Past Newsletters

Newsletter

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HADAS DIARY

Saturday 13th August 2005 Outing to Swanscombe & Faversham with Tessa Smith & Sheila Woodward Application forms were in the last newsletter,

Saturday 10th September 2005 Outing to Copped Hall Archaeological Project, The Rodings, Pleshy Castle & Thaxted with June Porges & Stewart Wild Application form enclosed.

Tues. 11 October, 8pm Lecture by Jill Cook: Palaeolithic Art: soft curves & fuller figures — images of women in the art of the Old Stone Age

Tues 14 November, 8pm:- to be announced

Church Farmhouse Museum dig from Bill Bass

In celebration of the museum’s 50th anniversary HADAS will be conducting an excavation in the grounds of Church Farmhouse Museum, Hendon, on the 6 & 7th August 2005 The dig will be open to the public for viewing from 10.00am to 4.00pm on both of these days. During the 1990s HADAS held several digs in the grounds of the museum, finding traces of the site’s Prehistoric, Roman, Saxon and Mediaeval past. A small selection of finds from those excavations is currently on display at the museum. The excavations have also been published in the HADAS Journal No I, 2002. Finds from the grounds of the museum and nearby sites include struck flint, indicating the presence of prehistoric people in the area. Roman pottery, building material and burials point to a building or community in the vicinity not yet found. Also a large amount of Saxon, Mediaeval and post- mediaeval finds shows extensive occupation of this period on high ground near St Mary’s Church. The dig is open to any members of HADAS, experienced or not, and all equipment will be supplied, but if you have your own trowel please bring it. If you want to dig please wear stout boots or shoes. Also be prepared for prevailing weather conditions. Depending on personnel available we may also try and offer some resistivity surveying and finds processing, etc. For any more details please contact Bill.

DAPHNE LORIMER

The HADAS Newsletter last March gave news of the passing of Daphne Lorimer, our long-standing member, and Sheila Woodward provided a lovely remembrance in the following issue. For anyone wanting to know more about archaeology in the Orkneys as well as Daphne’s contribution to it, we have been given the website address for a “Festschrift” dedicated to her last year. This can be read on http://www.orkneydigs.org.uk/dhl/papers/index.html.

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HADAS at St Andrew’s Church, Kingsbury from Don Cooper

At the request of Andy Agate, project manager of this year’s Kingsbury School excavation, HADAS carried out a resistivity survey in the grounds of the “new” St Andrew’s Church, Kingsbury. The site is.a fascinating one. First there is the new St Andrew’s Church. This church was moved “brick by brick” from Wells Street near Oxford Circus in London at the instigation of the then Bishop of London in 1931/34. Designed originally by Dawkes it was consecrated in 1847 and according to its web site it was noted for fine music and choirs. Then, 100 metres away, hidden among the tall trees and the gravestones of a three-and-a-half acre graveyard, stands the old church of St. Andrew’s. This church, which dates from at least the 13th century (though it is believed that there are Saxon elements, which would make it much earlier), has been substantially altered over the years. The church fabric is sprinkled with Roman building material including bricks and tiles and even a piece of pottery. There are five complete hypocaust tiles set into the walls at the altar end of the church. It seems likely that there was a Roman building in the surrounding area so as to account for all this building material. University College London and the Kingsbury team are making a full survey of the church and it is hoped that we will be able to publish a summary of it in a future newsletter. The resistivity survey was carried out by Andrew Coulson, Jim Nelhams and Don Cooper. A grass covered area beside the new church and between it and the old church was surveyed. A 10m by 30m grid was established. The results were inconclusive, although there is a strong suspicion that there are grave slabs just below the surface.

TRANSPORT CORNER by Andy Simpson

ALL OVER BY CHRISTMAS – ROUTEMASTER REQUIEM ‘ …only some ghastly de-humanised moron would want to get rid of the Routemasters…. (Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, 2001) Well ‘someone’ has, and London will lose a little more of its soul. After 50 years it will soon be goodbye to that big red London icon, the Routemaster bus — well, sort of the five remaining Routemaster routes will be phased out by 9 December this year. By the time you read this, low-floor double deckers will have replaced routes 14 & 22 between Putney and the West End on 22 July. Next to go, on 21 October, is our very own route 13 from Golders Green via Childs Hill to Aldwych, so no more empty Routemasters running back to the garage through Hendon, Edgware & Mill Hill. Then it’s the turn of the number 38, Clapton to Victoria, replaced by 18 metre long ‘Bendy Buses’ on 28 October. Last to go, in December, will be the 159 between Marble Arch & Streatham. By then, some Routemasters will have commenced running on two Transport for London (TfL)- sponsored ‘heritage routes’ in central London, based on the central parts of routes 9 & 15. They will run every l5 minutes from 9.30am to 6.30pm seven days a week, beginning this autumn. The first route will run from Piccadilly Circus to Tower Hill via Trafalgar Square, Strand, Fleet St, Ludgate Hill, Cannon St and Eastcheap. The second will run between The Royal Albert Hall and Aldwych, via Knightsbridge, Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square and Strand. Standard bus fares will apply, allowing passengers to use Travelcards & Oyster cards. Refurbished Routemasters built between 1959 & 1965 (but with modern ‘low emission’ engines) will be used. As few as ten vehicles would be needed — four plus one spare on each route.

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LECTURES — LET US HAVE YOUR IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS by Stephen Brunning

What would you like to see and hear at our Tuesday lectures? Do you have any particular person in mind, and/or a specialist topic? It’s your society, now is the chance to have your say. As the new meetings organiser I would welcome all your ideas. Please contact me on 020 8959 6419,

ANN KAHN

Ann Kahn, editor of the June Newsletter, fell ill part way through its preparation. If anyone sent Ann a newsletter contribution which has not yet been used and might have got mislaid in the con-fusion, please send a further copy to the next editor (see back page). Dorothy Newbury reports that Ann is feeling much better and is now in St Mary’s Hospital, Hampstead (at the top of Heath St). She is being visited daily by her helpers who will take her any post or messages.

NEW BOOK ON THE DARK DAYS OF BARNET

Percy Reboul and John Heathfield, both HADAS members, have added another to their many and always fascinating publications about Barnet with ‘Days of Darkness — The London Borough of Barnet at War’ which was published by Sutton in June. The book looks at the physical effects of the bombing raids on North London, outlines the contribution of women on the home front and considers the impact of Jewish and political refugees. The book is priced at £12.99.

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BARNET’S BOUNDARIES

In last month’s Newsletter (No. 412) Graham Javes brought us up-to-date on research to locate the Anglo-Saxon boundary of Barnet, partly based on the 17th century copy of an 11th century charter, and mentioned the commemorative walk of the boundary held in May. Below is relevant material which has been provided by other HADAS members.

