Past Newsletters

No. 521 AUGUST 2014 Edited by Stephen Brunning

HADAS DIARY 2014

Saturday 2nd August. 10am-4pm. Getting to grips with pots & pipes: the archaeology of everyday artefacts from Saxon times to Queen Victoria. Day workshop at Stephens House & Gardens. Please see July 2014 newsletter or website for details and how to book. It is not too late!

Sunday 3rd August 1.30pm. “A Hamlet in Hendon: The archaeology and history of Church End from excavations at Church Terrace, 1973-74”. Book launch at The Greyhound Public House for HADAS members and invited guests. Please see July newsletter or contact Jo Nelhams for more details.

Tuesday 8th October at 8pm: Finding Neanderthal tools in Norfolk cliffs. Lecture by Dr Nick Ashton of the British Museum.

Tuesday 11th November at 8pm: A Hamlet in Hendon –the Church Terrace site from the Mesolithic to the 21st century. Lecture by Jacqui Pearce. Jacqui is one of the principal authors of our latest book, and tutor of the HADAS Finds Group whose work over many years resulted in the publication of the 1973/74 excavations.

Sunday 7th December: Christmas Party 12 noon – 4.30 pm (approx.) Details coming soon.

All the above events unless otherwise stated will be held at Stephens House & Gardens (formerly Avenue House), 17 East End Road, Finchley, N3 3QE. Lectures start promptly at 8.00 pm, with coffee /tea and biscuits afterwards. Non-members welcome to the lectures (£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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Membership Renewals – a reminder. Stephen Brunning.

Many thanks to everyone those who has paid their subscription. At the time of writing however 28 members have still to do so. If you intend to renew this year, I would be grateful to receive payment by 1st September 2014 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 March’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.

The House Mill, Miller’s House and Clock Mill. Jim Nelhams

The lecture on 8th April 2014 by Brian James Strong and Beverley Charters was advertised as “House Mill and its restoration”. On our return journey from the trip to Kent, we were able to fit in a visit and learn more about this important site. The write-up below is an amalgamation of the lecture and our visit.

Thanks to Vicki Baldwin and Harry and Marilyn Burgess.

Last but not least on our holiday jaunt, was our visit to Three Mills Island on our homeward journey. As some HADAS members may recollect, Three Mills Island was featured at the April meeting, so it was good to visit the site so soon afterwards.

Upon our arrival at the mill, the group assembled in the visitor’s information centre where we were afforded hot drinks, and given a brief overview of the site. We then split into two groups and were taken on a tour of the mill by our knowledgeable, enthusiastic guides.

“Probably the largest tidal mill in the world”. The House Mill is a Grade 1 listed 18th century tidal mill. It is located on a man-made island 1 mile north of the confluence of the River Lea and the Thames at Blackwall. Milling had taken place in the area for over 1000 years and mills are recorded in Domesday. These would have been watermills, as windmills were not introduced until later and the area was known as Three Mills from Medieval times. As a result of the Dissolution of the Monasteries the mills, part of Stratford Langthorne Abbey, were sold. It is known that they milled flour for the bakers of Stratford who provided bread for the City of London. Flour was not the only product. In 1588 the milling of gunpowder for use against the Armada was recorded.

In 1728 the mills were part of the distilling industry and were run by the Huguenot Peter Lefebvre. Coopers and carpenters also worked on the site which had its own piggery utilising the waste products from the distilling. By 1776 Daniel Bison was in charge and he and his son built the House, so-called because it was set between their two houses. Both Bisons died in 1777 and the mill passed into the ownership of Philip Metcalfe, a friend of Samuel Johnson. In 1802 the mill was burned down but then rebuilt. Following the death of Metcalfe in 1819 the mill was neglected until taken over by Nicholson’s Gin in 1872. The two stages of distilling gin were not allowed to take place on the same site and the raw spirit was stored “in bond” until taken elsewhere for rectifying.

At its point of maximum use, the House Mill had 4 waterwheels running 12 pairs of millstones. The nearby Clock Mill had 3 wheels running 6 pairs of stones. Production was in shifts, using the power of the river on the ebb tides, with milling for 6-8 hours per tide compared to a steam engine which could work for 24 hours. Production continued on the site, and also pig farming was introduced with up to 5000 pigs being kept in its heyday. The site was eventually owned by Nicholson’s Distillery, and the mill was last operational in 1941, when the area was bombed during the Second World War. An unlikely tale tells that the River Lea burned for a week due to the barrels of spirits from the bonded warehouse. Probably not, though!

Sadly, the mill then fell into disrepair, and became derelict. A number of the millstones were removed in the 1950’s as they were valuable and were sold to the cosmetics industry. The battle to prevent demolition began in the 1970’s, and since 1986 it has been owned by the River Lea Tidal Mill Trust.

The Trust began work in 1989 to preserve the mill and rebuild the miller’s house. While the area was being prepared, the original marble and Portland stone floor of the miller’s house was discovered along with between 1,480 and 1,500 roof fragments. It was also found that the house and mill were built on an artificial island and the original piles from the 1763 house were uncovered. It appears that the piles had been driven in, planks laid on top and then the brick walls were constructed!

The mill building has now been fully restored. The House Mill has been afforded English Heritage Grade 1 listed status.

The 5-floor mill itself is of timber frame construction with brick cladding. Some of the timbers had been recycled from the hulls of old ships. The shape of these allowed the building to flex and probably contributed to its survival.

The mill has a 19th century Poncelet waterwheel with curved float and Fairbairn’s “Silent Millstone Machinery”. These were still in use in the 1930s, and apparently use gravity and centrifugal force thus dispensing with the “damsel”. It cannot be claimed that Fairbairn (1789-1874) actually installed the system, but it is possibly the only surviving example. In addition there is the Pattern Store containing a complete set of wooden patterns – all recorded but not all the functions are known.

The House Mill remains a reminder of the vibrant industrial heritage of the River Lea and the Thames. There is still much that the Trust wishes to do to realise their plans for the House Mill. At present it offers a fascinating glimpse into the past and “probably the largest tidal mill in the world” is well worth a visit.

The area of the East End of London has since had an enormous regeneration project, in preparation for hosting the 2012 Olympic Games. As a result, the River Lea is no longer fully tidal, as a dam was put in place, prior to new housing being built.

The House Mill has been given a £2.65 million grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund, to restore the machinery of the mill and provide wider community benefits.

For HADAS members wishing to visit the site, it is just a short walk from Bromley-by-Bow underground station. Tours are conducted on Sunday from May to October. A word of caution; call before visiting, as the site is manned by volunteers, and on a previous visit Jim had found them closed on arrival.

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Local History Lovers Needed

James Pollard 1792–1867 The ‘Tally-Ho’ London – Birmingham Stage Coach Passing Whittington College, Highgate (1836)

Arts depot will celebrate its 10th birthday in October 2014 and has embarked upon an ambitious heritage project, Tally Ho: A Place to Meet, in partnership with the Finchley Society, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. We are looking for members of the community to help bring this project to life by feeding into an exhibition and oral history archive focused on two periods in the history of the artsdepot site – The Tally Ho Coach Company (early 19th century) and the Gaumont Cinema (1937-1980).

We need local History Lovers

Do you have photos, posters, ticket stubs, programmes or other materials relevant to the history of the Gaumont Cinema or the Tally Ho Coach Company?

We want to hear your story

We’re looking for willing volunteers to take part in oral history interviews, which will be contributed to local archives. Do you have memories about the Gaumont Cinema that you would like to share?

If the answer to any of these questions is YES, please contact the heritage project team to discuss how you can get involved.

You can reach us at:

Email: Project.manager@artsdepot.co.uk Telephone: 020 8369 5462 (Tuesdays and Thursdays)

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HADAS Long Outing to Kent. Day one: Canterbury.

In the Footsteps of Pilgrims Kevin McSharry

Sunday 29th June and the intrepid Hadasians sallied forth from the fastness of Barnet to follow in the footsteps of Pilgrims to Canterbury, their base during their exploration of the County of Kent over the next five days. Appropriately, their first port of call was the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ at Canterbury, to give its full and proper title, which has been a place and centre of Christian worship since the time of the Romans.

The etymology of the name Canterbury can be clearly traced in the successive variants of the name: It was an important pre-Roman centre for the local Celtic tribe the Cantiaci; Durovernum Cantiacorum was the Roman name; and Cantwareburgh the old English. The word cathedral comes from the Latin Cathedra = seat i.e. the seat or base of a bishop.

It is said that from the tiny acorn a great oak grows; and so it certainly was in the case of Canterbury. In 597 CE the Benedictine monk Augustine, at the behest of Pope St. Gregory (the first of sixteen of that name and often called Gregory the Great), led a mission to the pagan king of Kent Aethelbert and his Christian wife Bertha. Augustine’s mission was to bring Christianity to Kent and beyond. Thus from an acorn sown in the soil of Kent in 597 CE did the National and International importance of Canterbury spring. It is an amazing story.

Augustine was the first Archbishop of Canterbury and Justin Welby, Augustine’s successor is the 105th Archbishop and Primate of England. The Church of England, focused on the See of Canterbury, is regarded as the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the Archbishop of Canterbury, the symbolic head of that Communion. There are 37 Provinces, covering 165 countries, in the Communion all linked by history and doctrine to Canterbury.

Let us not think that Christianity did not exist in Britain before Augustine. It did! – on the Celtic fringes but it had become isolated from the See of Peter in Rome.

Figure 1: Canterbury Cathedral

To do justice to the building that is Canterbury Cathedral (picture above) and the layers of history that
enfold it would take volumes. One could explore the Cathedral for days and even then barely peel back the layers of the history of this magnificent structure.

If Augustine was the first Archbishop to put Canterbury, as it were, on the National Map, it was Thomas Becket, the 39th Archbishop who saw it gain international prominence – at least in the context of Europe. Thomas achieved this by sacrificing his life in the heart of the Cathedral on the 29th day of December 1170 when he was assassinated by alleged emissaries of Henry II the Angevin King of England, Lord of Ireland and ruler of more than half of France. Thomas was proclaimed a martyr and within two years of his death canonised a saint. Thomas’s tomb became a shrine and an International Centre of Pilgrimage.

Figure 2: Geoffrey Chaucer

Our own Geoffrey Chaucer, father of English Literature, wrote of those pilgrims in his “Canterbury Tales”. Chaucer is a crucial figure in developing the legitimacy of English at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were French and Latin. Chaucer’s sister-in-law was Katherine Swynford, third wife of John of Gaunt and stepmother of Henry IV, also buried in the Cathedral, of whom we will hear more anon.

Becket’s shrine was dismantled and destroyed on the orders of Henry VIII. Nothing of its magnificence remains. The actual site of the martyrdom is a cross before which is a prie-dieu where on May 29th 1982 the Bishop of Rome, John Paul II, and the Bishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, knelt in prayer for the unity of Christendom.

Figure 3: the nave of Canterbury Cathedral looking towards the screen and quire

Two tombs in the Cathedral have echoes resonant of the Wars of the Roses, that dynastic internecine conflict. On the north side of Trinity Chapel, and directly adjacent to the site of the shrine of St. Thomas Becket, is the tomb of King Henry IV (Henry of Bolingbroke, Lincolnshire) the usurper Lancastrian King who deposed his first cousin Richard II and seized the throne of England for himself and his heirs. On the south side of the shrine lies Edward of Woodstock (later known as the Black Prince) Henry IV’s uncle and father of the deposed Richard II.

The Battle of Bosworth (22nd August 1485) brought closure to the dynastic war of the Red (Lancastrian) and White (Yorkist) Roses. However, memories of that Battle and the conflict of the Roses have headlined the news as the good people of Leicester prepare to give honourable burial to the last Plantagenet King, Richard III, in their Cathedral after he was discovered under a municipal car park.

Chichele Road in our own Cricklewood is a local connection with the Great Cathedral of Canterbury. Henry Chichele, 60th Archbishop of Canterbury (1363-1443) is also buried in the Cathedral by the upper choir. Chichele founded All Souls College Oxford, which, and I surmise, owned land in the Boroughs of Barnet and the adjacent Brent hence Chichele Road.

Figure 4: tomb of Henry Chichele

Henry Chichele is buried in a cadaver tomb which depicts his naked corpse on the lower level; while on the upper level he is shown resplendent in full archiepiscopal robes. The inscription on his tomb reads: “I was a pauper born then to primate raised. Now I am cut down and served up for worms. Behold my grave” – an accurate description except for “pauper” which was wide of the truth.

Canterbury Cathedral, headquarters of the Anglican Communion, lies in the heart of the City of Canterbury. The ecclesial prominence of the Cathedral is the raison d’être for Canterbury’s importance both on the national and international stage and the reason why pilgrims and tourists flock to this small provincial Home County city. Its prominence has caused it to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Cathedral was rightly our first port of call in the City of Canterbury, the base for our explorations of the Garden of England, Kent, and where we were comfortably housed in the well-appointed and excellent Best Western Hotel Barton Abbots. The Cathedral was the starting point of our explorations over the next five enjoyable, interesting and stimulating days.

(Sadly, our time in the Cathedral was truncated by a special service, and we were unable to schedule a return visit to do justice to this splendid building.)

St George’s Church Frances Radford

After arriving in Canterbury, the first building to strike one is a knapped flint and stone tower, all which is left of St George’s Church after the Baedeker night raid on the city on 1st June 1942. The plaque giving this information was placed here in 1992, the 50th anniversary of the bombing. Another plaque states that “Christopher Marlowe, dramatist, was baptised in the church 26 February 1564 and died at Deptford 30 May 1593” – a short life! Marlowe was assassinated in a tavern brawl possibly, so it is thought, either in a dispute over a bill or more likely due to his involvement in secret service activities.

Canterbury Cathedral Simon Williams

The Anglo-Saxon cathedral had been gutted by fire in 1067 and was a ruin. The first thing that Benedictine monk Lanfranc, later to become its Archbishop, did on his arrival in England in 1070 (with the backing of William the Conqueror) was to perform a re-build with Caen stone.

Archbishop Lanfranc’s Crypt (c.1120) by buggy (2014) Simon Williams

It was encouraging that there was a full-access disabled route. I was led by a kind guide round the east end of the Cathedral past substantial, intriguingly hidden, Dissolution ruins, and to the cloisters (1396-1420). Here was an enlightened crypt access entry point; no need to dismount from my disabled steed here or in the crypt itself; but I could drive straight in and around! Inside, the low-light and unhurried, uncrowded ambience was very atmospheric, which was enhanced by candlelight. Here plain short pillars give way to a flourish of fanciful capitals, including tumblers and caricatures of zoomorphic musicians, which were carved vigorously and energetically; those at the west end are the earliest cushion capitals in England. Surprisingly, original chancel columns and 7th century (or disputably 9th century) cross fragments from Reculver’s Saxon Church are also to be found within. St Gabriel’s Chapel (c. 1110) has a fine display of wall-paintings which were preserved by chance.

A special thanks to Jim for kindly arranging the hire, collection and return of the scooter from outstandingly helpful Finchley All-Mobility, together with our driver Gareth for the arduous task of knocking it down, re-assembling, and unloading/lifting it back into the coach at almost every stop of the holiday.

St Gabriel’s Chapel Dot Ravenswood

The beautiful wall-paintings in St Gabriel’s chapel are exceptionally well preserved because they are in an apse which was walled up in the late 12th century and only reopened in 1879. The arched recess is covered in biblical scenes painted in bright reds, blues and yellows, with figures holding explanatory banners. Some of the lettering on the banners is legible: the words “sed vocabitur… est nomen” help to identify one of the scenes as the Naming of John the Baptist. Canterbury Historical and Archaeology Society (CHAS) has photos and more information on its website: http://www.canterbury- archaeology.org.uk/#/frescoes/4567502887

Figure 5: one of the capitals in St Gabriel’s Chapel.

A Boat on the Stour Liz and Andrew Tucker

Whenever we go on holiday, if there is a river, seaside or Venetian canal nearby we always look for a boat trip. In Canterbury, it was a lovely sunny day for a trip along the river Stour. This river consists of a number of different branches. There was a choice between a punt and a rowing boat. We chose the rowing boat as being more stable.
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Setting off from a landing stage with a ducking stool by it, our own guide rowed us past various historic buildings, which reminded us even more of Venice, as they were mostly pizza restaurants. We had to duck as we went under some very low bridges, including the oldest road bridge in Great Britain. We passed a green, overgrown island, once the site of a Franciscan monastery.

Passing the landing stage to go in the other direction we were in time to see the rower on another tour boat pitch over backwards and vanish under the surface. He quickly reappeared as the water was only a metre deep, but did not look too happy, and we had to chase after one of his oars.

On the way back, we passed a modern building, the Marlowe Theatre, named after Canterbury’s famous playwright. The guide reminded us of the strange theory that Marlowe was not murdered, but escaped abroad, to act as a spy and write Shakespeare’s plays. I don’t know if he really believed this!

Museums Jim Nelhams

With so much history, it comes as no surprise that that the city has several museums. Nearest to the Cathedral is the Roman Museum which boasts a Roman mosaic in situ. Like many Roman sites, it was discovered by accident. The dig itself is nicely documented.

The Heritage Museum shows local history through the ages. It also invites you to re-visit childhood with the original film props for Bagpuss, the Clangers, the Pogles, Ivor the Engine and Noggin the Nog.

All these characters featured in films by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, who both came to live near Canterbury and began collaborating in 1958. Oliver Postgate wrote the stories, produced the films and animated the characters, which were made by Peter Firmin and his wife Joan. Many of the programmes were filmed in Firmin’s barn in Blean, just outside Canterbury.

You can also meet Rupert Bear and his Canterbury creator Mary Tourtel in fun-packed displays. These include original illustrations by Tourtel and her successor, Albert Bestall, as well as memorabilia and images of the latest animated Rupert Bear.

Mary Tourtel, who was born in Canterbury and studied art here, was asked by the Daily Express to invent a children’s character for the newspaper, to match those of rival press. Her creation, Rupert Bear, first appeared in the Daily Express on Monday 8 November 1920 in a single frame illustration to the story of ‘Little Lost Bear’, which continued daily. Tourtel illustrated and wrote Rupert stories until 1935, after which Albert Bestall continued the strip cartoons.

Ted would not let me escape without mentioning the Beaney Art Museum and Library. This has displays of a number of historic artefacts. Most of the art is by local artists. The highlight during our visit was on loan from the Victoria & Albert Museum – an extensive display entitled “The Teddy Bear Story”, telling the story of the “invention” of the articulated Teddy Bear, with lots of examples from Steiff up to the present day.

“ALL OVER BY CHRISTMAS”. Reviewed by Peter Pickering

I have just been reading David Berguer’s very timely new book with this title. It is an account of the First World War from the perspective of our part of North London; as the blurb says, it tells the story of how civilians coped with everything from sugar rationing to Zeppelin raids and how initial patriotism and optimism gave way to war weariness and a realisation that victory was by no means inevitable. The book discusses many aspects of the impact the war had, including those on taxation, and on the work of women. It contains a large number of illustrations, many culled from the Barnet Press, ranging from crudely anti-German cartoons to exhortations to eat less bread and to make cakes with egg-substitute. The many extracts from letters from men in the trenches are striking and moving; the Barnet Press encouraged people receiving such letters to send them in for publication (one describes the extraordinary Christmas truce of 1914 – though this particular company were forbidden by their officers to accept the challenge to a game of football). More remarkably, one young lady wrote long letters every week throughout the war to her fiancé who was serving in Egypt and Turkey; he kept them, and their daughter has allowed extracts to be published. Since she worked in the City, they reveal the impact of the war there, as well as in Muswell Hill, where she lived. The book has appendices listing the names on war memorials in Finchley, Friern Barnet and Whetstone, with biographical details as available, and of the Zeppelin and aeroplane raids in Britain.

The book is published by Keith Martin’s Chaville Press (148 Friern Park). I thoroughly recommend it.

Want to learn a new subject….for free? Stephen Brunning

Try FutureLearn. They are an online education company wholly owned by the Open University in partnership with 20 well know UK universities and other institutions.

There are a number of courses to choose from, with more being added all the time. I am halfway through “England in the time of Richard III”. This is delivered online only over six weeks with a different theme each week. Other courses vary between 2 and 10 weeks. The time commitment again varies; mine being just 3 hours per week. There are a couple of Roman courses in there (Hadrian’s Wall & the archaeology of Portus), plus Shakespeare & Maritime Archaeology.

Learners (as they are called), read articles, watch short videos, and listen to audio interviews. They then have to option to comment on the module which other learners can see and reply to. A really nice touch is the ability to download and print the video transcripts. At the end of each week there is a multiple choice test review which the computer scores and counts towards your overall mark. Due to the large number of participants, no direct contact is possible with the lecturer although I have seen her reply to a couple of comments on the blog.

At the end of the course learners have the option of buying a “Statement of Participation”. These cost £24 each plus p&p. I was wondering how the company made their money and guess this could be one way. There is no obligation to purchase though.

www.futurelearn.com.

Other Societies’ Events, compiled by Eric Morgan

Friday 15th August, 7pm. C.O.L.A.S. Wapping Walkabout. Guided walk led by Peter Smith (qualified London Guide). Meet at Tower Hill station by bronze statue of Trajan. Lasts 2 hours. Cost £4 (non-members).

Sunday 31st August, 3-5pm. Avenue House (now Stephens House & Gardens). East End Road, N3 3QE. Bothy Gardens Annual Garden Party. ALSO Sunday 17th August & Sunday 21st September, 1-5pm. Bothy Gardens Open Afternoon. HADAS are usually in the Garden Room on Sunday mornings from 10.30am.

Monday 8th September, 3pm. Barnet Museum and Local History Society. Church House, Wood St, Barnet (opposite museum). Political causes of the First World War. Talk by Alan Smith. Visitors £2 (members free). ALSO Saturday 13th September. Coach outing to Ely Cathedral. For details contact Pat Alison at 37 Ladbroke Drive, Potters Bar, Herts EN6 1QR (tel 01707 858430) or email patron37@sky.com, or telephone Barnet Museum on 020 8440 8066.

Tuesday 9th September, 7.45pm. Amateur Geological Society, The Parlour, St Margaret’s Church,Victoria Avenue N3 1BD (off Hendon Lane). Portals to the Past: geology and archaeology on the Crossrail Project. Talk by Jay Carver (Crossrail Lead Archaeologist).

Wednesday 10th September, 7.45pm. Union Church Hall, Corner Ferme Park Road/Weston Park N8 9PX. Alexandra Palace: the way forward. Talk by Duncan Wilson. Visitors £2. Refreshments 7.40pm.

Friday 12th September, 7.45pm. Enfield Archaeological Society. Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane/Junction of Chase Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ. The Rose Theatre discovered & The Rose revealed. Presidential Address by Harvey Sheldon (also HADAS President). Visitors £1. Refreshments 7.30pm.

Saturday 13th September, 10am. Enfield Society. Heritage walk around Edmonton. Led by Monica Smith with visits to Lamb’s Cottage & All Saints Church. To apply for tickets FREE please send SAE and include your telephone number to: Emma Halstead, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield EN2 OAJ. (Maximum of 2 tickets per person). Jubilee Hall telephone number 020 8363 9495.

Sunday 14th September, 11am-3pm. C.O.L.A.S. at the Tower of London for the Mayor’s Thames Festival. Together with the Thames Discovery Programme, Thames 21, Museum of London Docklands, Historic Royal Palaces & various other groups. Displays of ceramics, pipes, shoes & leather plus other foreshore finds.

Wednesday 17th September, 7.30pm. Willesden Local History Society. St Mary’s Church Hall, Neasden Lane, NW10 2TS (near St Margaret’s Court). Willesden & the First World War. Talk by Margaret Pratt (General Secretary).

Wednesday 17th September, 7.45pm. Edmonton Hundred Historical Society. Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield EN2 0AJ. Enfield’s Industrial Heritage. Talk by Stephen Gilburton. .

Friday 19th September, 7pm. C.O.L.A.S. St Olave’s Parish Hall, Mark Lane, EC3R 7NB. Life and Death in the Bronze Age of Southern England: new discoveries in the Thames Valley and beyond. Talk by Neil Wilkins. Visitors £2.

Saturday 20th September, 11am-3pm. C.O.L.A.S at the Museum of London Docklands for the Mayor’s Thames Festival. Together with the various groups as on Sunday 14th September (above). Displays & activities. West India Quay, Hertsmere Road, E14 4AL.

Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st September. London Open House Weekend. FREE access to over 800 buildings, including: Myddelton House & Gardens, Bulls Cross Enfield EN2 9HG (Saturday 10am-4pm), Three Mill House Mill, Three Mills Lane, Bromley-by-Bow, E3 3DU (Saturday & Sunday 11am-4pm). A guided tour of the grinding stones and waterwheels is available at this historic site which was the subject of the HADAS lecture in April 2014. Details at www.openhouselondon.org.uk.

