Category

Latest Newsletter

Newsletter-565-April-2018

By | HADAS, Latest Newsletter, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

No. 565 APRIL 2018 Edited by Peter Pickering

Precedence this month must be given to this most typical picture of DOROTHY NEWBURY who died on 13th February. Much more about her inside.


HADAS DIARY – Forthcoming Lectures and Events.

Tuesday 10th April 2018: The Greater London Historical Environment Record’, by Stuart Cakebread. The Greater London Historical Environment Record was formerly known as the Sites and Monuments Record and is part of Historic England’s Greater London Archaeological Advisory Service. Stuart has been its manager for over eleven years. The Record is the basis for all archaeological research in London. It is used constantly by professional and amateur archaeologists, by academic and other researchers and by consultants working for local authorities and developers. It has to be as accurate and up-to-date as possible. Stuart will tell us all about it.

Tuesday 8th May 2018: ‘The archaeology of World war One” by Mark Smith.

Tuesday 12th June 2018: Annual General Meeting.

Monday 17th to Friday 21st September 2018: Trip to East Anglia. This is full, but there is a waiting list.

Tuesday 9th October 2018:’Unrolling Egyptian Mummies in Victorian London’ by Gabriel
Moshenka.

Tuesday 13th November 2018: To be confirmed.

Lectures are held at Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley, N3 3QE, and start promptly at 8pm,
with coffee/tea and biscuits afterwards. Non-members: £2. Buses 13, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central station (Northern Line), is a 5-10-minute walk away.

POSSIBLE VISIT TO THE MITHRAEUM

Are you interested in a visit to the London Mithraeum? If so, please put Thursday 10th May 2018 in your diary. Entry is free but must be booked; and getting there is free to those with freedom or other passes. We could possibly meet in the morning for another nearby attraction, and visit the Mithraeum in the afternoon, which apparently takes about 45 minutes. Email dlbarrie@tiscali.co.uk if you would like to go. If enough people are interested, more definite details will appear in the May HADAS Newsletter. Here is the website: https://www.londonmithraeum.com/

Dorothy Newbury

As was reported in the March newsletter, Dorothy Newbury died on February 13th, the day before her 98th birthday. Many HADAS members attended her funeral at Golders Green Crematorium on 7th March and afterwards reminisced at the Five Bells in East End Road. Here is what our former
Chairman, Andrew Selkirk, had to say: –
Dorothy Newbury was born on the 15th February 1920 and christened Dorothy Adelaide Law. She
was born in Bishops Stortford where her father, who was always known as Bonar Law, was the company secretary of the Bishop Stortford and Hertfordshire Gas Company. He was very keen on bowls and she remembered him all dressed up going to the bowling club. Dorothy was the youngest of three. She had a sister who was 12 years older and a brother who was born in 1916: she suspected that she may have been a ‘mistake’. Her two 2 elder siblings were both quite brainy and passed the scholarship exam, but she was always a bit of a rebel and didn’t like school, so she didn’t even take the scholarship exam and left school at 14.

She joined a wholesale grocer in Bishops Stortford, Alfred Button and Sons, who supplied groceries to Holland and Barrett and who were later taken over by Budgens, the supermarket group. She learnt shorthand and typing, and she learnt to operate the Burroughs adding machine, an early form of computer where you entered the amount on the keyboard, inserted a ledger card and pulled a handle.

From this sprang her knowledge of accountancy and her canniness with figures which stood her in
such good stead in her later business life and running the affairs of HADAS. She stayed there four years until she was sacked. She was still a bit of a rebel and when one day her boss spat into the waste paper basket she said, ‘You dirty pig’ and was sacked for her insolence.

She then went to work in a hatchery where eggs were placed under light to see if they were fertile: the ones that were went onto the hatchery and those that weren’t were sold to the local canteen. Her best friend also worked in the canteen and she soon joined her. The war by this time had broken out and the canteen became a soldier’s canteen and it was here that she met Jack.

Jack was six months older than she, was having been born in October 1919. He was born in
Bloomsbury and brought up in Golders Green where his father was a compositor on the Evening News and his sister worked on the News Chronicle. His father had begun life as a stand-up comedian and at one time worked with a partner called Charlie Chaplin. His partner suggested they should go off to America to seek their fortune, but Jack’s mother insisted that he stay at home and complete his apprenticeship. So, Charlie Chaplin went off to Hollywood and fame, and Jack’s father went off to printing and the News Chronicle. He was also very keen on sport, and at one time played football for Chelsea — admittedly during the First World War.

It was perhaps inevitable that Jack himself became a printer, so he served a 7-year apprenticeship for which his father paid £100 and emerged as a full-fledged compositor. When the war broke out, he was called up into the Royal Signals where he became a teleprinter operator.

He was notorious for being the scruffiest soldier in the army — Dorothy said that she never saw him in full uniform and he always seemed to be wearing sandals, which were not exactly proper dress for a soldier. What he did have however was a car, a red Morris 10 and he drove over from the camp at Much Hadham to the canteen at Bishop’s Stortford. Dorothy fancied him from the start. She was at the time engaged to an airman, but the airman was soon thrown over and she became engaged to Jack instead.

Even though Jack never progressed beyond the rank of Private in the army, he was nevertheless
considered a good catch: he was lively, he was good company, he was very good at his job — and he
had a red Morris! (The car belonged to his father, but since his father never learnt to drive, Jack ‘borrowed’ the car.) Eventually however Jack was to be posted abroad and so in a great hurry they decided to get married in order, they said, to claim the marriage allowance. Neither dared tell their parents, and so they were married in secret in a registry office and their parents were not told till four years later at the end of the war. They had a very brief honeymoon, travelling up to London to see Blythe Spirit at the Savoy, Jack for once looking semi respectable in a green tweed suit. They then drove down to St Ives.

Jack had fitted up his car with two petrol tanks, the usual one being used for normal petrol — very hard to get — but at the back there was a special hidden tank which was filled with army pink petrol. The trip down to St Ives was made on army pink petrol. (Shortly before this, the pink petrol had caused some problems. One of the officers took umbrage to the fact that Jack had a car, and he only had a bike, so he instigated a search and found the tank and the army petrol. Jack was put under close arrest and marched through the streets of Bishops Stortford. Dorothy witnessed the whole procedure and didn’t bat an eyelid, but Jack was fined 3 days’ pay. However, some weeks later the officer asked if he could borrow the car to take his girlfriend back to London. Jack duly obliged, and thereafter continued to use Army petrol without fear or favour.)

After the honeymoon they parted. Jack was sent out to Singapore, but on the journey out, Singapore fell to the Japanese, so Jack went on to Ceylon where he spent the rest of the war. On the way, however, he stopped off in Durban where he was billeted on a family in the suburb of Hillary. The family treated him like royalty, which is why, when they came to set up their press, they called it the Hillary Press.

Back in England, Dorothy went to work on a farm. She had always wanted to work on a farm, but
her parents thought that farm work was demeaning, and the only proper work was office work. But
now freed from parental constraints, she was able to achieve her ambition and she worked on a farm in Harlow looking after pigs, boiling up pig swill on a solid fuel boiler. She always maintained that pigs are clean animals and are greatly maligned in popular parlance.

After that she moved to the Post Office. She took a course at Brentwood School and became a
telephone engineer. She also learnt to drive a little green Post Office van. She was given a week to learn to drive, which she duly did, and she spent the rest of the war maintaining telephones in Hertfordshire and Essex. On one occasion she went to fix up a phone for a colonel, but she arrived when the colonel was changing, and he opened the door stark naked. ‘I’ve come to fix the phone’ said Dorothy, nonplussed at seeing such a splendid figure of military masculinity. ‘In there’ said the colonel, waving to the study, impressed by the fine display of female fortitude. Dorothy duly installed his phone. She also fixed many phones in the American camps. At one she was accosted by a jet black American soldier wearing skin tight trousers. ‘Would you like some chocolate?’ he asked. Yes please, said Dorothy, but when he extracted the chocolate from his trousers, it had become moulded to the shape of his legs. Dorothy ate it notwithstanding.

Then in 1945 the war came to an end, and Jack returned from Ceylon and was put onto training
teleprinter operators. ‘You are the scruffiest soldier I have ever seen’ said the officer, ‘but as you are a trainer, I suppose I will have to make you a lance corporal’. But his new rank only lasted a very short time, as he was demobbed soon after. Reunited once again, they finally confessed to their parents that they were, in fact, married, and went to live with Jack’s parents in Golders Green. His mother saw to it that Dorothy slept separately in the room downstairs. It was not altogether a happy arrangement as his mother’s bridge partners in Golders Green did not altogether approve of the secret marriage — and Dorothy was still considered to be something of a wild young thing.

But they determined to set up their own printing works and they opened a factory of one room behind a barber’s shop in Cricklewood Broadway; they called it the Broadway Press. Downstairs they had a hand-fed Platen which Dorothy learned to operate, while Jack had a room in the loft approached by a ladder where he did all the composing. The business expanded, and they were able to buy a house in Dallas Road, Hendon. Then they moved the business to West Hendon Broadway where they acquired a second printing machine and they acquired their first employee — Harry Hill — an elderly compositor to whom Jack had originally been apprenticed. At first Jack had a partner, but the partner spent more time in the pub than at the press, so Jack and Dorothy bought him out for £125. ‘You’ll last three months — if you’re lucky’ was his parting comment. That was nearly 70 years ago.

Then came their big breakthrough: they secured the printing business of F W Kahn, a firm in St
Martins-le-Grand. The business was a good one, supplying programmes to cinemas. In those days,
cinemas supplied a programme to every customer describing the film, and this became a steady regular weekly run supplying programmes to cinemas all over north London.

In 1949 they moved into a small factory/stable in West Hendon belonging to the Gas Light and Coal
Company. Later they later bought it for £8000, but soon after the Council compulsorily purchased the site for £14,000 and knocked it down. The site is just being redeveloped- 70 years later. They looked around for new premises, and Dorothy spotted that the Hendon Times in Church Road, Hendon was moving out of its printing works, and that the premises were for sale. Dorothy bargained the price down to £45,000, which meant that they had to find £31,000. The bank refused a loan even though they had never had an overdraft and always paid their bills on time, but luckily the Eagle Star Insurance Co stepped in with a loan that took them 13 years to pay back. At the latest valuation, the site is now worth £2.75m.

It proved a wonderful move, with turnover up 100% in three months. They added machines and
equipment, always paying for the last before buying the next, with Dorothy keeping a firm hand on
the finances. They never had a salesman, but Dorothy flirted with all the customers — except when
they were late in their payments, when she turned into a dragon. The firm expanded rapidly until
eventually they employed some 24 people. It proved to be a highly successful partnership with Jack doing the printing and Dorothy looking after the financial side.

At first, they lived in a flat in Llanvanor Road, but soon they purchased their first house in Dallas Road. Then around 1963 Dorothy looked around for a house close to the factory, as Dallas Road was due to be compulsorily purchased for the ‘new’ Ml motorway embankment, and bought their lovely house in Sunningfields Road, a short walk away from the factory, but overlooking the Sunny Hill Park.

And then there was the family. In 1957 Christopher was born and attended Hendon Prep, then
University College School, then followed his father (a little reluctantly, he says) into the printing trade, studying at the London College of Printing, and since then maintaining all the equipment at the Hillary Press factory, and recently the business. He has one son and spends much of his time involved with the Air Training Corps and joint ownership and maintenance of an old electric train: 1198 “Linda the Lymington Flier”.

In 1960 Marion was born. She was educated at South Hampstead High School and trained as a
physiotherapist, married a doctor, who is now a GP in Bishops Waltham and has become the proud
mother of three children, so Dorothy has four grandchildren in all.

This was a time when Dorothy bloomed and excelled as a director of Hillary Press, managing the
finances and collecting the cash. Woe betide any customer who was late paying without a good
excuse! She also found time to keep fit and Jack called her ‘Max Wall’ in her leotard and tights. She had a great love of cooking and collected all 72 issues of the Cordon Bleu cookery magazine. And she did her best to convert a ‘meat and two veg man’ to the joys of foreign cooking.

Then with the children growing up Dorothy entered into the third great part of her life when she joined HADAS, the Hendon and District Archaeological Society. HADAS was founded in 1961 to investigate the Saxon origins of Hendon, but it expanded steadily under the dynamic leadership of three remarkable women — Brigid Grafton Green, Daphne Lorimer, and then Dorothy.
Dorothy was associated with two activities in particular: the first was the Newsletter, which she, being a printer, soon took over the running and printing. The Newsletter came out monthly and continues to come out monthly, but with a different editor every month. And Dorothy undertook the crucial task of keeping all the editors in order.

