Newsletter 128: October, 1981

 HADAS CALENDAR

 DON’T FORGET LECTURES START THIS MONTH

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

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

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

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

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

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

PhD.

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

As usual lectures will be at Central Library, next to Hendon Town Hall, on the first Tuesday of each month, excluding December. We start soon after 8 pm, with coffee and biscuits (price 10p) which gives members an opportunity for a chat. May I ask old members to welcome new ones and make them feel at home? For Our first two lectures, David Bicknell will be our projectionist – Liz Holliday regrets she has an evening class on Tuesdays this year.

For new members buses 183 and 143 pass the Library door. It is 10 minutes walk from Hendon Central station and only a few minutes from the 113 Edgware route or the 240 and 125 routes. There are two free car parks opposite. Members may bring a guest to one lecture, but guests who wish to attend further lectures should be invited to join the Society.      DOROTHY NEWBURY

SUBSCRIPTIONS

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

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

THE, OUTING SEASON

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

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

DOROTHY NEWBURY

PRAYER FOR A TYPIST

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

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

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

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

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

TWO MORE BUILDINGS PROTECTED

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

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

ROMAN RESEARCH GROUP

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

WEST HEATH DIG

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Willesden Green Library, High Rd NW10, Archaeological Field Techniques

A LOOK AT MILL HILL

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

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

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

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

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

HISTORY OF LONDON’S POPULATION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SAGA OF THE BLUE PLAQUES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE PHYSIC WELL, BARNET

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

 plaques. The well has been known and used certainly for over 300 years, probably even longer.However, when the Borough Librarian and a HADAS representative toured the proposed sites to consider the positioning of plaques,it became clear that, at the moment, the Wellhouse would be unsuitable as a site for a plaque. Built in the 1930s in mock-Tudor style, with black timbering and white rendered brickwork, the clean spaces between the timber uprights must have positively invited the attention of local youth armed with spray guns. There’s hardly an inch that isn’t covered with comment, facetious, ribald or just plain silly. Strangely enough, there is no official notice to say what the building is, nor why it is of historic interest; many of those living nearby must be unaware of its associations.

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

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

REMEMBER OCTOBER 17

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

ST MARY’S CHURCH HOUSE

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

11 am-3 pm      .

Coffee and ploughman’s lunches. available,

HADAS publications for sale

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

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

BRIC-A-BRAC (not large items)

TOYS.-AND. BOOKS (not magazines) STATIONERY

GOOD AS NEW PENS WOMENS -CHILDRENS CLOTHING

HOUSEHOLD LINENS

UNWANTED GIFTS – HOLIDAY MEMENTOS – TOILETRIES – JEWELLERY

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

October 6

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

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

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

NORTHAMPTON AND AROUNDJulia Rawlings and Robert Michel report on the August outing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

POTTED HISTORY

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

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

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

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

BOOKSHELF

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

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

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

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

HADAS GOES            MARKETING

HADAS’s latest booklet THOSE WERE THE DAYS by Percy Reboul – is selling well.               This is the first publication for which the Society has planned a marketing policy – and credit for this must go to members Mary and Henry Barnett, who volunteered to organise the marketing and sales side. That is no light job to take on and we are very grateful to them for the energy and enthusiasm with which they have tackled the task: they really have put their hearts into it.

The first step was to get reviews into the local press and into newsletters of other societies and groups.Then we sent a leaflet to Citizens Advice Bureaux, council offices and old peoples groups in the area: to Townswomen’s guilds, schools and libraries: a far wider publicity net than we have ever cast before. The catch is already being netted; schools seem particularly interested.

The booklet is also being stocked by a number of North London bookshops in fact we have already had to increase our first print from 1000 to 1500.

Have you bought your copy yet^. And have you thought of buying some extra copies for Christmas or birthday presents, If not, do think about it ­every copy we sell helps the Society.

THE SUTTON HOO SHIP BURIAL

Enid Hill reports on the March lecture.

The March lecture given by ,Kenneth Whitehorn of the British Museum Educational Service was excellent – a real tour de force as one member said.

Situated in Suffolk, overlooking the river Deben, and part of a large expanse of open^. heathland, the Sutton Hoo site was owned by a Mrs. Edith Pretty.         In 1938, she decided to investigate some of the tumuli on the estate. Three were opened, found to be burial mounds which had been robbed, but enough remained to place them in the Anglo-Saxon period. So in 1938, Mrs Pretty sponsored another excavation of a fourth mound – the largest in the group. A trench two metres wide was made and soon a “pattern of rivets appeared which marked the plank runs of a hugh boat more than 30 metres long. The wood and rivets had rotted away, but the rivets left a rusty impression which showed up in the sandy soil. The discovery of the boat itself was of great importance in the history of boat building, but then in the central area of the boat, a large collection of objects began to appear in a collapsed burial chamber. At this stage, the leader of the excavation, a local antiquary, Basil Brown, called in the professionals. Charles Phillips, F.S.A. led a team which included Professors Grimes and Pigott.                They completed the dig in July under the cloud of the coming war, and at a Coroner’s Inquest in August, the objects found were declared to be the property of Mrs. Pretty who then, with great generosity, presented the whole find to the nation. An astounding collection of objects was excavated from the burial chamber and Mr. Whitehorn’s  slides of many of these a very clear idea of their brilliance.The  list included  gold and garnet strap fittings, a sword with jeweled mounts, a. magnificent helmet and shield, a collection of silver (including a dish with a Roman hallmark of the period AD 49-518), a ceremonial whetstone surmounted by a finely cast bronze stag  drinking horns with silver-gilt fittings, Celtic hanging bowls, a finely wrought iron chain with its massive bronze cauldon and a purse lid^, decorated with gold and garnet cloisonné work. This contained 37 Merovingian gold coins of the period. 625-630 A.D. For pleasure a six-stringed lyre of maple wood was included.