Sunday 21st September. Finchley Goes to War. Special commemorative walk led by Mark King (London Blue Badge Guide) will explore Finchley’s role in WW1, including a wide range of stories, various forms of memorial, home of the very first soldier to die in the war, public buildings that served as wartime hospitals, how Finchley’s green fields played a vital role in feeding local families, plus the famous “naked lady”. Starts at Henly’s Corner and includes a break at Stephens House. Details and booking at www.worldwaronewalks.com.

Wednesday 24th September, 7.45pm. Friern Barnet & District Local History Society. North Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL. Bugging the Nazis in WWII. Talk by Helen Fry. Non-members £2. Refreshments and bar.

Thursday 25th September, 8pm. Finchley Society. Martin School, High Road, East Finchley N2 (entrance at the end of Plane Tree Walk). Outreach Meeting. Covering topics relevant to the East Finchley area. Visitors £2. (HADAS are digging here).

Saturday 27th September. Enfield Society. Dugdale Centre, Enfield Museum, Thomas Hardy House, 39 London Road, Enfield EN2 6DS. Day Conference. Focusing on the current exhibition looking at World War I in Enfield. Talk by Ian Jones (EAS) along with re-enactors telling the story of the Cuffley airship crash and a soldier in WW1 uniform talking about his kit & weapons, plus a display of firearms and a presentation on the Lee Enfield Rifle. Tickets cost £13 and include lunch, morning coffee and afternoon tea. To book send SAE to “Study Day”, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield EN2 0AJ. Please include your telephone number and enclose cheque for £13 made payable to “The Enfield Society”.

No 520 July 2014 Edited by P & K McSharry

HADAS DIARY – Forthcoming Events: –

The Hendon and District Archaeological Society presents
Getting to grips with Pots & Pipes: the archaeology of everyday artefacts from
Saxon times to Queen Victoria
with Jacqui Pearce BA FSA MIfA on Saturday 2nd August 2014
at Stephens House and Gardens 17 East End Road, Finchley, London N3 3QE from 10.00am to 4.00pm

For the archaeologist, pottery and clay tobacco pipes are among the most common finds made during excavation. This one-day workshop aims to provide an introduction to identifying these ubiquitous artefacts, and to understanding their role in the everyday lives of the people who used them, through specialist-led presentations and handling sessions.

Attendees are also invited to bring along finds for identification. The workshop will consist of presentations in the morning, on medieval and post-medieval pottery, and in the afternoon on clay pipes. A number of finds-handling sessions have been built in throughout the day.

Jacqui Pearce is Senior Specialist, medieval and later ceramics, at MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

Tickets cost £20 which includes morning coffee, buffet lunch and afternoon tea.

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Hendon and District Archaeological Society (HADAS) is pleased to invite HADAS members to the launch celebration of its latest book:

“A Hamlet in Hendon. The archaeology and history of Church End from excavations at Church Terrace, 1973 – 74”

When Themistocles Constantinides founded HADAS in 1961 it was with the main aim of finding and proving the Anglo-Saxon origins of Hendon. In 1973 an opportunity arose to excavate at Church Terrace that finally proved the ancient origins of this part of Hendon. Now, 40 years later, this exciting book brings together all the evidence from that excavation and relates the story of one of the original hamlets that made up the parish of Hendon. This beautifully produced book, at over 200 pages, has maps, diagrams and analysis of the excavation and the related finds, and is packed with full-colour photographs.

Don Cooper, our HADAS Chairman has written in his introduction “We are hugely proud of this book. It is not only a record of the excavation and post-excavation analysis of this site, but is also a major contribution to the history, origins and development of Hendon. It is a fine example of what
local archaeological societies can still achieve.”

HADAS will formally launch the publication of this book at an event on Sunday August 3rd 2014, from 1.30 p.m., at “The Greyhound” public house, Church End, Hendon, NW4 4JT, close to the site of the excavation. In addition to receiving free copies of the book, members of HADAS will be available to discuss the book and the wider activities of HADAS. Light refreshments will be available.

As a HADAS member, we are delighted to invite you to this event and we hope that you will be able to join us. For our planning we would be grateful if you could confirm your attendance by contacting Jo Nelhams, HADAS Secretary, on 020 8449 7076, secretary@hadas.org.uk, or write to her at 61 Potters Road, Barnet Herts EN5 5HS.

Annual General Meeting – Tuesday 10th June 2014 Jo Nelhams

The 53rd Annual General Meeting was held on Tuesday 10th June at 7.45pm in Avenue House (now Stephens House). I would like to thank all those who came along to this rather special AGM to
celebrate the publication of the HADAS book, ‘A Hamlet in Hendon’.

The meeting was attended by 36 members with apologies from a further 14.

The Chairman, Don Cooper opened the meeting announcing the recent death on May 10th of John Enderby, a founder member. He also offered apologies from the President Harvey Sheldon, who was indisposed.

Peter Pickering, the Vice Chairman, took the chair to conduct the business of the re-election of Don Cooper as Chairman, which was unanimously approved. Don took the Chair for the remainder of the meeting.

All other officers and members of the Committee offered themselves for re-election.
The Committee consists of Chairman: Don Cooper, Vice-Chairman: Peter Pickering, Hon. Treasurer:Jim Nelhams, Hon. Secretary: Jo Nelhams, Hon. Membership Secretary: Stephen Brunning, and committee members Vicki Baldwin, Bill Bass, Roger Chapman, Eric Morgan, Andrew Selkirk, Tim Wilkins, Sue Willetts and Simon Williams.

The Chairman explained the changes at Avenue House. Avenue House is now to be known as ‘Stephens House & Gardens’ Our use of the Garden Room and Garage will cease, but we have been allocated alternative accommodation in the basement, which is large enough to store the contents of both the Garden Room and Garage. The rent will remain the same and will be held for 3years.

The meeting closed at 8.12pm.

Post AGM.

Last September Jim and I attended the first LAMAS conference on Historic Buildings. Harvey
Sheldon gave a short, but very interesting, presentation about the London Walls. As he attends our AGM to chair the meeting, we asked if he could do a similar lecture for us and he kindly agreed. However, the best-laid plans sometimes have a hitch. Unfortunately Harvey was unable to attend, but miraculously he managed to engage at very short notice John Shepherd with whom he had been working on this topic. Our grateful thanks go to John for his contribution.

A report of the lecture follows.

After the lecture copies of the recently published HADAS book ,’A Hamlet in Hendon’ were distributed to the members who were present, with some liquid refreshment to celebrate the occasion.

Many thanks to everyone for a memorable evening, a special AGM.

The City Wall of London by John Shepherd Liz Gapp

John started his well-illustrated talk by showing the familiar outline of the city walls of London. He explained that current conventional thinking suggested that the date of building for the land wall side was fairly inexact, from 180 to 240 AD. The riverside wall was more precisely estimated at 270 AD. If this is true it implies a few generations difference between the times of building the two different parts of the wall.
The first point raised was to consider whether Londinium was always the shape we assume it to be today.

In 1944, as peace approached, Kathleen Kenyon, then acting director and secretary of the Institute of Archaeology, noted that restoration of the bombed City of London ruins gave an opportunity for archaeological work to provide a greater understanding of the origins of London. The first suggestion was that it was the Roman elements that should be pursued. Professor Grimes, who replaced Mortimer Wheeler as Director of the Museum of London, pressed for both Roman and Medieval to be pursued, and Ivor Noel Hume specifically traced the Medieval origins.

In the 1940s, it was known that the original city wall was Roman, but precise knowledge of when it was built was not known until Professor Grimes, via his archaeological ‘interventions’ was able to narrow it down in the 1950s.

John’s interest in the problem started in the 1980s, when he was research assistant to Professor Grimes. Through a series of small strategically placed trenches, Grimes had been able to identify the Cripplegate Fort, within the NW corner of the city walls, as a standard ‘playing card’ shape similar to those on Hadrian’s Wall. This could be read as part of Hadrian’s reorganisation of his administration network, for use by the Roman military who were the civil servants of the day. Grimes dated it to c.120 AD, before any probable date for the walls themselves. He was most proud of this set of excavations, and would have preferred his CBE to have been awarded for this out of his more than 45 excavations in the area, rather than his discovery of the Mithras temple for which he actually won the award. He considered this latter excavation to be just pure luck, whereas the identification of the fort was as a result of educated hard work.

With the architecture of the fort shown to be the same as that used on Hadrian’s Wall, Grimes was able to work out the proportions and located the fort’s western gate, which later became one of the six City gates. This was published together with Audrey Williams, the unsung heroine of Grimes’s days

The city walls near the Cripplegate Fort were very well designed, with the North-South wall following the fort walls exactly. Mortimer Wheeler’s notes on the city wall in the fort area also said that it was built over an existing Roman wall.

In 1946, at Bastion 14, it was noticed that two walls had a Commodus coin stuck in the mortar, giving a date for construction as after 180 AD, the date of the coin. It was also noticed that at some points the Roman wall had a second later wall built exactly alongside it. At St Alphage, it is possible to see the join of the fort wall against the city wall.

The West Gate had large 12 inch blocks at its base which showed signs of being worked.

Interestingly, when Bazalgette’s sewer was being built in London, the men often came across parts of the old London walls. As it affected their work rate, a plan was kept of these.

Excavations at St Paul’s tube station uncovered a concrete foundation that was so solid it needed explosives to destroy it. The solidity of it suggests that there could have been a triumphal arch there – was this an earlier entrance to the city?

The later City Wall was constructed in the 9th to 11th century. Interestingly, while in this later era there was a great quantity of rubbish pits, none of them were near the West Gate, implying that it was still in use then. It was not until Neville’s House was built in the 13th century in that area, and across the West Gate, that it was blocked up.
To summarise; the West and North walls look like defensive walls. Evidence elsewhere shows that the city gates pre-dated the city walls, which look to have joined up the gates, so formalising the status of the city. In places, the direction of the wall in relation to the gate seems to bear this out. The earlier Commodus coin gives a terminus post quem date for the wall. Part of the ditch is dated to the late 2nd to start of 3rd century and has a cut culvert dated to the late 3rd and 4th century. This means the early 3rd century is missing.

The date of 220 AD as the latest date for the land wall, which Peter Marsden suggests, comes from the discovery of coin moulds and coins dated 220 AD, which were found in the cut. So this was apparent good evidence for this date. However, the amount of debris identified with the coins and moulds suggest this is a later dump from elsewhere, so cannot be used as a dating baseline. Dendrochronology from the riverside wall suggests a date of 270 AD as the main construction date for the riverside wall.

Examination of the structure of the whole city wall shows it to be consistent; with a red brick base, Kentish ragstone on top of this, topped with more red bricks.

The proposed new theory by Harvey and John is that, looking at the structural evidence, it is probable that the whole wall was built at the same time – so the land wall was not built until 270 AD. This begs the question as to why, all of a sudden this was considered necessary.

To consider this, a look at the social history of the time is necessary. Britain was a major supplier of grain for the Roman Empire. This meant that it became very wealthy. However, if the list of Emperors is examined, it can be seen that this era was also very turbulent with many short-lived Emperors, often in competition with each other.

This great grain wealth led to many late Roman buildings in Britain and a lot of silver being used there. However, the great rivalry for these supplies meant that a chain of Saxon shore forts were built to protect them, as the great rivalries in the elite hierarchy meant that whoever had access to these supplies was in the strongest position.

The Ammianus Marcellinus ‘Res Gestae’ Book XVIII Chapter 2-3 gives detail of this.

This unrest is one of the bases for concluding that it was much more logical for the building of the wall to have been one ‘short’ continuous event rather than two separated by generations.

John concluded by saying ‘watch this space’ as he and Harvey are still researching this theory.

The Bishops of London Hunting Park and Lodge Malcolm Stokes

In his lecture to HADAS on Tuesday 13th May Malcolm Stokes gave us a full account of what is known about this somewhat enigmatic medieval feature. Malcolm is a local historian who has long served on the Publications Committee of the Hornsey Historical Society. He has a keen interest and extensive knowledge of the Hornsey and Haringey areas. His particular field is parish boundaries as evidence of ancient roads and properties.

Medieval churchmen, often of high birth, loved the sport of hunting as much as other members of the nobility. The existence of a Hunting Park and Lodge in north London belonging to the Bishops of London is well known, though there is relatively little recorded evidence of its existence and exact location. The earliest is a deed of 1227 granting land in St. Pancras parish. It refers to a property adjoining the “Bishops’ Park”. Other documents exist, which were sealed or given at the park. One dated 1335 is the last of these. In 1390 tolls for the area were farmed out to one William Payable, which is taken to be evidence that the park no longer belonged to the Bishops of London.

During the 15th century the Lodge itself figured in a conspiracy against Henry VI. Eleanor of Cobham, wife of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, was accused of having consulted with astrologers and one Margery Jourdemayne in order to precipitate the death of the king, thus allowing her husband to ascend the throne. This conspiracy is said to have taken place at the Bishops’ Lodge. Shakespeare mentions it in “Henry VI, Part II”, but sets the meeting of the conspirators in the Duke of Gloucester’s garden.

John Norden, in his description of Middlesex of 1593, mentions the park and it appears on his map as “Lodge Hill.” Other current local names, such as Bishops Avenue, also relate to its existence.
Malcolm Stokes demonstrated how he has traced the outlines of the park. Ancient enclosures often followed parish boundaries. With the aid of photos and maps we were shown the probable position of the woodland. It straddled the parishes of Hornsey and Finchley and had three gates. From one of these, the “High Gate”, now the “Gateway” pub, the boundary ran north along the course of Southwood Lane, and then across the Archway Road towards Highgate Wood. At this stage it followed the edge of the high ground to the left (west) and the steep drop to the right (east). The enclosure then turned west along the northern edge of Highgate Wood. A second gate probably stood where the railway crosses the old Great North Road at East Finchley. The boundary then curved southwest and finally south towards the Spaniards Inn, site of the third gate. From there it ran east along a line just south of Hampstead Lane along the former parish boundary. The present road is just north of this and dates from the building of Kenwood House. A sunken ditch near the latter’s restaurant is probably a visible sign of the enclosure.

The site of the Bishops’ Lodge buildings is thought to be shown by several ditches on Highgate Golf Course, enclosing an area of 70 foot square. It will have been a substantial building, large enough to house the bishop and his retinue. John Norden mentions ditches 70 foot square and debris of “brick tile and Cornish slate”. Though it would be fascinating to investigate this feature with modern archaeological methods, it is not likely that permission for this would ever be given.

This lecture on a piece of local history was not only most instructive, but may well evoke images of a medieval hunt on future walks in Highgate Wood.

Visit to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and Harbour Jim Nelhams

On Thursday 15th May, our gold coach transported us to Portsmouth for a visit to the dockyard. Our pilot was Gary, who looked after us so well last year on our trip to Buxton.

The Historic Dockyard is within the Royal Naval dockyard and the Victory is still on the Royal
Navy list having not been decommissioned. Although our main purpose was to visit the new Mary Rose Museum, opened late last year, there are lots more things to see, including Nelson’s Victory and HMS Warrior. Our tickets allowed us access to all of them, including a harbour boat tour, giving us the chance to follow particular interests.

The Mary Rose Museum, while it has display cabinets as you would expect, makes maximum use of the hull that was raised from the Solent. After an initial introductory display, the route uses glass lined corridors at the level of the various decks. On one side is the hull itself, currently still being treated and visible through carefully located windows. On the opposite side are displayed many of the finds from the wreck positioned directly opposite the relevant part of the ship, such as the carpenter’s cabin and the surgeon’s cabin. All of the items are originals – no replicas needed. Such is the volume and variety of finds that it would be easy to spend a whole day in the Mary Rose Museum without looking at anything else.

The following notes show how wide these interests go.
The Harbour Andy Simpson

No-one touring the dockyard, or those lucky enough to take the harbour tour, could miss the area being dominated by a former aircraft carrier and several of the Royal Navy’s remaining Destroyers and Frigates.

Biggest of these was former aircraft carrier R06 HMS Illustrious – the ‘Lusty’ to her crew – nowadays called an ‘Amphibious Ship-Landing Platform Helicopter’ but still retaining the bowmounted ski jump from her days launching Sea Harriers before HM Government decided if something had to go it should be the Harriers (and Nimrod maritime reconnaissance aircraft) rather than the Tornado force. Weighing in at 20,000 tonnes she is the last survivor of a class of three, including the late lamented Ark Royal, since scrapped on an Indian beach.

Lying immediately ahead of her was one of our total destroyer force of six, D36 HMS Defender of the new Type 45 Daring Class. A hefty-looking 7,350 tons with a crew of 191, she mounts a rapidfiring 4.5 inch gun – very useful for shore bombardment, as proved in the Falklands War – and a Lynx or Merlin helicopter in her aft hangar.

Also in the line-up were two or three Type 23 Frigates, including F229 HMS Lancaster, hosting a ceremony of some sort. Weighing in at 3,500 tonnes and mounting the usual 4.5 inch gun and Lynx or Merlin helicopter as well as Harpoon anti-ship missiles. There are 13 of this class, which often pop up in the news after another successful anti-drugs patrol in the Caribbean, for instance. See http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/the-equipment/ships

A rather smaller and older vessel was the partly restored, dry-docked Gallipoli veteran Monitor M33, owned by Hampshire Museums Service.
See http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/news/news519.php

The Warrior Andrew Coulson

Personally, I thought that the Warrior was magnificent but, in many respects, she was a one week wonder. As a result of her invulnerability and offensive power she compelled the navies of the World to abandon sail and to invest heavily in research into iron hulls, armour, engines, speed, armour piercing shells and gun range, a process that continues to this day.

Before the Warrior, navies had not changed much from the time of the Mary Rose, some 330 years previously. While differing in degree, but not in principle, they had stayed roughly the same. After the Warrior, they could not afford to.

The Spinnaker Tower Ruth Wagland

I have seen the Spinnaker tower several times from cross channel ferries and admired it greatly, the opportunity to actually go up the structure was too good to miss. After I had absorbed as much as I could of the wonderful Mary Rose exhibition I walked the short distance to the tower.

It’s 170 metres high, the centre piece of the Portsmouth harbour redevelopment. The lift goes swiftly to the first of the three viewing platforms after which the other two are reached by stairs. The top platform is open to the sky with a mesh covering. The views from each platform are spectacular with a 360 degree view from the top. There is a ‘Sky Walk’ with a glass floor of 4 panes, each measuring 205 x 95cm, nearly 8 square metres in total, which is 100 metres above sea level giving a dizzying view below.

Altogether a great addition to a terrific day.

Kismet? Jean Lamont

I happened to reach the top deck of the Victory in time to hear one of the Guides giving a very graphic account of the death of Nelson on exactly the spot where he is supposed to have been struck down (commemorated by a brass plaque). He described how Nelson always appeared during a battle dressed in all his honours – four orders of chivalry and other medals from earlier campaigns (or “bling” as the guide described it!) to establish his authority and encourage his troops, so he made a fairly easy target for any sniper. However the guide maintained that all the smoke generated by the battle would have made it a very difficult task to pick out any individual, and so did not believe that Nelson had been deliberately targeted, but it was simply a lucky shot. He said that the French climbed up into the rigging and fired downwards (which the English troops were forbidden to do, because of the risk of fire) and detailed all the organs the shot hit on its trajectory down through Nelson’s body! Nelson was carried below and died three and half hours later, Hardy relaying the news of the progress of the battle to him throughout the afternoon.

He dismissed the idea that Nelson might have said “Kismet, Hardy” as the word did not enter the English vocabulary until many years later, but it was not unusual for men to kiss in those days and it would not have been thought strange for him to ask Hardy to kiss him.

On the Mary Rose, I particularly liked the collection of musical instruments and the interactive display which enabled visitors to listen to the sound of the instruments in tunes of the times.

Musical Instruments Tessa Smith

What caught my eye at the Mary Rose was a small display of musical instruments, a tabor (drum), three pipes, fragments of two fiddles and an exciting discovery – a doucaine, an early form of oboe. These musical instruments were found in the orlop (good word for scrabble), the bottom deck of the ship, above the hull, and had probably been packed away until needed as entertainment for the ships crew. Sadly they were never unpacked.

The melody was played on the pipes and the rhythm on the tabor to entertain the crew with sea shanties and work songs. I can imagine the sailors singing “I’ll go no more a ‘roving with you sweet maid” and dancing the sailors hornpipe, that is if they were written or invented in the 16th century. (Does anyone know?)

This little tableau of early instruments brought to life for me another layer of the Mary Rose experience.

Musical Instruments (continued) Jo Nelhams

The Mary Rose had kept hidden many secrets until its lifting from the depths of the Solent in 1967. Early musical instruments are rare and little was known of the doucaine. The shawm, an early form of the oboe, is well documented. The doucaine is mentioned in literature between 13th and 17th centuries, but an actual example was unknown until the instrument was discovered on the Mary Rose. The doucaine has a cylindrical bore like a clarinet, whereas the shawm and oboe both have a conical bore. The doucaine has a double reed, as does an oboe today, but its tone is more subdued, like that of a clarinet.

There are only about 60 recent replicas in the world, just as rare are the people who can play them.

There were also parts of two fiddles on board. There are only three known examples of the old fiddles and two of these were found on the Mary Rose. Their body is more angular than a violin.
The oldest known example of this kind of instrument is the Angel musician in Gloucester Cathedral circa 1280.

Skeletons in the cupboard Liz Tucker

We’ve always been interested in the Tudors, mainly because of the music, so were very keen to see the Mary Rose. It’s nice to remember that Henry VIII did other things besides getting married, beheading people and closing monasteries.

Having studied biology, I was particularly fascinated by the way you could reconstruct people’s lives from their bones, either from their injuries, or deformities caused by their way of life (from the archers to the cooks), and by the film of the facial-reconstruction expert.

It is also possible to work out where crew members came from, and what they ate, by the isotopes in their bones. I was slightly disappointed that this was only touched on at Portsmouth, but a smaller exhibition in Croydon some years ago went into more detail, stating that many of the crew came from Spain. Presumably the Spanish were Henry’s allies against the French, at that time; he would be on to his sixth wife by then, so the Spanish might have forgotten how he treated the first one. (Andrew pointed out that you could also deduce that the crew were not all English, from the rosaries found on board.)

Bows and arrows Dot Ravenswood

The sheer size of the bows we saw was astonishing. Made from yew staves between 168cm and 183cm long, they were so heavy to draw that men who used them regularly developed larger muscles on their left side, which took most of the strain when they braced the bow, than on their right. Some of the 172 longbows raised from the ship were found at the archers’ posts behind the gunports, while others were still lying in their boxes. Nearly four thousand arrows, between 71cm and 76cm long, were found, and some of these were on display, fletched with substitutes for the original goose or swan feathers. We also saw some of the leather spacers in which the arrows were kept ready for use, and the bracers or armguards worn by the bowmen. While there would have been a group of specialist archers on board, most of the crew would have been capable of shooting with a bow and arrows to a distance of 200m, since that was the required qualification for military service. All landsmen over the age of seven were obliged to practise regularly at the butts, where the targets were set up; and perhaps that’s how the archers’ jargon entered common speech. When we say that somebody was the butt of jokes, or needed another string to his bow, we are using archery terms.

And other finds Simon Williams

Among the 18,000 artefacts found aboard – of particular interest were – a rare circular shield with a hand-gun in its centre, the skeletal remains of a rat and the ship’s small whippet-like dog. There was also a huge cauldron for cooking; the oldest surviving crow’s nest from a mast, complete with a large arrow-like missile for hailing explosives or fire down onto the enemy and their sails.

Surprising for exclusively sea battles, there were many pikemen, bill-hookmen and archers on board. This was to repel the enemy from boarding. Some gun carriages were in particularly good condition and together with their guns they made a fine display.

Of a crew of 700 (usually 415), only 35 survived. Most couldn’t swim.

Unanswered questions Andrew Tucker

In the Mary Rose exhibition they did not give the end of the story of the Battle of the Solent. They said that the French had an invasion fleet bigger than the Spanish Armada, but not what happened to it after the Mary Rose sank.

According to Wikipedia they landed some troops on the Isle of Wight, had a couple of skirmishes with English forces and then went home.

One of the exhibits was a ruler. The description said that Tudor inches were smaller than modern ones. Is that right? It implies that their feet, yards…miles were also smaller. When did the inches get bigger?

A good day out, although I could have done with a couple more hours on the site.

How to get there Jim Nelhams

While the tickets are quite expensive, they give good value for a full day visit. Should you wish to visit yourself, the dockyard entrance is less than ten minutes’ walk from Portsmouth Harbour station with direct trains from London Victoria – but make sure you are in the right carriage as the train splits at Horsham.

Individual dockyard tickets allow you to return again within one year.

Thanks to all our contributors for their excellent and very varied homework!!! Well done.