Acknowledging All Involved from Pat Alison

I found the article ‘A thousand years of the Barnet boundary’ in the July Newsletter very interesting, especially as I “walked the walk”, joining around two hundred others, many wearing mediaeval costume, around the perimeter of Barnet. The day ended with everyone enjoying a picnic while watching King Ethelred presenting the charter to the Abbot of St. Albans. However, I was rather disappointed that the article made no mention of Gillian Gear. Not only did she spend several months meeting with representatives of the many societies involved and masterminding the whole of the walk, but she also produced the booklet mentioned, ‘A thousand years of the Barnet boundary’, using Pamela Taylor’s research and adding further illustrations. The article mentioned (in Hendon Past and Present No. 5, Spring 2005) is a similar version, but with less illustration. It might also be worth mentioning that Philip Bailey hopes to publish an illustrated booklet giving his varying personal views on the subject (Editor’s note: see following item).

The Boundary of Barnet A Thousand Years Ago by Philip Bailey

As mentioned in last months Newsletter, Pamela Taylor has done a lot of work on the 1005 AD Barnet boundary description. I too have done extensive research into this document and have produced alternative explanations for some of the features in the boundary. The appeal of working on this document has been translating and interpreting the Old English names for features and settlements around the boundary. The place-names I have made most progress explaining are Sciburnan, Byttes Stigele and Wyrtruman. Scirbrunan translates as `shirebourn’ meaning ‘county stream’. Peter Kitson (an expert on Anglo- Saxon boundaries) supposed this stream to be the one which used to form the county boundary between Hertfordshire and Middlesex and which ran from High Barnet to Pymmes Brook. This inspired me to look into this place-name and in Barnet Manor Rolls I found it occurring as Shirebourne in 1277. In the Manor Rolls in 1699 a field called Sherborne Meadow is mentioned and this seems to reappear as Sherbourn Field in an index in the 1817 Enclosure Map abutting on the very stream that Peter Kitson had suspected was the Shirebourn. This stream now only flows above ground in Victoria Park in New Barnet, but the uppermost section of it can be found as a ditch in King George’s Field in Hadley which seems to have been known in 1556 as Sheredyche. Byttes Stigele translates most easily as ‘bottle’s stile’ and survives in the name Betstyle Circus (New Southage). My theory regarding the meaning of the name is that three local roads in the area make up the shape of a bottle and Betstyle is located where the cork would go, at the top of the neck, these roads being Russell Lane, which forms the base, and Brunswick Park Road and Oakleigh Road South which form the flanks. I suspect that the Bottle’s Stile was a stile leading into the interior of the bottle shape. Wyrtruman is an interesting word which is usually translated as meaning ‘root’. The wyrt part of this word means herb and is still in use in such herb names as St John’s Wort (wort still being pronounced ‘wert’). However, Peter Kitson has found that in a boundary description it probably means ‘root fringe’ and denotes a ‘wood bank’. This is a bank of earth which forms the edge of woodland. It occurred to me earlier this year that the position of this feature coincided with the position of an earthen bank following Barnet’s old boundary running along the north side of Ravenscroft Park in High Barnet. This bank is locally known as Grims Dyke as it was previously assumed to have been part of the feature of that name which can be found in Pinner. This link has always seemed unlikely and indeed the Museum of London Archaeology Service regarded it as part of a clay or gravel pit. A booklet containing a fuller account of my research can be read at Barnet Museum. but as yet I haven’t managed to find a publisher for it A booklet using Pamela Taylor’s research was produced to accompany the walk around the boundary of Barnet which was mentioned in the last Newsletter and was organised by Gillian Gear and Barnet History Society and took place on a lovely warm day in May. Peter Kitson is producing a book entitled ‘Guide to Anglo-Saxon Charter Boundaries’, to be published by the English Place- Name Society, which covers the several hundred such boundary descriptions which exist for various places around the country. The Barnet booklet can be purchased at Barnet Museum. If just one of the features in this ancient boundary description has survived a whole thousand years it would be a quite remarkable survival, given the urban nature of that part of Barnet.

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(1) HISTORIC LANDSCAPE & (2) LONDON’S HERITAGE from Peter Pickering

In the June Newsletter there was an article by Isobel Thompson on the Historic Land Characterisation Project, which has been completed for Hertfordshire but has not even been started for much of Greater London. In her last paragraph Isobel suggests that local societies within Greater London might be able to help. We believe there must be members who find the idea of this sort of research appealing. Could any interested members get in touch with me (Peter Pickering, 3 Westbury Road London N12 7NY,) and I will try to arrange an exploratory meeting, perhaps with our neighbouring Enfield Archaeological Society. On Thursday 6th October Lord Smith of Finsbury, who as Chris Smith MP was recently Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and is now Chairman of the London Cultural Consortium, will be speaking to the Standing Conference on London Archaeology and the London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies. The title of his talk will be “Heritage and London’s Cultural Strategy”. The meeting is at 6.30 pm in The Gallery, 70-77 Cowcross Street, near Farringdon Underground. Admission free. HADAS is a member of the Standing Conference and members will be welcome at the meeting; no need to book, but since there is a limit on numbers and we ought to know how much wine to buy it would be helpful if you let me know, as above.

TRAINING DIG AT COPPED HALL Notified by Eric Morgan

From Sundays 21st & 28th August and 4th September Copped Hall Trust, together with the West Essex Archaeological Group, will be holding one week training courses in practical archaeology at Copped Hall, nr Waltham Abbey, Essex (one of the locations for the HADAS outing on September 10 1). No previous experience is needed and certificates will be awarded on completion. The courses are led by professional archaeologists. Details can be obtained from their website, www.weag.org.uk, or from Mrs Pauline Dalton, Roseleigh, Epping Rd, Epping CM16 5HW.

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OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS Compiled by Eric Morgan

9 August Tues. 8 pm: The Geology & History of London’s Water Supply Mike Howgate Amateur Geology Soc. St Margaret’s Church, Victoria Avenue, N3

17 August Wed 7.30 pm: Guided Tour of Kensal Green led by Peter Finch Willesden Local History Society. Meet Kensal Green Station (walk about 1 mile)

19 August Fri 7 pm: The Hunting Baths of Leptis Magna Talk, David Lewis (COLAS) City of London Archaeological Society, St Olave’s Parish Hall, Mark Lane, EC3

20 August Sat 10 am: Visit to Church Farmhouse Museum Joint Wembley & Willesden History Societies. Meet at Museum, Greyhound Hill, NW4 20 & 21 August 12-6 pm: Friern Barnet Summer Show, Friary Park, Friern Barnet Lane. Stalls will include local history – & art exhibitions, etc

28 August Sun 2.30 pm Statley homes and stately lives Walk through Georgian village of Monkenhadley led by Paul Barker (City of London (guide) Meet Spires Shopping Centre. Barnet High St. Cost £5 Lasts approximately 2 hours

1 September Thurs 10 30 am Introduction to Barnet Archives Mill Hill library Hartley Ave, NW7. Talk with coffee, 50p

1 September Thurs 7.30 pm Basingstoke Canal Talk by Peter Cansdale London Canal Museum, 12-13 Wharf Rd, Kings Cross, N1 Concessions £2

2 September Fri 8 pm: Victorian Women in Interior Design Talk by Jean Fletcher Barnet & District Local History Society, Church House, Wood St, Barnet (opposite Museum)

3 September Sat 10.30 am: London Walk: Southwark & Bankside LAMAS Meet London Bridge Station, Tooley St Entrance. Distance about 3 miles. Free, but advance booking Essential Contact Jon Finney, 65 Carpenders Ave, Carpenders Park, Watford WD19 5BP

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HADAS DIARY

Wednesday 27 July to Sunday 31 July 2005, visit to Northumberland. Now full, contact Jackie Brookes to see if there is a last minute cancellation.