No trace of the inhabitant of this grave remains, except for a possible phosphate stain, since bone dissolves in the acid soil as it does on the Hampstead Heath site. It has been suggested that it might commemorate Raewald, a king of East Anglia who died 624-625 A. D. Whoever it was, it must have been someone with contacts as far as Constantinople and Egypt ­the home of some of the objects and a man who could command the highest craftsmanship from Celtic workers at home.       The burial, which is one of the richest of its period yet found in Europe, emphasises the high level of culture in Anglo-Saxon England.

WINGS OVER NORTH WEST LONDON

This is the working title of a research project set up to investigate  the aircraft industry which existed from the earliest days of aviation until about 1970 along the Edgware Road between Cricklewood and Colindale. A group has been formed and a small start made. However the subject is vast, but it can be broken down into small areas so that it could be worked on by many people. If you are interested please contact Bill Firth, 455 7164.   It is  hoped to reward participants with a visit to the old Grahame-White sites at Hendon aerodrome.

PINNING DOWN THE PAST Report by Sheila Woodward.

Church Farm House Museum, that lovely 17th century building which is itself such an eloquent reminder of Hendon’s past, is a fitting setting for the latest and greatest HADAS’ Exhibition, Pinning Down The Past. The formal opening of the exhibition on February 28th by the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Mrs. Edna James proved in fact to be a pleasantly informal occasion, thanks to the expert but unobtrusive management of Dorothy Newbury. Among the guests of the Society were the Borough Librarian, Mr. David Ruddom, the Borough Archivist, Mrs. Joanna Cordon, Mr. Bill Taylor of Barnet Museum, Dr. Richard Hubbard of the Institute of Archaeology, and several representatives of neighbouring societies.     Introduced by the chairman of HADAS, Councillor Brian Jarman, the Mayor spoke of the importance of studying and understanding our local heritage and of preserving our fine buildings from the past. She expressed appreciation of the work HADAS has done and was continuing to do to further these aims. After the opening, the Honorary Secretary, Brigid Grafton-Green, who master-minded the exhibition and to whom must go credit for its excellent presentation and lay-out, showed the Mayor round the exhibition

The main contents of the exhibition were described in last month’s Newsletter by Liz Sagues. She mentioned the success of the preceding Lacemaking exhibition which attracted large numbers of visitors, but the HADAS exhibition is already rivalling its predecessor and comments from visitors are very complimentary. All our exhibitors can feel justifiably proud of their achievement. I think it is fair to say that there is something for everyone in this exhibition – the nostalgia of the old photographs and old industries, the fascinating detail of scientific techniques in archaeology and the sheer fun of that splendid, never to be forgotten Roman banquet.                And how pleasant to see so many children visiting and enjoying the exhibition for they will be the guardians of the future of our past.

A reminder;          The exhibition continues until May.Opening hours : 10 a.m.-12.30 p..m. and 1.30 p.m. – 5.30 p.m. on^– weekdays (except Tuesday 10.a.m. – 1.0 p.m.) and from 2.30-6.00 p.m. on Sundays.

REVIEW OF THE NEW BULLETIN OF EXPERIMENTAL ARCHEOLOGY

No 1. Edited by David Johnstone M.A. Published by the Department of Adult Education of Southampton (Annual Subscription £1.)

The Adult Education Courses on flint-tool making and Roman Cookery, provided by Southampton University have been a fascinating and enjoyable introduction to experimental archaeology for many HADAS members. It will be no surprise to them, therefore, that this enterprising Department under the Editorship of its Archaeological Tutor, David Johnston, has now produced the first “Bulletin of Experimental Archaeology”.

Both in Britain and in other parts of the world, there has been a great proliferation in experimental projects in the last few years. Their range is great and extends from the rigidly controlled scientific experiment to the uncontrolled practical experience of educational groups. These provide as Mr. Johnston points out, invaluable insight into ancient technology. Mr. Johnston also considers that finance has played a big part in controlling the type of work undertaken- today most studies being perforce, modest, and undertaken by individuals or enterprising groups.            For these, an annual Bulletin such as this, can only be of benefit, especially as its stated aims are to cut down duplication of effort, provide a means of co-ordination of research and a medium of information exchange. The Bulletin provides a useful summary of recent experiments which range from Palaeolithic technology, through the manufacture of various types of Roman pottery and a variety of flue and other tiles to the mounting of Anglo-Saxon jewelry and the building of a Viking ship.        There are notes on miscellaneous projects which include an appeal for modern beavers’ incisor teeth (has any member got one?) and a useful summary in.”Current

Research with Ancient Agriculture” from Peter Reynolds^. Last, but not least, the Bulletin produces a valuable list of publications.

This Bulletin is to be welcomed as a useful tool for those engaged in experimental archaeology be they professional or amateur. The Editor expresses the justifiable concern that the growth of experimentation shall not lead to a debasement of standards and a publication such as this will be of great value as a monitor. It is hoped that it will go from strength to strength.

Daphne Lorimer

THE BONES FROM TED SAMMES’ SITE

Preliminary Report on the Inhumation Burial from the excavation at Church Terrace, Hendon by Daphne Lorimer.

