Middlesex) was by then firmly in place. The bishop of London reclaimed what became known as Friern from a tenant in 1187 prior to granting it to the Hospitallers in 1199 (it was from them, via the French for Brothers, that it got its name).

None of the Barnets is named in Domesday Book, and until recently the only supposedly pre-12th century reference was a comment in the 14th century version of the St Albans house chronicle, the Gesta Abbatum, that William the Conqueror had punished its abbot’s rebellion by removin’ “all the abbey’s lands between Barnet and London stone (which is still to be found within the City, in Cannon Street). There were always considerable reservations about the source, but in the absence of other information it was accorded a degree of plausibility – and it would neatly have explained the separation of Friern. Now, however, the discovery in Brussels by a Cambridge don, Simon Keynes, of a 17th century copy of an otherwise lost 12th century St Albans cartulary, means that the story is exposed as a total myth, and that our knowledge is extended backwards to 1005.

All the deeds in the cartulary were in fact known from 13th century and later Latin copies, but the 12th century exemplar also contained some Old English versions and, more importantly, detailed boundary decriptions_ From these we now know not only that King Athelred’s grant to the abbey in 1005 of Waetlingcaster equates to Kingsbury in St Albans, but that the unnamed area of attached woodland which was part of the same grant equates to Barnet. The boundary description for Barnet is not totally identifiable, but it seems to follow the normal pattern of a circuit clockwise round from 12. The central part of the northern, and all of the eastern, side are unrecognisable, but from the point where the circuit reaches hyttes stigele, or Betstile, the rest is reasonably plain sailing. Betstile, the older name for New Southgate, is at the southern corner of the boundary between East and Friern Barnet. Better still, the next stretch north-westwards is described as “along the bishop’s boundary”, and it’s hard to imagine that this could be anyone other than the bishop of London. The boundary was copied twice, with minor variations (and it’s worth remembering that the
17th century copyist was floundering too); what follows is an amalgamated version, with the symbols my processor can’t cope with modernised to th, and some added semi-colons.

This synt thes wealdes gemaere into thære ealden byrig. Ærest of hæwenes hlæwe; andlang enefeldinga gemære; on scirburnan, of scirburnan; to aetheleof hæcce. Of tham hæcce; to æscbyrthes heale, of tham heale; andlang eadulfingtuninga gemære; to r (or s)eodes gate, of tham geate, on byttes stigele, of byttes stigele; andlang thaes biscopes gemære; on wakeling mor, of tham more; on aggangeat, of tham geate; on thane steort; æt bræneten, andlang bræneoten; a be tham geondran stæthe; on thæne sihter, of tham sihtre; æt tatehrycges ænde; andlang heanduninga gemære; on grendeles gat, of grendeles gate; andlang scenleainga gemære; on ruge beorc lege, of beorc lege; on hæthlege, of hæthlege; a be wyrtruman.

The structure of this isn’t at all difficult, and from Betstile round to Hadley you can plot it on the map. You either walk on…of (onitaff or up tolaway from), or be, (by), each marker, or you walk andlang, (along) a longer stretch. Taking the individual names in turn: a hlæwe is a mound or barrow, and it’s very tempting to identify this one with the possibly Iron Age earthworks in Hadley Wood; along the Enfield boundary is readily comprehensible, although the boundary itself may later have shifted a little; the shire stream is presumably Pymmes Brook, whether you go along or across it is unclear, though perhaps more probably along, not least because “shire” implies it was used as a boundary – but no one has been able to make any sense of this bit on a map; Athelof s hatch (gate) and Ashbirt’s hale (corner) are lost, but conspicuous turning points along a boundary were usually marked, and the latter could therefore be the sharp north-eastern corner; along the Edulfington boundary is explained by another major discovery from the cartulary, that Edulfington is what was later known as Edmonton; r/seodes gate cannot, according to the experts, transmute to Southgate; Betstile and the bishop’s boundary were dealt with above; wakeling mor must have been swampy, and therefore presumably in a dip; Agate is more or less at the junction of Northumberland Road and the A1000; steort means a spit of land; to and along the Brent; cross to the further hank (geondran stæthe); along the ditch; at Totteridge’s end; along the Hendon boundary; Grendels Gate is the older name for Barnet Gate, along the Shenley boundary; ruge beorc lege (rough birch clearing) is Rowley; on/off Hadley gives us a new early reference to the place-name, but the fact that it’s not given as “along the Hadley boundary”, and the general difficulty of plotting the northern and eastern side of the circuit, suggests something less than an established settlement; by the crop clearing.

So there, for the moment, we have it. In 1005 King Æthelred granted the abbey land which had previously been his – Kingsbury and its attached wood at Barnet, and by then the bishop of London was already holding Friern. It’s a lot better than our previous knowledge, but of course raises endless new questions. For anyone who wants to take it further, references and more detailed information are available at the Local Studies and Archives

Newsletter 185: July 1986
PROGRAMME NEWS

Sat July 26 Trip to Sutton Hoo and Orford by Sheila Woodward

Excavation is in progress again at this outstanding site of the Suffolk ship burial near Woodbridge. We were heavily overbooked for our visit last year and a rerun has been organised for those who missed it. If you would like to come again – hopefully in sunshine this year -slight variation has been planned for the afternoon to visit Orford on the Suffolk coast. Orford is famous for its 800-year-old castle keep. As this is a rerun it will probably not be easy to fill the coach, so friends of members will be welcome on this trip.

Sat August 16 Trip to Mary Rose and Portchester

This is additional to our published programme to take the large overflow from May 10. The coach is almost full – just a few seats left and no waiting list – so any latecomers please ring Dorothy Newbury (203 0950) and you might just get in.

Thur Sep 11 Evening visit to Old Bailey

Thur-Sun Sep 18-21 Exeter Weekend with Ann and Alan Lawson

The coach is now full but no waiting list. If anyone is still keen to go please ring 458 3827 or 203 0950 and we will notify you in the event of a cancellation.

Throughout August ‘Historic Hampstead 1000’ 986-1986 Exhibition at Burgh House, Hampstead

Sat Oct 4 Winchester ‘Domesday 900’ Exhibition
Sat .Oct 11 Minimart, St. Mary’s Church House

Sit Oct 18-Dec 7 HADAS Exhibition ‘One Man’s Archaeology’ Church Farmhouse Museum

AN APPEAL FROM OUR MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY

There are still over 100 members who have still not paid their subs and I append below the different amounts due as at 1 April 1986

Full members £5.00
Family members

First member £5.00 plus £1 for other members

OAPS £3.00

OAPS First member £3.00 plus £1 for other members

Juniors £3.00

Schools, Corporations etc. £6.00

Please let me have your cheques as soon as possible. We don’t like to badger you, but we do need your money now.

Phyllis Fletcher, Membership Secretary
27 Decoy Avenue London NW11 OES

BROCKLEY HILL POTTERY EVENING

Thursday, July 10, 8.00-9.30 pm at Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute. Meet in the Community Room.This is an opportunity for anyone interested to look at the finds from previous field walks in the Brockley Hill area and familiarise themselves with what to look out for on future walks. We will also put on show some examples of typical Brockley Hill pottery excavated at the kiln sites, to be examined at first hand. . A special welcome to all new members!

BRITISH SCHOOL OF ATHENS 1886-1986

A Centenary Conference on ‘Ancient Mining and Metallurgy’
at University College of North Wales; Bangor, April 1986

This was a stimulating and happy occasion. Between 60 and 70 people attended – Classicists, Archeologists, Engineers and Metallurgists. We really did confer, not only in the two sessions given over to communica­tions and discussions, but as much as possible in our free time.

The first session was chaired by Mr. J.A. MacGillivray, Assistant Director; BSA, the subject being ‘Recent work carried out at the Athenian Silver Mines of Laurion’. This was a survey of the surface remains of the ancient mines (mining is still carried on nearby) in particular the water cisterns and ore washeries. Possible methods of operation were suggested and the Metallurgists present were invited to criticise, which indeed they did, much to both parties’ satisfaction.

At breakfast next morning I told Mr. MacGillivray that HADAS had recently heard Professor Tomlinson talking on his work at Perachora and asked whether the large circular tank found there could possibly have been connected with mining. He was quite sure: ‘No!’ The Perachora tank was much larger and had no central pillar to support a cover. I raised the point of evaporation as covers had been found necessary to prevent this at Laurion. He thought that as the Perachora tank was used only briefly at festival times this would not be a problem, but it seemed to me a very elaborate construction to hold water just for a few days each year. As a point of interest he also mentioned that the BSA’s latest work is at the Palaikastro site in Crete, excavating a hitherto unknown Minoan palace, second only to Knossos in size.

We passed on to other Greek sites, as well as Rio Tinto in Spain, Zawar in India and then to some of the ancient Welsh mines. Duncan James gave a fascinating account of how he had ‘pot-holed’ into the copper mine on the Great Orme at Llandudno to prove that the earliest workings were not in fact Roman but prehistoric. The Victorians had confused all the evidence with their back-filling of the ancient galleries,

Peter Crew from Plas Tan y Bwlch; who guided HADAS on our Snowdonia explorations in 1979, talked on ‘Prehistoric Iron Smelting and Smithing at Bryn y Castell Hill Fort, Gwynedd’ Dr. Peter Northover from Oxford and Dr. Paul Craddock who is well known to us all as member, lecturer and guide, joined with other experts from the British Museum Research Laboratory to talk of the development of copper alloys from Chalcolithic to Byzantine times. This led to a later session. on the conflict between weapon and armour, sword and helmet, an improvement in one ‘having, ‘of necessity, to lead to new technology for the other.