Saturday-Sunday 6-7 August 2005, Excavation at Church Farmhouse Museum. See page 7.

Saturday 13 August, outing to Swanscombe & Faversham, with Tessa Smith and Sheila Woodward. Application form enclosed.

Saturday 10 September, outing with June Porges and Stewart Wild, to include Copped Hall, Essex, where there is an excavation. Details later.

Our lecture Season recommences in October.

11 October, Jill Cook (British Museum) Palaeolithic Art: soft curves and full figures – images of women in the art of the Old Stone Age.

8 November, tba.

Lectures start at 8.00 pm in the Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Rd, Finchley, N3. Buses 82, 143, 260 & 326 pass close by. and it is a five to ten minute walk from Finchley Central Station (Northern Line).

In Last Month’s Newsletter.

Production difficulties caused by the illness of last month’s editor, just as she was preparing the Newsletter, resulted in our repeating the HADAS Diary for June 2004. In addition, we re-ran details of a lecture by Malcolm Stokes last June. We apologise to Malcolm, and to all members who may have been inconvenienced. A further apology is due. The report on the Sutton Hoo lecture by Angela Evans was by new member Val Johnston, and not as stated, Ron Johnston.

An SOS from Dorothy.

The Society is desperately in need of a Reserve Editor for the Newsletter. We have lost four editors in the last two years and now have no reserve. Any of our present editors will be happy to advise on what is involved. No editorial experience is needed, just a computer or typewriter. Is there a new or old member out there willing to help? Please ring Dorothy, M 020 8203 0950.

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Pinner Hill Golf Club Excavation by Bill Bass

Pinner Hill Golf Club, Middlesex. NGR TQ 1097/9154 On the 11th & 12th May members of HADAS Fieldwork team and Ken Kirkman of the Pinner Local History Society conducted a small excavation at Pinner Hill Golf Club. Ken has been interested in the site for many years. It is thought that the site of a 17th century mansion house lies in the vicinity of the present 19th century clubhouse. There are some historical records but none indicates clearly where the previous mansion stood. In the past, Ken has observed and sketched parch-marks in the grass about 50 metres east of the present clubhouse, adjacent to the 18th green. Last year he asked if HADAS could conduct a resistivity survey over the same spot. The results were published in the Newsletter in August 2004. Although a large tree and a circular depression (thought to be the result of a cellar) obscured some of the plot, the parch-marks and resistivity results appear to be consistent in showing the outline of a building or structure on the edge of an east sloping terrace. Initially a 2xlm trench was opened, and just centimetres below the turf a brick wall foundation began to appear. The trench was eventually extended to 2x2m revealing the wall to be 0.60m wide running east-west along the trench with a return section heading north. This north return seems to have been butt-jointed as it was not integrated with the east-west wall and was slightly misaligned. The wall appears to be built using a variation of English Bond. the commonly used type in the 17th century. Sample bricks are thinner than modern examples, are red in colour and have no frog, which could point to a Tudor or post-Tudor date The more modern, regular brick appeared in the 1840s. At one point, the wall was excavated to a depth of 0.55m and still continuing, so substantial foundations still remain in the ground. Within the surrounding rubble were a number of glazed or vitrified brick headers, which may show the wall was decorated, diamond shapes were a favourite. The side of the wall facing north seemed to have a better quality pointing than the south. The surrounding clay sandy-soil contained a mixture of demolition material — brick fragments, peg tile etc. The small amount of finds included a sherd of Frechen stoneware from Germany, usually dated to between 1550 & 1700 from a drinking jug (J. Pearce, MoLAS), and a sherd of post-medieval redware 1650-1800. Some small fragments of vessel glass were also recovered. This was a small evaluation dig and there is yet to be a full post-excavation analysis, but the surveys, and now the dig indicate that a substantial building once stood here and the tentative dating evidence show it could well be the site of the 17th-century mansion house. Thanks to the HADAS members who took part, to Ken Kirkman and to the offices of Pinner Hill Golf Club.

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The Road to Rome in the Steps of a Medieval Pilgrim: a report on our May lecture by Mark Hassall by Graham Javes.

Mark Hassall is no stranger to HADAS lectures: he has frequently spoken to us on Roman archaeology. This evening however he declared himself ‘obsessed with pilgrimages’, having just completed his third pilgrimage. The lecture, illustrated with slides mainly taken on pilgrimage, began with a slide of the Hereford Mappa Mundi, showing the pilgrim routes, with Jerusalem as the centre of a medieval world of Christian consciousness. Mark spoke of the work today of the Confraternity of St James founded to promote pilgrimages. His first pilgrimage was to Santiago de Compostella, his second to Jerusalem, and, the most recent to Rome. Accompanied by two friends on the Roman walk, Mark followed an imagined route, which might have been taken by a distant ancestor, Thomas Hassall, the parish priest of Sandbach in Cheshire. In 1402 Thomas was granted permission by John de Burghill, bishop of Lichfield, in whose diocese Sandbach then lay, to visit the shrines of SS. Peter and Paul, for which he was granted 18 months leave of absence. Mark set out from Lichfield to follow this imagined route, via Eccleshall castle, demolished in the Civil War, and Sandbach, following the ancient line of a packhorse bridge near Chester. Thomas would not have crossed France due to the political situation in 1403. He might have taken the German route or gone through Gascony, perhaps taking a boat to Bordeaux and following river valleys to Avignon, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was this route which Mark Hassall walked, along pleasant canals and rivers, calling en-route at the Abbey of St Faith, and the cathedral of Toulouse, which houses the relics of all twelve apostles, eventually reaching the Eternal City on Good Friday. They had walked 900 miles in 70 days, not knowing where to stay – not something, he remarked, to be taken lightly. On Easter Sunday he received the Pope’s blessing in St Peter’s Square: the following Saturday, Pope John Paul II was dead. Mark tells us he is starting to write a fictional account of the journey of his ancestor Thomas Hassall.

