Past Newsletters

No. 534 SEPTEMBER 2015 Edited by Sandra Claggett
HADAS DIARY 2015/16

Tuesday 15th to Saturday 19th September: Trip to the New Forest.

Tuesday 13th October @ 8pm: Scientific Methods in Archaeology. Lecture by Dr Caroline Cartwright.

Tuesday 12th November @ 8pm: The History of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Lecture by Keith Cunningham.

Sunday 6th December: Christmas Party at Avenue House. Further details coming soon.

Tuesday 10th January @8pm: Royal Palaces of Enfield. Lecture by Ian Jones (EAS).

Tuesday 9th February @8pm: Medieval Middlesex: The Archaeological Remains. Lecture by Adam Corsini.

Tuesday 8th March @8pm: Crossrail Archaeology Project. Lecture by Jay Carver.

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 and biscuits afterwards. Non-members welcome (£1.00). Buses 82, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central Station (Northern line) is a short walk away.

Rare good news by Don Cooper

We hear from “Pinner Local History Society newsletter” no 127, summer 2015, that: “The Heritage Lottery Fund have confirmed £3.6 million to transform Headstone Manor and Museum! Alongside £1million from Harrow Council and £270,000 from the John Lyon’s Charity this funding will completely transform Headstone Manor. The funding will be used to restore the medieval Headstone Manor building, the 16th century small barn and the 18th century granary and build a new Welcome Centre. The Manor House will become the home of Harrow’s historic and nationally important collections … with the help of this funding the museum will open in the summer of 2017.”

This good news contrasts sharply with Barnet Council’s closure of Church Farm Museum in Hendon in 2011 and the selling of the artefacts at auction, leaving a Grade II* building unoccupied. The building is still empty (Summer 2015) and no doubt, like all empty buildings, gradually deteriorating.

Bromley Council likewise are closing their museum at the Priory (another Grade II* building, and said to be the oldest building in Bromley) and moving the displays to the local library. According to a history teacher in Bromley “The National Curriculum has a focus on local history” These decisions deprive children of another way to explore their local environment.

Clitterhouse Farm Dig: Update by Melvyn Dresner

Why do we dig? We have documents, maps, photos, even eye witness testament at Clitterhouse Farm. We have standing buildings that tell their story, and the landscape and visible traces of the past above ground. We can see that the farm buildings sit on raised ground in an area of wider hills. Clitterhouse playing fields are a survival of green space that was a working farm up to the 1920s – Cows grazed through fields in living memory. So why do we need to open up trenches today?

HADAS was invited by the Clitterhouse Farm Project to help them piece together the past history of the site they have helped to save and want to put to wider community use. The group just recently created an onsite café on 18th July – which we were able to use as our site hut for the duration of the dig. Surely, a contender for site hut of the year. Sitting on the pew-like seats the land falls away immediately to the north and east. The site has commanding views over the local area you can see the green roof of the former Medical Research Centre on the Ridgeway, Mill Hill, the spire of former Christ College School in Finchley and all the way round to the churches of Hampstead.

An archaeological dig is a destructive process: as much as it reveals a glimpse of the past, it also destroys. If you scrape away with a trowel you may pick up much of interest but sometimes you need a mattock to get to the bigger picture. We need to keep those trenches straight so we see the past in those sections. We found traces of the recent past and as far back as the 16th century in one trench. In another, deeper in history, we’ve gone back to the 12th century. Whether this tells us a clear story of the site or just muddies the waters, will take analysis, which we need to work on, and more trenches next season may be dug. Armed with such knowledge as well as all those evocative maps and photos we may be able to clear those waters given time.

Talking about muddy waters, that 12th century pot was found in a trench we dug over the suspected moat. Ah, a castle, no. A landscape garden or ornamental pond? Don’t know. Drainage ditch? Probably. It was wet, with a silty layer. Back in the lab, we are examining these silts for signs of life, cleaning, identifying and documenting finds. There were three drainage pipes draining into the alleged moat and the bank was loaded with Victorian or later builders’ rubble. We have a witness in her nineties (a visitor from the local community) who remembers the moat or ditch being open in the 1920s, to travel back further in time we need the archaeology to talk.

We dug at Clitterhouse Farm because we wanted to evaluate what we might find. Are those historical records correct, do we know what they mean, can we add something new, something more human? Finds are traces of the past. We learn most by looking at context, how objects connect in space and time, numbers of finds, and where they sit in the earth that we dig. So soon enough, in an issue or two, we may be able to tell what all the stuff means, be it animal bones, wine bottles, oyster shells, pipes, smoking and drainage, or, of course, pots.

Photo of the HADAS excavation team by Thomas Ball www.clitterhouse.com

Stonehenge and environs weekend a brief overview by Sandra Claggett

In June this year I organized a weekend tour to various sites in the Stonehenge area for fellow Birkbeck students as part of the Birkbeck Archaeology Society. It was well attended and included private access inside the Stonehenge circle for an hour and a free coach paid for by Birkbeck. We had a busy itinerary and were accompanied by our Archaeology lecturer Doctor Tim Reynolds who provided verbal and written information for each site.

Leaving on the Saturday morning from Gower Street our first stop was Old Sarum, the site of an Iron Age hill fort, medieval castle and cathedral. After this we went to Woodhenge and Durrington Walls. Durrington Walls is a Neolithic to Bronze Age site. There is not much to see at the site today apart from the information boards, but once it was a hive of activity. Durrington Walls is a sub-circular earthwork 480 metres in diameter with 6 metre deep ditches which were 16 metres wide and with 3 metre banks it must have been quite an impressive site when it was constructed between 3100BC and 2400BC.

Next to this were some sad looking posts to show the layout of Woodhenge, constructed [in] 2470BC to 2000BC. It is slightly oval with its long axis approximately in line with midsummer sunrise. There were 168 posts, the deepest were 2 metres deep and estimations have predicted that they could have held timbers 7 meters high!

After this we spent several hours in the wonderful city of Salisbury with its cathedral and Archaeological Museum apart from other attractions. It was a very picturesque place and we walked along the side of the river to the centre of town. The skeleton called the Amesbury Archer discovered in 2002 and dated to 400BC is in the museum here. The burial contained the earliest gold object in Britain and stable isotope analysis suggests that he came from the Alps – the reason for his epic journey is still debated.

Then on to our overnight accommodation hired solely for our use at the YHA Cholderton, close to Stonehenge for our early departure the next morning. Apart from having good quality clean rooms it is also a rare breeds farm where you are free to wander the grounds looking at the animals and can even feed the baby animals.

The next morning was an early start to visit the Stonehenge World Heritage Site for our private access to the Stonehenge circle. There are 2,000 hectares of ancient landscape and 450 Scheduled Ancient Monuments. It was strange and almost peaceful to be at the visitor centre before it was open and the rush of tourists. We had time to view the Prehistoric reconstructed houses and read the panels. It involved some fellow students trying to get into the mood of the moment by seeing how it felt to move those stones!

Then we were taken to the site itself and it was an amazing experience to be able to walk into the stone circle with no-one there apart from fellow students and friends. There are a series of monuments on the same site, the first stage from 3000BC to the fifth stage up to 1520BC. The Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project has discovered 15 new ‘ritual’ monuments in the environs. Tim gave a talk about the circle and then people wandered the site. It is indeed a very special place and I felt humbled to be there.

Author’s photo showing the dagger carvings on the rock

After our hour was up we reluctantly left the circle and went to see the museum and also the reconstructed prehistoric houses outside the museum.

Finally we were on our way to our next destination, Maumbury Rings (in Dorchester, Dorset), a henge roughly 85 metres in diameter with a single ditch and bank. It was a Neolithic Henge re-used as a Roman Amphitheatre and much later as part of the Civil War defences of the town – nowadays it is a quiet spot to explore and soak up the atmosphere.

Then the final visit of the weekend: the wonderful Iron Age hillfort of Maiden Castle, south west of the town,. This site originates from a Neolithic causewayed camp and Bank barrow. In its later stages it was the site of a Roman temple. It is truly impressive and we were lucky to have good weather to explore the site.

Stephens House and Gardens on the 19th of July by Don Cooper

Sunday was a lovely sunny day, and a large crowd turned up to enjoy the fun and activities. HADAS had a stall to advertise the Society and we took the opportunity to wash some of the finds from the Cromer Road School excavation. We made some useful contacts, sold some books and gave out a number of membership forms. Thanks to all the members who turned up in support.

HADAS at Stephens House & Gardens on Sunday, 19th July 2015

Eighteenth Century Nimbyism in Finchley by Roger Chapman

In the afternoon of Wednesday 8th July 1772 the bodies of two highwaymen, Guyant and Allpress, were brought to Finchley Common from Tyburn, where they had been executed, and hung in chains.[1] The location of the gibbet had caused great consternation and would continue to do so for some time. Workmen had, during the morning, been preparing the site, opposite the end of Bauvies Lane on the Common [if anyone has the precise location for Bauvies Lane I would be pleased to hear about it] and had met with ‘great opposition from the neighbouring gentlemen, whose houses would have been greatly incommoded by so disagreeable a prospect.’ Following this the Sheriff agreed to alter the plan and put the gibbet on a piece of ground near the ‘Horse-shoes’, a site deemed less offensive to anyone. The workmen carried out this task at the new location. However once the Sheriff’s party had moved on it was discovered that the bodies were hung opposite, although some way off from, the house of Edward Allen, Esq., Lord of the Manor of Finchley, and where he had just cut down some trees and made other improvements to extend ‘his prospect’.[2]

Through pressure from Edward Allen the bodies were removed to Hanging-Hill, on the side of the Common near to the last person hung in chains there for a similar offence.[3] This appears to be in the Colney Hatch area.[4] On Sunday 12th July in the afternoon ‘a great concourse of people’ came to see the bodies. Three pickpockets were detected, one of whom escaped, but the others were taken to a neighbouring pond and ‘ducked in a very severe manner’.[5]

A newspaper report later in July discusses the contention between the Secretary of State and one of his Sheriffs over the location of the Gibbet. Each appears to have insisted that the bodies should be hung in different parts of

the Common. The Sherriff was trying to avoid it being offensive to a friend of his who lived in the neighbourhood. The bodies had been moved twice already and were now ‘present near Brown’s Well’ but it was thought that they might be moved again as there were some people who were ‘discontented at their hanging there.’[6]

It appears that on Tuesday 14th July the bodies had been moved to Brown’s Well and further representations had been made by ‘another gentleman’ that they were a ‘greater nuisance to him’ leading to another move on Friday 17th July to be ‘fixed up again at their first place of situation.’[7]

Disagreements about the location of the gibbet continued which led local Finchley people to believe that it ‘may continue until the bodies are incapable of being hung up.’[8]

The last that is heard of this episode is early in 1773 when it was reported that the body of Guyant ‘was blown down by the violence of the wind’ on the night of Tuesday 23rd February. On Wednesday 24th the body was interred on Finchley Common when the ‘populace drank several gallons of beer over the grave’.[9]

Note: Footnotes are at the end of the newsletter.

The wonderful Petrie Museum of Egyptology by Sandra Claggett

I am lucky enough to volunteer at this world renowned gem of a museum. It is part of UCL and is located on their campus near Gower Street and has a real old feel of what I would call a traditional museum with so much to see! That is just the items on display, not the ones in the display drawers that can be pulled out nor indeed the items in storage. The museum collection is around 80,000 objects, many excavated by Flinders Petrie over the course of his long career. Petrie excavated dozens of major sites including Roman period cemeteries at Hawara, famous for the mummy portraits, Amarna the city of Akhenaten, and the first true pyramid at Meydum.

The Petrie museum has a long history and recently celebrated its centenary. It was Amelia Edwards, an author, traveller and lover of Egypt, who donated the original items. Amelia Edwards also funded the position of Egyptologist at UCL that William Flinders Petrie was to hold. She liked UCL because it allowed women to study there.

Authors own photo of ivory clappers marked Gizeh 315

I was asked to assist a visiting Egyptian scholar with translations of William Flinders Petrie’s handwriting in his notebook and diaries. It was really interesting and amazing to read the precision and incredible details recorded by Petrie of the excavation. He recorded details on weather conditions, the health of his fellow excavators, drawings of excavation finds and even recorded payments to the excavators. It helped you to get a feel for

what was happening on the excavation and Petrie himself.

Author reading Petrie’s diary from Abydos dated 1903.

The museum can sometimes be overlooked so next time you are in town, if you haven’t been or even if you have, try to go and visit. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie

Some exciting local news stories sent to me by Bill Bass

A very rare pane of Tudor glass was discovered in a chute leading from the toilets to the moat during excavations by Enfield Archaeology Society at Forty Hall Estate. The area had been repeatedly used by Henry VIII for hunting in its former guise as Elsyng Palace. It was while tracing the outline of the palace that the item was found among demolition material from the 1657 palace. The palace had been home to the future Edward V1 and Queen Mary I as children. http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art532721-very-rare-tudor-pane-found-in-chute-from-toilets-to-moat-at-henry-eighth-palace

On a nautical theme, a perfectly preserved gun carriage has been raised from the site of the seventeenth century warship London off Southend in Essex. The 1.6 metre long, 70 centimeter wide piece of artillery equipment would originally have held a 9 foot long cannon, capable of firing 24 pound cannon balls up to two miles. Archaeologists will study the carriage to see if the gun it held could still be in the sea or if it has already been brought up. They will also see what type of wood was used, Elm was preferred as it shattered less in combat and reduced casualties but there was Dutch Elm disease from the 1650s onwards so they had to use Oak.