On Saturday we visited the vast moon-landscape of the Parys Mountain on Anglesey. Here Copper was certainly mined in antiquity, but all traces are now lost. The mine was reopened in 1767 and by 1780 it was the largest in the world, producing 4000 tons of copper a year. Nelson’s ships were sheathed in it and so was the French Navy. Tom Williams ‘the Copper King’ knew what he was about! Following recent drilling, there are now plans to open new workings down to 1500 feet-(750 feet below sea level) mainly for zinc and lead this time. These plans, of course, depend on favourable economic conditions.

ALEC GOULDSMITH

MORE NEWS OF THE GRAHAME-WHITE HANGAR, HENDON AERODROME

During the past month or so we have written, to a number of aviation magazines and societies with a generally favourable response (except from the Royal Aeronautical Society). It has been pleasing and interesting to discover that a lot of people have been making their own contribution to the call for preservation. ‘A co-ordinated campaign might achieve more but the volume and spontaneity of complaint is in itself Impressive. At least at the time of writing in mid-June the hangar is still standing.

At the AGM I mentioned that an expert on aircraft factories was coming to visit the Hendon/Stag Lane area with me and asked anyone interested in joining us to let me know. In the event the visit took place at very short notice in mid-June when my friend was unexpectedly despatched to London on college business, mixed business with pleasure. Apologies to anyone who would have liked to join us. BILL FIRTH

HAMPSTEAD’S MILLENIUM

Hampstead is celebrating its millennium this year. Anyone who lives in the south of the Borough of Barnet and who reads that pearl among local papers, the Ham and High is probably well aware of the fact: but HADAS members outside the Ham and High’s orbit may not have cottoned on yet.

There have already been all kinds of junketings in connection with the millennium, and more are to come but one, which might specially interest HADAS member’s, is nearing its close. You might like to try and nip in to see it before it ends. It is an exhibition at Burgh House, New End Square, NW3, until July 6 on the Medieval Manor of Hampstead.

Starting point and highlight of the exhibition, which has been devised and arranged by QC David Sullivan and his daughter Tess, is – as one might expect – the one document which provides evidence for the date of the millennium, and shows that Hampsteadians of 1986 are right to celebrate this year. It is the record of a charter (not the charter itself, which is long since lost) but a document made later (probably before 1016), saying .that there had been a grant by Ethelred II (‘the Unready’) of 5 tracts of land in Hampstead in 986 to Westminster Abbey. The record gives the boundaries of the land in Anglo-Saxon. The excellent booklet (price £1.00) which accompanies the exhibition adds that ‘the Manor map, made more than 750 years later, in 1762, which defines the boundaries of the manor very clearly, agrees closely with the geography indicated by the Anglo-Saxon boundaries.’

It’s interesting how often Hendon crops up in the booklet; and how in medieval times Hendon seems to have been regarded as the big brother of Hampstead (in family rather than Orwellian terms). It is suggested that Hampstead may have begun life as a staging post on the trackway over the hill to Hendon, ‘a larger and probably earlier vill in the Middlesex weald to the north.’ Both places belonged to the Abbey of Westminster; both appear in Domesday, and the situation of the two is interestingly contrasted in displays on the free and unfree tenants of the manor.

A section of the exhibition deals with the monks’ farm accounts which survive at Hampstead from 1270-98 and from 1375-1412. It would be an interesting exercise to compare these with the farm accounts of the Abbey’s manor at Hendon, which exist from 1316-1416 (see Eleanor Lloyd’s paper in Trans LMAS, vol 21, pt 3, 1967, 157-163).

For one escape the Hendon manor must have been grateful: when the. Black Death reached Westminster in spring 1349 the Abbot of Westminster, Simon de Bircheston, and many of monks, fled to ‘safety’ in Hampstead ­not Hendon. The Abbey did not have a manor-house at Hampstead; but it had ‘a substantial Hall and dormitory with a farm grange attached,’ probably at the corner of Frognal and the present Frognal Lane.

The booklet describes what followed when the Abbot arrived in 1349. ‘It is likely that the village was then still free from the plague. But his arrival was disastrous. His group brought the plague with them, and on May 15 1349 the Abbot died here, together with 26 of his monks. Their bodies were buried in Hampstead; but the Abbot’s body was later taken and reburied in the East Cloister of the Abbey. The village, too, must have suffered disastrously …’

The exhibition will be open from July 2-6 inclusive, 12 noon – 5 pm. BRIGID GRAFTON GREEN

A MESSAGE FOR THE CLERKENWELL WALKERS and those who missed the walk as well. Come and join in the Clerkenwell Festival from July 11th to 20th

Friday 11th Opening Ceremony at lunchtime on Clerkenwell Green. Morris dancing ‘all round the pubs’ in the evening.

Sunday 13th. Grand Dickensian Street Fair and Charity Market (Period costumes specially welcome.) A coach and horses will ferry visitors from Ludgate Circus to the Fair.

Sunday 20th Grand Finale. Italian procession from St. Peter’s Church, Clerkenwell Road.

The Sessions House, Marx Memorial Library, St. James’s Church and. St. John’s Priory Gate will all be open to the public with displays and exhibitions. Programmes can be obtained from the Sessions House and further information from Jim Lagden or Hilary Coleman on 226 1234.

MARY O’CONNELL

FAVERSHAM AND ROCHESTER

The trip to Faversham and Rochester on June 14th started in superb sunshine at the recently restored Chart Gunpowder Mill. This water-powered incorporating (blending) mill is the only building left of the many gunpowder works spaced out (for safety) for 11/2 miles along Faversham’s West Brook through the town and down to the coastal marches. Possibly the earliest gunpowder works in the country, they were nationalised about 1760, only to be re-privatised some 60 years later when the Napoleonic Wars ended and demand dropped.

Faversham’s delightful medieval architecture and quays survive because its trade volume stayed relatively constant, handling gunpowder, local bricks for London and elsewhere, and (for unclear reasons!) Romney Marsh wool: Especially noteworthy: the King’s Warehouse – 15th Century, housing the King’s weights – the ‘raison Dieu and the parish church, St. Mary of Charity, with a Roman foundation, Georgian nave, Medieval wall-paintings and misericords, and arches of almost every type known.

Paul Craddock guided us to a site along Watling Street outside the town to show us the ground plan and lower walls of a rectangular 4th Century AD Roman building subsequently identified both to East and West to form a church that fell into disuse before the Reformation. Paul likened it to St. Martin’s, Canterbury, and some churches near Cologne, all now believed to have started as Roman mausolea, to have become Christian shrines in Roman times, and probably to have a continuous Christian history right through the Dark Ages.

In Rochester we visited the Dickens Centre and Rochester Castle (1120’s), dominating the Cathedral precinct and described by Paul as the most perfect example of a Norman castle tower on either side of the Channel. Only one wall had been rebuilt in the 14th Century, after an unsuccessful siege by King John.

The best was left until last an idyllic tea provided by Paul’s wife, Brenda, in the garden stretching behind their house to the edge of the steep hill looking out over the Medway. Facing into the afternoon sun we ate and drank surrounded by flowers and espaliered fruit trees along the walls, with the smell of herbs from between the flagstones.

Lament, all HADAS members who couldn’t go. The rest of us grate­fully thank all the organizers – and the unknown person who arranged the perfect weather after six months of winter. MARY RAWITZER

SPRING MEETING OF LOCAL SOCIETIES AT THE MUSEUM OF LONDON

This meeting takes place about twice a year and on this occasion was attended by representatives from 21 Local Societies within the old Greater London area, together with six members of the Department of Greater London Archaeology.

Harvey Sheldon representing L.A.M.A.S as well as D.G.L. showed slides of the excavation at Winchester palace and also reported that excavation had been carried out beneath the undercroft of Westminster Abbey, an 11th Century building at Kingston-on-Thames another under-croft at the Horsefair, which was not scheduled, may be moved from its present position and re-sited nearer the Thames. It was explained that to schedule a building and prevent development after planning permission had been given could be a very expensive matter. This undercroft had been located in Victorian times but subsequently lost.

The West London Unit had been digging behind the Garden Centre in Uxbridge and found further evidence of Mediaeval Uxbridge and of earlier times. The excavation of the Roman Bath House and Villa at Beddington was yielding bones of Roman and prehistoric origin. The gravel site in Holloway Lane had produced part of a Late Bronze Age metal-working area. Concern was expressed that with the abolition of the G.L.C. local authorities might not give such firm support in dealing with gravel extraction projects as had recently been the case.

Enfield Society reported a Roman settlement in the Lincoln Road area alongside the route of Ermine Street. A burnt clay structure, possibly a corn drier, had been found and, in a rubbish pit, six pots which were almost complete The Putney Society is currently setting up a new Museum and Val Bot has left the Grange Museum to take up the challenging post of Curator. The next Local Societies Meeting will take place on Monday September 22nd and each Society is invited to send up to three representatives. TED SAMMES

COMMITTEE CORNEER

The Committee met on Friday, June 6th. New members were welcomed and various matters discussed.

Plans for the 25th Year Exhibition this autumn are well under way. Ted Sammes is presenting One Man’s Archaeology, a personal record of his twenty five years in the Society and the widening range of his interest in Archaeology. The Mayor and Mayoress of Barnet, Councillor and Mrs. Dennis Dippel, have kindly agreed to be present on October 18th and, after a brief opening ceremony at 11.30 am, followed by a brief official reception, the exhibition will open to the public in the afternoon. It will run for two months.

Victor Jones reported the possibility of a trial excavation at Whetstone, on the site where a shop was recently burned down. It was decided to proceed with this.

Brian Wrigley agreed to maintain contact with the R.A.F. Association, who, as a non-official body, may be best able to mount a publicity campaign in defence of the GrahameWhite Hangar at the RAF Museum. It was stressed that this was still in danger, in spite of press reports suggesting otherwise.