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Secretary’s Corner by Denis Ross

The Society’s Annual General Meeting was held at Avenue House on 14 June 2005 with the President, Harvey Sheldon in the chair. 36 Members were present. The Annual Report and Accounts were duly approved. The Officers elected for the current year are: Chairman: Don Cooper

Vice Chairman Peter Pickering

Hon Treasurer: Jim Nelhams

Hon Secretary: Denis Ross

The following were duly elected as members of Committee: Christian Allen, Bill Bass, Jackie Brookes, Stephen Brunning, Andrew Coulson, Eric Morgan, Dorothy Newbury, June Porges, Mary Rawitzer, Andrew Selkirk and Tim Wilkins.

After the formal business had been concluded, the following presentations were made: Andrew Coulson on the work of the Battle of Barnet Working Group. Don Cooper on the progress by the Birkbeck College/HADAS course on final reports on the excavations by HADAS of the Church Farm and Church Terrace sites in Hendon in the ’60s and ’70s. The former is due to be published shortly, the latter could take another couple of years. Finally, Bill Bass on the Society’s activities over the past year (including the recent excavation at Pinner Golf Club) with excellent accompanying photographs.

A thousand years of the Barnet boundary. by Graham Javes

2005 Is the thousandth anniversary of the granting to the abbot of St Albans, by charter of King Aethelred II, of an area of land described in the charter as ‘woods attached to the old fort’ of Kingsbury (St Albans). This land was to become the manor of Barnet, but the original charter has been lost for centuries. Recently a 17th-century copy was discovered in Brussels by Cambridge historian Professor Simon Keynes. Since this discovery, Dr Pamela Taylor (a member of HADAS) has done further research, and written a number of articles on the charter. To celebrate the anniversary she has produced a new article, updating our scholarship on the early origins of Barnet. In the 1990s the charter was thought to be circa 1005, now latest research has dated the document precisely to 1005, in fact, Pamela argues a case that it might be pinned down even closer, to November-December 1005. Pamela Taylor, ‘A thousand years of the Barnet boundary’, Hens Past and Present, No 5, Spring 2005, is published by Hertfordshire Association for Local History. Copies of this twice-yearly local history journal are sent free to members of Hertfordshire Association for Local History. It is available locally from Barnet Museum, Wood Street, Barnet (`M 020 8440 8066 for opening hours), price £2.00. A commemorative walk of the Barnet boundary was held in May, with many local organisations walking ‘their section’ of the boundary.

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Much ado at the castle.

Many will remember the lectures by our member Derek Batten. Derek you may recall ‘inadvertently’ bought a castle mound at Alderton in Northamptonshire, which became the subject of a Time Team excavation. Derek talked about the dig and we followed it up with a visit. The mound is now used by the Heartbreak Productions, described as ‘Britain’s premier open-air touring Shakespeare professional company’. This year it is performing ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, and Derek would welcome members who would like to attend a performance. Much Ado About Nothing Saturday & Sunday 13 & 14 August at 7.30pm. The Mount, Alderton, Towcester Licensed Bar & Refreshments Tickets £13.00 (£9.00 cons.) Phone Derek on 01327 811304

Wall of Silence: the peculiar murder of Jim Dawson at Bashall Eaves, by Jennie Cobban

Another member who moved away is Jennie Cobban, who returned to her native Lancashire a few years ago. Jennie wrote Geoffrey de Mandeville and London’s Camelot, Ghosts, Mysteries and the Occult in Barnet as well as numerous articles for this Newsletter and letters to the press. Her latest book is the result of some two years investigation into the murder of her uncle, farmer Jim Dawson, one dark night in 1934, whilst walking home from his local pub. He was hit in the back by a home-made bullet, thought to have been fired, either from an antique gun, or a gun which may have been a ‘poacher’s arm’. Thinking he had been hit by a stone, Jim thought little of it, went to bed, only realising that he had been shot at midnight. Despite an x-ray showing the bullet lodged in his shoulder, Dawson refused treatment to remove it. When finally he did take the wound seriously, it was too late. He died of septicaemia four days later. The motive for the shooting was said by a family member to have been jealousy over a woman, but the stubborn refusal of the people of Bashall Eaves to co-operate with the police enquiry caused the village to be labelled, ‘the village that would not talk’ – hence the title, Wall of Silence. Even after seventy years, there was a reluctance to talk, but slowly the veil was lifted – just a little – aided by a reported recent deathbed confession. As a result of this research, the police are taking advice on the case, which they say was never closed: but an arrest is unlikely! Wall of Silence: the peculiar murder of Jim Dawson at Bashall Eaves, by Jennie Cobban, is published by Demdike Press, 3 Beech Grove, Chatburn, near Clitheroe, BB7 4AR, price £9.50.

London Archaeologist by Don Cooper

The Archaeological magazine for Londoners I am sure HADAS readers are aware that the London Archaeologist magazine, which is published four times a year, is the best way of keeping up-to-date on what is happening in London archaeology. Subscriptions cost £16, post free to addresses in the UK for four issues. To take out a subscription write to: London Archaeologist, 8 Woodview Crescent, Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Kent TN11 9ND Or visit their website www.londonarchaeologist.org.uk and download the appropriate form. To quote from the web site: “Archaeology in Greater London is observed, reported and reviewed in London Archaeologist, a quarterly magazine providing up-to-the minute news of excavations, fieldwork and artefact research. In addition to articles on recent and ongoing projects, each issue has a diary of events, lectures, evening courses and exhibitions as well as reviews of all the latest publications on London’s archaeology.” You will also receive an annual review of the fieldwork carried out in Greater London as well as a bibliography of the most recent publications. So, if you want to know what is happening in archaeology around London — do take out a subscription.

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Transport Corner by Andy Simpson

Lovers of the Northern Line(!) will be thrilled to know that another book has come out about the Northern Line extensions. No, not the usual and well-covered topic of the half-built 1930s and 40s extensions to Edgware via Mill Hill, and on via Edgware to Brockley Hill and Aldenham, but the original 1920s extension of the London Electric Railway from Golders Green to Edgware via Brent (now Brent Cross), Hendon, Colindale and Burnt Oak. This excellent little book, Northern Line Extensions Golders Green To Edgware 1922-1924, has been written by one of the London Transport Museum curators, Simon Murphy, and is part of the growing range of historical topic local books published by Tempus publishing, price £12.99. (ISBN 0 7524 3498 5) In 128 pages you get a pictorial tour of the line northwards from Golders Green, with at each point half-tone photos of the locations before, during and after the construction phase. Colindale was a very green place in 1922. Many of the photographs were taken as the official record during construction. The aerial photographs are particularly worthy of study. There is also a useful short historical introduction, several maps, and reproductions of contemporary adverts for London Underground and development companies, who soon filled the green fields along the route with houses. Despite the availability of mechanical excavators, the ‘work in progress’ shots include plenty of men with shovels!

