Reminder: Our Annual General Meeting could not take place in June due, of course, to the coronavirus situation and we still do not know when it will be possible to arrange another date. Meanwhile, the committee remains in place. There will also be no Tuesday lectures until further notice. However, the monthly Newsletters should continue as usual.
Your Newsletter needs YOU
This is your
newsletter – it is for you and about you, your interests and your Society. In
the last twelve years, many members have volunteered to write-up parts of our Autumn
trips, giving interesting and varied material for newsletters over the winter
months. This year, it will not happen, nor do we have any lecture write-ups, so
we have gaps to fill.
You can help put this
right by sending in your articles about places or things of interest.
The editor of the next newsletter is always shown at the end of the last page. You can send things to them, or to Jim Nelhams (jim_nelhams@hotmail.com). If you need a little help, you can talk to Jim on 020 8449 7076.
Hendon & District Archaeological Society Finds GroupCourse Tutor: Jacqui Pearce BA FSA MCIfA
A 22-week course in post-excavation analysis to be held at Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE on Wednesday evenings, 6.30–8.30, starting on 7th October 2020
make cheques payable to
HADAS and send to Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet EN5 5HS.
Reopening
As the lockdown is
loosened, places are gradually re-opening though with appropriate precautions.
At this time, you may be unwilling to travel on public transport, but there are
some places you can reach by car, and you can start planning future trips.
All the following
museums/galleries appear to be open but check because the situation may change.
Foundling Museum
London
Transport Museum’s Depot in Acton will reopen for visitors to explore for its
first ever summer season! This trove of transport treasures will now be open
for 10-days of summer family fun from Wednesday 19 to Sunday 23 and Wednesday
26 to Sunday 30 August 2020. (The main museum in Covent Garden remains closed.)
Museum of London
Museum of Docklands
National Army Museum,
National Gallery
Natural History Museum
(closed Bank Holiday 31st August)
Royal Academy
Science Museum from 19th
August.
Tate Britain and Tate
Modern
Victoria and Albert (selected galleries open from 6th August)
Most of these will have one way systems and may need to be pre-booked and will not have any catering facilities available – so you may need to take your own food.
Most
gardens are now open, and houses are being added to the open list.
Epping Ongar
Railway
Getting Back on Track – Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and
Bank Holiday Monday in August
Take a scenic ride through the Essex countryside and into the ancient Epping Forest on board our diesel multiple unit, which offers panoramic views. See how much wildlife you can spot, and if it’s sunny you might be able to get a great view over London as you pass over what was formerly the highest point on the London Underground network! (Bookings needed)
From their
website – “The Museum of London is on the
move. We want to tell the extraordinary story of London and Londoners in a new
museum in West Smithfield, which is itself a deeply fascinating and historic
area.
We want to engage Londoners and visitors with their city and its history, giving them the means to participate as citizens in all sorts of new ways. We want to display many more objects in a more meaningful way.”
The
new museum site, which will be nestled in London’s potentially transformational
Culture Mile development, has been conceived as a way to attract new audiences
and connect a greater number of visitors with the institution’s London
Collection.
Planning approval comes four years into the project, with work to this point having been led by Museum of London’s design team, architects Stanton Williams and Asif Khan, and conservation architect Julian Harrap. The local community, museum visitors and London residents have been consulted at every stage as the plans were formulated.
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Excavations at Clitterhouse Farm, Cricklewood by HADAS in 2019 (Part 9) Bill Bass and Melvyn Dresner
This is a collection of photos from the excavation mostly by Melvyn, please see Newsletter June 2020 (591) for the full report, the dig took place August 2019.
HADAS hard at work in what were very hot conditions, some form of community filming is also in progress. We are looking north. The car park is beyond the blue hoarding. This shows most of the excavation area.
Again looking north, the dig is to the right between the building with the chimney and the building beyond which is ‘Farm Cottage’. This we speculate is an entrance to the older medieval farm complex.
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The dig is in the middle with ‘Farm Cottage’ left, the area is being redeveloped into a permanent cafe and studio spaces (in the right hand building) for the Clitterhouse Farm Project.
Here we are looking west, the structure to the right is the ‘New Farmhouse’ which faces on to Claremont Road, now a private residence.
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The remains of the hard standing feature 003, after being lifted, the cobbles and flagstones were saved for reuse by the farm project.
This photo taken from the car-park looks west into the first area we dug in 2015, now a flourishing community garden by the Clitterhouse Farm Project.
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Looks like a stage-setting – ‘Poor Yorick I knew him well’….
Both the above photos show the C&H Hackwood impressed foot rim of Transfer Printed Ware, mid 19th century. Context 014 (Photos BB).
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Left: Delft wall tile from context 017, c 18th century (Photo BB). Right: Selection of pottery including stoneware and Transfer Printed Ware. (Photo BB).
Looking west, the hoarding fronts the excavation area, to the left the building will be used for new studio spaces, in front the late lamented dig van (Photo MD).
Dr Brian Robertson Jim Nelhams
Always nice to hear
information about past members.
Earlier this month,
our Secretary received an email from Dr Brian Robertson OStJ, TD, MICPEM. Dr
Robertson explained that he had stumbled across our website while looking for
something else related to Hendon. A past
HADAS member, he had noticed that the 1964 excavation at Church End Farm,
Hendon was not included in the list of past excavations. (Omission now
rectified).
The various digs at the Church End Farm site are documented in “The Last Hendon Farm” published by HADAS. Copies of this are available through Don Cooper (contact information on back page of newsletter) and a copy has been sent to Dr Robertson. The first, in 1961, was directed by Ian Robertson, brother of Brian, Their father was an Army officer.
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Ian held a number of
posts, ending as Director of the National Army Museum in Chelsea. He also
served as an infantry officer in the Territorial Army, serving in the 7th
Middlesex Regiment, and later the 4/5th Essex Regiment. He died in
2003. He also had an interest in postal history and served on the Post Office
Heritage Board.
Brian also shared
interests in both archaeology and postal history. He directed the digs in
Hendon in 1964 and 1966, though archaeology was not be to his career. He has
kindly sent us copies of publications covering some of his archaeological work,
including one on what he describes as his major personal piece of work, “The
Investigation and Excavation of Roman Road No. 167 in Copthall Fields”. These
will be added to our library at Avenue House.
In 1970, he moved to
Medical School, subsequently joining the Army and serving abroad in British
Army on the Rhine. He was Squadron Commander of the Ambulance Train Squadron, Royal
Army Medical Corps(V) between 1985 and 1994, responsible for ten such trains.
He is documented as recently lecturing to the Forces Postal History Society on the subject of Ambulance and Hospital Trains, going back as early as the Crimean War in 1855. Sounds like an interesting topic.
Down the Tubes at Christ’s Hospital. Jim Nelhams
“Down the Tubes” has
different meanings for different people, but for pupils and alumni of Christ’s
Hospital, it particularly refers to a series of underground tunnels linking all
of the 16 main boarding houses and most of the other major buildings which make
up the school.
Christ’s Hospital was
founded in 1552 and granted a Royal Charter by Edward VI in the following year
with St Thomas’ Hospital and Bridewell Hospital and was on the north side of
Cheapside in the City of London, initially occupying the disestablished
Greyfriars Monastery.
When St Thomas’ moved
in Victorian times to new buildings in Lambeth, opposite the Houses of
Parliament, the architects took into account the “pavilion principle” espoused
by Florence Nightingale in her “Notes on Nursing”. This meant that the hospital
was built in 6 blocks 125 feet (38m) apart and joined by low level tunnels.
This was intended to improve overall ventilation and to separate and segregate
patients with infectious disease.
In 1902, the school moved to a new location two miles south of Horsham in North Sussex, with new appropriately designed buildings. To each side of the main school buildings runs an avenue some half mile long, on the north side of which stand the eight main boarding blocks, each containing two boarding houses. These are appropriately spaced following the example of St Thomas’ and are all joined by underground tunnels. The tunnels also lead to nearly all of the main school buildings from that era. When I was there, these could be used to reach the Dining Hall, Chapel or Classrooms in inclement weather. During WW2, they also served as air raid shelters.
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The Dining hall (No. 18 on map – top centre)
When asbestos was discovered in the tunnels, most of them were closed off while it was removed and they are still officially inaccessible to pupils.
Christ’s Hospital map showing tunnel system.
10
The tunnels still
serve as the main service ducts throughout the school, carrying water gas and
electricity cables and more recently, internet connections. This saves a large sum
of money since repairs can be made without the need for any digging from the
surface. At one time, the water supply came from the school’s own underground
reservoir on a nearby hill. Connecting tunnels also led to the school
infirmary, and a longer one to the boiler house which provided hot water and
heating to all the buildings, with a short extension to nearly reach the school’s
railway station.
Last year, we
discovered that Stewart Wild’s father-in-law had been head boy (“Senior
Grecian”) at the school and I was able to obtain some information about him
from the school’s museum and archive. When a chance occurred, Jo and I took
Stewart to visit the school. Knowing that Stewart was a member of Subterranea
Britannica (Sub Brit), an organisation dedicated to things underground, we told
him about the tunnels and watched his eyes light up. We also gave him a contact
at the school.
While tours are not
normally available, the reputation of Sub Brit enabled them to arrange a
special group tour which took place earlier this year in the February half-term
break. Our group of 6, plus two members of the school’s museum staff who had never
been down the tunnels, was conducted through parts the system by Building
Maintenance Manager Neil Manning for two and a half hours, during which time,
we travelled about one mile underground, but had seen less than half of the
network. The trip was written up with many pictures in Sub Brit’s, April
edition of their magazine occupying nearly 6 pages with a picture on the front
cover.
It was very revealing to see what services are needed to run a large boarding school of some 850 pupils.
Weekly News Sheets
The weekly news sheets have been
discontinued. These were intended to pass on tips for use during the lockdown.
For reasons of cost, they were not posted to people for whom we had no email
address on file.
The news sheets included a number of Lockdown Jimericks including some of the following:
Reminder: Our Annual General Meeting could not take place in June due, of course, to the corona virus situation and we still do not know when it will be possible to arrange another date. Meanwhile, the committee remains in place. There will also be no Tuesday lectures until further notice. However, the monthly Newsletters should continue as usual, as well as Jim Nelhams’s regular informative, enjoyable and sometimes mind-stretching updates. These separate news sheets are only being emailed. If you are not getting a copy, please email Jim, address on back page.
Curing the Plague Peter Pickering
Our Prime Minister is known to be keen on Latin. I
wonder if he is modelling himself on the emperor Titus (one of the few who have
had a good press). Faced with a plague Titus, according to his biographer
Suetonius, “did not refrain from any means, human or divine, for
restoring health and alleviating sickness, trying every medicine and every kind
of sacrifice.”
Whether he was successful or not in these efforts is not recorded.
Council for British Archaeology Sue Willetts
The annual Council of British
Archaeology festival normally takes place in July and this year there will be
digital events from 11-19 July and, if it proves possible, a further week of
events on the ground from 24 October to 1 November 2020. The theme is Climate
and Environment.
Events posted so far include: Two online tours of Roman London (11th July and 15th July); Archaeology from home with Emma Cunliffe using space technology (13th July); The campaigns of Septimius Severus in the far north of Britain (14th July). Their website is https://festival.archaeologyuk.org
Other Societies’ and Institutions’ Events
This section is temporarily cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. However overleaf is the announcement from Don Cooper of HADAS’s very own offering: the next Finds in Focus course, run by Jacqui Pearce.
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The Next Finds in Focus Course Don Cooper
Hendon & District Archaeological
Society Finds Group
Course Tutor: Jacqui Pearce BA FSA MCIfA
A 22-week course in post-excavation analysis to be held at Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE on Wednesday evenings, 6.30–8.30, starting on 7th October 2020
This year we will be focusing on recording the finds
from an excavation carried out by Birkbeck College in 2001 that has not been
published. We are aiming to identify,
record, rebag and re-label all the finds including Pottery, Glass and Clay Pipe
to Museum of London standards. Regular presentations and professional tuition
will be provided throughout the course. This is an ideal opportunity to gain –
or increase – your experience of working with and handling a wide variety of
archaeological finds. Teaching sessions on the various types of finds will be
complemented by practical handling and recording sessions. Our aims are to
introduce the various types of finds and provide hands-on opportunities to
become more familiar with post-excavation procedures.
All are welcome – it doesn’t matter whether or not you
have experience of working with archaeological finds!
Course fee: £295 for 22 sessions. To book, contact Don Cooper (olddormouse@hotmail.com; tel. 020 8440 4350) or Jacqui Pearce (pearcejacqui@gmail.com; tel. 020 8203 4506). Please make cheques payable to HADAS and send to Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet, EN5 5HS.
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ON THE FRINGE – WEST HENDON PLAYING FIELDS Andy Simpson
Under the current coronavirus restrictions, I have since
April 2020 taken a number of my permitted exercise walks around West Hendon
Playing Fields, shown in Figure 1, a convenient 10-minute walk from my
flat.
These very pleasant 62-acre playing fields are just within Barnet Borough. Directly adjacent is the Silver Jubilee Park,which houses Hendon FC at its southern end. This is in Kingsbury which is part of Brent. Both appear to have a significant history which may well be worth investigating further, particularly as the playing fields are due for updating, and some ground works under a new Barnet Council scheme were approved early in 2020 following public consultation.
The Borough boundary between Barnet and Brent isalso a long-standing field boundary, marked by the substantial north-south hedge line that divides the playing fields from the park. As summarised below, the site does have some history. To the south it includes Cool Oak Lane, referred to as Cold Duck Lane on some early maps, which divides the playing fields from the main area of the Welsh Harp (Brent) Reservoir. The reservoir was originally just a feeder from the River Brent at Kingsbury dug in 1809/10 when the Grand Junction Canal Co. needed water for their canal at Lower Place, Willesden.
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In 1833 the Regent’s Canal Company decided to build the
reservoir to supply the Paddington Canal at Harlesden, which opened in 1838.
They did this by building a dam at Kingsbury to form the reservoir in 1835-39
using the existing feeder.
Late Bronze Age
‘cinerary urns of the Ashford type’ were found on the Kingsbury side of the Welsh
Harp/Brent Reservoir around 1930 at grid reference NGR TQ218872 and, during
lowering of the water level and strengthening of the banks of the reservoir in
1974, members of the Wembley Historical Society found a copper as of Constantius II who reigned from
AD337-361. (The as is a coin worth a
quarter sestertius).
The playing fields and the neighbouring Silver Jubilee Park
run roughly parallel with the Edgware Road, bounded in the north by the
east-west Kingsbury Road, close to where it joins the Edgware Road in
Colindale. It is here that our friends
the Romans enter the scene – much of the western border of Hendon being, since
the time of the Medieval Parish of Hendon, formed by the line of the Roman Road
from London to Verulamium and the Midlands, later named Watling Street in Saxon
times and today called the Edgware Road, except in the area of West Hendon with
part of the Welsh Harp and the Cool Oak area where there is a pronounced
‘bulge’ to the west away from the line of the road.
Sherds of Roman pottery were apparently found at the site of
the former Hendon Isolation Hospital in Goldsmith Avenue, south of the
Kingsbury Road, which is close to the Edgware Road and runs down towards Fryent
Fields and the north end of the West Hendon Playing Fields – at grid reference
TQ 213884; HER ref 081917. They were actually reported by Ian Robertson of the
Passmore Edwards Museum and a HADAS member who directed the HADAS excavation at
Church Farm.
The former isolation hospital, latterly a
geriatric hospital by 1970, was built in 1929 , expanded by 1940, but
demolished in 1984 and replaced by housing; see
http://www.ezitis.myzen.co.uk/hendonisolation.html
In Domesday book the whole Parish of Hendon was in the Hundred of Gore, held by Westminster Abbey, the boundaries seemingly largely fixed by the late 10th century. Hugh Petrie, in Hendon & Golders Green Past, and the Victoria County History (VCH) volume on Middlesex record that from 1442 All Souls College, Oxford, owned considerable amounts of land in Hendon, Edgware and Kingsbury, in scattered parcels giving a total of 224acres.
West Hendon Playing Fields were originally part of an estate
given to the Knights Templar in 1243, passing to St Pauls Cathedral in 1544,
the 110 acre estate being leased to the Duke of Chandos and his descendants in
the 18th Century. In 1872 it was vested in the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners and most of it was sold to Hendon U.D.C in 1919 for use as the
West Hendon Playing Fields and park.
On the 1896 one-inch OS Map the general area south of Kingsbury Road is marked as Townsend; today the western edge of the Silver Jubilee playing fields is bounded by Townsend Lane. Open country still stretched south from West Hendon to Cricklewood railway sidings in 1914, while the badly drained ground on the Kingsbury border never attracted housing. Latterly known as Reets Farm, producing hay for the London market by 1894, the playing fields area became Kingsbury Lane Playing Fields after the sale to Hendon Council in 1919. Since 1924 it has been called West Hendon Playing Fields. As noted in the Middlesex VCH, in 1932 Hendon Borough Council owned 793½ acres of open spaces in Hendon and Edgware including Moat Mount open space (67 a.), Arrandene Park (57 a.),
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Watling Park
(46 a.), Montrose Playing Fields (30 a.), Copthall Park (146 a.), West Hendon
Playing Fields (62 a.), Woodfield Park (40 a.) and Clitterhouse Playing Fields
(50 a.).
Shown on the 1873 6-inch
Ordnance Survey map under its earlier name of Rise Farm, https://maps.nls.uk/view/102345949 Reets farm is shown on the 6-inch OS map for
1897 https://maps.nls.uk/view/101454874sitting just below the sloping 200ft
contour line. By 1935-6
when the map was revised on the eve of sale of the land to Wembley U.D.C as
Silver Jubilee Park, it had been demolished and the site cleared.
The Reets
Farmhouse and outbuildings still survived amongst trees in 1929, with post-1912
allotment gardens between it and the Kingsbury Road in the area near the top of
what is now the Silver Jubilee Park playing fields, and its former farmland
area was occupied by the park, West Hendon Playing Fields, a nursery and allotment gardens. See https://www.british–history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol5/pp11–16
The farm is commemorated by a street name, Reets Farm Close, near Goldsmith Avenue and the junction
of Kingsbury Road and Edgware Road.
Fig.2 View of site of Reets Farm, up-slope towards Kingsbury Road
For a view of Reets Farm see image at Barnet archives web page.
Today the West Hendon Playing Fields remain a public park with several football pitches forming a large grassed area and with scattered mature trees.
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There are two quite marked hedge lines – one of them running
north-south dividing West Hendon Playing Fields from Silver Jubilee Park and
forming the Borough boundary, the other an east-west ditch, bank and tree line
at the northern end which may be of some age, dividing the site in two. Both
are clearly shown on the Ordnance Survey first edition 6-inch map of 1873 with
no other hedge lines at that point crossing what is now the park. The eastern
boundary of what is now the playing fields was formed by the Edgware Road on
the 1873 map.
Rocque’s 1756 map of Middlesex appears to show the same
hedge lines/boundaries; at this time the area was held by St Paul’s Cathedral
and All Souls College.
In the West Hendon fields there is a distinct rectangular area at the NW corner, bounded by the above mentioned hedge lines. At the northern end of this field the dry weather of May 2020 revealed a very distinct east-west parch mark showing as a slightly raised bank on the ground. It appears to be a former roadway of unclear date that runs from a northern pedestrian entrance to the park and terminates at the north-south hedge line.
Fig. 3 View north, with east-west hedge line meeting north-south borough boundary, with site of Reets Farm visible on slope through gap in hedge
There is a pleasant area of woodland at the southern and eastern edges of the playing fields. There are also two tennis courts, several football pitches, a children’s playground, a private bowls club, and a car park.
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The Eastern boundary of the playing fields is formed by the
northern arm of the Brent Reservoir up to the Edgware Road where it narrows to
become the course of the Silk Stream.
The reservoir was enlarged between 1851 and 1853, though
part of the northern arm reaching north-east of the Edgware Road was reclaimed
when the stream under the road was culverted in 1921.
The area at TQ21487 (Cool Oak Lane) was the
site of landfill – recorded in data from the British Geological Survey supplied
to the Environment Agency. It is not known whether this site was made or worked
land, and the date of the infill is unknown, although all finds were of 19th/20th
century date, suggesting it was part of this work. https://edithsstreets.blogspot.com/2012/12/silk–stream–west–hendon.html .
During the London Blitz September 1940-June 1941, the area
of the playing fields was hit by at least three high explosive bombs near
Fryent Grove and Goldsmith Avenue, and on the western side there is a heavily
disturbed area of ground with one or more possible bomb craters still visible on the ground, with at least
one more hitting the Silver Jubilee Playing Fields– see http://bombsight.org/explore/greaterlondon/barnet/west–hendon/
Former Royal Air Force Museum colleague Christopher Herbert
suggests that the bombs that hit the playing fields were intended for the AA
battery located in the adjacent Silver Jubilee Park to defend the nearby LMS
railway marshalling yards at Cricklewood.