The London broke in two when it exploded two miles off Southend in 1665.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-london-warships-17th-century-guncarriage-raised-from-bottom-of-thames-estuary-10451472.html

For those curious to know what caused the explosion I have found a related article here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-london-after-350-years-the-riddle-of-britains-exploding-fleet-is-finally-solved-10438854.html

Crossrail believe that they have unearthed a plague pit on their Liverpool Street site. The bones of the 45 individuals are being assessed by MoLA to ascertain cause of death. The Bedlam burial site was in use between 1569 and 1730 and over three thousand burials have been excavated. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33936629

Course details for Mill Hill Archaeology Society supplied by Peter Nicolson

The title of the course is Early Roman Britain and the Tutor will be Robin Densem. There will be 20 meetings starting on Friday the 2nd October. The course will be held from 10am to 12am (including tea break) at

The Eversfield Centre

Eversfield Gardens

Mill Hill

NW7 4AE

The cost is £150. You can enrol at the first meeting but if you have not attended the Society’s meetings before please contact the Secretary, Peter Nicolson, on Tel: 0208 9594757 beforehand.

Details of other societies’ events by Eric Morgan

Saturday and Sunday the 12th and 13th of September, 10am-6pm, the RAF Museum is having a Battle of Britain 75th anniversary weekend. It is free, the last admission is 5.30pm. At Grahame Park Way, NW9 5LL. For more info please see http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london

Saturday and Sunday the 12th and 13th of September, 11am-6pm, the Enfield Archaeology Society and Enfield Society have stalls at the Enfield Town Show, Town Park, Cecil Road, admission £5.

Friday the 18th of September, 7pm, COLAS have a lecture entitled “In the Dog House: The varied fortunes of Salisbury Hall and Walthamstow Stadium car park” by Ian Hogg. At St Olaves Parish Hall, Mark Lane, EC3R 7LQ, Admission £2 for non-members.

Sunday the 20th of September, 10.30-1pm, the Amateur Geological Society have a guided 3 mile walk of the Geology of Hampstead Heath led by Diana Clements. Meet at The Flagstaff, Whitestone Pond, Heath St, NW3.

Thursday the 24th of September, 8pm, Finchley Society is having an outreach meeting discussing matters relating to East Finchley. At Holy Trinity Primary School, East Finchley, N2. Non-members £2.

Monday the 5th of October, 1pm, Bones of contention by Michael Marshall.

Monday the 12th of October, 1pm, Mass burials from St Mary Spital by Don Walker.

Monday the 19th of October, 1pm, Ritual protection marks and witchcraft at Knowle by James Wright

Monday the 26th of October, 1pm, Archaeology of disease documented by Charlotte Roberts

These are all part of the Gresham College series of free Monday Archaeology lectures at the Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HW.

Friday the 9th of October, 7.45pm, Enfield Archaeology Society lecture entitled “London in the not so Dark Ages” by Lyn Blackmore. At Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield, EN2 0AJ. £1 for non-members.

Saturday the 10th of October, 10am, Enfield Society is having a heritage walk around Edmonton by Monica Smith. To book free places send details, phone no and S.A.E. to Heritage Walks, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield, EN2 0AJ. A maximum of 4 tickets per request.

Monday the 12th of October, 3pm, Barnet Museum and Local History Society lecture entitled “Music halls, theatres and picture houses:” A walk down memory lane by John Lynch. At Church House, Wood St, Barnet, (opposite the museum) £2 for non-members.

Friday the 16th of October, 7pm, COLAS have a lecture “Turning the Tide: the first year of the National Citizen Project” by Gustav Milne. Recording vulnerable archaeological remains on England’s coast. Non-members £2.

Friday the 16th of October, 7.30pm, Wembley History Society have a lecture entitled “Women workers in World War I” by Christine Coates. English Martyrs Hall, Chalkhill Rd, Wembley HA9 9EW. Non-members £2.

Monday the 19th of October, 3pm, Enfield Society have a lecture entitled “The Bloomsbury group” by Janet McQueen. See Saturday 10th October for address.

Wednesday the 21st of October, 7.30pm, Willesden Local History Society have a members’ evening with talks given by members on attending schools in Willesden, with images. At St Mary’s Church Hall, Neasden lane, NW10 2TS (Near the Magistrates Court)

Wednesday the 21st of October, 7.30pm, Islington Archaeology and History Society have a lecture entitled “Darker stories from history” by Jessica O’Neill. At Islington Town Hall, Upper St, N1 2UD. Non-members £1.

Thursday the 22nd of October, 6pm, Gresham college lecture entitled “Agincourt or Azincourt. Victory, Defeat and the War of 1415” by Helen Castor. At the Museum of London. Free.

Wednesday the 20th of October, 6pm, The Royal Historical Society Annual Colin Matthew Memorial lecture. “Free speech and the study of history” by Timothy Garton Ash. Part of Gresham College held at the Museum of London. Free.

Wednesday the 20th of October, 7.45pm, Friern Barnet and District Local History Society lecture entitled “Loving Barnet” by Gail Laser. At North Middlesex Golf Club, the Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, Non-members £2.

Saturday the 24th of October, 9.45-4.30pm, Edmonton Hundred Historical Society day conference on “Magna Carta, the mayoral charter and the Edmonton Hundred”. For more details and booking please contact Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield, EN2 OAJ. Full day £12, half day £6.

Thursday the 29th of October, 8pm, the Finchley Society have a discussion meeting for further details please see their newsletter for Sept/Oct. At the Drawing room, Stephens House, East Finchley, N3 3QE. Non-members £2.

Wednesday the 28th of October, 10.20am, Enfield Society have a three hour linear walk on “Bloomsbury Square and Gardens” by Monica Smith. Meet at entrance to platform 9, Kings Cross Mainline Station.

Corrections to earlier newsletters

In the August edition the Wembley History Society talk on Friday the 18th September was shown as stating at 7.45pm. This should be 7.30pm.

The Gresham College lecture at the Museum of London was shown as Wednesday the 16th of September when it is Wednesday the 30th of September at 6pm.

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FOOTNOTES

[1] (1772), London Evening News, 9th July.

[2] (1772), Middlesex Journal, 9th July.

[3] (1772), Middlesex Journal, 14th July.

[4] (1772), General Evening Post, 14th July.

[5] (1772), Morning Chronicle, 14th July.

[6] (1772), Middlesex Journal, 21st July.

[7] (1772), Public Advertiser, 24th July.

[8] (1772), Morning Chronicle, 7th August.

[9] (1773), Public Advertiser, 27th February.

No. 533 AUGUST 2015 Edited by Stephen Brunning

HADAS DIARY 2015/16

Tuesday 15th to Saturday 19th September: Trip to the New Forest.

Tuesday 13th October @ 8pm: Scientific Methods in Archaeology. Lecture by Dr Caroline Cartwright.

Tuesday 12th November @ 8pm: The history of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Lecture by Keith Cunningham.

Sunday 6th December: Christmas Party at Avenue House. Further details coming soon.

Tuesday 10th January @8pm: Royal Palaces of Enfield. Lecture by Ian Jones (EAS).

Tuesday 9th February @8pm: Medieval Middlesex: The Archaeological Remains. Lecture by Adam Corsini.

Tuesday 8th March @8pm: Crossrail Archaeology Project. Lecture by Jay Carver.

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 and biscuits afterwards. Non-members welcome (£1.00). Buses 82, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central Station (Northern line) is a short walk away.

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Update on RAF Central Hospital. By Don Cooper.

Following the short article on Stephens House and Gardens (formerly Avenue House) as a Royal Air Force (RAF) hospital in last month’s newsletter (July no 532), Peter Elliott, Head of Archives at the RAF Museum, Hendon sent the following email:
“The piece on the RAF Hospital mentions Son Ld. H E Whittingham. He became Air Marshal Sir Harold Whittingham, Director of RAF Medical Services, and his papers are held by the Wellcome Library under their reference PP/HEW”.
Archaeological Priority Areas. By Peter Pickering.

The Greater London Archaeological Advisory Service (GLAAS) is now part of Historic England – the organisation created to look after the remainder of English Heritage’s activities after the owning and running of ancient monuments had been hived off. It maintains London’s Historic Environment Record and provides archaeological advice to all the boroughs except Southwark and the City. GLAAS has started a programme to review, revise and update the Archaeological Priority Areas across Greater London.
Archaeological Priority Areas are areas where there is significant known archaeological interest or particular potential for new discoveries. A planning application for development in an Archaeological Priority Area may trigger an archaeological condition, requiring anything from a watching brief to a full scale excavation. (Our lecture in April about Mill Hill Barracks demonstrated what new knowledge an archaeological condition can bring forth.) Barnet’s Local Plan includes a map of thirty-four such areas. HADAS was involved when the Local Plan was being revised in 2011 and 2012.
GLAAS keeps an eye on all planning applications received by Barnet Council, and asks the Council to impose an archaeological condition when it thinks that is appropriate. HADAS also tries to monitor applications that come to our attention, and make our own representations to GLAAS and to the Council.
Of course, it is only a small minority of the many planning applications received by the Council, even in Archaeological Priority Areas, where an archaeological condition may be warranted – most planning applications involve little or no disturbance of the ground, and will not therefore affect any buried remains. An application affecting a historic building or conservation area may require special consideration, but Listed Building and Conservation Area Consents are different from archaeological conditions, and do not involve GLAAS. According to GLAAS, London’s Archaeological Priority Areas need to be modernised; they were created piecemeal over 25 years ago, and there are inconsistencies. Many boroughs’ areas lack a supporting evidence base; do not always reflect current archaeological knowledge or today’s priorities (HADAS believes that Barnet’s is one of the better and more up-to-date plans). GLAAS wish to provide a consistent framework for documenting archaeological interest for planning purposes; a sound evidence base and practical tool for strategic planning. Somewhat controversially they propose to introduce four tiers, three covering the existing Archaeological Priority Areas and one the rest of London; Tier 1 would be specific heritage assets of national significance; Tier 2 local areas where there is specific evidence of the presence or likely presence of heritage assets of archaeological interest; Tier 3 local areas where there is evidence of a potential for heritage assets of archaeological interest.
GLAAS’s ideas are logical and well thought through (though the little notice it takes of local archaeological societies and the work we all do is disappointing). I am somewhat concerned, however, that a system of tiers will cause confusion, and the comprehensive revision of local plans that they will require will impose too much of a burden on GLAAS itself, and on the boroughs, and will therefore take a long time, leaving an unsatisfactory transition period. I also wonder at the impact of the Government’s very recent proposals for substantial deregulation of development in the interests of building more houses, quickly.
An appeal to budding authors. By Jim Nelhams.
Do you visit museums or other places of historical interest, local or otherwise? If so, why not share information with other HADAS members by providing a short note about them.
Our editors work hard to produce your monthly newsletter, but they do not write the information, and very often, they have nothing to publish until shortly before we go to press. Some articles, such as lecture reports, need timely publication. Articles about museums and places of interest do not need to be published immediately. We would like to build up a “library” of write-ups, from which any editor can locate more material. This would help our editors and make their task less stressful.
So if you visit somewhere interesting, why not write a note and send it to me. (see p.12) And remember that by telling us about these places, you are also helping the museums by encouraging members to visit them.
Cromer Road School dig 2015. By Melvyn Dresner.
New member Melvyn Dresner and student archaeologist at Birkbeck College reflects on his first dig with HADAS.
This June, I worked alongside primary school children enjoying their first ventures into archaeology. My interests are in the prehistoric and medieval periods but here we are digging out a 1930’s building that was still standing in the 1960s which still holds a fascination. Archaeology, even if from the recent past, can reveal stuff about life that written sources cannot. Also, as I found from digging in the midst of a community with a school, people can easily see you digging. They show you that they are interested and have all sorts of information to share and questions to ask.
On the first day we arrived on the green opposite the school. We knew something about the site by looking at parch marks in the grass and followed this by a geophysical survey, which showed a strong result in places. We peeled off the turfs for two trenches. The ground was exceptionally hard and only a few centimetres below the surface we were onto the archaeology – a line of bricks frog up in Trench 2. Trench 1 was opened to help the children learn the techniques and reasons we undertake archaeology and get hands-on experience revealing the past beneath their feet. Trench 2 was where we thought we would need more digging, which was eventually visited by all ages at the school.

Figure1:Trench 2

Day two, revealed more concrete in Trench 2, where I was working. We can see that the line of bricks is part of a structure though it’s apparent the structure of the wall is not massively thick. In the rubble there could be another wall.