Jill. Braithwaite, Co-ordinator of the Roman Group reported on the Pipeline Project. She and Tessa Smith had examined previous field-walking finds and would make enquiries about ploughing dates with a view to obtain­ing permission for further walks liaison with D.O.G.L.A. would be important and Jill Braithwaite agreed to represent us on the D.O.G.L.A. Liaison Committee. It was hoped that the recognition meeting (see page 2) would be well attended, especially by new members.

Jim Beard reported progress on the Watling Street site (Burnt Oak Station Carpark). The Committee thought that further documentary projects should include research into possible new sites and individual work on matters of local historical interest. Reports of this kind would be of value for the Newsletter.

Margaret Maher had been asked by a representative for some information on the West Heath Site for inclusion in the revised publication. She would confer with Daphne Lorimer about this.

The next meeting will take place on Wednesday July 16th.

COUNCIL OF BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGY POLL RESULT

Were you present when we voted on the issue of the World Archeological Congress? We were asked, you may remember, whether C.B.A. should withdraw support from the Congress, now weakened in its claim to be a World Forum by the absence of many visitors who objected strongly to the inclusion of archaeologists from South Africa. The national result is now available:

83 Societies voted in favour of withdrawal

46 Societies voted against

7 Societies abstained

So the HADAS Voting was reflected in the national returns.

SITE WATCHING

The following sites have been the subject of recent Planning Applications. If permission is granted, it is possible they might be of some archaeologi­cal interest.

36 Friern Park, N12

Barrymore, Bow Lane N12
Former L.T.E. Sports Ground Deansbrook Rd. Edgware

Former Trafalgar House site,The Hyde, NW9

2 Stanway Gardens, Edgware

2 The Lincolns, Marsh Lane NW7

West Hendon Hospital Site, Goldbeaters Grove NW9

land adjacent to 2 Wellhouse Lane, Barnet

Meadowbank Cottage, The Hollies, Barnet Road, Arkley

Hollybush House, Hadley Green

Land at Arkley Hall and Arkley Rise, Barnet

12 Barnet Gate Lane Arkley

“Stocks” Hadley Green West

47 Old Fold View, Barnet

The Barn, Totteridge Green, N20

ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERIES: A REAPPRAISAL

This weekend conference is being held in the New Merseyside Maritime Museum 7-9 November 1986. Accommodation will be available at special rates in city centre Liverpool hotels. Delegates will have unique access to Merseyside museums.

The conference will start on Friday evening with a key lecture to set the scene for the weekend. Saturday morning will cover techniques such as palaeopathology, settlement modelling and establishing a research design. The afternoon session looks at artifact study and analysis. On Sunday the practical problems of older material will be considered with special attention to the Faussett collection.

This Conference is being held as part of the 1986 centenary of the death of Joseph Mayer, Liverpool’s antiquarian and philanthropist. Mayer saved for the nation material excavated in Kent and meticulously recorded by the Rev. Bryan Faussett in the late 18th Century.

Details of programme, cost and accommodation are available from The Director of Continuing Education Studies, University of Liverpool. PO Box 147, Liverpool L69 3BX (Telephone 051-709 6022 ext. 2797).

FOR YOUR BOOK LIST

Guide to the Silchester Excavations 1982-84
Michael Fulford University of Reading

This is the second guide to the present series of excavations at Silchester. The first one covered the Amphitheatre and Forum for the years 1979-81.

The black layers originally encountered by Joyce, the Victorian excavator in the Basilica, have been identified as the remains of a metal-working industry, carried out in the third and fourth centuries A.D. in what was once the town’s most imposing building.

Pre-Roman occupation has been found from the first century B.C. continuing until 55-60 A.D. at which time a substantial ditch and timber rampart was constructed. The subsequent Roman street grid runs at 450 to the ditch.

This dig is directed by Mike Fulford who has spoken to HADAS about the Amphitheatre excavation. This year’s excavation runs from June 30-August 2. Public viewing Sundays and weekends, 10 am to 5 pm. (See British Archaeological News, April 1986, pg 23).

An up-to-date guide to Silchester (Calleva) is needed, let’s hope it will soon materialise.

Beyond Stonehenge

This is the title of a new guide to Stonehenge written by Julian Richards and published by the Trust for Wessex Archaeology, price £1.50. It is designed to interest the visitor not merely in the monument itself but in its immediate surroundings. Many of the illustrations are in colour and set the scene.

Stonehenge is dealt with in its many phases and it suggests an aban­donment about 2500 B.C. shifting to other ritual sites, Conebury, Durrington Wall and Woodhenge are described. Bronze Age farming in the area is described ending at about 1000 B.C. At the end of the booklet is a map which will help the informed visitor walk the newly arranged paths in the National Trust Estate. Information boards have been placed at key points. Let’s hope the “vandals” can’t walk that far.

This new booklet is based on work carried out by the Trust for Wessex Archaeology between 1980 and 1984.

Newsletter No. 179 January 1986

HADAS PROGRAMME

Tuesday 7 Jan “Archaeology of Hedges and Woodland” by Dr. Oliver Rackham

Rackham is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and a botanist by profession. As well as study in England, his work has taken him to Greece and America.

Several members have already heard him talk on this subject – a subject that has interested the Society for many years , particularly in relation to the hedge running across Lyttelton Playing Fields (which is probably a Saxon perimeter hedge) and that at Hadley Golf Course, behind which some of the troops, in the Battle of Barnet were deployed in 1471.

.; Neolithic Arran by Dr. Eric Grant

Tuesday 4 Mar. Alexander the Great & Art in the Greek East by Dr. I .Malcolm College

Tuesday 1 Apl. Recent Excavations at Perachora, near Corinth by Prof .R, A. Tomlinson

Lectures are, held at Hendon Library, The Burroughs,NW4. Coffee from 8pm. Lecture 8.30

CHRISTMAS PARTY on DECEMBER 3 report by Alan Lawson

The usual Christmas, party which took place at the Meritage Club was perhaps less.formal than of past years – nothing exotic by way of belly dancing took place. In a very relaxed atmosphere of nostalgic photo viewing, archeaograms, treasure hunts and identification quizzes some 49 members of HADAS had a most enjoyable evening with an excellent buffet, superb cheeses, good humour and friendliness. It almost goes without saying, thanks were given to the many hard working and devoted workers who made the evening the success .that it was.

PROPOSED WEEKEND STAYING IN EXETER UNIVERSITY

DATES: September 18 – 21 (3 nights stay)

Dartmoor, Exmoor, Exeter. Anyone who is interested please contact Alan Lawson, 68 Oakwood Road, N, W.11 Telephone: 458 3827. Details later if response allows.

NEW MEMBERS

It’s some months since the Newsletter greeted the newcomers who steadily become HADAS members month by month. New Year seems a good time to welcome all those who have joined us since mid-1985:

Lawrence Barham of Lewisham, Derek Batten, Stanmore, Penelope Boon*, Barnet, Mr. Otto and Miss Thea* Caslaysky, Finchley, Eve Dent*, East Finchley, Roy English, Clapham,

M. French, North Fincley, J. Gregory, N. 11: P. Herreman, SW4: Dr. Hunt, Stanmore:

Graham. Hutchings Colindale: Rosalie Ivens, Golders Green: Sinead McCartan, WC1. John

Morfey, Hampstead: Paula Newton, North Finchley: Basil Olympios, Finchley: R.O’Shea, W5: Joanna Rabiger*, Golders Green; Kim Russell, Highgate: Akano Sato, NW1. Simeon Shoul, Hampstead: David Trinchero, NW6 Paul Wiggins, Ruislip.

The Newsletter wishes them all a happy membership of HADAS and “good digging” in

1986. (* indicates a member under 18).

SITES TO WATCH

Some development applications which have been made to Barnet Council in the last few weeks are for sites which HADAS has already noted as of possible archaeological interest. These sites have re-appeared on the planning application lists (which have recently taken to including the date of the original application, which is helpful) because in the interim, the plans had been re-described, amended or added to. We include these sites in our list for this month as a reminder.

If any/all these applications are approved by LBB, HADAS members living near any of the sites may see signs of development activity – surveyors at work, bulldozers moving in, trenches being cut. Should you observe anything of this nature, please let John Enderby know immediately on 203 2630. Sites are only worth watching from an archaeological point of view, in the early stages when the ground surface is being disturbed, so immed­iate notification is VITAL.

Here are the sites on recent application lists which appear to have some possible archaeological potential: –

167 Friern Barnet Lane, N20 4 detached houses -(outline) –

Rear of 206High Street, Barnet 2-storey, building to form 6 bedroom hotel

Former Methodist Church site,

Goodwyn Avenue NW7 18 flats in. 2 blocks

land bounded by Dollis Road;

Christs college playing fields Primary school & access.(amended outline) & properties in Dollis Park, N3

land adj. East Finchley station, Offices carparking, residential development,

fronting High Rd & rear of East new station fo,recourt, ‘access roads.

End Road, N2 (Amended outline, additions)

site adjoining 131Marsh Lane, NW7 detached house with basement .(amended plan)

site of former Blue Anchor public retail warehouse (outline)..

house, High Road, N20

Bells public house, East End Rd single storey side/rear extensions for bar/ restaurant, facilities

29 Ashley Lane,1\TW4 pair of semi-detached houses

LOCAL HISTORY AT LAMAS

The 20th LAMA’S Local History Conference on November 30 was, as ever, a lively and

Interesting occasion.

The conference is always worth attending on two counts – first, for the Lectures which form the main dish on the menu; secondly and perhaps equally important – for the displays put on by local societies from every part of the. London area and the opportunity these provide for society members to mingle and catch up with news of’ each other’s research.