The first bombs hit the outskirts of the Hendon area on 5
September 1940, with the nearby Hendon airfield and its environs being bombed
on 24-25 September and the nights of 7-8 October and 8 November, with sporadic
raids on the area until the Spring of 1941.
This latest version of the report includes some changes made
after the public consultation with various conservation bodies. It is intended
to install two artificial turf pitches at the southern end of the site which
may impact on any surviving archaeological features such as earlier field
boundaries.
In neighbouring Kingsbury by 1965 there were 262 acres of open space, most of which,
having also been part of the medieval Hundred of Gore, had also been acquired
from All Souls College, Oxford. The college sold the land forming Silver
Jubilee Park (36 acres) to Wembley U.D.C. in 1936 and Fryent open space (160
acres) to Middlesex County Council in 1938. Roe Green Park (20 acres) had been
acquired in 1934.
For a description of the hourglass-shaped Silver Jubilee Park see:
http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.php?ID=BRE033 Grid ref TQ209881. It is bounded to the north by the Kingsbury Road, to the west by the hedge line separating it from the West Hendon Playing Fields, and to the East by Townsend Lane, which, as with the northern part of the park, rises steeply towards its junction with the Kingsbury Road, the boundary here being a modern hedge line.
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Rather more recent is the site of the Second World War heavy
anti-aircraft battery located in the park, recorded in the 1990s CBA Defence of
Britain survey; heavy anti-aircraft battery ZW14 at Silver Jubilee Park, West
Hendon, was listed as armed in 1940-2. It was manned by 370 Battery of the
117th Royal Artillery Regiment in 1943. In 1946 it was retained as a Nucleus
Force Headquarters Battery.
The earliest date upon which the site is listed as present
within the sources is Feb 1940 and the latest 15 Jan 1946. The site was
unarmed/manning vacant in 1940; Regiment 71, Battery 325 on 30 July 1942;
Regiment 137 (mixed), Battery 476 on 9 Dec 1943. NGR ref TQ211881.
❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖
With many thanks to
this month’s contributors:
Don Cooper, Peter Pickering, Andy Simpson and Sue Willetts
Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman Don Cooper 59, Potters Road, Barnet, Herts EN5 5HS
The Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 9 June 2020 will not now take place due to the situation created by the coronavirus. At the present time we do not know when it will be possible to arrange another date. There will also be no Tuesday lectures until further notice. The monthly Newsletters should continue as usual. Keep well and safe until we meet again.
Layers of London Melvyn Dresner
Adam Corsini, of the Layers of London project https://www.layersoflondon.org/ gave a talk for HADAS on 10th March 2020, provided members with a practical session on how members can contribute and use this great resource. This website was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and brings together an amazing set of historic maps, and databases useful to anyone interested in the archaeology and history of London. You can add to data by contributing existing projects or can initiate your own. You can explore the map or the collections. The website allows users to overlay maps and data from different sources and periods, varying the order and fade. Datasets include the Archaeology of Greater London; London’s Archaeological Investigations 1972 – 2017 and Historic Environment Record.
Excavations at Clitterhouse Farm, Cricklewood by HADAS in 2019 (Part 8, Investigations beneath the café area in the north corner of the farm complex) Bill Bass and the Fieldwork Team
Clitterhouse Farm, Claremont Road, Cricklewood, NW2 1PH. Site code: CTH16, NGR: TQ 2368 8684, SMR: 081929, Site investigated August 2019. For background on this project please see HADAS Newsletters 539 (Feb 2016), 542 (May 2016), 543 (June 2016), 544 (July 2016), 556 (July 2017), 557 (Aug 2017) and 579 (June 2019).
Please also see other maps in HADAS Newsletters 542, 543 and 556 etc.
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Introduction
Clitterhouse Farm, a moated manor site, has a long documentary history. Archaeological research work is being carried out to try and establish the Saxon/medieval and later layout of the site and the surrounding landscape use. Following on from previous the work here, the Clitterhouse Farm Project was demolishing their temporary café to be replaced with a purpose-built structure and building of new studio spaces in the northern range of the farm. HADAS was asked to carry-out initial archaeological investigations after the café was demolished. The temporary café was built between a gap in the northern range and the ‘Farm Cottage’, although the farm buildings have been rearranged over the years this is thought to be the original farm entrance which led into the moated area from the south-west, at least from the 17th century and probably earlier as seen on various maps, also see Newsletter 543 (June 2016). The 2019 dig began with site-watching of the removal of the substantial concrete slab which covered the area approximately 6m (E-W) x 5.60m (N-S), this was carried out by the groundwork contractor’s machine.
Excavation
Some 15 members took part over the length of the dig, in sometimes very hot conditions, in fact the hottest week of the year. With the concrete removed the excavation started, beneath the concrete a sandy/gravel and cobbled surface began to emerge. This mixed layer (001) consisted of a sandy-silt with small to medium size pebbles and occasional larger ones, impressed into this were random large granite sett cobbles, with brick and tile scatters, some of this material was patchy, others were better sorted. The ordnance-level (OD) of this surface was 57.38m. Below (001) was (002) another patchy layer but with a better sorted pebble/cobble consistency in silty clay, about 0.08 – 0.14m in depth. Beneath this context a yellow-orange sandy layer (005) was uncovered which was relatively clean with occasional pebbles, this covered most of the excavation to a depth of 0.10 – 0.20m.
Not all features are shown for clarity.
Features seen beneath these upper layers but embedded in (005) include a rectangular shaped collection of large cobbles (granite setts?) surrounding two flagstones (context 003) arranged in rectangular shape 1.00m x 1.50m it was one course deep. This abutted the west end of the northern range wall. The unbonded cobbles and flagstones were reused,
2
they
had slots and notches cut into them, but we are not sure about their use.
Elsewhere on site we noticed concrete ‘door sills’, our cobble feature seems to
have replaced one of these (had the
previous sill been broken?), the truncated remains of which was could be seen
in the wall, perhaps a more heavy-duty hard-standing of some kind was needed
for hoisting materials to the loft hatch above.
Another feature excavated also surrounded by
the sandy layer (005) and possible pebble surface layers was an east – west
running brick and tile structure (012) on the east of the excavated area. The
end-on bricks lined some flat tiles, this may have been the remains of a brick
and tile drain, which was truncated by electric cable on the west side and by a
modern sewer pipe through the central area. It is difficult to interpret due to
the fragmentary remains, but we have seen a similar drain feature on a previous
dig here but that was more substantial.
Two
modern sewer drains crossed the site leading from a man-hole cover, it was
decided to partially excavate the east-west branch of one of these to confirm
this and to give an idea of the depth and nature of the section and deposits.
The 0.50m wide cut was dug and the pipe was indeed found at 56.72 OD, adjacent
to the north side were the remains of an earlier brick and tile drain. The
sections at approximately 0.60m deep showed bands of smaller pebbles in a
clay/sandy matrix.
On
the western side of the excavated area adjacent to the ‘Farm Cottage’ we had a
machine cut a slot of 4 x 1m, again to check the stratigraphy. Once again
layers of pebbles, clay and sand sat on top of the natural London Clay at
approximately 56.53 OD, Mike Hacker (pers comm.) comments – “I probed to
c1.80m below the level of the cobbles. It was consistently moist, stiff, mid
reddish-brown silty clay without inclusions. This is consistent with it being
London Clay”.
Along the walls of both ‘Farm Cottage’ and the opposite northern range building, we noticed the construction ‘cuts’ (004) for the foundations of the structures. These were dug in various places to reveal a three-brick course ‘stepped’ foundation sitting on some gravel packing and the natural clay, this is a similar arrangement to what was found in the 2015 dig. A trench was dug immediately south of the cobble and flagstone hard-standing which gave us sections below this structure, a section in southern area of the site and a section of the northern range building foundation. Initially this was done by hand and later extended by machine. The sections showed varying bands, deposits and layers approximately 0.60m deep of gravel, pebbles, occasional lager cobbles, brick and tile deposits with bands of silty clay of various colours, all given one context (017). A silty black clay deposit approximately 0.10m thick runs through the central area of the section sloping from east to west. The section appears to show a continuous depositing action of dumping, tip-lines, levelling, infilling and repairing of the farm entranceway down to the natural clay level. We also reached the ground water-table level here as seen in the ‘moat’ trench in 2015.
Finds & Dating,
not all contexts are listed here is a selection.
Context (001)
Pottery:
This upper layer beneath the concrete slab contained a variety of pottery,
mostly smaller sherds including Refined Whiteware, REFW – (china), Transfer
Printed Wares TPW, these have a general date of between 1800-1900. 8 English
Porcelain sherds ENPO, have a wider date range of 1745-1900. There were 76
sherds of English Stonewares ENGS 1700-1900, mostly jars including a small ink
jar, some of the sherds could be refitted, so some of the vessels were intact
when deposited. Some samples of Post-medieval Redwares PMR 1580-1900 were found
– mostly identified as flower pot.
Building Material: A selection of brick (whole or partial) were recorded, some glazed red tile, fragments of paving slab, peg and slate roof tile, mortar, sewer-pipe and other modern materials, were processed.
3
Stone:
A possible worked flint interpreted as a blade was recorded as Small Find
[005].
Animal bone: Four rib fragments showed
evidence of gnawing and cut marks, some oyster shell fragments.
Metal/glass: An assortment of modern window
and vessel glass fragments were recovered together with a variety of metal
objects including nails, copper tubing, window latches and others.
Context (004) wall foundation
cuts.
Pottery:
18 sherds of REFW including samples of dishes, cups and saucers, 4 sherds of a Yellow-ware
plate 1820-1900 and minor amounts of ENPO, PMR and a sherd of Tin-glazed Ware C
TGWC 1630-1846.
Other
finds included 51 sherds of roof tile, some brick and a floor tile. An unusual
find was a ‘lead weight’ domed in shaped, 118mm dia x 9mm depth, possibly a
‘greengrocer’s weight’ Small Find [001].
Context (005) sandy layer.
Pottery:
Sherds of YELL, ENPO, TPW4 and REFW with part of a figurine foot (? lion). A
ceramic bead, 11mm dia [small find 002]. 10 fragments of bottle glass including
neck and rim sherds. Small samples of brick and slate.
Context (006) modern
drain-pipe fill.
Context (012) brick and tile
‘drain’ feature
A
complete brick sample was retained from this feature: possibly hand-made with
no frog, it had possible organic tempering was red-purple in colour, possibly
dating to 17th– 18th C. The drain and brick may date to
before the current buildings and is similar to a drain seen in the 2015
excavations at the west end of the northern range.
Context (013)
and (014)
Both
these contexts were associated with the tile ‘drain’ (012) above, both, a brown
sandy clay with pebbles. They contained similar pottery finds TPW, ENGS, REFW
and SWSG Salt Glazed Stone Ware 1720-1780.
Of
the Transfer Printed Wares a foot rim of a bowl had a Chinese style building
design with the partial lettering ‘C&H HACKWOOD’. There were a number of
potters of that name in operation in the potteries, of one these Hackwoods – “In
1856, the works passed into the hands of Cockson & Harding, who
manufactured the same kind of goods, using the mark C & H, LATE HACKWOOD
impressed on the bottom. Cockson retired in 1862” (http://www.thepotteries.org/mark/h/hackwood.html, accessed
17/3/20).
Fragments
of a late 18th century ‘Mallet’ bottle were recorded as well as
small amounts of peg/roof tile, nails and animal bone.
Context (017)
This
mixture of contexts (see above) was deposited above the natural clay.
Pottery:
Small sherd examples of PMR, ENGS – bottle, TPW- plate and saucer, CREA
Creamware 1740-1830 plate and bowl and REFW – bowls.
Building
materials: consisted of fragments of brick, pantile (roof), a substantial but
incomplete floor tile and some drain pipe. An unusual find here was 2 sherds of
co-joining Delft, blue on white decorated Wall Tile, with one corner design of
part circle with the feet of two male figures, c 18th century, Small
Find [006]. An amount of corroded metal ‘sheeting’ was found together with a
hefty iron spike and nails.
Animal bone: fragments of rib, horn and a cattle-pubis were recorded together with some oyster-shell.
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Other
finds included minor amounts of bottle and mirror glass, and parts of shoe
leather.
Interpretation
The
earliest features would appear to be the remains of the two brick and tile
‘drains’. The first, just seen in the north section of the modern drain cut
(007), the fragmentary remains of this feature was truncated and disturbed by
its more modern replacement. The second (012) excavated in plan and at a higher
level was again disturbed, a complete brick sample (described above) indicates
this ‘drain’ was constructed of reused materials because the brick was worn and
had 17th– 18th century
features, but the layers it was dug into were of mainly 19th century
in date. It’s possible the brick may be part of the demolition rubble from the
nearby ‘wheat barn’ excavated in 2016 (HADAS Newsletter 556). As with a similar
drain excavated elsewhere in 2015 this may be the remnants of the drainage
system of the farm complex before “in the late 19th to early 20th century the
main farm building is rebuilt in brick into a dairy farm.”
The
other features were recorded – the granite cobble sett hard-standing, and the
building foundations are described above. But for the most part much of the
area was made-up of bands of pebble surfaces, cobbles, sand/clay deposits and
dumps of brick and tile. All the layers had a mixture of finds dating to
c1700-1900 and were all disturbed. These layers were excavated to a depth of
80cm and were sitting on top of the natural clay. Local geologist Mike Hacker
commented in 2016 and it’s worth repeating “The well-rounded flint pebbles in
the cobbled surface look as if they may well have come from the nearby deposits
of Dollis Hill Gravel. One of the characteristics of DHG is that it is a poorly
sorted mix of clay, silt, sand and pebbles.
This makes it ideal for use as ‘hogging’ for roads and paths”.
Most
of the finds were 18th – 20th century in nature (and
later) with no sign of the earlier phases of the farm. It appears much of the
area has been disturbed and truncated as part of the re-ordering history of the
working farm and its buildings.
Acknowledgements:
Paulette
Singer & The Clitterhouse Farm Project; HADAS Fieldwork Team (including
site supervisors Andy Simpson, Melvyn Dresner and Roger Chapman); HADAS
Post-Excavation Team; Gerald Gold & team, groundwork contractors; Mo – Tool
Hire business owner and employees; and Mike Hacker – geologist.
HADAS Newsletter
reports on Clitterhouse Farm investigations.
539:
Part 1 – Introduction and Timeline.
542:
Part 2 – The Excavations (2015).
543:
Part 3 – Site Phasing and other things.
544:
Part 4 – Report on the Animal Bone and Marine Molluscs and some small finds
photos.
556:
Part 5 – Investigations of the north corner of the farm complex (2016).
557:
Part 6 – More information on a find (Char Dish) from Clitterhouse Farm.
579:
Part 7 – History of Clitterhouse Farm, Hendon (lecture report).
During the dig, HADAS made a record of the standing buildings, a report on these findings will be published in a future newsletter.
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6
What did you do in lockdown – another option? Don Cooper
For
some time past, there has been a small hole in our lawn at the back of our
house. Every time I fill it in the local fox (or some other animal) digs it out
again. I wanted to know why the animal wanted to keep digging there and nowhere
else in the garden.
So
when that lovely spell of fine weather came along I determined to find out what
was happening underground and being in lockdown and having little else to do I
decided to do the project as a proper archaeological dig.
On Tuesday 14th April 2020 I marked out a 1m by 1m trench at TQ25866, 96442. I put down a tarpaulin for the spoil heap, oriented the trench north south, got the tools out including my trusty trowel and made a start de-turfing. By the end of the day I had made a good start on the trench as can be seen from the photo below.
On the next day I started
bright and early at 10.30am. Digging down 20cm and turned up lots of finds of
pottery, building material, clay pipe, window glass and animal bone. One
totally surprising find was a hen’s egg with a green stamp! The egg was in a
small hollow surrounded by leaves and twigs. I took the photo and left it on the
spoil heap; it was gone next morning. How it got there and who deposited it, I
haven’t the faintest idea. Most eggs as far as I know are stamped in red. It
might explain why an animal kept digging out the hole.
By the end of day 2, I was down about 30cm all round. The southern section was showing a lot of building material in the form of brick, tile and sewer pipe.
On
day 3, as I continued down, there were few finds and at just over 40cm down I
came to the iniquitous London clay. I then dug a small sondage to be sure that
I had reached natural.
On
day 4, I decided to extend by 0.5m south to explore the building material
tumble. I measured out the extension and deturfed. This was easy digging as
there was a good deal of building rubble. Again, I dug down until I reached the
London clay, which appears to be the natural.
On day 5, I backfilled the trench and restored the turf.
7
I
spent day 6 washing the finds and recording them on an Excel spreadsheet. I disposed of much of the finds having
recorded them. I photographed samples see below.
In summary, there were 101 sherds of pottery (many of them very small) weighting 449 grams. They consisted of post medieval redware (PMR) mostly flowerpot, refined earthenware (REFW), transfer-printed ware (TPW), and English stoneware (ENGS).
There were four sherds of
clay pipe stems.
There were 63 sherds of glass mostly window glass (although there were 3 different thicknesses), but some bottle glass both green and white, as well as a sherd of a lovely scalloped bowl. The glass weighted 210 grams. There was a substantial amount of brick and tile.
There were a couple of animal bones and a small number of rusty nails.
My speculative conclusion is after looking at the deeds of the house, which was built in 1888, I think the builder’s rubble and hence the artefacts date from that period. I did not find anything earlier or anything that could not fit into that timescale.
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The dig was a splendid experience. The weather was perfect, the ground reasonably soft after so much rain. I was outdoors and got lots of exercise and who cares if the lawn does not look great! I would recommend it to anyone!!
Æthelflæd, the Lady of the Mercians Dudley Miles
June marks the anniversary of Æthelflæd’s death; Dudley Miles tell her story 1150 years since her birth
Æthelflæd, who was the eldest child of King Alfred the Great of Wessex and his Mercian wife, Ealhswith, was born around 870, just before the Viking Great Heathen Army invaded England. By 878 they had conquered Northumbria, East Anglia and the eastern half of Mercia, but in that year Alfred won a crucial victory at the Battle of Edington. Ceolwulf, the last king of Mercia, is not recorded after 879, and he was succeeded as ruler by Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians. In the mid-880s he submitted to Alfred’s overlordship, uniting those Anglo-Saxons who were not under Viking rule. Alfred sealed the alliance by marrying Æthelflæd to Æthelred by 887. Æthelred was much older than Æthelflæd, and they had one known child, a daughter called Ælfwynn. Alfred’s eldest grandson, Æthelstan, who was to be the first king of England, was also brought up at the Mercian court.
Æthelred played an important role in defeating renewed
Viking attacks in the 890s, together with Æthelflӕd’s brother, Edward the
Elder, who became king on Alfred’s death in 899. Æthelred’s health probably
declined sometime in the next decade, and Æthelflæd may have become de facto
ruler of Mercia by 902. She re-founded Chester as a burh (fortified settlement)
and probably enhanced its defences in 907, assisting the town to defeat a
Viking attack. The archaeologist Simon Ward, who excavated an Anglo-Saxon site
in the city, sees the later prosperity of the city as owing much to the
planning of Æthelflӕd and Æthelred.
In 909 Edward sent a Wessex and Mercian force to raid the northern Danelaw. It seized the remains of the important royal Northumbrian saint, Oswald, from Bardney Abbey in Lincolnshire and brought them to St Peter’s Minster in Gloucester, which was renamed in his honour. Mercia had a long tradition of venerating royal saints, and this was enthusiastically supported by Æthelred and Æthelflæd. Anglo-Saxon rulers did not have capital cities, but the town became the main seat of their power and a centre of learning, at a time when western Mercia was the last stronghold of traditional Anglo-Saxon standards of scholarship.
9
The next year the northern Vikings retaliated for the attack on their territory with a raid on Mercia, but on their way back an English army caught them and inflicted a decisive defeat at the Battle of Tettenhall, which put an end to the threat from the northern Danelaw and opened the way for the recovery of the Danish Midlands and East Anglia over the next decade.
Æthelred died in 911, and
Æthelflæd became sole ruler as Lady of the Mercians, although she had to give
up the Mercian towns of London and Oxford to her brother. The accession of a
female ruler was described by the historian Ian Walker as “one of the most
unique events in early medieval history”. This would not have been
possible in Wessex, where the status of women was low, but in Mercia it was
much higher.