Four extended inhumation burials were found outside the consecrated area to the south of the west end of St. Mary’s Church – three in trench B 1 and one in trench C 1. – They were orientated to face east and no evidence of coffins was found. At the foot of the southernmost burial in trench .B 1, a small pit was found containing the carpal bones of a hand which did not appear to belong to any of the four burials. The condition of .the bones was extremely poor as the ground was completely waterlogged. Use of a trowel was precluded and the bones were cleaned with a small paint brush. The skeleton no 3 was excavated completely and photographed in situ, but WAS vandalised before an attempt could be made to preserve and raise the bones.Only fragments of the femur, skull and teeth were saved. Any attempt to estimate the sex, age and stature from such limited material must, of necessity, be very tentative since multivariate criteria are essential for any degree of accuracy.               From the evidence available, however, the skeleton was estimated to be that of a male between 35 and 45 years old and about 5 ft. 7 ins tall. ex The maximum diameter of the head of the femur was 50 moms. (Dwight 1900 gives a mean of 49.7 mms for males and 43.8 mm for females) while the mastoid processes seem large and the portion of the nuchal crest found seems well marked. (all Characteristics of the male).

Age at death When examined in situ, epiphiseal union did appear complete, the teeth had all erupted and the degree of attrition was such that an age of between 35,-45 years could be estimated from charts published by Bothwell (1965)

Stature Measurements had been taken in situ- under such circumstances accuracy must be highly suspect – and the femoral lengths from the medial condyle at the distal end to the proximal part of the head was 44.6 cms. Using the formula of Trotter and Gleser (1952,1958) a stature of 5ft.7in: was calculated. i.e. 2.32 x 44.6 x 65.53 cms  = 169.002 cms 5ft 7 ins

Note on Teeth The teeth retrieved appeared to have suffered heavy attrition and there was cracking of the enamel of the two upper first incisors:         Caries was seen on three of the Molars, but the other teeth appeared free. Two points of interest should be noted (a) a sherd of Herts grey ware pottery adhered to the soil filling the shattered ^–skull which may give a terminus ante quem for the burial.(13th-14th.Century A.D.)  (b) Mediaeval punishment for sheep or deer stealing^. Was the loss of the right hand.

References

Dwight 1900 J. Anat. Lond..24 p 61(-68                                                         

Brothwell D.R. 1965 “Digging up Bones” Brit. Mus. (Nat Hist) p 69 •

Trotter and Gleser G.C.1952 Amer. J.Phys Anthrop. Washington (n.s.) p.634-714, 1958 Amer. J.Phys Anthrop. Washington  (n.s.) 16 p.17-123.

REPORT ON THE LAMAS CONFERENCE

The Lamas Conference is always a cheerful well-attended affair and this was no exception. The two main themes were Recent Excavation and Research and Some Perspectives on the Prehistory of the Thames valley. We saw slides of excavations at Peninsular House in the City and at Clavert’s buildings in Southwark, at Tilbury Fort on the lower Thames, and a causewayed enclosure near Staines.             Two speakers dealt with Paleolithic implements and there was a splendid display of these in the exhibition_. HADAS had an excellent display of animal bones from the Church Terrace dig.

Enid Hill

ART EXHIBITION the Circuit Painters

Two painting of the West Heath Dig will be on show at the Swiss Cottage Central Library from April 13-30. They are the work of Jean Gillett  (sister-in-law of Helen Gordon) and a member of the Circuit Painters who have recently concentrated on the Camden area and are showing paintings of such scenes as Camden Lock and street markets. Jean Gillett visited West Heath one day last summer and sketched the site.

NEWSLETTER APPEAL – LOAN OF A CAR: VAN

Is any member able to help with the loan of a small caravan or possibly a van for three Saturdays in late spring or early summer? If so, please contact Brian Wibberley, phone no. 440-7696. Brian is
trying to organise a small exhibition showing the activities of the society, the exhibition to be a mobile one which can be parked at various strategic sites.

ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY

From Philip Venning

Shaw, A and Clayton, K.M. British Isles: the geomorphology of the Eastern and Central England. Methuen 1979

Bickerman, E.J. Chronology of the ancient world. Rev. ed. Thames and

Hudson 1980 (From series: Aspects of Greek and Roman life)

Joukowsky, M. A complete manual of field archaeology: tools and techniques of field work for archaeologists. Prentice-Hall. 1980

Clarke, G. Winchester studies 3 – Pre-Roman, Winchester, Part 11 The Roman cemetery at Lankhills. Clarendon Press 1979

Gould, R.A. Living archaeology. Cambridge University Press. 1980

Orton, C. Mathematics in archaeology. Collins. 1980

Laing, L and J. The origins of Britain. Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1980

Sheail, J. Historical ecology:   the documentary evidence      Institute of  Terrestial Ecology (Natural Environmental Research Council) 1980

From C. Chatterton   Andronicos, M. The Greek museums: Heraklion Museum and archaeological sites of Crete

On loan from Mrs. Reichenfeld

Hsia Nal and others. New archaeological finds in China: discoveries duringthe cultural revolution. Peking. ^–Foreign Language Press 1974

From Miss Sheldon

Carrier, R and Dick₎ O.L.  The vanished city:               a study of London.  Hutchinson. 1957

From Daphne Lorimer

Craft tools of yesterday. Providence Press, Ely. 1979.

From Mrs. Jean Neal

Clark G. Prehistoric England. 2nd Ed. Batsford 1941.

Childe V.G. Prehistoric communities of the British Isles. Chambers 1940

Hawkes C.F.C. The prehistoric foundations of Europe to the Mycenean age. Methuen 1940.