Originally the theme suggested for the conference had been Farms and Farming in Middlesex. In the event, lectures dealt mainly with the Anglo-Saxon and early medieval

countryside. Dr. John Blair took Chertsey Abbey from early Saxon times to the 10th century as his focal point, Dr. Peter Bigmore handled landscape evidence from open field systems and ridge and furrow, and documentary evidence from estate maps and manor court rolls while John Mills’ subject was “Archaeological Discoveries in the Greater London. Area c. 400-c.1100”.

HADAS, had its usual display and bookstall arranged and manned by Joyce Slatter, Victor Jones and Brigid Grafton Green to whom the Society is most grateful. The display contained material from the HADAS Farm.Survey. ‘Bookstall sales went particularly well this year.

BOG BURIALS .

We’re delighted to hear that the University Extra-mural Department; has had second

thoughts about its Thursday evening public lectures in archaeology. Back in the autumn there were no plans to run them this winter. Now we learn that, a series of ten public lectures on “Bog Bodies and Ancient Man Preserved’ will start at the Institute of Archaeology on Thursday, January 16, from 7-8.30pm. Here is the full programme, which sounds most interesting:-

Jan 16 The Preservation of Ancient Human Bodies Don Brothwell

Jan 23 Archaeology of British &’European Bog Bodies R. Turner

Jan 30 Lindow Man an Ancient Body from a Cheshire Bog Ian Stead

Feb 6 The Manchester Museum Investigations Dr. R. David

Feb 13 Diet & Food Remains in Ancient Man. Gordon Hillman

Feb 20 Forensic Aspects of Ancient Bodies Dr. I. E West

Feb 27 Histopathology & Health in Early Man Dr. E. Tapp

Mar 6 Bogs & Burials; Aspects of Parasitism in Early Man Dr. A. Jones

Mar 13 Investigation on New World Mummies Don Brothwell

Mar 20- The Determination of Age & Sex in Early Man Dr. T. Mollison

A ticket for the series costs: £15, but you can pay £2 at the door to go to an individual lecture. Cheques for the series should be sent to Miss Edna Clancy, Extra Mural Department, 26 Russell Square, WC1B-5D0′.

The Institute of Archaeology announces a programme of some thirteen. 5-day courses for next July and August. The subjects are: protection of archaeological sites, identification of Plant remains, drawing of finds, field techniques, archaeological evidence for disease, civilisations of ancient America, surveying, Roman London, identification of Roman coins; geoarchaeology, stone tool technology, underwater Archaeology and the identification of animal bones.

In addition there will be a number of 5-day courses on conservation, ranging from conserving photographs to making high quality replicas of museum objects.

Anyone who would like information about either the archeological or the conservation courses should write to James Black, Summer Schools coordinator, at the Institute of Archaeology, 31-34 Gordon Square, WC1H OPY

ENCORE FOR ONIONS

After all Ted Sammes contributions to last month’s Newsletter wasn’t as we thought

it might be – the last word on onions The tear-jerking saga continues…..

This month’s instalment comes from Anne Lowe, mother of one of our junior members Christopher Lowe. She sends us the following quotation from “Food in England”, that lovely book by Dorothy Hartley; who died last November in her-’93rd year:

“Scallions – now a name given to bolted onions, but a perennial plant that grows clusters, and can be used for all plain cooking purposes; they stay in the, ground all the year round. Holsters are the Welsh version of these, rather smaller, and with very marked spring growth these make the best tansy that I’ve ever had, made by a farmhand

Take holsters in spring, chop them finely, and fry in bacon fat. When they are soft,

drain off any fat and pour on enough beaten egg to cover, add pepper and salt and chase

them round till blended – and; then ‘leave ’em’be till set, ‘not let ‘em boil, mind, or the egg will be a-whey, just set it nicely.’ .Then turn on to a hot plate, and it is excellent”

The drawings on the opposite page include Welsh Holtzers (this time spelt with a ‘z’) with the comment ‘good for rough winter cutting’. Miss Hartley was an accomplished artist, as well as a writer – so much so that her obituary in The Times last November ended with the line ” she loved drawing her heaven must surely include a friendly life-class.”

ABOUT HADAS PEOPLE

A distinctly Chinese air hung over some of the conversations at the HADAS Christmas party. One member – schoolmaster AUBREY HODES – was just back from his stint teaching English at Hua Qiao University, Quanzhou (from where you may remember, he wrote some interesting reports for the Newsletter). ALEC JEAKINS, on the other hand, is about to go to Far Eastwards early next year, as the production manager for a film on science which will be shown in China and Hong: Kong. With one coming and one going, it’s not surprising that a lot of talk about China was whizzing around Hendon, NW4.

Next year’s visit will be a return performance for Alec, his mother BETTY JEAKINS says.. He’s recently made one film for the BBC out there, which caused him to understand just what royalty feels like – wherever he went his public went too – following, whispering and staring:.

Dorothy Newbury tells us of another HADAS member who has recently been in China ­COLIN EVANS. We don’t often see him nowadays because he is based in France; but not long ago his firm sent him to the `Far East on a combined business and pleasure trip.

And talking of HADAS members far afield, the new address the Society has for long­time member VINCENT FOSTER, who was a keen digger and member of the main Committee in the 1970s, is Quebec, Canada – a far cry from his former home at Finchley.

VALENTINE SHELDON, an enthusiastic HADAS supporter for the last six years, has another hobby besides archaeology. In her own quiet way she is a highly successful fund­raiser for her pet charities. This year she set herself the target of raising £100 for the proposed North London Hospice, and achieved it by November. Her method? It’s all done with a needle. Miss Sheldon is a demon seamstress: she sews for love, but asks her clients to contribute whatever they think her work is worth to the charity of her choice.

SALUTE TO THE WELSH HARP

The current exhibition at Church Farm House Museum on the Welsh Harp, is well worth a visit from anyone interested in the history of our area; or, for that matter, in its natural history. There are some good exhibits on Victorian naturalists, bird watching and angling, including the display of a magnificent, mean-looking stuffed pike, weighing 201bs 12oz, caught in the Harp over a century ago..

Angling tournaments, Ice-skating championships (“Where can you find 350 acres of ice? Why, at Warners Welsh Harp’), drowning fatalities – the Harp was famous or notorious for all of them in the last century.

Built in 1837 by the Regents Canal Company to provide extra Water for the capital’’s canals, and extended in 1851 , the Welsh Harp, named for the famous pub which stood at its eastern end beside the Edgware Road, was much more than a mere water-supply it, was a recreation ground and a focus for Victorian family enjoyment.

Another aspect of the Welsh Harp cropped up recently too. At the LAMAS conference of Local Historians on November 30 the Wembley History Society were selling their booklet The Welsh Harp Reservoir 1835-1985.

This covers the reasons – mainly chronic water shortages – for the decision to build the reservoir, its detailed construction, how the water was, and is now, controlled and a history of the Welsh Harp pub and the family who owned it, particularly William Perkins Warner. He was a veteran of the Crimean War, who owned and ran the Welsh Harp from- 1858 to 1889.

He made it a sporting and social centre “one of the most cosy and comfortable places to be found in London”. There was a museum- containing both Military and natural history objects – a billiard room, a ballroom and in the grounds, a bowling green, a skittles saloon and a shooting enclosure. Kingsbury race course (described angrily by a local resident as ‘a carnival of vice’ and suppressed in 1879) was nearby and the pub was the headquarters of one of the best known angling societies in Victorian England the Old Welsh Harp Angling Society. A day-ticket for taking Jack or Perch cost 2s6d (12p); a day-ticket for bottom fishing is (5p). Adjoining the tavern was a large concert hall where many well-known music hall artists performed, including Albert Chevalier, who used to sing his coster ballads.

The booklet ends with a section on the ballads which helped to make the Welsh Harp famous. The words of five of them are given. Here is one –

A SONG FOR. THE WELSH HARP,

(sung to the tune of ‘The Cork Leg’)

Dedicated to W P Warner, written by Tom

Erica of ‘.The; Sportsman’

Published in the Hendon & Finchley Times of July 10,1880

A song I’ll sing you of a place

Where you’ll always meet a smiling face

Where every comfort can be found,

Whether inside or in the ground.

The waiters there are all so neat,

To be waited on it is a treat:

And where they give you the best meat,

And with cheery welcome always greet.

The prices, too, are quite as low
.As anywhere that you can go.
The host himself is always there
With jolly face and talent rare.

His popularity he does share

With Mrs Warner, who’s ‘all there’ .

She always greets us with a smile

After we’ve trudged the weary mile.
While something nice she gets us then
We find out John, that best of men
From cellar he brings out the best
To place before his welcome guest.
And when we’ve dined, why out we go
And on the lake we take a row:

Then back we come to thank our host

And find him there at his old post.
We’ve had our fun, so off we rush
In Woodruff’s Hendon Omnibus
To London City where we live.
Before we go our hand we give

To the best of landlords true,

By all respected, and one of few

Who never gets done and never does you

At the old Welsh Harp at Hendon.

The exhibition at Church Farm House Museum continues until February 9th. The Wembley History Society booklet – a good buy – costs 55p (plus 20p post and packing) from Stuart Johnson, Hon. Secretary, Wembley History Society, 117 Church Lane, Kingsbury, NW9 8JX.

HALLELUJAH

The Council for British Archaeology’s Nonconformist Working Party has recently published a 60-page, well-illustrated booklet called “Hallelujah” .on how to record chapels and meeting houses. This fills a gap in their how to record publications we have already had from them a booklet on how to record graveyards, an illustrated glossary on recording a church and a guide to recording old houses.

The booklet is aimed, according to its introduction, particularly at individuals and local societies, and the part they can play in what is described as ‘a much neglected part of our national heritage’. We know of at least two HADAS members who in the past have shown particular interest in recording local nonconformist buildings, but we haven’ t heard much from them recently – perhaps this new publication will inspire them to fresh efforts.