Other Societies’ Events Eric Morgan

Tuesday 8th July. 7.45pm Amateur Geological Society. The Parlour, St. Margaret’s Church, Victoria Ave, N3 IBD (off Hendon Lane). ‘The Pros and Cons of Fracking in the UK’. Talk by Prof. Peter Simpson (Imperial College).
Saturday 12th July, 9.00am. Barnet Museum & Local History Society. Coach outing to Chatham Historic Dockyard where there are numerous attractions to visit and ships to board at your leisure including: – the Victorian Ropery, submarines, historic warships, lifeboats and the Smithery – with collections from 2 national museums. There are plenty of places to eat and areas to picnic. Leave Barnet Odeon, Great North Road including Station Road 9.00am. Leave Chatham 5.00pm. Cost £26 (includes entrance fee to Dockyard). Send cheques to Pat Alison at 37, Ladbrooke Drive, Potters Bar, Herts EN6 1QR (tel No: 01707 858430) stating your name, address & telephone number. If receipt required SAE or email patron37@sky.com or telephone Barnet Museum on 0208 440 8066.

Wednesday 16th July, 7.30pm. Willesden Local History Society. Tour of St. Mary’s Churchyard & Church. Led by Margaret Pratt & Cliff Wadsworth, including a short walk around the grounds and an informal talk in the church. Meet at the bottom of Neasden Lane, NW10 2TS (nr. Magistrates Court) junction with High Road.

Sunday 20th July & Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th August, 2.00pm. Crouch End Walks – World War 1 Tours of Crouch End. Led by Oonagh Gay & Paul Sinclair. Topics covered include: the war memorial, conscientious objectors, auxiliary hospitals, rationing, zeppelins & Gotha bombing & the Belgian refugees & German & Austrian internees in Alexandra Palace. Lasts 2 hours. Meet at cnr of Middle Lane/Priory Road, N8, nr. Priory Road entrance & mini roundabout. Cost £7 & after there is tea and cake £3 at the Earl Haig Hall in Elder Ave, N8. Places are going fast & reservation is essential. E-mail crounchendwalks@btinternet.com or phone 07539 399549 and pay on the day. The walks draw on the archives of the Hornsey Historical Society.

Sunday 20th July, 11am – 4pm. Headstone Manor Excavations. Pinner View, North Harrow, HA2 6PX. Public Open Day. Tours of the dig, displays, medieval re-enactments & hands-on activities. Free admission. (see previous newsletters for further details & information).

Sunday 3rd August, 2.30pm. Heath & Hampstead Society. Sandy Heath & the Heath Extension.
Meet at the cattle trough & flower stall, Spaniard’s Road, NW3 (nr Spaniard’s Inn). Walk led by Lynda Cook (HHS). Lasts approx 2hrs. Cost £3.00.

Saturday 2nd – Saturday 9th August. Avenue House (now Stephen’s House) East End Road, N3 3QE. World War One Week. Avenue House was commandeered during WW1 as a hospital. There will be varied events, exhibitions & activities in the house & garden. A poppy garden will be planted in the rockery. There will also be a French Casualty Clearing Diorama on display.

Friday 8th August, 9.00am. Mill Hill Historical Society. Coach trip to Tunbridge Wells &
Scotney Castle, visiting Tunbridge Wells’ famous Pantiles Arcade. Scotney Castle is a National Trust property near Lamberhurst, Kent and is a mixture of old & new with its glorious 770 acres of gardens. Depart St. Michael’s Church, Flower Lane NW7 at 9.00am. Latest date for booking is
Wednesday 9th July to Keith Dyall, 26 Millway, NW7 3RB. Price including entry to castle is £27.00 (£16 for N.T. members. Email: keith.dyall@btinternet.com ). Phone 020 8959 7147/07788 677103. Please send S.A.E together with cheque payable to Mill Hill Historical Society stating your name & telephone number. Don’t forget to bring your National Trust membership card if appropriate.

Saturday 9th – Wednesday 13th & Monday 18th – Friday 22nd August. WEAG & Copped Hall Trust – Archaeological Project Field Schools 2014 – continuing excavations of the Tudor Grand

House, near Epping Forest. Cost £90 per week (non-residential). Course Directors Christina Holloway, Lee Joyce, John Shepherd (who spoke at our AGM). For further information & to book contact: Andrew Madeley (Tel no: 020 8491 6514, e-mail coppedhalldigs@weag.org.uk or access www.coppedhalltrust.org.uk or www.weag.org.uk/eventsfieldschool_html

Sunday 10th August, 2.30pm. Enfield Society – Heritage Walk around Bush Hill Park. Led by Joe Studman. To see five grade II & four locally listed buildings, passing the Anchorage, Brooklyn, Castleleigh and the Clarendon Arch (over New River). The history and personalities associated with them are explained along with many other stories. Lasts 90 minutes. Please send S.A.E. for tickets to Heritage Walks, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield, EN2 0AS (max 4 tickets) & include own telephone number. Jubilee Hall telephone number 020 8363 9495.

Tuesday 12th August, 2-3pm. Harrow Museum. The Granary, Headstone Manor, Pinner View, North Harrow, HA2 6PX. ‘History of Optical Microscopes’ – talk by Derek Sayers. Cost £3.50.

Tuesday 12th August, 7.45pm. Amateur Geological Society. The Parlour, St. Margaret’s Church, Victoria Ave, N3 1BD. Members evening. Talks by members include Mike Howgate (Chairman) on ‘How Oil Men won the War’ & Meg Hardie on ‘A Glimpse of Tasmania’ and a display of competition entries.

Tuesday 19th August, 6.00pm. Highgate Wood. Historical Walk (Roman Kilns, etc). Meet at Information Hut (entrances off Archway Road or Muswell Hill Rd, N6) Free.

Tuesday 26th August, 2-3pm. Harrow Museum. The Granary, Headstone Manor, Pinner View, North Harrow, HA2 6AX. ‘The Glories of the Nile’. Talk by Frank Weare. Cost £3.50.

Sunday 31st August, 11am – 4pm. Highgate Wood – Heritage Day. Information Hut (see 19th August). E-mail: highgatewood@cityoflondon.gov.uk or parks.gardens@ms-corpoflondon-gov.uk for further information. Tel: 020 8444 6129. Free.

No. 519 JUNE 2014 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.

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Tuesday 10th June: A VERY SPECIAL ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Please note the earlier start: 7.45pm
The AGM business will be followed by:
LECTURE “The London Walls“ by HADAS President: Harvey Sheldon
The evening will continue with complimentary copies of the Church Terrace book ‘A HAMLET in HENDON’ being distributed to members (one per household) by the President, followed by a celebratory drink of wine or juice or coffee if preferred.
This book will bring back memories to those members who dug at Church Terrace in 1973/74. After much work by Jacqui Pearce and the HADAS Finds Group, the account of the excavations is complete. This was the dig, led by Ted Sammes, which fulfilled the ambition of our founder, Themistocles Constantinides, to discover if there was Saxon occupation in Hendon. It is thanks to Ted Sammes’s legacy that “A Hamlet in Hendon” has come to publication.
We hope many members will come – join us in the celebration of this momentous achievement

Sunday June 29th to Thursday July 3rd: Long Outing to Kent.

Tuesday 14th October: Finding Neanderthal Tools in Norfolk Cliffs.
Lecture by Dr Nick Ashton, British Museum.

Tuesday 11th November: To be confirmed

Sunday 7th December HADAS Christmas Party. Over recent years, we have met at Avenue (Stephens) House for a social gathering. This has proved very successful and well worth repeating. Please note in your diaries that we have booked the Drawing Room, where we have our lectures, for Sunday 7th December. Details will be circulated in due course.

Sad News: John Enderby Mary Rawitzer
The last of HADAS’s founder members has died. John Enderby was one of the group instrumental in forming the Society in 1961, was at one time HADAS Vice-Chairman and then became a life-time HADAS Vice-President. His was a hugely energetic presence in our part of North London: he had been Principal of Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute for 31 years before retiring in 1992 and then moving to Fontmell Magna in Dorset. There at one stage he was on just 7 committees, a significant reduction from the 14 committees he had been on in London. He had unrivalled knowledge of our local area and of HADAS in its early years and was assiduous at keeping in touch with us.
At the Institute John had been a great champion of education for adults, making sure that courses were varied and affordable, carrying out repairs himself when possible and caring for his staff while leaving them free to get on with their teaching. While in London he had also been a very active fund-raiser for the North London Hospice which was able to open its building in 1992. In his retirement he kept up his vigorous interests as an amateur archaeologist and local historian and was also a long-serving churchwarden for St Andrew’s Church and for some time keeper of the church’s archives. John kindly arranged a HADAS visit to Fontmell Magna, in 1998.where there was so much of interest to see.
There will be a memorial service/celebration of John’s life at St Andrew’s on Monday 2nd June at 2pm. HADAS members are welcome but no flowers please Our condolences and thoughts go out to all his family.
A Call for Information.
Holy Trinity church, Church Lane, East Finchley is producing a leaflet which it is hoped will then be expanded into a booklet for church visitors.
Richard Askew, who is collecting all the information, together, has asked for help from anyone who has any old photographs, engravings or information about Holy Trinity Church and its local history. He is especially keen to find photographs, paintings or engravings which might show the various stages or the changes the church went through over the years. The aim is to share everything they find on the history and events that shaped the church and to show the effect the church with its growing number of visitors has had on the surrounding communities.
Please see what you can find and email Richard Askew on Macmillanfinchley@yahoo.co.uk or phone him: 07977 197 797.

Some North London clay tobacco pipe makers by Don Cooper
Recently HADAS had an enquiry from a lady about her ancestor who was a clay tobacco pipe maker. She had read in our online newsletter archive that we had discovered a clay pipe stem with “W. Tingey” on one side and “Hampstead” on the other (see Figs.1 & 2) in an excavation at 296 Golders Green Road (The Old Forge), site code GGR91.

Figure 1 “W. TINGEY”

Figure 2 “HAMPSTEAD”

From census records and trade directories, it is clear that “Tingey” referred to the Tingey family who were a family of clay pipe makers. In the 1841 census, William Tingey was a clay pipe maker aged 55 living in Peckham while his son, William H Tingey, aged 23, was a clay pipe maker based in Tower Hamlets. By the 1851 census William H Tingey had established his clay pipe manu-facturing business at 2 Johnston’s Yard, Hampstead, (later called Johnson’s Court), while his father continued clay pipe making in Peckham. By 1870, his father had joined him in Hampstead in the family business. However, by the end 1872 both father and son were dead, and there is no record of the grandchildren taking up the business. The Tingey clay tobacco pipe manufacture in Hampstead lasted between 20 and 25 years up to 1872.

Reference to another clay pipe making family turned up some days later, when Roger Chapman showed us a clay pipe stem with “Harrison” on one side and “Highgate” on the other – Figs 3 & 4.

Figure 3 “HARRISON”

Figure 4 “HIGHGATE”

Using census and trade directories again, we find two Harrisons, possibly brothers, have a clay pipe manufacturing facility at 3, 4 5 and 6 Muswell Hill Road. In the 1861 census, we find John and Francis Harrison and William Stuckey making clay pipes, with Stuckey’s wife working as a pipe trimmer and, at least, one of Stuckey’s children also employed. By the 1871 census the business has grown, and is employing more pipe makers who are shown as lodging with John Harrison. In the 1881 and 1891 census John and Francis are still making pipes and have a substantial business. The business seems to have continued to manufacture clay tobacco pipes until 1902.

Among the most common clay pipe fragments we find in Barnet are those marked William Andrews of Highgate, though the one illustrated in figures 5 & 6 is the mark of his son, George Andrews. According to the Society for Clay Pipe Research (vol. 8, p25), William Andrews became an apprentice pipe maker in 1814. His subsequent pipe manufacturing factory was in Southwood Lane, Highgate. William Andrews died in February 1837 and in his will dated 1834 he left his pipe manufacturing business to his son George, other sons got other legacies also in the clay pipe making industry.

At some time in the 19th century, as shown on the 1894 Ordnance Survey Map, the northern part of Southwood Lane, after crossing Archway, has been renamed Muswell Hill Road.

Figure 5 “G. ANDREWS”

The Andrews business was clearly a successful financial operation as, according to William’s will, as well as leaving his son George the factory and a cottage, he left “copyheld” cottages to at least three of his other sons as well as provision for his daughter and wife. George was already a pipe maker with an address in Kentish Town.

Figure 6 “HIGHGATE”

Did he sell out to the Harrisons? Perhaps the Harrison factory was on the site of the Andrews one? Where was their kiln? And is there any trace of it now? Why did these clay pipe makers set up their businesses in Highgate with, as far as I know, no suitable clay in the area? There would, however, have been enough timber for the kiln locally so perhaps that is the reason. We need more information on our local clay pipe makers. If you know any more about the pipe making families do let me know. See contact details at the end of the newsletter.

A Success Don Cooper

In our April Newsletter (No. 517) we published a request from Brian Reid from Australia asking for information as follows:
“My father attended Woodhouse School in its early years. I’d like to obtain a copy of Percy Reboul’s book ‘By Word and Deed: A Chronicle of Woodhouse School 1922 – 1949’. I’m wondering if you could suggest how I might obtain a copy? Percy told me he doesn’t have a spare copy but that I should keep trying the usual book sources. But I’ve had no success. Of course I’m happy to pay for it.

I’m also looking for The Woodhouse Logs numbered 12 & 13, which I believe will be the 1929 issues. Do you know if there is any way I can obtain them?”

We said if anybody could help they should contact me. I have now heard from him once more:

As a result of your efforts on my behalf I now have a copy of By Word & Deed. Rosemary offered me the one which had belonged to her aunt. In turn I was able to send her a scan of the 1929 School photo and she found her aunt in it.

In turn (again!) I have found my father in one of the house photos!

Now I am going to again approach Hugh Petrie at Barnet Archive & Local Studies to see if I can find a way to get him or someone else to copy the two missing Woodhouse Logs (the 1929 editions).

I don’t know if you publish success stories in your newsletter, but this is one – thanks to you and Rosemary. I am most grateful.

The “Rosemary” involved is Rosemary Coates, Newsletter Editor, The Finchley Society.
Thank you Rosemary!
OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS ERIC MORGAN
Tuesdays 3rd & 17th June & 1st July, 2-3pm. Harrow Museum, Headstone Manor, Pinner View, North Harrow HA2 6PX . Archaeology Season: Excavate London! Talks I, II & III from the MoLA team who have their summer excavation at Headstone Manor this year (see May Newsletter for more details). Cost £3.50 per talk. Also exhibition here, Wed 4th June-Sun 7th Sept, Mediaeval Harrow – A Guided Tour.
Fri. 13th June, 8pm.Enfield Archaeol. Soc., Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane/jn Chase Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ. Walbrook Square & Temple of Mithras. Talk on the excavations by John Shepherd. £1.
Sat. 14th June, 12.30-5.30pm . Highgate Summer Fair. Pond Square, Highgate Village N6. Many stalls, including Hornsey Historical Society and Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution.
Fri. 20th June, 7pm. COLAS. St Olave’s Parish Halol, Mark Lane, EC3R 7NB. Skeleton Green Revisited: Further Excavations at the Romano-British Cemetery at Braughing, Herts. Talk,Mark Hinman (PCA) £2.
Fri. 4th July, 8pm. Enfield Archaeological Society (see 13th June above). Terror from the Skies: The Air War on Enfield 1914-18. Ian Jones (EAS). Visitors £1. Refreshments from 7.30.
Sat. 5th July, 11am-5pm. Kensal Green Cemetery Open Day. 391 Ladbroke Grove, W10 5AA or Harrow Rd, W10 4RA. Tours, displays, refreshments, stalls, incl. Willesden Local History Society.
Sat. 5th July & Sun. 6th July, 12-7pm. East Barnet Festival, Oak Hill Pk, Church Hill Rd, EN4 8JS. Many community stalls, incl. Barnet Arts Council. Music, dance, classic cars, food. market tent.
Sun. 6th July, 10.30-5pm. North London & Essex Transport Society. Uncompleted Northern Line Extensions, 60th Anniversary Tour. Examines the former GN & LNER branch lines from Finsbury Park to Highgate & Alexandra Palace closed July 1954. Also the Branch from Mill Hill East to Edgware & beyond to Bushey Heath. Led by Jim Blake (transport historian & author). Begins Finsbury Pk, lunch break at Highgate. To attend, send names, address, e-mail details plus £10 per person & s.a.e. to JH Blake, 8 The Rowans, London N13 5AD (make cheques out to JH Blake).
Sat. 12th & Sun. 13th July, North London & Essex Transport Society. 60 Years of the Routemaster. Finsbury Pk, N4. Largest ever gathering of Routemasters, display of earlier & later vehicles, special Routemaster-operated free service, stalls, etc. Further details: www.routemaster.org.uk. Free.
Sat. 12th & Sun. 13th July. Enfield Archaeological Society. Festival of British Archaeology: Dig at Theobalds Palace. Cedars Park, Cheshunt, Herts. For more details contact Mike Dewbrey (phone office hours. 01707 870888) or see www.enfarchsoc.org.
Sun. 13th July, 2.30pm. Enfield Society. Heritage Walk around Winchmore Hill. Led by Joe Studman. See the Quaker Meeting House & Graveyard, a Georgian Schoolhouse, The Old Bakery (16th C), etc and hear historical stories. Lasts 90 minutes. Send name, phone no. & s.a.e. for tickets to: Heritage Walks, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield EN2 0AJ.
Tues. 15th July, 2-3pm. Harrow Museum.(see Tues.3rd June). The Manor & Medieval Harrow Pat Clark (Pinner Local Hist. Soc. & LAMAS). £3.50.
Tues. 15th -Sun 20th July. Enfield Archaeological Society. Festival of British Archaeology: Dig at Elsyng Palace. See Sat. 12th/Sun. 13th July for contact details.
Sat. 19th & Sun 20th July, 11am-4pm. Festival of British Archaeology: COLAS at the Tower of London. Access to Tower Beach at low tide 10.30-11.30am Sat, 11am-1pm, Sun. Free public displays, handling finds of COLAS, LAARC & Historic Royal Palaces, games, Roman dress-up and much more.
Sat. 19th July, 10.30am. Battlefields Trust. War Walk: London in the First World War, 1914-18. Led by Chris Everett. Meet Holborn Tube. Further details: london.southeast@battlefieldstrust.com
or phone Harvey Watson 07818 853385.
Fri. 25th July, 7pm. COLAS (see Fri. 20th June). Permanently Magical: Sir John Soane’s House & Museum. Talk, Helen Dorey. Visitors £2. Light refreshments afterwards.
Tues. 29th July, 2-3pm. Harrow Museum.(see Tues.3rd June). Stephenson: Rocket Man. Talk by J Page On Rocket’s development & new age of steam. £3.50

No. 518 MAY 2014 Edited by Dot Ravenswood

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.

Tuesday 13th May The Bishop’s Hunting Park in Highgate. Lecture by Malcolm Stokes (HADAS member). Successive bishops of London held land in both Finchley and Hornsey. The parish boundary between them passed through the hunting lodge of the bishops, and the park itself was fairly equally divided between the two ancient parishes now in Barnet and Haringey. The gates into the park were the Gatehouse in Highgate and the Spaniards and the site of the old White Lion where the old Great North Road passes under the railway bridge at East Finchley. The first recorded date for the park is 1227 but it could be a century older. It probably ceased to be used for hunting in the fourteenth century when the bishop started collecting tolls for crossing the park along the road from the Gatehouse to East Finchley. All that survives of the hunting lodge are the partial remains of a moat in Highgate Golf Course.

Thursday 15th May Outing to Portsmouth to see the new Mary Rose Museum and, HMS Victory, HMS Warrior and the Royal Navy Museum.

Tuesday 10th June ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 7.45pm Avenue (Stephens) House
The AGM will begin a little earlier this year. This is because our President, Harvey Sheldon, will deliver a lecture after the meeting on “The London Walls”. We hope that members will come along and support the AGM and the President, who will chair the meeting and then proceed with his lecture. We hope that a large number of members will be present.

Sunday June 29th to Thursday July 3rd: Long Outing to Kent.

Tuesday 14th October Finding Neanderthal tools in Norfolk cliffs. Lecture by Dr Nick Ashton, British Museum.

Tuesday 11th November To be confirmed

Sunday 7th December HADAS Christmas party. Over recent years, we have met at Avenue (Stephens) House for a social gathering. This has proved very successful and well worth repeating. Please note in your diaries that we have booked the Drawing Room, where we have our lectures, for Sunday 7th December. Details will be circulated in due course.
Cromer Road Dig Jim Nelhams

As part of the History Project at Cromer Road School in New Barnet, we will be digging on the school field for the week starting Monday 9th June. This is a joint effort with UCL, and Sarah Dhanjal will be talking to the children and preparing booklets for them. UCL will provide some students, but we also need HADAS diggers, both to provide some muscle and to help supervise and aid the children. About 60 children from year 5 (10-year-olds) will be involved at different times.

Prior to the event, we will survey the school field to help select our trench sites. We also hope to survey a grassy area in front of the school where we know there was a building in the 1940s. This should show some nice results for the children and teachers to see. The school plans to hold an open session at the end of the school day on Thursday 12th June, so that parents can see what we are doing.

● If you would like to help, even for only one day, please contact Bill Bass, Don Cooper or Jim Nelhams.

The Sandridge Gold Hoard

Lecture by David Thorold

11th March 2014
Report by Peter Pickering

David Thorold is the Prehistory to Mediaeval Curator at the Verulamium Museum. He told a large audience a dramatic story of good old-fashioned golden treasure. It was found in September 2012 by a metal detectorist going out for the first time with a new cheap machine. The machine bleeped;
he dug and there was a gold Roman coin. It bleeped again and there was another. When this had happened fifty times it struck him that he ought to report his find. So he went to the shop in St Albans where he had bought his detector, and with the shop-owner they told the museum. Then David went with them to the field, and more and more gold coins emerged, 159 in all. Nothing else; no sign of a container; and the coins were scattered around (probably the consequence of mediaeval ploughing), and at different depths, some virtually on the surface. It was sometimes difficult to see them, because their colour was like that of the sand in which they lay. They were taken to the British Museum, where they have been studied and conserved (though gold is so unreactive that it requires little but careful cleaning).
David described the coins. They were all solidi, the basic gold coin of the late Roman Empire. They were all very similar. Round the heads, which were scarcely differentiated, were the names of five emperors, from Gratian to the brothers Honorius and Arcadius (who ruled the Western and Eastern empires respectively at the beginning of the fifth century). Most of the reverses showed the symbolic crowning of the emperor by Victory while he was trampling on a barbarian enemy; there were a few different reverses, with a similar message, and one with a personification of Rome. The coins had mint marks, showing that they had originated from all over the empire; most of them were marked from Milan, but there were also examples from Trier, Rome, Ravenna, Lyon, Constantinople and Sirmium in Croatia.

Late Roman gold coins are well made and quality-controlled (unlike the silver and bronze currency); David used mediaeval pictures to illustrate how this was achieved. They did not circulate in the way that modern coins, or the Roman silver and bronze, did (though one of those in the hoard showed signs of wear); they were basically used for the payment of important officials and the army, and in the tax-collection system, and were regularly melted down and reissued. It is difficult to relate the values of solidi to the values of the other late Roman coins (in the way that is possible for the coinage of the earlier empire), but David gave some indication when he told us that a good-quality slave might have cost ten solidi.

David, naturally, speculated on why these coins – which should have been returned to the state in taxes, and not retained by a private individual – came to be buried in a field by the Roman road north of Verulamium. The date of deposition was likely to be at the very end of Britain’s time within the Roman empire, say around AD 410. There was no reason to attribute a ritual reason for the burial; possibilities were a wealthy army officer going on a posting and putting his savings somewhere where he would be able to find them again; a wealthy merchant depositing them when he went on a business trip; or a wealthy landowner going with his family to Gaul when Roman order was breaking down, leaving his estate to be run by his bailiff, but hoping to return when control was re-established, as it had been on occasions in the past.
The talk was very well presented, with many pictures of shining gold coins. David is preparing for the day when the coins come back from the British Museum, and are displayed – in very secure conditions – in St Albans.
Garden Room Archive Processing Bill Bass

Work on processing finds from our excavations continues at Stephens (Avenue) House. Another major activity for the Sunday morning team is the writing-up and conservation of archives to museum standards for previous HADAS digs, e.g. at Rectory Close and Church Crescent near St Mary’s Church, Finchley. This area was investigated by HADAS in the late 1970s as the old rectory was being demolished for new development; the digs were well published in the newsletters of that period.

However, over time the finds and paper archive (from many excavations) can get separated due to various factors such as a number of storage sites, the mounting of exhibitions, material going for specialist reports, different card records, photographic records and various filing systems etc. We are not alone as many societies have this problem – as indeed do major archives and museums. We trawl through our files and finds to pick up as many of the missing or separate elements as possible and assemble them as best we can.

The following are really notes to give an idea of what we have done to the Rectory Close and Church Crescent archive to tidy it up and better present it. You will see that some material is not with us.