Figure2: Excavating trench 2.
Day three is the most revealing day, but we were left scratching our heads. Below the rubble layer we discover concrete steps leading to a concrete floor although the bottom step is cut by a metal pipe. Why have a pipe at the bottom of a step? Answers on a postcard please. As well as brick rubble we found some sort of furniture with springs, a dark blue lamp shade and right at the bottom some tin boxes of uniformed size and shape. These boxes may prove key to explaining the use of the building.
Day four: much speculation on the use of the building. Research in the background suggested that the site could be a gas decontamination centre built during the Second World War before being converted to blood supply. Proximity to the Maw’s pharmaceutical factory was considered relevant. The layout of the building and detail revealed by trenches suggested a certain building typology designed to allow the process of people through gas decontamination. There are standing examples of these buildings elsewhere which seem to support this idea. The tin boxes found on the concrete floor could be a type used for blood transfer kits. These boxes will need closer examination.
Also on day four, three men who were at the school during the late 1940s and early 1950s, remembered the building from when they were pupils. They remembered the building smelled horrible, which may have been chemicals associated with processing, or just unpleasant associations with blood.
Day five was the final day. Speaking to a local brick layer, he had some ideas about how the brick wall was laid and why different techniques were used. We can see how the foundation was laid, the use of mortar to waterproof the wall, and we speculated why the frogs were up or down and about the different bricks used on wall facing inside or outside the building. This needs more thought. What is interesting is that whilst paperwork may only contains fleeting references, the archaeology tells us about different types of activity that allowed people to turn bureaucratic decisions into buildings, and provide blood supplies after (and also most likely) during the war. Careful processing of finds and cross referencing with documentary evidence may reveal stories that can only be told in full though archaeology.

The Forge Mill Needle Museum, Redditch. By Jim Nelhams.

Travelling in Redditch to a meal with family members, we passed a sign to “Forge Mill Museum”. Having finished lunch, and with time to spare before returning to our hotel, we decided to investigate.
Following the signs led us to a short road, Needle Mill Lane, with a small car park at the end. Here we found a visitor centre and signs to the museum. Unfortunately, the museum was just closing, but we were expecting to visit the area again within a month, so we duly returned.

The visitors centre covered not just the museum, but also the ruins of Bordesley Abbey, of which more in another article. Both the Abbey and Mill are scheduled ancient monuments.
To clear the confusion over the name, it is the Forge Mill Needle Museum. Redditch was at one time the centre of the production of needles in the whole world. In 1866, it is recorded as producing 100 million “needles” per week, many produced in the building which houses the museum. During the 1960s and 1970s, the sole UK producer was Needle Industries in nearby Studley. The company still exists but is now Indian owned and produces most of its products in India under the name Pony Needles.

There are two buildings, one three storey, and the other two, separated by a mill race with an overshot water wheel, fed from a mill pond, which provided power to both buildings. The stream feeding the mill pond was once known as the red ditch, from which the town gets its name. A steam engine, now removed, provided power in times of drought. The current buildings date from about 1828 when there was a major rebuild. The water wheel is run during the day so that some of the machinery can be seen in motion.

Our tour started on the top floor of the east building where there is an amazing display of the types of needles that were produced in the area. These include whaling harpoons, gramophone needles, sewing and knitting needles, dart points, surgical and hypodermic needles, needles for knitting machines and fishing hooks. There is also a short video about the processes used.

The middle floor is available as an exhibition space while the ground floor takes you through the stages of needle production. Needles were cut to the right length from rolls of wire, heated and drawn to the required diameter, shaped, with eyes added if required, sharpened on grind wheels, and hardened before being passed to the second building for polishing. It is this polishing process which required the mill power.

The needles were neatly stacked in bundles of canvas and hessian, soap, grease and emery powder was added, and the bundles securely tied. The bundles, or setts, were the placed in the scouring beds, where they acted as rollers. The mill had 32 of these machines using the mill’s power. They were then rolled for 2 hours at a time, to produce the final polished product. Certain types of needle might need a further 2 hours. Some of these machines, with dummy setts, are still in operation. These were commercially used until 1958.

From 1911 to 1963, the building was known as the Salmon Fly Works, producing fishing tackle.

As with many museums, the building is staffed by volunteers, on this occasion, one gentleman and his cat.

Access to and within the building needs care, with many steps and no lifts. Nevertheless, this museum is well worth a visit – we spent over two hours looking around. (Postcode for satnav – B97 6RR).

Excavating the Prehistoric past of Must Farm. By Sandra Claggett.

In July this year undergraduate students from Birkbeck College were lucky enough to take part on a week’s excavation at this site near Peterborough. The area of Must Farm and its environs are well known for their deep Fen history stretching back to the prehistoric era. As the area became waterlogged due to the rising sea levels after the last ice age, structures built and artefacts left in the soil became well preserved. To cope with the continuing rising sea levels in the Fenland during the Bronze and Iron Age wooden walkways and platforms were constructed and travel by boat began to dominate.
Within the last few years at Must Farm eight Bronze Age log boats which had been carved out of tree trunks have been found in a stretch of preserved prehistoric river channel. A collapsed platform was also found which had been destroyed by fire and preserved as it fell into the river channel, Finds from this included pottery bowls that still had spoon and contents inside, as well as material that had glass beads attached. Also found in this environment and at nearby Flag Fen were swords that have been left as offerings.

Grid patterns were laid out in the soil during our week long excavation, which were evenly divided into squares and each student would then choose a square to work on (Figure 1).

Figure 1. (Author’s own photograph)
It was exciting to see that in a lot of places including my own square the Neolithic history was seen just lying on the surface waiting to be found. I recovered worked Flint tools, one piece in particular which some individual all that time ago had spent energy and shown skill to make a sharp serrated edge on both sides. This piece looked like the shape of the fish. I liked to feel that it held a special place for the person that made it. (Figure 2).

Figure 2. (Author’s own photograph)

I also found animal teeth probably from a butchered animal, and burnt stone probably from a fire which indicates cooking nearby. Within my test pit block a feature was found during excavation which contained charcoal burnt stone and some pottery sherds. Due to the fact that the surrounding soil was not burnt it was interpreted that the fire itself was not here but that it had been dug to take the contents of a fire that was elsewhere, so they were cleaning up after themselves! (Figure 3).

Figure 3. (Author’s own photograph)

On a higher surface level some of us were looking for wood chips where we got to feel our way through nice squidgy soil looking for wood that showed it had been worked and had cut marks. (Figure 4).

Figure 4 (Author’s own photograph)

The stratigraphy for this level would be Bronze Age and any worked wood could date to the period of the platform and walkways being built. We were also looking for animal or human footprints that could have been left in the mud as had occurred near the collapsed platform.
During the week I also pieced together fragments of pottery from different pots to see whether we had enough sherds to be able to reconstruct any of them. Looking at the designs on the pottery made me realise the skill in the detail and the beauty in the design of some of these. In some designs you could actually see the thumb imprints from the person that made them. (Figure 5).

Figure 5 (Author’s own photograph)

It makes me wonder what we will leave behind for people in the future to make of us.
The Hanson Logboat. By Jo Nelhams.
During the Kent trip in 2014, HADAS visited the Dover Museum to investigate the Bronze Age Life Gallery and the internationally important Bronze Age boat (see Newsletter September 2014). Later in the year Jim and I visited a friend near Derby and then took the opportunity to visit the Derby Museum. There we found another Bronze Age boat.

At Hanson’s gravel quarry at Shardlow on the River Trent in 1998, workman spotted what seemed to be a hollowed out tree trunk with stone inside. Doctor Chris Salisbury, an archaeologist, identified it as an ancient Logboat. Excavation took place in 1998-9 and this Logboat was the first to be discovered with what appeared to be its cargo. The cargo was identified as Bromsgrove sandstone, which is found further upstream.
Carbon 14 dating revealed that the Hanson Logboat was about 3,400 years old. Several tools and weapons were found in the quarry, and are also displayed in the museum.

Shardlow is south east of Derby, but evidence of Bronze Age settlements in the Derby area include Arbor Low stone circle, to the north of Derby, which was visited by members on the trip to Buxton in 2013.

Frith Manor House and Frith Grange, Frith Lane, NW7. By Clinton Hudgell.
I was wondering if these two venues would be worth exploring? They were once quite substantial properties.
Frith Manor House is now a stable complex, and Frith Grange is basically part of a Scout Camping Ground.
The original Frith Grange building stood in the “spinney” on the other side (east) of Frith Lane. The Spinney land is also leased by the Scouts of Barnet even though it (The Spinney) forms the boundary screen for the Finchley Golf Club. I can remember seeing the original foundations of the Grange, but it was gradually filled in, used as a dump for all the remains of burnt rubbish from the Camping Ground opposite. The large empty hole in the foundations was commonly known as the “bomb hole” and I suspect that the Grange may have been bombed during the Second World War. (This is not substantiated)
It would be interesting to initially look at the early OS maps of Frith Lane. Does anyone have copies of these maps and perhaps an early painting or photograph of the aforementioned buildings? It would also be interesting to hear of any earlier recollection of these substantial properties.
Please contact the editor of this newsletter (Stephen Brunning) if you can help.
Greetings to new members – Stephen Brunning.
I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all the new members who have joined HADAS since October 2012. They are: Stephen Callway, Sandra Claggett, Jennie Cobban, Melvyn Dresner,
Sevinc Duvarci, Joanna Fryer, Janet Mortimer, Lucy Murray-Davey, Brendan, Caroline & Christine Power, Catriona Prothero, Alec Radosavljevic, David Richman, Stepan Stepanenko, Helene Woodnick and Michele Zoghbi. We look forward to seeing you at a forthcoming event.

Avenue House at War Exhibition.

This basement exhibition will run until 30th September and tells the story of how Avenue House gave service to the nation on the home front in two world wars – as a RAF hospital & ARP headquarters.
Opening times are: Tues, Weds, Thurs 14:00 – 16:30. Sat, Sun 12:00 – 16:30.
Entry at other times by appointment for school visits, group bookings, as part of a guided tour or in connection with a private booking with an event in the house. Due to the authentic nature and location of this exhibition it is not possible to make it fully accessible to those with restricted mobility. Admission is free but donations are very welcome.
Gladiator Games with the Museum of London – 8th to 16th August.
The publicity for this event is as follows: “In this game of titans, life and death is in your hands. See battle commence on the site of London’s only Roman amphitheatre, hear the crowd roar and steel clash as you choose which warriors walk free. In this live action summer spectacular, we take you back to Roman Londinium with an epic re-enactment of London’s gladiatorial games. Performers take to the stage for battle, an Emperor presides and the crowd picks its side. Westeros has nothing on Londinium”
Show times: Evenings: 10 & 14 Aug, 7-8.00 pm Weekends: 8, 9, 15 & 16 Aug, 12-1.00 pm & 3-4.00pm. Step into Londinium with pre-show entertainment in the Guildhall Yard from an hour before each show. A bar serving drinks and snacks will be open before and during the show.
Ticket prices: Adult: £15; Child: £10; Concession: £12.50
Location: The Gladiator Games are held in the Guildhall Yard, off Gresham Street, London EC2V 5AE.
Nearest tube: St Paul’s, Bank, Moorgate (5 minute walk).
Nearest DLR: Bank (5 minute walk)
Nearest overground: Moorgate (5 minute walk)

For any enquires relating to specific access requirements please contact box office on 020 7001 9844. This event will not be cancelled due to bad weather; we advise that you dress appropriately as the amphitheatre seating is open air.

Other Societies’ events, compiled by Eric Morgan.
Tuesday 8th September, 7.45pm. Amateur Geological Society. The Parlour, St Margaret’s Church, Victoria Avenue N3 1BD (off Hendon Lane). Mineralogy at the Natural History Museum: more than the earth’s treasury. Talk by Prof Andy Fleet (Natural History Museum).

Wednesday 9th September, 9am. Mill Hill Historical Society. Coach trip to East Grinstead & Nymans. Depart Hartley Hall, Flower Lane NW7 at 9am. Latest date for booking is Thursday 20th August to Keith Dyall, 26 Millway, NW7 2RB. Price is £26.50 (National Trust members £17.50). Telephone 020 8959 7147 or 07788 677103. Please send SAE together with cheque payable to “Mill Hill Historical Society” stating your name, address, telephone number and email address. Will leave for home at 5pm.

Thursday 10th September, 7.30pm. Camden History Society. Camden Local Studies Archive Centre, 2nd floor, Holborn Library, 32-38 Theobalds Road, WC1X 8PA. How Ian Nairn came to love London. Talk by Gillian Darley. Visitors £2.

Friday 11th September, 7.45pm. Enfield Archaeological Society. Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Street (junction of Chase Side), Enfield EN2 0AJ. Prehistoric Archaeology. Talk by Jon Cotton (Vice-President). Visitors £1. Refreshments, sales and information table from 7.30pm.

Monday 14th September, 3pm. Barnet Museum & Local History Society. Church House, Wood Street, Barnet (opposite museum). The development of Wrotham Park Mansion. Talk by Charles Dace. Visitors £2. Also Saturday 19th September. Coach outing to Bodiam Castle and Rye. For details please contact Pat Alison at 37 Ladbroke Drive, Potter Bar, Herts EN6 1QR. Telephone 01707 858430 or Barnet Museum on 020 8440 8066.

Wednesday 16th September, 6.30pm. Willesden Local History Society. Willesden Green Library, High Road, (corner of Brondesbury Park NW10. Visit to the new Brent Archives. With Emma Treherne. NOTE earlier start time. Also Saturday 12th September. Willesden Green Library re-opens. Willesden Local History Society will have a stand here.

Wednesday 16th September, 7.30pm. Islington Archaeology & History Society. Islington Town Hall, Upper Street N1 2UD. Recreating a 19th century house in Canonbury Square. Talk by Gary Butler (architect). Visitors £1.

Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th September. London Open House Weekend. FREE access to over 800 buildings. Details at www.openhouselondon.org.uk. INCLUDING: Saturday 19th 10am-4pm. Myddleton House Gardens, Bulls Cross Enfield EN2 9HG. Magnificent house of E.A. Bowles (HADAS did resistivity here). Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th 11am-4pm. Three Mills House Mill, Three Mills Lane, Bromley-by-Bow, E3 3DU. 20 minute guided tour of the grinding stones and water wheels is available at this historic site. (HADAS had a talk on the mill last year). Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th, 1-5pm. Friends of Brompton Cemetery. South Lodge, Brompton Cemetery, Fulham Road SW10 9UG. The chapel will be open with guided tours starting at 2pm on both days. Refreshments available.

Wednesday 23rd September, 7.45pm. Friern Barnet & District Local History Society. North Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane N20 0NL. Baxendale: Past, Present & Future. Talk by Brian Hosier. Visitors £2. Refreshments.

Friday 18th September, 7.45pm. Wembley History Society. English Martyrs’ Hall, Chalkhill Road, Wembley HA9 9EW (top of Blackbird Hill adjacent to church). Kingsbury from the air in the 1920’s & 30’s. With Jim Moher. £2.

Wednesday 16th September, 6pm. Gresham College at Museum of London. 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN. 1665: London’s Last Great Plague. Talk by Prof. Vanessa Harding. FREE.

Many thanks to this month’s contributors: Sandra Claggett, Don Cooper, Melvyn Dresner,
Clinton Hudgell, Eric Morgan, Jim Nelhams, Jo Nelhams, Peter Pickering and Stewart Wild.

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE PROGRAMME 2015

Tuesday 13 October 2015 Dr Caroline Cartwright

Scientific Methods in Archaeology

Tuesday 10 November 2015 Keith Cunningham

The History of The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)

LECTURE PROGRAMME 2016

Tuesday 12 January 2016 Ian Jones – EAS Royal Palaces of Enfield

Tuesday 9th February 2016 Adam Corsini Medieval Middlesex: The Archaeological Remains

Tuesday 8th March 2016 Jay Carver Crossrail Archaeology Project

Lectures are held at Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley, N3 3QE, and start promptly at 8 pm, with coffee/tea and biscuits afterwards. Non-members: £1. Buses 82, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central Station (Northern Line) is a 5-10 minute walk away.

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Annual General Meeting Tuesday 9th June 2015 Jo Nelhams

The 54th Annual General Meeting was held on Tuesday 9th June 2015 in Avenue House at 7.45pm. The meeting was attended by 44 members and 2 guests. It was encouraging to see that this was the largest attendance at an AGM for a number of years. There were also 17 apologies.
The Chairman, Don Cooper, opened the meeting and welcomed all those present, including the President, Harvey Sheldon. The President was then invited to take the chair to conduct the business of the meeting.
The President thanked the meeting for the card he received, which was signed by all those present at the 2014 AGM, when he was indisposed and unable to attend.
All the officers were prepared to stand again for election, and were unanimously returned to office as listed below:
Chairman: Don Cooper
Vice-Chairman: Peter Pickering
Hon. Treasurer: Jim Nelhams
Hon. Secretary: Jo Nelhams
Hon. Membership Secretary: Stephen Brunning
Committee Members: Vicki Baldwin, Bill Bass, Roger Chapman, Eric Morgan, Andrew Selkirk and Sue Willetts. I am delighted to say that Sandra Claggett has also joined the Committee.
The Chairman reported that the move from the Garden Room to the basement in Avenue House had been completed and that it was more spacious than our previous accommodation. There was also space for the contents which were stored in the garage.
He also mentioned that members need to give thought to the future of HADAS, as the present Officers had held their positions for quite a number of years and replacements will be needed. Also most of the Committee members had been serving for many years.
The Chairman also mentioned the two paintings that had been left to the Society by John Enderby in his will. They were painted by Erina Crossley, a long-term member of HADAS. They are now in our room at Avenue House. A picture of one of them, the old barn at Church End Farm, appeared in the April 2015 Newsletter.
The meeting closed at 8.10 pm. The Chairman then invited our President Harvey Sheldon to deliver his lecture on “The Roman Pottery Manufacturing Site in Highgate Wood.” (See below.)

AGM Lecture

The Roman Pottery manufacturing Site in Highgate Wood – Harvey Sheldon (Report by Audrey Hooson)

This Roman site was discovered in 1962. Whilst field walking, looking for flint (Mesolithic and Neolithic flints were found) Roman sherds, including a fragment of a Poppy Head Beaker, were discovered. Trenches cut in the sixties produced burnt clay and misshapen pots. This meant there was the likelihood of a kiln site, so a full excavation in was carried out in 1976.

The location was unexpected, though there are several pottery sites close to Watling Street in the Verulamium area, including Brockley Hill. However, Highgate Wood is between Watling Street and Ermine Street with no obvious means of transportation to Londinium. The possible Viatores Road 227 would pass close by, and transport by donkey along trackways and onward in flat-bottomed boats via the Brent and Lea rivers has been suggested.

At 28 hectares, Highgate Wood is a remnant of the mainly oak and hornbeam Middlesex Forest. This later became the deer park of the Bishop of London, and is now a public park. Development for housing and transport has reduced this wooded area. There were probably other kiln sites, now destroyed, which also took advantage of the coppice cycle that provided the large quantity of wood needed by Londinium. The amount of pottery found in Enfield, Putney, Surrey, the City Forum Site and elsewhere in the South East, which has been designated ‘Highgate Ware’, is far more than this site alone could have produced.

The kiln site was active intermittently over a period of about 100 years from AD50 – AD160. The kilns had been repaired over time, and covered by waste dumps. They were of the typical Roman up- draught type with a flue, furnace and central pedestal, with support bars for stacking the pots. It is not known how they were roofed. One particularly interesting late kiln had a tiled arch to the flue. The sherds found may represent as many as 5,000 vessels. Types present were “poppy head” beakers with barbotine decoration, dishes rimmed to accommodate lids, beaded rimmed jars, cordoned bowls and dishes. Each vessel type had one dominant size. The fabric consisted of the local iron-rich clay, usually reduced to a mid-grey, with occasional white slip of imported iron-free clay. Early vessels were grog-tempered, but later finer wares were sand-tempered.

Other artefacts were used in dating the site. These consisted of terra sigillata sherds, 15 brooches of late 1st to early 2nd century, bronze buckles, strap ends and some glass.

In 1971 a two-week Experimental Archaeology Course took place in the woods, with teachers and potters. The participants dug out local clay, used kick-wheels and built three kilns. However, the resulting pots were oxidised. Failures were recorded for analysis of the wasters. In 1972, smaller kilns with more coverage produced a reduced fabric. The original kilns may have been covered with turves.

At the closure of the excavation in 1969, the major kiln with the tile arched flue was removed and has been in store at the Horniman Museum. There are plans to return it to Highgate Woods as part of a new display.

The final excavation report is with LAMAS, waiting for publication funding.

Obituary

Patrick McSharry

We mentioned the sad news of Patrick’s death in the last newsletter. He was an active member of HADAS and one of our newsletter editors. A teacher for 30 years, Patrick had a wide range of interests and was an enthusiast for education, with a first BA degree in Government and Politics, followed later by an MPhil in History, then an MA in Biography at Buckingham in the year 2000, and finally, in 2010, a PhD, again in history. At St James’s school he taught “A” level Government and Politics, Law and Sociology, the last two of which he introduced into the curriculum. He always enjoyed the HADAS long weekend holidays with his brother Kevin, and our condolences go to Kevin and all their wider family.

Stephens House and Gardens (formerly Avenue House) as a Royal Air Force (RAF) Hospital by Don Cooper

Avenue House is one of those places that keeps turning up surprises, for instance it was the RAF’s Central Hospital, Finchley, between 1919 and June 1925. Henry Charles Stephens died in 1918 and left the property to the people of Finchley. In 1919 the RAF moved their central hospital from Mount Vernon, Holly Hill, Hampstead, to Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley. Although it was a hospital for six years there is virtually no information about it. How was it organised? What type of treatment did it offer patients?

Figure 1: Avenue House as an RAF hospital in 1919

This is all we know so far.

The National Archive records show that the RAF Officers’ Hospital was formed early in 1918 as the RAF Central Hospital at Holly Hill, Hampstead. The Hospital was transferred to Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, in May 1919. The Hospital closed on the 12th June 1925.

Staff included the First Commanding Officer Surgeon Lieutenant Colonel F. F. Mueke, with Squadron Leaders H. E. Wittingham, H.W. Scott, B.A. Payne, W.A. Duck and A.J. Brown (all RAF Medical Branch). (Source Flight 23/6/1923).

There were nurses from the newly established RAF Temporary Nursing Service (1918), which became the Princess Mary’s RAF Nursing Service in 1923. Among the nurses mentioned are Miss L. I. Oliver, Miss W.C. Watt, and Miss M. A. Botwood. (Again the source is from Flight.)

As far as patients are concerned we have only references from newspapers in The British Newspaper Online Archive http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ and occasional other internet references.

From Western Morning News, Wednesday 2nd January 1924

“FLT, LTS (Medical) A.F. Rook to remain at RAF Central Hospital Finchley, instead of to RAF Hospital, Cranwell as previously notified.”

FLY OFFR (Medical) R.W. White to remain at RAF Hospital, Cranwell, instead of to RAF Central Hospital, Finchley, as previously notified.”

From The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, Saturday 6th August 1921

“Flying Officer Fenwick of the RAF has been admitted to the RAF hospital at Finchley with a serious injury to his eye caused through the breaking of the glass of the windscreen of his motor car by a golf ball.

He was driving to Denham Golf Course on Wednesday, when a golf ball, played on the links struck the car and broke the glass of the wind screen, and some splinters entered his eye, severely injuring it and necessitating his immediate removal to hospital. Last night it was stated that it was hoped the sight of the eye would be saved.”

From Western Morning News, Wednesday 29th August 1923

“Flight Lt A. F. Rook MRCP, DPH to RAF Central Hospital Finchley, July 27th.”

From Western Morning News, Wednesday 19th September 1923

“L. P. McCullagh to Research Laboratory and Medical Officers’ School of Instruction, September 7th, on appointment to Short Service Commission for short course of instruction, and to RAF Central Hospital, Finchley.”

From Western Gazette, Friday 16 January 1920

“Thames Hero Dead – airman who saved a woman succumbs to injuries

Lieutenant Charles Campbell Wood, the young South African aviator, died at the RAF Hospital, Finchley on Saturday night. A fortnight ago he dived nearly a hundred feet from the parapet of Hammersmith Bridge at midnight to save a woman from drowning in the Thames. Appealed to by a woman with a baby in her arms who cried ‘My mother is drowning, will you save her?’ he jumped in without a moment’s hesitation.

In the darkness he could not see that the tide was out, and struck the bottom with considerable force. But he saved the woman. The doctor who attended him immediately afterwards marvelled that he had been able to retain consciousness. Lieutenant Wood was a native of Johannesburg and had no relatives in this country.”

From Western Morning News Friday 14th December 1923

“Flt. Lt. (Medical) W. F. Wilson, MC, to RAF Central Hospital, Finchley, January 1st.”

From other sources:

From: http://airminded.org/2008/06/27/the-interwar-internet/

DODKINS, Lionel Claud, F/O – died 13 June 1921 – RAF Hospital, Finchley – malaria.

FOORD, Basil Arthur, F/O, MC, DFC – died 18 October 1922, in RAF Hospital, Finchley.

From: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1919/1919%20-%200858.html

Capt. Howard Napier Walker, OBE., M.C., 2nd Welsh Regt., acting Lieut.-Col. R.A.F., who died on June 3 at the RAF Central Hospital, Finchley, from the effects of wounds received in action in 1914, was the eldest son of Charles Low Walker, Hopewell, Walkers Wood, Jamaica, and of Mrs. Walker, Home Lodge, Plymouth.

From: http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=169046

My Namesake Uncle, Lieut. Patrick W Anderson, Black Watch, RFC & RAF, was an Observer, flying DH4’s with 18 Squadron, when on 27th June, 1918, he and his Canadian pilot were attacked by ten enemy machines over Flanders during their morning bombing that day.
My Uncle received serious wounds to his stomach and thigh, and letters home that were published in the Arbroath and surrounding area newspapers said that he could not be moved due to his loss of blood in getting back to his lines.

His RAF Casualty Card shows that he was “dangerously ill, gsw left thigh” at “51 CCS France” and the following day “Wounded”. Then on 29th June, 1918 “Still critical;” then on 15th July, 1918 at 30 General Hospital, Calais: “Dangerously ill, GSW groin, buttock left.”

Then on 25th July, 1918: RAF Officers’, Eaton Square (London): “Bullet wound bladder and groin, admitted 24th July, 1918.”

Admitted 1st April 1919 to Swanage Hospital (Dorset); 8-9th September, 1919: RAF Hospital, Finchley. Discharged from RAF Hospital Swanage on 14 October 1919, 17th-20th October, 1919: RAF Hospital, Finchley.

We are very much still on the lookout for more information, so should you come across any reference please let us know.

Membership Renewals – a reminder Stephen Brunning

Many thanks to those who have already paid their subscription. If you intend to renew this year and have not yet done so, I would be grateful to receive payment by 17th August 2015 at the following rates: £15 (full), £5 (each additional member at the same address), £6 (student). My address is on the last page of this newsletter.