Further details about it are, available from the CBA, 112 Kennington Road, SEll 6RE.

News also from CBA of two forthcoming conferences in which they are involved.

In collaboration with the Society for Landscape Studies they are organising a weekend conference on Religious Sites in the Landscape at the Institute of Child Health, Guilford Street, WC1 on Feb. 21-23, 1986. Speakers will include Professor Martin Biddle, Dr TC Oarvill, Dr. CS Briggs, Leslie Grinsell and others. Subjects will range from the prehistoric to the middle ages, from menhirs and druids to 11th century Christian church builders.

Fee for the weekend is £20, which includes tea and coffee but not lunch. Apply to Lyn Greenwood at the CBA.

On March 21-23 next, CBA and the Museum of London are jointly holding their 4th conference, on the theme ‘the rebirth of towns in the west, A.D700-1050” This will be an important conference, and it is hoped that there will be papers by speakers from all over Europe. As the Newsletter goes to press, CBA promise that further inform­ation will be available by the end of 1985 – so give them a ring on 582 0494 if you want further details of this.

The final lecture of the winter Wednesday Lecture season arranged by the Libraries Department will be on Wednesday 26 February at Hendon Library. MICHAEL ESSEX-LOPRESTI will be speaking about The Regents Canal, A narrow boat enthusiast, he keeps his own vessel on the canal and also conducts walks along the canal-side on summer Sundays. His lecture will feature architecture as well as wild-life and will be illustrated by slides and archive film of horse-drawn narrow boats. The lecture begins at 8.15pm and will last about 1e hours.

Newsletter 128: October, 1981

HADAS CALENDAR

DON’T FORGET LECTURES START THIS MONTH

Weatherwise there seems little difference this year between summer and winter, so we will just say the lecture season has arrived. This year we have considerable variety, including a 3-part London series – Roman, Saxo-Norman and post-medieval.

Tuesday, October 6th. The Roman Port of London – the current excavation in the Pudding Lane area of the City. Speaker Gustav Milne, the site supervisor, who will give us a first-hand and up-to-date report on the Roman water front.

Tuesday, November 3rd. Excavations on Guernsey 1979-81, Dr Ian Kinnes MA PhD FSA.

Tuesday, December 8th. Dinner at the RAF Museum, Hendon, with private viewing of the Battle of Britain exhibition.

Tuesday, January 5th .Saxon and Norman London, Dr John Clark MA AMA FSA.

Tuesday, February 2nd. Marylebone: A Village Community 1500-1800. Dr Ann Saunders

PhD.

Tuesday, March 2nd. Frozen Tombs of Siberia, Kenneth Whitehorn.

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 an opportunity for a chat. May I ask old members to welcome new ones and make them feel at home? For Our first two lectures, David Bicknell will be our projectionist – Liz Holliday regrets she has an evening class on Tuesdays this year.

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 Edgware route or the 240 and 125 routes. 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. DOROTHY NEWBURY

SUBSCRIPTIONS

The Hon. Treasurer has been doing his autumn review of the member­ship records and finds there are.136 members who have still not renewed their membership for 1981/2, although this was due on April 1, 1931.

To save him writing reminder letters, please send any outstanding subscriptions to him as soon as possible. His address is: Jeremy Clynes, 66 Hampstead Way, London NW11 7XX (Tel: 455 4271).

THE, OUTING SEASON

… ends as we go to press, with a re-run on Sept 20 to Bath and Laycock. It will be another full coach.

In spite of our bad summer all trips have enjoyed dry weather. Again I have been unable to accompany the groups, and would like to thank George Ingram, Tessa Smith, Paul Craddock, Maurice Canter, Ted Sammes and Jeremy Clynes for taking the trips so successfully for me.

DOROTHY NEWBURY

PRAYER FOR A TYPIST

Your Newsletter comes to you each month by favour of a number of your fellow members who volunteer to Write, edit and type it, roll off the stencils, prepare the envelopes and fill, post or deliver them. From time to time there are hiccups in each of these departments.

At the moment we are short of Newsletter typists. Some of our editors type’their own Newsletters; but one or two, who do not possess typing skill, need to call on a typist volunteer. We have two exceed­ingly helpful and willing typists, but we would like to find at least two more – that way we could spread the load and have a reserve when one of our “regulars” can’t do the job.

Could you type an occasional Newsletter for us? It would not be more often than once in 6 months, and if we had several volunteers the interval could be longer. You need, either to have a typewriter heavy enough to cut stencils; or to be prepared to spend the necessary time cutting the stencils (a job which presents no difficulty to any experienced typist) on one of the Society’s two machines’ (one electric, one manual) at our room in Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley.

All offers will be most gratefully received by our Hon. Secretary. Please ring if you can help.

CONGRATULATIONS to HADAS member Wendy Page, now Wendy Cones, on the birth of her first baby – Anthony. Wendy is now living at Woodbridge, in Suffolk.

TWO MORE BUILDINGS PROTECTED

As the Newsletter goes to press there comes news that two further buildings in the Borough. of Barnet have been added to the List of Buildings of Architectural and Historic Interest. Both are at Hadley: they are Pagitt’s Almshouses and-Pymlico House.

Both were on the original statutory List, but in.Grade III, which no longer confers any protection. Both have now been “spot-listed”an operation which usually occurs when a building is thought to be at risk- in Grade III.

ROMAN RESEARCH GROUP

Sun Oct 4 and Sat Oct 10. Two walks organised by the HADAS Roman Group will take place, in search of Roman roads. Any member wishing to take part should phone Helen Gordon (203 1004) for further details.

WEST HEATH DIG

Good weather and a gratifying number of diggers made the start of the 1981 season at West Heath a happy and invigorating occasion. Work has proceeded briskly and the questions left by previous excavations are well on the way to being answered.

Question 1: The-extent of the site. -A trench IXD on the southern -extremity of the enclosed area has proved pleasurably sterile (save for 2 or 3 flakes), Trenches IXE, IXF and IXG are now being excavated to make a. North/South section in which it is hoped to ascertain the point at which the site finishes in this area.

Question.2: Trenches XIVK, XIIH and XVM are being excavated to complete the pits found previously in XIVL, XIIG and XIVN, all of which contained large quantities of burnt stone. The fill of the pit in .XIVK has been completely removed and the pit drawn and photographed. (More burnt stone was removed from this pit than from any other on the site).

The continuation of the tailed pit from XIIH into XIIG does not appear to be as great as at first thought and it may well be that the burnt stones found in the baulk marked the extreme southern limit of the pit. Excavations in XVM have not yet advanced sufficiently to provide information.

Trial trenches have been dug on the northern and eastern limits of the enclosed area. The total count is not yet available for these areas, but the site appears to continue in both directions although the density of flakes does appear to be diminished.

Obliquely blunted points, micro,-burins, backed blades, scrapers, cores and even an axe continue to be found. Do come and add your trowel to the task and enjoy digging in one of the nicest sites the Society is ever likely to have. Digging, until the weather breaks each day (except Mondays, Fridays) 10 am-5 pm. DAPHNE LORIMER

LATE NEWS ON EVENING CLASSES. 7.30-9.30 pm at Ealing Road. Library, Wembley, on The Medieval Parish, Weds.Grange Museum, Neasden Lane, NW10, From Countryside to Suburb. Thurs.

Willesden Green Library, High Rd NW10, Archaeological Field Techniques

A LOOK AT MILL HILL

Last month we mentioned briefly the current exhibition at Church Farm House Museum, called “Mill Hill: Our Village, Our Suburb” which has been mounted by the Mill Hill & Hendon Historical Society.

It is an exhibition which has been put on with real affection for the subject – and that always shows. The material is interesting and covers a wide range. There are displays on notable Mill Hill houses, such as Moat Mount, Copthall and Belmont; on streets like Flower Lane and. Page Street; on churches; on pubs; of course, on Mill Hill School and less-obviously, there is a large display, with uniforms, on the Middlesex Regiment, which has its headquarters at the Inglis Barracks at Mill Bill, Above all, there are some fascinating side­lights- on the people who have lived in Mill Hill in the last 250 years from traveller and diarist Celia Fiennes; at Highwood Ash, to the first and only woman Mayor of Hendon, Clara Thubrun.

The displays are full of ideas – for instance, the one on Collinson, the botanist whose garden now forms part of the grounds of Mill Hill School, is flanked by actual examples (provided by the LBB Parks Dept) of some of the plants which Collinson introduced to Britain: hydrangeas, kalmias, larix decidua among others.

Next door a small display on Elgar describes how, when he lived at Hampstead in 1912, he used to wander round Mill Hill, Totteridge and Monken Hadley. Later, he produced 5 unaccompanied part-songs of which three (Opus 71, 72, 73) were subscribed with the names of the three places. A caption tells you that if you would. Like to hear Mill Hill,” all you have to do is to ask the Curator for a taped recording.

The exhibition continues until Oct 25, and a visit is highly recommended.

HISTORY OF LONDON’S POPULATION

This will be the main subject of the next LAMAS Local History Conference, to be held at the Museum of London on Sat Nov 28 at 2 pm. The principal speaker will be Mrs. Beatrice Shearer, of the Local Population Studies Society. Demography may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is a study which throws a great deal of light on many local history problems.

The sessions after tea will have a definite North London flavour. Dr Dore will speak on the history of Trent Park; and two speakers will deal with the history and future development of the Crystal Palace.

The conference will open at 1 pm so that people can see the various exhibitions which are usually mounted in the Education Depart­ment of the Museum. HADAS intends to have a stand, and there will no doubt be many others – this conference is always a lively one.

Tickets cost £1.50 (which includes tea), and applications should go to Mr Robins, 3 Cameron House, Highland Rd, Bromley, Kent. Enclose a sae for the return of your ticket.