Edward
and Æthelflӕd then embarked on the conquest of the southern Danelaw. Alfred had
built a network of burhs (fortified boroughs) to strengthen the defences of
Wessex, and his son and daughter constructed a string of new burhs to
consolidate their defences and provide bases for attacks on the Vikings. She
built forts at towns such as Bridgnorth and Tamworth, and repaired the Iron Age
Eddisbury hillfort. Other towns she fortified included Stafford, Warwick,
Chirbury and Runcorn. In 914, a Mercian army repelled a Viking invasion from
Brittany.
In 917 three invasions from the Danelaw were defeated, and Æthelflӕd sent an army to capture Derby, which was the first of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw to fall. Her biographer Tim Clarkson, who describes her as “renowned as a competent war-leader”, regards this as her greatest triumph. However, she lost “four of her thegns who were dear to her”. At the end of the year the East Anglian Danes submitted to Edward, and in early 918 Leicester submitted to Æthelflӕd without a fight. The leading men of Danish ruled York offered to pledge their loyalty to her, probably for protection against Norse (Norwegian) raiders from Ireland, but she died on 12 June 918 before she could take up the offer. No such offer is known to have been made to Edward.
Statue in Tamworth of Æthelflæd and her nephew Æthelstan, erected in 1913 to commemorate the millennium of her fortification of the town.
Æthelflӕd was succeeded as
Lady of the Mercians by her daughter Ælfwynn, but in December 918 Edward
deposed her and brought Mercia under his direct control. Æthelflӕd was buried
next to her husband in St Oswald’s Minster in Gloucester.
The West Saxon version of
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ignores
Æthelflӕd’s achievements and just describes her as King Edward’s sister,
probably for fear of encouraging Mercian separatism. But to the Mercians she
was Lady of the Mercians, and Irish and Welsh annals refer to her as a queen.
She has received more attention from historians than any other secular woman in
Anglo-Saxon England. The twelfth-century
chronicler, William of Malmesbury, described her as “a powerful accession
to [Edward’s] party, the delight of his subjects, the dread of his enemies, a
woman of enlarged soul”. The historian Pauline Stafford sees her as a
“warrior queen”.
“Like…Elizabeth I she became a wonder to later ages”.
The first biography of
Æthelflӕd was published in 1993, but another five have been published in the
twenty-first century, including a Ladybird Expert book by Tom Holland! By far
the best is by Tim Clarkson. See also my article, ‘Æthelflӕd, Lady of the
Mercians’, WikiJournal of Humanities,
volume 1, issue 1, 2018, at https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/WikiJournal_of_Humanities/Æthelflæd,_Lady_of_the_Mercians.
During the C-19 crisis, HADAS would like to keep in touch with our members, through our social media and email, as well as through this newsletter and our C-19 News sheet provided by Jim Nelhams (thank you very much Jim!), if you want to be included, or assist with ideas to help run the Society during this difficult time. We welcome all contributions.
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Obituary for John Heathfield Don Cooper with thanks to David Berguer
We
are sad to report that John Heathfield, a long-time member of HADAS, died on
Friday 27th March 2020 of coronavirus aged 91. John was born on 11th
September 1928 and spent his working life in education first as a
schoolteacher, then a headmaster and ending up as Inspector of Schools.
On
his retirement, John started investigating the history of the local area and,
in conjunction with his lifetime friend, Percy Reboul wrote a regular series of
articles for the Barnet Times. They also wrote a number of books, either
together or separately including “Around Whetstone & North Finchley”,
“Barnet at War”, “Barnet Past & Present” “Days of
Darkness” “Finchley & Whetstone Past” and “Teach Us This Day (All
Saints School)”.
John was President of the Friern Barnet & District Local History Society and while president wrote “All over by Christmas” a 282-page book on what was happening on the Home Front in Barnet. Then in conjunction with David Berguer wrote “Whetstone Revealed” in 2016. I met John at Barnet Archives when they were briefly based in Daws Lane. He was researching away but had enough time to help me find what I was looking for. People with John’s amazing knowledge of the local area are few and far between. He will be sadly missed. RIP.
Obituary for Irene Gavorre Jim Nelhams
It
was with some sadness that we heard of the death of Irene Gavorre on 21st
February at her house in Edgware. Irene was a very private person. A
non-driver, she did not attend our lectures but was always one of the first to
register for our long trips away, up to and including our 2019 trip to
Aberavon.
We
bumped into her at the beginning of February on Edgware High Street. When she
had not booked for our now cancelled trip to Stoke, we wrote to her house and
received the news in response from a long-time friend of her daughter. Further
information came from Sue Trackman.
“I knew Irene. She was a solicitor. She was clever, with a sharp wit who did not suffer fools. For a while (in the 1980/90s) we worked in adjoining offices in the legal department of the City of London Corporation and lunched together every day. Irene’s parents died young and she was brought up by an aunt. She brought up her daughter on her own. It was not an easy relationship but, after her daughter married an Israeli (and moved with him to Israel), matters improved and Irene had a good relationship with her granddaughter. Irene left the City Corporation in the 1990s to work in BT’s legal department and she remained with BT until she retired. We lost touch a few years after she left the City Corporation.”
11
OTHER SOCIETIES’AND INSTITUTIONS’ EVENTS
This section is temporarily cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
At the Annual General Meeting, which will be held on a date to be decided, Don Cooper is standing down as Chairman after many years of service, and Jo Nelhams as secretary is standing down as well, as is Sue Willetts. Please give some serious thought to how you can help the Society to function as it has done successfully for many years. At present, we have four committee meetings each year.
The Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 9 June 2020 will not now take place due to the situation created by the coronavirus. At the present time we do not know when it will be possible to arrange another date. There will also be no Tuesday lectures until further notice. The monthly Newsletters should continue as usual. Keep well and safe until we meet again.
Squires Lane Railway Sign Bill Bass
This photo is of a cast-iron sign adjacent to the north-east corner of a road bridge on Squires Lane, Finchley. The bridge crosses over what is now the Northern Line between East Finchley and Finchley Central. But the sign dates to the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) period 1923-1948 when the railway was steam operated, with passenger and goods trains running between the likes of High Barnet and Edgware to Finsbury Park and beyond. In the late 1930s, the Northern Line was extended from Highgate to join at East Finchley and in 1940 the system became part of the Northern Line. Steam and diesels were still used to deliver goods until the early 1960s.
LNER NOTICE
ANY PERSON FOUND TRESPASSING OR THROWING RUBBISH OF ANY KIND ON TO THE RAILWAY COMPANY’S PROPERTY WILL BE PROSECUTED.
Sadly, we have to report that this remarkable survivor disappeared, probably in early March 2020. Whereabouts unknown?
1
What did you do during the Lockdown? Roger Chapman
What’s the link between the HADAS 2020 Accounts, COVID
19 and the discovery of a new brickworks in North Wales?
Well, in these strange COVID times, I find myself as
HADAS Treasurer, with my wife, helping to shield her 93-year-old mother in her
mountainside house above Llangollen in North Wales. We are likely to be here
some time.
Putting the HADAS accounts together is a joyful task and has helped to pass the time in the Dee Valley, but every now and again I need a break. The house I am staying in has a large, and recently neglected, garden so there is scope for many projects. Vegetable beds have been dug and planted, a small pond created and most recently some paths widened. The current house was built in 1913 but tithe maps and historic Ordnance Survey plans show development on the site back to at least the early 19th century. This has been reflected in the numerous bits of Victorian and early 20th century pottery and glass coming up during these works. Widening the paths involved removing bricks set on edge. One of these (see photograph below) was different. It had a crude handwritten name – Tower Bk. Wks inscribed on one face. I thought this looks interesting and decided to see what more I could find out about it.
Closing the HADAS accounts spreadsheet on my laptop I opened up Google and searched for bricks in north Wales. I have to say I did not appreciate beforehand how many websites and people are devoted to bricks e.g. http://www.industrialgwent.co.uk/bricks.htmhttp://www.brocross.com/Bricks/Penmorfa/Pages/wales1.htm But however hard I looked I could find no reference to Tower Brickworks. There is a Tower Farm within half a mile of where I am staying, and North Wales had numerous brickworks. I checked out the National
2
Library of Scotland and its extensive collection of
Ordnance Survey maps but nothing showed up. The next step was to put a message
up on the local history Facebook page to see if anyone had heard of such a
brickworks. A couple of responses suggested a place a few miles away, but
further research showed this was known by another name.
I emailed the owner of one of the websites above and
sent him a picture – not expecting to hear back for a while. In under 12 hours
I had my answer. He replied, “What a cracking brick, a most unusual find!” He
had spent some hours web searching without success but had then turned to
mapping evidence.
He found that the 1898 revision of the 1:10,560 and 1:2,500 Ordnance Survey maps shows what looks like a small brickworks just north-east of Tower Farm under half a mile away from the house. “There appears to be a brick preparation building with signs of a claypit to the east. There is also a single circular kiln. By the 1910 map the kiln has disappeared and I would guess that the works had already closed.” How did I miss that? Easy – the National Library of Scotland didn’t have a copy of that specific map edition. It was on the Old Maps website, which I hadn’t checked – I’m not sure I would have recognised a brickworks anyway.
So, as a result of COVID 19 and finding myself during
a break in working up the HADAS 2020 accounts in North Wales I managed to find
a brick which has led to the rediscovery of a short-term brickworks business in
Llangollen and the discovery of a wealth of websites on bricks. Strange times
indeed.
I hope you are staying safe and well.
Hendon Hall Hotel Bill Bass
This substantial Grade II listed building with extensive grounds on Ashley Lane, Hendon, built c. 1757 as Hendon Manor House, is being redeveloped as a care home. Whilst it is not in
3
an Archaeological Priority Area (APA), its closeness to other APAs in the Hendon area, and also information from HADAS member Roger Chapman, indicated that that there might be traces of pre-existing building(s), and made it worthwhile that an Archaeological Evaluation be undertaken.
The evaluation was done by
Archaeology South-East on behalf of the RPS Group during Nov/Dec 2019, opening
up three trenches. The trenches showed the existence of a possible
post-medieval house and garden pre-dating Hendon Manor House. The later
evidence (post 1757) revealed walls that are believed to be from Hendon Manor
House’s stable block, which matches well with the OS Mapping.
Many thanks to Peter Pickering for monitoring planning
applications on behalf of HADAS.
Last month’s newsletter included a note by Jim Nelhams
about Caerleon and an evocative picture of the baths. Those who were on the
South Wales trip may remember being told that men and women used the baths at
different times. The November 2019 issue of Britannia
produced evidence for this in the form of rules inscribed on bronze tablets
from Vipasca, a mining town in Portugal. The rules provide that whoever wins
the contract to manage the baths there must keep them heated and open to women
from dawn to the seventh hour and to men from the eighth hour of the day to the
second hour of the night. I wonder if this means that women got the cleaner
water, while men came to the baths after a hard day at the mines, or, in
Caerleon, on military exercises? (In some periods, mixed bathing was allowed.
Marcus Aurelius tried to prohibit it. DM)
The article, incidentally, is primarily about a copper-alloy fragment of unusual shape found at Vindolanda in 2008. The fragment is apparently part of a calendar; it is inscribed with ‘SEPTEMBER’, ‘K’ for Kalends (the first day of a Roman month) ’N’ for Nones, in September the fifth day, ‘ID’ for ‘Ides’, the thirteenth day, and ‘AE’ for Aequinoctium, the equinox, which of course falls in September.
4
And now for something completely different… Stewart Wild
(A report on one of the odder visits during our trip
to South Wales)
In an investigation as far removed from conventional
archaeology as could be, about half the members of our group accepted an
invitation to visit the National Baked Bean Museum of Excellence, only a bean
can’s throw from our hotel in Port Talbot.
This, Trip Advisor’s Number One attraction in the
area, is the creation and pride of Captain Beany, and is located in his small
third-floor council flat. The Captain,
born in September 1954 and thus qualifying for his state pension next year, is
well known in South Wales for his eccentricity and massive charity fundraising.
The
National Baked Bean Museum of Excellence
The Captain’s small kitchen is sponsored by the Heinz
Company, with brand-name stickers on every surface; the kitchen clock displays
Greenwich Bean Time. His bathroom is similarly
sponsored by Branston. In the lounge
area, a wide variety of baked bean cans, toys, artefacts and bean-related
memorabilia on display has grown exponentially since the museum opened in 2009.
How
has he bean managing?
Our host, who was originally known as Barry Kirkbut, changed his name by deed poll in May 1991 to Captain Beany; he showed us his passport to prove it. His motive for such a change in lifestyle was “to raise money for the beanifit of others less fortunate” and his dedication over three decades has so far raised well over £100,000.
Stunts to raise money have included sitting in a bath full of baked beans for 100 hours (that’s nearly four days, a world record!); having his bald head tattooed with sixty baked bean images, each bean containing the initials of a sponsor (which raised £3,600); and running a dozen marathons (seven in London, five in the US) attired in baked bean costume, gloves and boots, a bit like Superman (that should be Superbean, Ed.).Participating in marathons became a habit when he was invited to become a runner bean for the CLIC Sargent children’s cancer charity and raised £5,000. His best time is just over three hours – beantastic!
5
Photo by Kevin McSharry Political aspirations
Our hero has stood many times in local and general
elections throughout Wales, often as a Real Bean Independent candidate, and
usually coming last despite winning the votes of several hundred
supporters.
In 2000, he formed the New Millennium Bean Party and
stood as their only candidate in Aberavon the following year. He came last but one with 727 votes (a
respectable 2.4%); the candidate he beat was too embarrassed to mount the
platform when the results were declared and was dubbed a has-bean!
Having made a donation, we thanked this eccentric and entertaining Welshman for the visit and made our way back into the real world.
Sir Thomas Lipton Memorial Home, Barnet: watching brief. Graham Javes
I’ve just heard of this watching brief undertaken way back in October/December 2017 and August 2018 by Archaeology South-East, (the commercial wing of the Institute of Archaeology, UCL.) on the Ice House at Sir Thomas Lipton Memorial Home, Barnet, on the edge of Southgate. See the report, which the London Borough of Barnet has recently put up on its website:
My maternal grandfather was a laundry designer and he designed Lipton’s laundry. He was the oldest member of Finchley Victoria Bowling Club in Victoria Park, and was given a silver napkin ring with FVBC on it in tribute. It was my only memorial of my grandfather, but was unfortunately stolen by a caller to my flat. He died in the Great Smog of 1952. Dudley Miles
Some newer members may not know Denis. He was born on 10th
July 1923. Sadly, he died on 29th March 2020 aged 96.
During World War II, Denis served as a Captain in the
Royal Artillery (112th Wessex Field Regiment) and afterwards, in 1952,
qualified as a solicitor, becoming a Senior Partner in his law firm. His son
Jonathan has followed in his footsteps as a solicitor.
At the end of 1988, he joined HADAS, and from 1998 to 2008
served on the committee as Hon. Secretary. His legal advice was invaluable,
particularly when negotiating our lease for our rooms at Avenue House.
He also created a script still used today to direct
our Annual General Meeting. On his retirement from the HADAS committee, Denis
was elected a Life Member. Denis and his wife Shifra were keen supporters and
even spent their Golden Wedding anniversary on our long trip based in Plymouth
in 2006.
Outside HADAS, Denis served on the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust from 1977 to 1984 and was also Chairman of the PTA at Garden Suburb School. He was also Chairman of Reynolds Close Residents Association for many years. Our sympathy goes to those that Denis leaves behind.
Knap Hill Dudley Miles
Summary of a Wikipedia article by Mike Christie
Knap Hill earthwork is on the northern
rim of the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, a mile north of Alton Priors. It dates
to about 3450 BC and it covers around 2.4 hectares. Its main claim to fame is
that it was the first structure to be identified as a causewayed enclosure, an
area surrounded by a ditch and bank which is frequently interrupted by gaps or
causeways. It is one of the most common types of early Neolithic site in
western Europe, with about a thousand known examples, including over seventy in
Britain. The archaeologist Roger Mercer considers Knap Hill to be “the
most striking of all causewayed enclosures”.
The enclosure is surrounded by a ditch, with a bank inside it, which runs along the north-western side, and part way along the south-western and north-eastern sides. No ditch or bank has been found on the steeply sloping southern edge of the hill. There are seven stretches of ditches and bank, separated by six causeways. Knap Hill is unusual in that the causeways on the ditches and banks correspond, whereas in most sites there at least three times as many gaps in the ditch as the bank. The ditches and banks were constructed in a short period of time, which implies considerable organisation and a large labour force.
Knap Hill was mentioned by John Aubrey in 1680, and John Thurnam investigated barrows on the hill in the 1850s, but the site was first identified as a causewayed enclosure by Benjamin and Maud Cunnington, who excavated it in 1908 and 1909. Maud’s published reports pointed out the gaps in the ditch and bank surrounding the enclosure. By the late 1920s, it had become clear that causewayed enclosures were characteristic monuments of the Neolithic.
Knap Hill causewayed enclosure
Graham Connah excavated the site again in 1961, and some his finds were analysed in the Gathering Time project, which produced radiocarbon dates by Bayesian analysis for Knap Hill causewayed enclosure almost forty British causewayed enclosures. Connah had got radiocarbon dates on two samples, and due to his excellent stratigraphic records the Gathering Time researchers were able to analyse another five samples associated with the construction of the ditch. They concluded that there was a 90% chance that Knap Hill was constructed between 3530 and 3375 BC, and that the ditch had silted up between 3525 and 3220 BC. The researchers concluded that a lengthy use was possible, but “we believe that a short duration, probably of well under a century, and perhaps only a generation or two, is more plausible”.
The purpose of causewayed enclosures is unknown. An early suggestion was that the inhabitants lived in the ditches! However, this was soon abandoned in favour of a proposal that people lived in the enclosures. It has also been proposed that they were intended for defence, but in that case it is difficult to explain the frequent causeways. Other suggestions are that they were ritual sites, seasonal trading centres, headquarters for tribal chiefs, or venues for funerals.
A smaller site known as the plateau enclosure adjoins the Neolithic site. It was occupied before and during the Roman occupation of Britain, and pottery was found including Samian ware. There is evidence of an intense fire, which may mean that it came to a violent end. The plateau enclosure was also occupied in the seventeenth century, perhaps by shepherds. Other finds included an Iron Age burial and a sixth-century Anglo-Saxon sword.
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OTHER SOCIETIES’AND INSTITUTIONS’ EVENTS
This section is temporarily cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
At the Annual General Meeting, which will be held on a date to be decided, Don Cooper is standing down as Chairman after many years of service, and Jo Nelhams as secretary is standing down as well, as is Sue Willetts. Please give some serious thought to how you can help the Society to function as it has done successfully for many years. At present, we have four committee meetings each year.
For information: Lectures, the finds group course, and the film are held at Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Buses 13, 143, 326 & 460 pass close by, and it is five to ten minutes’ walk from Finchley Central Station (Northern Line). Tea/coffee and biscuits follow the lecture.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it has been agreed that there is no need to list any events for May. For members to be aware the HADAS talks for April & May were Signe Hoffos – Lost City Churchesand Tim Williams – Archaeology of the Silk Roads – to be re-arranged when possible. The proposed bus pass outing to the Docklands Museum is also on hold.
This newsletter can also give notice that the AGM in June is postponed, and the committee will remain in place for the time being.
September 2020 trip, 20th – 24th September
The long trip to Stoke in September is still planned, and you can still sign up. No money has been paid to the hotel or to Galleon Coaches, and I am not banking any cheques at present.
This trip will be based at The Best Western Stoke City Centre Hotel, 66 Trinity Street, Stoke on Trent, ST1 5NB. This was previously a Quality Hotel. Do not confuse with the Best Western Plus Stoke on Trent Moat House which is currently rebranding and considerably raising their prices.
We have tried to keep costs unchanged for several years, normally making a small profit, but prices have gradually risen and in 2019 we made a loss, so this year we are having to adjust. The price will be £580 for a single room and £530 per person sharing a room (double or twin). Costs include dinner, bed and breakfast and we will provide a packed lunch each day except the Sunday.
HADAS COMMITTEE
When it takes place – at the Annual General Meeting Don Cooper will be standing down as Chairman after many years of service, also Jo Nelhams as Secretary and Sue Willetts, responsible for overseeing the Newsletters and arranging printing. Please give some serious thought how you can help the Society to function as it has done successfully for many years. At present we have four Committee meetings each year.
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2019 Trip: Our last day Jim Nelhams
It’s Friday and time to head homewards. The weather does not look wonderful, so keeping an eye on it, we head to the far side of the Neath valley to visit Aberdulais. Aberdulais means the mouth of the River Dulais – in this case where it reaches and flows into the River Neath. The valley has steep sides, so there are waterfalls immediately above the junction. David & Beverley take up the story.
Aberdulais Tin Works and FallsBeverley Perkins & David Bromley
It is hard to imagine that the now peaceful site of Aberdulais once rang with the din of metal-working. The waterfall still thunders over the sandstone ridge – impressively so when we visited after a prolonged spell of rain – but the noise and smells of industry vanished when the site was abandoned in the 1930s.