Open Days at Turners Hall Farm, Mackerye End

There will be open days at the Roman villa excavation by St Albans Museums Services at Turners Hall Farm, Mackerye End, Wheathampstead, which HADAS visited at the beginning of the second digging season. The dates are 30-31 July and 27-28th August. Admission is free. There will also be an ‘archaeology dig for the public’ on 9-10 July and 23-24th July at a cost £20 per adult. To book for these contact Alison Turner-Rugg

The Next HADAS Dig – advance information.

In celebration of the museum’s 50th anniversry, I IADAS will be conducting an excavation at Church Farmhouse Museum, Hendon, on 6 & 7 August 2005. We hope to find more traces of the museum’s Roman, Saxon and Medieval past. Details in the next Newsletter, or contact Bill Bass (A’ 020 8449 5666.

Wharram Percy: Life in a Medieval Village

This Deserted Medieval Village on the Yorkshire Wolds was excavated by Maurice Beresford and John Hurst, every summer from 1950-1990. On 16 July, a new major exhibition opens at Malton Museum, Malton, to interpret the site, which had been in continuous occupation since the Iron Age. The display has been partially financed by a £50,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund enabling this volunteer-run museum to employ a specialist team. The exhibition will include excavated skeletons with facial reconstructions, a partial reconstruction of a medieval house, and a virtual tour of the village as it might have appeared before its forced clearance by the landowner in the 14th century.

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Other Societies Events Compiled by Eric Morgan.

Sat-Sun 3-4 July, East Barnet Festival, Oak Hill Park, Church Hill Rd East Barnet. Lots of stalls, Barnet Borough Arts Council, stage music, exhibitions including World War II

Sun 3 July, 2.00-4.00pm, Friern Barnet & District Local History Society, walk, with Oliver Natelson & John Philpot (architect). Meet statue nr. Main Entrance, Friary Park, Friern Barnet Lane. Friary House & Park, St James’ Church & cemetery. 2 hours, cost £1.

Thur 7 July, 7.30pm, London Canal Museum, 12-13 New Wharf Rd, NI. Surrey Canal and the Gas Industry, by Brian Sturt.

Sat 9 July, 10.00-5.00pm, Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture. Middlesex University Campus, Cat Hill. East Barnet. World War II Artefacts from MODA’s archives, including the post war years. to celebrate Veterans’ Awareness Week. Drop in session (2.00-3.00pm)

Sun 10 July, 12.00-9.30pm, Cricklewood Festival, Clitterhouse Playing Fields (by Hendon Football Club) Claremont Rd, NW2. HADAS will have a stall during the afternoon.

Sun 10 July, 2.00pm. Kensal Green Cemetery Open Day, Harrow Road, NW10 or Ladbroke Grove, W10. Tours, stalls, band, refreshments, etc. VE Day & VJ Day celebration. Willesden Local History Society stall.

Tues 12 July, 8.00pm. Amateur Geological Society, The Parlour, St Margaret’s United Reform Church, Victoria Ave, N3. Earthquakes and Active Faults in Italy, by Dr Gerald Roberts (Birkbeek College).

Fri 15 July, 7.00pm. CoLAS. St Olave’s Parish Hall, Mark Lane, EC3. The Roman Circus and other Recent Discoveries at Colchester, by Phillip Crummy (Colchester Archaeological Trust).

Sat-Sun 16-17 July. National Archaeological Weekend. Events throughout the country. Enfield Archaeological Society. Continuing search for the Tudor Elsyng Palace, Forty Hall. HADAS undertook resistivity survey. (EAS are also excavating previous Sat-Sun, 9-10 July).

Sun 17 July, 2.00-4.00pm. Friern Barnet & District Local History Society, walk, with Oliver Natelson, meet United Services Club, Dale Grove/Ballards Lane corner. Oldest roads & shops, 1840s houses, ancient hedges from 1730s. Discover where the nudist colony was. Cost £1.

Wed 20 July, 7.30pm. Willesden Local History Society, guided walk (2 miles) of Park Royal, led by Cliff Wadsworth, former workhouse, Willesden boundary, finish at Grand Junction Arms.

Thur 21 July, 8.00pm, Enfield Preservation Society, Jubilee Hall, corner Chase Side & Parsonage Lane, Enfield. Cannons, Castles & Cloisters, by Tony O’Connor.

Sat-Sun 23-24 July. CoLAS National Archaeology Weekend at the Tower of London. Free public displays on open space by the river wall, including artefacts, handling collections (CoLAS & LAARC) beachcombing (about 10.30 Sat, 11.30pm Sun), replicas, games.

Sun 31 July, 2.00-4.30pm, Friern Barnet & District Local History Society, Friern Hospital walk, with Oliver Natelson. Meet New Southgate Station forecourt. Ancient parish boundary, building of the railway and the old asylum, gatehouse, old cemetery & covered reservoir.

Newsletter

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HADAS DIARY

Tuesday 10 June 8pm ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Held in the Drawing Room, ground floor, Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N3. The meeting will close promptly at 10pm, after discussion and coffee. Buses, including the 82, 143, and 326 pass close by, and it is a five minute walk from Finchley Central Tube station.

Wednesday 4 July — Sunday 18 July. Long weekend in Cumbria. Now full. If you want to go on the waiting list, please ring Jackie Brookes (020 8349 2253).

Saturday 7th August OUTING to the Lewes area with Tessa Smith and Sheila Woodward

Saturday 4th September OUTING to Colchester with June Porges and Steward Wild Application forms for outings are sent out with the Newsletter the month prior to the event

A Proper Acknowledgment by Ann Saunders

Historic Scotland has just published a sizable volume entitled The Heart of Neolithic Orkney: World Heritage Site Research Agenda. Edited by Jane Downes, Sally M. Foster and C.R Wickham-Jones with Jude Canister. It is dedicated to “Daphne Home Lorrimer, prime mover in the setting up of the Orkney Archaeological Trust and Chairman of the Trust 1996-2004.” The report can be downloaded from www.hislimic-scotland.Gov.uk/orkneyresearch. A free hard copy may be requested from Historic Scotland on 0131 668 8638.

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Sutton Hoo and the Horse Burial by Rob Johnston

Opening her talk, Angela Evans took us on a brisk canter through some of the known origins of horse gear and riding skills; from the steppes of the Huns and Vandals to the cavalry of the Roman empire, and finally to the British Celt and East Anglia in the late sixth century to the first quarter of the seventh century. The engaging and interesting presentation showed remarkable finds in the grave of a horse of about 14 hands, buried next to the more modestly furnished grave of a young Anglian warrior, with a sword and shield, two spears, haversack and a pot of food. Rich gear interred with the horse was to accompany his master into the afterlife with his pagan goods. We saw the bridle gear, bit and snaffle, the arrangements of the reins, controlling head straps reconstructed and revealed by the skills and knowledge of the British Museum conservators. The fittings were of iron, copper alloy, tinned and gilded. Their decoration was a fine example of early English metal working skills, creative and sophisticated designs, borrowing and adapting Swedish and Celtic forms and incorporating them into fresh and lively English art forms. The Anglo-Saxons loved garnets and here they glinted redly through the centuries from their gold leaf insets, with ivory and mother of pearl. These trade goods, travelled hundreds of miles and passed through a dozen hands, perhaps from Germany, India and North Africa, to adorn the horse of a young warrior in a young England. Finally we visited the contemporaneous Mildenhall/Lakenheath warrior and horse burial, sharing the same grave space with again very rich grave goods for the horse. To be published soon under the name of Eriswell, an account of this discovery will be an interesting furthering of our knowledge begun this evening.