Presented via the Mini-mart

Time Life International 1973-74

Edney, M.A. and the editors of Time-Life Books.The sea traders.

Wernick, R and the editors of Time-Life Books. The monument builders

Knauth P. and the editors of Time-Life Books The metalamiths

Leonard, J.N. and the editors of Time-Life Books . The first farmers

Hamblin D.J. and the editors of Time-Life Books The first cities

Claiborne R and the editors of Time-Life Books The first Americans

Prideaux T. and the editors of Time-Life Books Cro-magnon man

Constable, G. and the editors of Time-Life Books. The Neanderthals

Edey M.A. and the editors of Time-Life Books. The missing link

Editors of Time Life Books. Life before man.

All in the Emergence of Man series.

Newsletter

Page 1

New Committee

At the start of a new season, members may like to have a note of the; Officers and Committee for 1970/71, who were elected at the A.G.M. on May 5th

Chairman : Mr. B. A. Jarman, Hon.Sec: Mrs. Grafton Green, Vice-Chairman & Archivist: Mr. E. Sammes, Hon Treas: Mrs. G. M. Isaaman, Committee: Miss J. Digby, Mr. J. de F. Enderby, Miss E. Dowling, Mr. G. E. J. Evans, Miss J. Dowling, Mr. R. Hansen, Mrs. Worby, Mr. A. Kirkwood, Mr. J. Clynes, Mr. E. E. Wookey, Mr. G. Cole

In order to spread the Committee’s work as much as possible, four sub-committees have now been appointed: Finance (Chairman Mrs. Isaaman) Research (Chairman Mr Sammes) Programme (Chairman Mr. Jarman) Publicity (Chairman Mr. Wookey)

Outings

We were very sorry that we had to cancel the outing for May 30th, owing to the fact that Blenheim Palace was not open to the public that day. Next outing: Ragley Hall, near Startford on July 4th.

Excavation and Fieldwork

Westhorpe: Surveys had been carried out on this site in Tenterden Grove (TQ235896) in August and November, 1969. At Easter, seven 10 foot square trenches were opened on the basis of the survey results (site supervisor: R. Hansen). Numerous sherds of pottery (including Bellarmine) were found, also roofing tiles, nails and clay pipes, two of which bear the initials R.B. All the finds were resting on a gravel surface, in which was discovered a post hole and small areas of burnt material. One supposition is that the gravel formed a foundation of a yard adjoining a farm building. Part of a trackway was also found, with similar pottery on its surface. On preliminary investigation, the finds suggest a possible 17/18th century date, but they are being studied. A final report will be made later.

Finchley Manor: The L-shaped remains of a moat in the grounds of the Convent of Marie Auxiliatrice, East End Road, (TQ254899) was surveyed by a small team of members under the supervision of Jennifer Digby, with the help of Mr. B. R. Martin, ARICS. It is hoped to do a resistivity survey on the site later this summer. Members will be kept informed so that those who wish may take part.

Tools: In the past, we have borrowed excavation tools from the Borough of Barnet, who have always been most helpful and generous in this respect. We should, however, like to get some capital equipment of our own, which would be particularly useful if an emergency dig arose. A number of tools we want can be bought with Green Shield Stamps. If you have any of these stamps to spare, would you please remember the Society?

Page 2

Subscriptions

A reminder from the Hon Treasurer (address already given) that these are due. She will be pleased to receive them at your earliest convenience.

A course for the Autumn

The Society has been asked to co-operate next September in a course on archaeology to be run for the first time at the Central Library, Hendon, by the Workers Educational Association. The course, taken by a university tutor, will consist of 12 2-hour lectures, one a week between September and Christmas. The cost will be Å“1 per head. This course will offer those living in or near Hendon a chance of taking part in a really interesting class right on their own doorstep, and we hope many of you will decide to join. Anyone interested should fill in the form overleaf and post it, as soon as possible, to Mrs. Green.

Exhibit on Industrial Archaeology

Recent newsletters have mentioned the small exhibit which HDAS has been asked to provide at the AGM of the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society on July 4th next, at 2.30 p.m. at the Institute of Archaeology in Gordon Square.

Now here are the final details. The exhibit will show a background map of the Borough of Barnet, plotted will the milestones of the Borough and with a representative selection of Barnet’s industrial monuments. We shall not include all of them – there are too many – but will concentrate on those on the recording of which members of the Society have worked this year.

Around the map photographs and plans of three of these monuments will be displayed in detail. The three chosen are: the Dollis Valley Viaduct (research: William Morris), Arkley Windmill (Edward Sammes) and Railway Housing in Cricklewood (Rolf Hansen).

The exhibit is being designed by Edward Sammes, who has also taken the photographs; the captions will be the work of Philippa Bernard.

Members of HDAS are warmly invited to attend the AGM; and anyone who would care to help either with the arrangement of the exhibit or in stewarding it on July 4th would be very welcome. Such offers of help should go to Edward Sammes (phone 304-4391 – after 7 p.m.).

Notes and News

Exhibition: have a nautical day and visit an exhibition on The Camera and Sailing Ships at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. At the same time, you can visit the Cutty Sark.

Essex and the sea: This year’s exhibition at Ingatestone Hall is of documents, pictures and ship models – open until 3rd October, 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m.- 4 p.m. daily (except Sundays and Mondays, but including Bank Holidays). A 28-page booklet will be on sale, price 2s.6d. It is also obtainable from County Hall, Chelmsford, but add 6d for posting.