And then there was the Minimart: the bring and buy sale held every year in the Autumn which was
vital for the financial side of the society, bringing in regularly £l,500 a year which made all the difference between profit and loss. Dorothy organised everything. She spent the year collecting materials until eventually both the garage and the front room of the house were taken over, and the family breathed a sigh of relief when the Minimart was over, and they could reclaim the space in the house. Then there was also the lunch supplied by members, with Dorothy contributing glorious quiches and unfeasibly huge meringues.

Dorothy at the Minimart

Dorothy also became the programme secretary, arranging the programmes and outings, notably the
three-day long weekend where every year HADAS visited a distant part of the country, going even as far as Orkney and the Isle of Man. There were Christmas outings too, and the fabulous Roman Banquet which she and others organised following a Roman cookery course. This was followed up by a Turkish banquet with belly dancers.

I only came in towards the end when the previous Chairman, Councillor Jarman retired and I was
parachuted in to become the Chairman. And Dorothy was absolutely wonderful, she looked after me,
and kept me in order, and told me what I ought to do. I don’t know how I would have managed without Dorothy.

Eventually her life was crowned by the well-deserved award of an MBE for all her services to HADAS and to the community. She went up to the Palace escorted by a member of the Royal Household staff because of her poor sight. She remained slightly worried that the whole thing was a hoax, until she actually received her medal. At her retirement party she delighted us by saying how much she had enjoyed her 30 years at the Society and that she hoped she had not been too rude to too many people.

She continued to do the books for the business until failing eyesight and the increasing effects of dementia took hold. Jack ‘stepped up to the plate’, looking after her until his accident in 2011 when the amazing team of carers assumed his role, caring for both with Christopher and Marion keeping an eye on it all.

Good humour and a positive attitude made much of what was to follow bearable, and for a short
time, love seemed to blossom again as Dorothy forgot all the arguments and battles of the previous 72 years and she and Jack could be found dancing around the kitchen.

When Jack died in 2014, Dorothy’s main carer Francesca assumed his role, fulfilling that task, ably assisted by Elvan and Grace beautifully until the end. Dorothy had a busy and productive life, a life filled with people who loved her, respected her, and enjoyed her wicked sense of humour (and her cooking).

Who can ask for more?
————————————————————————————————————
There is indeed not much more to say, except to emphasise the active role Dorothy took in HADAS’s
digs, especially the epic ones of the Mesolithic site on West Heath, and of the two in Hendon – Church End Farm, and Church Terrace. It was in the course of the Church Terrace dig that human remains were found (and subsequently vandalised); the picture on the next page shows Dorothy looking quizzically at a piece of bone.

Now for some personal memories. Your editor will never forget being being reminded on several
occasions by Dorothy, with a twinkle in her eye, of the time when his wife and he drove to Hatfield for a mediaeval banquet because they thought they had missed the coach only to discover that they had got the date wrong.

Audrey Hooson remembers a Saturday evening telephone call during the West Heath dig:-
Dorothy – Audrey do you and John pass any shops on the way to the dig? We are nearly out of biscuits.
Audrey – No but I will bring some from my cupboard.
Dorothy – Plain biscuits, nothing special or they will eat too many and we can’t afford it.
Sheila Woodward remembers when, on an outing, the HADAS party pulled up at Stonehenge for a
comfort stop. Dorothy insisted that that was the purpose and instructed members not to look at the stones.
If readers have any other reminiscences, the next editor would be happy to hear from you.

Dorothy at the Church Terrace, Hendon Dig 1972/73, discussing how to deal with the human
skeleton

Membership Renewal – Stephen Brunning (Membership Secretary)

The HADAS membership year runs from 1st April, so all memberships subscriptions are now due for
renewal, apart from those new members who have joined since January this year. Members who pay by standing order/Direct Debit need take no action. The rates remain unchanged.

Anyone who thinks they should have had a Membership Renewal Form or Standing Order Form but
hasn’t received one, anyone who wants to make their membership under Gift Aid and hasn’t already
done so, or anyone who has any question at all about their membership, please contact me (contact
details on back page).

Historic Victorian Milepost in Cricklewood Restored
(This article comes from a press notice by the Cricklewood Railway Terraces Residents Community
Association headed “A Heartening Victory for Local Residents” Does anyone know of other historic
milestones that could do with tender loving care?)

For years, sharp-eyed travellers on the A5 Cricklewood Broadway road might have noticed, as they
come over the rise by Beacon Bingo and the Travelodge, a humble monument set back on the grass
verge of the highway. You’d have had to look closely though – in its deteriorated state, rusting and overhung by a line of London plane trees, this Grade II listed structure didn’t exactly stand out.

The Milestone before restoration

It’s a roadside milepost – a surviving relic from the time of horse-drawn carriages. The A5 here is ancient, once part of a Roman road previously known as Watling Street. Approaching from the south, the milepost reads “Watford 10”. From the north, it reads “London 4”, indicating the distance in miles from the Victorian-era edge of London at Tyburn (modern day Marble Arch).
According to Mike Horne, who runs the historical research site Metadyne and on it keeps an inventory of London mile markers, this cast iron milepost is one of only two between London and Watford that exist in their original positions.

A few local residents from the Cricklewood Railway Terraces, a set of old workers’ cottages which
occupy the land behind the milepost, approached Barnet Council in June 2017 in an effort to have the monument restored.

For a time, it seemed a bit of a lost cause. Jurisdiction was debated as to who at Barnet council was ultimately responsible for the milepost’s upkeep.

Cartographer and local researcher David Wenk was brought in to help draft a letter to Barnet council, which aimed to clearly set out the council’s responsibility for the milepost’s maintenance. This letter was cosigned by Marlene Wardle, chair of the Cricklewood Railway Terraces Residents’ Community Association, and Railway Terraces resident Ramsay Wood.
In the end, Brian Francis, an engineer at Barnet council, agreed to take on the project. A team from the Highways department set out in January of this year to restore the milepost. Adhering to guidance published by The Milestone Society (an organisation dedicated to the preservation and cataloguing of historic mile markers throughout England) Francis’s team undertook a sensitive renovation. They cleared vegetation away, repaired the rusting portions of the milepost, and gave it a handsome new coat of paint.

The results speak for themselves. The milepost, now beautifully restored to its original, sharp black and white colour scheme, has regained its rightful prominence as an important historic marker on the A5 Cricklewood Broadway.


The milepost as seen from the footpath alongside the A5, January 2018.

Protecting the Roman Empire: understanding fortlets and frontiers –
lecture by Matthew Symonds: Sue Willetts

Studies of the Roman army throughout the Empire have understandably been concentrated on the more extensive remains of forts and their associated settlements which has overshadowed the role of smaller military installations such as fortlets and towers. Matthew’s lecture concentrated on fortlets and he explained his ideas on their function but also something of the life of soldiers on duty within them.

Fortlets were small military installations with a masonry or turf and timber fortification (depending on location) which surrounded a yard containing a basic barrack block together with a shrine and lavatory.

They housed a limited number of infantry and cavalry – as small a number as thought necessary would be sent out from the main fort on a rotating duty for several months, possibly for up to a year at a time. These outposts were built according to the local security situation (which may have changed over time of course) and placed to give oversight of strategic positions, such as valleys and rivers. Fortlets were needed to curtail potential raiders / pirates on the frontiers but also within provinces too. In Britain there are examples of fortlets from Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall usually built at a fixed distance between the forts and not always in the best strategic position! A fortlet in Devon, Martinhoe was however particularly well positioned.

In peacetime, fortlet life was probably dull, repetitive and to alleviate boredom the soldiers would most likely indulge in drinking, gambling (and using prostitutes) but there could be a risk of a raid and it might have been difficult to secure backup from a distant fort. It has been suggested that duties included collecting taxes but the evidence does not bear this out – it appears that the men could not have been trusted!

The survival of ostraca (inscriptions on broken pottery) from the site of al-Muwayh (ancient
Krokodilo), one of the stations along the Koptos to Myos Hormos in Egypt’s Eastern Desert is an
important source of first hand evidence of daily life, somewhat similar to the material from the
Vindolanda tablets The documents, both official and private letters (most of them in Greek) include postal registers which show the frequent contact between soldiers in different stations – so not such a lonely life as we might have expected. Interesting details include the password of the day, the transport of fresh fish, mention of bribery, the theft of camels (possibly as many as 50) from a stone quarry, with a party sent to investigate which retreated as well as a lengthy account of an attack on another station.

Matthew’s research has shown that the presence or absence of fortlets in the landscape is something of a barometer for the local security situation: abandonment indicating improved security whereas subsequent constructions imply deteriorating security. This was a very interesting talk which was wide ranging, entertaining and well-illustrated. For more details see his new book: Protecting the Roman Empire: Fortlets, Frontiers, and the Quest for Post-Conquest Security published in 2017 by Cambridge University Press

Other Societies’ Events Eric Morgan

Wednesday 18th April. 7.30pm. Islington Archaeology and History Society. Islington Town
Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD Rubbish or Ritual – Mediaeval treasure in the River Thames. Talk by
John Clark, who will ask whether items were thrown into the Thames as part of a ceremony. £1
Friday 20th April. 7pm. City of London Archaeological Society. St Olave’s Church Hall, Mark
Lane EC3R 7BB The Rediscovery of Roman London from John Snow to William Stukeley. Talk
by John Clark about the later sixteenth century historians acquiring new knowledge of London’s
origins. Visitors £3. Refreshments after.

Tuesday 24th April. 10.30 am. Enfield Society Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane/junction Chase
Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ. The Enfield Brewery. Talk by Rahul Mulchandani. An independent
Brewery established in Edmonton in 2016; its challenges and successes and why the beer is called
‘Enfield’. £1 Includes free tasting!

Wednesday 25th April. 7.45pm. Friern Barnet and District Local History Society. North
Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane N20 0NL. Ancient Woodland. Talk
by John Fleetwood (Woodland Trust). Visitors £2. Refreshments.

Thursday 26th April. 8pm. Finchley Society. Drawing Room, Avenue House East End Road N3
9QE Save our footpaths Campaign – Don’t lose your way Talk by Roger Chapman on the work
currently under way by the Ramblers Association and local societies to ensure that the historic
paths in Finchley are on the definitive map by 2026. Non-members £2.

Wednesday 9th May. 7.45pm. Hornsey Historical Society. Union Church Hall, corner Ferme
Park Road/Weston Park N8 9PX. Mediaeval Pilgrims’ BadgesTalk by Keith Fawkes. Visitors £2.
Refreshments, sales and information from 7.30pm.

Friday 11th May. 7.45pm. Enfield Archaeological Society Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage
Lane/junction Chase Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ. Roman Sarcophagus from Harper Road Southwark
Talk by Irene Gross (PCA). Visitors £1. Refreshments, sales and information from 7.30pm.
Saturdays 12th and 19th May. 10.30 am and 2.30pm Heath and Hampstead Society. Guided walks
of Hampstead’s Historic Plaques. Led by Julia Male. Taking in the plaques including Ramsay
MacDonald, General de Gaulle, John Constable, George Romney, Marie Stopes, Daphne du Maurier
and John Galsworthy. The morning walks cover the area to the west of Heath Street and the afternoon walks the east and south of Heath Street. The meeting point for all walks is at the entrance to Hampstead Underground station. Each walk will take about two hours, the morning walks ending close to the station and the afternoon walks at Burgh House. The cost of each walk is £10 per person. To reserve a place email frankaharding@btinternet.com and send a cheque for made payable to The Heath and Hampstead Society to Frank Harding, 11 Pilgrims Lane, London NW3 1SJ. Include name, address, telephone number and email and note which walks to book.

Monday 14th May. 3pm. Barnet Museum and Local History Society. Church House, Wood
Street, Barnet (opposite museum). Mind the Gap. Talk by Terence Atkins. Visitors £2.

Wednesday 16th May 7.30pm. Willesden Local History Society. The Grange, Neasden
Roundabout, NW10. The History of the Grange, Neasden. Talk by Vijay Amin. Note venue.

Wednesday 16th May. 8pm. Edmonton Hundred Historical Society. Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage
Lane/junction Chase Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ Copped Hall – the Restoration of a Georgian
Mansion. Talk by Vic Knope Talk by Mike Brown. £1 (HADAS did some resistivity and
surveying work here.)

Thursday 17th May. 7.30pm. Barnet Museum and Local History Society. Pennefather Hall,
Christ Church, St Alban’s Road Barnet EN5 4LA Battle of Barnet – More Bangs for your Groats –
Mediaeval Gunpowder and Weapons. talk by Dan Spencer £5 (members 33) on the door.
Refreshments Included

Friday 18th May. 7pm. City of London Archaeological Society. St Olave’s Church Hall, Mark
Lane EC3R 7BB Septimus Severus, first hammer of the Scots. Talk by Dr Simon Elliott on the
story of the largest ever military campaign in Britain. Visitors £3. Refreshments after.