If any members can add further information about archives please get in contact. Other sites and archives getting this treatment include 1970s digs at Fuller Street and Peacocks Yard in Hendon. Further work is taking place to tidy up and conserve the archive of the 1960s dig at Church Terrace in view of its imminent publication. »»»

St Mary’s Finchley – Rectory Gardens (RC78) and 33 Church Crescent digs (CC79) 1978 & 1979. Review of Archive – 2014

In 1978 HADAS obtained permission to undertake investigations on the site of the old rectory gardens at St Mary’s Finchley, prior to construction of the Rectory Close sheltered housing. Three trenches were dug, A, B, & C, and as a result of the findings in trench C, after lengthy negotiations, a further trench – D – was dug the following year, 1979, in the garden of 33 Church Crescent. Of the 3 initial trenches, A & C proved worth continuing and B was closed. Trench A, nearest to the church, was 4m x 2m and excavated to a depth of 1.3m. Trench C, adjacent to the back garden of 33 Church Crescent, was 2m x 2m and excavated to a depth of 2.2m. Neither trench was excavated to natural. Both trenches revealed redeposited, mixed layers yielding finds from 13thC to late 19thC. This was due to landscaping of the grounds at the time the (now demolished) Victorian rectory was built. Trench C revealed the possible profile of a deep ditch. The following year, the edge of a shallow pit or ditch with pockets of metal detritus along the perimeter was found at 33 Church Crescent in trench D.

Levels in trenches are not always clear but markings on finds are in Roman numerals, e.g.
stratum I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. Depths occasionally appear in cms.

Both the finds and the paper archives appear to be incomplete in that we have a comprehensive bone catalogue detailing both sheep and cattle bone but no actual bone. This assemblage may have been discarded but there is no information concerning its fate. Likewise Part II of the original report details finds according to period but there is no finds report. Some of the finds mentioned are not present in the extant finds assemblage.

We have re-bagged and labelled the finds in our possession; assembled the paper archive into a coherent form; and scanned and identified the photographic negatives using the existing site archive.

Finds

Finds listed in part 2 of the report Prehistoric:
Three struck flints (FR78) Two struck flints (CC79) Medieval:

1. Neck of biconical vessel, partial heavy dark brown glaze – Cheam kilns 14th/early 15thC 2. Eight sherds of off-white sandy fabric, dark green glaze with press-mould wheat-ear design – Kingston Ware 13th-14thC (two rejoined sherds CC79 green glaze)

3. 17 portions of rims and body sherds of gritty-grey wares 12th-14thC
4. Portion of base + three sherds of gritty redware 12th-14thC
5. 16 assorted sherds in redware, eight with traces of green or brown glaze
6.. One small sherd of pinkish fabric in yellow glaze, possibly Stamford Ware 11th-12thC Post-medieval:
1. Six small fragments of sheet glass c.1mm thick and partly degraded
2. Neck and mask of Bellarmine (Bartmann) jar 17thC
3. 32 sherds of clay-pipe including marks by G. Andrews of Highgate, a spur with initials
DC (possibly Dan Crabb of London 1723)
4. Corner of blue & white glazed ceramic tile

It appears from the report that a number of yellow bricks which were referred to in a list were not actually from the digs but were surface finds made during the rebuilding period post 1973. HADAS Research Minutes refer to glass Salt Cellars + 2 stoneware pots; and the 17thC stoneware is also mentioned as being found at this time (1973), none of which is now present in the finds archive. A set of retrospective Finds Catalogue Sheets has been created (2014) which includes all small finds and other building materials including field drains, glass, metal and other finds that have not always survived into the present archive.

Paper Archive

2014 review
Finds Catalogue Sheets
Original Report drafts 1 & 2
Notes/correspondence/letters
Dig site plans and sections
Development plan
Newspaper cuttings/display captions
Photos/negatives/CD of scanned negatives.
Struck Flint Report
Animal Bone Catalogue

Bibliography

HADAS Newsletters – May 1978, June 1978 and May 1979 (FR78), November 1979 (CC79)
London Archaeologist – Vol 3 (10) FR78, Vol 3 (10) CC79
HADAS Committee Minute report 12/5/78
Notes with finds (Specialist notes)
A Place in Time, HADAS 1989
Notes/correspondence/letters (with archive)

Subsequent to this dig, an excavation was carried out by the DGLA in 1990 on the site of St
Mary’s School, Finchley (site code REG90), about 200m north of the Rectory site. This found extensive medieval occupation – pot, hearths, beam slots etc. The archive of this site is stored at the London Archaeological Archive Resource Centre, Hackney.

A Trip to York Jo Nelhams
On Saturday 29th March, Jim and I were at Potters Bar Station at 7am. We were going on an outing arranged by our daughter Maria, for a family celebration. Just after 7.30, the Sir Nigel Gresley steam train appeared out of the mist puffing and steaming into Potters Bar. The platform was crowded with passengers, like us remembering these great pieces of engineering, once our regular mode of transport. The fact that we are still able to experience a journey on a steam train is all down to enthusiasts and volunteers. Our next stop was Stevenage, where our daughter, her husband, our son and his wife and our granddaughter Lara boarded the train. The sun was shining and we set off from Stevenage and puffed our way north. The journey took five hours as we had stops to replenish the water. This was accomplished with water trucks being brought alongside the train at convenient stopping points, and pumped into the tender. No troughs are still in place from which water could be picked up, no tanks at the stations today. We had a first class compartment, the carriages being of the old design with corridors. Our granddaughter was constantly wanting to look out of the window and was fascinated by the wafts of steam that floated past the windows. We had just over three hours in York and then the return journey. All along the route both ways there were big crowds of spectators, cameras at the ready to record the spectacle. A really splendid day out.

Sir Nigel Gresley is normally based at Southall, and a recent picture in The Daily Telegraph showed it pulling carriages along the reconstructed track at Dawlish, originally planned by Brunel, which had been badly damaged by the winter storms.
The Great War
David Berguer, Chairman of the Friern Barnet & District Local History Society, has written a history of the Home Front in the Great War. The book, All Over by Christmas, describes what was happening around Barnet, Finchley and Friern Barnet while its men were away fighting on the Western Front. Based on articles in the local press of the time, letters from home and interviews with local residents describing everything from sugar rationing to Zeppelin raids, the book runs to 277 pages and has over 140 illustrations. Appendices include chronologies of the Home Front and the Western Front, details of Zeppelin and aeroplane raids over Britain, and lists of the war dead recorded in various local churches and on war memorials.

The book (ISBN 978 0 956 93449 9) is published at £15.99 plus £3 post and packing by Chaville Press of 148 Friern Park N12 9LU (www.chavillepress.co.uk), and is also obtainable from Waterstone’s in North Finchley and Barnet or on www.amazon.co.uk. Chaville Press also published David’s earlier work The Friern Hospital Story: The History of a Victorian
Lunatic Asylum. His other local history was Under the Wires at Tally Ho: Trams and
Trolleybuses of North London 1905-1962, published by The History Press

(www.thehistorypress.co.uk).

___________________________________________________________________________
Newsletter Editor desperately sought! Sue Willetts

Each month 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)

Increased Postal Charges

As seems to be becoming a regular habit, Royal Mail have increased the charges for postage stamps from 50p to 53p for 2nd class mail and 60p to 62p for 1st class. Although our newsletters are franked, which is cheaper, we would encourage all members to receive the newsletter via email. HADAS are holding the cost of membership subscriptions for another year despite these increases. PLEASE CONSIDER RECEIVING YOUR COPY OF THE NEWSLETTER BY EMAIL.

The Admiralty Telegraph at Childs Hill Dot Ravenswood
In the 1970s when I was living in Childs Hill, I visited Sarum Chase, the spectacular neo-Tudor mansion built by the royal portrait painter Frank Salisbury on the edge of the West Heath in 1931. The house has a steep back garden which runs right up to the summit of Telegraph Hill – a hill which marked the Anglo-Saxon boundary between Hampstead and Hendon. Salisbury was enthralled by the site. In his autobiography he wrote: “Telegraph Hill rises from the junction of Platt’s Lane and West Heath Road to one of the highest
points in Hampstead overlooking London, with a wonderful view across country to the Chilterns. It was the place where the beacon was lit to carry the tidings of the Spanish Armada. What a place for a garden! What a situation for a House!”

I climbed the path up Salisbury’s garden and came out on a patch of waste ground at the top of the hill. There was nothing there except the remains of a small rectangular concrete base and a few broken bricks and other bits of rubble lying about among the weeds. I wondered what kind of building there might have been on this isolated site. A garden shed?

Telegraph Hill, as I later discovered, was the site of an optical telegraph station constructed by the Admiralty during the Napoleonic wars as a means of communication with the fleet. The system was the brainchild of Lord George Murray, who proposed it in 1794. This station, built in 1807, was the second in a chain of 16 that connected London with warships lying in the harbour at Great Yarmouth. There were intermediate stations at Woodcock Hill, St Albans, Dunstable Downs, Lilley Hoe, Baldock, Royston, Gogmagog Hills, Newmarket, Icklingham, Barnham, East Harling, Carleton Rode, Wreningham, and Strumpshaw.

Each station consisted of a wooden hut surmounted by a vertical frame 20ft high holding six (later eight) wooden shutters. The shutters were connected to ropes by which they could be opened and closed in 63 different combinations, each representing a different letter or word. Twenty-six combinations stood for letters of the alphabet, 10 for the numbers 0 – 9, and 27 for key words. The stations were manned by Royal Navy personnel who observed the previous station in their chain through telescopes, received messages, and copied them on to the next station. At distances of 11 miles or so, the shutter movements were not always easy to read. But the system worked..

By 1808, 65 stations were in operation. Murray’s telegraph was a dramatic improvement on the old method of sending messages by a man on horseback, although the often repeated claim that the first chain could transmit messages from London to Deal in 60 seconds sounds like wishful thinking; and the claim that the telegraph was used to transmit the news of Wellington’s victory at Waterloo is disputed. What is certain is that the shutter system was abandoned in 1816 once the Napoleonic wars were over. It was replaced by a simpler system.

● Above left: A view of the telegraph erected on the Admiralty Office at Charing Cross in 1796 (detail). The National Maritime Museum has an architectural model, and there is a working replica of the shutter system in the Museum of Communication at Burntisland in Fife (www.mocft.co.uk).

Other Societies’ Events Eric Morgan

Friday 6th June – Sunday 29th June, 10am – 6pm. Museum of Water, Somerset House, Strand WC2R 1LA. Art installation to which you are invited to bring some water – a melted snowman, a baby’s bath … – in your own bottle to add to its collection. Phone 020 7845 4600 or contact info@somersethouse.org.uk.

Saturday 7th June The City Lit Archaeology course: The Medieval Port of London, 1200-1500. For further information visit www.citylit.ac.uk or phone 020 7492 2652.

Monday 9th June, 3pm. Barnet Museum & Local History Society, Church House, Wood St, Barnet (opposite museum): 200 Years of MCC at Lord’s. Talk by Penri Morgan.

Sunday 22nd June, 12 – 6pm. East Finchley Festival, Cherry Tree Wood (opposite station, off High Rd N2). Lots of stalls, including Finchley Society and Barnet Borough Arts Council.

Thursday 26th June, 8pm. Finchley Society, Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Rd, N3 3QE. AGM, followed by refreshments or wine and cheese. Non-members £2.

Wednesday 28th June, 7.45pm. Friern Barnet & District Local History Society, North Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane N20 0NL. The Foundling Hospital of Barnet. Talk by Yvonne Tomlinson. Visitors £2. Refreshments and bar.

Monday 30th June – Friday 4th July, Monday 7th – Friday 11th July & Monday 14th – Friday 18th July, 10am – 5pm. EXCAVATE LONDON at Headstone Manor, Pinner View, North Harrow HA2 6PX. Five-day courses taught by MOLA archaeologists and MOL curators. Fee: £295 for one week, including sandwich lunch. Book on 020 7001 9844.

No. 517 APRIL 2014 Edited by Peter Pickering

HADAS DIARY – Forthcoming Lectures and Events.

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.

Tuesday 8th April 2014: House Mill and its Restoration. Lecture by Brian James-Strong and Beverley Charters of the River Lea Tidal Mill Trust.

The lecture will be in two parts. Brian will talk about the House Mill and its historic importance in the Lower

Lea Valley, the setting for London’s Industrial Revolution. He will explain the activities of the River Lea Tidal Mill Trust to date, including the restoration of the fabric of the House Mill, and give details of building of the contemporary adjacent Miller’s House, which currently serves as a visitor and education centre. He will touch on the distilling industry, and the part that Three Mills played in this over its 200 years of operation. He will also discuss the special significance of some of the remaining milling machinery, in particular, the Fairbairn-style millstones.

Beverley will provide an overview of the Trust’s current plans for the next stage of restoration. “Saving the largest tide mill in the world!” This will include the heritage machinery (four wheels, two sets of grinding stones and the sack hoist), exhibition and interpretation throughout the buildings, and improved visitor and education facilities; she will bring us up to date on the fundraising campaign, which includes an imminent Round 2 application to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

On 10th and 11th May there will be the National Mills Weekend at the House Mill. For details see “Other societies’ events” at the end of this Newsletter.

Tuesday 13th May 2014 Malcolm Stokes (HADAS member); The Bishop’s Hunting Park in Highgate

Thursday, 15th May 2014 Outing to Portsmouth on to see the new Mary Rose Museum, HMS Victory, HMS Warrior and the Royal Navy Museum. Cost is £40 per person. We need to make firm bookings of both the coach and the dockyard but do not yet have quite enough participants to make this viable. So do what you have been meaning to do and book. Why not bring a friend? It should be a great day out!

Tuesday 10th June 2014 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Sunday June 29th to Thursday July 3rd, Long Outing to Kent. Lots of members are coming on this, but there is still room for a few more. So if you have not yet booked, do not hesitate to get in touch with Jim Nelhams (contact details at the end of this Newsletter).

Tuesday 14th October 2014 Dr Nick Ashton – British Museum; Finding Neanderthal tools in Norfolk cliffs

Tuesday 11th November 2014 – TO BE CONFIRMED.

Sunday 7th December HADAS Christmas party
Over recent years, we have met at Avenue House (now Stephens House) for a social gathering. This has proved very successful, and well worth repeating. Please note in your diaries that we have booked the Drawing Room, where we have our lectures, for Sunday 7th December. Details will be circulated in due course.

‘The Archaeology of the First Peoples into Australia’ course Peter Nicholson

The Mill Hill Archaeological Study Society is running a course of six classes with this title. The course will examine the archaeology of the first of the native peoples into Australia. We will investigate theories regarding the entry and date and which human species first entered the new lands of Australia. We will study the arrival of the first people into Australia about 50,000 years ago through both archaeology and aboriginal oral traditions. We will examine how these first people adapted to their new environment and how their art and material culture developed. Specific topics include rock art and the extinction of the megafauna. The course tutor is Scott McCracken. The course is on Friday mornings from 10 to 12, beginning 4th April, in the Eversfield Centre, 11 Eversfield Gardens, Mill Hill, NW7 2AE. The cost for the course will be £45. Enrol at the first meeting; if you have not previously attended the Society’s meetings please contact the secretary, Peter Nicholson (020-8959 4757).

Request from overseas Don Cooper

We have had an email from Brian Reid from Melbourne, Australia as follows:

“My father attended Woodhouse School in its early years. I’d like to obtain a copy of Percy Reboul’s book ‘By Word and Deed: A Chronicle of Woodhouse School 1922 – 1949’. I’m wondering if you could suggest how I might obtain a copy? Percy told me he doesn’t have a spare copy but that I should keep trying the usual book sources. But I’ve had no success. Of course I’m happy to pay for it.

I’m also looking for The Woodhouse Logs numbered 12 & 13, which I believe will be the 1929 issues. Do you know if there is any way I can obtain them?”

Can anybody help him? Please let Don Cooper know if you can (contact details at the end of this newsletter).

The Prittlewell Anglo-Saxon Burial Report by Simon Williams
Nothing beats a talk by the expert on site at a dig; thank you, Ian Blair (Senior MOLA Archaeologist) for a fascinating talk. The site was found during a road-widening scheme. The burial took place 1,400 years ago. The Prittle Brook runs nearby, and the site aligns precisely with Southend pier, being on an E – W alignment.

Prittlewell is in the same league as Sutton Hoo. There are far more imports found here than at the Taplow burial; and the chamber area is bigger. Sutton Hoo is an exception because it is in a ship.

The only named king likely for the burial is Saebert (d. 616), king of the East Saxons and the first to convert to Christianity. This theme is reinforced by a gold cross being laid over each eye. There is a lamp-stand placed on the foot-end of the ghostly soil stain of the coffin (probably closed alight). There was a lot of cloth; the chamber was probably draped with very bright cloths. The tomb and its contents were buried within an oak board compartment.

Organic preservation was very, very poor due to an (acid) sand context. Most enthrallingly, artefacts were found to be on their original hooks, having been hung against the walls – artefacts such as a flagon, stunning glass jars, a folding “campaign” stool, and a gold buckle which was beautiful, impractical, and not quite finished to the exacting standards of the Sutton Hoo one: the back-plate was not a true fit. The 57 gaming pieces turned out to be of marine provenance, with an antler dice. Also found were two gold coins, and gold brocade for a tunic’s shoulder.

The lines of the 3.5m chamber are its only remains and the ghost of its inner walls is indicated by the hanging objects.

A SEQUEL TO HENDON SCHOOL’S 2012 EXCAVATIONS
Members will remember that HADAS excavated at Hendon School in 2012 (see newsletter no 498 September 2012). One of the items we found was a flash drive which presumably been lost and eventually stamped into the ground. It was bashed and covered in mud. After it was cleaned and washed we were able to read it. Gabe Moshenska of UCL has created this comic strip to illustrate what we found.

Buxton finale
Here is the final report from our Buxton trip last year. We hope you have enjoyed the articles submitted regarding our trip to Buxton. We had contributions from 18 members: our thanks to them all. And the trip encouraged further research – hence the contribution from Emma Robinson.

Foxton Locks and Inclined Plane Vicki Baldwin

By the time we reached Foxton Locks on a stretch of canal built to link the Birmingham and Leicester branches of what is now the Grand Union Canal, the weather had taken a marked turn for the better. As we walked to the locks along the towpath the tranquillity of the setting belied the reality of the mercantile and industrial nature of the canal network. These were the watery superhighways of the industrial revolution – never meant for the leisure pursuits and peaceful reflections of weekend walkers and boaters.

A bend in the canal brought us to the top of the ten locks. Started in 1810 and finished four years later, these are arranged in two flights of five, with a holding pool halfway up that allowed boats to pass. Foxton is the largest flight of staircase locks on the English canal system and rises 22m (75ft) from top to bottom. Foxton was built to the narrowboat width of 2.1m (7ft) rather than the barge width of 4.2m (14ft) partly due to the lack of water available. Originally the pounds alongside the locks for containing the water during opening & closing were larger, but the construction of the Inclined Plane boat lift truncated their area.

With increasing use of the canal system throughout the 19th Century, the narrowness of the locks coupled with the time taken to negotiate the flight (about 45 minutes) presented a substantial problem. An alternative solution was presented in the form of the Inclined Plane boat lift. Inclined planes were already in use that required the cargo to be unloaded into trucks that were then raised and lowered on tracks. An example is the Hay Incline built in 1790. Experiments had been made using water tanks to contain the boats at Bulbourne. When the Foxton Inclined Plane was built, it represented the pinnacle of such technology in this country. The barges were floated into large water filled, counter-balanced caissons and transported to the top or bottom of the incline using a steam pump. This system was capable of raising 2 loaded barges and lowering 2 loaded barges at the same time. There was no need to unload cargo into narrowboats in order to negotiate the locks so wide boats could be used for the whole journey. In addition it took around 12 minutes using the Inclined Plane, a substantial saving in time.

The Inclined Plane took 2 years to construct and came into use in 1900. The pump house, now the museum, had been completed in 1897. Foxton locks fell out of use somewhat due to the success of the Inclined Plane. However, the development of the road network was beginning to move cargo away from the canals. The locks were refurbished in 1909 to allow for night use, and in 1911 the lift was closed to save money. During the First World War it was kept in reserve in case it was needed for the war effort. Finally, in 1927, it was scrapped and the locks received a major refurbishment at the same time.

1929 saw the formation of the Grand Union Canal Company with pleasure grounds and sea-going ships. Subsequently there was some effort on the part of the government to improve the canal system. Nationalisation in 1948 meant a re-categorisation for the waterways into Freight use, Cruiseways and Remainder. Fortunately this section was classed as Cruiseway and so effort was put into keeping it working.

Subsequently major work has been carried out by volunteers and the area is attractive spot not just for those afloat but also for visitors who prefer terra firma. Jon and I visited the tiny Bridge 61 pub with its lovely homemade Scotch Eggs and Foxton Locks & Inclined Plane beers served from a bar that looked like a domestic serving hatch. A very pleasant end to an interesting trip.

Saxon Crosses and Carvings at Bakewell Church Emma Robinson

Our visit to Bakewell was memorable at a number of levels but I was particularly pleased to visit the Saxon High Cross (dated to the 10th century or earlier) in the churchyard of All Saints Church. This church was founded in the early 10th century and probably after the Bakewell Cross was carved. Much more could be said of the collection of 37 pieces of Anglo Saxon or Anglo Scandinavian sculpture now in or around All Saints Church – including the shaft of a second cross. Some fragments were found during restoration work in the 1840s – whilst others were found or dug up in the locality. Overall the collection forms part of one of the largest survivals of carved stonework of this period in the country – although much more still needs to be discovered about their history.

It is a legend relating to the origins of the Bakewell Cross, however, that particularly interests me. Local tradition has it that the cross originally stood at the Hassop Cross Roads (OS grid ref. SK223722) and it was subsequently moved to the churchyard. An HLF funded project testing this tradition is underway and forms part of a project being undertaken by Archaeological Research Services Ltd, the Parochial Church Council of Bakewell Church and the Bakewell and District Historical Society.

English Heritage, however, only allowed ‘keyhole surgery’ around the foundations of the Cross’ current location. But the findings were remarkable in that the cross base was found to be resting on the foundations of an ancient wall … and further under this wall was a skeleton from which a tiny fragment was successfully carbon dated to the 11th century. So since the cross predates the skeleton it must have been moved from its original position. But where was this? Explorations of the cross base revealed a gap into which a boulder has been concreted. The origins or purpose of this gap cannot be confirmed with any certainty – but it might be helpful in detection work?

The focus of the research now moved to the Hassop Cross Roads and investigations of the Longstone Enclosure Map (the name in itself is a clue). In summary, the enclosure map was superimposed on an aerial photograph of topographical remains in the field and the location of the site of the ancient cross roads determined. Following magnetometer surveys sufficient evidence was gathered to justify that the ancient track-ways identified could well be those of the legend and digging commenced. It was certainly “Archaeology for All” with groups of all ages from school children to Bakewell U3A members involved. Many generations of ancient tracks were revealed.

Finds indicated that they had been through routes from possibly as early as the Mesolithic period – although used more heavily at some periods. A stone mound was found at the cross roads which could have been the previous support structure of the cross base. The mound has a stone foundation at the right depth and a jumble of roughly squared stones which look remarkably similar to the stone foundations of the cross found in the church yard. However, as the Journal of the Bakewell & District Historical Society [1] records “… lack of time and heavy rain prevented further excavation”. It is so often thus!

[1] Stetka, J., 2013. Chairman’s Report, Journal of the Bakewell & District Historical Society. pp. 5-13.

Water Tower Excavation at Avenue House, Finchley Bill Bass

Introduction

Following a successful interim HLF Grant application for restoring the gardens, work has begun on identifying various structures on the estate. One such structure is the Water Tower which appears to be closely connected with a now demolished substantial laundry/hothouse building. The Tower, which is listed, has a colony of Pipistrelle bats – a protected species. Currently the Tower has no apparent ground floor entrance.

History

H.C. Stephens (of Stephens Ink) bought the existing Villa of Avenue House including the adjoining Little Church Field in 1874. This field and the garden of the Villa were then landscaped by a famous gardener called Robert Marnock, “who was said to be the best landscape gardener of his time”. Later Stephens bought the Great Tapes field to the east of the estate. About this period the Water Tower (1880), Laundry, Bothy and water management system were built. The Bothy is said to be one of the earliest buildings constructed of reinforced concrete.

“At this time the principal approach to Avenue House was laid out, a long straight drive along the southern boundary with an entrance on Manor Way and probably a second entrance from East End Road. This approach underlined the importance of the garden elevation at the front of the house; carriages arriving by the long southern drive would arrive at the terrace on the garden side. After passing through Great Tapes Field (now the sports ground east of Avenue House grounds), the Bothy would have been the first structure that visitors would have seen entering the estate via the drive. The initial view of the carriageway would have been of the east facade (the main accommodation and courtyards); as the carriage progressed the view would have been the south elevation, the side wall of the accommodation and looped iron fence and gates of the garden (in place of the 4m high walls elsewhere). This view would have allowed direct views into the Bothy garden and the impressive arrangement of glasshouses and palmhouses etc. The setting of the Bothy, slightly elevated above the carriageway by a few metres, would have dramatically enhanced its appearance. This would have been followed by views of the water tower and additional hot houses on the southern side of the drive”. (Extract from Avenue House’s draft Conservation Management Plan 2013).