Roman Samian Ware: The Hertfordshire Archaeological Society has republished an informative booklet on this (it first appeared as a chapter in The Archaeology of Roman Britain, by Collingwood & Richmond, 1969). Written by a great Samian expert, B. R. Hartley, MA, FSA, it costs 5s3d.

Archive Notes

• Westhorpe excavation was referred to in issue 1.

• The Hertfordshire Archaeological Society Google returns referring to them.

• B.R.Hartley, author of chapter in The Archaeology of Roman Britain, is currently (October 2004) listed as Reader Emeritus in the School of Classics, University of Leeds

Book Reference

The Archaeology of Roman Britain (amazon.com)

Is there a professional indexer in the Society? We need one to contin­ue the index of Newsletters started by Bridget Grafton Green in 1961, which reached 1976, This provides an invaluable reference tool to past events and activities of the Society. Can anyone help complete the job? Please contact Dorothy Newbury an 020 8203 0950.

Olive Banhain, a founder-members, died on 11 October, her 94th birthday.

In her last letter to me she said she was going to reverse her age from 93 to 39, Olive and her husband, Jim, were very active in the Society. HADAS started with fifteen members and was very soon producing a newsletter, for which Jim addressed the envelopes and then delivered them by hand. Olive outlived Jim by many years and she came on all outings including out first week-end away to Ironbridge and Wroxeter in 1974. On day trips many members will remember the large tin of sweeties she always brought to pass round the coach. On our first trip to Orkney in 1978 she came round with a bottle of sherry which she shared round the dormitory. We felt like naughty schoolgirls having a midnight feast! Olive often reminded me of the fun we had in Orkney all those years ago.

She never forgot HADAS  and only a couple  of months  ago she sent a donation for the Minimart, which she has done every year since she left Hendon to live near relatives in her home village in Norfolk.

Olive was a school-teacher by profession and started her career in the same village to which she returned. June Porges and I attended her funeral at Hendon Crematorium on behalf of HADAS.

Dorothy Newbury

Janet Heathfield died on 16 September. She had been a HADAS mem­ber for over thirty years and in spite of being disabled, joined enthusi­astically in whatever HADAS activities were available to her. An abid­ing memory is of her at the exploratory dig near the well at East Barnet Church. Because she was partly paralysed she could only ‘dig’ by lying prone on her left side and scraping with her good arm. Each of her ‘finds’ was greeted with a whoop of delight.

Janet’s most recent activity was to try to get the 17th century village clock in East Barnet restored.

Arthur Till, a Committee Member and digging team stalwart, died sud­denly in October at the age of seventy-four.

Arthur and his wife, Vera, joined HADAS in July, 1988, two year’s after his early retirement from British Telecom. He brought to the Society his immense practical skills and a marvellous sense of humour coupled with a willingness to join in and to offer assistance and guidance as necessary. He participated in most of our excavations and would often arrive with items of site equipment prepared at home from odds and ends – the auger, safety tops for pegs and the red and white pegs them­selves made from reinforcing rods “liberated” from the site of an earli­er dig! The bookcases and shelves at Avenue House garden room were Arthur’s handiwork. His specialities were clay pipes and building mate­rials and he had recently benefited from the training in ceramic building materials identification given to HADAS by the Museum of London. There is no doubt that his humourous sayings. usually attributed to his Grannie, will long be repeated by members of the digging team! Several HADAS members attended his funeral at New Southgate where condolences were passed to Vera and her family.

I can confirm that a love and knowledge of cricket is alive and well among our gentlemen mem­bers, at least five of whom have filled me in on the life and tri­umphs of Ranjitsinhji – The Black Prince of Cricket.

Percy Reboul has very kindly offered to check the Local Collection for suitable illustra­tions, so it looks as if the final draft is not too far off. I did manage to get the text of the book I have been working on this summer to the printer in time – just- and it is due to be published on 9 December. Entitled “Chipperfield Within Living Memory”, it is based on recorded interviews with 64 long-standing residents of the village and (hopefully) gives a picture of life in a small Hertfordshire village during the 20th century. As a community project it must rate a gold star as well over 100 people have been involved in it!

BOUNDARY STONE REPLACED

An inscribed stone dated 1896 which marked the boundary between the parish of St. John’s, Hampstead and St. Pancras disappeared dur­ing roadworks in May has now been found and replaced.

PROGRESS 2000BC                                                                      By Arthur Till

” Dad, I’m cold . . .”

“So am I, Little Ug.”

“Well, can I put some more wood on the fire, Dad?”

“Sorry, Little Ug, but I’ve promised all that wood we collected yesterday to old Smog for a couple of spears and a few arrows.”

“What happened to our last spears, Dad?”

“They went rusty, son.”

‘What’s ‘rusty’ Dad?”

“It’s what happens now that we’re in the Iron Age. If you don’t keep your iron things in the dry, the next time you go to use them they’re just a heap of red rust.”

“That never happened to the old ones we used, did it Dad?” “Well, they were bronze, son, and that didn’t go rusty.”

“Why are we using the iron ones then, Dad?”

“Well, Little Ug, it’s what’s called Progress. These iron things are sup­posed to be sharper and harder than the bronze ones were, and Old Smog says that there’s not much call for the old bronze ones any more. It was just the same when we changed over from flint to bronze –

your mother and I didn’t have a decent shave for years when that came about!’

“Didn’t people complain about it, Dad?”

“They did try to, Little Ug, especially Old Chipper and his tribe. They used to supply all the people around here with their flint axes and things. But they were reckoned to be backward so they were all sent to a place called Knapsbury, so people didn’t complain much after that and bronze gradually took over. Anyway, Old Smog seems to be doing alright for himself – he’s taking over another new but and for some rea­son he’s calling it ‘Santa Fe’.”