Friday 18th May. 7.30 pm. Wembley History Society English Martyrs’ Hall, Chalkhill Road,
Wembley, HA9 9EW (top of Blackbird Hill, adjacent to church) Collecting Autographs at the
Willesden Hippodrome. Talk by Terry Lomas. Visitors £3. Refreshments

Tuesday 22nd May. 11am. Mill Hill Historical Society. Tour of Marlborough House, guided
through some of the fine rooms and given a history of the building which after being lived in by
dukes and royalty is now home to the Commonwealth Secretariat. Meet 10.50 am for 11 am at the
entrance gate of Marlborough House, Pall Mall, SW1A 1DD. Book by Tuesday 5th May, as
names have to be submitted in advance. Cost £7 (members £5). Send cheque (payable to Mill Hill
Historical Society) and stamped addressed envelope to Julia Haynes, 30 Marion Road, Mill Hill,
London NW7 4AN; contact her on 020 8906 0563, email haynes.julia@yahoo.co.uk, or book online
at www.millhill-hs.org.uk, (but still need to send cheque}. Members of National Trust,
English Heritage or Historic Houses Association should bring their membership cards. For
lectronic replies provide email address, otherwise give name and telephone number and number
of places requested.

Wednesday 23rd May. 7.45pm. Friern Barnet and District Local History Society. North
Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane N20 0NL. The Regent’s Canal.
Talk by Roger Squires (London Canal Museum). Visitors £2. Refreshments.

With grateful thanks to this month’s contributors: Andrew Selkirk, Deidre Barrie, Steve
Brunning, Don Cooper, Audrey Hooson, Eric Morgan, Sue Willetts and Sheila Woodward
Next Editor: –
Sue Willetts

Copy to her by April 16th, please.
———————————————————————————————————–
Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet, Herts EN5 5HS (020 8440 4350)
email: chairman@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Secretary: Jo Nelhams, 61 Potters Road, Barnet EN5 5HS (020-8449 7076)
email: secretary@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Treasurer: Jim Nelhams, 61 Potters Road, Barnet EN5 5HS (020-8449 7076)
email: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Membership Secretary: Stephen Brunning, 1 Reddings Close, Mill Hill, London NW7
4JL (020-8959 6419) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
Website: www.hadas.org.uk
Discussion Group: http:/groups.google.com/group/hadas-archaeology

Newsletter-564-March-2018

By | HADAS, Latest Newsletter, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

Number 564 MARCH 2018 Edited by Deirdre Barrie

SAD NEWS

I regret to announce that Dorothy Newbury died at about mid-day on February 13th one day before
her 98th birthday. Funeral Wednesday, the 7th of March 2018 at 2pm at Golders Green Crematorium
see www.thelondoncremation.co.uk/golders-green-crematorium for directions, parking etc.
R.I.P. Dorothy. Please send memories / photos of Dorothy to the next editor who will compile a
special tribute in the next issue. Best wishes, Don Cooper.

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE PROGRAMME 2018
Tuesday 13 March at 8pm; Dr Roger Tomlin Roman London’s First Voices; Roman
writing-tablets from Bloomberg, London. ‘Roman London’s First Voices’ are the City’s first
documents, writing-tablets found on the site of the new European headquarters of Bloombergs when
it was excavated by Museum of London Archaeology. The site is famous as that of the Roman
temple of Mithras, which was demolished in 1954, but has now been rebuilt by Bloombergs. It is on
the west bank of the Walbrook, which the Romans crossed as they expanded from Cornhill towards
Ludgate Hill. The deep river-silts have preserved a wealth of organic material, notably stylus tablets
which have lost their waxed coating but can still be read from residual scratches in the wood. These
Bloomberg tablets are scraps of business correspondence and memoranda from the first half-century
of Roman London, including a promissory note dated 8 January 57, the earliest financial document
from the City of London.

Roger Tomlin, retired Lecturer in Late-Roman History at Oxford, has for many years been editor of
‘Roman Inscriptions of Britain’, in which capacity he has published new discoveries – not only
stone inscriptions, but graffiti of all kinds and writing-tablets like these from Bloomberg. He has
published them as Roman London’s First Voices: Writing tablets from the Bloomberg excavations,
2010–14 (2016), but has also just published Britannia Romana: Roman Inscriptions and Roman
Britain (2017). He has never been to Hendon, but he was attracted by the Society’s invitation
because his father was born there, a century ago. NB p.9. LAMAS conference – afternoon session

Tuesday 10 April 2018 at 8pm: Stuart Cakebread The Greater London Historical
Environment Record.

Tuesday 8 May 2018 at 8pm: Mark Smith The archaeology of World War One

Tuesday 12 June 2018 at 8pm; ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Monday 17th to Friday 21st September – HADAS Trip to East Anglia. The trip is
now full, but there is a waiting list.

Tuesday 9th October at 8pm: Gabriel Moshenka Unrolling Egyptian mummies in
Victorian London (Gabe is well known to HADAS through his help with various
fieldwork projects)

Tuesday 13 November 2018: TO BE CONFIRMED

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, 382 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central station (Northern Line), is a 5-10 minute walk away.
Subscriptions for the year 2018/19 are now due If you pay by cheque, please find a renewal form with this newsletter. Members who joined after 1st January 2018 need take no action as your payment is good until 31st March 2019.

January Lecture – “ The Anglo-Saxon princely burial at Prittlewell, Essex” by Professor Christopher Scull Write-up by Jim Nelhams

Prittlewell is on the north side of Southend-on-Sea. When widening a road in 2003, an archaeological survey was carried out by MoLAS (now MoLA) on a barrow. This discovered a wooden chamber containing many archaeological finds and a high-status burial.

The chamber measured four metres square with a depth of about one and a half metres. It was lined with oak, with a wooden floor covered by rush matting and with metal hooks around the wall. The oak roof had partly collapsed and some flooding had occurred.

The exact date has not been determined, but is late 6th or early 7th century. A number of other high-status Saxon burials from this period are known, the most prominent being at Sutton Hoo, which is of a very high status person. Prittlewell is slightly lower in status but thought to be of a young, as-yet-unidentified prince.
Two unique gold foil crosses, which would have covered the eyes, indicated that this was a Christian burial, possibly the earliest found in Britain. The date is almost certainly before St Augustine arrived in Canterbury.

It is planned to exhibit a reproduction of the chamber, possibly in a bespoke museum, in Southend. The full analysis by MOLA is scheduled for publication later in 2018.

Reconstruction of the burial chamber showing many of the items found, many in situ, which include the coffin made of ash boards, which had been covered in textiles, the burial clothing with some metal fittings, a sword and shield, two spears and an arrow, a spoon, an iron folding stool with a leather seat, and assorted crockery and drinking vessels.

Preparation for a training day to be provided by HADAS to members of the Birkbeck Archaeological Society – Robin Densem
Through the good offices of Melvyn Dresner, Bill Bass has helped prepared a programme for a practical archaeology training day to be provided by HADAS on 24th March 2018 for members of the Birkbeck Archaeological Society (BAS).Some members of HADAS assembled at Stephens House on 11th February 2018 to prepare for the training day.

The photograph shows the HADAS team making preparation “in the field”, at Stephens House gardens.

It is envisaged that HADAS will include material on at least some of the following:
 The work and role of HADAS
 How one can get involved in archaeology
 The archaeology of Barnet and Hendon
 Archaeological fieldwork techniques including practical sessions on surveying on site and carrying out a resistivity survey
 Post-excavation work including finds, reports and archiving.

The programme is subject to finalisation and will to some extent be weather dependent!

Are the boundaries right? Number 1 East Finchley Roger Chapman

When Barnet Council determines whether archaeology is likely to be a consideration in determining a planning application in the Borough, one of the key maps the planners use is the proposals map of the Local Plan which has marked on it ‘Local Areas of Special Archaeological Significance’. You can find this map at: http://barnet.devplan.org.uk/map.aspx?map=12&layers=all
Barnet, with assistance from English Heritage (via the Greater London Archaeology Advisory Service – GLAAS), the Museum of London and the Hendon and District Archaeological Society (HADAS), has identified five prehistoric, four Roman and thirty medieval sites containing archaeological remains of more than local importance. These have been grouped into nineteen ‘Local Areas of Special Archaeological Significance’.

The Local plan will be reviewed in the next few years. Development pressures will increase markedly, with a forecast 20% population increase by 2041.
HADAS needs to know if the areas identified are the correct ones, and also to build up evidence to support a case where we think boundaries should be changed. Over coming months we will look at all of the areas of special archaeological significance in the borough, and this month we start with East Finchley.
East Finchley

This Area of Special Archaeological Significance (ASAS) (now known as Archaeological Priority Areas APAs) consists of two sections:
a) East End (western area):
A medieval hamlet is located here, which is believed to have developed in the 14th century. The East End Road was an ancient road connecting the hamlet with the hamlet at Church End.
b) Park Gate (eastern area):
East End and Park Gate, mentioned respectively in 1365 and 1375 AD, together formed a scattered hamlet where the East End Road met the Great North road. The traditional village centre was located at Market Place, which held a hog market in the 18th century.

Fig: 2 The designated ASAS for East Finchley

Source: http://barnet.devplan.org.uk/map.aspx?map=12&layers=all accessed 29.10.2017.

Looking at historic mapping such as John Roques 1754 map (see below), it looks like the ‘Park Gate (eastern area boundary) needs to be redrawn, as it does not cover the historic Market Place core. Historic Mapping.

A topographical Map of the County of Middlesex by John Roque 1754

Would you agree? Do you know East Finchley? Have you got any more information we could
use to develop the evidence base for the importance and boundaries of this ASAS?

If you do agree, please let me know by sending me an email: roger.chapman99@btinternet.com

Frodsham Trip – Last day Jim Nelhams

After lots of time on our feet in Chester and Liverpool, time to head homewards and rest our legs with Dave Ketley at the wheel of our Galleon. Quite a long way to London, so three stops on route – a mill with two working water wheels, an unusual church and a battlefield.


Driver Dave Ketley, with HADAS mascot Ted, and his friends
Archie and PC Edward Bruin Walker.

Thanks to everybody on the trip for your support, humour and patience. Judging by the number signed up for 2018, it cannot have been too bad.
Thanks also to all those who have taken the time to provide interesting and comprehensive notes and photos covering the places visited – Jon and Vicki Baldwin, Deirdre Barrie, Jean Bayne, Claudette Carlton, Don Cooper, Audrey Hooson, Sylvia Javes, Kevin McSharry, Dudley Miles, Brenda Pershouse, Peter Pickering, David and Emma Robinson, Andy Simpson, Liz Tucker, Micky Watkins, Stewart Wild and Simon Williams

Cheddleton Flint Mill by Don Cooper

I was particularly looking forward to visiting the Cheddleton Flint Mill, because of its association with the North Staffordshire potteries. Although crushed flint seems to have been added to early medieval pots to help them to survive in the kilns, calcified crushed flint came into its own in the 1700s or thereabouts. Calcination is the process of heating, in this case flint, to a temperature of 1100° degrees plus, to break down its crystalline structure to make it easier to crush and grind. The crushed flint was not only added to the clay to improve its strength and quality, but because its purity meant it was very white it was used as a slip for coating red earthenware vessels.


The two working waterwheels at Cheddleton
The process at Cheddleton started with the delivery of nodules of flint. The flint mostly came from the South-East of England often from the beaches under the white cliffs of Dover. The nodules were then taken by ship to the ports served by the Trent and Mersey Canal and its offshoot the Caldon Canal which passes the Cheddleton Flint Mill.

Narrowboat on the Caldon Canal with HADAS onlookers

The flint was unloaded and placed in the kiln (there were three kilns at Cheddleton) and heated until it was calcified.

The remains of the kilns at Cheddleton © Vicki Baldwin
The flint nodules were then placed in a grinding pan filled with water to keep the dust down. The base of the grinding pan was paved with chert stones and the waterwheel drove around arms (called “Runners”) attached to a spindle to effect the grinding action.


The grinding pan

After the flint has been ground to a slurry, the water is drawn off and the resultant “paste” is shipped to the potteries by narrowboat for use in the body of ceramic vessels, and also as a slip to produce the characteristic white ware of the time.

The above is a simplified account of the process carried out at Cheddleton Mill during roughly a century from 1720. However, the Cheddleton Mill has a much longer history. In 1253 there is a water mill recorded there; and in 1580 there are two mills under one roof, one for grinding corn and one for fulling (washing woollen cloth). The mill operated under various guises up until 1963. It came under the Cheddleton Flint Mill Industrial Heritage Trust in 1967. Much of the information in this article is taken from their February 2002 publication.
During our visit the grinding pan was working, albeit driven by an electric motor, and our very knowledgeable guide told us the history of the mill. What an excellent visit!
Bibliography: “The Story of pottery Materials” published by The Cheddleton Flint Mill Industrial Heritage Trust (February 2002).