Footnote: Mrs Shearer is currently forming a Special Interest Group (under the wing of the LAMAS Local History Committee) for everyone working on, or interested in, population history in Greater London. “The Group would aim to provide guidance and encouragement to those researching topics related to the history of population,” she says, those working with manor court records, tax assessments, surveys, parish registers, census records, etc.” Any HADAS member who is interested in the group can get further information from Brigid Grafton Green.

WEEKEND IN WALES A report on the September trip by AUBREY HODES

On Friday morning, Sept 11, twenty-five intrepid HADASniks set off by minibus and car for an archaeological weekend in wild, woolly (and wet, as it turned out) Wales. The minibus route lay through the Cots­wolds, where we stopped to see the churches of Burford and Northleach. We lunched at Chedworth Roman villa and later looked briefly at Raglan Castle, on the Welsh border. Then on into Wales, with the landscape becoming wilder and emptier with rushing streams and rolling hills, until we reached Danywenallt, the study centre of the Brecon Beacons ‘National Park.

This converted farmhouse, whose name in Welsh means “below the fair wooded hillside,” was our base for the next two days. Run in an efficient, unobtrusive style by its principal, John James, it is an ideal springboard from which to explore the mountains of South Wales (we hope to provide a list of courses to be held at the Centre in 1982 in a subsequent Newsletter).

After dinner we had our first encounter with Peter Jones, our guide and mentor for the weekend. He gave us an eloquent description of the Roman army’s invasion of Wales, showing in words and slides how the second Augusta – the feared local Legion – organised its camps. Inter alia Peter threw out several thought provoking ideas. With all we know today about lead pollution, did the Roman Empire come to an end because lead was used so widely in their plumbing? Did the superior Roman road system spread disease as quickly and efficiently as it dis­tributed letters and food? We retired to bed lulled by the nearby River Usk and the, nocturnal munching of sheep, to think deeply about these suggestions.

On Saturday we set out early and drove westwards through the Brecon Beacons-to the Roman gold mine at Dolaucothi, near Pumpsaint. Here we were met by Dr Alwyn Allan, of the University of Cardiff’s Department of Mineral Exploitation, and his assistants. First we saw the general layout of the mine and the tanks, sluice gates and gullies used to process the ore. Dr Allan explained that the Romans used ‘ hessian and materials with a heavy pile to trap the flakes of gold, which remained behind on washing tables when the water flowed downhill.

After our packed lunch we put on miners’ helmets, complete with headlamps and batteries tied round our waists. When we were ready to descend into the Mines, we looked like a bunch of extras on the set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or How Green Was My Valley. Plung­ing bravely into the depths, we set out to explore the tunnels, vertical shafts and quartz veins of the 2000 year old mine. When we emerged two hours later, we know exactly how a slave labourer in 200 AD felt at the end of the day shift. For most of us this was probably the high­light of the weekend.

Bidding farewell to Dr Allan and the other Cardiff geologists, we returned to Danywenallt, some to bathe their blistered feet, others to experience the nearest Welsh village pub (where, when the barmaid was asked what time it closed, replied “Oh, don’t worry. The nearest policeman is in Brecon, and that’s 6 miles awayl”)

Sunday was a very full day. Peter Jones took us first to Carreg Cennen Castle, in the foothills of the Black Mountains. This late 13th c building was demolished in 1462, during the Wars of the Roses. We explored the outer ward, barbican and inner ward, and could well appreciate Peter’s statement that he never tires’of the castle and could come here every day. It certainly casts a spell, even today, because of.its spectacular location and bloody history.

An unusual feature of Carreg Cennen is the cave under the cliff face. We crawled along a vaulted passage, bent almost double, until we reached the central cave. Its purpose remains a mystery. Neither the small amount of water that collects there nor the dovecote which still exists would seem to justify building such a structure. Some years ego four human skeleton sand a horse’s tooth were found in the cave, suggesting that it was occupied.in prehistoric times.

From here we went on to Y Pigwyn camp, near Trecastle, where the Roman legion held its training camps, and the Y Gaer fort, near Brecon, ex­cavated by Sir Mortimer Wheeler in 1924-5. Here we felt the might of the Romans pressing on the small, largely rural population of Wales. As Peter put it “the Romans came here to take what they wanted – gold, slaves and food.” Largely because of Peter’s Welsh gift of speech, we carried away with us an abiding impression of a peaceful land brutally exploited by a superior military occupying force – the gold of Dolaucothi being the potent symbol of this oppression.

Our last stop was at Pen Y Crug, an Iron Age hill-fort. Standing on its summit and looking over to the twin peaks of the Brecon Deacons, we felt we were beginning to understand the turbulent history of Wales, as expressed in its enduring monuments.

This outing was the pet baby of our Treasurer, Jeremy Clynes, who ran it with patience, kindness and efficiency. The guiding spirits of HADAS outings always do their job well (see Dorothy Newbury’s tribute to them elsewhere in this Newsletter) but we were doubly grateful to Jeremy because he was also our charioteer. Like Jehu (but much more safely) he drove one minibus from London to Brecon and then around Wales (where the second minibus was driven by Peter Jones); and he did it with the flair and roadsense one might expect from an advanced motorist who is also a member of the League of Safe Drivers.

SAGA OF THE BLUE PLAQUES

It is quite a long time to be precise, three years less one month – since we first announced in the Newsletter that the Borough of Barnet had agreed to embark on a project for erecting ten Blue Plaques, to commemorate either famous people who had lived here or notable events which had taken place here. The Borough had been inspired in this undertaking by four local societies, of which HADAS was one. The others were the Finchley Society, the Mill Hill and Hendon Historical Society and the Barnet & District Local History Society.

As we haven’t mentioned this proposal again in the Newsletter since November 1978, you might be forgiven for thinking that it had died the death: but you’d be wrong. We must admit that there have moments when the HADAS Committee thought the idea was dead, so beset was it with problems and difficulties. Plodding on, however – and with strong support, for which we are deeply grateful, from the Borough Librarian, David Ruddom – the obstacles (mainly financial) have been surmounted.

The project has not emerged from all this negotiation in precisely its original form: but it is still quite recognisable. It is now planned to erect 5 Blue Plaques; and it is hoped that at least one of these, possibly more, will be ready to unveil before Christmas.

Instead of the original ceramic plaques, such as the GLC puts up, these plaques (also blue with white lettering) will be of cast aluminium, and will be made by the company which provides plaques and notices for the Department of Environment and other bodies. The ceramic plaques, had we persisted with them, had risen so greatly in price (both for the plaque and for the cost of erecting it ) that we could have put up only two for the amount granted for the original ten in 1978 (those figures, incidentally, refer to the situation as it was 18 months ago: today I suspect we might bet only about half a ceramic plaque!)

The five plaques which will go up are all in what we called our “Top Ten” choices. They are;

1. The Tudor Hall, Wood St. Barnet, which is now part of Barnet College but originally housed the Free Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth, who granted its charter in 1573.

2. Joseph Grimaldi (1779-1837),the famous clown, who lived at Fallow Corner, North Finchley. His Y. is long since demolished; it is hoped-to place the plaque on the wall of Finchley Memorial Hospital, overlooking Granville Rd final approval of this site is still awaited from the health authorities.

3. The Rev. Benjamin Waugh, who founded the NSPCC but left his mark on our area as founder and first minister of Christ Church United Reformed Church, Friern Barnet Rd, N11, where the plaque will be placed on the old Church Hall, built 1883 when Waugh was minister.

4. Thomas Collins (1735-1830), artist and craftsman, noted for his elegant ornamental plasterwork, examples of which can still be seen in his house, now Woodhouse School, Woodhouse Rd, North Finchley. The plaque will be just to them right of the main school door.

5. Sir Thomas Lipton (1850-1931), millionaire grocer and founder of the Lipton chain of shops. He was also owner of 5 successive Shamrock yachts which tried to win the Americas Cup for Britain. He lived at Osidge House, Chase Side, Southgate. The house is now a hostel. It is set back from the road, so the plaque will be placed on one of the gate-posts.

THE PHYSIC WELL, BARNET

One thing leads to another. Originally it was intended to include the Wellhouse, built to protect the Physic Well (which is, in fact, a spring) at Chipping Barnet among the five sites for commemorative

plaques. The well has been known and used certainly for over 300 years, probably even longer.

However, when the Borough Librarian and a HADAS representative toured the proposed sites to consider the positioning of plaques,it became clear that, at the moment, the Wellhouse would be unsuitable as a site for a plaque. Built in the 1930s in mock-Tudor style, with black timbering and white rendered brickwork, the clean spaces between the timber uprights must have positively invited the attention of local youth armed with spray guns. There’s hardly an inch that isn’t covered with comment, facetious, ribald or just plain silly. Strangely enough, there is no official notice to say what the building is, nor why it is of historic interest; many of those living nearby must be unaware of its associations.

HADAS decided to ask the Barnet & District Local History Society if it would take up the cause of the Wellhouse, not only in order to have the building renovated but also, if possible, to make some arrangement, after renovation, for it to be used, if only occasionally. A building which is as this appears to be – kept locked and empty for years on end can only deteriorate.

We are happy to report that as a result of our approach Mr Bill Taylor of Barnet & District Local History Society has taken the matter up with the Borough, and HADAS has written supporting him. Responsi« bility for the Welihouse is vested in the Town Clerk; and his depart­ment, we are also’happy to report, is-proving most co-operative. The Borough Librarian, too, is much concerned at the condition of the building, with its historic and literary associations.

REMEMBER OCTOBER 17

when we need your contributions, please,
and your presence, at the Minimart at

ST MARY’S CHURCH HOUSE

(top of Greyhound Hill, a few minutes walk
from Hendon Library) on Sat. Oct 17 from

11 am-3 pm .