“I’m still cold, Dad.”

“OK, son, bung a little bit on the fire, just to keep the wolves away!” “Thanks Dad.”

“Dad?’

“Ask your mother, son, she knows everything!”

Fri. 15 Dec. at 8pm Enfield Archaeological Society. The Archaeology of the Jubilee Line Extension a talk by James Drummond-Murray (£1 visitors

had planned to bring Will home to meet her, she had worried about the state of their home. He wrote back to reassure her, saying that “my chum is the same as myself so you need not think anything about our home being humble”. In spite of being at the front, mail and parcels were still getting through to the men. In that first week of October, 10 letters were awaiting him from family and friends and this would keep him “busy”.

By October 10th he could not hide the fact from his mother that conditions were bad and that he was depressed. They were having “very rotten weather ..rain every day”. Trench warfare was taking its toll on the young soldier and he writes to his poor mother “I don’t think I shall last till Christmas if this weather continues…My feet are still bad from the last lot I got last winter. If I get them wet I can hardly put them down to the ground”. His premonition about Christmas proved to be only too true.

On the 22 October Alfred was still in the trenches but in better spirits as he had received a parcel from his mother. Another parcel got through in November, “packed well with nothing broke or damaged”. On the 11th he had “just come out of the trenches” again, he thanked her for the socks and gloves but said they were -expecting to go in the trenches again”.

Field cards were issued to the men in the trenches with printed sentences which the men could delete, as appropriate. Alfred sent one on the l7th November, 1917 to his mother. It acknowledged her letter and said he was well. This was the last time he wrote because he was killed on December 1st 1917.

On December 11th Sarah wrote a letter to her son which was subsequently returned to her with his effects. She does not know -how to bear” herself because she has not heard from him since the field card. “Something seems to tell me there is (something wrong ) as I have not heard … I pray night and day that you will have the strength to keep up…. It will be a poor Christmas for me for I shall be thinking of you. …God bless you and keep you safe”.

On the l3th December, Sarah could not wait any longer and she wrote to the brigade officer at Winchester. He replied on the back of her letter telling her that no casualty had been reported but on the 20th she was informed that Alfred had been wounded but that his whereabouts were unknown.

By February 1918 the Red Cross were making enquiries both for Sarah and his “young lady”, Flo, but without success until 10th July when they sent Sarah an eye witness account of her son’s last hours. Her horror can be imagined as she read the following report given to the Red Cross by a fellow rifleman.

“On December the Battalion was behind the front line in reserve between Gouzeaucourt and Villiers Pluich. The Germans were attacking. The Battalion went up to reinforce the front line, and your son was left in charge of the tents. The men were driven back, and passed the place where your son had been left, and Rfn. Penny saw him wounded. He passed by a few yards from him and shouted to him, asking what was the matter, and Pte. Crook answered that he was wounded.

Unfortunately it was impossible for Rfn. Penny to wait and see more of him, as the Germans were close behind.

There was heavy firing going on at the time and I am afraid it is only too certain that your son must have lost his life in this way, for if he had survived and had been taken prisoner you would have had news of him long before this.”

It was not until the 11th September 1918 that the official notice of missing presumed dead was sent. Sarah received £9.16s.8d back pay and his war medals. His effects included a purse, some photographs, cloth badges, cards, a full packet of Players Navy Cut cigarettes, her letter, written on the 11^th December 1917 and part of the New Testament. She kept them all and they are now in the writer’s possession together with his letters, written on very thin paper in indelible pencil. He was 18 years old when he was killed and was mourned by his mother all her life until her death in 1952 at the age of 82.

Wednesday 13th September – Visit to St. Lawrence Whitchurch Laurence Bentley.

Tessa Smith reports on HADAS at Little Stanmore.

When the grand old Duke of Chandos made his fortune as the Paymaster- General to Marlborough’s army, he spent some of it building “a most magnificent palace” (said Daniel Defoe) at Canons, and reconstructing the ancient local church of St. Lawrence, which he also endowed with some magnificent plate. The palace was later broken up to pay Chandos’s son’s debts, but the church remains, as his memorial, and it was there, blessed with a perfect summer’s day, that we met on 13th September. Our brilliant guide was Sheila Woodward, and we could not have had a better.

We began in the churchyard. God’s acre at St. Lawrence is a large one, two acres in fact, and the sense of rural seclusion is complete. We circumnavigated the church – clockwise of course -visiting the grave of an incumbent whose duties were frequently interrupted by residence in the

debtors’ prison, and that alleged to belong to the ‘harmonious black- Smith’ immortalised by Handel.

The reconstructed church represents, according to your principles, a degree of insensitivity to the past, or a creative self-confidence, unimaginable in our time. There were no style censors to prevent him, when the Duke commissioned the architect, John James, to destroy much of the ancient church in 1715 to rebuild, and the result is remarkable and unique for an English parish church.

All that remains of the original is the tower, economically composed of flint, puddingstone, Reigate stone, re-used Roman tile and brick, into which has been driven a slightly pompous door, for the Duke’s private entrance, with a circular window above. This assortment of materials was, until recent times, covered by a decent coat of plaster – ‘Whitchurch’ means white church. The tower is topped by anachronistic battlements of Tudor origin; clearly architectural nostalgia is not a new thing.

The rebuilt remainder of the church is of tidy brick, with large windows set in Roman arches, heavy plain stone dressings, a parapet and a slate roof, presenting in all a severe frontage to the public view from Whitchurch Lane, which leaves you totally unprepared for the “coup de theatre” which you are privileged to view when you enter.