St Giles Church Cheadle (Staffordshire) Peter Pickering

To those of us who think of churches as basically grey stone buildings, enlivened by some stained-glass windows and perhaps a statue or two or a faded wall painting, St Giles Cheadle was an unexpected – and maybe even unwelcome – revelation. It is covered in colourful decoration. We gasped as we trooped into the church as the last but one stop on our return to London.
There was another party being taken round by a talkative guide; some tacked on for a bit, while others left the church in short order to slake their thirst. But most stayed to marvel at the opulence of a building dating not all that long after Catholic emancipation, the wealth of its patron the Earl of Shrewsbury, and the single-minded and very knowledgeable evocation of the mediaeval church by its architect, Augustus Welby Pugin (who among so much else in his short life designed the fixtures and fittings of the Houses of Parliament).

How different the architecture of this church, all intended to evoke mystery and adoration, from that of the Catholic cathedral we had seen the previous day with its central altar; Pugin would have abominated that, and if he had known that Catholic services were to be in English, …..

Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre and Country Park Deirdre Barrie

The site of the Battle of Bosworth has come a long way since the far-off days when an understandably irritable farmer used to ask devotees of Richard III please to get off his fields. At a first glance the multi-award-winning Centre looks like an isolated group of farm buildings.

However, it contains a compact exhibition with interactive exhibits, dramatically lighted costumed figures, an array of weapons, and a film about the battle, as well as a café, conference room, shop and car parking. Gone are the days of typed tickets in dusty glass cases. There is something here to interest everyone, from young children to serious historians.
The family trees and relative claims of Richard III and Henry VII are analysed. Short films of actors playing various 15th C characters tell of their experience of the battle and how they fared afterwards. There is a dramatic, short film about the battle itself. We had no time for the circular Battlefield Trail, which leads to attractive and historic villages in the area.
Apparently Henry VII later raised an alabaster tomb over Richard’s grave – it is suggested that by leaving the king’s body at Leicester, Henry was avoiding a cult.
The battlefield site itself was lost and rediscovered “after several years of careful study and fieldwork” as not being on Ambion Hill as was long thought, but 2.5 km to the west. The exhibition ends with an account of the peaceful 118 years of Tudor rule after the Battle.

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS compiled by Eric Morgan
Saturday 10th March 2018, Museum of London. Morning session: Recent Work, and Afternoon session: The Bloomberg Site Tickets on sale now. £15.00 before 1st March, then £17.50 Programme
Wednesday 14th March, 7.45 pm, Hornsey Historical Society, Union Church Hall, Ferme Park Road/ Weston Park N8, 9PX, Archaeology and Technology in London’s Lea Valley – Did One Influence the Other? Talk by Dr Jim Lewis. Visitors £2.
Monday 19th March, 8 pm, Enfield Society, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane/ Chase Side, Enfield EN2 OAJ, Enfield’s Railway History Part 3: Trains and the Piccadilly Line. Talk by Dave Cockle.
Wednesday 4th April, 8pm. Stanmore & Harrow Historical Society, Wealdstone Baptist Church Hall, High Street, Wealdstone. Cassiobury Park. Talk by Paul Rabbitts. Visitors £3.
Thursday 5th April, 7.30 pm Camden History Society, Burgh House, New End Square, NW3 ILT, Tunnels Under Holborn. Talk by Antony Clayton. From some of the earliest tube tunnels and the “ghost” station of British Museum, to WWII tunnels and modern bunkers, including Kingsway Telephone Exchange and some of the so-called “secret” tunnels in the area, will be explored. Visitors £1.
10
Monday 9th April, 3 pm. Barnet Museum and Local History Society, Church House, Wood Street, Barnet (opposite Museum) Who Put the “Bath” in Bath Place? Talk by Andrew Beach, Visitors £3.
Friday 13th April, 7.45 pm. Enfield Archaeological Society. Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield EN2 OAJ. Excavations and Fieldwork of E.A.S. 2017. Talk by Dr Martin Dearne (Enfield Archaeological Society), preceded by AGM. Visitors £1. Refreshments/sales/info, 7.30 pm.
Saturday 14th April, 1.30 pm, Barnet Museum & Local History Society, Pennefather Hall, Christchurch, St Albans Rd., Barnet EN5 4LA. Battle of Barnet: Painting the Roses at War. Talk by Graham Turner. Tickets in advance from Barnet Museum, 31 Wood St, Barnet, EN5 4BE. Tel. 020 8440 8066, or e-mail enquiries@barnetmuseum.co.uk ; or on the door, £5 (members £3) refresh-ments included.
ALSO Saturday 14th April, Barnet 1471 Battlefields Society Medieval Banquet, Church House,
2 Wood St. Barnet. Four-course meal, opportunity to re-enact and dress up in medieval costume (prize for best-dressed). To book, e-mail Liz at barnet1471battlefieldssociety@outlook.com. Tickets £49.50 each.
Wednesday 18th April, 6 pm, Gresham College at the Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN. The Birth of Modern Theatreland – Covent Garden and the two Theatres Royal. Talk by Simon Thurley, looking at the significance and impact of these great institutions on the development of London since since Charles II. Free.
With big thanks to this month’s contributors: Vicki Baldwin, Bill Bass, Roger Chapman; Don Cooper, Robin Densem, Eric Morgan; Jim Nelhams; Peter Pickering.

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: Jim Nelhams 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Membership Sec: Stephen Brunning, 1, Reddings Close, Mill Hill, London NW7 4JL (020 8959 6419) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
Join the HADAS email discussion group via the website at: www.hadas.org.uk
——————————————————————————————————-

563-February-2018-Newsletter

By | Latest Newsletter, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

Number 563 FEBRUARY 2018 Edited by Andy Simpson

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE PROGRAMME 2018

Tuesday 13 February at 8pm Dr Matthew Symonds. ‘Protecting the Roman Empire:
understanding fortlets and frontiers’.

The Roman army enjoys an enviable reputation as an instrument of waging war, but as the modern
world reminds us, an enduring victory requires far more than simply winning battles. When it came
to suppressing insurgencies, or deterring the depredations of bandits, the army frequently deployed small groups of infantry and cavalry based in fortlets. This remarkable installation type has never previously been studied in detail, and shows a new side to the Roman army. Rather than displaying the aggressive uniformity for which the Roman military is famous, individual fortlets were usually bespoke installations tailored to local needs. Examining fortlet use in north-west Europe helps explain the differing designs of the Empire’s most famous artificial frontier systems, including Hadrian’s Wall and the Upper German and Raetian limites. The archaeological evidence will be integrated with documentary sources, which disclose the gritty reality of life in a Roman fortlet.

Tuesday 13 March at 8pm; Dr. Roger Tomlin Roman London’s First Voices;
Roman writing-tablets from Bloomberg, London

Tuesday 10 April 2018 at 8pm: Stuart Cakebread The Greater London Historical
Environment Record

Tuesday 8 May 2018 at 8pm: Mark Smith The archaeology of World War One

Tuesday 12 June 2018 at 8pm; ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Tuesday 9th October at 8pm: Gabriel Moshenka Unrolling Egyptian mummies in
Victorian London (Gabe is well known to HADAS through his help with various
fieldwork projects)

Tuesday 13 November 2018: TO BE CONFIRMED

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, 382 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central station (Northern Line), is a 5-10
minute walk away.
1
Honour for HADAS member Don Cooper

We are pleased to announce that Jacqui Pearce has been elected as President of the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology (SPMA). Jacqui, who is a HADAS member, also teaches our course on finds processing, which is run at Stephens House (formerly Avenue House) every Wednesday evening during term time. Jacqui’s day job is as a Senior Finds Specialist with Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) working on finds from excavations in London. Jacqui is also the author of many books on the artefacts of the Post-Medieval period. We wish her well in her new (additional!) role.

Joanna Corden

Sad news from James Corden – his wife Joanna M Corden, formerly archivist at London Borough of Barnet and The Royal Society, passed away on 16 December 2017, aged 70, a month after suffering a severe stroke. She was born in Bologna on 5 August 1947 and had only just retired. She always enjoyed HADAS and history in general; she leaves a family.

November Lecture – The Hunting of Hephzibah Jim Nelhams

Faced with the late withdrawal of our booked speaker, I offered to fill in and update HADAS on the Story of Hephzibah.

In newsletter 418, January 2006, I noted how we had discovered Hephzibah WILLOWS, Jo’s half great aunt. Hephzibah was the daughter of Jo’s great grandfather, William Willows, from his first marriage, and was born late in 1842 in Cambridgeshire. Her existence does not seem to have been known to later generations, and she may not have had any contact with her father after he re-married.

By 2006, we had found that Hephzibah had married, had two children, Ethel and Sidney, and in 1881 the family was living near Wakefield in Yorkshire. But there the track went cold.
In newsletter 475, October 2010, I was able to give an update. The story had moved on when we found that Hephzibah and her family emigrated to Australia in 1883. Ethel married a gentleman named Jesse Dyer in 1903 and lived to the age of 95. We found her grandson, Norman, and during a trip to Australia met and stayed with him. When we visited his cousin Duncan, we found that Duncan had a photograph of Hephzibah. We also found Hephzibah’s grave.


Photos of Hephzibah, Ethel and Jesse Dyer taken about 1905

At this point, Norman and Duncan knew the origin of their great grandmother, Hephzibah, but had no information about their grandfather Jesse. We still had work to do. The lecture gave me the opportunity to illustrate the wide variety of information about ordinary people, a lot of it available online or in local archives.

The story moves on. Matching information from Jesse’s death certificate showed that he came from a village called Hailey, just to the north of Witney in Oxfordshire. His father, William Dyer, was a farmer with several other sons, eldest Robert, and a daughter. On a visit to the churchyard in Hailey, we found seven family graves. Robert had a daughter named Ada Frances, so with those unusual names, I started to trace her line. In 1898, Ada Frances (also known as Ada Fanny) married Ernest John Chandler, a tailor from Derbyshire, at the church in Hailey.

How they met, we do not know, but their first son was born a year later in Bromley, and in 1901 they had settled in Southall, Middlesex.

By the 1911 census, they had moved to Ealing and had five more children. Two of the brothers died in a motor cycle accident in Inverness in 1929, so I found myself looking at Robert Storer Chandler. The records show that Robert married in 1925 and had three children, Monica, Robert Hugh and Rosemary. At this point, loud bells were ringing, so I had Jo check my entries and conclusions. All looked correct.

Then in 1959, Robert Hugh Chandler married Patricia Ann Willows at the registry office in Ealing. The couple had two daughters.

We started in the Cambridgeshire village of Coton, traced Hephzibah, daughter of William Willows, via Wakefield to Australia where her daughter Ethel married Jesse Dyer. Jesse came from the Oxfordshire village of Hailey. Jesse’s brother’s great grandson, Robert Hugh Chandler married Patricia Ann Willows in Ealing in 1959. And Patricia Ann Willows was the great granddaughter of William Willows from his second marriage, and Jo’s sister.

Thus Robert’s and Patricia’s two children were related to Norman in Australia both through their mother and their father.

Excavations at Hendon School, Golders Rise, Hendon, London, NW4 2HP.
Site Code: GDR17, NGR TQ 23610 89011, June 2017. Bill Bass

This is a report on excavations and student outreach involving HADAS and University College London’s Institute of Archaeology (IoA). Following on from previous work at the school between 2006 and 2012, it was decided to revive the project to give another set of school students an experience of archaeology and the disciplines that go with it, together with a history of the area. It also gave an opportunity for students of the IoA to gain additional practical archaeological and teaching practice, and it gave HADAS a further chance to find out more about the Roman and Medieval material that was found here in the previous digs mentioned below.

Emma Densham (IoA) organised a timetable of various archaeological activities with the school and liaised with her fellow students on supervision of the school pupils with the aim of showing the pupils (Year 10 mainly) details of the techniques of archaeology such as – What is archaeology? Why are we digging here? How to excavate/record sites, finds processing and similar themes. For further background information on the IoA/student perspective please see the article featuring Emma Densham in September’s 2017 HADAS Newsletter (Archaeology Today – A student view).
HADAS supplied volunteers from the Fieldwork Team who helped supervise and excavate. We also provided the tools and material for the dig.

Dig background

Previous digs at Hendon School include – 2006 (HDS06), 2007 (HDS06), 2008 (HDS06), 2009 (HDS06), 2010 (HDS06), 2011 (HDS06), 2012 (HDS06). These have been reported in HADAS Newsletters and in the dig archive.