Looking at the past: a guide to resources.

A brochure with the above title has been produced recently by the University of London and the Greater London Archives Network (GLAN), thanks to generous funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (11FICE) Active Community Fund. The brochure is designed to meet the information needs of the general public as well as local historians, genealogists and archaeologists. The booklet describes some of the most useful resources to be found in record offices and offers advice on accessibility. It includes notes on illustrations: census returns, parish and probate records; maps and plans; directories; business and institutional records; newspapers and printed ephemera; architectural, engineering and maritime records. Additional notes mention the merger in 2003 of the Public Record Office and the Historical Manuscripts Commission to form the National Register of Archives (NRA). www.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Useful websites for finding archives on particular subjects and their whereabouts are www.aini25.ac.uk and www.a2a.pro.gov.uk. It is intended that the brochure is widely disseminated and comments are invited.. It can be downloaded from http://www.ull.ac.iik/news/award_past.shtml# or from the Greater London Archives Network www.hinc.20v.uk/olan Further copies are freely available from Christine Wise, Head of Special Collection, University of London Library, (ULL) Senate House, Malet Street, London, WCIE 7HU (020 7862 8471) The ULL is keen to foster links with local groups and would welcome visits and volunteers to work with original archival documents and manuscripts.

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Historic Landscape Characterisation: Hertfordshire and Beyond by Isobel Thompson

Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) is a national campaign, sponsored by English Heritage in partnership with county councils. Its purpose is to build a framework for understanding whole landscapes (not just individual historic buildings or archaeological sites), in their historical dimension as well as how they appear now. It supports and provides information to development control, to help make better decisions on managing change in the historic environment. It is also very useful for research. To date almost every county in England has completed, started, or planned an HLC project. Each is carried out at county level, but the counties are organised in regions: Hertfordshire is part of the east of England region, together with Beds, Bucks, Cambs, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. The project for Hertfordshire involved the historic mapping of the county to compile a visual history of land use from the 18th century until AD 2000, and producing a layered map of this data broken down into 35 different character types. Historic maps record alterations in the 18th and 19th centuries, piecemeal or formal (Parliamentary), and in the 20th century further alterations including hedge removal, and enclosures alongside motorways. Besides different types of field, character types include pasture, common, and heath; ancient woodland, and 19th-20th century planted woodland; industrial types, notably mineral extraction; water bodies including reservoirs, and especially watercress beds in Hertfordshire; historic parks, and 20th century types such as motorways, golf courses, airfields, and others. All built-up settlement is treated as one character type. A very complex picture emerges, with much built-up and much 20th century alteration, but also a surprising amount of land, which has survived unaltered since at least the 18th century. There are landscapes of ancient fields, historic parks and ancient woodland and even some surviving unenclosed common arable. A good deal of historic survival is visible at the south end of the county, close to the Greater London boundary. In some areas ‘co-axial’ boundaries have been investigated archaeologically; they may have first been laid out in the Bronze Age, and appear to be largely pastoral. This characterisation was taken further, defining larger areas of distinct character. The fundamental principle in this definition is that of change in the landscape over time: the degree of change (how much, and how often), and the nature of those changes. It proved possible to define 210 character areas, each of which has a dominant character type and distinct boundaries. They fall into four groups: those dominated by ancient irregular fields (many with scattered historic parks, and often with ancient woodland); those dominated by co-axial type fields, also often with ancient woodland; those with a history of formal enclosure of common arable; and other areas which are not dominated by field type at all, such as river valleys and motorways. Those character areas, which have undergone more than 50% alteration of field boundaries, are distinguished (these areas are not as extensive as might have been thought.) Each of these 210 areas offers potential for local research into the historic landscape: why is it so? Why are the area boundaries where they are? How does the area relate to, for example, the Sites & Monuments Record, and other data sets? Further questions arise at county boundaries. It would be surprising if the character areas did not project into neighbouring counties. Greater London is surrounded by counties which have completed HLC projects. It would be wrong to think that London does not need one, as it is built over. But there is much green belt land at the edges. The southern edge of Hertfordshire is a patchwork of urban settlement interspersed with much ancient unaltered land, and the open land within Greater London is unlikely to be different. A project design is being worked out for a pilot stage, which includes the whole landscape, built up and open, of Greater London. This pilot stage will cover the boroughs of Waltham Forest, Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets. It is vital for the same kinds of data to be recorded in each borough, which will also enable London to be compared with its surrounding counties. This is where local societies within Greater London might be able to help. Funding for the pilot stage is likely to be found, but further funding may be more difficult. HLC coverage, however, is needed sooner rather than later, and meanwhile local societies could perhaps do some of the basic map work. This would begin with finding out what historic maps (printed and other) exist for each borough, and local knowledge and interest would be particularly useful. Access to a GIS program would not be necessary; knowing what information to record would be.

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Oldest Rock Art in Britain

Hard evidence that the engravings of women and extinct creatures at Creswell Crags are more than 12,800 years old is published today, making them Britain’s oldest rock art. Creswell Crags, on the Notts/Derbyshire border, is riddled with caves, which contain preserved evidence of human activity during the last Ice Age. Recently, engravings were found on the walls and ceilings depicting animals, such as the European Bison, now extinct in Britain; female dancers or birds, and intimate female body parts. Dating rock art is difficult, however scientists from Bristol, Sheffield and the Open University were able to measure minute traces of uranium in thin limestone crusts that had coated the engravings. The results establish once and for all the authenticity and Ice Age antiquity of the rock art. They will be discussed by Alistair Pike tomorrow [23.4.20051 at the British Rock Art Group conference at Bristol University. (Daily Telegraph 22.4.2005).

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Membership renewal by Mary Rawitzer

If you normally pay by cheque and we have not yet had your payment you will find a reminder note enclosed with this Newsletter. Unless we hear from you during June we will not send out any further Newsletters or meetings notices.

Spare Newsletters needed by Mary Rawitzer

We seem to have been over-zealous in throwing away spare copies of our Newsletters. Normally a few recent ones are kept for our Library at Avenue House and also to send to new members. Now the British Library, which always gets a copy of each issue, has written to say that they haven’t had one since last September. We believe the problem lies with them not ourselves, but we still need to find extra copies to replace those that have been mislaid. Of course, that’s when we realised that we don’t actually have spare copies of the September, October, and November 2004 issues, nor for January and February this year. If anyone could give us this set, could they please let me have them, or phone to check with me. My address and phone number are on the back of the Newsletter.