It is not necessary to return the renewal form enclosed with April’s Newsletter. A piece of paper with your name, postal address, telephone number and email address (if applicable) will suffice. I will then be able check the details we hold are still correct. It would also be helpful if you could indicate your willingness to receive the newsletter by email. This helps to keep our costs to a minimum. Thank you.

Cromer Road Dig Jim Nelhams

Over recent years, HADAS has undertaken digs with schools in the Borough, and for 2015 we returned to Cromer Road School in New Barnet. Our interest was sparked when researching for the 2014 dig, when we spotted parch marks on a grassy space at the front of the School.

As the dig was in open space, we were fortunate in obtaining council permission to go ahead.

Two Year-5 groups (9-10 year-olds) totalling 59 children were involved. They were given classroom sessions, the first explaining archaeology, the second looking at maps of the area. For the dig, each was given a handbook about the site and the processes that they experienced.

Thanks to Bill Bass, Roger Chapman, Don Cooper, Melvyn Dresner, Angie Holmes and Susan Trackman for giving up their time to support the dig and mentor the children. Thanks also to Jo Nelhams for liaison with the school.

Further reports will appear in future newsletters.

An enquiry received – can you help?

There was a WW2 Transmitter Out-Station of the R.A.F. Hendon. It was located at the bottom of Brockley Hill but could possibly have been sited in a caravan or vehicle.
Secondly, there was a Radio Direction-Finding Station in the centre of Copthall field, Mill Hill. Perhaps it was mounted on a brick and concrete base hexagonal in layout. Does anyone remember seeing any evidence or memories of these two sites?
Please contact Mr. D.H. Sullivan, 32 Silver Street, Great Barford, Bedfordshire MK44 3HX
Telephone: 01234 870620

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS compiled by Eric Morgan

Saturday 4th-Sunday 5th July, 12-7pm, East Barnet Festival, Oak Hill Rd., East Barnet, EN4 8JS. Lots of community stalls, including Barnet Arts Council (with HADAS information), music, dance, classic cars (SUV), food, bar.

Tuesday 14th July, 7.45 pm, Amateur Geological Society, The Parlour, St Margaret’s Church, Victoria Ave., N3 1BD (off Hendon Lane). Studying Planetary Impacts: From the Field to the Lab. Talk by Dr. Penny Wozniakiewickz (Natural History Museum).

Correction:

In the June HADAS Newsletter, the Barnet Local History Society Coach Outing to Greenwich was shown as Saturday 15th July. It should have been Saturday 18th July.

(Tel . 01707 858430 or 020 8440 8066 for more info. All welcome. Cost £15).

Wednesday 15th July, 7.30 pm, Willesden Local History Society. Meet at All Souls’ Church, All Souls Ave., Harlesden, NW10. Tour of the Church and the High Street, led by Fr. Michael Moorhead and Margaret Pratt (Hon. Sec.) Will inspect the restored Jubilee Clock and High Street from 8-8.30 pm, and return to the Church for tea.

Thursday 16th July, 7.30 pm, Camden History Society., Burgh House, New End Square, NW3 1LT. History of St Michael’s, Highgate. Talk by Roger Sainsbury. Visitors £1. Also, until Sunday 13th September, Old Hampstead Rediscovered – Art Exhibition displayed by Heath & Hampstead Society of rarely-seen old paintings of Hampstead. Open Wed-Fri and Sunday 12-5 pm. Free.

Also the Heath and Hampstead Society are jointly involved in The Summer open art exhibition, held at the top of Heath Street, NW3 on Sundays, from 28th June and 12th and 19th July from 12-5 pm, where works will be on sale.

Saturday 25th July 2-4 pm, Myddelton House Gardens, Bulls Cross, Enfield, EN2 9H9. Walking in the Footsteps of Mr Bowles – an informative tour highlighting the history of the man and his gardens. Cost: £4. (HADAS did resistivity here previously).

Tuesday 28th July, – Saturday 8th August, Barnet Guild of Artists, Christ Church, St. Alban’s Road, Barnet EN5 4LA. Summer Exhibition.

Saturday 18th –Wednesday 22nd July; and Saturday 15th-Wednesday 19th August. W.E.A.G. and Copped Hall Trust Archaeological Project Field Schools, 2015. Continuing excavation of the Tudor Grand House, Near Epping Forest. Cost £90 per week (non-residential). Course Directors: Christina Holloway, Lee Joyce and John Shepherd. For further information and to book, contact Mr. Andrew Madeley, 27 Hillcrest Road, South Woodford, London E18 2JL (Tel. 020 8491 6514, e-mail coppedhalldigs@weag.org.uk or access www.coppedhalltrust.org.uk )

Sunday 2nd August, 2.30 pm. Heath & Hampstead Society, Burgh House, New End Square, NW3 1LT: Flora of the Heath. Walk led by David Bevan (former Haringey Conservation Officer). Lasts approximately two hours. Donation £8.

Tuesday 11th August, 2pm, Guildhall Library, Aldermanbury EC2V 7HH. The Remarkable History of Temple Bar. Talk by Robert Stephenson (COLAS). Free, but please book in advance on Everbrite: e-mail GHLevents@cityoflondon.gov.uk . Tel. 020 7332 1869, or visit www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/guildhalllibrary (Robert gave the May Lecture on the Knights Templar).

Tuesday 11th August, 7.45 pm, Amateur Geological Society, The Parlour, St Margaret’s Church, Victoria Ave., N3 1BD (off Hendon Lane). Members’ Evening. Talks by members, including Sue Jacobs on Sixty Degrees North, and Mike Howgate (Chairman) on The River Stort and the Ice Age, and a display of entries for their competition.

Wednesday 19th August, 9 am. Mill Hill Historical Society, Coach trip to Thetford and Bressingham Gardens. Thetford was once the capital of the Iceni, and is believed to have been the residence of Boudicca. It is also the site of the tallest Norman motte in the country. Although all traces of the castle have gone, there are many Viking and Saxon remains in the town museum. After lunch we go to the Blooms of Bressingham Gardens. There are also a couple of miniature steam railways here. Depart Hartley Hall, Flower Lane, NW7 at 9 am. Latest date for booking is Friday 24th July to Keith Dyall, 26 Millway, NW7 3RB. Price £25. (Phone 020 8959 7147/07788 677103). Please send S.A.E. together with cheque payable to Mill Hill Historical Society, stating your name and address, telephone number and e-mail address. Trip will depart for home at 5 p.m.

Friday 21st August, 7 pm. COLAS, St. Olave’s Parish Hall, Mark Lane, EC3R 7LQ. Members’ Night: An Archaeological Miscellany. Members’ presentations. Visitors £2. Light refreshments afterwards.

Thursday 27th August, 11 am, Mill Hill Historical Society, Walking tour of City churches. We hope to visit around ten churches, a few of which survived the Great Fire, several built by Wren, and a later one built by his successors. Meet at Tower Hill by the food and drink “tram” at 11 am. Led by Anne Marie Craven (Blue Badge Guide). Book with Julia Haynes, 38 Marion Road, NW7 4AN. Price £9. Phone 020 8906 0563/ 07803 892496. Please send S.A.E, with cheque payable to Mill Hill Historical Society, stating your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. We finish near St. Paul’s

Sunday 30th August, 3-5 pm, Avenue House (Now Stephens House), East End Road, N3 3QE. Bothy Garden. Annual Garden Party. (See also Sunday 16th August.)

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With thanks to this month’s contributors: Stephen Brunning, Don Cooper, Audrey Hooson, Eric Morgan, Jim Nelhams, Jo Nelhams and Mary Rawitzer.

No. 531 JUNE 2015 Edited by Mary Rawitzer
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HADAS DIARY

Lectures are held at Avenue House (now Stephens House), East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE, at 8pm. Tea/coffee and biscuits afterwards. Non-members welcome (£1.00). Buses 82, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass close by. Finchley Central Station (Northern line) is a short walk away.

Monday 8th to Friday 12th June: HADAS dig at Cromer Road School, New Barnet.
We have permission to dig on the green space in front of the school. We know that there was a building there, which is shown on the 1967 Ordnance Survey map.

Tuesday 9th June: A VERY SPECIAL ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Please note the earlier start: 7.45pm
The AGM business will be followed by:

LECTURE “The Roman Pottery manufacturing site in Highgate Wood” by HADAS President: Harvey Sheldon.
This should be a very interesting lecture on an important local site. So do come along.

Tuesday 15th to Saturday 19th September: HADAS trip to the New Forest.
Based at Lyndhurst and including visits to Salisbury, Old Sarum, Winchester, Beaulieu and Bucklers Hard, and Croft pre-Victorian pumping station on the Kennet and Avon Canal. It may not be too late to join, if hotel rooms are still available. Contact Jim Nelhams (details on back page).

Tuesday October 13th: Scientific Methods in Archaeology

Lecture by Dr Caroline Cartwright of the British Museum. Dr Cartwright’s primary areas of scientific expertise cover identification and interpretation of organics – wood, charcoal, fibres/other plant remains, shell, ivory and bone – from all areas and time periods in the museum’s collection.

Tuesday November 10th: The History of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Sunday December 6th: HADAS Christmas Party

Our last Newsletter mentioned the Finchley Society AGM on June 25th, to be followed by “a dip into the archives”. Due to “technical reasons” the dip will be not take place. It will be replaced by a bit of a quiz on ‘What do you know about Finchley’ . Try your hand?!
Desperately needed: Another once-a-year Newsletter Editor.
Why not try your hand? Mary Rawitzer

This Newsletter is edited each month by a different HADAS member. We had a rota of 12, but one has had to resign due to pressure of work and now we have the sad news of the death of Patrick McSharry, who had been ill for some time (the next Newsletter will have an appreciation).. The Editor does not have to write the Newsletter – though that can be done too – just put together the items sent in by others, typing them out if hand written, arranging the font etc, as they please.

If you’re only thinking about it, but are not quite sure, speak to any of the existing editors. Please do offer, even on a trial basis – e-mail mary.rawitzer@talktalk.net or phone 020 8340 7434.

VE Day 70 at Stephens House & Gardens (Avenue House) Sunday 10th May 2015 Don Cooper

This event was held to recreate the events of seventy years ago when up to 10,000 people of Finchley and the surrounding areas celebrated the end of WWII in the grounds of Avenue House. There were lots of stalls selling a variety of items for both adults and children. There was a wonderful Sunday roast in the house as well as all sorts of goodies in the stable café.

The entertainment was provided by the English Jazz Orchestra and The Three Belles. The gardens looked at their magnificent best.

Malcolm Godfrey, Manager of Avenue House and Don Cooper Chairman of HADAS
Sunday 10th was a lovely calm day and many people, some in appropriate costume, turned up for this event. HADAS had a stall featuring photographs and stories of many of our past excavations but majoring on when Avenue House (now Stephens House & Gardens) was used as the RAF Central Hospital from 1919 to 1925.

During last year’s excavation at Stephens House & Garden on what is believed to be the remains of hothouses and a laundry, we came across a dump of materials consisting in the main of glass medicine and alcoholic drinks bottles and jars (see Vicki Baldwin’s report in this issue). Was this from the time of the hospital?

Our display created great interest and it was great to see so many HADAS members, including William Morris, attending the event. He joined HADAS in 1969 and is still a member. He designed the HADAS logo – the handled jug in the form of ‘HADAS’, as seen on the front heading. William remembered digging in the earlier days with Bridget GraftonGreen, Ted Sammes and Dorothy Newbury.

Copies of our new book “A Hamlet in Hendon” as well as other publications were sold and new members joined. All-in-all a great day out. Thanks to everybody who helped.

Avenue House Excavations, Site code SVH13 (July 2014):

Glass Report Vicki Baldwin

HADAS Newsletter 530 gave details of these excavations and an analysis of the bones found. This report covers work done on the glass finds:

Glass was present in all three trenches opened and, sparingly, throughout the fill. However, Trench 3/Context 3 revealed a small glass deposit containing complete bottles and sherds moulded with proprietary brand names and identifiers. One complete vessel also retained a fragmentary label on its surface. As yet this has not been identified.

In order to analyse the glass I have divided it into 4 broad categories:

1) Domestic
2) Architectural
3) Medicinal
4) Comestibles

with an additional “?” category for the few sherds of indeterminate function.

These categories covered:

1) Domestic: drinking glasses; bowls; vases; ornaments etc.
2) Architectural: used in a building i.e. window glass, fanlight/skylight/roof glass, glass bricks, reinforced glass
3) Medicinal: bottles, jars and equipment with an obvious medical/therapeutic function. 4) Comestibles: containers for foodstuffs – jars, bottles etc.

The full table of the Avenue House glass finds should be on the HADAS website soon. It shows the distribution of these various types over the 3 trenches. Since the greatest number of sherds and types occurs in Trench 3 Context 003 I shall concentrate on this particular deposit. It appeared to have been discarded as a group and not added to over time. The deposit was lying against the inner face of a vertically truncated wall which formed part of the building(s) being excavated. The actual function of the building(s) is yet to be determined but may have comprised a laundry and/or glasshouse complex. Deposition must have occurred shortly after the demolition of the building(s) as the glass was lying directly on a ‘floor’ surface and subsequently covered by backfill.