But a brief recap; some of the trenches have contained small amounts of Roman pottery, most have had a fair scattering of medieval pottery – fairly substantial in some cases, there is always an amount of post-medieval pottery and building material.

In most cases the pottery sherds are small in nature and abraded/worn possibly found in a plough soil, none have so far been associated with a feature – pit, ditch or gulley etc.
There are known pockets of Saxon and Medieval occupation in The Burroughs and Church End areas of Hendon. Does Brent Street and Bell Lane near to Hendon School represent a further medieval hamlet, the finds of which are found along the northern boundary of Hendon School playing field? Usually at these sites there is a scattering or background ‘noise’ of Roman material, is there an occupation site in the area?

John Norden (1548-1625), cartographer to Elizabeth I built a substantial structure – Hendon House. The gardens and orchards stretched eastwards, the house was just beyond the vicinity of the current school building, but the gardens stretched onto land occupied by the school and playing field.

Archaeology

For the 2017 campaign a 6m x 2m trench (trench 1) was laid along the northern boundary of the playing field adjacent to the tall chain-link ‘catch fencing’, a further two 0.50cm x 2m test-pits were excavated just to the west of the main trench.

Trench 1.
The turf and topsoil, was approx 30-40cm in depth from the 61.70 OD level. The brown silty/sand and clay layer context [100/101] produced a wide mixture of finds including modern to Roman in date. They were composed of pottery, small amounts of tobacco pipe, building materials – brick/tile, glass, iron, pre and post decimal coins, some animal bone and modern plastics/tin-cans etc.
Pottery included Transfer Printed wares (TPW) 1780-1900, Post-Medieval Redwares (PMR) 1580-1900, small amounts of Tin-glazed wares (TGW) 1570-1746 and Borderwares 1550-1700, Stoneware sherds of both the German and English varieties were noted – a part of a jar was inscribed “HARTLEY LONDON” 18th or 19th centuries.

Medieval pottery consisted of varieties of early (1050-1200) and coarse (1170-1350) South Herts wares (SHER), Coarse Border Wares (CBW) (1270-1500). A total of 17 sherds of medieval pottery were recovered from context [100/101] in the form of rims, body sherds and bases. They were mainly small sherds and abraded.

Several sherds of Roman pot were identified, notably a body sherd of Colour-Coated Beaker from Trier (50-400AD), 4 sherds of red slip ware possibly OXRC (270-400), a rim of grey fabric with red-brown coating of possible industrial use was noted. A total of 11 sherds of Roman pottery were recorded from this context.

The clay tobacco pipe included bowls or part bowls of types AO15 1660-1680 and AO25 1700-1770. Coins from context [100] included four decimal types of ½p to 2p. Recovered from [101] were pre-decimal coins of ¼d 1933, ½d 1905-1927 some others illegible, and 21 decimal coins of ½ to 20p.
Context [102] lay beneath [100/101], it was a yellow-brown sandy clay approx 20cm thick. Again a rather mixed layer of medieval and post-medieval pot, clay tobacco pipe, building material – mostly roof tile (much was discarded on site, some samples were kept), small amounts of glass and iron.

The post-medieval pottery was similar to that found in [100/101].
Of the medieval pot there were 14 body sherds including SHER in fine and flinty fabric, Early SHER (ESHER) 1050-1200, CBW and London ware LOND (1080-1350).

In the north-west side of Trench 1 a shallow depression was recorded [104], it was filled with a dark grey/brown clay with pebbles, it was 1.20m in dia and approx 10cm deep. The nature of this feature was uncertain with no dating evidence.

The mottled yellow-brown sandy clay was reached at approx 60cm below the turf, a ‘sondage’ (small inspection trench) was dug in the east of Trench 1 to confirm that this was the natural clay.

Trench 2

Trench 2 was placed 6m west of trench 1 and was 0.50m (E-W) x 2.00m (N-S). The turf level was 61.88OD

The top-soil [200] was essentially the same as trench 1 containing clinker, coal and chalk fragments and other ‘modern’ material. There were small amounts of pottery – PMR, English Stoneware, TGW(D), Post-Medieval Black Glazed ware 1580-1700 (PMBL). Also noted were building material, glass and fragments of clay tobacco pipe.

Beneath [200] was [201] which was similar to [101] as described above, including small amounts of Raeren Stoneware 1480-1610, Frechen Stoneware 1550-1700, Metropolitan Slipware 1500-1800, White Salt-Glazed ware (SWSG) 1720-1780, Red Border wares 1550-1900 and PMRs. One sherd of medieval SHER 1170-1350 was noted.
Other finds from [201] were minor amounts of building materials, glass and iron nails

Trench 3

Trench 3 was 1.00m west of trench 2 and of similar dimensions, it was started but not finished and was backfilled and not formally recorded. It would have been similar to trench 2, being used to give pupils a chance to excavate.

Trenches 2 and 3 were not fully excavated to the natural clay.

Discussion
In trench 1 below the turf and topsoil was context [102] which by the finds was a disturbed layer either through the levelling for the playing field or previous plough action, allotments or similar. Unfortunately there was no evidence of ‘features’ – pits, post-holes, ditches and so forth that could relate to the post-medieval or earlier periods. But the medieval and Roman finds once again point to possible occupation in the area. The 2017 dig is fairly similar to that of 2008 where a same size trench was dug several metres to the west where there were similar disturbed contexts. Compared to those trenches dug in 2011 and 2012 some metres to the east (the NE corner of the playing field), these trenches had a more substantial medieval content in a perhaps more ‘secure’ less disturbed layers.

So the origin of the Roman and medieval material is still a mystery and as mentioned in previous Hendon School reports perhaps there was a settlement in the Brent Street/Bell Lane junction, ribbon development along Bell Lane or similar. At the time of writing (December 2017) the school was proposing to rebuild some classrooms along the NW side of the playing field which may be a further opportunity to add to the picture. The school students over a couple of weeks were involved in the archaeology, ranging from history of the area, excavation, surveying, finds washing and processing and so forth. Members of HADAS (some new to practical archaeology) and UCL students also gained experience from the various disciplines.

Map showing the approximate position of the trenches and their year, 2009 (not shown here) was along the eastern border.


HADAS hard at work in hot and sunny conditions in trench 1, looking east. (Vicki Baldwin)

The eastern end of trench 1 showing contexts 100/101, 102 and the natural clay layer at the bottom.
Acknowledgements:

Emma Densham and the UCL/IoA students.
HADAS Fieldwork Team. Teachers and students of Hendon School. Caretakers and ground staff of Hendon School. Jacqui Pearce (finds identification).

Hadas Frodsham trip – Day 4 Jim Nelhams

After visiting the Roman city of Chester with its Cathedral dating from 11th Century, Thursday saw us in Liverpool, a young city, with two major Cathedrals both consecrated in the 20th Century, and both with unique features. As Kevin notes, the Catholic Cathedral has its own underground car park. The Anglican Cathedral illustrates probably the largest and smallest designs of George Gilbert Scott. The size of the largest is evident, but the smallest is an iconic telephone box to one side of the main nave. Is this the only cathedral with a telephone box inside? For the familiar red telephone box was also designed by Gilbert Scott, winning a competition in 1924, and some of them are now listed by Heritage England.

And close to our pick-up point at the Albert Dock stands a “Liverpool Special” letter box. Only seven of these boxes, installed in 1863, were made, and just the one remains in public use though not in its original location. Their erection followed a long battle with Post Office management in London. They were built because in Liverpool but not London, it was permitted to post newspapers as well as letters. This caused the boxes to fill, with a number of complaints from the police that they were regularly overflowing.

A Street Called Hope Kevin McSharry

On the penultimate day of the HADAS long trip, based at Frodsham in Cheshire, we visited the great port city of Liverpool. A dry sunny day we had of it which made for a leisurely relaxing visit.


Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King Anglican Cathedral of The Risen Christ
Our first two stops took in the two great icons of this city: its cathedrals, which stand at either end of the ecumenically sounding Hope Street; the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King and the Anglican Cathedral also dedicated to the Christ – the Risen Christ. Architecturally, the cathedrals could not be more different: the Catholic – modern and futuristic and the Anglican Gothic, traditional, and massive.

The Metropolitan (Catholic) is circular in plan but conical in shape. The approach to the main entrance is from a spacious piazza and up a broad and steep majestic flight of steps. We lesser mortals chose not the majestic approach but that which was via a lift in the cathedral underground car park. Which other cathedral in the British Isles, nay the world boasts an underground car park? The focus of the circular interior is the sanctuary and altar, with the tower above it.


Inside Cathedral of Christ the King

The benches are concentric to the sanctuary allowing for an unobstructed view of the altar. Around the perimeter of the interior is a series of chapels. The whole interior is suffused by beautiful lines of light, blue being dominant, reflecting the colours of the stained glass designed by John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens. The cathedral was designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd and built between 1962 and 1967. The structure we see today which is stunning, is not that which was originally intended by the distinguished architect, Edwin Lutyens. Cost prevented the Lutyens design seeing the light of day. What there is of Lutyens is the impressive crypt.

The Anglican Cathedral is in complete contrast to the Catholic Cathedral but by golly is it impressive. Liverpool Cathedral is a magnificent, traditional gothic structure. The interior is solemn, imposing and majestic with columns soaring to a distant roof. The sheer size is breath-taking. The statistics exemplify: the largest in Britain, fifth largest in the world. Giles Gilbert Scott, of that illustrious family of architects, designed the cathedral but died before its completion which took 74 years – 1904 to 1978 with the Metropolitan cathedral taking just five.

Inside the Anglican Cathedral of The Risen Christ
The two cathedrals need to be visited together, as it were, which the Hadassians did. Our visit heralded a wonderful visit to this great city.

More in Liverpool Brenda Pershouse

There is much more to see in Liverpool. As well as the two majestic Cathedrals and three major museums and art galleries, there is St George’s Hall.

This is one of the great Victorian classical buildings, a masterpiece of the young architect Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, who began work on it in 1842. It is classical Greek design. The enormous hall is very elaborately decorated from floor to ceiling. There are Corinthian columns, stained glass windows and a row of marble statues the length of the hall.

From there, I continued walking to find the Cavern quarter. In Matthew Street is a sculpture made by the very talented Tommy Steele of Eleanor Rigby. Four sculptured heads of the Beatles are displayed above a shop doorway, and John Lennon leans against the wall outside the famous Cavern Club. A life-size group of the four stands near the Liver Building – yet another tourist attraction in this interesting city.

Chester Vintage Transport Andy Simpson

Naturally the chance was taken to visit the redeveloped site of the former Chester tram depot opposite the railway station. Although now replaced by student accommodation since the ill-advised privatisation of the former Chester City Council owned bus company a few years ago which led to overnight chaos from the replacement private operator, the 3ft 6in gauge depot track fan, last used on 15th February 1930, has been carefully preserved at the front (Tramway Street) and rear (Car Street) of the site; the Car St track is shown in the photo below, with Station Road and the former GWR station visible at the rear of the shot. Electric trams first ran in public service in Chester on 6th April 1903; the small fleet of eighteen trams ran virtually unaltered until the shabby and run-down small open-top four wheeled tramcars were replaced by Chester Corporation motorbuses. One or two wall rosettes for supporting the overhead wires remain visible in the city centre, especially Northgate St and Westgate St.

Other ‘vintage’ transport encountered in Chester was the replica WW1-era London General Omnibus Co B- Type bus operated by Chester Heritage Tours – www.ChesterHeritageTours.co.uk , starting by the collection of Roman columns displayed in Northgate Street. It is quite a good replica, albeit with non-prototypical windscreens added for driver comfort, and is built on the chassis of a 1964 Bedford SB5 coach chassis originally delivered to Wessex Coaches in Bristol and one of three rebuilt in its present form in 1982 in Cornwall – photo below at Northgate Street. These tours began in June 2005. Some 2,500 of the original rugged and reliable B-type were built, and ran in London 1910-1927; many were used in France in WW1 for troop transport, and as field ambulances and even carrier pigeon lofts. Originals can be seen at the LT Museum Covent Garden and Acton Depot sites, and there is another – ‘Old Bill’ – in the collection of the Imperial War Museum.

Other Societies’ Events Eric Morgan

Friday 16th February 7pm COLAS St Olave’s Hall, Mark Lane, EC3R 7BB Uncivilised Genes, Human Evolution & The Urban Paradox Presidential Address by Gustav Milne Preceded by AGM Wine & Nibbles to follow. Visitors £3 Drawing on what Archaeological evidence reveals about Palaeolithic & Mesolithic diets, as on anthropological studies of contemporary Hunter-Gatherer Societies. Book out.