Aberdulais works began its industrial life in 1584, when a German engineer, Ulrich Frosse, pioneered a method of turning copper into coins. These coins were needed by Queen Elizabeth I to fund the
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construction of ships to fight the threat of Spanish invasion. The site, well hidden in the gorge of the river Dulais, lent itself perfectly to metal smelting, as it had a ready access to water, wood, charcoal – and later coal – and metal ore. However, copper ore became increasingly scarce and copper smelting ended here in 1605.
The works were then used successively for the fulling or tucking of wool (1631-1653); as an iron forge (1667-1713); and as a corn mill (1715-1810). The picturesque location attracted Victorian travellers, among them Ruskin and JMW Turner, who painted the site – with some artistic licence – in 1796. His watercolour, now in the National Library of Wales, shows two waterwheels powering a flour mill. However, the gorge is no longer quite so picturesque, having been dynamited in the 1820s to provide stone for building the canal to Swansea.
In 1832 the works were acquired by William Llewellyn, who initially operated an iron works but then converted it to the production of tinplate. By 1835 he had also established the Lower Works further down the valley. In 1842 there were 138 people working on the two sites, including 34 children. Llewellyn, a Quaker, looked after his workforce, building a schoolroom, library, Baptist church, stores and providing instruments for the brass band. Tinplate workers were highly paid compared with agricultural workers, so jobs were sought-after in spite of the heat, noise, pollution, 12-hour working days and gruelling conditions.
The widespread development of cheap tinplate revolutionised food preservation. Tinned products became readily available, improving people’s diets, and sailors no longer had to endure the appalling effects of scurvy. Tinplate had many other uses, including toy-making, miner’s lamps and household goods. While America pioneered the tin can industry, tinplate produced in the South Wales valleys was widely regarded as the best in the world. In 1887 Britain exported nearly 500,000 tons of tinplate. By 1891 there were 205 tinworks in South Wales.
The Aberdulais works was among the first to use rollers rather than noisy and less efficient trip hammers. Iron ingots were brought to the site by horse-drawn carts on rails or, later on, by barge along the canal. The ingots were heated in a furnace, then repeatedly passed through the rollers, after being folded in two between each pass. The result was a stack of eight thin plates which were cut at the base to separate them into sheets. These sheets were then “pickled” in acid before being annealed to temper the metal and make it less brittle. The trimmed sheets were then hand-dipped three times in the tinning house. Following this, the sheets were dipped in oil by “grease boys”, polished with bran or lime, usually by young girls, and then packed into crates for transport. Young boys also had to clean the ashes out of the cooled furnaces.
In 1891 America imposed heavy taxes on Welsh tinplate to encourage local production, knocking the bottom out of the Welsh industry. While the works struggled on well into the 1930s, many tin-workers emigrated to the USA to work in their growing industry.
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Aberdulais tinworks site is now managed by the National Trust, who use the former schoolroom as their tearoom and shop. The modern waterwheel, which is 8.2m in diameter, turns in the original wheel pit and is Europe’s largest hydro waterwheel. It provides enough electricity to run the site, feeding the excess into the National Grid.
CaerleonJim Nelhams
Leaving Aberdulais and joining the M4, we headed eastwards towards Caerleon. By now, light rain had caught up with us.
At the time of our visit, The National Roman Legion Museum, another of Wales’ National museums, was closed because of problems with the roof, so we headed to the Caerleon Fortress Roman Baths partly to keep out of the rain. The baths, which were in Roman times outdoors but are now covered, included a large swimming pool which originally held 80,000 gallons of water. The pools have been enhanced by modern lighting and projection, so that among other things, you can see a legionnaire taking a swim.
For most of us, a walk back to the coach, though the more adventurous diverted across the wet grass to visit the assorted impressive ruins.
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Finally, back home to complete our busy 5 days. Our thanks
to Paul, our driver for his hard work and smooth driving.
Note from Ed. Recent heavy rain in Wales made the
amphitheatre (above left) look like a swimming pool!
Since publication of the original Ted SammesPipe collection notes in the August,
October and November 2019 editions of the newsletter, further excavation of the
archives held in the basement room at Avenue House has yielded a few more.
Firstly, there are three more fragments to record from Hill Close, NW11 (off Hampstead Way) in
addition to the two bowls of 1740-1780 and 1840-1880 recorded in the November
2019 newsletter.
The label with them records a more precise finds spot and
date for all of them – ‘from back garden of Mrs Ansett, 2 Hill Close Golders
Green NW11 March 1986’
There is a single short length of unmarked stem, a nice
early bowl of type AO9 but with a damaged rim which retains traces of milling,
dated 1640-1660, and a small fragment of even earlier spur/bowl possibly of
type AO6, 1610-1640.
The other newly uncovered bag of clay pipe fragments is from
44 Erskine Hill (off Addison Way) Temple
Fortune NW11.
This contained 21 short, unmarked lengths of pipe stem of
varying diameters, plus an unusual length of stem with a flattened side or
base. There is also a badly damaged bowl of probable type AO29, dated 1840-1880
with broken spur and missing top.
It is accompanied by another early bowl, again of type AO9,
dated 1640-1660 with a damaged rim.
Although overall a useful collection of finds spots, it does
also reflect the distribution of active HADAS members in the 1980s!
In addition to these, recording is ongoing of the long-held
clay pipe bowls, and a few sherds of post-medieval pottery, from the Old Bull
excavation in High Barnet in 1982. This may also feature in a future
newsletter.
Open day by Pre-Construct ArchaeologyBill Bass
Several HADAS members visited an open day by Pre-Construct Archaeology (PCA) in Tottenham Hale in February. PCA were digging a redevelopment site on Chestnut Road when they came across medieval archaeology in the form of pottery and animal bones etc found in drainage ditches, which they were half expecting. Then unexpectedly lithic scatters including blades came to light and then a hand-axe which dated to the mesolithic period.
5
All this material was displayed for us to inspect with members of PCA to explain it. Excavation was carrying on for a few more weeks and then post-ex will take more research to specify the dating further. A selection of photographs provides a good overview of the day.
Pioneering Courage: Housing and the Working Woman 1919-1939.Exhibition planned to be shown at the London Metropolitan Archives 1st -30th April Jennifer Taylor
About three years ago, Women’s Pioneer approached the U3A to provide volunteers to research their archives, and this initiative has developed into a Heritage Lottery Project, whose first findings are published at the LMA exhibition in April.
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The archive, which is now housed at the LMA, consists of
papers covering the inter-war years, setting out the development of the
Association, its investors, and includes a valuable cache of original
architectural drawings by Gertrude Leverkus, one of the first women to qualify
as an architect in the UK. Women’s
Pioneer bought large houses in West London that had been built to house large
families with servants and which became surplus to requirements after the First
World War. These houses were converted into small flats for ‘single women of
moderate means. One of the four
volunteer researchers on the project is basing a PhD on this part of the
archive. Two others have been
researching the tenants who lived in the flats, finding details of the first
women scientists employed by the Natural History Museum as well as the many
women who moved into the new areas of work that were opening up in the 20s and
30s.
As the fourth volunteer researcher, my digging has taken
place amongst dusty papers of management committees and shareholders records,
finding out more about the many well-known ex-suffragettes, early professionals
and capable women who ran Women’s Pioneer. They had incredible networks that
allowed the Association to raise the capital needed for its establishment and
growth. Individuals featured range from Lady Astor, the first woman to take up
a seat in Parliament, through in-laws of the Bloomsbury Group, to Charles
Rolls, co-founder of Rolls-Royce.
You will find out a lot more detail in the exhibition itself
– when it can be held. The plan was for an exhibition at the London
|Metropolitan Archives and also four London libraries.
Archaeology news:Sue Willetts
Council for British
Archaeology in March announced Neil Redfern would succeed Mike Heyworth as
Executive Director of the CBA. Neil has had a distinguished career in heritage,
most recently as Development Advice Team Leader and Principal Inspector of
Ancient Monuments for Historic England.
While at Historic England Neil led teams delivering award-winning
development advice in Yorkshire, and their response to major environmental
threats as part of the National Heritage Protection Plan. He also initiated a
major project on the Yorkshire Wolds to address monuments at risk from
cultivation, amongst other achievements.
Beatrice de Cardi
Lecture November 2019. Richard
Osgood gave a lecture at the British Academy on ‘The healing bones: Archaeology
as wellbeing’ about Operation NightingaleThis
is an initiative to assist the recovery of wounded, injured and sick military
personnel and veterans by getting them involved in archaeological
investigations. This lecture is available to watch on You-tube using this link Beatrice
DeCardi
lecture 2019 by Richard Osgood
OTHER SOCIETIES’ & INSTITUTIONS’ EVENTS compiled by Eric Morgan
This section is temporarily on hold due to the coronavirus outbreak.
When it is possible to advertise events again, this section will return.
For information: An event planned for Saturday 6th June was to have been the British Association for Local History. Local History Day at the Institute of Historical Research, Malet St, London, Senate
7
House, WC1E 7HU [Closed until further notice] Annual lecture by Prof. Andrew Hopper on ‘The Human cost of British Civil Wars’. This lecture was to have examined how wounded soldiers, war widows and other dependants negotiated with local and national authorities to obtain pensions and welfare. Also planned was a talk from Prof. Catherine Cooper (IHR) ‘What is local history?’ as well as Local History awards, AGM, bookstalls, society displays. Cost £25 members of BALH or £30 for non-members and includes tea/coffee/lunch. Wait and see if / when this might be re-arranged.
Lectures are held at Stephens House &
Gardens (Avenue House), 17 East End Road, Finchley, N3 3QE, and start promptly
at 8 pm, with coffee/tea afterwards. Non-members admission: £2; Buses 13, 125,
143, 326 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central station (Northern Line), is
a 5-10 minute walk away.
Members are
welcome to visit and view progress on post excavation and research work at
Stephens House – we are working there in our basement room most Sunday mornings
from 10.30 till 1.00pm
Tuesday 11th February 2020 The Dorothy
Newbury Memorial Lecture –
Jon Cotton Prehistory
in London – some Problems, Progress and Potential
Tuesday 10th March 2020 Lyn
Blackmore From Crosse
and Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA
excavations at Tottenham Court Road 2009–10
Tuesday 14th April 2020 Signe Hoffos Lost City
Churches
Tuesday 12th May 2020 Tim Williams Archaeology
of the Silk Roads
We
are happy to announce our proposed 5-day trip for 2020.
This will take place from Sunday 20th
September to Thursday 24th September and will be based at The Best
Western Stoke City Centre Hotel, 66 Trinity Street, Stoke on Trent, ST1
5NB. This was previously a Quality Hotel. Do not confuse with the Best Western
Plus Stoke on Trent Moat House which is currently rebranding and considerably
raising their prices.
We have tried to keep costs unchanged for several years, normally making a
small profit, but prices have gradually risen and in 2019 we made a loss, so
this year we are having to adjust. The price will be £580 for a single room and
£530 per person sharing a room (double or twin). Costs include dinner, bed and
breakfast and we will provide a packed lunch each day except the Sunday.
Please let Jim or Jo Nelhams (020 8449 7076 or by email) know as soon as possible if you are interested in joining the trip.
We need to confirm numbers with the
hotel in March, so we would request a deposit of £195 by Friday 13th
March. Cheques payable to HADAS should be sent to 61 Potters Road, Barnet, EN5
5HS or payment can be made direct to the HADAS bank account at Cafbank, sort
code 40–52-40, account number 00007253. Balances will be required by Wednesday
15th July.
HADAS Christmas Party Jim and Jo Nelhams
A little belated account, but we had our
annual Christmas Party at Avenue House on Sunday 1st December 2019,
a week earlier than previous years. The number of members attending was a
little disappointing, but this may have been due to clashing with other events.
We had a two- course meal cooked by the
staff at Avenue House, which seemed to be enjoyed by all, plus mince pies and
coffee a little later in the afternoon as well as pieces of two splendid cakes
baked by Liz, the Chairman’s wife.
To test their grey matter, the
entertainment consisted of 2 quizzes with clues for identifying British towns and
parts of the body. Also, a reading relating the story of the Inn Keeper in
Bethlehem called ‘Round the Back’. A pleasant afternoon and thanks to all those
who attended.
HADAS COMMITTEE Jo Nelhams (Secretary)
You will have read in last
months’ Newsletter the Chairman Don Cooper notified you that he is standing
down as Chairman at the Annual General Meeting in June. It is also my intention
to retire as Secretary. I will have been Secretary for 12 years and it is time
for a change.
Jim and I, as many of you
will know, are organising another long trip this year in September, which will
be the twelfth year with which we have been associated.
(It goes without saying
that we all owe Jo, Jim and Don a huge debt of gratitude for all their extremely
hard work, efforts and time spent on behalf of the society over many years now-
This also means that it
is VITAL to recruit new members of the committee NOW to fulfil essential roles
and ensure that your society is still able to function for the benefit of its
members.
YOUR COMMITTEE NEEDS YOU!!)
AVENUE
HOUSE (STEPHENS HOUSE AND GARDENS) EVENT;
Thursday
13 February. 7.30pm QUIZ NIGHT
Cost £15 including supper and cash bar.
HADAS do have a regular team, but are looking for
some new members, as they have lost some of their former members recently.
Starts at 19.30.
Telephone 020 8346 7812 to reserve a ticket.
Welsh trip day 3 Jim Nelhams
Wednesday started with
a short coach ride around the bay to Swansea, where we dismounted by the
Swansea Museum. The quayside must have been very busy, because there are lots
of railway tracks crossing the area and even running under some of the
buildings.
We made our way along
the quayside to find the narrowboat which was to take us for a short cruise.
After this, a choice of places in the area to visit. (There really was
something for everyone-Ed)
Boat
Trip at Swansea Liz
Tucker
The Welsh name for Swansea is Abertawe, the
estuary of the river Tawe, and this position, as well as the availability of
superior-quality coal nearby, made the city a centre of commerce for centuries.
Some of the coal was exported, but much of it was used to smelt copper, which
was brought in by ship; Swansea was therefore nicknamed “Copperopolis”.
The docks were created in the 1800s by
canalising the river, but much later became redundant when copper production
moved to Australia, where many Welshmen then emigrated. The area was then
dedicated to heritage, and now contains a marina, a couple of museums (one a
former potato warehouse), various restaurants, and a sculpture of Dylan Thomas.
As we boarded the “Copper Jack” for a
90-minute trip upriver, the sun came out. Dave, our very informative guide,
took us through the history of the area. He handed round a heavy copper ingot.
Originally, copper was mined in Anglesey, but
as demand rose, it was imported from Cornwall, and later from Cuba and Chile.
In the 1800s, most of the world’s copper was smelted here. Over the next 100
years, the city’s population rose from under 10,000 to 100,000. The ships’
captains had a reputation for fairness, but it was still a perilous voyage for
sailors. They might be wrecked while sailing round Cape Horn, or contract
tropical diseases; mosquitos brought back from Cuba escaped from the ship and
caused the only yellow-fever epidemic in a British city. If the ship carried
coal, it might combust spontaneously!
Our voyage, however, was peaceful. We entered
the marina, where the boats we saw ranged from an old rust-bucket, once a
light-ship, to the state-of-the art “Mary Anning”, a university research ship.
We passed through a lock, into the river, where wildlife can often be seen –
kingfishers, cormorants, seals, herons and swans (although Swansea is actually
called after a Viking called Swein). The river is aerated through a pipe, for
the sake of the fish.
The wildlife must have been hiding in the
undergrowth on the banks, which is rather stunted because of poisoning from
copper spoil – all I noticed was a couple of ducks!
We passed an old ice-house, the towers of the
old railway bridge, an anti-aircraft gun, and White Rock, an old
copper-smelting site with dock, where the Time Team have done a dig. We turned
back to Swansea at the bascule bridge.
The local Vivian family made a fortune from
copper, and then became distillers. One of them visited the Chile mines, and discovered
some huge copper bells, abandoned after a tragic church fire. He planned to
melt them down, but was persuaded to donate them to a Swansea church, where
they remained for many years; recently they were returned to Chile.
Copper was, and is, very much in demand for
all kinds of purposes. Ships were “copper-bottomed” to avoid damage. Slave traders, some of whom owned White Rock,
made tokens to pay for their purchases, and equipment for distilling molasses.
And, of course, copper is used for electrical
wiring, and for kitchen ware. I remember a music-hall song which ends “If I
can’t have a proper cup of coffee from a proper copper coffee-pot – I’ll have a
cup of tea!”
A Transport of Delight Andy Simpson
It was Wednesday so it must be Swansea…
These HADAS trips have always managed to get
me to locations I have wanted to visit but am unlikely to have got to
otherwise, and this was no exception.
The Tram Shed in
Dylan Thomas Square in the marina area being a case in point. This modern
two-story building is run by Swansea Museums – https://www.swansea.gov.uk/swanseamuseum
Having recently written an article for the
historical quarterly journal Tramway
Review on the erstwhile Swansea and Mumbles railway, I was keen to see the
one remaining section of one of its trams (usually operated as two-car
‘trains’) still on public display. This
railway ran around the edge of Swansea Bay to Mumbles Pier, its route being
distantly visible from the seafront by our hotel.
It originated as a horse-drawn mineral line
opened to Oystermouth in 1804 (!) and in 1807 became the first passenger railway
in the world, using a horse drawn coach. Steam passenger operation began in
1877 and was extended to Mumbles Pier by 1898.
The line was electrified in 1929 using
thirteen huge red double deck cars, the end of one of them, car 7 being in the
tram shed. When the line closed despite local opposition in January 1960, this
end was cut off and initially displayed in the open at the rear of the nearby
Swansea Royal Institution, now Swansea Museum, which a number of us also
visited on the day.
Also displayed there is the delightful
yellow-painted 1954 Swansea and Mumbles Railway built replica of the original
1807 Oystermouth Tramroad Company horse-drawn coach (‘Llewellyn’s coach’), built
to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the line; it incorporates
parts, including the wheels, of the former shunting loco, 1929 0-4-0 Hardy
Railmotors petrol-electric loco Swansea and Mumbles Railway No 14, formerly
used for limited freight traffic on the line.
On show also is the restored Brush-built
Swansea Tramways Co double deck car 14 of 1923, built by Brush to a ‘lowbridge’
design originally used by Cardiff Corporation Tramways and operated until
closure of the Swansea Tramways in January 1937. Like many recent restorations
(this one by a 1980s Job Training Scheme following initial rescue of the lower
saloon in 1977), it is actually a composite car using the top deck of classmate
car 12, also rescued from a local farm after many years use as a store, resting
on a truck from Belgium. It is missing many fittings but still looks
impressive.
Due to severe Swansea Museums budget cuts of
up to 50%, the Tram Shed is now only open on Wednesdays and Saturdays, staffed
by very friendly, though elderly, volunteers. My chat with them generated much
interest when I showed my article.
A curator was summoned and the article copied,
with much interest shown in my revelation that the bogies of another Swansea
and Mumbles car survive in store in the Peak District, The complete car number
2 went to the pioneer heritage Line the Middleton Railway in Leeds for
preservation in June 1960, but after severe vandalism and decay after a decade
stored outside was burnt for scrap in June 1970, the tramway museum at Crich
(visited on a previous HADAS trip) purchasing the rusting bogies from a muddy
field in early 1973.
The Tram Shed also houses railway items
including signs, rails, and the nameplate and classic ‘copper-capped’ chimney
from GWR Castle Class express passenger locomotive 7008 ‘Swansea Castle’,
withdrawn from Old Oak shed, London, in September 1964.
The budget cuts were obvious viewing the sadly
decaying state of the council-owned historic tug,lightship and pilot
boat moored outside the adjacent Museum of Wales operated National
Waterfront Museum, the council having stopped paying the mooring fees for their
access pier, meaning visitors can no longer board the three vessels, as
explained by the understandably upset volunteers, One of them was a retired
railway signalman, and he even gave me a copy of an article on local mechanical
signal boxes and semaphore signals.
Formerly the Swansea Maritime and Industrial
Museum, this is part of the National Museum of Wales, and an excellent example
of how a modern museum in a purpose-built modern building can appeal to diverse
audiences as a ‘Community Hub’ in modern parlance.
It is autism friendly and has ‘ Chill Out room
for those needing space to take time out’ and even monthly ‘Quiet Hours’ for
those wanting to avoid noise and crowds
and STILL have lots of interesting actual exhibits (around 2000 on
display) rather than the stripped-out approach favoured by rather too many
modern museum design teams.