Fifty Years of Church Farmhouse Museum (30 April-4 September 2005) by Gerrard Roots

Church Farmhouse Museum celebrates its 50’h anniversary this summer, and to mark the occasion, is looking back at some of the hundreds of temporary exhibitions held at the Museum since 1955, in line with the theme of this year’s Museums and Art Galleries Month — The Art of Collecting. Our anniversary show concentrates on some of those exhibitions which were either based entirely, or which drew extensively, on private collections — from jigsaw puzzles to Donald Sinden, from teddy bears to the Spanish Civil War. In addition, there are displays on the history of the Museum and its own collections. There is also a case of finds — kindly arranged by Bill Bass — from the excavations in the Museum garden carried out by HADAS in the 1990s. (It is also hoped that HADAS will arrange another small dig in the garden during the summer). With toys for little ones to play with, a ‘design a poster’ competition for older children, and events in the garden during the school holidays, the exhibition is our way of saying thank you to Church Farm’s donors, lenders, supporters and — above all — its hundreds of thousands of visitors over the past half-century. For further details please ring 020 8203 0130 or visit the Friends of the Museum’s website at www.churchfarmhousemuseum.co.uk.

Overheard in a Bus

“I can’t hear a thing. I really must go to the archaeologist about my ears!” (Quoted in Thanet Club’s Newsletter. Ilearing Concern. Spring 2005).

OTHER SOCIETIES EVENTS by Eric Morgan

Tuesday 15 June 8.15pm The Bishop’s Hunting Park at Highgate. Speaker: Malcolm Stokes, member of HADAS. Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution, 11 South Grove, Pond Square, Highgate N6.

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Newsletter

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HADAS Diary

Tuesday 10th May Lecture on THE ROAD TO ROME Mark Hassell The lecture describes a walk/pilgrimage that Mark has been making with a friend over the last three years in stages from Bordeaux to Rome, why they did it, and the things they saw along the way, such as jousting at the restored medieval castle at Carcasonne, the Palace of the Popes at Avignon, and the medieval cities of Genoa, Sienna and Viterbo. Lectures start at 8.00 p.m. prompt in the Drawing Room on the ground floor of Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley N3, and are followed by question time and coffee. We close promptly at 10.00. Buses, including the 82, 143, 120 and 326 pass close by, and it is a five to ten minute walk from Finchley Central Tube Station.

Copped Hall Trust Archaeological Project by Peter Pickering

Training excavation of a sequence of Tudor and medieval grand houses at Copped Hall, near Epping, Essex — one-week training courses in practical archaeology are offered, starting on 21st August, 28Th August, and zit’ September. No previous experience is needed. Certificate awarded on completion. The courses are led by professional archaeologists, and organised by the Copped Hall Trust, in conjunction with the West Essex Archaeological Group (www.weag.org.uk). To find out more, visit the website or contact Mrs Pauline Dalton, Roseleigh, Epping Road, Epping, Essex CM16 5HW. Tel: 01992 813 725. . If you require information about other events and visiting times, you can visit Copped Hall Trust website (www.coppedhalltrust.org.uk) or telephone 01992 571 657. Copped Hall is otherwise strictly private and the lodge owners must not be disturbed for access.

A walk through Petra 2005 by Tessa Smith

I recently achieved a long-held ambition to visit the ‘rose red city’ of Petra to see for myself the requisite colours of the carved rock tombs and to experience the journey through the Siq. I wasn’t disappointment. The Wadi Musa valley leads down towards the great Siq chasm. Monumental Djinn sandstone blocks, representing the soul and image of the deceased, and thought to be Nabataean funerary monuments edge the route. A huge bright red double-story tomb built in the second half of the 1st century is topped with 4 obelisks representing those interred within. However, the bones of the dead have long been taken, and only the ancient rock-carved benches for those who took part in the ceremonies, still remain. More than 800 tombs of this kind have been excavated in Petra. The Siq is narrow and cool. Pat5 of it has been recently cleared of more than 2 metres of rubble, revealing more Roman pavements and a conduit cut directly into the rock, part of an extensive network for carrying water from the high entrance of the Siq down to the Nabataean city far below. And ancient dam directed the main flood water around the mountain, but the Siq can still be extremely dangerous when flash floods occur as it channels the overflow of raging waters high above into this extremely narrow gorge. A few years ago, seven tourists were drowned here. As well as a passageway, the Siq seems to have had a religious purpose, and numerous sacred niches, Greek inscriptions and god statues have been found carved into the steep cliff walls. As we walked through the Suq taking our time, making way now and again for the little horse-drawn carriages and occasional camel. We noted a large wall-carving of similar activity, a life-sized camel and its two drivers. As well as the danger of floods, the area is prone to earthquakes and it was due to repeated earthquake catastrophes, as well as changes to the trade routes, that the Nabataean city was abandoned until the 19th century, when Johann Ludwig Burckhardt identified it as the ancient capital of Petra. At the end of the dark Siq is the glorious amber-red sun-soaked splendour of Al-Khazney the ‘Treasury’, carved deeply into overhanging rock and hardly affected by rain, wind or water. In the early morning light, detailed carvings top the Corinthian columns, pediments and portico., gods and goddesses, eagles, sphinx, griffins, wheat and vine leaves. The urn which crowns the façade was thought to have contained the treasure of the Pharaoh at the time of the Exodus. In contrast, the simple bare interior was lit up by a shaft of light revealing the delicate wave-like patterns of orange, brown and coral sandstone. Until 1984, the Bedouins lived here, keeping their animals and lighting fires, but then they were ‘rehoused and now only a few are allowed to sell their trinkets here. On the steps of the Treasury Jordanian soldiers, resplendent in their uniform of the Desert Patrol, keep guard of this architectural and sculptural gem. Beyond the Treasury, the gorge becomes wider and the number of tombs increase, some double story and showing Greek influence, some piled one above another, flat-roofed with crenulations. Unexpectedly set into a hillside on our left a Roman amphitheatre seating sever thousand, had been carved into an area of pre- Roman burial chambers, a few of which still remain. Some excavation work and restoration work has been carried out on the theatre, mainly to the columns and side access to the stage. East of the theatre, across the Wadi Musa, are many huge carved colourful tombs set back into the high cliffs, the Urn tomb, the Silk tomb, the Palace tomb. Open to the elements, these great tombs have suffered the effects of erosion, although still grandiose and impressive they seem somewhat worn and warty, disappearing back into the rocks from which they had been sculpted. A colonnaded street was constructed beside the river. Archaeologists are uncovering more and more remains of this once prosperous capital, public baths, temples, marketplaces, and ornamental fountain surround this main street. At the end are remains of a monumental gate and steps leading up to the south temple, which has been dated to the late 1st century BC and where archaeologists are working now. The latest excavation by the Sorbonne University is above that of a 6th century church at the far end of Pera. Here have been found papyrus scrolls relating to marriage certificates and tax returns, coins, sculptures and beautiful mosaics as well as clothing and footwear. Examples of these can be seen in a small museum nearby as well as examples of the fine local pottery. One of the most fascinating sculptures on show is a god statue from the Temple of the Winged Lion showing Arabian style, in contrast to Petra’s Hellenistic art. As to the future, UNESCO is trying to come up with a way of protecting this unique site. One idea is to ensure that only a one-way traffic of visitors is allowed, at the moment you return back up through the Siq to the entrance uphill all the way! If you do go, I recommend a return by horse and carriage.