Investigation

Site code: SVH13, NGR: TQ 25282 90177

The management of Avenue House asked HADAS to investigate a possible entrance in the ground on the north side of the Tower. It was proposed to clear an approximate 5m x 5m area by hand; within this area there is a possible indentation which may have indicated such an entrance to a basement level. An initial investigation began early November 2013.

Water Tower

“In February and November 1879 Stephens wrote two letters regarding the hardness of the water that he was being supplied with. On 22nd November he stated in a letter to Messrs Atkins & Co. of Fleet Street ‘A water tower of so great a height would be rather objectionable. Can I not receive the water into a tank and softening apparatus on grounds and after softening pump it into a 2000 gall cistern just high enough for house once a day for supply by gravitation to house cisterns?’ The Water Tower was built the following year. The tower is 9m high and features three separate compartments for storing water”. (Review of Water Engineering at Avenue House by Marcus White, Nov 2013).

On the NE side of the tower a series of pipes rise on the outside of the tower supplying water to/from each of the three stages. The pipes are clad in wooden shuttering (this shuttering can be seen entering the different stages of the tower) and are thought to be a later modification and partly, if not wholly, connect to those in the excavated ‘valve pit’.

The same review states that the use of the tower is not yet fully understood e.g. whether the tower was actually used for water softening; did it supply just the laundry or the rest of the house and gardens? Much of the pipework is not original being ‘an afterthought or modification’.

“The 1894-96 Ordnance Survey plan shows glasshouses present on the site running west from the Water Tower. These glasshouses were the laundry that was operating for the estate. There are no laundry facilities built into the design of the house and so it is clear that Stephens intended for this work to be carried out remotely right from the estate’s inception. The laundry and Water Tower had their own gate within the perimeter fence and thus no internal access was required”. (Marcus White 3.3.2 page 20)

Avenue House Water Tower, Trench 1 excavation

Trench 1 was placed 1.50m directly north of the tower base; it measured 1.80m EW x 1.50m NS. There was an existing ‘opening’ in this area; it had been suggested that this was an opening to a basement room of the tower or access to a plant or pump room.

On cleaning the top of the opening it was found that a rough concrete slab had been laid over the area, and within this was a frame made of bent metal piping to fashion a handmade manhole cover. The cover had subsequently been lost leaving an open hole that had silted-up. Excavation began of the silty fill; this was a light-brown organic, leafy/silty material [context 003], and judging by the relatively modern sweet wrappers etc the fill had accumulated over the last few years.

Further excavation began to reveal a ‘chamber’ (valve pit). The chamber measured approximately 1.50m EW x 1.50m NS; the depth was 0.75m with a sump in the floor being a further 0.22m deep. It was bounded on the south and east sides by concrete (probably part of the concrete foundation of the tower), the north side consisted of a modern brick wall, and the western side was a mixed roughly made wall of brick with lumps of mortar and concrete. The chamber contained a complex of various pipes, including:

• An EW foul sewer pipe along the south edge of the trench (86.00 OD)  A series of 3 smaller < 8cm iron water pipes running EW. • A (?) distribution pipe running (86.19 OD) NS to/from the tower and exiting north from the chamber.A junction takes the same feed eastwards and westwards exiting the walls of the chamber. These pipes have square ‘key’ controlled valves. A further two smaller diameter pipes < 4cm came off the feed pipe controlled with keys and taps and may be ‘sampling’ pipes. • Another 3 smaller diameter pipes crossed the chamber with keys and taps; many of these smaller iron pipes centred over a sump cut approximately in the middle of the chamber floor. Three ceramic drain pipes fed into the chamber, one from the north, one from the SE and one from the west. • A cast-iron pipe crossed the trench and chamber from SW to NE (86.25 OD). This cut across the rough western wall. Beyond the western wall was a disturbed context of mixed brown/yellow sand/silt with a mortar/rubble feel. This was a much disturbed context from the works around the chamber and the continued work and replacement of the pipe system. Finds [layer 003 fill of the valve pit] Metal 2 x circular metal (valve) tags 38mm diameter, one with ‘E’ stamped on it, small amount of iron strapping, small amount of thin lead sheeting – used as partitioning on the western side of the pit wall. Building material Small amounts of slate and a sherd of field drain pipe. Bone Large (cattle?) bone, joint end, butchered with straight clean cut across the bone. Small chicken type leg bone. Miscellaneous A selection of modern plastic, metal and rubber finds. [layer 004 western side of the trench, outside the valve pit] Pot Single sherds of Redware (flowerpot), Refined Whiteware, Tin-glazed Ware (plate rim) 1800-1900. Building material Small amounts of brick & slate fragments, clinker, white-glazed brick fragment. Metal An amount of corroded nails, cast-iron fragments, thin lead sheeting (used as a partition on the west wall of the valve-pit). Clay pipe A stem to bowl fragment, stamped ‘BENNEVIS’ on the stem. Clay pipes stamped with 'Ben Nevis' are known as cutty pipes (short stem pipes). They were made by a great many pipe makers and were very popular up to the beginning of the 20th century, but seem to have stopped being made after the Second World War. They were exported all over the world. Cutty pipes were made for manual workers so they could hold them in their mouths while using their hands. The pipes were sometimes called 'nose warmers' and in Ireland called 'Dudheen'. Cutty is Scottish slang for short. (D. Cooper – personal comm.). Glass Several fragments of clear modern vessel glass. Discussion Trench 1 appears to be placed over an inspection/valve pit and drainage chamber controlling the flow of water to and from the tower (not yet fully understood) with other pipes passing through. Pipes head west towards a building variously described as a laundry or hot-house. The jerry-built cover, north modern brick wall and brick/mortar west wall, seem to infer the 'chamber' has been rebuilt and modified over the years with the insertion/repair of various pipes and plumbing. Wooden shuttering attached to the NE side of the tower covered a similar series of pipes/keys/taps running from the ground vertically up to various stages in the tower. Further work is proposed to try and establish what lies outside the 'valve-pit', an entrance lobby to the laundry/hothouse is known from maps. Other work is needed to sort out how big the laundry and ancillary buildings were, and how this relates to an adjacent 'glasshouse/hothouse' mentioned in documents and seen on maps (for Trench 2 see Newsletter 514 Jan 2014 p5). References: Review of Water Engineering at Avenue House by Marcus White, Nov 2013. Avenue House, Draft Conservation Management Plan 2013. The Godfrey Edition, Old Ordnance Survey Maps, Finchley 1896. Laundry – What Laundry? Don Cooper, HADAS Newsletter No. 514, Jan 2014 Martin School Bill Bass HADAS members had a brief inspection of a gas pipeline being laid across the playing field in conjunction with the new works at the school where we found an air-raid shelter last year. The pipe had been laid and turf kicked in but we got a fair idea of what was going on. The pipeline which ran from the 'field' classroom to the High Road was about 30-40cm wide by 7080cm deep. It showed the make-up being the usual 40cm ish of topsoil over natural clay. We found several spots where the pipe had cut the (1913) field drain system and evidence of other types of field drains (possibly earlier than the one we are familiar with). Finds included pot and metal, also a heavily worn 1902 penny and a possible utensil bone handle. In the area of the air-raid shelter were familiar spreads of brick rubble probably clipped off a wall below. We hope to continue excavation this summer to pinpoint the shelter entrance. Exhibition and Book Enfield Archaeological Society in collaboration with Enfield Museum Service are producing a greatly enlarged and lavishly illustrated new edition of the late Geoffrey Gillam’s grounding breaking work “Enfield at War: 1914-1918” originally published in 1982. The new edition is written and edited by Ian K Jones. The book is being issued to coincide with a major exhibition at the Dugdale Centre, Thomas Hardy House, London Rd, Enfield, Middlesex EN2 6DS on “Enfield 19141918” to commemorate the beginning of the First World War. The exhibition will run from late March 2014 to January 2015. The book can be ordered from Ian K Jones, 18 Corby Cresent, Enfield, Middlesex EN2 7JT. The book costs £15.00 plus £3.30 postage and packing, please enclose remittance when ordering Other Societies' Events Eric Morgan Thursday 24th April. 7.30pm Finchley Society. Christ Church, High Road, North Finchley N12 (opposite Homebase). 'Finchley to Friern’ Talk and Slide Show by Mike Gee. Refreshments 7.30 pm. Non-members £2. Saturday 3rd May. 2-4pm Myddleton House Gardens Bulls Cross Enfield EN2 9HG 'Walking in the footsteps of Mr Bowles'. An informative tour highlighting the history of the man and his gardens £4 Tuesday 6th May. 1pm Gresham College at Museum of London, 150 London Wall. 'The Gresham Ship. An armed Elizabethan Merchantman recovered from the Thames'. Talk by Dr Gustav Milne. Further details at www.gresham.ac.uk Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th May. 11am to 4pm. National Mills Weekend. Three Mills House Mill, Three Mills Lane, Bromley-by-Bow, E3 3DV. Discover this Grade I listed Mill, the subject of our April lecture. Go to housemill.org.uk for further information. Other Societies' Events (continued) Sunday 11th May. 9.30am -4pm. Lea Valley Walk - Lea Bridge to Three Mills. Experience the industrial heritage and natural history of the south of the Lea Valley. Start at Waterworks Centre, Lammas Road (off Leabridgehead), Leyton E10 7QB Cost £15. Go to field-studies-council.org for further information. Sunday 11th May. 10am. to 6pm RAF Museum, Grahame Park Way, NW5 5LL The Hendon Model show, 2014. Commemorating the centenary of the First World War. Static and Motorised Model displays. For details, visit www.rafmuseum.org/whatson. Also until Wednesday 30th April 'Pilots of the Caribbean.' Volunteers of African Heritage in the RAF. Exhibition with Black Cultural archives. free admission. Monday 12th May. 3pm Barnet Museum and Local History Society. Church House, Wood Street, Barnet (opposite museum) 'Culture Wars: Jewish Immigration to the East End, 1880-1890.' Talk by John Lynch. Wednesday 14th May 7.45pm. Hornsey Historical Society. Union Church Hall, corner Ferme Park Road, Weston Park, N8 9PX 'Treasures in the Tower of London.' Talk by Garry Wykes. Visitors £2. Refreshments before. Thursday 15th May 7pm. London Archaeologist. Institute of Archaeology 31-4 Gordon Square WC1. Annual Lecture on 'The important Roman and Mediaeval Bloomberg Site' Sadie Watson (MOLA) Thursday 15th May 7.30pm. Heath and Hampstead Society St Stephen's Church, Pond Street, NW3 (corner Rosslyn Hill) 'How the Heath was saved.' Talk by Helen Marcus with readings, songs, poetry and pictures. £5 donation at door. Friday 16th May 7pm COLAS St Olave's Parish Hall, Mark Lane EC3 7NB. 'The King's Yard - Archaeological Investigations at Convoys Wharf, Deptford. 2000-2012’ Duncan Hawkins Visitors £2. Refreshments after. Sunday 18th to Sunday 25th May. Barnet Borough Arts Council. The Spires (next to W H Smith) High Street, Barnet. Art and Information exhibition (including HADAS details) Wednesday 21st May. 7.30pm Willesden Local History Society, St Mary's Church Hall Neasden Lane NW6 2TS (near Magistrates' Court) 'Forty years of Willesden's History.' Talk by Irina Porter about the Society's forty years existence since 1974. Thursday 22nd May. 7pm Enfield Society Heritage Walk. Guided walk around Enfield town, to include entrance to the Tudor Room and probably St Andrew's church. Meet in the Market Place. Please send a stamped addressed envelope for tickets to Heritage Walks, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield EN2 0AJ Thursday 22nd May. 8pm Pinner Local History Society. Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner. 'Frustrated Communication - a UK charity. Talk by David Bays preceded by A G M. Other Societies' Events (continued) Wednesday 28th May. 7.45pm Friern Barnet and District Local History Society. North Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane N20. John Donovan Memorial Lecture. 'Life in a Big Company' Talk by Dr Stan Gilks. Preceded by A G M Non-members £2. Refreshments. Thursday 29th May. 8pm Finchley Society. Drawing Room, Avenue House. 'Cinema: Story of the Moving Picture' Talk by Tony Earle. Non-members £2. Refreshments Saturday 24th to Saturday 31st May Finchley Literary Festival. Main event at Avenue House on Saturday 31st May consists of invited speakers discussing/debating 'Women writing as men and men writing as women' and includes book signing and sales by guest authors. Other events including workshops, spoken word, poetry slam, talks and local author book promotions will be held in other venues including two local libraries, two local cafes and a bookshop. Saturdays (various) in May. 'Trinity in May'. Trinity Church Centre, 15 Nether Street N12 7NN. Festival of Arts, Music, Literature and Lots More.

Number 516 March 2014 Edited by Deirdre Barrie
HADAS Diary

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.

Tuesday 11th March 2014 – Lecture on the Sandridge Coin Hoard by David Thorold
(Curator, Prehistory to Medieval, Verulamium Museum) The coins are the second largest gold hoard from the fifth century to be found in Britain and represent an extremely high value in terms of cash. Their condition and mint marks (which give the city of manufacture) provide considerable information on the way coins were used in late Roman Britain. The presence of the hoard close to St Albans also suggests that the region was a wealthy one, with local citizens connected to a thriving economy that spread across the Empire.
David Thorold first came to St Albans in 1991, and worked on a number of excavations, including the Folly
Lane chieftain burial, before getting a job at Verulamium Museum as assistant curator. David is now the Curator for Prehistory through to Medieval, and his specialism is in coins, although he has worked on a range of exhibitions including the Egypt series, Stanley Kubrick, maps, masks and Magna Carta. David has written a book on the Romans and Celts for school children, and is currently working on a booklet on the Sandridge Hoard. He worked on the excavation of the coins with the finder and Field Archaeologist Simon West. Stephen Brunning

Tuesday 8th April 2014

Brian James-Strong, River Lea Tidal Mill Trust; Restoring House Mill (working title)

Tuesday 13th May 2014
Malcolm Stokes (HADAS member); The bishop’s hunting park in Highgate

Tuesday 10th June 2014

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Tuesday 14th October 2014

Dr Nick Ashton – British Museum; Finding Neanderthal tools in Norfolk cliffs

Tuesday 11th November 2014 – TO BE CONFIRMED.

Jo Nelhams adds: Re the Long outing to Kent 29 June to 3 July – we need your support to swell the numbers booked to make sure the trip is viable!

Membership Renewal – by Stephen Brunning, Membership Secretary

The HADAS membership year runs from 1st April, so all memberships are now due for renewal apart from those new members who have joined since January this year. I have enclosed a renewal form for those people who pay by cheque, and would ask that you return the form to me along with your remittance for the appropriate amount. Members who pay by standing order need take no action. The rates remain unchanged.

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

January 2014 Lecture – The Naval Graveyards of Greenwich – Malcolm Godfrey Reported by Liz Gapp

The lecture started with Malcolm introducing himself, explaining how he came to be involved with Greenwich and its graveyards. This was through his commission with the Royal Navy which he joined in 1971, and through his mess management experience he was offered the prestige posting at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. During its transition to new ownership he was asked to write up some history of the college, part of which involved the history of its associated graveyards. Subsequently, he has become the manager of Avenue House where our lecture series are held.

The main part of the lecture was started by showing us a diagram of the Royal Naval College buildings, describing the changes over the years. We were then shown where, the base of the Greenwich Palace that had been razed, had been packed in sand and grassed over once it had been archaeologically excavated. We were told that the chapel where Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn was also on the College campus.

A new palace, known as the King Charles wing, on the right hand side of the entrance, was started by Charles II. Unfinished due to lack of funds, it was finished eventually by William and Mary, James II not having been interested in it.
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The Queen’s House was commissioned by Anne of Denmark, wife of King James I, in 1618. Inigo Jones was requested to do this, his first important commission. Work stopped in 1618, when Anne became ill and subsequently died. James took no interest in the building, and it was mothballed until Charles I gave it to his queen, Henrietta Maria. The building was completed structurally in 1635.

Following the battle of La Hogue in 1692, the complex was started as a retirement home for sailors at the suggestion of Queen Mary II who ordered that the King Charles wing of the palace be remodelled as a naval hospital to provide a counterpoint to the Chelsea Hospital for soldiers. It was designed by Christopher Wren, who initially produced something very like St Paul’s cathedral which blocked the Queen’s House’s view of the Thames. Wren had to redesign it at the Queen’s command to provide full views of the river. It is said that this is why it is fitted in so snugly with no extra room at the sides. Subsequent designing was completed by Hawksmoor and Sir John Vanbrugh.

The nature of the place meant that the inmates were generally old and infirm; hence the need for the graveyards, of which eventually there were three. The first graveyard, at Maze Hill Nos. 32 to 40, was quickly filled with bodies, necessitating the need for a second. So a second, much larger graveyard was established in Goddard’s Garden, a piece of land known as Great Garden Ground. Huge numbers of bodies were buried there, very tightly packed. Burials were on Tuesdays and Thursdays when they would be brought across from the Infirmary. The process was that a trench would be dug containing 18 coffins arranged 2 abreast to a depth of 16 feet, with space for a minimum of 4 inches of earth between each coffin. If there were not sufficient coffins to fill the trench, it would be left open until it was full, sometimes for as long as three weeks.

Eventually 24,000 bodies were buried there, and in 1847 Dr Liddell, Director General of the Medical Department of the Royal Navy, recommended closure of the Goddard’s Garden Graveyard; and a new graveyard was created on land known as East Greenwich Pleasaunce in 1857. Burials in the new graveyard continued until 1981, although the Royal Hospital closed in 1869. The largest number of burials there was of 3,000 bodies, moved from the Goddard’s Garden graveyard when a new dining hall was built for the Royal Hospital School, and a railway tunnel to extend the line from Greenwich to the East coast was cut through the site.

In 1925 1247 skulls and 58 boxes of bones were removed from Goddard’s Garden and reburied in Pleasaunce graveyard. This was to make way for Devonport House to be built to accommodate the nurses for the Dreadnought Seamen’s Hospital. A later extension to the dining room was built on piles to minimise the disturbance of bodies and need for reburial.

The Dreadnought Seamen’s Hospital was a follow-on, named for the last of the three hospital ships moored in the Thames off Greenwich. This last ship was eventually broken up in 1872, when the last of the patients were transferred to the hospital building. This new hospital was for the care of merchant mariners, rather than men from the Royal Navy. This in its turn closed in 1986, and in 1998 to 1999 the building was converted to a library by the University of Greenwich.

The burial plots at the Pleasaunce are in 5 main areas. The mass re-interment of the 3,000 bodies is just inside the Main Gate, and is a grassed area marked with concrete posts. The other areas are the Greenwich Hospital Plot and Royal Hospital School, the Officers’ plot, the Ratings’ and other ranks’ plot, with a random plot for others. The random plot contains people such as Sir John (Dr) Liddell, Captain Henry Parker, Mark Halpen Sweny, James Shepherd, John A Shakes, Admiral Sir Astley Cooper-Key, and interestingly Anthony Sampayo who was French Ambassador to England.

In the Greenwich Hospital Mausoleum are Admiral Thomas Masterman Hardy (of “Kiss me, Hardy” fame); Admiral Lord Hood (governor of the hospital when Nelson’s body returned to England on Christmas Eve, let the bearers in as no-one else was around); and Admiral Lord Rodney.

In the main plot are Thomas Allen (Nelson’s manservant, with a separate obelisk); Captain John Simpson (a late starter at the age of 17, retired at 71, died aged 84); Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Boulder Thompson (Served with Nelson).

The Queen’s House has had several incarnations: the Royal Naval Asylum then the Royal Hospital School which was moved to Holbrook in 1933, on land given by shipping magnate Gifford Sherman Reade in 1921.

The Greenwich Hospital closed in 1869, the building then becoming the Royal Naval College which in turn then closed in 1997, subsequently being known as the Old Royal Naval College, a foundation set up in 1998 to look after the buildings.

Finally, mention was made of some of the penal executions that took place in the area, where bodies were hung, drowned in 3 tides, and left hanging as a warning, after having been covered in tar. Fortunately, noone lived in the near vicinity as the smell would have been unpleasant.

This was an excellent lecture given by an enthusiastic lecturer.

Adios Buxton Jim Nelhams

The weather forecast for our journey home was not encouraging, but go home we must. We decided to leave slightly earlier and stop at Cromford Mill, on our original plan but deferred, because of earlier diversions, and on our route to Crich.
Cromford Mill Jean Bayne

Thomas Carlyle described Richard Arkwright (1732-1792) as ‘a plain almost gross, bag-cheeked, pot-bellied Lancashire man – of copious free digestion. He was also a genius: a persistent and determined visionary, an imaginative inventor, a meticulous planner, and an astute manager. His invention for spinning cotton yarn, powered by water – the Water Frame – brought about the modern factory system and helped to develop the Industrial Revolution.

Interested in mechanical devices, he purloined the results of others’ inventions to develop his own, and persuaded wealthy investors to back him. His first attempt at a cotton-spinning mill in Nottingham used horses to turn a capstan, but they needed feeding, stabling and supervision and failed to work 24 hours a day. In short, economically inefficient; he thought water power would be more effective. Originally a wigmaker, he had travelled extensively around the North West buying hair and remembered the water courses at Cromford. So he rented a site at Cromford Brook to harness the Cromford Sough, a lead mine drainage channel, and later the Bonsall Brook as constant sources of water power for his cotton-spinning invention. In 1771, the first mill of five storeys was built and then extended in 1785. It was constructed to house his water frame machines and perfect the essential mechanisation of the pre-spinning process. None of his machines had been made before, so he had to advertise for joiners, clockmakers and wheelwrights etc. with particular skills.

The first mill is on your left, at right angles as you come into the complex of buildings that now make up the site. It is now only three storeys high instead of five, as it was reduced by fire in 1929. The building was eleven bays long and 30 feet wide. A wooden aqueduct, later replaced by a cast-iron one, brought water from the Cromford Sough across the road. It fed the enlarged overshot water wheel built close to the mill, which was augmented by a second wheel powered by the Bonsall Brook when an extension was added in 1785. There is a hole in the mill wall where the first wheel went, and the remains of the wheel-pit of the second one can still be seen. The Arkwright Society has been exploring and excavating the site and restoring buildings since 1979. It has uncovered the foundations of the transmission system, which converted the power of the water wheel to drive the machinery for cleaning and carding on the upper floors, as well as the spinning on the first and second floors.

A second mill was constructed in 1776-7 and was an ambitious project. Arkwright had, by now, perfected his machinery and built a 7-storey mill with a mill-wheel housed within the building. It was a very large wheel which necessitated a deep pit – which can be seen today – and a good head of water. He linked the Cromford Sough with the Bonsall Brook to get the strong flow. But, as the water which left the pit was at a lower level than the River Derwent into which it drained, Arkwright had to construct a long culvert and open channel to get the water away. The wheel is estimated to have worked at 20-25 HP. There was a drive-shaft taking power to the water frames on the floor above. The mill was stone built with 16-17 bays, and had space for offices and storage as well as machinery. It even had lavatories on each floor! The second mill no longer exists, although there are remnants of an added annexe surviving.

By 1790s, the mill complex reached the peak of its production .The water supply began to be lost about the 1840s, and the mills finally closed down in the 1880s. At the height of its working life, Arkwright employed 800 operatives. Many were women and children from the surrounding villages, but he also built hostel accommodation on site for unmarried male employees who came from further afield. Only the foundations remain of ‘The Barracks‘ (1786) as it was called. He also built the first industrial housing at Cromford: 27 three-storey houses of a good standard with gardens.

Other buildings were constructed in the 1780s, housing machinery, warehouses, stabling, packing sheds and offices including the Counting House. From outside the complex, one of the main buildings has few windows at lower levels. This may have been because another building abutted it. Or, it has been suggested that it may have been constructed in this way to deter Luddites. General security was also provided by the Mill Gateway, with separate access for both pedestrians and horses. One of the buildings would have contained a warehouse for loading cotton on to barges on the Cromford canal wharf situated outside but close by the complex. This gave a link to another canal which was intended to provide a through route to Manchester. But this only came about later in the nineteenth century when the Railway was constructed. However, the canal network proved useful for increased trade.

Arkwright dominated the area. He built his own chapel, St Mary’s, which later became a church. At the beginning he had a house close to the mill, but later built Willersley Castle, an imposing dynastic seat with rolling lawns. It was behind the mill on rising ground and without a direct view of it. Richard Arkwright never lived there as it caught fire in 1791. His son, however, completed it and lived there for the rest of his life. By 1843, the younger Richard Arkwright was a landed gentleman investor, reputed to be the richest commoner in Europe. From artisan to aristocrat in two generations!

There is no doubt that Arkwright Senior, whose driving force was to make money, was the founding father of the factory system, rationalising the spirit of production in keeping with the zeitgeist of the age. And he provided a model for the rest of the industrialising world. From a modern perspective, the employment, in the early days, of seven-year-old children and the 24-hour working schedule with 13 hour shifts is horrific, but was gradually modified throughout the nineteenth century. Later, under Arkwright’s son, contemporary reports suggest that the general health and mortality rates of both children and adults in the mills was better than that of the very poor and unemployed. He raised the age for work to ten, and insisted that children should know how to read, and provided some education. A Sunday school had been set up in 1785 and Arkwright Senior had encouraged clubs and friendly societies. So there was some effort to ameliorate the condition of the poor, even if it was in his own self-interest to do so. Work in the mill was still very hard, but preferable to the lead mines or the fields.