Friday 16th February, 7.30pm Wembley History Society English Martyrs’ Hall, Chalkhill Road Wembley HA9 9EW (Top of Blackbird Hill, adj. to church) John Betjeman’s London – Talk by Colin Oaks Visitors £3.

Monday 19th February 8.15pm Ruislip, Northwood & Eastcote Local History Society St Martins Church Hall Eastcote Road, Ruislip – One Thames or Two? The Archaeology of London’s River Talk by Jon Cotton.

Thursday 22nd February 2.30pm Finchley Society Drawing Room, Avenue House (Stephens House) 17, East End Road N3 3QE Hawthorn Dene- Its Role in Local and National History Talk by Frank Kelsall Non-members £2 Please Note Start Time.

Thursday 1st March, 8pm Pinner Local History Society Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner HA5 1AB Pinner’s Old Roads- Paths, Tracks, Travellers & Tarmac Research Group presentation by members. Visitors £2.00

Wednesday 7th March 6pm Gresham College At Museum of London 150, London Wall, EC2Y 5HN Palace, Park & Square; St James’s The Birth of the West End. Talk by Simon Thurley on the Buildings From A Court Quarter To the New West End Free.

Monday 12th March 3pm Barnet Museum & Local History Society Church House, Wood St, Barnet (opposite Museum) Barnet War Memorials and Heroes Talk by Martin Russell Visitors £2.

Wednesday 14th March 2.30pm Mill Hill Historical Society Trinity Church, The Broadway, NW7 Royal Medicine Through The Ages Talk by Dr Barry Walsh Preceded by A.G.M.

Friday 16th March 7.30pm Wembley History Society Address as February. The Olympic Way Story Talk by Philip Grant (Brent Archives) Visitors £3.

Wednesday 28th March, 7.45pm Friern Barnet& District Local History Society North Middx Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL How Women Got the Vote Talk by Barry Hall Visitors £2. Refreshments and Bar. CORRECTION – The date of the February talk was shown as 25th; should be 28th.

Thursday 29th March, 8pm Finchley Society Drawing Room, Avenue House The Barnet Society Talk by Robin Bishop and Discussion. Visitors £2.

With thanks for newsletter contributions this month to; Bill Bass; Don Cooper; James Corden; Kevin McSharry; Eric Morgan; Jim Nelhams; Brenda Pershouse.

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 Jim Nelhams 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Membership Sec. Stephen Brunning, 1, Reddings Close, Mill Hill, London
NW7 4JL (020 8959 6419) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
Web site: www.hadas.org.uk
Discussion Group; http://groups.google.com/group/hadas-archaeology

Newsletter-562-January-2018

By | Latest Newsletter, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

No. 562 January 2018 Edited by Sue Willetts

HADAS Diary

Tuesday 9th January 8pm: Prof. Christopher Scull. The Anglo-Saxon princely burial at Prittlewell, Essex.
Tuesday 13th February at 8pm: Dr Matthew Symonds. ‘Protecting the Roman Empire: understanding fortlets and frontiers’.
Tuesday 13th March at 8pm: Roman London’s First Voices: Roman writing-tablets from Bloomberg, London. Lecture by Dr Roger Tomlin.

All Lectures are held at Stephens House & Gardens (Avenue House), 17 East End Road, Finchley, N3 3QE, and start promptly at 8.00 pm, with coffee & tea served afterwards. Non-members welcome (£2.00). Buses 13, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central Station (Northern line) is a 5-10-minute walk away.

Information on the January lecture: The Prittlewell Prince: life, death and belief in south-east England at the time of St Augustine
The outstanding Anglo-Saxon burial at Prittlewell, Southend, Essex was discovered and excavated in the winter of 2003-2004 by a team from Museum of London Archaeology. The importance of the well-preserved chamber grave and its outstanding assemblage of grave goods, dating from c AD 600, was immediately apparent and prompted international academic and public interest. A full programme of study and analysis has now been completed and a full report is in preparation for publication in 2018. This lecture will review what we now know about of the chamber grave and the individual buried there, and how this changes our understanding of the early East Saxon kingdom and its place in south-east England at the dawn of English Christianity.
Christopher Scull is academic advisor to the Prittlewell project and a joint author, with Lyn Blackmore, Ian Blair and Sue Hirst, of the forthcoming monograph report. A Visiting Professor at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, and the Department of Archaeology and Conservation, Cardiff University, he is a former Research Director of English Heritage and has published widely on the archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England.

Hadas Christmas Party Jim Nelhams

What a lovely response to our Christmas Party this year. Forty-seven people planned to attend, but nobody was dreaming of a “White Christmas Party” to make travel so difficult. Twenty-six people managed to get to Avenue House to enjoy the splendid dinner cooked by

the Avenue House staff, one of whom had walked from Whetstone. Some of our attendees had similar tales of their journey. Well done to all that made it and commiserations to those snowbound at home.


Thanks to Melvyn for the photos.

What did they miss? Most of all, the good company of all that were there, with the day compèred by Don Cooper sporting this year’s Christmas Jumper, complete with flashing lights. Musical entertainment came from Jim and Jo Nelhams with everybody joining in some Christmassy songs, and the intellectual challenge in the form of a table quiz came from Vicki Baldwin, who was unfortunately herself under the weather! Two wonderful cakes had been cooked by Liz, and slices of these were duly consumed with coffee and mince pies. And, of course, the raffle with the star prize of a bottle of Roman wine, carefully guarded by Ted, our mascot, and his friend.

Nice to see our President, Harvey Sheldon, who travelled up from his home in South London, where there was no snow.

Summer Trip 2018 Jim Nelhams

Already we have had 30 people express an interest in the trip, which is sufficient to go ahead. We will be using the Best Western Brome Grange Hotel, near Diss. This hotel is slightly smaller than most of our previous destinations, with only 40 rooms, of which we have reserved 30, so if you want to come, please let Jo or myself know. Contact information is at the end of this newsletter.
The price depends partly on the numbers sharing the coach but is expected to be £530 for a single room, or £480 per person sharing a room, and increase of £5 over last year. Deposits will be required at the end of February. The trip itself is from Monday 17th to Friday 21st September (inclusive).
So do not miss out by delaying. If we know early enough, we may be able to reserve the odd extra room.

Jodrell Bank / Heritage
Further to the item in the November newsletter, Peter Pickering spotted this item in the Budget statement

4.60 Jodrell Bank – The government is providing £4 million to Jodrell Bank, subject to approval of a sustainable business case, as part of their £20.5 million project to create a new interpretation centre promoting the historically significant scientific work undertaken at this site in Cheshire. The following is the link to Heritage Alliance’s preliminary note on the budget and how it might impact on the Heritage. Budget item

Frodsham Trip – Day 3 Jim Nelhams

On our trips, we have a chance to enjoy the various interests of members in the group, and they provide us with interesting and enthusiastic notes. Although we started in the Cathedral with its history and archaeology, we then had the chance to go and indulge other interests.

Chester Cathedral Simon Williams

Chester Cathedral, dedicated to St. Werburgh, was originally (from the 1190’s) a Benedictine Abbey of which only one round arch span survives in the North transept, impressive and remarkably still intact, and standing to a fair height – despite the vogue for destruction of the C16 and 17 waves of denial, ironically, only escaping due to having been dismantled. For example, that of Becket, and most others being raised to the ground.


The quire contains a remarkable display of the woodcarvers’ art – misericords and bench ends such as the Pelican in her piety, an elephant bearing a fortified medieval fighting platform, the Eagles of the 4 evangelists, Jacob’s dream with an angel bearing a ladder, a Medieval pilgrim to St. Werburgh’s, complete with beard, large brimmed hat (presumably to keep out the journey’s weather?) and a staff. Victorian ones depict Aesop’s Fables.
The South Isle contains the Chester Imp, his stone frozen figure looking very uncomfortable, with head and limbs are twisted rather savagely contorted at right-angles (maybe due penance for being an imp? – I wouldn’t know!), and rather squashed into the rectangular facet of a construction stone, very much like inspiration for a C20 modernist piece? Whatever else, he is bound to see you, even if you not him! The C20 glass is a success, particularly the 1961 Great East Window.

A welcome bonus was a falconry display, initiated to act as a pigeon scarer. This enterprise has become a “decoy” attraction in its own right, and a convenient source of income. We were invited to
handle a small black Egyptian vulture and a falcon, with flights to the glove for group members. It was remarkable how fast and swooping silently low they returned super-accurately, brushing between onlookers’ heads by inches, returning for bait– that elusive free lunch? We were also shown the aviary which even contained a Golden Eagle.

Chester Cathedral Falconry and Nature Gardens Sylvia Javes

After our visit to the cathedral we were taken round to the falconry in the cathedral grounds. Several birds were on perches on the lawn, with others in aviaries around the site. There were hawks, buzzards, an eagle (Grace), a barn owl and some falcons. Falcons have long wings and are built for speed, catching their prey on the wing. Peregrine falcons are often used to scare nuisance pigeons away from stations, airfields, and notably at Wimbledon. All birds kept for falconry are captive bred, it being illegal to take birds from the wild. Although the handlers are generally known as falconers, the term for someone training and flying hawks is an austringer. Three birds were flown. First there was a mischievous vulture called Tinks, who loped behind the keeper like a cartoon character. Vultures are scavengers that clear up carrion in tropical countries. They are an essential part of the eco system, so when they are depleted as they are in some parts of the world, it can have a serious effect on human health. Tinks really loved his keeper – or was it perhaps his love of the tit-bits of meat in the keeper’s pouch that kept him so close?

Pip was a female kestrel, raised and imprinted from four days old. She flew from a perch or her handler to another handler for a scrap of meat. Several of us were given the chance to have her perch and retrieve the food from our gloved fists. Similarly, Rio, a male Harris hawk flew to the gloved fists of members of our party. Rio flew into the trees around the field, from where he was called down by the handler. He liked to swoop in low over the heads of the audience. Although falconry is a 4000-year old sport, Harris hawks have only been used since the 1970s. While we were watching the birds, our attention was drawn to a bird soaring high above us. It was a wild sparrow hawk, probably attracted by the hawks and falcons in the display.

Sculpture Exhibition Audrey Hooson

Our visit to Chester Cathedral coincided with “Ark” a sculpture exhibition mounted jointly by the Cathedral and Gallery Pangolin. Pangolin owns Europe’s biggest Art Foundry and several galleries including one in Kings Place at Kings Cross.
As the name of the exhibition implied the main theme was depictions of animals, some veristic but many more interpretive. It was obvious that a lot of thought had been taken when placing the sculptures, in order to show both them and the Cathedral to advantage.
Our introductory tour to the Cathedral was given next to ‘Hollow Form with Inner Form’ 1968 bronze by Barbara Hepworth 1903-1975. Afterwards some of us decided to miss the Falconry and tour the Cathedral by searching for the 90 sculptures. ‘Ark: High and Dry’ by Jon Buck b1951 was at the entrance to the Quire, it shows many animals within the Ark. ‘Time Taken’ by Almuth Tebbenhoff b1949 was nearby, well placed in a dark corner with side light on the polished marble.


It was interesting to realise that looking at the temporary exhibition made one more aware of the skill and beauty of the resident misericords, bench ends and decorated arches.
A fascinating morning shared with many families and visitors who might not have gone to a gallery to see modern art but possibly lured in by ‘Percival’ 2006 by Sarah Lukas b1962, were really enjoying walking around with their maps.

The City Walls Liz Tucker

Chester has a lot in common with York, where I went to school. Both are cities with a Roman history, a cathedral, a castle on a hill, a racecourse, and extensive city walls. The most obvious difference is in the geology; Chester’s castle, cathedral and walls are all constructed of the bright red local sandstone.

The Romans first built a turf wall in about 75AD, around the important fortress of Deva, called after the local “goddess river”, now the Dee, which rushes down from Wales. Later, the wall was rebuilt in stone, and then repaired using old gravestones, now in the Grosvenor Museum. (You can see parts of the old Roman stones by leaning over the edge – we took their word for it!)


In Saxon times, Queen Aethelfleda extended the walls to the south and west, to protect her town (burh). They were maintained by officials known as murengers. Over the centuries, to the present day, the walls were fortified in the Civil War, gates were replaced by arches and bridges built, to accommodate increasing traffic, and towers were constructed. However, it is still possible to walk almost a complete circuit, reminiscent of the playing-card shape of the Roman fort.