The scene is worthy of an 18th century opera, set, say, in Prague. The Duke was evidently influenced by his experience of the German baroque on the Grand Tour. From elegant plain box pews (enhanced for our visit by flowers left over from a wedding), you face an altar surmounted by a superb oak pediment, adorned with cherubs, supported by Corinthian pillars and pilasters in oak and flanked by life-size paintings. Behind this are more paintings and the organ used by Handel as the Duke’s Composer

in Residence at Canons, and behind that a trompe l’oeil sky on the ceiling suggesting an infinite distance. When you have recovered your breath you see that the effect is truly theatrical, a proscenium arch in effect, backed by receding ‘flats’.

In front of the altar, the ceiling is tinted with a luminous ‘Adoration of Jehovah’ matched at the opposite end of the nave with a good copy of Raphael’s ‘Transfiguration’ by Bellini.

Baroque designers seemed to accept no limits, here, for example, they

could, not use stone, they shamelessly imitated it with plaster; or paint to extend their vision. This artificiality enhances the sense of theatre, especially as the paintings are used as a trompe l!oeil to enhance the perspective as well as the richness of the scene. So here, the plaster ceiling is painted to give the effect of elegant mouldings and the almost mono- chrome ‘grisailles’ are used to decorate the north wall of the nave, with the effect of biblical statuary.

When the wall was threatened with collapse in recent times, the church was closed for years while the plaster paintings were removed in sections, intact, and replaced after the wall had been repaired. This was a miracleof modern technology and a very expensive one. Several sections would have been as tall as a man and almost as wide as his outstretched arms. The Duke of Chandos would I am sure, given the choice, have repainted.

At the rear of the nave at first floor level, opposite the altar but superior to it and the rest of the congregation, is the Duke’s private pew. This is like a Royal Box, and had a private fireplace, at that time the only heating in the church, stoked from behind the wall by servants in an adjacent pew. Bodyguards – Chelsea pensioners – occupied the pew on the other side.

Leaving the nave on the north side, by the altar there is an ante-chamber to the Mausoleum, then the Mausoleum itself, designed by James Gibbs, in which the principal monument, apparently designed by Grinling Gibbons, shows the Duke in Romantoga and 18th century wig, flanked by two of his three successive wives, kneeling humbly beside him. This was carved in the Duke’s lifetime and he considered himself overcharged for it. The inscriptions on the monuments are typical 18th century advertisements of the virtues of their occupants, and like many advertisements are not entirely convincing.

After this it was a relief to enter the Lady Chapel. Located in the base of the tower in 1966, in a simple traditional manner, it recreated the sense of long historical continuity of St. Lawrence Whitchurch.

Final impressions are paradoxical. Here is a church in a setting of rural calm beside a busy road in a London suburb. Outside it appears rather severe to the passer-by, but inside it is voluptuously ornate, enhancing

Harwood Hall, Union Church, The Broadway, Mill Hill.

Hornsey Historical Society : Wednesday 8th November at 8 p.m. Talk : Post Cards (Hugh Garnsworthy)

Union Church Community Centre, cnr. Ferme Park Road/ Weston Park N 8. Finchley Antiques Appreciation Group : Wednesday 8th November at 7.50 p.m. Talk Furniture & The Grand Tour –                Avenue House, East End Road, N 3.

‘Wesden Local History society Wednesday 15th November at 8 p.m.
Talk ancient Hedgerows of Willesden (Leslie Williams)

Willesden Suite, Willesden Library Centre, 95 High Road,NW 10. Hampstead Scientific Society : Thursday. 16th November at 8.15 p.m. Talk : Historical Stringed Keyboard Instruments (Dr. Lance Whitehead)

Crypt Room, St. John’s Church, Church Row, N W 3.

Enfield Archaeological Society : Friday 17th November at 6 p.m.

Talk: Excavating the Crypt of Christ Church, Spitalfields (Jez Reeves)
Jubilee Hall, Junction of Chase Side/Parsonage Lane. Visitors ti, Wembley History Society Friday 17th November at 7.30 p.m.

Talk : Parish Boundaries (Malcolm Stokes)

Church Hall, rear of St. Andrew’s Church, Church Lane, Kingsbury. Friends of Barnet Libraries ; Monday 20th November at 8.15 p.m. Talk : The Secret Power of a Sacred Treasure

Church End Library, Hendon Lane, Finchley, N 3.

The Jewish Museum, Finchley  Sunday 26th November at 3.30 P.m.

Talk :

Whitehall & the Jews 1933 — 1948 (Dr Louise London)

The Jewish museum, 80 East End Road, Finchley, N 3.

The Finchley Society  Thursday 30th November at 8 p.m.

Talk : The Life of Samuel Pepys – his London (Andrew Davies) The Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N

North London Transport Society: Saturday 18th November, 11 am-4 pm Enfield Transport Enthusiasts AUTUMN BAZAAR at St. PauIs Centre, Enfield Town, Corner of Church Street and Old Park Avenue.

London & Middlesex Archaeological Society: Saturday 18th November, 10am-4pm – 35th LOCAL HISTORY CONFERENCE: Crossing The Thames at the Museum of London, London Wall. Admission £4.00. Details and application forms from: 36 Church Road, West Drayton, Middx UB77 7PX

Museum of London Study Days. For Bookings telephone 020 7814 5777

SOAS Russell Square WC1; Near Eastern Collections, Collectors & Archives in Landon

Monday 6th November         The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Antiquities- Stephen

Quirke, UCL.