It features chunky large sized exhibits such
as the working replica of Richard Trevithick’s Penydarren Steam Locomotive of
1804 that ran in Merthyr Tydfil and the original Cardiff-built Watkins CHW ‘Red
Robin’ monoplane of 1909, similar to the English-Channel crossing Bleriot of
that same year which was flown extensively until 1916 – one of the earliest
examples of an aircraft in the UK, two examples of the infamous 1980s battery –
powered Sinclair C5 and a Benz motor car of 1904 donated to the Science Museum
by its Chepstow owner in 1910 and with the National Museum of Wales since 1911!
There is of course a pleasant café and shop
selling local products, a community garden maintained by volunteers and
schools, and in 15 galleries art and social history displays covering 300 years
of more recent Welsh industrial history (leaving the archaeology to the nearby
Swansea Museum), temporary exhibitions, a whole room full of wonderful
transport models, and a pleasant outside verandah with views over the marina.
And, of
course, that essential for modern life – free wi-fi!
Swansea Museum Jim Nelhams
Leaving the Tram Shed
and passing alongside the Dylan Thomas Theatre took us back to the Swansea
Museum. You are
able to visit Swansea Museum at four locations – the Museum itself on
Oystermouth Road, the Tram Shed in Dylan Thomas Square in the Marina, the Museum Stores in Landore and the floating exhibits in the dock by the
Tramshed.
This museum building
concentrates on the local area, with some archaeological finds and a splendid
display of Welsh ceramics.
There are also
temporary exhibitions and one had just opened when we visited, titled “50 years
of Music”, a journey through Swansea’s musical heritage since 1969 including
its venues, influential people, stand out gigs as well as local and visiting
musicians. A few nostalgic moments listening to recordings from the past.
Dylan Thomas was born in 1914 in Swansea
and died in the USA in 1953, at the age of 39 years.
The Dylan Thomas Centre is close to the
river in Swansea and is home to a permanent exhibition “Love the Words”, which
opened on Dylan’s 100th Birthday. The exhibition takes the form of a
timeline of his life, with a wealth of archive material from the University of
Swansea. There are photographs and documents from his childhood.
Edith Sitwell was an early champion of his
poetry: T. S. Eliot refused to publish him at Faber: and as he became famous, he
knew EVERYBODY. Mervyn Peake was a friend. Stravinsky wanted him to collaborate
on an opera: he knew Salvador Dali: Augustus John painted his portrait – and so
on.
And while he was smoking and drinking and
marrying Caitlin, working as a journalist and in the theatre, and never having
any money, he was writing the most extraordinary, beautiful poetry. There is
audio-visual material in the exhibition (Richard Burton reading ‘Under Milk
Wood’); and then the lecture tours in America which were too long and too
demanding, and his death.
There is a short video at the end of the
exhibition of his funeral, the male mourners walking at the front of the
procession, then Dylan’s coffin, then the women: and finally a shot of his
mother, alone. She had lost her husband, son and daughter in one year.
Among many obituaries in the archive, one
announced “Adonis is dead”. And who did he write for? In his own words,
“I write on these spendthrift pages
For the lovers, their arms round the grief of ages
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art.”
5
Cwmdonkin Drive
Kevin McSharry
“Come
Tell Me How You Live”
If HADAS should ever be in need of a motto or
strap line perhaps “Come Tell Me How You Live” would more than
suffice.
The words are those of Agatha Mallowan, better
known as Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan DBE the writer of
detective novels and the wife of Sir Max Mallowan , distinguished archaeologist
.
Agatha took a full part in every one of Max’s
excavations in Syria and Iraq; and wrote about her experiences in her
archaeological memoir: Come Tell Me How You
Live
(A young Agatha
Christie) (Dylan Thomas)
Claudette Carlton, another of our group, and
I, in visiting “The Dylan Thomas Exhibition”, sought through the
wealth of archive material to answer how the poet, and tortured soul, Dylan
Thomas had lived, loved and worked. The exhibition was opened by President
Jimmy Carter. Dylan is President Carter’s favourite poet, a fact which reflects
Dylan’s huge popularity in the United States.
President Carter regretted that it had not
been possible for him, while in the city, to visit 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, The Uplands, Swansea, Dylan’s birthplace.
I sought to achieve what had not been possible
for President Carter; and after a phone call seeking permission, took a taxi,
with two other intrepid companions, Pauline and Malcolm, to the semi-detached
house where Dylan had been born and brought up. What a wonderful visit. A pure
delight!
5 Cwmdonkin Drive, now in private ownership,
is furnished in the style of the period when the Thomas family lived there. It
was Dylan’s home for 23 years; more than two thirds of Dylan’s published works
came from material created during his time living at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive. With
the help of a friendly and knowledgeable Korean guide, completing a Master’s in
Tourism and Marketing at the city’s University, we visited each of the rooms in
turn: here the sitting room (used only
for visitors and festive occasions), here Dylan’s tiny bedroom and so on.
An impressive video, recorded in America by
President Carter, welcomed us to the house.
The house is open daily for visitors except
when used for functions or as a B&B. Yes, a B&B! Yes, one can actually
stay there.
“Love
of Words” Exhibition should be combined, if possible, with a visit
to 5 Cwmdonkin Drive. The two
complement each other and thoroughly immerse one in the life and times of Dylan Marlais Thomas and in the words
of Agatha Christie Dylan told us how he
lived.
Postscript Jim Nelhams
Finally, our group
re-assembled by the museum for our ride back to the hotel after a day
incorporating a variety of interesting places.
The Tower of London’s RavensStewart Wild
I was playing around with collective
nouns, as one does (who isn’t intrigued by a murder of crows or a
murmuration of starlings?), when I found that ravens collectively are known
as a congress, conspiracy, an unkindness, or even a treachery.
My curiosity piqued, I decided to dig
deeper, and alighted on the country’s most famous ravens, Corvus corax,
those at the Tower of London.
These magnificent birds, members of the
genus Corvus, the crow family, have been associated with the Tower for many
centuries, perhaps even since its founding in the eleventh century.
A well-known superstition is that if the
ravens were ever to leave, the White Tower would crumble and a great disaster
would befall the monarchy. For this
reason, the ravens have been protected, it is said, by royal decree since the
reign of Charles II.
Some doubtful historians, however, think
that the original birds may have just been Yeoman warders’ pets and that the
superstition may only date from Victorian times, although Astronomer Royal John
Flamsteed (1646–1719) does mention ravens in his diaries.
Numbers
vary
There
are usually at least six ravens kept at the Tower, the responsibility of the
Ravenmaster, one of the senior ex-servicemen (and women) known as Beefeaters. As they are captive-bred at the Tower (the
birds, not the Beefeaters), there are often more than six, and any birds
surplus to requirements are given an exit visa and posted (not literally) to a
zoo or bird sanctuary.
The birds have names, sometimes reflecting
their character or origin. Recent names
have included George, Odin, Thor, Merlin, Hugine and Munin. Each bird has a differently coloured band
clipped around one leg to aid identification.
The ravens are well cared for. Like all Corvidae, they are eaters of
carrion and are fed on roadkill, dead mice, chicken and the like. They get a medical check-up once a week,
dietary supplements like cod liver oil if thought necessary, and can live up to
forty years.
Occasionally a bird will escape, but is
usually recaptured or flies back on its own.
To prevent them flying too far, the feathers on one wing are slightly
trimmed, and as a result the birds tend to hop around the Tower’s lawns rather
than take to the air. The ravens are
always popular with visitors, who are warned not to get too close to them since
they have a tendency to attack if scared.
Sometimes an individual bird will fall out
of favour because of “inappropriate behaviour”.
A few years ago, for example, a raven named George lost his appointment
to the Crown, and was retired to Wales for attacking and destroying TV aerials.
The
Tower is always worth another visit; next time look out for the remarkable
ravens.
Other Societies’ Events Eric Morgan
AMENDMENTS TO HADAS
JANUARY NEWSLETTER
The time for Monday, 17th February Enfield Society shown as 10.30am should be 7.30PM.
The date for the Historical
Association, shown as 25th February, should
be Thursday 20th February, and the postal district shown as NW6
should be NW11.
The date for Finchley
Society shown as 25th February, should be
Thursday 27th February.
NEW EVENTS
As ever, please check
with the organisations before setting out in case of any changes or
cancellations.
Thursday
20 February, 7.30pm Camden History Society Burgh House,
New End Square, NW3 1LT Camden’s Parish Maps, 1720-1900. Talk by Simon
Morris. Visitors £2.
Friday
21 February, 7.00pmCOLAS St
Olave’s Church, Hart St, London EC3R 7NB AGM and Lecture ‘Excavations at the
Adrian Boult Music Centre, Westminster Abbey; Joe Brooks, Pre Construct
Archaeology. Lecture followed by Wine and Nibbles. Visitors £3.
Sunday
1st March, 10.30amHeath & Hampstead Society Meet at Burgh House, Hampstead – address as above. The History of Hampstead Heath Ponds.
Walk led by Marc Hutchinson (chair) Donation £5. Lasts approximately two hours.
Wednesday
4 March, 8.00pm Stanmore & Harrow
Historical Society Wealdstone Baptist
Church Hall, High St, Wealdstone, HA3. Codebreaking Outstations Talk by
Richard Koorm. Visitors £3.
Thursday
5 March, 8.00pmPinner Local
History Society. Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner
HA5 1AB Building Pinner – Talk
by Research Group. £3.
Wednesday
11 March, 2.30pm Mill Hill Historical Society. Trinity Church, 100, The Broadway NW7
3TB Trent Park; Its History & Involvement in WW2 Dr Helen Fry.
Preceded by A.G.M.
Thursday 12 March, 6.00pmGresham College, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn, EC1N 2HH Corpse
Roads; Digital Landscape Archaeology Talk by Stuart Dunn. Exploring how
modelling can help unlock the secrets of Britain’s Ancient pathways, focussing
on those taken by coffin bearers over the countryside before the enclosures.
Free.
Thursday 12 MarchHighgate Society Time not stated. 10A, South
Grove, N6 6BS Shopping Parades; Our Undervalued Heritage Talk by Delcia
Keate Visitors £5.
Monday
16 March, 8.15pm Ruislip, Northwood
& Eastcote Local History Society
St Martin’s
Church Hall, High St, Ruislip, HA4 8DG
Brentham
Garden Suburb. Talk by Sue Elliott (Brentham Society)
Visitors £2.
Wednesday
18 March, 7.30pm Willesden Local History Society
St Anne’s Church Hall, Neasden Lane, NW10 2TS (Nr. Magistrate’s Court) Britain’s
First Supergrass Talk by Dick Weindling (Camden History Society)
Discovering a tale about a shady local character.
Thursday
19 March, 8.00pm Historical
Association: Hampstead & N.W. London Branch Fellowship House 136A Willifield Way, NW11 6&D (off Finchley Rd in
Temple Fortune) Cromwell – A Talk by Alan Marshall, Visitors £3.
Refreshments available.
Friday
20 March, 8.00pm Wembley History Society English Martyr’s Hall, Chalk Hill Road
Wembley (top of Blackbird Hill, Adj. to Church) The B to Z of Street
Furniture in London Talk by Robert
Kayne. Visitors £3. Refreshments in interval.
Friday 20 March, 7.00pmCOLAS – address as above, ‘CRaFT
To DATE; – Recent fieldwork and research on the project to investigate the Causeways,
Riverstairs and Ferry Terminals of the tidal Thames.
Various speakers.
Saturday
21st March, 11am – 5.30pm LAMAS Annual Conference of London Archaeologists TheWeston Theatre, Museum of London, 150
London Wall, EC2Y 5HN. Morning session Recent Work till 1pm, Lunch.
Afternoon session Monastic Archaeology in London from 2pm. Tea
3.30-4.30pm, & Displays of work and publications upstairs in Clore Room.
Cost (inc. tea) early bird (before 1 March) £15, full price £17.50. Tickets
from Jon Cotton c/o Curatorial Dept, MoL, London Wall EC2Y 5HN joncotton1956@gmail.com
Saturday
21 March, 10am – 4.30pm West London Local History Conference University of West
London The Paragon, Boston Manor Road, Brentford TW8 9GA. Celebrations in South
and West London. Please see the Richmond Local History Society’s website
for more info, www.richmondhistory.org.uk
Wednesday
25 March 7.45pm Friern Barnet & District Local History Conference
North Middx
Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL The Palace of
Westminster – 1834 to date. Talk by Barry Hall. Visitors £2.
Bar/refreshments available.
11
Thursday
26 March 7.30pm Finchley Society Drawing Room, Avenue House (Stephens
House) 17, East End Road, N3 3QE Finsbury Freehold Society & The
Creation of Finchley Park. Talk by Stephen Yeo (Fin. Soc) Visitors £2.
Refreshments available.
END PIECE Andy Simpson
Work continues at ‘Avenue House’ most Sunday mornings, usually 10.30-11 (ish)
We have recently concentrated on the
post-excavation analyses of the finds from last summer’s dig (our third) at
Clitterhouse Farm. Lots of Victorian and later pottery and glass, with a few
pieces of 18th pottery and glass seemingly concentrated in one
corner of the site.
And most unusually, not a single coin
of any date. But an awful lot of brick and tile!
We will shortly be starting to work on
the HADAS response, in archaeological terms, to the latest Barnet Local
Development Plan which has identified 67 individual sites throughout the
borough for development work, mostly residential and often consisting of
massive blocks of flats, over the next 15-20 years. Some of these sites HADAS
has dug at or near to in the past.
Feel free to pop along and see what we
are up to!
With thanks for newsletter
contributions this month to; Claudette
Carlton, Kevin
McSharry. Eric Morgan, Jo Nelhams, Jim Nelhams, Liz
Tucker, Stewart Wild
Hendon and District
Archaeological Society
Chairman
Don Cooper 59,
Potters Road, Barnet, Herts. EN5 5HS
(020 8440 4350) e-mail: chairman@hadas.org.uk
Except for the January one, which is in the afternoon, lectures start at 7.45 for 8.00pm. They are in the Drawing Room, Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Buses 82, 143, 326 & 460 pass close by, and it is five to ten minutes walk from Finchley Central Station (Northern Line). Tea/coffee and biscuits follow the talk.
Tuesday 14th January 2020 at 2.30pm Ian Jones Shelters to Shrapnel, surviving traces of Enfield At War, 1939-1945 A look at the World War II monuments in Enfield including those that survive, those that have been demolished since earlier recording in the 70s and 80s, sites excavated and some of the finds made. Ian Jones began as a schoolteacher, and later joined Harlow Museum ending as curator. Since leaving, has become a part-time adult education lecturer, local historian and author and is currently Chairman of the Enfield Archaeological Society, which he originally joined in 1958.
Tuesday 11th February 2020. The Dorothy Newbury Memorial Lecture Jon Cotton Prehistory in London – some Problems, Progress and Potential
Tuesday 10th March 2020 Lyn Blackmore From Crosse and Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA excavations at Tottenham Court Road 2009–10
Tuesday 14th April 2020 Signe Hoffos Lost City Churches
Tuesday 12th May 2020 Tim Williams Archaeology of the Silk Roads
Tuesday 9th June 2020 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
From the Chairman
I will be retiring as chairman of HADAS, after 16 enjoyable years, at the next AGM in June 2020. Tempus fugit and at 83 years old it is time for someone perhaps younger to take the reins. I am making this announcement now, to give reasonable notice to plan my replacement.
The role of HADAS chairman includes chairing four committee meetings during the year, writing an annual report for the AGM on the year’s activities, assisting the secretary to produce agendas, head the committee in making decisions for the benefit of the society and its members.
ANDERSONS AND ACK ACK: the 20th Century Conflict Archaeology of London –
The October Lecture by Andy Brockman Deirdre Barrie
The First World War is now scarcely within living memory, and even witnesses of the Second World War are fast diminishing. For instance, there now remain only four Battle of Britain air crew out of an original total of 300. Thus (says Andy Brockman) the archaeology of this modern conflict is one of the newest and fastest-moving disciplines in archaeology.
Andy began with the first ever blitzkrieg by the Germans during the First World War in 1915-1916. A slide of a German propaganda poster showed matchstick people scattering in terror from an aerial attack on Trafalgar Square.
The earliest anti-aircraft battery was built in 1913, but by 1915 there was serious zeppelin damage. One infamous incident in 1917 was the bombing of Upper Norwood School in Poplar, where 18 children aged 4-6 and their teacher were killed.
Enemy airships were based in Southern Germany, and once over here they navigated by following railway lines. German airships would send back weather reports in Morse code to bases in Southern Germany, which by triangulation allowed us to locate the bases.
Another slide showed an idealised view of a German airship, with the commander on a speaking tube to the engine room. Because of the high altitude, airship crew needed to be dressed like sailors in winter. There were no parachutes; thus dark conversations took place at German crew bases as to whether it was better when your airship caught light to jump, or to go down in flames.
Zeppelins flew so high that crew often passed out, though later they used liquid oxygen to help them breathe. The zeppelins were driven by marine diesel engines, whose fumes caused the crew nausea and migraines. This was one of the most dangerous ways to go to war, especially for one unprotected wretch, the lonely machine-gunner high on the prow of the ship. When German airships crashed, the British copied their designs. By the beginning of 1916, Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Mathy of the Navy Airship Division in Germany confessed that things were in a bad way. He himself was killed at the site of the L3 crash at Potters Bar by jumping from the airship.
During the Second World War, there was a ring of defences all round London to deter the invaders. In his talk Andy commented mostly on Shooters Hill, which happens to be on the main road to London from Kent and the coast, and a height of tactical importance. Even if the enemy had got past some of the defences, the navy could have steamed up the channel, cut off their supply lines and left them stranded.
The area is still littered with the remains of defences. A former farm at Shooters Hill was a prisoner-of-war camp within living memory. The concrete and iron anchoring points for barrage balloons are still discoverable in Eaglesfield Park. On the hill itself were “pill boxes”, anti-tank devices and at least one fiery booby trap, an anti-tank device called a flame fougasse.
A Shooters Hill local, Peter James, described how in the 1930s/1940s he was told that a big metal circle at the top of Shooters Hill was the site of an anti-aircraft gun.
Andy commented that it was advisable always to take two geophysics readings of an area and compare them. The first geophysics reading of this anti-aircraft gun site showed two First World War anti-aircraft guns – well built, with the bases immaculately level. But at some time in the Second World War a different weapon had been on the same site – not such a careful job. Metal detecting revealed conduits leading back to Whitehall or Woolwich. A cut-out French coin was also found – perhaps a keepsake from France?
RAF photos are invaluable for research. They show building losses, anti-aircraft gun sites and field boundaries, (as well as lots of much earlier archaeology!)
As early as 1938, Tom Wintringham, (soldier, military historian and politician) was campaigning for home defence units, which would eventually become the Home Guard. We are now used now to the “Dad’s Army” and Compton Mackenzie’s view of the Home Guard as bumbling and incompetent. But with Wintringham’s influence, “Picture Post” published an edition with a photo on the cover of a very heroic-looking member of the Home Guard.
The Home Guard were trained at the neo-classical Osterley Park, an Adam house now run by the National Trust. “Do what you want, but don’t damage the house!” the Home Guard were told. To join the Home Guard, volunteers over 41 would sign up at a local police station. However, for various reasons, some would soon resign.
Only now are we beginning to realise the importance of these wartime sites, which are disregarded all around us and need to be investigated and recorded before it is too late. Andy stressed that local archaeological groups and heritage projects now have a significant role to play in discovering and understanding the conflict archaeology of their communities.
[Andy Brockman has a MA in archaeology from Birkbeck College and directed the excavation of the anti-aircraft gun site at Eaglesfield Park, and a survey of the former POW Camp 1020, both on Shooters Hill. A regular contributor to “Britain at War” magazine and other publications, he has also appeared on Channel 4’s “TIME TEAM” and conducted research for, as well as appearing in, the Channel 5 documentary “WHAT THE DAMBUSTERS DID NEXT.”]
Here are the links. The Time Team Shooters Hill episode: Time Team S15-EO8 Blitzkreig on Shooters Hill, London https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4J-iIrtVoc .The Potters Bar Zeppelin: http://www.hellfirecorner.co.uk/pottersbar/pottersbar.htm
NEXT STOP SEATON! 66 years of Modern Electric Tramways Limited By David Voice Published by Adam Gordon 2019 ISBN 978-1-910654-23-1 Price £25.00, soft back. Reviewed by Andy Simpson
The publication this autumn of the new and expanded fourth edition of the book reviewed below is an opportunity to revisit and expand the review of the second revised and enlarged edition originally published in the HADAS newsletter of October 2003.
Why review a book about a three-mile long narrow-gauge tourist tramway running along a river estuary in Devon (and visited by HADAS on a long weekend in September 2006)? Well, read on. This book is full of Barnet, Hadley and Hendon connections. The 2003 edition celebrated the golden jubilee in 2003 of the Modern Electric Tramways Company, formed 19th May 1953 by Claude Lane to run his trams; and the Seaton Tramway founded by him happily thrives to this day.