Cromford Mill is in a ruinous state at present .But, it is possible even now to half shut your eyes and see the workers coming and going in this relatively small and compact site: the mill wheel turning, the water frothing and churning, the clatter of machinery and horses and carts and, perhaps, the sharp ping of clogs on the limestone ground. Arkwright had many other mills which were mostly sold off by his son. He did retain Cromford, however. And the site was used by other industries for some time. Restoration work by the Arkwright Society, which bought the site, will help to bring it back to life in a twenty-first century context.

Cromford was the first cotton-spinning mill powered by water, and the first example of cotton production on an industrial scale. In recognition of this, UNESCO declared Cromford and other mills in the Derwent Valley a World Heritage Site in 2001. Industrialisation changed forever the way people lived and worked.
As one historian has observed ‘the factory system substituted capital for labour, machines for skill, factory for home and mill discipline for family work routines’.(Cromford Mill Guide)
Rain-spattered Cobbles Andy Simpson

And so to what, for obvious reasons, was a highlight of the visit for me – the Crich Tramway Village – the
National Tramway Museum, established by the Tramway Museum Society in a Peak district quarry above Matlock in 1959, and expanded gradually ever since, with electric trams and their supporting equipment collected from around the world running there since June 1964. See http://www.tramway.co.uk/

When we arrived there to collect our genuine old penny to exchange for our mile-long tram ride up the slope from ‘Town End’ to Glory Mine, it was pouring down with rain, the rain barely stopping all the time we were there. Fortunately, with shop, pub, running sheds and display hall we could stay under cover when not on the tram. Two trams with their volunteer crews were initially running for our enjoyment – Leeds 345 ‘Convert’ car built 1921 and rebuilt and upgraded in 1939, and Blackpool ‘standard’ balcony car 40 built 1926, withdrawn in 1963 as the last open balcony car to operate in normal service in the UK. The specially adapted former Berlin wheel-chair fitted ‘access tram’, No. 3006, built in 1969 also came out later.

Amongst strong contingents from the last traditional UK street tramways – Leeds (closed 1959), Sheffield (1960), Glasgow (1962) and Blackpool (still running) – there is also a healthy London contingent in the collection. As part of my long-standing involvement with the London County Council Tramways Trust, I worked on the restoration of ‘LCC E/1r’ double decker 1622 (rescued derelict from a Hampshire wood) at our former Bethnal Green and Ilford workshops in the early 1990s; the Trust, through financial donations and sales of transport memorabilia and books, have also paid for the restoration (twice!) of LCC B-class open top car (and one-time ‘snowbroom’ works car) 106 of 1903 and most recently, the elegant Edwardian London United Tramways open top bogie car 159 of 1902 which ran only until 1921 and survived built into a house; next up is LCC no 1 of 1932 – as ‘Bluebird’ the last complete new tram built for the original first-generation London Tramways before the Croydon light rail system came along, which later ran in Leeds until 1957. Also present is prototype Feltham car 331 of 1930 that once ran on the Metropolitan Electric Tramways from Cricklewood to North Finchley and Whetstone until 1936 when replaced by trolleybuses (and was later sold to Sunderland), and one side of the former 1890s-built London Street Tramways No 39 horse car in the display hall. Barely a dozen London trams escaped the scrapman, most being burnt by George Cohens’ ‘600 Group’ at the Penhall Road, Charlton ‘tramatorium’ 1950-53.

And hence to Foxton – and sunshine! (TO BE CONTINUED)

(Minor) Apologies for February 2014 Newsletter Layout
Last month’s newsletter production was fraught – the reversed last pages were the ultimate result of the large number of interesting pictures in the issue. Some computer systems just refused to handle the large files involved, so time ran out along with the chance to check everything. Apologies from whichever of us actually caused the problem.

Some people getting the newsletter also found a few pages very faint. We have enough spare, good, copies to replace these. Please contact Jo Nelhams (details back page) if you need one. Thanks, Mary Rawitzer
The Museum of London is coming to Brent Cross Shopping Centre

This March drop by Brent Cross to discover Barnet’s history, and handle archaeology found in and around the borough! Join Museum of London experts and local volunteers (possibly HADAS members!) to find out how we care for objects from the past – plus handle real artefacts from Barnet and its surrounding areas. Hands-on Archaeology, Brent Cross Shopping Centre Thursday 13 March-Friday 14 March, 9am – 8pm. For more information email communityarchaeology@museumoflondon.org.uk.

“Unearthing Barnet” is part of a series of events taking place through the year, bringing Museum of London artefacts and expertise to London’s outer boroughs. Keep an eye on our website for information on our next project location: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/unearthing.

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS Eric Morgan

Until 15 March: Crossrail’s “Portals to the Past” Exhibition, Crossrail’s Visitor Information Centre,
Tottenham Court Road, 16-18 St Giles High St. WC2H 8LN (near Centre Point). Sat. 10-5, Tue-Thu 11-7, Wed. 11-5.30 pm. An exhibition of recent finds from the Crossrail Archaeology Programme. Weekly lecture: Wed. 6pm. More than 50 objects displayed for the first time. (See website: www.crossrail.co.uk )

Thursday 20th March, 2-3 pm. Guildhall Library, Aldermanbury EC2V 7HH. “London’s Myths and Legends”, talk by Robert Stephenson (CoLAS) “From the Roman Temple to Diana by St Paul’s Onwards“. Free, but please book with Eventbrite. Visit www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/guildhalllibrary. Email:
GHLevents@cityoflondon.gov.uk. Tel: 020 7332 1869/3803. For further details, see February Newsletter.

Thursday 27th March, 8pm. Finchley Society, Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Rd., N3 3QE. “Do Front Gardens Matter?” Discussion with a panel. Intro. by Mike Gee. Visitors £2. Listed in Feb Newsletter.

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS (continued)

Wednesday 2nd April, 5pm. British Archaeological Association, Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1V OHS. “The Staffordshire Hoard Project: The Current State of Knowledge.” Talk by Chris Fern. Tea 4.30 pm.

Wednesday 2nd April, 8 pm, Stanmore & Harrow Historical Society, Wealdstone Baptist Church Hall, High St., Wealdstone. “The Secret East End.” Talk by Diane Burstein (London Guide). Visitors £1.

Thursday 3rd April, 8pm, Pinner Local History Society, Village Hall, Chapel Lane car park, Pinner. “Celebrating Shakespeare: how anniversaries of his birth and death have been marked.” Talk by Richard Foulkes. Visitors £2.

Friday 11th April, 2-3 pm, Guildhall Library, Aldermanbury, EC2V 7HH. “London’s Traditional Customs and Ceremonies”. Talk by Robert Stephenson. Free, but please book with Eventbrite (as 20 March above).

Monday, 14th April, 3pm. Barnet Museum & Local History Society, Church House, Wood Street, Barnet (opposite Barnet Museum). “The National Census and a House In Clerkenwell.” Talk, Marlene McAndrew.

Monday 14th April, 7.45 pm, West Essex Archaeological Society, Woodford County High School, High Road, Woodford Green, E18. “Local Military Archaeology” – talk by Guy Taylor (COLAS and HADAS).

Wednesday, 23rd April, 7.45 pm, Friern Barnet & District Local History Society, North Middlesex Golf
Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 ONL. “A View of the New River” – talk by Rachael Macdonald. Visitors £2, refreshments.

Thursday 24th April, 8 pm. Finchley Society, Christchurch, High Road, North Finchley, N12 (opposite Homebase). Talk details not yet finalised. (Please see Mar/Apr Finchley Society Newsletter. Please note different venue. Visitors £2. Refreshments.

o. 514 January 2014 Edited by Sue Willetts

HADAS DIARY 2014

All Lectures are held at 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.

Tuesday 14th January 2014, 8pm. The Naval Graveyards of Greenwich. Lecture by Malcolm Godfrey.

Tuesday 11th February 2014. To be confirmed.

Tuesday 11th March 2014, 8pm. The Sandridge Coin Hoard. Lecture by David Thorold, Curator (Prehistory to Medieval), Verulamium Museum.

Tuesday 8th April 2014, 8pm. Restoring House Mill (working title) Brian James-Strong, River Lea Tidal Mill Trust.

Further Dates for your diaries

The Mary Rose Museum. Thursday, 15th May 2014. If you would like to come please let us know in good time. We will travel by coach and spend the day at Portsmouth dock visiting the Mary Rose Museum, Nelson’s HMS. Victory and HMS Warrior. With an overall ticket for all the attractions and including the coach the cost is expected to be about £45 per person.

HADAS Long Outing to Kent 2014

This will be from Sunday June 29th to Thursday July 3rd, 2014, staying at a Best Western Hotel in Canterbury – Abbots Barton Hotel. Please see separate booking form.

Correction from December 2013 Newsletter: Don Cooper

It has been pointed out that in last month’s newsletter, in Judy Kazarnovsky’s obituary it said that HADAS had made a donation to the North London Hospice, it should have said that the donation was made by individuals as HADAS, a registered charity, cannot make donations to other charities. It was loose wording on my part – mea culpa. No HADAS funds were used.

HADAS Christmas Party

The third HADAS Christmas party was again held at Avenue House. These have proved to be some of the best attended events with around 50 members being present. It is good to see members who are unable to attend the lectures or outings coming along.

It was a similar format with a buffet lunch provided by Avenue House, then various activities consisting of a table quiz, raffle and musical entertainment. This year, besides communal singing, Jim and Jo performed a couple of Victorian numbers, with modified lyrics to encompass some of the HADAS characters.

It was an entertaining afternoon and all appeared to have had an enjoyable time. We look forward to seeing everybody in 2014 supporting more HADAS activities.

The following seasonal poem was mentioned by Liz Tucker to members of the Committee at the Christmas party. I hope you agree that it has a place in this first Newsletter of the year. Ed.

Deck the Halls Liz Tucker

Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Fala….
‘Tis the season to be jolly,
Trim the tree, put out the snacks,
Send the festive Yuletide fax.

Raise the roof, both male and female,
Send the jocund Yuletide e-mail,
With a message blithe and merry!
Mark it “Sent from my Black-Berry”.

Roast the goose, roll out the barrel,
From your iPod play a carol,
Singing of a mystic birth,
(Find the inn on Google Earth.)

Quaff the foaming mug of bitter,
Tweet your greetings round on Twitter,
Thinking, as the old year ends,
Of your numerous Facebook friends.

As the hours of darkness dwindle,
Read some Dickens on your Kindle,
Slice the pudding up, and next
Snd the mry Xms txt.

Celebrate, ye lads and lasses,
To the webcam raise your glasses.
Spread the word from pole to pole-
You needn’t meet a living soul!

Lions on Kunulua Talk by Fiona Haughey on November 12th Sue Willetts

This interesting and well illustrated talk was an excellent overview of the excavations and finds including fine sculptures from the Early Bronze and Iron Age periods at the ancient site of Tell Tayinat, in Hatay in south-eastern Turkey. This well positioned extensive site is situated to the north-east of Antioch on the bend of the Orontes River – originally a very fertile area which has become heavily silted up. The original excavations from the 1930’s were not fully published and re-excavation began in 1990. Fiona has been involved since 2003 mainly in drawing and recording work. More recently the proximity of the war zone to the east has made working conditions very difficult. Six areas are currently being worked on – the site is mainly composed of mud brick although some stone has been used but not for buildings. The team is concentrating on the citadel area and has identified a textile creation room, three palaces and a temple with stone steps leading to an important sacred precinct. A very important find of a large double sided cuneiform tablet contains details of a treaty which includes (and proves) the name of the city Kunulua.

As indicated by her title, Fiona decided to highlight some of the magnificent stone carvings from the site and showed us both photographs and her detailed drawings of the stone lions – they are definitely lions and not another cat species – from the distinctive tufts on the end of their tails. The craftsmen used basalt which would have been available locally. One was found lying on its side and when righted was found to be in perfect condition including finely carved genitalia. It would have had inlaid eyes and it is thought that the hollow area on the head was used to contain incense. Other ‘animal’ sculptures include a winged bull and a sphinx but the more recent and spectacular find is part of a colossal male figure with prominent eyes, a large nose, beard, curly hair, a necklace and a sword. The inscription of the back of his clothing identifies him as King Suppiluliuma.

Buxton Trip

Buxton itself Jim Nelhams

Our trips give us the chance to get to know other members and discover their different interests. So we had an afternoon to explore the town of Buxton. It’s so nice when exploring an unknown place to keep bumping into people you know, and stopping to exchange comments and ideas.

An Afternoon of Curiosity. Patrick McSharry

On our second full day our group had the opportunity of roaming Buxton at will delving into the cultural heritage and life of a market town which can reliably trace its origins back to the Roman period. Buxton enjoys the unique distinction of having the highest elevation (over 1000ft above sea level) of any market town in England. What is more, it is regarded as “the gateway” to the Peak District National Park.

The town of Buxton consists of an upper and lower town; the former being the old, and the latter the new part of the town and depending on one’s physical dexterity and level of curiosity determined how much time we were prepared to spend in making the most of our free afternoon in Buxton. Having visited Buxton twice in the past I chose simply to sample the culinary delights as well as visiting the book shops rather than overload my senses visiting, for example, the Buxton Museum or other cultural icons worthy of one’s attention and honed sense of awe.

Of greater significance perhaps for a town, as opposed to the big northern cities, Buxton has a vibrant cultural life on a par with the great urban centres such as Manchester and Leeds. Indeed it hosts several music and theatre festivals each year. This reputation has been further enhanced by the recent refurbishment of the Pavilion Arts Centre. The Opera House built in 1903 and designed by Frank Matcham who was also responsible for the design of two London theatres: the London Coliseum (1904) and the London Palladium (1910), has a year-long programme of drama, concerts, comedy and other cultural events. The International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival – a three-week long theatre festival – was hosted by Buxton from 1994 until this year. It is due to move to Harrogate for the 2014 due to Buxton’s failure, so it is reported, to commit to the festival’s future. This is a sad day for Buxton.

Buxton historical fame is that of a spa town because of the thermal springs which date back to the Roman occupation. That said, the thermal baths are, sadly, no longer open to the public (they finally closed in 1972) so ‘taking the waters’ is a thing of the past but this has not prevented Buxton continuing to refer to itself as a Spa town. After the First World War, the spa industry went into gradual decline and by the 1950s Buxton had become a ‘backwater’. However by the 1980s, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, Buxton had managed to reinvent itself into a developing cultural haven and more recently the University of Derby has opened a campus occupying the Devonshire Royal Hospital building which potentially may well rival (in the future) the great traditional seats of learning that we are so familiar with!

Architecturally Buxton has much to showcase. The Crescent was modelled on Bath’s Royal Crescent. Designed by John Carr it features a grand assembly room and boasts a fine painted ceiling. Currently it remains unoccupied although there are plans afoot for it to be converted into a hotel. A sign of the times perhaps! The Devonshire Dome which subsequently became the Devonshire Royal Hospital (and now the Devonshire Campus of the University of Derby) built, like the Crescent, in the latter part of the eighteenth century dominates Buxton’s skyline and helps to define its architectural history. It would be remiss of me if I did not mention as worthy of inspection Buxton railway station, the Pavilion Gardens, the Pump Room and the Palace Hotel which traditionally have defined the architectural tableau of Buxton. In terms of famous Buxtonians I ought to mention Vera Brittain (mother of Shirley Williams) of Testament of Youth fame. Elizabeth Spriggs the actress, Tim Brooke-Taylor (one of the Goodies) and Bruno Langley of Coronation Street fame to mention the few familiar names apropos the 20th century.

In being let loose in Buxton we all had our own agendas as to what we might do in terms of engaging our well honed senses in that cultural oasis that was Buxton itself set in a rural hinterland – heaven on earth. At the end of the day we were all very selective in our choices and once exhausted we beat a respectable retreat back to the hotel to enjoy the evening and the excellent fare which we had now come to expect of a reputable family hotel.

The Pavilion Gardens Railway Buxton David Robinson

Despite the inclement weather on the final morning in Buxton Emma and I decided to take another look at the substantial Victorian Pleasure Gardens at the centre of the town. In particular I wanted to make a further examination of the miniature railway and its locomotive and having got thoroughly wet I was not disappointed to locate what appeared to be a small steam locomotive in the railway’s tunnel which serves to protect locomotive and rolling stock when these are not in use. I was sufficiently interested to take a few measurements and it is apparent that the gauge is currently 12.25 inches (that tape measure often comes in handy), whilst the length of the track appeared to be in the region of 300 yards. Because of the weather we then made a quick retreat to the café in the Pavilion and left the gardens to the hundreds of ducks that had congregated there to celebrate their own version of a pleasant day. After this I did a little more research and, very much to my surprise, found that matters were not wholly as they seemed.

The gardens themselves can be dated to 1871 and were one of the parks laid out by Edward Milner. Looking at the formal arrangement of the flower beds, the carefully channelled river and the boating lake, together with the associated winter gardens and other buildings, it is easy to accept that the whole does indeed belong to the Victorian era. However, it appears that the railway was not constructed until 1972, when originally opened with a 10.25 inch gauge, and that it was not converted to the present gauge until 1998. In addition to this, although the locomotive has indeed been built to look as if it is steam operated, it is in fact a diesel hydraulic, undoubtedly easier to maintain and a more economic proposition (a sorry state of affairs for steam lovers). The current locomotive that was introduced with the change of gauge referred to is named after the designer of the gardens and operates at week-ends throughout the year. Previously the locomotive used was named Borough of Buxton and was of a similar design to the current motive power. Both of the locomotives were supplied by Shepperton Metal Products and Edward Milner appeared to be well maintained and was certainly a good deal drier than I was at the time of observation. The moral of this tale? Things are not always as they first appear.

Laundry – What Laundry? By Don Cooper

As briefly referred to in last month’s newsletter (no. 513 December 2013) HADAS have been excavating at Avenue House. The main objective of the dig was to examine the depression in the ground in front of the water tower. Bill Bass is currently writing this up for a future newsletter. However, there is a mention of a laundry being west of the water tower as well as some glasshouses in the Avenue House’s draft Conservation Management Plan 2013, so it was decided with Avenue House management’s agreement that we could put in a small trench (2m x 1m) called Trench 2 to see if we could get any evidence of these structures. The sketch (Fig. 1, see page 6) with East End Road at the bottom shows where the trench was in relation to the water tower.

Figure 1 Location of Trench 2

The trench was located over a protruding piece of west facing apparent wall. Although this was a very small trench it yielded quite a lot of intriguing information. After we had removed the leaves and litter detritus mainly sweet paper, we confirmed that the protruding structure was indeed the remains of a wall made of similar reinforced concrete to the water tower. As can be seen from the sketch in Figure 2 and the photograph labelled Figure 3.

Figure 2 – Sketch of Trench 2

Figure 2 Trench 2 with slate floor facing west

Other Societies’ Events

Wednesday 22nd Jan. 7.45 pm. Friern Barnet & District Local History Soc. North Middx. Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL. NB: New venue. Postcards of the Easter Rising. Talk by Edward Margiotta. Non members £2.00. Refreshments before and after the talk.

Tuesday 28th Jan. 6.00 pm. Gresham College, at Museum of London. 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN. Modern reading in an historical context – exploring varying ways in which people have read across time. Talk by Belinda Jack. Free. NB. There is a follow up to this talk on February 25th .

Thursday 30th Jan. 2.30 pm. Finchley Society. Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Road, N3 3QE. The history of the Highgate Gatehouse. Talk by John Plews. Non members £2.00. Refreshments before and after the talk.

Thursday 6th Feb. 10.30 am. Pinner Local History Society. Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner. The Underground at War. Talk by David Burnell. Visitors £2.00

Monday 10th Feb. 3.00 pm. Barnet Museum & Local History Society. Church House, Wood St, Barnet. (opposite The Museum) Barnet Whispers through Time. Talk by Barry Ainsworth.

Wednesday 12th Feb. 2.30 pm. Mill Hill Historical Society. Trinity Church, The Broadway, NW7. A century of Medical Research in Mill Hill. Talk by Jim Smith (Director of Medical Research Centre)

Wednesday 12th Feb. 7.45 pm. Hornsey Historical Society. Union Church Hall, Corner Ferme Park Rd, Weston Park, N8 9PX. A view of the New River. Talk by Rachael Macdonald (H.H.S) Visitors £2.00 Refreshments, sales and information 7.40 pm

Saturday 15th Feb. 11.00 am – 3.00 pm. North London & Essex Transport Society. Barnet Transport Fair. Christ Church Hall, St.Albans Rd, Barnet, EN5 4LA. Bus, railway, aviation and military transport with books, photos, DVD’s, maps, timetables, memorabilia etc. Admission £2.00 Refreshments available throughout

Wednesday 19th Feb. 7.30 pm. Willesden Local History Society. St. Mary’s Church Hall, Neasden Lane, NW10 2TS. (near Magistrates Court) Making Music in Kilburn and Willesden. (from 1920’s to the present day). Talk by Dick Weindling (Camden History Society)

Thursday 20th Feb. 7.30 pm. Camden History Society. Venue details not yet available. Primrose Hill: The History of a London Hill. Talk by Martin Sheppard. For more details: contact Mrs J. Ramsay. 020 7586 4436 or www.camdenhistorysociety.org Visitors £1.00

Tuesday 25th Feb. 6.00 pm. Gresham College, at Museum of London. 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN. Modern reading in an historical context. Talk by Belinda Jack. Free. Follow up from 28th Jan.

Wednesday 26th Feb. 7.45 pm. Friern Barnet & District Local History Soc. North Middx. Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL. The Bayeux Tapestry. Talk by John Neal. Non members £2.00. Refreshments before and after the talk.

Corrections to the December Newsletter.

Monday 13th January. ‘Boy snatching in London’ should of course be ‘Body’; Tuesday 20th January should be Tuesday 28th January

Until 5th Jan. ‘Landscape of Plenty’ is at Forty Hall (Long Gallery), Forth Hill, Enfield, EN2 9HA

Acknowledgements: Don Cooper, Eric Morgan, Jim Nelhams, Patrick McSharry, Liz Tucker, Sue Willetts

No. 513 December 2013 Edited by Don Cooper

It is Christmas time again! I’ve just looked out my window and somebody has just turned on their Christmas lights, it’s the 11th of November – Grrr. I’m clearly a killjoy. However as this newsletter won’t reach you until the 1st December, May I on behalf of the HADAS community wish you and yours a very happy holiday and a healthy, prosperous and happy 2014. Happy Christmas, Editor

HADAS DIARY 2013 & 2014

All Lectures are held at 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.

Tuesday 14th January 2014, 8pm. The Naval Graveyards of Greenwich. Lecture by Malcolm Godfrey. This may change as poor Malcolm has been ill – we wish him a speedy recovery.

Tuesday 11th February 2014. To be announced.

Tuesday 11th March 2014, 8pm. The Sandridge Coin Hoard. Lecture by David Thorold, Curator (Prehistory to Medieval), Verulamium Museum.

Tuesday 8th April 2014, 8pm. Restoring House Mill (working title) Brian James-Strong, River Lea Tidal Mill Trust.

Date for your diaries – The Mary Rose Museum

Many of us have been looking forward to visiting the newly reopened Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth docks, we have now arranged a date for this trip. It is Thursday, 15th May 2014. If you would like to come please let us know in good time. We will travel by coach and spend the day at Portsmouth dock visiting the Mary Rose Museum, Nelson’s HMS. Victory and HMS. Warrior. With an overall ticket for all the attractions and including the coach the cost is expected to be about £45 per person.

HADAS LONG OUTING 2014 – another date for your diary

During our trip to Buxton, we indicated that we hoped to go to Kent in 2014. We have now found a suitable hotel. No dates in September were available, so we have booked from Sunday 29th June returning home on Thursday 3rd July, You never know we might get good weather! The Hotel, approved by Ted, a regular member of our group, is the Best Western Abbots Barton Hotel in Canterbury (www.bestwestern.co.uk/Abbots_Barton). More details next month, but it is likely that the costs will not exceed 2013.
A New Book by a HADAS member

Jennie Lee Cobban has re-written her book, Geoffrey de Mandeville and London’s Camelot, Ghosts, Mysteries and the Occult in Barnet, which she first published in 1997. Additional information and illustrations have been added and the revised volume is now published and is available locally from Barnet Museum.
See also:carnegiepublishing.co.uk/2012/01/jennie-lee-cobban/‎

https://twitter.com/JennieLeeCobban/status/396042821880532992‎

Judy Kazarnovsky – an obituary

We’re very sad to report that Judy Kazarnovsky died in October after a brave and lengthy battle with cancer. She was surrounded and supported by her family. Judy, who often thoughtfully used the name Judy Kaye just to make our life easier, was for a time a most helpful HADAS Membership Secretary. She had many other interests, including support of a charity active in health education in West Africa.. HADAS has made a donation in her memory to the North London Hospice in Finchley, where her family say she was looked after with wonderful devotion and care during her last few days.