Coffee and ploughman’s lunches. available,

HADAS publications for sale

If you have any of the following saleable goods please phone or deliver to Christine Arnott 455 2751 or Dorothy Newbury 203 0950

CAKES, JAMS, PICKLES – SWEETS – FRUIT AND VEG – GROCERIES

BRIC-A-BRAC (not large items)

TOYS.-AND. BOOKS (not magazines) STATIONERY

GOOD AS NEW PENS WOMENS -CHILDRENS CLOTHING

HOUSEHOLD LINENS

UNWANTED GIFTS – HOLIDAY MEMENTOS – TOILETRIES – JEWELLERY

An easy way would be to bring your contributions to the lecture on

October 6

STAY FOR LUNCH AND AFTERWARDS VISIT CHURCH FARM HOUSE MUSEUM OPPOSITE, TO SEE THEM EXHIBITION ON MILL HILL (reported on p4 of this Newsletter)

Next mouth we hope to publish an interesting article from HADAS member Linda Barrow, describing her “digging” holiday in Israel. Contributions from other members who have had particularly interesting holidays will be very welcome.

Newsletter 127: September 1981

HADAS CALENDAR

Extended, summer outing season: Saturday, September 26, to Bath and Lacock

As mentioned in the August newsletter, the Bath excavation and Lacock Abbey outing in July was heavily overbooked. Reaction to a re-run has been favourable and the trip IS ON, writes Dorothy Newbury. I hope members will try to make it a full coach. If you would like to join the outing please complete the enclosed application form and send it, with cheque, to me at once.

Weekend in Wales: September 11 to 13 This is fully booked with a short waiting list – but names can still be taken for last-minute cancellations.

Autumn Minimart and Get-together: Saturday October 17 at St Mary’s Church Hall, at the top of Greyhound Hill (near Church Farm House

Museum), Hendon, NW4, from 11am to 3pm. Come and have coffee or ploughman’s lunch and meet old friends and new members. 1982 is HADAS’s 21st anniversary year and as there will be special activities to mark it, we have decided to hold our fund-raising market before Christmas instead of next spring. We make an appeal to members for their contributions to our usual stalls:

Cakes, groceries and preserves

Bric-a-brac (not large items)

Good-as-new clothing

Toys and books (not magazines)

Unwanted gifts, holiday mementoes, toilet goods, etc.

Please phone or deliver to Christine Arnott, 455 2751, or Dorothy Newbury, 203 0950.

Winter programme: Here is advance notice of the pre-Christmas events – full details will be in the October newsletter.

Tuesday October 6 at Hendon Library, The Burroughs, NW4, 8pm for coffee, 8.30pm lecture. The Roman Port of London: Members will have read about, or seen on television, the Museum of London’s excavation in the Pudding Lane area of the City, now extending into Fish Street This is revealing timber structures associated with the revetments and Roman water front. There is a possibility of timber being four, which formed the northern end of the London Bridge of that time. Evidence of Roman warehouses and baths have been unearthed on the Pudding Lane site. Mr Gustav Milne, the site supervisor, is coming to talk to us on this latest Roman London discovery.

Tuesday November 3 at Hendon Library: Excavations on Guernsey 1979-81 by Dr Ian Kinnes, MA, PhD.

Tuesday December 8: Dinner at the RAF Museum, Hendon, with previewing of the Battle of Britain exhibition.

West Heath Dig: The area under threat of erosion has finally been excavated at West Heath, but there are still one or two problems needing answers in this our last season, writes Daphne Lorimer. The 1981 season started on Saturday August 29 and will continue throughout September and October, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays as well as Saturdays and Sundays. As many people as possible are wanted (beginners need have no fears as they will receive training). Do come and make 1981 as happy and successful as all the other seasons.

Calling Junior Members: Just a note to remind you that there will be a meeting for junior members at my house on Saturday, September 5, at 2.30pm, writes Bryan Hackett. At this meeting I hope we will be able to discuss what activities we would like to do. Please write to me, or telephone, if you can come. Can you also tell me Whether or not you would like to go on the walk looking for the Roman road in Mill Hill on Sunday, October 4. Please contact me at 31 Temple Fortune Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, NW11 7XL, or telephone 455 9019.

Research activities: There are meetings this month of two of the research groups, documentary and Roman, to which any interested members are invited. The documentary meeting is at 88 Temple Fortune Lane, NW11, on Thursday September 3, at 8pm. Please phone Brigid Grafton Green (455 9040) beforehand to guarantee there’s enough coffee to go round. The Roman meeting is at 13 Sunningfields Road, NW4′, on Tuesday September 29, at 8pm. There’s no need to phone Helen Gordon (203 1004) beforehand, but anyone contemplating going on the walks on October 4 or October 10 in search of Roman roads would be well advised to. The walks, she warns, are for the dedicated-as the terrain is unlikely to be rewarding.

EVENTS ELSEWHERE

The current exhibition at Church Farm House Museum, Greyhound Hill, NW4, is titled Mill Hill – Our Village, our Suburb and has been organised in conjunction with the Mill Hill and Hendon Historical Society. It traces the development of Mill Hill from early times to the present day, with emphasis on important buildings and institutions and prominent’ people who have lived in the district.

HADAS members are invited to a lecture organised by the Anglo-Israel Friendship League of Finchley at Avenue House, East End Road, N3, on Tuesday September 8 at 8pm. The sepaker is Mr Alexander Kinder, chairman of the Nautical Archaeological Society and an eminent under­water archaeologist, and his subject is An Underwater Archaeologist in Israel.

The University of Leeds is running a weekend course, on September 11 to 13, on New Work on the History of Mining and Ironworking in North East England; The CBA Group 7 (Essex, Herts and Cambs) annual general meeting and conference on Saturday October 3, in Cambridge, has the Stone Age as its central subject; and the ninth York Archeological Weekend, organised by the University of Leeds and the York Archaeological Trust, on November 20-22, has as its subject the Great Cities of Medieval Britain. For more details of any of these, contact this month’s newsletter editor, Liz Sagues, 868 8431.

ARCHAEOLOGY IN WINTER, Part two:

There are more courses which may interest members, following on from last month’s listings.

Among local WEA classes are: GOLDERS GREEN: Roman Archaeology (Thursdays, 8pm to 10pm, Unitarian Church Hall, Hoop Lane, NW11, from September 24) and London Life and London Buildings (Mondays, 8pm to 10pm, 44 Rotherwick Road, NW11, from September 21). Fees for 24 lectures £14.50 (pensioners £10.50). More details from Mrs F. Michaelson, 452 8850.

MILL HILL AND EDGWARE: Geology, a practical approach (Wednesdays, 8pm to 10pm, Mill Hill Public School, The Ridgeway, NW7, from September 30), The Drama and The State in Ancient Greece (Mondays, 8pm to l0pm, Edgware Library, Hale Lane, from September 28) and Regency to Edwardian Houses and Interiors (Tuesdays, 10.30am to 12.30pm, Primary Hall, Union Church, Mill Hill Broadway, from Sep­tember 29). Fees for 24 meetings £15. More details from Peggy Davies, 959 3505.

THE BARNETS: Local History (Fridays, 8pm, Wimbush House, Westbury Road; N12, from October 2, 12 meetings), London Life and London Buildings (Thursdays, 8pm, South Friern Library, Colney Hatch Lane, N10, from September 24), The” Beauty of old Churches , Queen Elizabeth’s Girls School, Meadway, Barnet, from September 21), Ancient Egypt – Religion, Gods and Myths (Thursdays, 10am, Assembly Rooms, 1st floor, 321 Colney Hatch Lane, N11, from September 24) and Britain in the Roman Empire (Fridays, 10am, Owens A.E. Centre, by 60 Chandos Avenue, N20, from September 25 – lecturer Tony Rook). Fees for 12 meetings £8.25, 24 meetings £16.50 or £15, reductions in all cases for pensioners. For more details phone Mrs S. Neville (Barnet) 449 6682, Miss E.F. Pearca, (Finchley) 446 2143, or Mr J. White (Friern Barnet) 368 6612.

HENDON: Nineveh and Babylon in Biblical Times (Wednesdays, 7.30pm’ to 9.30pm, Hendon Library, from 30 September). Pee £15. For more details ring Helen Adam 202 7961.

The NORTH LONDON POLYTECHNIC is running two short courses, plus a geology workshop, before Christmas. London’s Parks And Gardens is on Wednesdays, 2pm to 4pm, from November 4 to December 9; An Appreciation of the National Parks of England and Wales is also on Wednesdays, 6.30pm to 8.30pm, same dates; and the Geology Workshop, also Wednesdays, 6.30pm to 8.30pm, from October 7 to December 9. Fees for the courses are £10, for the workshop £16. For more information ring the poly’s Department of Geography and Geology, 607 2789.

The CITY UNIVERSITY is also planning to repeat its two courses on Surveying and Photogrammetry for Archaeologists this autumn. Phone N.E. Lindsey of the Department of Civil Engineering, 253 4399, for more details.

ROMAN EXHIBITION

Members of the Roman Research Group staged a week-long exhibition last month at Grahame Park comprehensive school’s Centre Point community centre, on the theme of Where did the Romans Live? It attracted a good deal of interest but did not, as its organisers had hoped, bring to light any back-garden finds of Roman material,

NORTHAMPTON AND AROUND

Julia Rawlings and Robert Michel report on the August outing

Another day damned bright and clear for the August HADAS outing, and some 45 members set out to explore the historical delights of Northampton and surrounding area.

Roy Friendship-Taylor met us at Piddington and led us to the site of a large Roman villa on which he and his friends from the Upper Nene Archaeological Society are currently engaged. Work has been going on for approximately 2½ years following the rediscovery of the site by a metal detector wielded by the local vicar. While much damage has been caused by treasure hunters and farming methods, there is still a great deal to be learnt from the site.