ANALYSIS of Trench 3 Context 003

1) Domestic: 27 sherds in total. 6 co-joining may be the chimney from a gas mantle or oil lamp. 12 have a fine gilded decoration and are of a thickness suggesting a wine glass or similar.
2) Architectural: 41 sherds in total. 36 window glass type 3mm thick. 5 fanlight/skylight/glass roof type 6-7mm thick.
3) Medicinal: 15 sherds + 4 complete bottles. 1 complete green glass bottle with fragmentary label adhering. 1 complete green glass bottle unmarked. 1 complete white glass bottle moulded with calibrations and “TABLESPOONS” on the sides and “UGB CODE” on the base. 1 complete white glass bottle moulded with “113” and “6” on the base. 7 co-joining sherds brown glass moulded with “Kruschen Salts” on the side. 6 co-joining sherds white glass moulded with “Lung Tonic”, “… bridges” and “… ons” on the sides, probably “Owbridges Lung Tonic” (Owbridges of Hull). 2 co-joining sherds white glass moulded with “..H. Galloway Ltd/Chemist/London SE17”.
4) Comestibles: 87 sherds + 4 complete bottles. 3 complete “Bovril” bottles, 2oz size, moulding on shoulder “Bovril Limited” and code number, and on base of 2 “BOTTLE MADE IN ENGLAND”. 1 complete white glass bottle moulded “HENEKEY’S LTD”. 9 sherds white glass moulded with “WALKER’S S KILMARNOCK WHISKY” on the base.
1 incomplete white glass bottle moulded “BOOTH’S DISTILLERY LONDON LTD” on the side and “Registered No. 422820” on base. 3 co-joining sherds white glass milk bottle moulded “… of Express Dairy Company Limited “, “Please rinse and return” on side and “X29” on base. 2 co-joining sherds moulded “United Dairies Ltd”. 1 sherd white glass jar base moulded “A3” “S13” “B”. 52 sherds white glass possibly from bottles. 3 white glass bottle necks. 2 white glass bases. 1 white glass jar top with ribbing. 1 white glass jar neck 8cm diameter. 1 sherd identified as milk bottle.

DATING

It is difficult to be certain exactly when the glass was deposited. There are some clues as to the age of some of the bottles and jars. Bovril jars/bottles with long necks date to before the 1930s. Bovril itself was widely sold by 1888 and the company formed in 1889. It was often used as a beef tea for invalids. Walker’s whisky bottles had a large letter X on the base between the words “Walker’s” and “Kilmarnock”. This changed in 1910 to an S and the example in this assemblage has an S. The Galloway’s medicine bottle sherds have an embossed post code of SE17. London post codes with numbers rather than just letters were introduced in 1917.
CONCLUSION

This is a very interesting collection of glass. It is unclear whether it was all discarded at the same time but it would seem likely to be the case. Possibly it is related to the period when Avenue House was an RAF hospital. It may be material cleared from the house before use as the hospital, or even after. I doubt whether it would be any earlier.
Several, questions have occurred to me as I was writing this report. Who drank the whisky, gin and possibly brandy that originally filled the bottles? The doctors? The patients? Or someone else? If so, who? Was the Bovril given to patients to help them regain their strength? Bovril had after all been originally developed for troops. Were Owbridge’s Lung Tonic and
Galloway’s, along with whatever the other medicine bottles contained, dispensed to patients at the RAF hospital? Why was the glass there? Should it have been disposed of elsewhere? Was it separated from other rubbish because it could not be composted or incinerated?

SOURCES

http://www.thegarret.org.uk/collectionbottles.htm#2002164 http://www.bottlebooks.com/basics.htm
And other online sources for: post codes, Owbridges, Galloway’s, Walker’s, and other proprietary brands.
.
Historic England Research Publication Guy Taylor

I thought members might be interested in the new format of the former twice-yearly journal English Heritage Research which has now become (predictably) Historic England Research. The first issue in its new clothes has just been published. I’ve only glanced at a couple of articles but it looks very good and can be found at: https://content.historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/ historic-england-research-1/he-research1.pdf/

HE Research Issue 1 Index:

The East Coast War Channels in the First

Housing for the elderly in post-war England

World War

Railway goods sheds and warehouses

A 17th-century warship off Southend-on-Sea

The English railway station

The Tyneside Pioneers

South-west textile mills project completed

The Nottingham Caves Survey

A history of the National Heritage Collection

Using drones for field survey

Historic England publications

Now you see it!

Historic England staff publications

– instant GPR results in the field

May Lecture Report Vicki Baldwin The Knights Templar and Their London Connections – Robert Stephenson
The lecture focused on the origins of the Knights Templar and properties and places associated with them in London during the period of their success and subsequent downfall.

The Knights Templar were a military order that followed a religious life. In 1119, in response to the problems encountered by pilgrims travelling between the coast and Jerusalem, Hughes de Payers approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem for permission to provide protection in the form of a military order. This was granted and the nascent order was given a headquarters at what is now the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount. Known as the “Poor Fellow Soldiers of Jesus Christ and the Temple of Solomon” subsequently shortened to Knights Templar, the knights’ vow of poverty was portrayed on their seal by an image of two knights sharing a horse.

Bernard of Clairvaux was impressed by their combined valour and religious virtue and gave the
Order both their Rule and their white mantle as a symbol of purity. With such endorsements, the Knights Templar swiftly became a popular charity receiving gifts of land and money. Although they practised poverty, as an Order they became extremely wealthy with branches in most of the European countries involved in the Crusades. Travellers not wishing to carry large quantities of valuables were able to lodge them with one Templar foundation and receive a paper entitling them to draw the value from another. These papers may have been the first cheques to be issued. The financial success of the Order helped lead to their downfall.

In England, the Templar had holdings in all counties. Originally their London base was at the west end of Chancery Lane, but they moved to larger premises at Holborn Gate – outside the city wall – where there was access to the river. The Templars sent two fleets a year to the Holy Land to replenish forces and stores. After the fall of Acre in 1291, the Templars withdrew to Europe, and their huge resources began to attract attention. Philip IV of France had borrowed from the Templars, and in 1306 the new Pope Clement V, based in Avignon, invited the Grand Masters of both the Templars and the Hospitallers to discuss amalgamation. The Hospitaller Grand Master was delayed so Jacques de Molay attended alone, arriving in 1307. Subsequently charges were brought against the Templars relating to accusations made two years earlier by a dismissed Templar. On 11th October all Templars in France were arrested and accused of blasphemous practices including worshipping a head. Edward II came under pressure to close down the order. He did not want to act, but under threat of excommunication he arrested the English Templars in 1308. They were sent to Canterbury and then the Tower of London. Interrogations took place at several churches in London including St. Dunstan’s in the West and All Hallows by the Tower.

Philip IV had tortured and burned the French Templars. Edward II allowed the Templars to be tortured by French monks as long as they were not permanently injured. Eventually the English Templars agreed to be “reconciled”, admitting their property forfeit. In other countries, Templars were assimilated into other Orders. In London Temple property was leased to lawyers with Middle Temple and Inner Temple still legal Inns of Court.

London Archaeologist AGM “Making Sense of Roman London” Peter Pickering

I went to the Annual General Meeting of the London Archaeologist on 14th May. It was followed by a stimulating lecture by Dr Dominic Perring. Basing himself on what had come out of the 250 or so archaeological interventions relevant to Roman London over the past 25 years he argued that the archaeological and historical evidence was much more consistent and mutually supportive than it has been fashionable to believe.
The episodes of change detected in the archaeology can be ascribed to Roman imperial policy; ‘Londinium Augusta’ was closer to Rome than to the rest of the province; it had a military, not civil, origin and was populated by people from Rome and their hangers-on; it was the location of power, not a civic centre; Dr Perring expressed sympathy for Andrew Selkirk’s contention that there was direct imperial control.

According to Dr Perring there had been a Claudian fort, surrounded by a double ditch, but leaving only faint traces because the soldiers were in tents not permanent buildings, awaiting the arrival of the emperor and his elephants before moving to capture Colchester. He went on to relate the numerous box flue tiles from AD50-60 to bath-houses for official residences. Imperial control was re-imposed after the Boudiccan insurrection. The Flavians looked back to the successes of Claudius and Caesar before him and, for instance, constructed the original timber amphitheatre. Hadrian in 121AD decided to build the massive Forum, raising the money from the rest of the province. The major fire of about 128AD was not accidental, but the result of an uprising, one consequence of which was the construction of the Cripplegate fort. The many heads found near the Walbrook could be trophy heads – similar to those depicted on Trajan’s column. Finally, Dr Perring related the contraction in the latter half of the second century to the historically recorded plague in around 165AD; this contraction, he observed, was accompanied by temple-building (with statues of hunter-gods).

I said ‘finally’ in the last sentence because Dr Perring then ran out of time, with intriguing references to the exploits of Allectus, which he held over to another occasion.

Other Societies’ Events Eric Morgan
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Sat. 13th & Sun 14th June. London Open Garden Squares Weekend. More than 200 gardens, many not usually open to the public. See: www.opensquares.org.uk. Including 1-5pm, Bothy Garden, Avenue House, East End Rd N3 3QE.

Thursday 18th June, 7.30pm. Camden History Society, Camden Local Studies & Archives Centre, 2nd Floor, Holborn Library, 32-35 Theobalds Rd, WC1X 8PA. AGM (7pm) then talk: Archaeology of Kings Cross Goods Yard by Becky Haslam. Visitors £1. Light refreshments 6.30pm.

Sunday 28th June. Barnet Museum & Local History Society: Tea in the Park. In park behind Museum, Wood St, Barnet. An extra special event to mark The Barnet Battlefield Survey. Archaeologists giving up-date on progress of the project and re-enactors showing some weaponry used in 1471. Also musical events and fine teas!

Wednesday 1st July-Wednesday 30th September. Avenue House, Exhibition: Avenue House at War. Experience a flavour of wartime Avenue House & discover how it gave service to the nation on the home front in two World Wars as a hospital (WWI) & ARP HQ (WWII). Free admission.

Friday 3rd July, 7.45pm. Enfield Archaeology Soc., Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield EN2 0AJ. Enfield at War: Shirts, Shells & Poison Gas. Lecture Ian Jones, Visitors £1. Refreshments.

Saturday 4th July, 11am-5pm. Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery: Open Day. Dissenters’ Chapel & Gallery, 391 Ladbroke Grove W10 5AA/Harrow Rd W10 4RA. Tours, displays, refreshments, stalls, incl. Willesden Local History Society.

Sunday 5th July, 2.30pm. Heath & Hampstead Society. Meet outside Parliament Hill Cafe, nr the Lido off Gordon Rd, Gospel Oak NW5). Treasures of the Heath: Clues to the Landscape and its History. Walk led by Deborah Wolton, approx. 2 hrs. Donation £3.
Other Societies’ Events (continued)

Sat. 11th-Sun. 26th July. Festival of Archaeology at Museum of London, EC2Y 5HN. Tours & events. See www.museumoflondon.org.uk & www.archaeologyfestival.org.uk. Tel 020 7001 9844.

Sat. 11th & Sun. 12th July. Enfield Archaeological Society. Dig at Theobalds Palace, Cheshunt. Contact Mike Dewbrey on 01707 873756 or see www.enfarchsoc.org.

Tuesday 14th-Sunday19th July. Enfield Archaeological Society. Dig at Elsyng Palace, Forty Hall, Enfield. Details as above.

Saturday 15th July, 9am. Barnet Museum & Local History Society. Coach outing to Greenwich. Tel 01707 858430 or 020 8440 8066 for more info. All welcome. Cost £15.

Saturday 18th July. Festival of Archaeology. COLAS at the Museum of London. Object handling, activities, games, etc.

Saturday 18th July, 9.30-11.30am & Sunday 19th July, 10am-12noon. Festival of Archaeology, Thames Discovery Programme at Tower Beach. Beachcombing on the foreshore, opp. The Tower.

Sunday 19th July, 12-5pm. Avenue House (Stephen’s House & Gardens) Summer Garden Party. Lots of stalls, incl. HADAS, live music, food at House & Cafe. Free admission.

Friday 24th July, 7pm. COLAS: The City Bridges Annual Walk. Meet at church of All Hallows by the Tower. Led by Peter Smith. £4.

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE PROGRAMME 2015

Tuesday 10 February 2015 An Assorted History of Singapore: featuring the Mill

Hill connection & the Five Foot Way – Rob Kayne

Tuesday 10 March 2015 To be announced.

Tuesday 14 April 2015 Excavations by Pre-Construct Archaeology at the former Inglis Barracks – talk by Ian Cipin.

Tuesday 12 May 2015 Robert Stephenson (CoLAS Member)

The Knights Templar and their London Connections

Tuesday 9 June 2015 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Tuesday 13 October 2015 Dr Caroline Cartwright Scientific Methods in Archaeology

Tuesday 10 November 2015 The History of The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). Speaker to be advised.

Lectures are held at Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley, N3 3QE, and start promptly at 8 pm, with coffee/tea and biscuits afterwards. Non-members: £1. Buses 82, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central station (Northern Line), is a 5-10 minute walk away.

Sunday Mornings at Avenue (Stephens) House…

Continue in the usual vein for post-excavation work. We are now well established in our new basement room, with plenty of racking space already well filled with finds for storage and processing, and books and journals for reference. Much time has been spent on further processing medieval greyware pottery from the Pinner kiln site, with some sorting of the comparable material from Arkley currently being studied in the Wednesday evening classes led by Jacqui Pearce also.

Study identifies prevalence of rickets among 16th century sailors –

New laser technology investigates bones of sailors who perished on Henry VIII’s ship.