Newsletter Editor: You can do it

Our Newsletter rota of 12 editors – one each month – is actually one short. Can you volunteer to take this on? It’s just once a year and very good experience – please contact Sue Willetts (sue.willetts@london.ac.uk) or Mary Rawitzer (mary.rawitzer@talktalk.net; Tel: 020 8340 7434) for more information. Basically, it mainly involves putting together e-mailed and hand-written items in a simple framework, with help and advice available. Your Newsletter Needs You!

HADAS NEWS

There is a planning application being prepared to develop land west of Edgwarebury Farm House as an 18-hole golf course see http://acolaidpublic.barnet.gov.uk/online-applications/ and search for H/04377/13. The site is very near the Roman site at Brockley Hill.
HADAS has submitted the following comment:
“I would like to make the following comment on behalf of the Hendon and District Archaeological Society (HADAS) of which I am chairman. The proposed site is close to the important Roman site at Brockley Hill. The Brockley Hill site has been much excavated and published as a pottery manufacturing site, however, many areas of the site have not been discovered particularly where the workers at the site lived with all the attendant facilities of their lives. It is at least probable that some heritage remains will be lost if this site is not properly investigated. Therefore we believe that a strong archaeological condition should be applied to this project. Should this condition be applied we would have no further objections on heritage grounds.”
Continuing the golf course theme, there are proposals by Old Ford Golf Course to re-landscape part of the course using landfill. Using landfill in this sensitive area, the possible site of the Battle of Barnet in 1471, would potentially damage important archaeology. The land is owned by Barnet Council and it is hoped that should such a proposal proceed to planning, at the very least, a strong archaeological condition would be applied.
HADAS have been excavating at Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley. We were commissioned by Avenue House management to excavate and explore a suspicious depression to the north of the 1880s water tower. The hope was that we might find an entrance to the tower or, perhaps, the area where the pump, which was used to lift water up to the top of the tower, had been. No such luck all we found were pipes.

We also dug a small trench where a probably laundry/wash house was sited. There will be a full report in a future newsletter.
Excavation is starting at Barnet Courthouse and HADAS hope to be able to site-watch although it is expected that much of the archaeology will have been destroyed by the building.
Barnet and District Historical Society and Barnet Museum have asked HADAS to assist them in recording the fill-in male and female public toilets beside the museum as it is possible they were on the site of the Old Barnet Brewery cellars.
Note: Barnet Museum have produced a lovely calendar for 2014 full of old photos of Barnet – A Christmas present perhaps?
Roman’s in Kingsbury – with thanks to the Brent and Kilburn Times of 14th November and Nathalie Raffray.
Excavations by Archaeology South East (ASE) on the corner of Blackbird Hill and Old Church Lane on the site of the Blackbird pub (recently the Blarney Stone) turned up a pit and an amount of Roman pottery fragments. These, with the Roman hypocaust tiles in the fabric of the Old St Andrew’s Church in Kingsbury, would seem to indicate the presence of a Roman building somewhere in the immediate surrounding area.
Martin School air-raid shelter – an update. By Bill Bass

Roger Chapman continues his search through documentary records, the latest resource we have been looking at is aerial-photography, and an RAF photo from 1946 has turned-up. This appears to show possible signage and a surface entrance from the Great North Road leading to the centre of the buried shelter complex where a covered building may have steps leading down into the shelter. The southern half of the complex appears to be larger than the northern half. Some other smaller structures seen maybe vents or emergency exits. Transposing our survey – the plan and map work over the photo, the features align quite well together. The photo does seem to infer that the shelter was intact and a going concern throughout the war period, being demolished sometime after.

Some further questions we could ask – when was it demolished and backfilled, was one half used for the general public and the other for the school. Was there a dedicated entrance for the school? How do the above ground shelters relate to the buried ones? There some other earthworks which are directly adjacent to the shelter, what are these?

We will probably return to the school for further fieldwork and survey, and to excavate the main entrance and answer some of the queries.

More work needs to be done on the photo as it has only recently come to hand.

Latest news from historic Deptford by Stewart Wild

I reported in the HADAS newsletter in September this year – “Support for the ambitious Build the Lenox project, Deptford” – that part of the regeneration proposals at Convoys Wharf, Deptford, included restoration of nearby Sayes Court Gardens.

The Gardens were created around 1670 by diarist and horticulturist John Evelyn (1620–1706) and in the 1880s they played a key role in the foundation of the National Trust a decade later. The name probably comes from Geoffrey de Saye (1135–1214), Lord of West Greenwich, or from his son, also Geoffrey de Saye (1155–1230).

Deptford owes its name to the deep ford which crossed the River Ravensbourne near its influx into the Thames before it widened into Deptford Creek. The dockyard dates from 1513 when young Henry VIII established the King’s Yard here to build and provide maintenance for his growing navy; the Mary Rose was launched from here in 1517.

The Deptford Dockyard area has since 2000 been the heart of an extensive regeneration project by developer Hutchison Whampoa, owned by a Chinese billionaire, whose plans have met with considerable local opposition. However, in October this year, encouraged by the National Trust and the Council for British Archaeology, the World Monuments Fund placed the whole site including the Gardens on its watch list of areas with notable heritage.

A little history

In 1651 John Evelyn was given by King Charles II a long lease on a large plot of land by the dockyard with permission to create a house with French and Italian gardens, hundreds of trees, a parterre and terrace walk, ornamental lake, orchard, herb garden, orangery and even beehives. Sadly, none of this survives today and we only know of its splendour from letters written by Evelyn at the time.

Another famous historical character associated with the area is the Dutch-born sculptor and wood carver Grinling Gibbons (1648–1721), who rented a cottage here from Evelyn in 1671. Evelyn wrote in his diary: “I saw the young man at his carving, by the light of a candle. I saw him to be engaged on a carved representation of Tintoretto’s Crucifixion, which he had in a frame of his own making.”

Later that same evening, Evelyn described what he had seen to Sir Christopher Wren. Wren and Evelyn then introduced Gibbons to Charles II who gave him his first commission, which still resides today in the dining room at Windsor Castle.

In 1694 Evelyn vacated his London estate and moved back to his birthplace Wotton House, near Dorking in Surrey. He rented the riverside property to the notorious Captain (later Admiral) John Benbow (1653–1702) who, Evelyn complained, failed to maintain the estate properly – perhaps because he was so often away at sea battling the French.

A later tenant was no better: in 1698 the estate was loaned to Tsar Peter I (1672–1725), whose three-month stay resulted in Evelyn’s receiving £350 in compensation for the damage caused. The young Russian who would be later known as Peter the Great had come to London, presumably on a student visa, to study shipbuilding and work as a carpenter at the adjacent royal dockyard.

After Evelyn’s death in 1706, his grandson inherited the estate, but it fell into disrepair and was broken up. In 1729 the house was demolished and a workhouse was built on the site. Over the next century this became a home for the poor, a penal transportation depot, an army recruiting centre and a clothing factory.

However, in 1869 his descendant William John Evelyn bought back as much of the estate as he could, and created a public garden named Sayes Court, plus a playground and almshouses. Nearby Evelyn Street, Sayes Court Street and Czar Street commemorate this history today.

In 1884 Evelyn approached Octavia Hill (1838–1912) with a proposal for Sayes Court gardens to be publicly owned and managed for the benefit of all. It was from this idea that the National Trust came into being, but sadly not until January 1895 by which time it too late to acquire Sayes Court (the Trust’s first property was Alfriston Clergy House, purchased in 1896 for £10).

At the outbreak of war in 1914 the site was requisitioned by the War Office and remained in Government hands until 1980 when the Ministry of Defence sold it to News International. This company sold it on to Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa in 2000.

The situation today

A campaign to recreate Evelyn’s Gardens was started in 2007 by local resident and archaeologist Karen Liljenberg – see link to ‘london’s lost garden’ below – and the Museum of London later carried out various archaeological digs, which were later backfilled.

Besides the heritage campaign, there are many other pressures to build community assets on the site, as well as low-cost housing and the Lenox project. One proposal is that part of the old Sayes Court site should be occupied by a new primary school.

“One of the major influences on the new master plan has been the history and the legacy of Sir John Evelyn,” said a spokesman for Hutchison Whampoa. “The proposals include plans for the incorporation of the remains of the old Manor into a new cultural and educational centre. While little remains of the actual gardens he laid out, his writings and ideas live on and will be used to guide all landscape design.”

We shall see. Negotiations between the developers and Lewisham Council have not been friendly. Mayor of London Boris Johnson is now involved and has ‘called in’ HW’s planning application. Full details of the current situation are on the Deptford Is link below.

Further information:

http://www.wmf.org.uk/wmf_watch/watch_2014_uk_sites/

http://www.deptfordis.org.uk/2013/11/mayor-of-london-takes-over-planning.html

http://londonslostgarden.wordpress.com/

An eerie November story by Don Cooper

I have been adding old newsletters to the HADAS web site for some time, but I was intrigued by the article below which was published in the Times Literary Supplement (TLS) in its issue of November 4, 1983. The article was reprinted in HADAS newsletter no 164 December 1984. The Grecian style mausoleum of Philip Rundell is referred to as “The Dracula Tomb” in R. H. Somes book “The Evolution of St Mary’s Church Hendon” page 257 published by him in 2007. I thought the article deserved re-printing.

THE ORIGINS OF DRACULA by Philip Temple

‘And then …. He took a key from his pocket and held it up. And then we spend the night, you and I, in the churchyard where Lucy lies. This is the key that locks the tomb. I had it from the coffin-man to give to Arthur.’ My heart sank within me, for I felt that there was some fearful ordeal before us. I could do nothing, however, so I plucked up what heart I could and said that we had better hasten, as the afternoon was passing …”

As readers of Dracula – rather than viewers of Dracula films – know some of the tale’s most bizarre action takes place in a churchyard near London. Lucy Westenra, who falls victim to the Count and becomes one of the Un-Dead, is entombed in the family mausoleum at ‘Kingstead.’ By day she sleeps in her coffin: After dusk she preys on small children in the Hampstead neighbourhood. Several such children are found, one of them on “the Shooter’s Hill side of Hampstead Heath each has been bitten in the throat. It is in the Westenra tomb that her fiance Arthur Holmwood –helped by Professor;Van Helsing, Dr.Seward and Quincey P Morris – exorcises her soul by putting a stake through her heart and cutting off her head.

It has generally been thought that Stoker’s model for ‘Kingstead Churchyard’ was Highgate Cemetery but this theory is soon disproved. In the process some interesting light was thrown on Stoker’s sources for the story

Factual accuracy of geography and even train timetables— characterises Dracula , a device which makes the story more credible to the reader. Stoker goes to some lengths to pinpoint Kingstead, and the place he evidently had in mind was Hendon, which lies between Hampstead and Kingsbury, and was still a large village in the 1890s.

Seward and Van Helsing set off about ten from Jack’s Straw’s Castle in Hampstead.“It was then very dark, and the scattered lamps made the darkness greater when we were once again outside their individual radius. The Professor had evidently noted the road we were to ‘go, for he went on unhesitatingly: but as for me, I was in quite a mix-up as to locality. As we went further, we met fewer and fewer people, till at last we were somewhat surprised when we met even the patrol of horse police going their usual suburban round. At last we reached the wall of the churchyard, which we climbed over.”

As Seward refers to, Jack Straw’s Castle and later to the Spaniards Inn familiarly enough, it is obvious that they were not going to Highgate: the road would have taken them past the Spaniard’s, in which case Seward would have known the way. Nor can they have been crossing the Heath to Highgate because there were street lamps on the way. Nor can they have been going to Hampstead churchyard (which does resemble the description of the church­yard at Kingstead): as this would have meant going further into Hampstead village. The inference is that they were going along North End Road, through Golder’s Green and along Brent Street to Hendon parish church. The route was straightforward, once the right direction had been taken at the inn. The area was still largely countryside. Evelyn Waugh, writing of his childhood at North End, described Golders Green as having been ‘a grassy crossroad with a sign pointing to London’, Finchley and Hendon; such a place as where ‘the Woman in White’ was encountered. By the 1890s Hendon was large and growing: 1,400 houses in 1879; 2,636 in 1893, the year in which Dracula is set. It was said in 1894 that Hendon. ‘though within seven miles of St Giles’ Church, retains much of the aspect of an old Middlesex village. An exquisite view is seen from the churchyard …London might be hundreds of miles away, and the village-like church strengthens the illusion.’.

Near the east end of St Mary’s is the tomb of Philip Rundell, who died in 1827. This tomb described by the architect W P Griffith in 1838 ‘as a massive mausoleum constructed of stone’ must have been the model for the Westenra tomb in Dracula. Mausoleums, of course, are rare buildings in churchyards. Although other nearby churchyards contain plenty of vaults, they have no actual mausoleums.

It would have taken only about an hour to reach Hendon from the inn, a ‘distance of about three miles. This fits in well with Stoker’s times, for it was just midnight when Seward and van Helsing, having opened Lucy’s coffin and found it empty, took up their hiding places in the churchyard to await the return of the UnDead.

Despite alterations to the church by Temple Moore in the early twentieth century, the general look of the churchyard is much as it was when -the sculptor and one-time Pre-Raphaelite Thomas Woolner was buried there in 1892: “The graves are sheltered from the blasts by spreading cedars, ancient yews, and lovely evergreen trees. The old church walls are covered ‘with ivy, and there is an avenue of limes arched overhead, from the entrance gates to the south door.” Ivy and lime-trees have gone, but the village churchyard character remains. Even in Stoker’s day it was something of a survival. There were large buildings overlooking the churchyard, which was hardly the remote place described in Dracula:

“Lucy lies in the tomb of her kin, a lordly death-house in a lonely churchyard, away from teeming London; where the air is fresh, and the sun rises over Hampstead Hill, and where wild flowers grow of their own accord.”

Incidentally, the sun as seen from the churchyard does rise over Hampstead. This would not be the case with Highgate Cemetery, which lies east of Hampstead.

Stoker may well have had some link with Hendon, perhaps through, Woolner who had lived at St Peter’s Ouvroir in Brent Street. Stoker knew Rossetti, and lived near him in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. Sir Hall Caine, who was, after Sir Henry Irving, probably Stoker’s closest associate, was one of Rossetti’s closest friends, and his companion until Rossetti died in 1882. It has been credibly suggested that Caine may have written the final draft of Dracula for Stoker. There may well have been a closer link with Hendon: the Hendon & Finchley Times reported as local news in 1893 the publication of a souvenir booklet to mark Henry Irving’s revival of King Lear at the Lyceum where Stoker was manager. At all events, Hendon was a convenient location for ‘Kingstead.’ But something happened at the churchyard in 1828 which may well have been Stoker’s inspiration for the exorcism in the first place, which he then fitted into the story and turned into a classic piece of vampire horror:

“Arthur took the stake and hammer, and when once his mind was set on action his hands never trembled or even quivered. Van Helsing opened his missal and began to read, and Quincey and I followed as well as we could Arthur placed the point over the heart, and as I looked I could see its dint in the white flesh. Then he struck with all his might. The Thing in the coffin writhed; and a hideous, blood-curdling screech came from the opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted in wild contortions; the sharp white teeth champed to­gether till the lips were cut and the mouth was smeared with a crimson foam. But Arthur never faltered. He looked like a figure of Thor as his un-trembling arm rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper the mercy-bearing stake, whilst the blood from the pierced heart welled and spurted up around it. His face was, set, and high duty seemed to shine through it; .the sight of it gave courage so that our voices seemed to ring through the little vault.”

The first part of the exorcism over, Lucy’s head was severed and the mouth stuffed with garlic.

In November 1828 a man called Holm of an old Hendon family asked the vicar’s permission to open a vault in the churchyard of St Mary’s. His son, a Medical student, wanted to collect up bones in the vault. Eventually the vicar agreed to allow the vault to be opened for just an hour the next morning. The coffins, he said, were not to be tampered with. But at 7.30 in the morning a local saw three men in the vault. One of them – ­the medical student Henry Holm – pulled the shroud off a body, then cut off the head which he put into a bag. The body was his mother’s: she had died about twenty years before. Holm and his companions – the sexton’s son and a man called Wood. – were found guilty of breaking open the vault and sever­ing a head from one of the bodies ‘to the outrage of public decency’. Because their purpose was allegedly scientific – Holm wanted to carry out a phrenological examination with a view to tracing a hereditary disorder – they got off fairly leniently. Holm was fined £50, the others £5 each. The vault in question was near the Rundell mausoleum, and the inscription can still be read. Henry Haley Holm died at 39 in 1846, his mother Hannah Maria died at 36 in 1809.

Did Stoker know this story? The chances are that he did. It was pub­lished as an item of interest in Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper 1892. On the same page was a long ‘rave’ review, with illustrations, of Irving’s pro­duction of King Lear at the Lyceum. The play ‘evoked one of the heartiest and most spontaneous demonstrations of unalloyed satisfaction ever heard within the walls of the Lyceum’. As Irving’s manager, Stoker would almost certainly have seen the review and therefore no doubt the Hendon story. This would explain not only the name Holmwood, but why the churchyard at Kingstead figures in the novel at all. The similarity of the factual and fictional events is obvious. In one case a son cuts his mother’s head off, to trace an hereditary disorder, in the other a man helps to cut off his fiancee’s head to cure another disorder. In fact, Stoker puts far more emphasis on cutting off the head than on the staking of the body, although the staking is the thing most people remember:

“‘Good God!’ he cried. What do you mean? Has there been any mistake? Has she been buried alive?’ He groaned in anguish that not even hope could soften.

‘I did not say she was alive, my child; I did not think it. I go no further than to say that she might be Un-Dead.’

‘Un-Dead! Not alive! What do you mean? Is this all a nightmare, or what is it?’

‘There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by age they may solve only in part. Believe me, we are now on the verge of one.

But I have not done. May I cut off the head of dead Miss Lucy?'”

A final curious point concerns the child found on the ‘Shooter’s Hill side’ of Hampstead Heath. Shooter’s Hill, of course, is miles away from Hampstead across the Thames. Surely what was intended was the ‘Shoot-up Hill side.’ ‘Shoot-up Hill is the stretch of the Edgware Road going north from Kilburn, just to the west of Hampstead. In the 1890s the fringes of the Heath extended almost to this point, certainly as far as West Hampstead and the Hampstead Cemetery at Fortune Green. It was therefore in this area that the child was found. This reinforces the idea that Lucy Westenra was entombed up the road in Hendon. But it also seems to be a reference to Wilkie Collins’s novel “The Woman in White” Stoker was clearly influenced by the book, particularly in his use of letters and diary extracts to form the narrative. There are other interesting similarities: the stories both involve private asylums, for instance (they also have villains known as ‘the Count’). It was on the Shoot-up Hill side of Hampstead that Walter Hartright first met the Woman in White. Stoker must have known this, and Lucy would, of course, have been dressed in white grave clothes. The link must have been in his mind.

Even without final proof it seems likely that part of the inspiration for Dracula came not only from books and tales from Transylvania, which have always been known as its sources, but from something that happened in Hendon churchyard in 1828.

Perhaps it is as well that by then the HADAS project of recording the inscriptions in Hendon churchyard had been completed. Otherwise we might have found volunteer recorders rather thin on the ground, specially towards dusk! With the tale of Henry Holm (not to mention Lucy Westenra) Hendon churchyard in the gloaming takes on a certain creepiness.

A new dinosaur on the block – Scientists tackle the 24ft King of Gore

A relative of Tyrannosaurus rex with knife-like teeth and eyes made for hunting has been given the title ‘King of Gore’.

The 24ft long, 2.5 ton carnivore lived 80 million years ago, about twelve million years before Tyrannosaurus rex. Its outstanding features were a wide rear skull, short narrow snout and forward-looking eyes. Scientists named the creature Lythronax argestes, which can be translated as King of Gore of the Southwest, in reference to its fierce appearance and where it was found.

The predator, which like Tyrannosaurus rex stood on two legs, inhabited Laramidia, a land mass formed on the western coast of a shallow sea that once split North America in half. Its remains were found in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, a 1.9 million-acre desert region in southwest USA that has yielded a treasure trove of fossils.

Dr Mark Loewen, from the University of Utah, who led a study of Lythronax published in the online scientific journal PLOS One, said: “The width of the back of the skull of Lytronax allowed it to see with an overlapping field of view, giving it binocular vision, very useful for a predator and a condition we associate with T. rex.”

Adapted by Stewart Wild from Nature Notes in the Daily Telegraph, 7 November 2013.

Buxton Trip

One of the keys to a successful trip is the selection of the hotel. We try to find a one with 40 to 50 rooms so that we have most of the rooms. We have found that the Best Western group have hotels which meet this and also have comfortable lounges, good food, helpful staff and some history. Our trip this year was based at The Lee Wood Hotel, Manchester Road, Buxton.

Rain played a part in our schedule. Fortunately, a number of our visits did not need to be booked, so we were able to juggle and stay mainly dry.

Our Hotel Lydia Stanners

The Lee Wood is very pleasant hotel, set in its own grounds in the spa town of Buxton. The Town Centre itself and the Buxton Pump are a few minutes’ walk down a slope. Once a popular Spa venue, patronised until WWII, Buxton has gradually declined. However, many of the town’s premier buildings have been, or are, undergoing refurbishment due to monies from the National Lottery, Derbyshire County Council and a hotel company amongst others.

The Hotel itself has everything one could wish for. The rooms were spacious, properly furnished with period or reproduction furniture and well-appointed bathrooms. New carpeting to its common parts have lifted its status Free Wi-Fi, TV, large bar, good food and staff that couldn’t do enough for us kept everyone happy.

The Millican/Longden family who own this hotel believe that it was built as three Lodging Houses between 1830-1832. However, the On Line Charges Register notes that on 12 October 1860 a Conveyance of Land was made between the said William, 7th Duke of Devonshire and Brian Bates, then owner of the Old Hall Hotel, Buxton together with a third party William Currey. Brian Bates agreed in the Deed to build three dwelling houses, stables, coach houses and offices to carry on his trade as Lodging House Keeper. The conveyance also includes any building standing on the land, so perhaps some part of the hotel or outbuilding does date earlier. No positive information could be gleaned as to when the houses were converted into a hotel although speculatively this might have taken place when the grandfather of the current owners bought the property probably in the mid-20th century. More information could be obtained by way of the full Deed available by appointment at Nottingham Land Registry and the local council who would have plans.

The family told me that the furniture and ceramics in the reception areas and staircases have always been on the premises and seem to be reasonably contemporary with the buildings history. They have no knowledge of these items as the information died with their Grandfather. Certainly their age would tie in with that of the trio of lodging houses as there are three oak long case clocks on the half landings that date from around 1800.

Also seen were three heavy and dark oak dressers hiding on the lower ground floor, possibly early twentieth century. Other pieces that caught my eye were a very attractive mahogany circa1800’s Cellaret on the first half landing and the King and Queen Hall Chairs beside a bureau at the entrance that may be arts and crafts echoes of a 17thC design. Also very pleasing was the bird roundel, late 19thC set inside a later stained glass panel.

On the first floor stands an attractive large walnut display cabinet, possibly remade from a wardrobe sometime in the last century. This houses the Hotel’s collection of Staffordshire figurines and Majolica ware, together with a variety of vases and ceramic pieces dating between the 18thC -early 20thC. The Art collection was eclectic, mainly 19thC but had other themes in various corridors. The Lee Wood is more than an Hotel; it is a house of hidden treasures.

Temple Mine Stewart Wild

We gathered at the Peak District Mining Museum (see write-up in last month’s newsletter) in Matlock Bath and split into two groups for the visit to Temple Mine nearby. Half our group enjoyed refreshments and browsing in the Museum, while the others, led by our young guide Adam, crossed the road and climbed the short distance up the lane to the mine entrance.

We donned hard hats and listened to a short safety briefing. The adit was lit, not too wet, and only a few of us banged our heads as we filed along the narrow tunnel. Adam explained the history of the mine, the methods and tools used, the way the ore was found and extracted and what happened to it afterwards.

The principal ores mined here were galena, the natural mineral form of lead sulphide, and fluorite – also known as fluorspar – a form of calcium fluoride. These minerals have a huge range of industrial uses but they are widely found in many countries like the USA and Australia where extraction on a vast scale has meant that Temple Mine, which opened in 1922, had to close some years ago because it was uneconomic.

Adam outlined the various methods of extraction employed by the miners, aided by displays of old tools and equipment including small trucks that were filled with ore from a chute and hauled on rails along the adit to the outside. Pick marks on the rock walls attested to one method known by the curious name of ‘nicking’.

Having enjoyed what was, for some of our members, their first mining experience, we were soon back in the fresh air by the entrance, where the rest of our group were waiting.

Stoke-on-Trent. The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery. Audrey Hooson

This museum won the ARTFUND Museum of the Year award in 1982. As you arrive it is easy to see why. Built on a sloping site, the front elevation is quite low. However this has a magnificent brick frieze 33m long that takes advantage of this. Designed by Frank Maurier and made by G.H.Downing & co. it uses more than 6,000 bricks of different coloured clays to illustrate pottery-making scenes.