Claude Lane was born in 1908 in Totteridge, the son of William Lane, joint manager of Manor Farm Dairies, Highgate; having introduced pasteurisation he became a director. In 1911 the family moved to Finchley, where the infant Claude, fascinated by trams, would persuade his nanny to take him to the tram depot off Rosemont Avenue to watch them entering and leaving the depot. As a young boy he would travel to Hendon to watch the trams at the depot/workshops on the Edgware Road, where the now rebuilt Merit House later stood – of which more later. At school he developed a flair for electricity and mechanics and served his electrical engineering apprenticeship at Stoke Newington power station. Aged 22, he formed the Barnet based ‘Mobile Welding and Workshop Company’, and opened a small workshop in Lancaster Road, New Barnet, renamed the Lancaster Electrical Company, after the road. Here he repaired batteries, radios and the like.
A growing interest in battery vehicles led to his building a workshop at 77-79 Brookhill Road, New Barnet, whilst spending his summer holidays driving trams in Llandudno and Blackpool. From the Second World War his company produced many battery-operated vehicles such as the ‘Lecar’ for local deliveries by traders. In early 1949, he produced his first own 15-inch gauge scale model tram, number 23, based on a modern double decker then running in Llandudno; he built a test track in the Barnet works and locals soon got used to this little tram peeping out of the Brookhill Road entrance and running around the yard, through the sawmill, and around the open area at the rear of the works, giving rides to local children. As news spread, invitations to local fetes, using portable overhead and track, grew; one such being the Hadley House Conservative Association Fete on 2nd July 1949, followed by South Mimms on 23rd July, when the tram was filmed by British Movietone News. Summer weekends saw the tram travel as far as Hitchin and Uxbridge, often with ‘19 Barnet’ on its destination blinds – the pre-1938 route via Finchley to High Barnet. In 1950 a second tram was completed in New Barnet, based on the ‘Blackpool Boat’ open top single deck design, and numbered 225. In 1951 the two trams moved to a new sea-front miniature tramway at St Leonards, Hastings, as a holiday attraction. They were supplemented in 1952 by a third Barnet-built tramcar, a traditional four-wheel open topper, number 3, but local complaints had seen an end to the Hastings operation after a few months. Also built at Barnet in 1952 was a four-wheeled battery-operated tram for the Air Ministry, which in rebuilt form remains at Seaton as a works car. In 1952 the whole set-up moved to a park at Rhyl. A planned move to Eastbourne in East Sussex saw trams 225 and 3 move back to Barnet for refurbishment. The Rhyl operation was leased out and the Barnet works produced a fourth tram, open ‘toastrack’ number 6, in 1954 to help maintain services there. The Rhyl operation closed in 1957.
Operations in Princes Park, Eastbourne began in 1954, with the track gauge increased to two feet. Barnet works produced a second ‘boat’ car, No.226 to help work the line that year. In 1960 the chassis was modified as a works car and later served as a mobile shop and even as a café and ticket office; it is currently stored out of use at Seaton. Car number 238, based on the double-deck Blackpool ‘Balloon’ design was built at Barnet in 1955. Toastrack number 6 was rebuilt at Barnet 1955/56 as a traditional bogie open top car using parts from original full-sized trams – controllers from Southampton and top deck seats, wire mesh, headlights, gongs, bells and circuit breakers rescued from the scrapman at Llandudno which lost its street tramway in March 1956, and remains in service at Seaton. The last tram partially built in East Barnet, in 1958, was similar tram number 7, again using full-sized components such as more electrical gear rescued from recently scrapped Llandudno trams, and seats from Leeds trams; it also remains in service at Seaton.
The Barnet works closed shortly afterwards, and were sold in 1959; now demolished, a field visit kindly undertaken by Bill Bass in November 2019 showed that the site is now covered by a large modern three-story block of flats, ‘Ludlow Court’- see photos by Bill below.
Tramway operations moved entirely to Eastbourne, where the tramway was partly lit by ex-Hendon UDC gas lamps! Also built at Barnet in 1957 was a miniature Edwardian L.G.O.C- ‘B’ type open top bus, based on the 1929 chassis of a Swift car, registration LA 9927, which is currently undergoing restoration. In 1963, three of the Barnet built trams – 3, 225, and 238 – were sold to a collector in America and shipped out in November; sadly, their current location is not known. Barnet built Cars 6 and 7 remain in operation at Seaton, where the tramway moved to in 1969. In October 1964 the former Metropolitan Electric Tramways tram/trolleybus depot and works in Hendon, where Merit House now stands opposite the oriental shopping complex, was being demolished, following closure in 1962, and Claude Lane rescued two sets of depot gates, for use at Eastbourne and, later, Seaton. Another local link at Seaton is tram 14, originally Metropolitan Electric Tramways 94 of 1904, later London Transport 2455, rescued in 1961 from an orchard near Waltham Cross, and now cut down to single deck, of the type once common around Hendon, Finchley and Barnet until the local tramways converted to trolleybus operation c.1935-1938.
This is a splendid book. Though not cheap, it is well written with plenty of ‘human interest’ and lots of pictures of the Barnet works and its advertising literature, Hadley Fete, and the Hendon depot gates! Well recommended for transport and local history enthusiasts.
HADAS TRIP Day 2 (continued) Jim Nelhams Leaving Llandaff, our coach took us into the centre of Cardiff, dropping everybody by the walls of Cardiff Castle. The castle has lots of steps, particularly in the keep, so some opted to visit the museum and art gallery or local shops.
CARDIFF CASTLE Dudley Miles The first building on the site was a Roman fort, built to subdue the warlike tribe of the Silures, which controlled south-east Wales. A stretch of Roman wall survives in the basement of the visitor centre. William the Conqueror invaded south-east Wales and in 1081 he built a motte-and-bailey castle with a wooden keep on the site. Around 1135, this was replaced by a stone keep, considered the finest in Wales, by Robert of Gloucester, probably in response to a Welsh rising.
In the fifteenth century the castle began its transformation into a comfortable residence with the construction of a mansion built into the western wall of the bailey. Three hundred years later, the mansion was refurbished and extended, while Capability Brown’s vision of a fashionable landscape led him to demolish many important ancient buildings and the wall which divided the inner and outer bailey. In the late nineteenth century, the 3rd Marquess of Bute, then the richest man in Britain, employed the architect William Burges to transform the mansion into an outstanding example of Gothic Revival architecture. Some rooms in the mansion are open to the public and others can be seen on a fascinating guided tour.
THE ANIMAL WALL AT BUTE PARK Audrey Hooson
On our visit to Cardiff Castle I was keen to see the highly decorated rooms in the Victorian Gothic castle apartments. These were designed by architect William Burges for the 3rd Marquis of Bute, with the project started in 1866 and continued by the 4th Marquis. The rooms are famous for the amount of decoration they contain with many animals, plants etc. and depict historical and mythical stories.
We did not have to wait very long for our first sight. As we stepped from the coach, we saw the Grade 1 listed Animal Wall at Bute Park. This was planned by Burges and built in 1890, after his death; it was originally located in front of the castle. Road widening as the Centre of Cardiff became busier necessitated re-positioning to the west around Bute Park. For people who are used to animals in heraldic representation or relief panels inserted into walls they are quite a surprise. They all look as if they are looking over the wall from Bute Park and possibly trying to escape. The first nine designed by Thomas Nicholls in 1890 have glass eyes and were originally painted. In 1931, six further animals were sculpted by Alexander Carrick. During the 1930s the animals featured in a children’s cartoon in the South Wales Echo; they are still a very popular sight in the centre of Cardiff. Cardiff Museum of Natural History & National Museum of Art A short distance away from the castle stand a number of civic buildings dating from 1906 and including the City Hall. Next to this stands the museum building, at the time of our visit undergoing roof repairs. Like many city centre museums, it has run out of space, so historic and archaeological exhibits have been transferred in recent years to new buildings at St Fagans, which we would visit later in the trip.
On the ground floor is the natural history section – imaginatively displayed – covering the geological and historical development of Wales and including a woolly mammoth which moves and trumpets. Much of the first floor is devoted to art, including the work of a number of Welsh painters, but also a display of Welsh ceramics.
Llandaff postscript Jim Nelhams
While returning from Llandaff Cathedral to our coach, we found a small excavation underway near the Bishop’s Castle at the top of the hill. The following is reprinted by kind permission of ‘Wales Online’. “A Medieval dwelling dating back to the 1400s has been discovered under a derelict toilet block in Cardiff . “An excavation of the site in Llandaff in September revealed the building, which expert archaeologists believe was home to someone important. “It is quite a high-status building, it includes a Bath Stone fire surround which was imported from the Bath area and it is not really known as a stone in Llandaff,” said Dr Tim Young, the archaeologist leading the dig. The ground floor of the house remains fully intact, and it is believed the first floor was demolished in the 17th century when the land was then used for an animal pound.
(This is the south corner of the medieval building and its fireplace is to the right)
Among the finds were animal bones, pots, and a counting token called a Jetton, which is believed to have been struck in Paris in the 1300s.
There are a number of theories behind who may have lived in the dwelling next to the 13th Century Old Bishop’s Castle; one includes a housekeeper for the nearby Manor of Llandaff or an official of the Llandaff Cathedral “The site is known as the pound as it was the animal pound for Llandaff and we have evidence of that dating back to about 1607. It had always been assumed that the area was also the pound before that so the discovery of a medieval dwelling on the site was quite unexpected,” said Dr Young, who is a teaching associate at Cardiff University. Finds from the dig will now be sent to experts at Cardiff University and other national museums in order to learn more about the site. “It won’t be for another six months or even a year until we could come to any sort of conclusion,” said Dr Young. Dr Young added they were very surprised by the find as there was no evidence from any of the surviving maps from that time to suggest there had been a building there. The dig was part of a community project set up by Llandaff 50+ as part of a transfer of community assets by the council to the club, who intend to turn the disused toilets into a new community venue. The club was granted funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund and Cardiff YMCA Trust to run the community project and refurbish the toilets. More than 250 children from nearby schools helped with the dig which ran from September 16 to 27. A local storyteller was able to bring history alive for the children, which helped make the community dig a real success, said Yvonne Apsitis, chairwoman of the Llandaff 50+ club. “We have never really done much with children in the community before so this seemed the perfect opportunity. We had people as old as 80 work at the dig. It was a really enjoyable experience,” said the 79-year-old. The site will now be filled back in as work continues on restoring the area.
Two new books of interest 1. How Hampstead Heath was saved. Review by Andrew Bosi, (first published in News Forum, the newsletter of the London Forum)
Helen Lawrence’s new book has been published (by the Camden History Society, £14.95, order online through the Camden History Society website) to coincide with the latest twist in the history of the Heath – the return of sheep grazing. She charts in great detail the long struggle over ownership of the Heath and the rights and easements granted or withheld. There is a critique of earlier publications and this book brings together the full story to date, acknowledging that it will continue to evolve and urging vigilance on readers who might be faced with challenges in the future.
Hampstead has always been inhabited by more than its share of the great and the good and it is interesting to speculate, as you read the book, how Epping Forest might have fared if it had fallen into the same ownership. The book is sub-titled a Story of People Power and although legislation has changed out of all recognition there are echoes of the petitioning of Parliament over the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in the account of how successive Bills in Parliament designed to permit unwanted development were rebuffed.
Surprisingly, the coming of the Railways did not pose a threat to the heath and the Hampstead Junction railway skirting the southern edge of the heath strengthened the argument that this is a London wide resource. None of the radial routes to the north come anywhere near.
Changes to local government on the other hand posed more difficulties. Within the living memory of most readers, the abolition of the Greater London Council and the long drawn out debate about how its functions were to be administered involved twists and turns that are faithfully recorded here.
In places the left justification of the text results in some confusing spacing: one or two errors have escaped the proof readers. The book is copiously illustrated and very reasonably priced. A rather limited print run may mean first editions become a much sought after investment in years to come. Anyone with an interest in the history of the Heath, or needing to fight for open space elsewhere, will want to make that investment now.
Londinium: a Biography – Roman London from its origins to the Fifth Century
By Richard Hingley, Professor of Roman Archaeology at the University of Durham Bloomsbury Academic 2018 Price £17.50 paperback
‘Archaeological work’, writes Professor Hingley, has since the mid-1990s, entirely transformed the comprehension of London’s Roman past . . . particularly with regard to the characters and lives of its occupants and the later history of Londinium’. He attempts in this book a current synthesis, dividing the life of Roman London into some six periods, and looking one by one at aspects of London’s life in each period. For instance, under ‘Peak of Development from AD125 to AD200’ there are sections ‘People and status’ ‘Monumental buildings and infrastructure’ ‘Occupation’, and ‘Marking the boundaries’. Professor Hingley indicates scrupulously when the evidence for any conclusion is uncertain or ambiguous. He does not think the decline of Londinium during the third and fourth centuries was anything like as marked as we are often told.
The book will be invaluable as the basis for research or study of anything relating to Roman London – though of course everything in it must be provisional as new discoveries continue to be made. The illustrations are full, but can be murky – in a reasonably priced paperback they are in the text, not on separate plates.
OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS compiled by Eric Morgan Please check with the organisations before setting out in case of any changes / cancellations. Many organisations expect a small contribution from visitors. Tuesday 14th January 6.30 pm London and Middlesex Archaeological Society Clore Learning Centre, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN Which Bottles are ‘Witch’ Bottles? Talk by Nigel Jeffries, exploring Ralph Merrifield’s legacy in the field of early modern bottle magic in England. Refreshments from 6 o’clock Tuesday 14th January 7.45 pm Amateur Geological Society Finchley Baptist Church Hall 6 East End Road opposite Avenue House Milankovitch Cycles and other cosmic influences on our climate Talk by Professor Alan Aylward. Wednesday 22nd January, 7.45 pm Friern Barnet and District Local History Society. North Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane N20 0NL. All Over by Christmas: the Home Front in the First World War Talk by David Berguer Thursday 30th January 2.30 pm. Finchley Society. Drawing Room, Avenue House Talk by Helen Fry on Trent Park in the Second World War and other buildings used for interrogation. NOTE AFTERNOON MEETING Sunday 2nd February. 10.30 am Heath and Hampstead Society. Laughter in the Landscape; a walk to celebrate Grimaldi Sunday. Explore ‘Appy ‘Ampstead with Lester Hillmany Marc Hutchinson. Meet at the Old Bull and Bush North End Way NW3 Lasts about two hours. MUST BOOK – www.heathandhampstead.org.uk or 07941528034. Donation £5. Thursday 6th February 8pm Pinner Local History Society Village Hall, Chapel Lane car park, Pinner HA5 1AB. Behind the scenes at the Battle of Britain. Talk by David Keen, including Bentley Priory’s place in history. Wednesday 12th February. 2.30 pm Mill Hill Historical Society Trinity Church 100, The Broadway NW7 3TB French Horticultural Gardens and current influences. Talk by Chelle Price Wednesday 12th February 7.45 pm Hornsey Historical Society. Union Church Hall, corner Ferme Park Road/Weston Park N8 9PX. Beating the Bounds Talk by Mark Lewis Monday 17th February. 8.00 pm. Enfield Society Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane/junction Chase Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ. Lost buildings of Enfield Talk by Joe Studman. (including Enfield Palace, Enfield Assembly Rooms, Zion and Chase side Chapels, Gentleman’s Row Bothy, Cecil Road Farm as well as inns and cinemas) (Wrongly entered as 10.30 am in print version) Monday 17th February 8.15 pm Ruislip, Northwood and Eastcote Local History Society St Martin’s Church Hall High Street Ruislip HA4 8DG Excavations at Eastcote House Gardens. Talk by Les Capon (AOC Archaeology). Wednesday 19th February. 8pm. Edmonton Hundred Historical Society. Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane/junction Chase Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ The Bayeux Tapestry. Mike Brown. Wednesday 19th February 7.30pm. Willesden Local History Society. St Mary’s Church Hall, Neasden Lane, NW10 2TS (nr Magistrates Court) The Willesden Green Library Story Talk by Philip Grant, celebrating the 125th anniversary – the Library opened in 1894 and has been at the heart of the local community. Thursday 20th February 8pm Historical Association – Hampstead and NW London branch. Fellowship House, 136A Willifield Way NW6 6YD Jews in the Roman Empire Talk by Dr David Nay on their flourishing in many parts of the empire until changes under fourth century Christian emperors. (Wrongly entered as 27th February in print version) 12 Friday 21st February. 7.30 pm. Wembley History Society English Martyrs’ Hall, Chalkhill Road, Wembley, HA9 9EW (top of Blackbird Hill, adjacent to church) The Home Front during the Second World War Talk by Christine Coates. Wednesday 26th February. 2.30 pm. Enfield Society Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane/junction Chase Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ.Lavender Hill cemetery Talk by Joe Studman, looking at some of the graves to reveal a potted history of late Victorian and Edwardian Enfield. Wednesday 26th February, 7.45 pm Friern Barnet and District Local History Society North Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane N20 0NL. London Film Locations Talk by Diane Burstein Thursday 27th February 2.30 pm. Finchley Society. Drawing Room, Avenue House, West Finchley Neighbourhood Plan Talk by Kieran Kettleton. NOTE AFTERNOON MEETING Friday 28th and Saturday 29th February. Current Archaeology Live 2020. Conference in the University of London Senate House, Malet Street WC1E 7HU. Wide range of expert speakers sharing the latest archaeological finds and research. For details and tickets visit www.archaeologylive.co.uk or ring 020 8819 5580.
With many thanks to this month’s contributors: Bill Bass, Deidre Barrie, Don Cooper, Audrey Hooson, Jo and Jim Nelhams, Dudley Miles, Eric Morgan and Andy Simpson.
Hendon and District Archaeological Society Chairman Don Cooper 59, Potters Road, Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8440 4350) e-mail: chairman@hadas.org.uk Hon. Secretary Jo Nelhams 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076) e-mail: secretary@hadas.org.uk Hon. Treasurer Roger Chapman 50 Summerlee Ave, London N2 9QP (07855 304488) e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk Membership Sec. Stephen Brunning 22 Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road, East Barnet EN4 8FH (0208 440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
May we take the opportunity to wish all our readers and their families, a happy holiday and a healthy, happy and prosperous 2020
HADAS Diary Tuesday 14th January 2020 at 2.30pm Ian Jones. Shelters to Shrapnel, surviving traces of Enfield at War, 1939-1945. NOTE: This Lecture is in the afternoon at 2.30pm
Tuesday 11th February 2020. The Dorothy Newbury Memorial Lecture Jon Cotton Prehistory in London – some Problems, Progress and Potential
Tuesday 10th March 2020. Lyn Blackmore, From Crosse and Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA excavations at Tottenham Court Road 2009–10
Tuesday 14th April 2020 TBA.
Tuesday 12th May 2020 TBA.
Tuesday 9th June 2020 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Lectures start at 7.45 for 8.00pm, except the January lecture which starts at 2.30pm, in the Drawing Room, Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Buses 82, 143, 326 & 460 pass close by, and it is five to ten minutes’ walk from Finchley Central Station (Northern Line). Tea/coffee and biscuits follow the talk. Visitors £2.
URGENT HADAS are in urgent need of a “Newsletter publications co-ordinator” Sue Willetts, who has been doing sterling work as co-ordinator has resigned due to increased work commitments and health issues – we thank her for all her hard work. Here is the job description: Newsletter publication co-ordinator
1. Agrees the rota of newsletter editors for the following 12 months.
2. On or about the 20th of each month receives the draft copy of the newsletter from that month’s editor.
3.Reviews the draft copy and agrees any changes with the month’s editor.
4. Sends the version to be printed to the printer so that it can be posted out to members on 1st of the following month. (The file of labels is sent out by the membership secretary to the printer on 28th of month)
5. Despatch the electronic version on the 1st of the month. If you feel you could take on this role, please contact Don Cooper (see contact details below.
Archaeological excavations in Stephens Gardens 2018 Bill Bass and The HADAS Dig Team TQ 25282 90177, site code: SVH14 (2018) During June 2018 HADAS conducted an excavation on the Water Tower, Laundry and Glasshouse complex which lies along the southern border of the gardens adjacent to East End Road, Finchley. This was not the first time we have dug here, being a follow-up project to digs in 2013 and 2014.
Although the restored Water Tower still stands, the nearby buildings – Laundry and Glasshouse were demolished possibly in the late 1930s to 1940s, we’re not sure of the exact date yet, (glasshouses went into decline generally after the First World War) but it is absent from the 1950s OS maps. In fact, there are a few things we’re not sure of as there is little documentary evidence in the likes of the archives of The Finchley Society and Barnet Local History Society. We have however, seen some letters where Henry Stephens complains to the Barnet Water Company and others about the supply of water, water softening, cisterns, pumps and other apparatus around 1879 and 1880. In July 1882 there is a letter (yet to be fully transcribed) which talks of obtaining the specifications, plans and elevations of the Laundry, Glasshouse and machinery house to judge their costs (D. Cooper – pers. comm.). Further, there is mention of costing the likes of ‘Excavation with clay disposal’, ‘Hot water heating’ and ‘drainage arrangements’.