Monday 20th November        The Petrie Palestine Collection- Rachel Sparks, UCL.

   ‘The London Assessment Document’                                                              Peter Pickering

It was a decade ago that PPG16, the Planning Policy Guidance Note “Archaeology and Planning” came into force and brought archaeology into the planning process, so that archaeological work was funded by developers as a condition of their getting planning permission. In the same year English Heritage and the Museum of London Archaeology Service decided to produce an assessment of the current state of knowledge of the archaeology of Greater London. This was long known as the “London Assessment Document”; it has now, at last, appeared, under the title The Archaeology of Greater London – An assessment of archaeological evidence for human presence in the area now covered by Greater London.”

It has seventeen accredited authors, not to speak of editors and the like. The result is an impressive synthesis, with descriptive chapters covering each period from the Lower Palaeolithic to the post-medieval, all but the last with its own gazetteer of sites and finds (necessarily selective, especially for the extensive Roman and medieval remains from the City and Southwark) and no fewer than fourteen separate maps, locating the sites and finds listed in the gazetteers. (The symbols on these maps are, I fear, rather small for my aging eyes, and people like me should furnish themselves with a magnifying glass.) There are, throughout, full references to original publications (the bibliography spans 27 pages) which does not make for easy reading, but then that is not the purpose of the book – it is rather, as it says, intended to serve as a research framework and as a wider archaeological management framework, and to meet local, regional and national enquiries. It is a definitive but not a permanent book – as the foreword points out, the more quickly it begins to seem in need of revision the more successful it will have been in achieving its aims. The text is broken up with a number of sober illustrations, some showing diggers in their traditional postures, and one or two where artists have been allowed to produce their impressions.

Naturally, I had a special look at the items relating to the London Borough of Barnet. A word of caution here; since West Heath is in Camden and Brockley Hill partially in Harrow a first glance suggests something has been omitted; in fact, the heroic days of HADAS on West Heath have earned a full paragraph, longer than that on the Temple of Mithras.

This publication will be followed by another one setting out an Agenda for future archaeological research in Greater London.

Commemorative Plaques

As many members of HADAS will know, one of the society’s major current projects is to produce an updated version of our booklet on the commemorative plaques to be found in the Borough of Barnet. Liz Holliday, our former secretary, has completed the text and it is now undergoing final checking. There are a number of queries and Liz would appreciate some help from members All these queries can be solved by visiting a reference library and the Local Studies Collection. At present Liz is in the final stages of editing another book due to be published in December which must be ready for the printer for November.

The queries are:

1.    The date when the plaque to Peter Collinson was erected.

2.     The date of publication of Fanny Trollope’s novel The Widow Barnaby – 1838 or 1839.

3.    William Callley’s date of birth, 1788 or 1789. Date when the plaque was erected.

4.     Who was Ranjitsinhji (a friend of the cricketer C.B.Fry)

                Harry Beck’s date of birth.

5.    When did Amy Johnson obtain her pilot’s licence – 1928 or 1929?

6.  Who was responsible (i.e. what organisation) for erecting the black plaque to Emil Savundra?

7.   What date(s) was the series Handcock’s Half Hour broadcast?

8.   What does “copt” in Copthall mean?

9.   When did the Victoria Cottage Hospital open – 1887 or 1888? When was the plaque erected?

10.                   There is a plaque to Kenneth Legge in Windsor Open Space (N.3), Who was it erected by and when?

Below is a complete list of the known plaques. Does any member know of any others lurking anywhere in the borough?

PEOPLE:

Birt ACRES, Ove ARUP, Harry BECK, William BLAKE, William CATTLEY, Eric COATES, Peter COLLINSON, Robert DONAT, Joseph GRIMALDI, C.B.FRY, Tony HANCOCK ,Myra HESS, Holbrook JACKSON, Gilbert JESSOP, Amy JOHNSON, Kenneth LEGGE, John LINNELL, Thomas LIPTON, David LIVINGSTONE, Nicholas MEDTNER, Eric MORCOMBE, James MURRAY, John NORDEN, Robert PAUL, Anna PAVLOVA, Frank PICK, Stamford RAFFLES, Harry RELPH, Emil SAVUNDRA, Fanny TROLLOPE, Raymond UNW1N, Harry VARDON, Benjamin WAUGH, Evelyn WAUGH, William WI LB E RFO RC E

PLACES:

Abbot’s Bower NW4, Cattle Pound NW4, Church House NW4, Copt Hall NW7 Court Leet & Court Baron NW4, Parish Cage NW4, Phoenix Theatre N2, Rosebank NW7.St. Mary’s School N3, St. Paul’s Church NW7, Sulloniacae (Edgware), Tollgate NW2.Tudor Hall (Barnet), Turnpike (Edgware), Victoria Cottage Hospital (Barnet), Wylde’s Farm NW11

We also need a picture researcher to help finalise the illustrations. For the People, section Joanna Cordoii has already identified those portraits that are available through the National Portrait Ga1le6 but there are still a number for which we need to find illustrations – either of people or the houses where they lived or the plaques themselves. For the Places section we need illustrations of the houses or their sites. Would someone be prepared to visit the Local Studies Collection to undertake a search?

All answers to the questions above and offers of assistance to Liz Holliday please.

22 July(Sat) Outing to Dover with Tessa Smith & Sheila Woodward

29-30 July Hadas Archaeological Weekend

Experimental Archaeology at College Farm (Details Enclosed)

19 August(Sat) Outing to Wallingford with Bill Bass Details in later Newsletter