Among the towers are King Charles’ Tower, from which the king could see his defeated army straggling back from the Battle of Rowton Moor; the Parlour, a semi-circular tower from which an official watched his employees making rope in the street below; and the Water Tower, where goods were unloaded from the River Dee in medieval times. The picturesque river is celebrated in the poem “O Mary, call the cattle home, across the sands of Dee” and the song about the Jolly Miller who “cares for nobody, no, not I, and nobody cares for me”.
Later the river silted up, and was canalised in the 18th century; around the same time, the Chester Canal was constructed, now part of the Shropshire Union Canal.
I was surprised to see that many stretches of the wall are actually at street level on the inside, which I have never noticed before in any walled city. On the outside, there are dramatic views down to the Dee, with its historic bridge, and to the canal. We could see boats and barges, and were sorry we did not have time for a boat trip, which we usually do on HADAS trips!

ROMAN CHESTER Andy Simpson
HADAS chums will know of my distinct weakness for all things Romano-British, so a day to explore Chester –the former legionary fortress of Deva Victrix, home of Legio XX Valeria Victrix – for Roman relics old and new was a definite bonus! The most obvious feature is of course the Roman parts of the city walls, especially the stretch of north wall with 13 rather bulging un-mortared courses of wall with its original Roman Cornice overlooking the canal.

Leaving the group at the cathedral, first stop was the group of Roman column bases and stone-cut drainage channels and other fragments displayed on Northgate Street near the town hall.
After a diversion to check out the site of the former Chester tram depot (of which more in a later report) it was down to the half-exposed and comprehensively excavated amphitheatre (original capacity 8,000) with its well-illustrated and informative caption boards, a feature of many of the other sites visited during the day.
And onwards to part of the original Roman Eastgate arch visible from conveniently placed steps up to the top of the city wall on the north side over Dinky Donuts. Not quite up to Lincoln Newport arch standards, but good to see nonetheless.

Staying with the fast food theme, next up was a visit to the cellar of Spud-U- Like at 39 Bridge Street to view an impressive, and beautifully lit, section of legionary bathhouse stone hypocaust pillars; this section of hypocaust, which had supported the floor of the sudatarium (sweating Room) was discovered as early as 1821. Much of the bathhouse, with walls still standing 12 feet high, was wantonly destroyed by construction of the Grosvenor Shopping Mall on the east side of Bridge Street in 1963-4, with the developers permitting little archaeological salvage or recording.
Heading back towards the amphitheatre, the Roman Gardens by the Newgate, off Pepper Street, form a nice walk down to the River Dee and have more excellent caption boards and many of the columns and column bases from the exercise hall of the legionary baths salvaged by the Victorians when it was exposed in the 1860s, as well as a reconstructed section of hypocaust. Nearby is the base of a Roman angle tower beside the Newgate.


And, of course, the obligatory visit to the Grosvenor Museum (first opened in 1886) for its magnificent collection of Roman tombstones, sculptures and inscriptions, many of them some of the 150 or more found by the Victorians built into the city wall. These are displayed in the Graham Webster gallery – older readers will remember he was a former curator at the museum, expert on the Roman Army and long-time excavator at Wroxeter.

Locations with Roman remains not visited on this occasion included a section of hypocaust in 12 Northgate Street and column bases from the Principia in the cellar of Pret a Manger at 23 Northgate Row West, and also the strongroom of the Principia adjacent to the Dublin Packet pub on Northgate St. There is also the Dewa Roman experience with exposed Roman remains, just west of Bridge Street, and parts of the Roman quayside near the racecourse.

A handy pocket guide to these attractions is the booklet ‘Deva – Roman Chester – Discover Chester’s Ancient Ruins’ by Gordon Emery – published 2017 – a snip for just £2.95. So I know which bits to look out for on my next visit!

See http://roman-britain.co.uk/places/deva.htm and http://www.cheshirenow.co.uk/roman_chester.html and also
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol5/pt1/pp9-15

The London Mithraeum Stewart Wild

Roman Londinium’s Temple of Mithras, constructed around AD 240, was first discovered in 1954 during the excavation of a WWII bomb site prior to the building of Bucklersbury House in Walbrook, just north of Cannon Street. Lead archaeologist W. F. Grimes said of the discovery, “It was something of a fluke.”

Public interest was astonishing: some 30,000 people queued to see the excavation as it neared its conclusion. As a result, a partial reconstruction of the temple was unveiled in 1962 on Queen Victoria Street at street level roughly 300 feet northwest of its original location. There it resided for almost fifty years, increasingly ignored as modern buildings went up all around.
In 2010 American financial software and media giant Bloomberg acquired the triangular site for their European headquarters. The company worked with the City of London and a team of conservation specialists to excavate the entire site, recovering a wonderful hoard of Roman artefacts in the process. They agreed to dismantle the temple and reconstruct it close to its original position and level, recreating the form of the original foundation within a publicly accessible space.
Admission is free

Now, seven years on, members of the public can again admire the temple layout, seven metres below modern street level, in a purpose built air-conditioned vault. On the entrance level is a wall display of the astonishing variety of finds that were recovered during the year-long excavation.

Below on a mezzazine level are computer displays and information of the cult of Mithras across the Roman empire. Then you descend to the reconstructed low-level ruin itself, cleverly and atmospherically lit, and with suitable sound effects.

Known as Bloomberg SPACE, the London Mithraeum is open:

Tuesday – Saturday 10.00 – 18.00hrs Sundays 12.00 – 17.00hrs First Thursday of the month 10.00 – 20.00hrs

It’s best to book a timed ‘slot’ but walk-in visitors are welcome at off-peak times. Admission is free. The entrance is at 12 Walbrook, London EC4N 8AA. An average visit lasts between 60 and 90 minutes.

Future talk
On Tuesday 13 March 2018 the HADAS monthly meeting will feature a talk by Dr Roger Tomlin entitled Roman London’s First Voices: Roman writing tablets from Bloomberg, London. Don’t miss it.
Further information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._F._Grimes
https://www.londonmithraeum.com/visit/#book-your-visit
https://www.mola.org.uk/blog/archaeological-research-britain%E2%80%99s-oldest-hand-written-documents-released

LAMAS History Conference – Part 2 by Don Cooper
The morning session ended with the presentation of the 2017 Local History Publications Awards.

The Book prize was awarded to the Borough of Twickenham Local History Society for “Down the Drain” by Ray Elmitt. “Whetstone Revealed” by John Heathfield and David Berger, from the Friern Barnet and District Local History Society was Highly Commended

The Journal prize was awarded to Camden Local History for “Camden History Review number 40”, edited by David Hayes, described by the judging committee as outstanding.
The Newsletter prize (this was the first year this category has been awarded) was awarded to the Hornsey Historical Society for “newsletter 149”, edited by Lesley Ramm.
Newsletters 213, 214, 216, and 219 from the Barnes and Mortlake History Society, edited by Murray Hedgcock, were highly commended.

The first talk after lunch was by Julian Bowsher. It was entitled “Paratheatrical entertainment in 16th & 17th Century London”. Julian described the entertainments that took place other than plays in the theatre and other literary activities. These activities ranged from the legitimate ones: dancing, music, fencing matches, acrobatic displays and the exhibition of animals, to the illegitimate and unsavoury including such as: theft and gambling, prostitution and drunkenness. It was a good talk well illustrated. I must admit I hadn’t realised that fencing had been such a large sport in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Ian Bevan then took the same theme forward to the Victorians. Of course, by then there were parks and pleasure gardens, museums, art galleries, theatres, concert halls, music halls and organised sports such as rugby, and football all vying to provide entertainment outside the working day for a growing population, more affluent and ready and able to enjoy themselves.
Tea break brought the opportunity to visit the stalls of the many local history societies. There were lots of publications for sale. Many of them mentioned reducing membership and the difficulty in recruiting new younger active members. This is the same issue as plagues local archaeological societies. Perhaps 2018 will bring an opportunity for the consolidation of local heritage societies!

I was unable to attend the last two talks: Julie Ackroyd talk entitled “Stealing children in 1600: Stocking the London Stage with Actors” and Alexander Clayton’s talk on “Sapient Pigs and Rascal Tigers: Animal Curiosities on the Streets and Stages of London, C.1750-c.1850”.

Overall this conference on the “Pastimes in Times Past: entertainment in London” was enjoyable and successful.

The Curtain Playhouse excavations – lecture from excavator Heather Knight, Museum of London Sue Willetts

Excavation of this site by MoLA staff began in 2016 in response to earlier investigations related to a proposed redevelopment in Shoreditch (London Borough of Hackney) of an area of c.400,000 sq. ft. This excavation has greatly expanded our knowledge of 16th and 17th century theatre history and there have been some surprising discoveries. A drawing of the area now in Utrecht shows a polygonal theatre type building in the area and it was thought (erroneously) that this showed the Curtain Playhouse which we know was named after the nearby Curtain Close. The name Curtain is not connected to stage curtains, but related to the name of the walled pasture in which the playhouse was built.

Documentary evidence shows that the playhouse was open by 1577, but after it closed c.1625 it was demolished, and the site was lost. Records show that it was purpose built and used by Shakespeare’s company, The Lord Chamberlain’s men between 1597 and 1599 before they relocated to the newly built polygonal shaped Globe Playhouse on Bankside. The MoLA team were expecting to excavate a similar polygonal structure and although about ¼ of the building still lies beneath a pub there was enough archaeology left to show that the building was rectangular. The external dimensions were 25m x 22m and there was an open gravel yard where most of the audience would have stood, and while there is evidence of timber galleries with mid and upper areas, these may have been areas for standing. The eastern range housed a rectangular stage (c.14m x 5m) which was almost certainly used for fencing training / displays which fits in very well with the reach needed for two fencers on a stage. Another interesting feature of the Curtain Playhouse was the discovery of a passageway running underneath the stage with steps down to it from both ends to assist the movement of the actors.

Finds have included the lower part of a ceramic bird whistle which might have been used to create bird sounds, as in Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 5. Over 250 glass beads were found, which may have been from clothes worn by actors or by the audience. If from the latter this may indicate that productions at the Curtain were not (as had been suggested) mainly aimed at the lower end of the market. Other finds include finials from boxes used to collect money, (box office payment / money for food and drink) drinking vessels, clay pipes, fruit seeds and important dating evidence from two coins of 1572 and a James I farthing from 1613. It is thought that the Curtain Playhouse would have been able to hold an audience of 1400 in contrast to the nearby Curtain Theatre which would have been limited to about 800. It was pleasing to hear that the excavated area will be preserved in the new housing / retail development which is appropriately to be called The Stage.

For more information and images of finds, including the bird whistle, the finials and photographs of the excavations see the following websites:
http://www.mola.org.uk/blog/stage-set-shakespeares-curtain-theatre. The developer’s website shows how they propose to preserve and incorporate the excavated areas including a visitor centre.
http://www.thestageshoreditch.com/archaeology

This was an excellent lecture, shedding more light on the theatres and playhouses of Shakespearian London.

Other Societies’ events Eric Morgan

Friday, 19th January 7pm. COLAS, St. Olaves Parish Church, Mark Lane, EC3R 7BR.” Tower Bridge – The Bridgehouse Estates”. Talk by Dirk Bennett. Visitors £3.
Wednesday, 24th January 7.45pm. Friern Barnet& District Local History Society, North Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL. “Life before Death – Stories from the Parish Churchyard”. Talk by John Phillpot. Visitors £2.
Thursday 1st February 8pm. Pinner Local History Society, Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner, HA5 1AD. “The Denham Murders of 1870”. Talk by Neil Watson. Visitors £3.
Thursday 8th February 7.30pm. Camden History Society, Burgh House, New End Square, Hampstead, NW3 1LT. “Belsize remembered”. Talk by Ranee Bar. Visitors £1.
Monday, 12th February 3pm. Barnet Museum & Local History Society, Church House, Wood St. Barnet. “Zeppelin Raids of WW1” Talk by Harvey Watson. Visitors £2.
Wednesday, 14th February 2.30pm. Mill Hill Historical Society, Trinity Church, The Broadway, NW7. “The History of Pantomime”. Talk by Leanne Walters.
Wednesday, 14th February 7.45pm. Hornsey Historical Society, Union Church Hall, cnr Ferme Park Rd/Western Park, N8 9PX. “Evacuees of WW11”. Talk by Mike Brown. Visitors £2.
Wednesday, 21st February 7.30pm. Willesden Local History Society, St. Mary’s Church Hall, Neasden Lane, NW10 2TS. “Bankers & Fat Cats – exploring the lives of the well-off buried in Kensal Green Cemetery”. Talk by Signe Hoffos (COLAS)
Wednesday, 25th February 7.45pm. Friern Barnet& District Local History Society, North Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL. “The History of Alms Houses”. Talk by Simon Smith. Visitors £2.

Early Notice
Saturday, 10th March. LAMAS 55th Annual Conference of London Archaeologists, The Weston Theatre, Museum of London.