On 19th July 1884 an advert appears in the Hendon and Finchley Times, “Wanted a thoroughly competent laundress (non-resident) to undertake the washing of one family at advertiser’s own laundry; must have good references and be able to get up fine things well. – Apply by letter to Mrs Stephens, Avenue House, Finchley.”
The complex begins to appear on Ordnance Survey maps of 1896 either as a simple roof glazed rectangular block or more detailed, with the Water Tower, then west of that the Laundry and the Glasshouse with ancillary rooms.
Previous excavations in 2013 and 2014 have shown a complex of pipework, valves and stopcocks controlling the water from the tower and other drainage arrangements. The construction consisted of the original Laundry/Glasshouse walls – 9” wide concrete with mortar and pitch rendering, a well-made ‘sunken’ slate floor – the slate had ‘slots’ cut into it for a fitment of some kind perhaps benches or bedding troughs of some kind. A substantial amount of clinker found here may relate to the heating purposes mentioned.
About midway along the Glasshouse and beneath the floor layers a large semi-circular cistern was discovered, approximately 5m in diameter, probably part of the water management of the site and supply to the Glasshouse area.
A camera was lowered into the void, the photos showed the shape of the cistern and that it still held water. Some articles suggest that cisterns such this could be used to regulate the temperature of glasshouses; also a supply of water was needed for boilers used to heat such structures. Other than the Water Tower we know there are other cisterns and wells in the general area.
Most of our trenches contained demolition rubble, thick glass from glasshouse roof and other fitments and finds. For the 2018 season we opened 3 trenches, two in the possible ‘laundry’ area and one over the far west wall to determine the full length of the building.
2018 Trenches The trench numbering follows on from the previous digs in 2013 and 2014. Trench 6
A 2.00m x 2.00m trench was opened up to the east side of the laundry/glasshouse complex, where from maps there was an entrance from East End Road next to the Water-tower that led into a possible lobby entrance for the building. This area was beneath a compost area and leaf-mould bins, so much of the upper layers consisted of leaf-mulch, silt, clay and such like material [600].
Under this in the south of the trench was a shallow layer of topsoil sitting on top of a compacted pebbly area thought to be a yard surface (86.49 OD). In the west of the trench adjacent to the yard was a drain, some concrete flooring and a worn-down stone slab which may have been the threshold to a door. Bordering this was a demolished concrete wall running east-west through the middle of the trench.
The yard/drain/threshold appeared to be the outside corner of the entrance lobby area.
To the north of the concrete wall, presumed to be inside the building, the sandy topsoil was increasingly mixed with demolition rubble; set within this was another drain. Digging down, a concrete floor was encountered at 65cm below the level of the yard above.
Finds Ceramic Building Materials included brick, mortar and concrete, notably floor bricks in a pale orange, these are distinctive and can be seen in situ in the flooring of the stables (now cafe) dating to 1880. Also found were examples of white-glazed brick which can also be seen in the cafe area. Amounts of corroded metal sheeting and a large metal spike were recorded. Some of the finds amongst the demolition rubble included small amounts of Victorian pottery such as– Creamware, English porcelain, Transfer Printed Wares. The foot (with spat) of a porcelain figurine was noted. There were minor amounts of window, roof and vessel glass and clay-pipe stems. Of the smaller finds, a fine Edwardian double silver stamp case with sliding mechanism was found with blue cabochon stone thumb-piece by the Ahronsberg Bros. and hallmarked in Birmingham in 1911; the hallmarks are crisp and clear high quality engraving to front of the case, the rear is plain. Length: 5cm and the width: 3.5cm. A small lead tag 6cm x 3cm may refer to a ‘waterlily’ – Nymphaea Marliacea Chromatella. Some mostly modern coins were seen and other copper-alloy items noted. Also recorded were fragments of glass ‘phial’ type vessels 10mm in diameter possibly used in lab testing or thermometers; further examples were found in trench 7.
Interpretation Trench 6 seems to have identified the small yard area and entrance to the east of the building. This was accessed by a gate and short path on East End Road seen on maps. The step or threshold into the lobby is worn showing its use. The sunken concrete floor inside the entrance building may be for underfloor piping or heating, the water being supplied from the water-tower. This was backfilled with rubble – with a drain inserted/ built in the rubble, for a later use of the structure before final demolition.
Trench 7 This trench (2.00m x 2.00m) was positioned three metres to the west of trench 6, near to the presumed area of the laundry. The trench revealed a complex of concrete floors and walls, brick walls, iron piping and so forth.
Clearing the leafy/humic top layers uncovered a thin patchy tarmac ‘surface’ supported by a gravelly pebbly make-up context. In the north-west of the trench a compacted gravel area had the partial remains of a brick floor laid over it. Below these layers was an infill of rubble demolition up to 90cm in depth; this was contained by a series of walls.
An east-west running concrete wall to the north of the trench, at 22cm wide, would have been part of the original 1880s built structure. This butted up to a slightly narrower north-south concrete wall at 18cm wide this extended beyond the main wall and both north and south limits of trench 7. This wall may have been separating the ‘lobby’ and laundry areas. In the west section a later brick wall had been inserted, these were yellow-stock bricks in a Flemish bond, with a two-course plinth foundation. The brick wall butts up to a remnant of concrete (wall?) at its south end. An iron pipe appears out of the south section and turning east at a right-angle over the demolished wall, heading for the lobby or water-tower.
At the base of the trench was a concrete floor (85.80m OD) which supported the walls, it was at least 18cm in depth, but even so it had been heavily truncated with large sections pulled-up as part of the demolition or a re-ordering of the building. The structure here had clearly seen a lot of remodelling with later walls, pipework, and a series of brick and later flooring towards the end of its life.
Finds Throughout the demolition layers there were examples of concrete, mortar, floor and wall tile. Lumps of thick ‘bitumen’ were recorded, this has been seen in previous digs here, perhaps used for water-proofing or similar. An unusual object was a ceramic slab (?) black/brown glazed 18cm x 20cm, 6.5cm thick with flanged edges, use unknown as yet. The amounts of ¼” thick roof increased in this trench. Further paleorange floor bricks and glazed wall bricks as seen in trench 6 were recorded. Some examples of sewer and drainage pipe were seen. Pottery similar to trench 6 included English Stonewares, Post Medieval Redwares and Refined White Wares.
Interpretation Although placed over the area where we thought the laundry would be, Trench 7 showed a complex series of walls; some of the original concrete types and one of a later brick type construction. A water-pipe and a series of floors plus much demolition/ truncation showed that this area was subject to a lot of change over the years. We need to do some more work on the layout of this room to work out the wall alignments and use. Drawings by Marcus White (Review of Avenue House water engineering 2013) indicate the ‘laundry’ would have been adjacent to the water-tower for pipework and water supply purposes, also it shows a wastewater pipe leading off-site to a sewer beneath East End Road.
Trench 8 This trench (3.00m x 2.00m) was situated at the far west of the ‘glasshouse’ area of the building to pick-up the west end of it. The excavation of the trench was a bit tricky as it was surrounded by trees, the roots of which grew across and into the excavation, so we had to dig around the (many) roots.
The trench included the north wall of the greenhouse area which was known from previous excavations (2013-14) and is visible in places on the surface. Again, much demolition rubble was encountered. At the west end the return wall was found, also discovered was an architectural ‘plinth’ seen at the north-western corner.
A 1.00m wide ‘sondage’ was excavated through the rubble in an attempt to find a floor, unfortunately the roots and nature of the rubble meant we had abandon this after a depth of 1.20m or so.
As mentioned above the ‘plinth’ or minor buttress was found formed in concrete [context 805], approx. half of the feature was excavated (47cm x 20cm) with at least four sides exposed, it had fine mortar rendering and a thin layer of pitch applied to the outside. These features are common and can be seen on the other nearby gate-house and stables buildings though these are mostly formed of brick. To the rear of Avenue House (facing the park) there are stone examples of plinths supporting decorative columns either side of a door.
Finds The bulk of Trench 8 consisted of the infill demolition rubble [context 800] which included large amounts of concrete, mortar, thick black-pitch and roof-glass (¼” thick). Much of this was disposed of on-site while samples were retained and recorded. Smaller amounts of vessel-glass, roof-tile, brick, drainage-pipe, with minor amounts of roof-slate, stone and metal objects/finds such as keys and ‘cap gun’ etc were also recorded. Of the pottery, small amounts of mainly 19th c types (similar to the other trenches), including Transfer Printed Wares (TPW4) and several sherds of earlier Borderwares dated 1550-1700 were noted.
More unusual finds included a ‘Gryphea Fossil’ commonly known as a “Devil’s toenail” from context [800] and a section of a largish Ammonite Fossil [804]. “During the Anglian glaciation some 450,000 year ago the Avenue House grounds were covered by an ice sheet. This is one of the most southerly exposures of glacial till or boulder clay deposited by this ice sheet. The glacial deposits are chalky, flinty till and can contain fossils brought from the Jurassic limestone and Cretaceous chalk to the north. It is quite possible, indeed likely, that the fossils came from the grounds, although I, personally, have never seen such large examples in the London till. So I suppose there must be an element of caution. We can, however, speculate that they were curated by the residents for their ‘cabinet of curiosities’ and subsequently discarded as rubble for the foundations. Unless, of course, they picked them up on their holidays in Lyme Regis!” (Peter Collins – pers. comm.)
Interpretation In Trench 8 we discovered the far west end wall and a large section of the main north wall making the lobby/laundry/glasshouse complex 30m long, the corner of the wall had a concrete architectural abutment or possibly a further door entrance. According to the map there was some kind of ancillary room here, but we couldn’t find any evidence on this occasion, neither could we establish a floor. The trench was dug under difficult circumstances and may need revisiting.
Conclusion “From the middle of the 19th century, breakthroughs in heating and glazing led to a dramatic growth in the number of manufacturers specialising in ’horticultural buildings’. “Water was heated in large coal-fired boilers and circulated around glasshouses in 6-inch cast-iron pipes, which were placed beneath the staging and under the pathway gratings”. “This method was not only less labour intensive (than previous methods), but more reliable and economical, although huge boilers could devour massive amounts of coal” – F. Grant, Glasshouses, Shire Publications 2013.
Possibly we are seeing something similar with the Avenue House glasshouse with the use of sub-flooring; we have recorded areas of burning and coal in previous digs. The relatively narrow width of the structure may point to it being a ‘lean-to’ or ’three-quarter-span’ type, south-facing and also partially buried in an embankment – was this to improve the heating/insulation of the building? We have not found in this excavation or previous ones too much evidence of the main superstructure i.e. wood or metal. This may need some further investigation.
We have improved our knowledge on the size/access and architectural aspects of the building and have recorded some unusual finds. Much remains inconclusive such as the laundry area and glasshouse construction together with machinery and other rooms. This may form the basis of further work.
Groups of local school children were shown the dig as part of their local history curriculum. Some of the finds and equipment were explained by members of the dig team, also a banner publicising HADAS was placed outside the dig to encourage members of the public to inspect the excavation.
Proposed plan of the Greenhouse and Laundry complex, not to scale, but some 30m long x 8m wide (excluding the Water tower).
For further reports and plans please see HADAS Newsletters 517, 530, 531 and others.
Acknowledgements: The Avenue House Management and Team The HADAS Dig Team The HADAS Sunday morning finds processing team. Documentary research: Roger Chapman, Don Cooper and Vicki Baldwin. Finds identification: Jacqui Pearce and Peter Collins. The Stephens Collection. Fiona Grant, Glasshouses, Shire Publications 2013. Andy Whitfield: Metal Detecting. Photos: Vicki Baldwin & Bill Bass School outreach Jo & Jim Nelhams
HADAS TRIP Day 2 Jim Nelhams
Tuesday was originally planned as a day in Cardiff, but the need to include other places meant a change in plan. First to Margam Abbey, quite close to the hotel before joining the motorway. Strangely, Cardiff does not have a Protestant Cathedral, but falls within the diocese of Llandaff, so we visited Llandaff Cathedral on our way to the City Centre. More on our visit to Cardiff next month.
MARGAM ABBEY Peter Pickering We began our first full day in South Wales with a short ride to Margam, an unexpected delight for any archaeologist. What at first appears to be a largish nineteenth-century church is in fact the nave of a Cistercian abbey, strong and plain as that austere Order’s buildings were. But in the south-east corner a closely packed set of tomb chests, all similar (because all erected together) of three generations of the Mansel family; knights and ladies on the tops and children round the sides. Then, having feasted our eyes and bought books, cards and trinkets, we went out through the south door, and there, with an enormous tree, were considerable monastic ruins from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, including a roofless but recognisable eight-sided chapter house, and what seemed to the headless body of a stone ram or similar animal. In the distance, up beyond several terraces and too far for us to explore, is a Victorian mansion; and closer by a large eighteenth-century Orangery. When the church was restored it had to remain less prominent than the Orangery.
If all this did not sufficiently bewilder with its jumble of dates, a hundred yards away in an old schoolroom there is a wonderful and well-presented collection of inscribed stones, from Roman and late antique (what we used to call Dark Age) to mediaeval. Most are in Latin, but one had a Welsh inscription, and one was in Ogham, that strange script used to write old Irish, with lines (straight or diagonal) in sets of five usually inscribed (or rather up) the edge of a standing stone.
An Interesting Tree Sylvia Javes
As we drove along the M40 in Wales I was surprised how much woodland there was, but also there were interesting trees in the urban areas: massive sweet chestnuts at Cardiff Castle, and young groves of Himalayan birch near the museums in Swansea.
There was one tree in particular that caught my attention, however, and that was at Margam Abbey. Just beside the abbey was a large tree that was spreading everywhere, with branches touching the ground. It appeared to be very old. I took a closer look at it: slender twigs; brown buds, pointed and slender; little nut cases – Beech, surely. But I didn’t recognize the leaves as beech. They were deeply toothed, whereas beech leaves are a smooth oval.
I called back inside the abbey, where a volunteer was able to tell me – fern-leaf beech. When I returned home, I looked it up in my tree books. Nothing. So I turned to the internet. The first hits were from tree nurseries offering fine specimens for about £300. It took quite a bit more delving before I finally found more information from a tree nursery: Fagus Sylvatica Asplenifolia, also known as the fern-leaf or cut-leaf beech, is a truly majestic tree which has been produced in cultivation by selective breeding of the common beech. It was introduced to the UK in the early 1800’s and has been a favourite as a specimen tree ever since. It won the RHS Award of Garden Merit in 2002.’
Then I found more clues when I looked at notes for Margam Country Park. Teachers’ notes refer to the tree as being 200 years old, suggesting that it was planted shortly after it was developed by plant breeders. The present house was built in the early 19th century, and there are other fine trees in the park. I saw a cork oak and the teachers’ notes also mention a tulip tree. Obviously trees were valued and a wide variety planted.
Sometime later I remembered a tree I had puzzled over in East Barnet: slender twigs; brown buds, pointed and slender; little nut cases, but not recognizably beech leaves. Could it be the same? I went to look at it – a little sapling recently planted in Oak Hill Park, surrounded by a fence to protect it. Yes it was the same – fern-leaf or cut-leaf beech, Fagus Sylvatica Asplenifolia. I only hope that Barnet didn’t pay £300 plus for it!
LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL Don Cooper
We drew up at one of the entrances to Llandaff Cathedral after travelling down a steep narrow roadway. So narrow, in fact, that the coach had to back all the way up before it could turn and find a parking place. As with many other UK Cathedrals, Llandaff claims to be one of the oldest in Britain. Certainly, the site has been a place of worship since the mid-16th century. The building we see today is an amalgam of the many re-buildings, alterations and extensions that have taken place on the site over the centuries. The art, the fittings and furnishings reflect the building’s long history and the evolution of worship in this great cathedral. During the Civil War, Cromwell’s troops used the building as a stable, ale house and calf pen. By 1703, following serious storm damage, the Cathedral was a ruin. But in 1835 Prichard and Seddon, architects, began a restoration project and by 1869 the restoration of the Cathedral was complete. All was well until 1941 when a German landmine wrecked the building again. George Pace, architect, began another restoration which was eventually completed in 2010.
We strolled around and admired the artefacts that reflected the Cathedral’s long history and the two major restorations. The long history is represented by tombs and effigies of Bishops of Llandaff (13thc), Lady Audley (15thc), Reredos (15thc), a Flemish wooden carving (15thc) and many later tombs of bishops and prominent people.
The first major restoration is represented by works (stained glass windows, porcelain panels and paintings) by the great pre-Raphaelite artists: Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne Jones, William Morris and Gabriel Rossetti.
The second major restoration is represented by a large organ said to be the only wholly British built organ for a cathedral in 50 years; it was installed in 2010. The restoration is also represented by a concrete chancel arch supporting the former organ case and the controversial “Majestas” a figure of “Christ in Majesty” by Jacob Epstein. The niches of the organ case are filled with small gilded boxwood figures rescued from the Victorian choir stalls. Does it overwhelm the building? Personally, I don’t think so.
There are many other historic artefacts in this fascinating Cathedral, and it would take a book to describe them all. With the coach parked at the top of the hill we slowly made our way up. At the top we had a quick look at the excavation taking place at the Bishop’s Castle. Unfortunately the dig had only just started so there was little to see.
Honour for Mrs. Jean Neal by Eric Morgan On the 11th November 2019, the BBC announced that Jean Neal had been awarded the French Legion d’Honneur medal at the age of 98 for her wartime work on code breaking and ciphers at Bletchley Park during WWII. Jean is a long-standing member of HADAS, who together with her husband Tim, has lived for many years in Hampstead Garden Suburb. She and her husband attended the award ceremony in France where she spoke briefly. Jean led a HADAS trip to Bletchley Park a few years ago, after she was finally allowed to talk about her war time work.
Other Societies Events Compiled by Eric Morgan Thursday, 5th December, 8pm. Pinner Local History Society, Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner, HA5 1AB. An Underground guide to 1950s London. Talk by Nick Dobson., Visitors £3. Wednesday, 11th December, 2.30pm. Mill Hill Historical Society, Trinity Church, 100, The Broadway, NW7 3TB. History of the Postal Services. Talk by Mike Beech. Thursday, 19th December, 7.30pm. Camden History Society, Burg House, New End Square, NW3 1LT. E H Dixon Landscape artist and Social Historian. Talk by Peter Darley. Visitors £2. Wine and nibbles from 7pm. Monday, 6th January, 5pm. British Archaeological Association, Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1J 0BE. Recent work on the Monastic Buildings at Westminster Abbey. Talk by Tim Tatton- Brown. Tea from 4.30pm, Non-members welcome but make themselves known on arrival and sign the visitors’ book. Followed by Twelfth Night party. Wednesday, 8th January, 5pm. Royal Archaeological Institute, Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1J 0BE. From the Romans to the Saxons: Results from the archaeological fieldwork at the site of St Martins-in-the-fields. Talk by Alison Telfer (MoLA).Tea from 4.30pm, Non-members welcome but please contact administration in advance on ww.sal.org.uk/events or Telephone 020 7479 7080. Wednesday, 8th January, 2.30pm. Mill Hill Historical Society, Trinity Church, 100, The Broadway, NW7 3TB. History and Development of the London Air Ambulance Service. Speaker TBA. Wednesday, 8th January, 7.45pm. Hornsey Historical Society, Union Church Hall, Ferme Park Rd / Jnc Western Park. N8 9PX. Music Hall: Theatres and performers in North London, Talk by Keith Fawkes & Richard Norman. Visitors £2. Tuesday, 14th January, 8pm. Historical Association: North London Branch, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, junction of Chase Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ. Early Medieval London: From Market to Metropolis. Talk by Dr. Rory Naismith (King’s College). Visitors £1. Friday, 17th January, 7pm. COLAS, St. Olave’s Church, Hart Street, EC3R 7NB. The Dating Game. Talk by Dr. Alex Bayliss on the range of Scientific dating techniques available to archaeologists. Visitors £3. Refreshments. Monday 20th January, 8.15pm. Ruislip, Northwood and Eastcote Local History Society, St Martin’s Church Hall, High Street, Ruislip HA4 8DG. Victorian Leisure: The Organisation of recreation in Victorian London. Talk by Ian Bevan. Visitors £2. Wednesday, 22nd January, 2.30pm. Enfield Archaeological Society, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane/ junction of Chase Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ. Treason, Plots and Murders. Talk by Joe Studman on 17thc series of plots against the crown, many of them involving Enfield people and places. Visitors £3
With thanks to this month’s contributors: Bill Bass, Jim Nelhams, Peter Pickering, Sylvia Javes and Eric Morgan Hendon and District Archaeological Society (HADAS) Chairman: Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet, EN5 5HS Tel: 020 8440 4350 email: chairman@hadas.org.uk Hon. Secretary: Jo Nelhams, 61 Potters Road, Barnet, EN5 5HS Tel: 020 8449 7076 email: secretary@hadas.org.uk Hon. Treasurer: Roger Chapman, 50 Summerlee Ave., London N2 9QP Tel: 07855 304488 email: treasurer@hadas.org.uk Membership Sec: Stephen Brunning, Flat 22, Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road, East Barnet, EN4 8FH Tel: 02084408421 Email: membership@hadas.org.uk HADAS Web site: www.hadas.org.uk
Lectures start at 7.45 for 8.00pm (unless otherwise stated) in the Drawing Room, Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Buses 82, 143, 326 & 460 pass close by, & it is five to ten minutes’ walk from Finchley Central Stn (Northern Line). Tea/coffee & biscuits follow the talk.
Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: a royal and monastic landscape revealed by Bob Cowie. Bob spent most of his career working as a field archaeologist with MOLA (1983–2017), notably on sites in Lundenwic, spending evenings teaching extramural students at Birkbeck about the archaeology of Saxon and medieval England. He began digging and finds processing with the Wandsworth Historical Society in 1974, and later became longstanding member of the Richmond Archaeological Society, who helped investigate some of the sites that will be reviewed in his talk. His lecture concerns three riverside sites, which together form a nationally important historic landscape. The earliest of these was Shene Palace, which Henry V began to rebuild with the intention of making it his dynastic seat. He also intended to found three religious houses nearby. One was to be a French Celestine monastery, but this scheme was abandoned following the outbreak of war with France. The other two monasteries comprised a Carthusian priory (Shene Charterhouse) and a Bridgettine abbey (Syon), which in their day represented a late, albeit isolated, flowering of medieval monasticism. Forty years after their final closure, when little survived of these two great religious houses, they were immortalised by Shakespeare as ‘two chantries where sad and solemn priests still sing’ (Henry V, Act 4, Scene 1). Most of the royal palace was swept away during the Commonwealth.
Sunday 1st December 2019 Christmas Party at Avenue House, 12.30pm – 4pm. The application form with the menu which will be a Christmas lunch, with alternatives is with this newsletter. £30 per head.
Tuesday 14th January 2020 at 2.30pm Ian Jones. Shelters to Shrapnel, surviving traces of Enfield at War, 1939-1945
Tuesday 11th February 2020. The Dorothy Newbury Memorial Lecture Jon Cotton Prehistory in London – some Problems, Progress and Potential
EAST BARNET PARISH CHURCH – ST MARY THE VIRGIN Deirdre Barrie If you are walking across Oakhill Park, East Barnet, your eye may catch sight of a mysterious large expanse of white at the top of the hill. As you draw nearer, the white becomes an ancient wall with three little windows in it. This is the north wall of the Church of St Mary the Virgin, which dates back to 1080. It was then that the Benedictine monks of St Albans Abbey founded a small chapel.
Those Norman windows in the wall would not have been glazed, and the pieces of glass there now are remnants of the church’s medieval glass. At the entry, you’ll notice a stile beside the lych-gate. This was once to allow access when the graveyard gates used to be closed to prevent animals straying in. The tiny, peaceful churchyard itself is kept as a conservation area for flora and fauna, and a little tour of it is well worthwhile. A thought-provoking blue leaflet available inside, “A Prayer Walk around the Churchyard” is full of interesting details of the graves. The very tall monument near the road is to Simon Houghton Clarke (9th Baronet), and is placed there so that his widow could see it from Oak Hill, a large white house still visible a few miles away and which is now a religious college.
The first chapel on the site had thick walls built of compressed rubble, lime and plaster, with stone round just the windows, while the frame of the door on the south side is probably from the Norman or Saxon period. There have been many alterations and enlargements to the church since. The chancel was built about 1400, while the first gallery was probably built in the reign of King James I, and used as a school room. In 1805 the church walls were raised by four feet, and a little later, in 1828, the tower was built, in neo-Norman style. Its three bells were recast in 1961 from the two original bells cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1861. (Alas, the Foundry closed in 2017). The tower is only 50 feet high, but tower and flag are visible from a good distance.
An amusing story is told in “The Little Church on the Hill”, a leaflet produced to celebrate the 925th Anniversary of the consecration of the church: “In 1423 the Archbishop of Canterbury passed through Barnet, and the rector and priest were reprimanded for not ringing the church bells in his honour. When the offence was repeated the following year, the Archbishop ordered the church doors to be sealed as a punishment.”
The dissolution of the monasteries meant that King Henry VIII took over the ownership of the Manor of Chipping and East Barnet, and his son Edward VI sold on the Manor of East Barnet in 1553, but kept the patronage for himself. This means that even today the Sovereign is the patron of this church.
The church organ is apparently a very fine instrument for so small a church, and was installed in 1920 in memory of the Vernon Family’s only son, who was killed in WWI.
The nave of the church stands on the site of the original chapel, well over 925 years later, and St Mary’s is still very much alive as a centre for the community. The church is open to visitors from 10am-2pm on Saturdays. For more information see their website: http://www.stmarys-eastbarnet.org.uk/?page_id=50
THE LONG TRIP OF 2019 Jim Nelhams
After a tour of pick-up points, 36 members and friends headed westward for our four-night stay in Aberavon on the east side of Swansea Bay. A comfort break at Beaconsfield and on to Newport for our first two visits, but not in the coach shown above – an updated version.
Our first stop was to be the Newport Medieval Ship, recommended by Peter Pickering, though the Friends of the Ship had a marquee next to Hadas at this year’s Barnet Medieval Festival. At Newport, we were joined by a further five people. How nice it is that members who have moved out of the Barnet area still want to come and join us for our trips.
The Newport Medieval Ship Newport sits on the River Usk, which is tidal and drains into the Severn Estuary. The Romans came to the area, with their camp at Caerleon, on the north side of Newport. Later, the Normans built Newport Castle. The main trading port in the area was Bristol, but Newport was a good site for ship repairs. In the summer of 2002, a new Arts Centre was being built on the riverbank in the centre of Newport. While excavating the orchestral pit, the remains of a fifteenth century boat were discovered, though concrete piles had already been drilled through the hull. Disassembling the remaining timbers tool over 3 months. Toby Jones, the curator of the Newport Medieval Ship project told us what had happened since, and what history of the boat had been established.
The ship was clinker built mainly of oak with a keel of beech. The length of the boat is about 100 feet, just small enough to fit in the warehouse where reconstruction is under way. Most of the timbers had been dated to just after 1450 and from the Basque country of Northern Spain. It is likely that the ship had been involved in the Iberian wine trade. She had been much repaired, and it would appear that during repairs around 1468, she fell on her side. Much of the upper structure, masts etc, had been salvaged for re-use, leaving a large section of the hull, which became subsumed into the mud.
Reproduced by permission of the Friends of Newport Ship
About 1,000 artefacts were recovered, including coins, 500+ pieces of ceramic, shoes, textiles, combs, stone shot, but no guns and three pumps. The silt around the hull was bagged and awaits future inspection and is bound to add to the information. The timber pieces have been scanned in three dimensions with the results used to produce one tenth scale copies on a three-dimension printer. These have been assembled to provide a model and template for further reconstruction.
The Newport Transporter Bridge In 1896, John Lysaght of Wolverhampton wanted to build a steel works on the East Bank of the Usk, but most of the potential workforce lived on the opposite bank, and the Town bridge was becoming congested. A ferry was out of the question because of the tides and the muddy banks. The solution had to allow the passage of shipping at high tide. Tunnels and a high-level bridge were considered but were too costly. Robert Haynes, the Borough Engineer became aware of the work of
French engineer Ferdinand Arnodin, whose idea of an “aerial ferry” seemed to solve the problem within the available budget. This type of construction, now generally called a transporter bridge, consists of braced towers on each bank supporting a cross girder. From this is suspended a cradle or gondola on wires, which can be moved back and forward across the river.
(Plan of the Newport Transporter Bridge) Eighteen transporter bridges have been built worldwide, with 6 still operating. Of the four erected in UK, Newport and Middlesbrough, across the Tees, are still operating. Sadly, the inclement weather discouraged some from leaving the coach, and everybody declined the option of climbing the stairs at the side to walk across the top and down again.
(Photos – Andy Simpson) As well as foot passengers, the gondola has space for 6 cars to cross at ten feet per second. Our passengers crossed over and were able to visit the motor control room which incorporates the winding machinery. This was operated by one of the knowledgeable volunteers.
Welsh Road Signs
Having crossed the New Severn Bridge (tolls were discontinued last year), we started to notice the road signs. In Wales, it is a legal requirement that road signs be in both English and Welsh but not all the people involved with road maintenance are Welsh speakers.
In this case, an official of the Highways Department emailed the English wording for a sign to a translator and, after receiving a reply in Welsh, proceeded to have the sign made up and installed. A few weeks later, Welsh-speaking drivers began to call up to point out that the Welsh read … “I am currently out of the office. Please submit any work to the translation team.”
TED SAMMES CLAY PIPE COLLECTION – PART 3 Andy Simpson This concludes the serialised article – see Parts 1 and 2 in the August and September 2019 HADAS Newsletters (newsletters 581 and 582)
MILL HILL AREA Hammers Lane NW7 Many readers will be familiar with the steep climb up Hammers Lane (B1461) from Daws Lane up to The Ridgeway, if only to get to The Three Hammers Pub at the top! There has been an inn on this site since around 1680, the current building dating to 1938. Hammers Lane was for a while known as Ratcliffe Lane. Somewhere along here were found several pipes, recorded in 2019 as a combination of Sammes master list nos. 151 and 152.
There is a curiously ‘bent’ length of stem, with ‘Diamond Nipple’ end, – possibly part of a novelty coiled pipe of around 1780-1820 plus three bowls; two part bowls with spurs and length of stem of type AO27, dated 1780 – 1820, both with ‘RMSS’ makers marks, one ‘CD’ and the other ‘GC’ Also found at Church Terrace, Hendon, CD may represent pipe maker Charles Dickens, Hornsey 1788 or Charles Dickens, Spitalfields 1817-28.
The other bowl is post 1840 from ‘The Laurels’, Hammers Lane, with a neatly cut bowl top. It was presumably recovered along with the Victorian small glass R Whites Syrups bottle also in the HADAS archive and marked ‘Laurels Hammers Lane 1974’
Local resident Neil Weston kindly confirms that The Laurels is a property right at the top of Hammers Lane, almost opposite the Three Hammers. It is still residential and has the appearance of an old-style cottage, a slight throwback to an earlier era.
The HADAS archive also includes 18 short, unmarked clay pipe stem fragments recovered when Bill Bass and the late Brian Wrigley of HADAS were site watching the holes dug for tree planting in Mill Hill Park, south of Daws Lane (NGR TQ2190 9210), on 5-6 December 1994. Brian Wrigley noted that the field boundaries reflected those shown on maps back to 1754 (Crow), with the former Daws farm north of the site – like most farms in the area it would have concentrated on hay production to feed the horses of eighteenth and nineteenth century London, Mill Hill being noted for its good quality hay.
Not too far away, at Galen House, Burton Hole Lane, NW7, leading off the ancient Ridgeway and adjacent to the recently sadly demolished 1939-built landmark, the former National Institute for Medical Research, were found two complete bowls of type AO25, dated 1700 – 1770. Both with neatly cut bowl tops, both maker’s marks are the familiar ‘RMSS’ one , Sammes no. 148 with a partly illegible maker’s mark(?) T ? found/owned by a H W Spooner and the other, Sammes 149, with a good length of stem and maker’s mark ‘TH’ – possibly Thomas Hodges, recorded at Smithfield, 1800, as also found at Burroughs Gardens in 1972.
CHILD’S HILL NW2 With a small hamlet already established by the time of John Roque’s map in 1756, the area was then well known for brick and tile making until the kilns were demolished for the building of the Finchley Road in 1828. Two fairly early pipe bowls were found in Granville Road, which runs off The Vale adjacent to Childs Hill Park, south of the centre of Golders Green. Both unmarked bowls, Sammes List CFM 11 and CFM 12, are of type AO12, dated 1640-1670. Both have full milling decoration around the tops of the bowl TEMPLE FORTUNE AREA This general area is VERY well represented in the Sammes Collection, possibly because of the number of HADAS members who lived in the area at the time. Previously a hamlet amongst farmland, the area gradually developed following the opening of the Finchley Road turnpike and associated coaching inns from 1830, but was still semi-rural as late as 1906 but rapidly developed after the arrival of the ‘tube’ at Golders Green in June 1907.
2, Willifield Way, off Finchley Road – one part bowl and part stem, type AO25, 1700- 1770, unusually with an ‘X’ visible at the bottom of the bowl, and with a cut bowl top.
66, Hampstead Way NW11 – one bowl of form AO31, 1850 – 1910, Sammes No 97. Stem fragment with heel and part of bowl. Stamped shield mark on side of heel.
Hill Close, NW11 (off Hampstead Way) Two bowls, one part bowl of type AO26, 1740-1780, with coat of arms, maker’s mark on spur possibly IP, Sammes No 147.(I was commonly used for J in this period) The other full bowl of type AO29, 1840-1880, makers mark on spur WB, Sammes No 146.
9, Asmuns Place, also off Hampstead Way – one complete bowl, type
61 Erskine Hill, off Addison Way, NW11. Two bowls – one type AO9, 1610-1640, with full bowl milling. Sammes List 113.The other type AO10, 1640-1660, Sammes List 114, again with full bowl milling. 56 Temple Fortune Lane (off Finchley Road) NW11 Part of bowl only, type AO27, 1780-1820. Mark on side of spur ‘CD’ Again may represent pipe makers Charles Dawkins, Hornsey 1788 or Charles Dickens, Spitalfields 1817-28.
? Giten Close NW11 The original record/label was hard to read and the A to Z shows no road/close with this name, other than one in Bromley! What is clear is that it is a bowl, with damaged top, of type AO10, 1640-1660, with very partial milling and a cut top. No Sammes Number.
6 Temple Fortune Hill NW11 (Leading to ‘Big Wood’) A particularly large collection of pipe fragments and other related material. Complete bowl type AO4, 1610-1640. Full milling. Sammes No 64. Complete bowl type AO9, 1640-1660. Full milling. Sammes no 66. Damaged bowl type AO10, 1640-1660. No milling. Sammes No 65. Complete bowl type AO11, 1640-1670, with incised line at rear. No milling. Sammes No 70. Complete bowl and part stem, type AO12, 1640-1670. Full milling. Sammes No 71. Complete bowl type AO15, 1660-1680. Half milling. Sammes No 67. Complete bowl, Type AO15, 1660 – 1680. No milling. Incised line on part of rim. Sammes No 68. Complete bowl and part of stem type AO15, 1660-1680. Half milling. Sammes No 69. Bowl only, type AO15 1660-1680.Half Milling. Bowl and half stem, type AO15, 1660-1680. Three-quarter milling. Half bowl, missing spur, type AO22? 1680-1710 One bowl with moulded rabbit design either side. Ribbed wheatsheaf seams on bowl. Sammes No 85. Bowl type A033, post 1840, with basket design. Sammes No 86 Bowl type AO33, post 1840, Thorn design, with most of stem. Sammes No 87. Plus 15 stem fragments approx. 5-7mm diameter, and 30 8-10mm diameter. Plus corroded and totally illegible coin, possibly a farthing. Well- worn 1917 penny. Rolled copper strip with central channel. Circular Bakelite fitting Tinned iron 3d token – T. Salmon & Son Ltd (from Grocery/Household store in Holloway N1 and other branches)
WHETSTONE The Sammes Collection includes one rather lonely pipe from Whetstone, a bowl of type AO15, dated 1660-1680 from 9, Elmstead Close, Whetstone N20, close to Totteridge Village cricket ground. Sammes No 76, it has full milling and a neatly cut bowl top.
Exhibitions: British Museum. Troy: myth and reality. Opens 21 November 2019 – 8 March 2020. Adults from £20.00. BM Society Members and children Free
Imperial War Museum. What Remains In partnership with Historic England this exhibition explores why cultural heritage is attacked during war and the ways we save, protect and restore what is targeted. Over 50 photographs, oral histories, objects and artworks will be on display Information from IWM website.
Saatchi Gallery, London. Tuankhamun : Treasures of the Golden Pharoah 150 original artefacts. 2 Nov. 2019 – 3 May 2020
OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS Compiled by Eric Morgan BARNET LIBRARIES 90 years collecting: Barnet Local Studies Exhibition 04 NOV. – 24 NOV: EDGWARE LIBRARY, Hale Lane HA8 8NN 04 NOV. – 30 JAN: HENDON LIBRARY, The Burroughs NW4 4BQ 05 NOV. – 19 NOV: CHIPPING BARNET LIBRARY, Stapylton Rd EN5 4QT 19 NOV. – 03 DEC: NORTH FINCHLEY LIBRARY, Ravensdale Ave N12 9HP 25 NOV. – 18 DEC: BURNT OAK LIBRARY, Watling Ave HA8 0UB 04 DEC. – 18 DEC: EAST FINCHLEY LIBRARY, 226 High Rd. N2 9BB 18 DEC. – 08 JAN: FINCHLEY CHURCH END, 318 Regents Park Rd N3 2LN 20 DEC. – 02 JAN: COLINDALE LIBRARY, Bristol Ave NW9 4BR 02 JAN. – 23 JAN: GOLDERS GREEN LIBRARY, Golders Gr. Rd NW11 8HE 08 JAN – 23 JAN: OSIDGE LIBRARY, Brunswick Park Rd N11 1EY
Wednesday 13 Nov. 7.45pm 7.30pm for 8pm Hornsey Historical Society. Union Church Hall, Ferme Park Rd. N8 9PX. Professor Ian Christie: The World’s First Film Studios? Putting R. W. Paul Back on the Map for his 150th Birthday: Visitors £2. Venue omitted from previous newsletter
Thursday 14 Nov. 6pm. Gresham College, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn EC1N 2HH Sir Thomas Gresham and the Tudor Court. Talk by Prof. Alexandra Gajda. Free
Tuesday 19 Nov. 7.30 pm. Barnet Museum and Local History Society, AGM Barnet Church EN5 4BW
Thursday 20 Nov. 7.30pm Finchley Society, Avenue House, East End Rd N3 3QE Finchley Origins – from a Common to a Conurbation Talk by Hugh Petrie, Barnet Archivist (Jean Scott Memorial Lecture).
Saturday 23 Nov. 10.30 am. Willesden Local History Society, Kilburn Lane W10 4AA. Guided tour round the church with Fr. David Ackerman
Tuesday 26 Nov – 19 April. Enfield at War 1939-45. Exhibition at Museum of Enfield, Dugdale Centre, 39 London Road, EN2 6DS –
Tuesday 26 Nov. 1-1.45 pm. The archaeology of War Talk by Ian Jones Wednesday 4 Dec. 7.00- 9.00 pm Secret Wartime Britain. Talk by Colin Philpott
Tuesday 10 Dec. 1-1.45pm Heroes and Victims. Talk by Ian Jones on air raids on Enfield The talks at Dugdale Centre are free but reservations is advised on www.dugdalecentre.co.uk or phone 020 8807 668010 –
Wednesday 27 Nov. 7.45pm Friern Barnet and District Local History Society, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL The London Cage – Britain’s secret interrogation centre in WW2. Talk by Helen Fry.
Saturday 7 Dec. 10.30 am-2.30pm Hornsey Historical Society, Old School House, 136 Tottenham Lane N8 7EL. Local History Surgery with John Hinshel Wood. NB. The 13 Nov talk will be at Union Church Hall, Ferme Park Rd. N8 9PX
Tuesday 10 Dec. 6.30 pm LAMAS, Clore Learning Centre, Museum of London, London Wall EC2Y 5HN. Denmark Street revealed. Talk by Robert Hradsky on how a remarkable group of 17th century houses were adapted to support a specialist enclave of metal workers in the 19th century and a thriving group of music publishers in the 20th century. Refreshments 6pm
With thanks to this month’s contributors: Deirdre Barrie, Jim Nelhams, Andy Simpson and Eric Morgan
Hendon and District Archaeological Society Chairman: Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet, Herts. EN5 5HS (020 8440 4350) e-mail: chairman@hadas.org.uk Hon. Secretary: Jo Nelhams, 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076) e-mail: secretary@hadas.org.uk Hon. Treasurer: Roger Chapman 50 Summerlee Ave, London N2 9QP (07855 304488) e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk Membership Sec: Stephen Brunning, Flat 22 Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road, East Barnet EN4 8FH (020 8440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
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