(With thanks to Bill Bass for this one) – note the local (Stanmore) connection…

The bones of sailors who sailed on Henry VIII’s Mary Rose ship have been analysed at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) in Stanmore, North London as part of a study by University College London (UCL), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and The Mary Rose Trust.

The Mary Rose was King Henry VIII’s flagship before it sank in battle on the 19th July 1545, resulting in over four hundred men losing their lives. The environment of the Solent meant that the ship and the sailors were preserved in silt, which helped to keep them in remarkably good condition. The sailors’ bones were analysed with Raman spectroscopy, a pioneering, non-destructive laser technology, to identify evidence of bone disease. The application of Raman spectroscopy to the study of bone diseases in historical populations was novel and the work has been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Two sets of tibia bones were obtained from The Mary Rose Trust, bones that appeared anatomically healthy and bones that were abnormal in shape. The deformations in the abnormal bones were suspected to be due to a metabolic bone disease such as rickets (the poor diet of the average person in the 1500s would have increased the prevalence of rickets). The results of the Raman study confirmed that the abnormally shaped bones did in fact have chemical abnormalities. The Raman technique shows potential as a tool for understanding the presence and prevalence of metabolic bone disease in historical populations and may have a place in modern-day detection of the condition, with reports earlier in 2014 warning that Britain is seeing a return of Tudor-era diseases.

Dr. Jemma Kerns, RAMAN Clinical Study Manager at UCL and RNOH, one of the scientists who conducted the study, commented: “This is the first time that this laser technology has been used to study bone disease in archaeological human bone. We have identified chemical changes in the bones, without damaging them. There is strong evidence to suggest that many of the sailors had suffered from childhood rickets and we hope to apply the Raman technique to the study of modern day rickets.” Alex Hildred, Curator of Human Remains at the Mary Rose Trust added: “The Mary Rose Trust has the responsibility for the remains of over 179 individuals who perished with the ship. Their provenance is absolute; they represent the crew of an English warship in July 1545. The human remains have potential to make a contribution to the public through research, education, display and interpretation. Their use to confirm the presence and prevalence of metabolic bone disease in the 16th century is one of these contributions.”

The RAMAN study, led by Professor Allen Goodship, was funded as part of a £1.7 million grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The bones were measured in a laser facility at the Institute of Orthopaedics UCL. The ‘normal’ bones that were analysed as part of the study were supplied by the Vesalius Centre at the University of Bristol.

Source: www.maryrose.org

CROMER ROAD DIG 2014 Jim Nelhams

During June 2014, we held a dig on the playing fields at Cromer Road School, New Barnet (see report by Bill Bass in November newsletter). Much of the preparation was undertaken by Sarah Dhanjal, who prepared workbooks and visited the school several times to talk to the children.

On the final visit, after the dig had been completed, Sarah was accompanied by Professor Stephen Shennan, Director of the Institute of Archaeology at UCL, who presented the children involved with certificates to record their work. As seen in the picture, the dig was blessed with good weather, a reward for those who freely and voluntarily gave their time.

The following comments have been received from the school staff and children, showing how much they appreciated our efforts:-

“Involving our school with HADAS was an enlightening and exciting experience. Staff, children, governors and parents all became involved and it was a real community event. The amazing pleasure witnessed on the children’s faces when they found hidden objects was a delight and gave us all a sense of history and awe and wonder. I would recommend them without hesitation.”

Helen Schmitz, Headteacher, Cromer Road School

“HADAS provided a unique experience for both myself and my class of 30 Year 5 children. In my 11 years of teaching, working alongside HADAS to carry out an archaeological dig of an area of the school grounds, stands out as one of those enriching learning moments where all children were inspired and where history and geography were brought to life in a very real way. I remember as a child the enjoyment that came from digging and excavating as a way to explore the world available to me and can only wish I had the experience that HADAS provided when I was at school. I would thoroughly recommend them to any school.”

The dig team at rest

Timothy Eke, Year 5 Teacher, Cromer Road School.

The experience my year 5 class had with HADAS was not only inspiring but practical in a way that enabled children of all abilities to access the learning and also brought to life other aspects of the curriculum. For example, measuring perimeter and area, utilising ‘real equipment’, enabled children who sometimes have difficulty in the classroom setting, to see the relevance of these in a real life situation and this moved their learning forward. The team were well organised and their enthusiasm had a huge impact on the children. I would definitely recommend HADAS to other schools.’ Sharon Brennan, Year 5 Teacher, Cromer Road School.

And some comments from the children:-

“So thanks to you, we now know so much more about our school based on the amazing things we found.”

“I have learnt so much in the time you were here and I have gotten more into archaeology. I hope you come again.”

“I really liked that we were learning about how people were living years ago.”

“Thank you all for your help. All of my class loved it and so did I.”

FOOTNOTE — HADAS always tries to reinstate dig sites as near as possible to the way we found them. This includes packing down the earth before replacing the turf. For those unfamiliar with this process, Roger Chapman produced a short video which can be viewed at

http://youtu.be/a5mSMxPZpmU A footnote indeed.

First Lecture of 2015 Jo Nelhams (Secretary)

Many thanks to all those members who attended the first lecture ’The Roman Fortifications in Northern France and their Social Implications’ despite travel difficulties due to the bus strike. The Romans still have their ‘pulling power’ and it was good to see members and meet some, whom we do not see on a regular basis.

JANUARY LECTURE REPORT – LATE ROMAN FORTIFICATIONS AND THEIR SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS – An Interpretation based on Northern France, by Dr. James Bromwich (report by Andy Simpson)

This was a well-illustrated, highly entertaining and thought provoking presentation that got me thinking about all sorts of contrasts and parallels between Gaul and Britannia. The detailed handouts provided to the audience were most useful, too!

With no guidebooks previously available on the remains and defences of Roman Gaul, Dr. Bromwich has now written three since 1996, the latest in 2014 on Brittany, Normandy and the Loire region. In this area ramparts – walled defences – tended to be small, but widespread. The early Roman history of the Imperial provinces covers the time of Augustus, c. 27BC, to Constantine, c.300AD. The Late Empire covers the period 300 to 460 AD, with the collapse of Roman society in the area in the face of ‘Barbarian’ invasions and settlement.

He looked in detail at Nimes and Autun. The ramparts of Roman Nimes, a Civitas (tribal) capital, date to around 15BC, and enclose some 230 hectares, being some 7 km long and enclosing virtually all of the Roman settlement. Some 50-60 hollow circular towers stood in front of the 2m-thick wall, and the deliberately imposing, but possibly non-military La Tour Magne overlooked the ramparts. Similarly imposing was the gate – La Porte d’Auguste.

Autun has 6km of ramparts enclosing all of the Roman town including parts seemingly never built in/occupied. Its circular towers stood astride the wall. The gate, La Porte St-André, reminded AS of the Balkern Gate at Colchester, with its twin main arches flanked by pedestrian archway entrances, with an open gallery above. Comparable in size to the Porta Nigra at Trier. Reims had an earthen rampart but stone gates. It may be that these ramparts were not seriously defensible but were a symbol of Imperial Power. In the 1st – 2nd century AD, the Roman Army fought in the open and didn’t think they needed real defence beyond marching camps and narrow-walled forts as night protection from minor enemies.

The speaker considered the extent and length of fortifications, rampart construction and thickness, tower design and spacing, gate design and military effectiveness. A 2m thick wall did not give a wall walk wide enough for two men to pass easily. Walls of this period often lack deep foundations, not being built to last, with towers spaced at 70m- 90m intervals, too wide for adequate flanking fire, reducing their military effectiveness. These walls were perhaps designed more to assert the prestige and status of the settlement and show the adoption of the new Roman order, which later became less relevant as the Gauls Romanised and became Gallo-Romans.

Late Roman characteristics, on the other hand, featured, in Northern France, widespread and much stronger defences, but with much reduced rampart lengths.

These were sometimes miniscule – less than 1 km, enclosing a core area of just 10-11 ha compared to the early period 200 ha. Walls were thicker – up to 3m – permitting defenders to pass one another on the wall walk.

Small facing blocks (petit appareil) faced a rubble core set in very strong cement, built over foundation courses of large stone blocks (grand appareil) often robbed from earlier monuments, tombs and buildings, as found in the late Roman defences of London and elsewhere in the province of Britannia. Gates had just two arched entrances and flanking towers for better defence, with less emphasis on appearance. Who actually paid for this is unclear, although the army may have provided military engineers in an advisory capacity. As the culmination of a troubled third century, ramparts were the last major public investments in Roman Gaul.

At Bavay, only the forum was walled, an area of barely 2ha. This may reflect social transformation, as described below. The walls of Sens featured the characteristic tile courses, and the ornate façade of the baths was demolished and incorporated into the wall foundations as ‘remploi’, for parts to be recovered in modern times and reconstructed in a museum. Here the walls enclosed 34ha – less than the area of the Roman town. At Le Mans, famous for other things these days, the highly decorated walls enclosed 9ha, being the finest ramparts in Northern France, with some stretches surviving to wall walk level, with solid tower bases. As at London, many tombstones were robbed and incorporated into the wall, with a 90m wide swathe being cleared of earlier buildings to build the walls.

There were very few forts built, exceptions being at Jublains and the coastal defences at Brest; at Jublains the priority was to enclose a granary and two baths complexes, but gaps at the two gates suggest the site was never finished, being constructed c. 270 – 280AD, the same as Le Mans, leaving a theatre, baths etc. outside the walls and undefended. In Northern France in the later period, security was paramount; public buildings were no longer crucial to being Gallo-Roman. Occupation evidence in extra-mural areas indicates significant abandonment, though some occupation did continue. For example at Rennes, 4th century construction included a new road, but old cemeteries were abandoned. Who actually lived in these walled towns? Possibly an elite, army generals or church officials such as Bishops, as well as storing the all-important annona – tax in kind to feed the army. Churches and Bishops appeared from the time of Emperor Constantine after his conversion to Christianity, and in the 390s Christianity became compulsory. However, evidence is thin for churches in 4th/5th century towns and even thinner in the countryside. The Gallic church held regular meetings attended by Bishops, of whom there were less than half a dozen – not all towns had a resident Bishop. There are few villas in Northern Gaul, in contrast to the large numbers found in SW France and the English Cotswolds, for instance. At Amboise, there was third century abandonment, fourth century squatter occupation and fifth century quarrying for building materials; indeed, by around AD300, some 70% of NW French villas were abandoned – a good century before many British examples.

In both countries the actual villa estates frequently continued, possibly to reflect modern local and parish boundaries in some instances. At Viel, a 240ha sacred sanctuary was the largest in NW France, with a huge bath complex which was out of use by the third century. From this time many such sanctuaries declined or went out of use.

The Empire in the third century underwent epidemics of disease, economic and military crisis, with endless short-lived emperors in Rome, and separatist Gallic Empires that included Britannia that collapsed in the 270s. As state rule collapsed, the elite concentrated land ownership and protected themselves and seemingly withdrew from communal religion. They may have moved to the towns, or, it has been suggested, even to Britannia. The town of Sens was even renamed; the link between civitas towns and the surrounding tribal countryside broke down. There was no new public building.

New churches were tiny and not of cathedral scale. From the 290s on there was civil unrest with the bagaudae – peasant insurgents – roaming the countryside attacking and looting. This made it easier perhaps to rebel, and even accept invasion by Germanic tribes, when the poor were abandoned by the moneyed class and ceremonies and festivals no longer shared by all classes as they had been in the open society of pre-Roman times. There was a fundamental change in religious practice and perhaps belief, with an integrated Gallo-Roman religious mix no longer the cement holding society together, being replaced by a narrow local mix of religious beliefs and practices. Even today, the emphasis in France is on your own very local area – the Pays.

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS compiled by Eric Morgan

Wednesday 18th February, 7.30pm. Willesden Local History Society, St Mary’s Church Hall, Neasden Lane, NW10 2TS (nr Magistrate’s Court). Brents’ Brent Talk by Margaret Pratt & Cliff Wadsworth (W.L.H.S). On the long history of the river.

Friday 20th February Wembley Local History Society NB – talk starts at 7.30, Indians in the Trenches – the contribution they made in World War I

Talk by J Sohal. Visitors £2.

Thursday 26th February, 2.30pm. Finchley Society, Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Road N3 3QE. Medieval Middlesex – The Archaeological Remains Talk by Adam Corsini (Collections Manager for M.O.L at L.A.A.R.C) Non-members £2. The talk will mainly focus on the archaeology found at South Mimms, and may include findings of an excavation in Regents Park Road as well.

Monday 9th March, 3pm. Barnet Museum & Local History Society, Church House, Wood St, Barnet (opposite museum). Nursing in the First World War Talk by Susan Cohen. Visitors £2.

Wednesday 11th March, 2.30pm. Mill Hill Historical Society, Trinity Church, The Broadway, NW7. Pharmacy – The Journey from Art to Science Talk by Michael Beaman Preceded by AGM.

Wednesday 18th March, 7.30pm. Willesden Local History Society, St Mary’s Church Hall, Neasden Lane, NW10 2TS. The Archivist’s Work Talk by Stephanie Alder (Heritage Collections Manager at Brent Museum & Archives).