Unfortunately the Staffordshire Hoard exhibition had transferred to Birmingham for a few months; it was a joint purchase. However, the museum had so much to offer that we needed all our time to do it justice. The Director claims that ‘THERE IS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE HERE’ and this would be difficult to challenge. In the entrance hall there is a ceramic statue of THE STAFFORDSHIRE SAXON, about 4 metres tall, designed by Andy Edwards and modelled in the Wedgewood museum. His motto is ‘Annys Bid Strengo’

The FOOTBALL TRAIL featured local hero Stanley Matthews 1915 – 2000.

The SPITFIRE GALLERY had one of the 230 surviving examples of this plane, suspended from the ceiling, in front of a film of others in the air. The designer, Reginald Mitchell CBE was born in Stoke.

The ARCHAEOLOGICAL GALLERY displayed mostly locally excavated finds. These included the Wetton Mill Minor rock shelter, from Mesolithic flints to tin cans. 18th century pottery sites and Ecclesfield Castle, the medieval palace of the Bishops of Lichfield.

The ART GALLERY was founded in 1924 with the bequest by Dr. John Russell of his collection, largely of early 20th century British art, Henry Moore, Wyndham Lewis, Arthur Berry, Grete Marks and others. This has been expanded since to contain a print collection, pottery designs and also paintings by the Glasgow Boys.

For most of HADAS the high point of our visit was the CERAMICS GALLERY. Having merged several smaller museums it houses the world’s largest collection of Staffordshire ceramics. All the displays were well lit and labelled with an emphasis on how the items were made and also, what an important part of the history and economy of Staffordshire ceramics are. Historic and imported wares that influenced the trade were also shown.

In addition to the wares made for domestic use the gallery includes large exhibition pieces intended to show technical expertise. A life-size peacock and a Renaissance-revival style garden centrepiece, made by Minton & Co. of earthenware with majolica decoration, were particularly striking.

In the education area a case contained 667 different cow creamers, from the mid -1700s to the present. Certainly something that children will remember.

This museum needs several visits, I didn’t view the Natural or Local History galleries but our afternoon was definitely ‘SOMETHING FOR EVERONE’.

From HADAS Newsletter No. 212 November 1988:

MEDIEVAL EDGWARE: THE HOSPITALLERS ESTATE OF EDGWARE BOYS

The medieval, and later, history of Edgware is particularly complicated because the township was split between different manors and parishes. The primary evidence can therefore be hard to unravel, and this is reflected in the standard authorities, up to and including the Victoria County History of Middlesex.

The Barnet archives has recently acquired photocopies of the pages from the Hospitallers’ cartulary in the British Library (MS Cotton Nero E VI vol 1 ff.80-83v) relating to their estates in Edgware. The cartulary was compiled: in the mid-15c but the ten items which it includes date back at least another hundred years. Although it is cited in the standard authorities, the full extent of the information which it provides has not been realised.

The first five items trace the descent of a house and acre of land from the time when the Hospitallers granted it away to Hugo de la Hegge in the late 13c or early 14c until it returned to them in the will of Sayer de Stevenage, chaplain of Edgware, in 1375. The deeds make it absolutely clear that although Sayer was chaplain of St Margaret’s, Edgware, the house was on the Little Stanmore side of the Edgware Road, in the parish of St. Lawrence. The VCH (vol iv, pl64) seems to suggest that it was the vicarage house next to St Margaret’s.

The will of Sayer is as follows:

“In the name of God amen, on Thursday in the feast of St Matthew the apostle (21 September)1374 I Sayer de Stevenach chaplain make my testament in this form. First I bequeath my soul to God the omnipotent and to all the saints and my body to be buried in the parish church of Edgware. Item I leave to the light of the blessed Margaret there half a mark. Item to the fabric of the church of Whitchurch 3s4d. Item to the church of Hendon 2s. Item to the church of Elstree 2s. Item I give and bequeath my house with garden, dovehouse and meadow to the prior and convent of St John at Clerkenwell. Item I bequeath my black book or breviary with a sufficient portion of my other goods to a suitable priest to celebrate (masses) for my soul for a full year. Item I bequeath to Emmot the wife of Nicholas atte Wode the two best cows with the best pitcher and small pitcher and the best salt-pan (patella). Item I bequeath to the said Emmot 10s of gold or silver. Item I bequeath to Sayer Ounde six silver spoons. Item I leave the other spoons to the said Emmot. Item to Sayer Presgate 2s. Item I bequeath to each of my sons (filiorum) 6d. The residue of my unbequeathed goods I bequeath to Walter Baker and Nicholas atte Wode whom I appoint my executors that they may arrange and dispose for my soul as seems to them most expedient.”

The will, which was proved in January 1375, seems to have led to an immediate dispute, and in July the Official of the Archdeacon of Middlesex summoned the two custodians (churchwardens) of Edgware and Sayer’s executors to attend a hearing. Unfortunately we are not told the grounds of the dispute or the verdict.

In 1395 the prior again granted out Sayer’s messuage, but this time instead of alienating it on a permanent basis he only granted it out to farm for 20 years, to the then farmer of the whole manor of Edgware Boys, “Two years later the whole manor, including the chapel of Edgware, was let out on a new farm for 10 years. The farmer had to find and maintain a suitable chaplain for St Margaret’s, and keep both the manor buildings and the chancel of the church in good repair.

It was presumably because of the impending farm that the manor was surveyed, and the resulting Extent is the next item, unfortunately rather too long to be reproduced here. It lists 12 fields of arable, totalling 235 acres, 4 meadows totalling 7 acres, and 14 acres of Boysgrove. Three tenants were holding houses with gardens, one tenant a cottage and another a loft, garden and croft. The manor also had all the tithes. Annual outgoings were a rent of 7s7d on 100 acres of land originally purchased from Roger Stronge; 33s 4d to the chaplain of Edgware together with a suitable house and garden, and altarage; 6d at Easter for consecrated bread; 3s 4d for bread, milk and cheese at Boys on rogation days (presumably for sustenance to those beating the manor bounds); and another 3s 4d in bread, wine and wax for celebrating masses.

The cartulary does not tell us when or how the Hospitallers acquired their manor of Edgware Boys. No earlier reference to it as a manor has been found than in the farm of 1395 recorded above. The VCH (vol iv p157) states cautiously that it may have originated from a known grant of land made in 1231/8. An Extent of the main manor of Edgware which was made in 1277 records 7s7d rent due from the Hospitallers of the Wood (Public Record Office SC 11 296, published in LAMAS Transactions NS vol vii, 1933). The 1397 Extent of Boys (a corruption of bois or wood) makes it plain that this was the 100 acres added by purchase and not, as the editors of the 1277 Extent wrongly assumed, the full manor. This is not, however, proof either way since a completely separate manor would not have been mentioned.

The cartulary also fails to provide a firm early date for St Margaret’s. Again, though, it gives the earliest that we have, in the implication that Sayer de Stevenage was already its chaplain in 1362. It is interesting that the uncertain status of St Margaret’s, whether a chapel (of Kingsbury), or a full-scale parish church, which was long-continuing, is reflected here. 

Number 512 November 2013 Edited by Micky Watkins

HADAS DIARY 2013 & 2014

All Lectures are held at 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.

Tuesday 12th November, 8pm The Lions on Kunulua: excavations of the Early Bronze and Iron Age periods at Tell Ta’yinat, Hatay, Turkey -this is an occupation mound site near the ancient city of Antioch (Antakya) adjacent to the Syrian border. Since the late 1990s, Prof Tim Harrison of the University of Toronto has led survey and excavation work on the mound and the surrounding area of the lower tell with some spectacular results especially over the past few years – large statuary with many intact, a temple site, cuneiform tablet fragments and an almost-complete extremely rare treaty document, and many fragments of Luwian script. A metal working site and lots of artefacts of the textile production that took place on this site have also been uncovered along with evidence of trade with groups on the Indian Ocean, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean; all have shown the importance of Tell Ta’yinat. The site was formerly known at Kunalua during the Neo-Hittite/Aramean periods and is referred to as Calneh in the Old Testament. Lecture by Dr. Fiona Houghey who has worked with Tim Harrison for 10 years on this site.

Sunday 1st December, 12 noon – 4.30 pm (approx.) HADAS Christmas Party at Avenue House.

Buffet lunch. Price £25 to include one drink. Cash bar.

Tuesday 14th January 2014, 8pm The Naval Graveyards of Greenwich. Lecture by Malcolm Godfrey

Tuesday 11th February 2014 To be announced.

Tuesday 11th March 2014, 8pm The Sandridge Coin Hoard. Lecture by David Thorold, Curator (Prehistory to Medieval), Verulamium Museum.

Tuesday 8th April 2014, 8pm Restoring House Mill (working title) Brian James-Strong, River Lea Tidal Mill Trust.

Reminder of London & Middlesex Archaeological Society (LAMAS) Local History Conference

These details were also in the last Newsletter, but here’s a reminder for what promises to be a very interesting occasion: LAMAS’s 48th Local History Conference at the Weston Theatre, Museum of London on Saturday, 16th November 2013 from 10.00am to 4.00 pm. This all-day conference on the subject of “The River and Port of London” will have, as usual, displays by local history societies throughout the day.

Tickets are available now. The cost is £12 per person if paid before the 31st October, or £15 per person from 1st November. Ticket applications to: Eleanor Stanier, LAMAS Local History Conference, 48 Coval Road, East Sheen, London SW14 7RL enclosing a cheque payable to LAMAS and a stamped addressed envelope for the tickets, or via the LAMAS website (www.lamas.org.uk/localhistory) using Paypal.

Brigitte Hay Jim Nelhams

Back in July, we noticed a brief notice in our local newspaper (Barnet Times) recording the death of Brigitte Hay, a name which rang a bell. The cremation date, which was some while later, was noted. We remembered Brigitte coming on some of the HADAS outings, often with Renate Koenigsberger. Brigitte had bad eyesight and used what looked like a small telescope to read. I recall them both on our long visit to Plymouth. Both ladies had allowed their membership to lapse.

Jo and I attended the cremation service on behalf of HADAS, and there, we learned that Renate had died in 2012. A number of Renate’s family were also at the service, and a cousin, Sophia Kingshill, has kindly provided the following information. A fuller obituary written by another cousin, Gustav Born, appeared in The Guardian on 17th June 2012 (and available on the internet), noting that Max Born, Renate’s uncle was a Nobel Prize winner, and also that Max was also the grandfather of the singer, song-writer and actress Olivia Newton-John. Further information about Brigitte will follow.

Renate Koenigsberger Sophia Kingshill

Renate was born in 1919, the only child of a talented artist, Wolfgang Born, who was half-brother of the famous physicist Max Born. She lived in the German town of Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) until the 1930s, when she and her mother moved to Britain to escape the Nazi regime.

She studied chemistry, gained her PhD, and became a lecturer at Surrey University. In 1957 she married her cousin Otto Koenigsberger, with whom she had had a friendship going back to childhood. Otto was an architect with an international reputation, and he and Renate travelled extensively in Asia and Africa. They were well informed about history and archaeology, and collected fascinating artefacts in their travels, including a stone Buddha, rescued from a demolished shrine in India, that was displayed on the wall of their Hampstead home.

After Otto’s death in 1993, Renate continued to be the centre of a wide circle of friends and family from all over the world. Her house was full of pictures and books on almost every subject, and she was always interested in and knowledgeable about politics, history, art, architecture and archaeology.

Renate and Otto had been friendly for some time with Brigitte and Michael Hay, and after Michael’s death, Renate and Brigitte became close companions who shared cultural interests and went on holiday together. The friendship meant a lot to both of them.

South American road trip – a post script Tim Wilkins

The archaeological activity in Northern Peru is so vibrant that there are stunning new finds happening all the time. Archaeologists are even flying drones in order to survey their sites, find new sites, and keep a watch out for looters. Here are a few of the discoveries just since we were there in the summer.

El Brujo (see HADAS newsletter no. 510, September 2013)

Continuing excavations at the site of three Moche pyramids have found the remains of a young woman. Unusually she was buried alone – the other burials at the site have been of royal women with servants and guards – with no grave goods, and buried face down pointing out to the ocean. Aged between 17 and 19, she shows no signs of strangulation or other injuries.

Panamarca, Ancash province. In July in the Ancash region of North West Peru, an excavation at another Moche site has found a shield of woven basketry with a handle and covered with feathers, originally about a hundred, of which only a dozen survive. Moche shields are generally quite small; this one being some 10 inches in diameter. The Moche lived in the coastal desert area, but the feathers are Thought to be from Macaws, so must have been imported over the Andes from the Amazonas region.

An unlooted Wari tomb.

Also in the Ancash region, and briefly touched on in the September newsletter, an untouched Wari (also spelled Huari) tomb was found earlier this year and more details are now being released. The Wari culture dates from around 1000 AD up to the arrival of the Inca, and they were probably a rival to the Moche (see above). This coastal site at El Castillo de Huarmey (“The Castle of Death”) has produced over 1000 artefacts including gold and silver jewellery, bronze axes, and gold weaving tools, as well as three Wari queens and 60 other individuals. Like the Moche when they buried a queen, they seem to have buried her with a number of female servants, and, at a slightly different level in the chambers, male guards. The team estimate that they have at least another 8 to 10 years work at the site.

Chavin de Huantar (Also see HADAS newsletter no. 510 September 2013)

Two more carved heads have been found at the site, to go with the 100 already discovered. These are thought to have been part of a row along the top of a wall that fell down and were buried during an earthquake. Like the ones pictured in the September article, these seem to show a human head, maybe that of a priest, as it is transformed under the influenced of powerful hallucinogenic hypnotics such as that from the San Pedro cactus. These were used in rituals to help the priest pass from the human world into the spirit world, during which their heads would take on features of animals and birds. The two new heads have bulging staring eyes and flared nostrils, also a sign of San Pedro use, and are covered with wrinkles and a dozen snakes.

And finally . . . The Atacama Desert in Northern Chile is known as the driest place on Earth, with no rainfall at all for decades on end, and with zero atmospheric moisture, which is why so many astronomical observatories are situated there. The picture below was sent to me a couple of weeks ago from a contact of mine – the Atacama under snow!

Buxton Trip – Day 1 Jim Nelhams

Off we go on the 2013 HADAS long outing. This year, 40 people joined the coach, with driver Garry, for our trip to Buxton and the Peak District. All aboard, we headed north with a brief comfort stop en route to Piddington and Papplewick. One of our objectives for these trips is to find places that members don’t know, or would not visit on their own. HADAS has been to Piddington before, but Papplewick has not featured in previous outings.

Piddington Roman Villa Don Cooper

For our first stop we arrived at Piddington, a little village six miles South-East of Northampton. Here we were met by Roy Friendship-Taylor, his wife Liz and members of the Upper Nene Archaeological Society (UNAS). We divided into two groups, with one group walking the half mile or so to the site where Roy explained the history of the site and the interpretation of the current (2013) excavation, the other group went to the museum. The museum is full of artefacts found on the site and the volunteers from UNAS provided us with tea and coffee, biscuits and beautiful lemon drizzle cake!

Roy and his team have been excavating the known Roman Villa site since 1979. As a result, the Piddington excavation has provided a comprehensive view of the development of the villa from an early Iron Age settlement, through the early Roman military period and on through the various stages of the villa’s development. HADAS Vice President Andrew Selkirk in his article on Piddington referred to the excavation as one of the best explored Roman villas in the country (Selkirk (ed.) 1996. Current Archaeology Vol. X111 page 2). Roy’s great enthusiasm for what is a life’s work is infectious and despite it being chilly, we all hung on to his every word as he guided us round the excavation (see photo)

The Piddington Roman villa is a great example of an archaeological research project being carried out by an amateur archaeology group (UNAS) and led by a very knowledgeable and charismatic leader. The museum of the excavation is housed in a disused Wesleyan chapel. It contains thousands of the artefacts found on the site with many of the most interesting ones on display. Once the group visiting the site returned to the museum we “changed ends” so to speak.

There is also an interesting-looking Victorian Church in the village but being Sunday morning there was a service taking place so few of us got a chance to visit it. The site deserves a full day’s visit as we only scratched the surface – perhaps a HADAS trip next year?

Papplewick Pumping Station Jo Nelhams

This is yet another situation when a piece of History is being maintained and preserved for future generations by enthusiastic volunteers. Papplewick Pumping Station was constructed to increase the water supply to Nottingham, which is eleven miles away, as the city expanded during Victorian times. It is an example of the splendid engineering projects which continued the expansion of the Industrial Revolution. It is one of Britain’s finest Water Works and the only one in the Midlands to be preserved as a complete working fresh water pumping station. It was built between 1882 and 1884 and the two massive beam engines are thought to be the last built by the famous firm of James Watt & Co. of Soho Works, Birmingham and London. It is now a Grade 2 star listed building. There are two main rooms, the boiler room and the machine room. The boiler room houses six large Lancashire boilers. Three boilers were needed to be fired in order to feed steam to the beam engines.

As you enter the machine room you are greeted by an elaborately decorated room. The stained glass windows all have water related designs and the pillars supporting the upper floors have magnificent gold coloured bird figures resembling ibises at ceiling level. The building was completed eight hundred pounds under budget, so this spare money was spent on decoration. As the pumps are an integral part of the building, a vertical spirit level is checked regularly to make sure there has been no movement to upset the balance of the machinery. On display were some huge spanners which needed tremendous physical strength to even lift, let alone use. The beam engines worked for 85 years and ceased regular operation in 1969. Papplewick’s upkeep is now in the hands of an enthusiastic bunch of volunteers. It was opened to the public in 1975 and some of the volunteers are the original founders of the preservation group to supplement the income, the pond outside is now used by a local fish farm for breeding carp. Another novel way for raising funds is that the building is licensed for weddings. There was still some evidence of a wedding that had taken place on the previous day.

The pumps were not in steam on our visit, but some members expressed the desire to return to witness the pumps in operation.

Up to the Heights and Down to the Depths Deidre Barrie

Our coach sped to Matlock Bath in better weather, to visit the Heights of Abraham. In 1724 Daniel Defoe wrote that Matlock Bath had “a base, stony, mountainous road to it, and no good accommodation when you are there.” Luckily times have changed.

Britain’s first alpine cable car system was opened to the public in 1984. Cable cars each carrying six passengers took us high above the River Severn up to Masson Hill. The Hill (1,111 ft above sea level) was renamed the Heights of Abraham after its supposed similarity to the site of General James Wolf’s victory in Canada (where the 1759 battle site is known as the Plains of Abraham).

For those in our party who did not fancy the cable car ride or the visit to the Great Masson Cavern, there was an exhibition centre with films of these perils to watch in comfort as well as “The Fossil Factory”, a shop, and a terrace café with spectacular views.

The Great Masson Cavern was formerly a lead mine, and opened to the public in 1844 when the deposits of lead declined. Lead has been mined here for centuries – a pig block of lead exists with a Roman inscription on it. This was an adventure – we wore hard hats and had to stoop almost double to trudge along low tunnels with wet floors. A state of the art lighting system in the huge main cavern went from complete darkness, to demonstrating the tiny lights the miners would have used, then to a pretty coloured light show. Names and dates from the 18th Century were visible on the rugged sides of the mine where the owners of seams had wanted to stake their ownership. Back to Buxton with time for a quick look at the local museum.

The Peak Mining Museum at Matlock Bath. Simon Williams

The Museum is housed in the Pavilion building of the former pump-room from when it was a Spa, alongside the Derwent River. The mining history begins with the Romans, some 2,000 years ago. Galena (lead ore) was what was extracted.

On entering one is impressed by short simulated hewn rock galleries, with trucks, which can be passed along. There are a few working models for ‘button-pushers’, there are good displays, and the museum displays a fine array of tools. Ancient Laws controlled the miners. It was a thrill to see a Trevithick (1771-1833) pumping engine here. Trevithick was also the first builder of a full-scale working steam railway loco in 1804. It is an interesting paradox to move water, in the form of steam, to remove water! The Museum also had a good display of the tools and materials involved in the dynamiting process to access new seams. At the end there was a fine display of minerals clearly shown. A good Museum.

Barnet Then & Now – Published 1/11/2013 Don Cooper

96 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0752488325, pub. The History Press, £14.99

Yasmine Webb, the former collections manager of Barnet Local Studies, has created a very attractive book, rich with images, of Barnet past and present.

Many of the images that have been captured show familiar sites of today that can be compared with their predecessors, effectively illustrating how Barnet, despite undergoing many changes, has still managed to retain its historic identity. The charming geographical layout of the highest hills and adjoining valleys of north London create fantastic views that have been well documented by numerous artists and writers.

Choosing the images that give the architecture its merit was both a challenge and a labour of love due to the size and topography of the borough.

Barnet was not an industrial borough, but from 1910 small pockets of industry developed providing employment and bringing communities together, such as Aeronautics in Hendon, STC Telephones and Cables in Friern Barnet and Simms Motor Units of East Finchley.

This enjoyable, colourful and informative book adds considerably to the collection of published material on Barnet.

The photographs, taken by the author, have been reproduced very attractively by The History Press.

Discounted copies will be obtainable from Paul Field (Area Sales Manager) for The History Press, the arrangement will be dependent on the number of copies bought, say over 5 copies.

Single copies can be bought from The History Press, offered on the Internet by various outlets or ordered from your local book shop

Exhibition at The Museum of London, The Cheapside Hoard: London’s Lost Jewels

On Until 27 April 2014. This treasure of late 16th and early 17th century jewels and gemstones was discovered in 1912, buried in a cellar on Cheapside in the City of London. Through new research and state-of-the-art technology, the exhibition will showcase the wealth of insights the Hoard offers on Elizabethan and Jacobean London – as a centre of craftsmanship and conspicuous consumption, at the crossroads of the Old and New Worlds. It will also explore the mysteries that remain, lost among the cataclysmic events of the mid-17th century: who owned the Hoard, when and why was it hidden, and why was it never reclaimed? Box office: 020 7001 9844. Adult £10 (£9 without donation), Concession £8 (£7 without donation)

Other Societies’ Events Eric Morgan
Sunday 1st December, 12-5pm. Barnet High St Christmas Fair. Music, Dance, Stalls and entertainment. Theatre in the Bull and Barnet Church 2.30pm. Exhibition at Barnet Museum.

Sunday 1st December , 10.30am. Heath and Hampstead Society. Meet in North End Way, on Hampstead side of Inverforth House, NW3. The Pergola, Hill Garden & Golders Hill Park. 2 hour walk led by Peter Tausig. £3.

Tuesday 3rd December, 2-3pm Harrow Museum, Headstone Manor, Pinner View N. Harrow HA26PX. English Churches and Cathedrals. Talk by Frank Weare. £3.

Tuesday 3rd December 1.00pm Gresham College at Museum of London. Modern Art in Churches. Talk by Lord Harries. Free.

Thursday 5th December. 7.30pm London Canal Museum, 12-13 New Wharf Rd., Kings X N1 9RT. Ice for the Metropolis. Talk by Malcolm Tucker. Admission £4, Concessions £3.

Thursday 5th December 8.00pm Pinner Local History Society, Village Hall, Chapel Lane car park, Pinner. British Windmills and Watermills. Talk by Barbara Lanning. £2.

Friday 6th and Saturday 7th December . 11am-12.30pm and 2.00-3.30pm LAARC, Mortimer Wheeler House, 46 Eagle Wharf Rd, N1 7ED. Eat, Drink and be Merry. Enjoy drinking like a Tudor or gorging like a Roman? Explore our collection of ancient dining ware and discover the strange eating habits of our ancestors. Book in advance £5 on www.museumofLondon.org.uk or phone 020 7001 9814.

Saturday 7th December 11.30am Highgate Society. Meet at Information Hut in Highgate Wood, off Archway Rd N6. Winter Guided Walk. (There were Roman kilns in Highgate Wood).

Tuesday 10th December 6.30pm LAMAS Clore Learning Centre, Museum of London. The Burnt Jubilee Book in the London of Richard II. Talk by Caroline Baron. £2. Refreshments from 6.00pm.

Tuesday 10th December 7.45pm Amateur Geological Society, The Parlour, St Margaret’s Church, Victoria Ave N3 1BD (off Hendon Lane). Stromatolites=Microbes Making Rocks. Talk by Dr Kenneth McNamara.

Wednesday 11th December 2.30-4pm Mill Hill Historical Society, Trinity Church, The Broadway NW7 Elstree – Britain’s Hollywood? Talk by Bob Redmond.

Wednesday 11th December 7.45pm Hornsey Historical Society, Union Church Hall, corner Ferme Park Rd/Weston Park N8 9PX. Dig For Victory. Talk by Russell Bowes. Visitors £2.

Thursday 12th December 7.30pm. Camden History Society, Burgh House, New End Sq NW3 1LT. St Paul’s – The Alternative. Talk by Dr Ann Saunders (HADAS member) with wine and mince pies from 7pm. Visitors £1.

Correction The item shown in the October Newsletter for Tuesday 26th November at 10.30pm should of course be 10.30am.