The morning session is on recent excavation work in London
The afternoon session is on the Bloomberg Site (Temple of Mithras)

Early bird tickets £15 (if before the 1st March) from Jon Cotton, c/o Early Department, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN. Enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Cheques made payable to LAMAS.

Acknowledgements & Thanks: Jim Nelhams, Liz Tucker, Eric Morgan, Stewart Wild, Don Cooper, Audrey Hooson, Sue Willetts, Simon Williams, Sylvia Javes.
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: Jim Nelhams, 61 Potters Road, Barnet, EN5 5HS Tel: 020 8449 7076
Email: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Membership Sec. Stephen Brunning, 1 Reddings Close, Mill Hill, NW7 4JL Tel. 020 8959 6419
Email: membership@hadas.org.uk
Web site: www.hadas.org.uk/
Discussion group: http://groups.google.com/group/hadas-archaeology

Newsletter 032 October 1973 – HADAS Newsletter Archive

By | Latest Newsletter, Past Newsletters, Volume 1 : 1969 - 1974 | No Comments

Page 1

As promised in our September Newsletter an interim report on the Church End dig appears below. The site continues to provide interest — both to diggers and to sundry onlookers, one of was heard to inquire last week — “Are these allotments for hire?”

Lectures

Our lecture on 6 November — “The Changing Face of the English Countryside” — will be given by a Dr. E. M. Yates, whose approach will be that of an historical geographer, describing changes in the pattern of the countryside at different periods. Dr. Yates is Lecturer of Geography at King’s College, London.

Once again Hendon Library is not available for public use, so we shall meet at St. Mary’s Church House, Church End, Hendon, at 8.15p.m.

The local library lectures in October may also be of interest:

Wednesday 24 October at North Finchley Library, Peter Willey on “The Golden Road to Samarkand”

Wednesday 31 October at East Finchley Library, Malcolm Colledge on “Turkey through the ages”

Both lectures, illustrated by colour slides, begin at 8.15p.m. Admission is free.

Exhibitions

At Church Farm House Museum until 14 October is an exhibition of “Old Toy Trains”. The exhibits in this fascinating display range widely in date, size, type and accessories. Many toy firms, some well-known, some obscure, are represented.

Church End Dig

From notes supplied by Ted Sammes.

Work continues every weekend at Church end. Since July the digging has been opened regularly each Wednesday, for housewife, retired and other members who enjoy midweek digging.

The site is producing many interesting objects and now, in several trenches, shows evidence of structures and stratification. Summarised, the evidence so for falls roughly into three periods:

(a) Medieval: much pottery — rims, bases and body-sherds — of four different types. Already we have more medieval pottery from this site than came last year from Burroughs Gardens. The greater part of a plain dark-glazed tile and a silver penny (not yet precisely dated) have also been found. All this material, which comes principally from the area nearest to the Parish Clerk’s House, is of 13th/14th century period.

(b) Immediate post-Medieval period: pottery of probable 16th/17th century date, including bases of cooking pots and pipkins, early tobacco pipes, a fine but incomplete 17th century Delft polychrome tile with a dog of lugubrious visage, a rose farthing of early 17th century, a Charles II farthing of 1673 and a trade token of 1669. This material comes from the central part of the west end of the site, where there is now evidence for the house which stood there before the recently demolished nineteenth-century houses.

(c) Eighteenth century and later material: as might be expected, there is a wealth of this, including sequences of clay tobacco pipes and wine bottles.

Two other finds, which may prove to be of importance, are:

A dozen or so bricks, found at various places in the area, similar to the small yellow-grey type discovered last year at Burroughs Gardens and identified by Guildhall Museum as of Medieval date. To find so many, unstratified, leads to the hope that some may be found in situ. Although bricks of this type are known other parts of London, they are not common and little has yet been discovered about their precise use in the type of small domestic building which will probably have stood at Church End. Should they be found in position a valuable addition might be made to the knowledge of vernacular building in the London area.

Page 2

Secondly, a pattern of post-holes appears to be emerging on the northern side of the site, suggesting possible evidence for a wooden-framed structure of some type.

These finds, coupled with the size of the site (much of it has not yet been investigated) has led us to ask the London Borough of Barnet to extend the finishing date of the dig beyond 31 October. We hope the Borough may be kind enough to agree to our continuing until such time as the land is needed for redevelopment.

Meanwhile, diggers are still urgently required and will be most welcome: on Saturdays, 2-6 p.m. on Sundays 10-6 p.m. on Wednesdays 10.30-5 p.m.

PLEASE COME AND HELP WHENEVER YOU CAN.

A talk about Church End

Percy Reboul sends the Newsletter this brief account of a talk he gave recently to members of the Hendon Branch of MIND — an organisation specialising in helping those with mental problems. The Branch meets at St. Mary’s Church House, and having seen the dig in progress right opposite, its members wanted to know all about it.

The audience showed a keen interest in details of the research which had preceded the dig. Each person was provided with photo-copies of the old tithe maps and relevant entries in the tithe books, which stimulated a good deal of discussion. Although bad weather prevented a visit to the dig itself, it was possible to make up for this by passing round some of the finds.

A varied and amusing question time covered are many topics, from Sir Mortimer Wheeler’s still-remembered performances in Animal, Vegetable and Mineral to a comparison between the graffiti in Pompeii and those in the pedestrian underpass at Hendon Central.

Ordnance Survey Maps

Members may have seen a recent letters in The Times about the Minister for the Environment’s announcement that some Ordnance Survey maps may be discontinued as they are not considered economically viable.

HADAS has been trying slowly to build up a collection of 25 in. O.S. maps to cover the Borough of Barnet. This is the scale which is the most useful both for excavation and fieldwork. So far we have managed to cover only about one third of the Borough.

Mr. Rippon’s announcement therefore comes as something of a blow, since it suggests that the 25 in. maps may be affected before we can complete our collection. To buy at one go the maps for the remaining two thirds of the Borough would cost more than we can afford.

It has been suggested that there are many members who have single sheets of the 25 in. maps which they bought for special purposes and now no longer require, and that they might be prepared to add these to the Society’s stock. This would be on the understanding that if they wished at some later date to consult the maps again these would always be available.

Any member who has such maps and is prepared to make such an offer is asked to get in touch either with Ted Sammes or Brigid Grafton Green.

Book Reviews

The Regni, by Barry Cunliffe. Paperback published by Duckworth at £1.69. Reviewed by Ted Sammes.

This is one of a series of the Peoples of Roman Britain, to be published under the editorship of Keith Brannigan, F.S.A. It outlines the territory of the Regni tribe, which ran from Beachey Head to St. Catherine’s Hill at Winchester, and traces the history during the Roman occupation.

Page 3

Urban and rural settlement patterns are dealt with separately. The important communication routes which helped industry and the economy generally are discussed. There is a final chapter on the late 4th and the 5th centuries.

Regni territory contained such important sites as Bignor, Fishbourne, Pevensey and Portchester, on which Professor Cunliffe is well able to speak. The book has 46 illustrations and a good bibliography. One looks forward to future volumes, especially that on the Cantiaci (whose territory was roughly Kent) and perhaps also the Catuvellauni who, among other places, roamed across North Middlesex.

The Future of London’s Past.

A survey of the archaeological implications of planning and development in the nation’s capital — by Martin Biddle and Daphne Hudson, with Carolyn Heighway — reviewed by Ann Trewick.
Rescue’s fourth publication, “The Future of London’s Past”, is a must for those interested in archaeology in London. It makes one realise just how close we are to losing for ever the evidence of the past of our capital city.

The publication is in two parts. There is a book in which the author’s first summarise the history of archaeological research in London, and then go on to outline the present knowledge of Roman, Saxon and Medieval London. Then they assess the problems involved in London archaeology and, most important, outline a solution to these problems which is practical and, to my mind, essential. Without it, by 1990 at latest according to calculations, all that still remains of London’s buried past will have been destroyed — a horrifying thought.

The book includes also a schedule of sites to be developed in the City, an index of maps and a comprehensive bibliography.

The second part consists of eight maps. The first is a base map, from the Ordnance Survey scale 1:2500, reduced to the scale of 1:5000. The other seven, in the same scale, are on transparent paper. Each has a particular theme – No. 2, for example, shows all major Roman sites in the City. This can be placed over the base map so that the sites can be located in terms of the modern city. This is a most interesting and useful idea. Users can make their own additions as new sites are found.

The whole publication is a pertinent and thorough analysis of the City’s archaeological situation in past, present and future. The £3.50 which it costs (£2.50 to Rescue members) is an investment — it supports Rescue in its efforts to tackle the problems of rapidly disappearing sites and provides an intriguing and informative addition to the Library of the individual archaeologist and historian. And shouldn’t we all, Londoners that we are, concern ourselves with “The Future of London’s Past?”

NOTE: copies of the book may be obtained from the Secretary of Rescue.

Quanterness

By Daphne Lorimer.

During the first week of this September I had had the privilege of excavating under the direction of Professor Colin Renfrew in the chambered cairn of Quanterness (reported by Barry in his History of Orkney) which the Professor has been investigating in the Orkneys for the past two seasons. The cairn is situated at the foot of the northern flank of Wideford Hill, overlooking Quanterness and the Bay of Firth and adjacent to the farm of the same name (OS ref: 3417 0129). The mound was built on the tip of a spur, which has been rendered free-standing by the digging of a quarry ditch on the east side — from which was obtained the stone for the construction of the cairn.

The cairn had been opened some time in the nineteenth century and was found to consist of a central chamber 21 ft long, 6 ft 6 in. wide and 11 ft 6 in. high, orientated in a north-south direction. There were six subsidiary chambers — two either side and one either end — and the entrance was thought to be through a passage opening onto the east side of the mound.

Page 4

Trenches dug in 1972 revealed indications of the opening, but the passage itself was discovered from the inside only this year. It was largely free of debris.

The cap stones had been broken and some damage done to the corbelling of the main chamber by the erection, during the first World War, of a flag pole set in concrete. The poll was removed by first freeing the concrete plug, reducing it in size by hammer and chisel and then lifting it straight out by block and tackle and sliding it onto wooden planks set over steel rollers. The chamber was, meanwhile, strengthened with wooden battens and minimal damage was done

The corbelling of the chamber roof was of fine quality. The stones did not overlap each other as in early forms of this type of construction, but were cut as an angle of 11 degrees, to form a smooth sloping face. These face stones appeared lighter in colour than the filling stones of the mound and did not appear to have come from the quarry ditch. Their provenance, one of the minor problems of the dig, was possibly from a quarry along the shore.

The walls of the main chamber and of the only side chamber so far opened (Chamber F) appeared bowed. It was considered possible that this was due to stress, but their deliberate construction in this shape was not dismissed. The lintel stones which appeared in the main chamber above the entrance to the side chambers were large and fine — although one was cracked. There was much evidence of disturbance from the nineteenth century opening and recent animal bones, glass, etc., were found. However, a worked stone slab and fragments of a stone bowl were found during the first week of the investigation this year. It was not anticipated that there would be a large quantity of artefacts.

The slope of the mound showed a series of retaining walls and the possibility of a stepped mound was under consideration — the angle of the individual tumble stones was to be noted, the stones then cleared and the construction beneath examined.

Professor Renfrew is interested in Quanterness in relation to the other chamber to cairns of Orkney. At the same time he is also putting trenches across the ditches of Maeshow and the Ring of Brogdar and it is hoped that, for the first time, an actual date can be placed on the prehistoric monuments of Orkney.

(N.B. The weather was erratic, but neither strong winds nor lashing rain deterred the intrepid team. The fashions in waterproof clothing were a sight to behold and if, at the end of the day, one wondered how so much mud had managed to adhere to one’s person — well, there was always the consolation that there would be that much less to remove from the site the next day!)

Members who would like to see something of this most interesting dig should watch BBC2s Chronicle programme later this autumn.

Last Outing

Christopher Newbury sends this report of the September 15th outing to Oxfordshire, which rounded off a successful season of excursions:

Forty six members and friends, ranging in age from 11 to 84, first visited Middleton Stoney. The present village lies outside the manor house grounds, but we started at the site of the old village inside the park. Excavation was not in progress, but Eric Grant gave us the most comprehensive history. The mound, originally thought to have been a motte, was later found to be the remains of a Saxon and later a Norman tower.

East of the mound are the footings of a Romano-British farm building, in which the herring bone building technique is clearly visible. Here corn may have been grown in the second and third century for the nearby town, Alchester.

The Church, originally twelfth century, is still the village church. Incidentally if some members receive an unexpected box of wedding cake, it’s because they inadvertently signed the guest page in a wedding book in the Church instead of the visitors’ book.

The afternoon was spent at Blenheim — that Palace whose “Comptroller and Conductor of Buildings”, Henry Joynes, is buried in Hendon St. Mary’s churchyard