Saturday 21st March, 11am – 5.30pm. LAMAS Archaeological Conference Weston Theatre, Museum of London, London Wall, EC2Y 5HN. Recent Work (a.m.) and Recent Finds Research (p.m.). See www.lamas.org.uk/conferences. HADAS hope to have a table there. Early Bird tickets £10.00 pre-1 March, otherwise £15.00.

Wednesday 25th March, 7.45pm. Friern Barnet & District Local History Society, North Middx Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane N20 0NL. The National Census – A look at a house in Clerkenwell. Talk by Marlene McAndrew Visitors £2. Refreshments & bar open before & after talk.

Thursday 26th March, 8pm. Finchley Society, Drawing Room, Avenue House. Hustings Event – Meeting With General Election Candidates or their representatives. If you wish to submit a question to the panel, please send it to the Editor of the Finchley Society’s Newsletter: Rosemary Coates, 38 Lyndhurst Ave, N2 0LU. E-mail finsoceditor@hotmail.co.uk or call 0208 3681620 by 1st March.

With thanks to this month’s contributors; Bill Bass; Eric Morgan; Jim Nelhams; Jo Nelhams

Hendon and District Archaeological Society Lecture Programme 2015

Tuesday 13th January, 8pm. Late Roman Fortifications in Northern France and their Social Implications. Lecture by Dr.James Bromwich. Author of a number of excellent guide books on the archaeology of France.

Tuesday 10th February 2015 To be announced

Tuesday 10th March 2015 To be announced.

Tuesday 14th April 2015 Excavations by Pre-Construct Archaeology at the former Inglis Barracks by Ian Cipin

Tuesday 12th May 2015 Robert Stephenson The Knights Templar and their London connections

Tuesday 9th June 2015 Annual General meeting

Tuesday 13th October To be announced

Tuesday 10th November To be announced

All the above events, unless otherwise stated, will be held at Avenue House (part of StephensHouse & Gardens), 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE, starting at 8pm, with tea/coffee and biscuits afterwards. Non-members are welcome (£1.00). Buses 82, 125, 143, 326 and 460 pass nearby and it is a 10 minute walk from Finchley Central Station (Northern Line).

Newsletter Editor desperately sought! Sue Willetts

Each month of the year a different HADAS member edits this monthly Newsletter, helped and supervised by Sue Willetts and Mary Rawitzer. We have 11 editors. We need one more.

It’s not difficult, involving mainly putting together items sent by others, though editors’ original articles are also welcome. We supply a helpful hints document and there’s always back-up. Someone out there with a computer: Your Society Needs You!

Contact: Sue (sue.willetts@london.ac.uk)
Christmas Party 2014 – Sorry no room for photographs in this issue!

This was the fourth time this event has been held. Thirty-five members attended which was fewer than in previous years, but still a good number. It was lovely to see some members at the party who, for various reasons, have been unable to participate in other activities of the Society.

Avenue House did us proud with a splendid buffet lunch, followed later with coffees and tea with mince pies. Also Liz (the Chairman’s wife) again made two lovely cakes, one fruit and one Madeira, to celebrate the occasion.

The entertainment consisted of a table quiz based on the First World War, which provided a bit of ‘head scratching’ The raffle had a myriad of prizes donated by various members including ‘The Roman Wine’!!!

Finally Jo and Jim Nelhams provided another musical offering, the sad story of ‘The Goslings’ and reminiscences of being a Wolf Cub and a Brownie. Also the imaginative reactions of the lady who received the presents listed in the carol ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas.’ The lady was not amused!!!

An enjoyable afternoon was had by all, but without the support of the members these events would not happen. Many thanks to all who came.

Obituary for Brian McCarthy Peter Pickering

Brian McCarthy died on 22nd November six weeks before his 83rd birthday. Archaeology (especially Egyptology, and the Romans) was one of the many serious interests of his life. He had been a member of HADAS for over forty years; I remember being driven home by him when we used to have lectures in Hendon Library. He dug with us on various sites, and also dug at St Albans and at Southwark Cathedral. He served on our Committee for a period from 1988, and became our auditor in 1995. His career had been in HM Customs and Excise, dealing with VAT; no doubt he found the HADAS accounts simple in comparison. He had lived in Finchley all his life, and was a member of St. Mary-at-Finchley Church where the memorial service for him was held. He had been a magistrate working in the family court, and on Mental Health tribunals, and among his other interests were skiing, bee-keeping and wood-turning. He was also a steward at the Globe Theatre.

November Lecture – ‘A Hamlet in Hendon’ by Jacqui Pearce – P. Pickering
Our November lecture was given by Jacqui Pearce, who is tutor of the HADAS finds group, and one of the principal authors of our recently published book with the same title as her talk. The class Jacqui has been taking had its origin in the belief of our then Chairman, Andrew Selkirk, that an amateur archaeological society, with proper professional support, could bring to publication the material and records preserved from excavations carried out in the second half of the last century. How right he was!

Jacqui explained how the Finds Group began as a class under the auspices of

Birkbeck College, and first worked on the excavation of Church End Farm, directed by Ian Robertson, which was published as ‘The Last Hendon Farm’. The Group then became independent of Birkbeck College, and undertook a bigger task – working over the archive left by our late Vice-Chairman, Ted Sammes, who excavated Church Terrace in 1973-74 in advance of the building of the Meritage Centre. Ted had described the dig in our newsletter, and published some of the most important finds in our booklet ‘Pinning Down the Past’, but never produced a full report.

Jacqui explained the difficulties in bringing to publication an archive which has suffered some attrition over the years and is from an excavation carried out according to principles which were the best at that time, but which have now been superseded. At that time excavation was spit-by-spit, with finds recorded by depth, rather than the single-context recording now the rule. That meant the Group had to expend a lot of effort in working out the stratigraphic relationships of the finds. Members of the Group also used evidence from old maps and pictures to find out about the lives of those who lived on the site, and drank at the Greyhound pub, especially in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is clear that the people who lived on the site in recent centuries were in modest circumstances, but far from destitute, and possessed some attractive trinkets. Jacqui showed more recent pictures too – the older members in the audience recognised some of the diggers.

The lecture took us through the whole history of the site, from the flints left by hunter-gatherers, through the large number of Roman pottery sherds (probably from agriculture, since there was no trace of a Roman structure) and the strong evidence of a Saxon presence (which would have gladdened the heart of our founder, Themistocles Constantinides), to the conquest period greyware pottery. Pottery continues through the mediaeval period, with a reduction after the thirteenth century, which it is tempting to connect with the Black Death (though that does not seem to have hit Hendon hard). Jacqui had slides of some of the pottery sherds which were found; very helpfully she added illustrations of complete pots of the same type and fabric from the collections of the Museum of London; for a moment, before I realised what was happening, I thought ‘Did HADAS really find such impressive things?’. From the eighteenth century onwards there is evidence of buildings as well as pottery and small finds; perhaps most interestingly, a pit containing bottles, probably thrown away by the landlord of the Greyhound. There were many intriguing small finds – an artillery officer’s button, an Ally Sloper pipe, Lamplough’s pyretic saline – each with a story to tell. Jacqui also showed us the three graves which were found but vandalised over one night; why were they buried outside, but so near to, the churchyard?

Jacqui’s lecture was admirably clear, going into just about the right amount of detail, and her slides were very attractive. I could say much more, but rather urge you to READ THE BOOK, from cover to cover, which you must if you were not at the lecture and want to know who Ally Sloper was.

All right, I know you have read it, but you may know someone who hasn’t. It is ABSOLUTELY FREE as one of HADAS’s many benefits to members.

HADAS Members at Pinner
Since the beginning of October 2014 HADAS members have been spending two days a week at Gunnersbury Park Museum helping to record the finds from the medieval kiln site at Potters Street Hill, Pinner, excavated in 1975. There are not many medieval kiln sites recorded in Greater London and this site which is dated to 1280 has by far the largest quantity of medieval pottery sherds and is therefore an important reference site. The finds from this excavation have been stored in the cellar at Gunnersbury Park Museum for many years. They were probably stored there because the now defunct West London Archaeological Field Group processed the sherds there and there the sherds stayed. Alison Laws of the Museum of London was also involved.

Gunnersbury Park Museum is “supported” by Ealing and Hounslow boroughs, but the excavation took place in Harrow. A recent Heritage Lottery Fund grant is going towards the refurbishment of the house and museum – see Hounslow web site:

http://www.hounslow.info/arts-culture/historic-houses-museums/gunnersbury-park-museum/ for full details of the project.

The consequence is that they need to find a new home for the Pinner finds. These finds have languished in the cellar at Gunnersbury for a long time and are not in a good state – the boxes (some the original ones from the dig in 1975) are rotten, damp and vermin eaten. It was decided to reprocess them to current MOLA standards, recording, re-bagging, boxing and re-labeling. Richmond Archaeological Society (RAS) and HADAS have volunteered to do this task, supervised by Jacqui Pearce of MOLA who was given a 10- day project in support. There were 148 boxes of pottery sherds which needed to be identified, measured, weighed, recorded, bagged and relabelled, to be completed by 27th November.

Initially there was nowhere for the bulk of reprocessed finds to go. There was a suggestion that Harrow museum would take some, but the museum itself appears to be under threat and it is possible that they won’t be able to take any. The rest would have gone to landfill had it not finally been decided that MOLA would collect all reboxed sherds on or after the 27th November.

It seemed likely that the task would not be completed by the 27th November, and therefore HADAS will probably bring the remainder to Avenue House on a temporary basis to complete the processing.

Unfortunately the limited timescale has, of necessity, curtailed the scope of detailed recording of the data from this site. However, with the finds safe and a database of as much data as we have managed to record. The sherds from Pinner Medieval pottery kiln live on to be further analysed another day.

The project is of special interest to HADAS, as our finds class is currently processing the relatively small amount of medieval pottery sherds (8 boxes) from a medieval kiln at Arkley, kindly lent to us by Barnet Museum, again under the direction, tuition and supervision of Jacqui Pearce. It is hoped that we will be able to do chemical and thin section analysis on both sites to establish the source of the clay and the tempering used. A comparison of the forms of vessels thrown at these sites will tell us more about the sorts of pottery being used in what is now the North London area in the 13th century.

Thanks are due to all the volunteers involved: From RAS: Fred & Dot Flemen, George &

Yvonne Masson; from HADAS: Sigrid Padel, Geraldine Missig, Fiona Haughey, John

Marshall, Liz Gapp, Bill Bass, Mary Salton, Don Cooper; and two other volunteers Helena Costas and Lynne Darwood. Of course there was also Jacqui Pearce, without whose help this project would not have been possible.

Notice about a Taster course on Archaeology at the City Lit

by Jill Hummerstone.

Saturday 25th January- Price from £15. This is a fun and informative day, and a chance to get to grips with some real finds. This could be your opportunity to introduce friends and family to the joys of archaeology, or brush up on your own interests http://www.citylit.ac.uk/ Temple of Mithras oral history project.
Did you visit the excavations in 1954? If so the project team would like to hear from you. The project marks 60 years since the discovery of the Roman Temple of Mithras. The excavation captivated public imagination with an estimated 400,000 people visiting the site to glimpse the remains. The project plans to celebrate the memories, ephemera and pictures of the visitors. oralhistory@mola.org.uk or tel. 020 7410 2266.

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS Eric Morgan
Wednesday 28th January, 7.45pm, Friern Barnet and District Local History Society, North Middx. Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL. The History of Shredded Wheat Cards, Talk by Colin Barratt. Visitors £2. Refreshments.

Sunday 1st February, 10.30am Heath and Hampstead Society. Meet between the Old

Kitchen Garden & English Heritage Staff Yard, East of Kenwood House, off Hampstead

Lane, N6. The Hidden Heath. Walk led by Michael Hammerson. 2 hours. Donation £3.00

Monday 9th February, 3.00pm. Barnet Museum and Local History Society. Church House, Wood Street, Barnet (opposite the Museum). Friern Hospital. Talk by David Berguer (Chair Friern Barnet & District LHS.) Visitors £2.

Wednesday 11th February, 2.30pm. Mill Hill Historical Society, Trinity Church, The Broadway NW7. History of Chelsea Physic Garden. Talk by Letta Jones.

Wednesday 18th February, 7.30pm. Islington Archaeology & History Society, Islington

Town Hall, Upper St, N1 2UD. The Caledonian Park Clock Tower Project. Talk by Chris Harriades. A study to prepare for conservation plans of this Grade II listed tower found ‘significant archaeological potential’ including the possible remains of Copenhagen House. Visitors £1.00

Thursday 19th February, 7.30pm. Camden History Society. Burgh House, New End Sq. NW3 1LT. What Happened to the Heath after 1871? Talk by Helen Marcus. Visitors

£1.00

Friday 20th February, 6.30pm, Wembley History Society, English Martyrs’ Hall, Chalkhill Rd, Wembley HA9 9EW (top of Blackbird Hill). Indians in the Trenches: the contribution they made in WWI. Talk by J. Sohal. Visitors £2.

Friday 20th February, 6.30pm. Friends of the Petrie Museum, UCL Lecture Theatre, Institute of Archaeology, 31-34 Gordon Sq. The Ancient Egyptian Demonology Project.
Rescuing History: The American Research Centre in Egypt’s efforts to record Sheikh Abdel Quma. Talk by Andrew Bednarski.

Wednesday 25th February, 7.45pm. Friern Barnet & District Local History Society. Address see 28th Jan event. A Look at John Betjeman. Talk by Terence Atkins. Visitors £2.Refreshments / bar.