A vast quantity of tessera has been collected and many pieces are of good quality and are in various colours. Plaster fragments have also been found and are thought to have come mainly from decorated ceilings in the villa. Roman roof tile fragments abound, and all these finds are useful in dating the levels, as so far relatively little other material has come to light.

The villa was probably started in about AD 100 and it covers an ex­tensive area some distance from the parameters of the current exca­vation. The number of rooms with evidence of a heating system leads us to suppose that this must once have been a particularly grand villa. Perhaps one of the most interesting features is a corridor floor with tiles set herringbone fashion in alternating bands of yellow and red, and the quality of this floor strengthens Mr Friendship-Taylor’s opinion of the importance of this villa.

With the decline of the Roman Empire, the villa was used variously as a store for domestic goods and as an industrial site.

Next on the programme was the Eleanor Cross on the outskirts of Northampton. This is one of the three remaining original crosses and it is such a pity that monuments like this prove so popular with the “Fred was ‘ere” brigade. Nevertheless, Edward I’s engaging memorial to his dead wife was enthusiastically recorded by HADAS photographers who expertly times their masterpieces to coincide with the occasional gaps in the traffic.

Hunsbury Hill Fort, sadly overgrown, must have presented a stiff challenge to the average member’s imagination. The task was not an easy one: it was necessary to sweep away the undergrowth, fell the circle of dense trees and banish the adjacent picnic tables to reveal an early Iron Age single ditch and bank hill fort, badly damaged by 19th century ironstone quarrying.

In Northampton, members were free to wander as they pleased. Ted Sammes’ annotated maps identified Northampton’s attractions: the Leathercraft Museum, the Central Museum, the rare, round church of the Holy Sepulchre – we seemed spoilt for choice. We, ourselves, elected to visit the round church, which proved a fascinating mixture of ecclesiastical architecture of all ages.

Assembly in the Co-op restaurant for tea brought together a selec­tion of church and museum guides as well as second-hand books and other shopping – testimony to the many and varied interests of the members and evidence of how much could be achieved by so few in so short a time.

Grateful thanks are due to our leader for the day, Ted Sammes, and to Dorothy Newbury and the other people without whom the day would not have been the sweltering success it was.

A SMALL BOY’S RECOLLECTIONS OF THE START OF HENDON AERODROME

As an appetiser to Bill Firth’s report of the HADAS visit to Hendon Aerodrome as it is now – delayed for approval by the RAF authorities – we print an account of the aerodrome’s earlier days. It comes from Mr George Johnston, who some weeks ago wrote to the local paper from his home in the country saying he remembered the development of the aerodrome. HADAS wrote and asked Mr Johnston to put his memories on paper – and this is the result.

I was born in 1903 at Priory Hill, 63 Sunny Gardens, and the family moved in 1907 to St Ann’s, Sunningfields Road. At that time there was a field in Sunningfield Road which overlooked the Midland Railway and the land that was to become the aerodrome. It was used as a playground by the local boys to whom it was known as Hepple’s field after Miss Hepple who ran a small girls’ school in the road and where the girls played hockey. The field became allotments at the beginning of the 1914-18 war and has now been built over.

It was also possible to see the aerodrome from the gardens of St Ann’s but more especially from the “house in the tree”, a wooden building constructed around a large tree. The building had a proper staircase, was some 10 feet by 8 feet by 8 feet high and was some. 15 feet above ground.

It was from these three spots that I was able to see the development of the aerodrome.

Until the building of hangars for the planes started the site was fields and quite rural. The land was farmed by a Mr Dunlop and was part of Church Farm. He and my father used to go partridge shooting over it every September. Later on each winter there used to be meetings of the drag hounds at The Greyhound. The run was across the fields to Mill Hill and back on the west side of the railway to their original starting point.

The fact that Church Farm had a 40 acre field although it was not entirely clear of trees brought flying to Hendon. It had in fact a few oaks and on the north western edge there was a spinney with a small pond.

I cannot be certain which was the first plane to come to Hendon. It may well have been Louis Paulham’s Farman or it might have been a Bleriot belonging to Messrs Everitt and Edgecomb, an electrical engineering firm whose factory was in Colindale and where my brother Rutherford worked in 1915 for l¼ (old money) an hour. The chances are that the first plane to fly was Paulham’s Farman. In 1910 it was entered for the Daily Mail £10,000 prize for the first person to fly from London to Manchester. After waiting all morning in Hepple’s field I saw it take off in mid afternoon.

It set off in the direction of Hampstead as Hendon was not considered part of London. Then it came back and set off on its way. It had to land once but took off again and late in the evening landed at Manchester.

The only other competitor was Claude Grahame White. As soon as he heard that Louis Paulham had taken off he too started and although he tried to fly guided by car headlights he had to land and did not reach Manchester until the next morning, by train.

rom that time onwards, thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of Grahame White and supported by handsome prizes presented by the Daily Mail, the aerodrome made good progress.

In 1911 there was a round Great Britain competition. The race started from Brooklands on Saturday and the planes were due to reach Hendon in the afternoon. The Daily Mail recommended to onlookers to go into the churchyard of St Mary’s and this they did in their thousands. They then spread into Sunningfields Park or fields as it then was. It was an exceptionally hot day, with little breeze. As we were looking over the garden fence someone asked if we could give them a glass of water as they felt very faint. Immediately we were besieged with people so much that jugs of water were insufficient and we had to lay on a garden hose to satisfy the demand.

The competitors had to take off at dawn on the Sunday and as it was a perfect summer’s night hundreds of people camped out in the fields ready for the morning flight. The noise of laughing and shouting was devastatingly increased by the sound of a one-string fiddle being played as it was on this and every Saturday by someone on Greyhound Hill. So disturbing was the uproar that the police were contacted, only to get the reply: “They are passing the police station (then in Brent Street) in droves.”

During the three years before the war the number and types of planes using the aerodrome increased greatly. There were Henri Farmans, Maurice Farmans with their large front elevators, Deper-dussins, Valkyries, a monoplane with a front elevator, a main plane with a propellor behind it and a tail plane with two rudders. This plane was designed by two enthusiasts, Barber and Prentice, who afterwards built the Viking. This was probably the first bi­plane with two pulling propellors driven by chains from a centrally placed engine. It was not a very great success but it started a style which was to lead to considerable developments.

Then there were Grahame Whites, Bleriots, Caudrons made in France, and occasionally S.F. Cody would fly his heavy biplane over from Farnborough.

After a year or two displays of night flying became common on summer Saturday nights. The planes, lit by a row of electric lights on their wings, flew around the aerodrome about 200-300 feet off the ground.

Another event in 1911 was the first aerial post from Hendon to Windsor. This went on for a week, the planes taking off every day carrying the mail. It was more of a curiosity than serving any useful purpose. Still, everything has to have a start. The week was not without its excitements as one plane, a Maurice Farman, could not reach the aerodrome on its return flight and had to land in a field next to the present Sunningfields Park. After some servicing it was able to get back to its starting place.

In the 12 months before the war a Frenchman called Pegout had looped the loop in France. The first man to do so at Hendon was, I think, B.C. Hucks. Another celebrated pilot was Gustav Hamel and he flew often from Hendon.

In the early weeks of the war he disappeared on his way back from France. No-one knew what happened to him. One suggestion, probably correct, was that his plane landed in the Channel, the other was that he was a German spy and had gone home when things got too hot in this country.

Text Box: 4.All during the years the aerodrome had been developing flying schools had been increasing and more and more pilots had been turned out. When the war’started-there was. a. tendency for civilians to be re- placed by Army and Navy officers and later, of course, by the Royal Flying Corps.This. andother wartime activities lead to more flying, especially during the week and as my generation of boys grew up there was less timet to devote to watching planes and :our general interest in. what was., happening on the other side of the old Midland Railway declined.

It was once more stimulated when in about 1915 a Zeppelin dropped some bombs one night in the fields close to the Silkstream and one actually in the aerodrome near to the railway line.

POTTED HISTORY

Members who have followed-the excavations by Harvey Sheldon and Tony Brown of the Roman pottery production site in Highgate Wood will be happy to know that some of the fruits of their labours will soon be permanently on display locally.

One of the five kilns they uncovered has been presented to the Bruce Castle Museum in Tottenham on permanent loan and work has just finished on restoring it – after being split into sections for removal it was, in the words of museum curator Claire Tartan, “in a slightly fragmentary condition”.

Now she and her colleagues are working on the display of which the kiln will be a principal feature. They’re preparing background material and waiting for more examples of the Highgate Wood pottery – still being studied prior to publication of the final report on the site-. but hope all will be ready early in the new year,

Meanwhile, the museum is happy to show the kiln to specialists, keen amateurs or organised groups. But make arrangements first, by writing to the museum, in Bruce Grove ,N17,.or phoning 808 8772.

BOOKSHELF

Brigid Grafton Green reviews Ancient Agricultural Implements by Sian E. Rees (Shire archaeology,£1.95)

Shire Publications has recently added three titles to its archaeology list, and this is one of them. The book opens by stating that-“by-the end of the-Roman period in Britain all the agricultural implements that were used in Britain until the industrial revolution had been invented”. There were, it continues, improvements – but by 400 AD the basic shape of each implement had been developed.

The author then. takes the three main areas of agriculture – preparation of soil and ploughing, care of the crop during growth and harvest — and describes, in a short text, the evolution of tools in these three departments during the prehistoric and Roman times.

After some 25, pages of text come eight pages of photos and some 30 pages of figures, showing ards, coulters, yokes, hoes, mattocks, spades, sickles, bill-hooks, scythes and rakes.