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Pinner excavation by Bill Bass

HADAS will be conducting a small scale evaluation at Pinner golf course on Wednesday 11th to Thursday 12th May. This will be to test results from last year’s resistivity survey looking for the position of a 17th century manor or lodge. Due to the nature of the site, places may be limited. More details closer to the time. Would those interested, please contact me at bill bass@yahoo.com or phone 020 8449 5666 (leave a message).

LAMAS conference report by Don Cooper

The LAMAS 42nd Annual Conference of London Archaeologists took place at the Museum of London on Saturday 19th March 2005. This year, it was well attended and got off to a good start with Harvey Sheldon, the conference chairman and, of course, the HADAS president, introducing a series of informative talks on recent archaeological developments in London. First, Craig Halsey described the recently discovered early Mesolithic site on the gravel beds beneath Sanderson’s old factory in Uxbridge. This site is very close to the Three Ways Wharf site which features so prominently in the prehistoric gallery at the Museum of London, adding further confirmation to what our forebears were up to in that area. There were fine flint tools and the remains of animal meals which, when fully researched, will add to our knowledge. Then Jane Corcoran spoke on the geo-archaeology of the former Bankside Channel, Southwark — as more and more excavations are carried out in Southwark, so we learn more about the little islands and the water channels around them that made up the landscape of the area in prehistoric times. Jane demonstrated, with good slides and maps, where we have got to in understanding this important area of London. We then had a complete change of direction with Faye Simpson, the new Finds Liaison Officer and Community Archaeologist telling us about recent finds from London. Faye has a vast area to cover with, on one hand, “mudlarks” handing in finds from the Thames for evaluation, and on the other, informing the community on the various laws concerning how finds are dealt with. We wish her well in her new job!! Finally before lunch, Harvey and Bob Cowie described the results of the Birkbeck training dig which took place last year in the grounds of Syon House, Brentford, the London home of the Duke of Northumberland, which is built on the site of Syon (Sion) Abbey, the only Bridgettine house in England during the medieval period. The dig uncovered the foundations of a massive church and some burials, possibly of nuns. Birkbeck hope to return there again this year. Places are available!!! The Ralph Merryfield Award winners were announced — this year there were two young archaeologists given the prize for their work in the community, promoting archaeology among young people. After lunch, there were presentations by the final five excavations considered to have had the most effect on London Archaeology in the last 150 years — it being LAMAS’ 150 anniversary. The five emerged on the shortlist after a year-long vote, which mentioned a great many other excavations. The five were as follows: • The Guildhall Yard, Roman Amphitheatre “sponsored” by Nick Bateman • Saxon Lundenwic, “sponsored” by Bob Kylie • The Temple of Mithras, “sponsored” by John Shepherd • The Rose Theatre, “sponsored” Simon Blatherwick • St Mary’s Spital, Spitalfields, “sponsored” by Chris Thomas Each speaker spoke eloquently of his particular site, but when the votes were counted, Saxon Ludenwic won by a good margin. In the final speech of the day, John Clark presented his vision of the New Medieval Gallery at the Museum of London — an exciting prospect which, it is hoped, will open by the end of 2005. In the societies room, many of Greater London’s archaeological societies were represented with stalls setting out their agenda and selling their publications. HADAS had a stall with our display boards in a prominent place and we sold many publications. Many old friends came to say hello, which helped to make the day more enjoyable.

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HADAS DIARY

Tuesday April 12th Lecture by Angela Evans, Curator in the department of Prehistory and Europe in the British Museum, ‘Anglo-Saxon decorated bridles from Sutton Hoo and Eriswell’. The use of the horse in early Anglo-Saxon England has been brought into closer focus by the identification of horse bones in cremations and by the discovery in 1991 of a magnificent bridle in a burial at Sutton Hoo. In 1997, a second decorated bridle was discovered, at Eriswell, Suffolk. Both bridles have a series of fittings on the reins which suggest that the Anglo-Saxons had developed a sophisticated riding style. Angela Evans is a specialist in the field of Early Anglo-Saxon metalwork and has been working on these two bridles since their excavation.

Tuesday May 10th The Road to Rome – in the steps of a Mediaeval Pilgrim. Mark Hassall

Tuesday June 14th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING.

Wednesday July 27th to Sunday July 31st Trip to Northumbria. Now full. If you want to be on a waiting list, phone Jackie Brookes.

Saturday August 13th Outing to Swanscombe and Faversham with Tessa Smith and Sheila Woodward.

Lectures start at 8pm in the Drawing Room (ground floor) of Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley N3. Buses including the 82, 143, 260 and 326 pass close by, and it is a five to ten minute walk from Finchley Central Tube Station.

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Remembering Daphne Lorimer M.B.E. by Sheila Woodward

When I joined HADAS in 1974 Daphne had already been a member for five years and was a veteran of several of the Society’s digs including the major excavation at Church Terrace Hendon. She had obtained the London University Diploma in Archaeology, specialising in prehistory, so when HADAS agreed in 1976 to excavate a potentially Mesolithic site on Hampstead Heath, Daphne was appointed as site director. It was a most happy choice; Daphne was knowledgeable, efficient and good-humoured. full of enthusiasm and endlessly patient. The latter quality was essential as many of us claim to have cut our archaeological teeth at West Heath! The dig in its initial phase continued for six seasons. It was successfully productive and highly enjoyable, for which Daphne could take much of the credit. Of course, Daphne did not limit her HADAS activities to excavation. During the 1970s she took part in field walking, churchyard surveying and finds processing, helped to organise exhibitions and give lectures and she was one of the expert cooks at the never-to-be-forgotten Roman Banquet in 1979. With Brigid Grafton-Green she ran the cake and preserves stall at the annual Minimart. Whenever and wherever HADAS needed a helping hand, Daphne was there. It was also in the 1970s that several HADAS members including Daphne attended a post-diploma course at the Institute of Archaeology on The Study of Human Skeletal Remains in Archaeology’. Daphne was the star pupil; and thereafter the study of human bone became her special skill. During this period Daphne, a radiographer by profession, was living in Totteridge with her husband Ian and sons Andrew and Vincent, They had always holidayed in Orkney were Daphne had a fanner uncle and they soon bought the lovely old manse at Orphir, Scorradale House, which became their holiday home and later their retirement home. In 1978 HADAS members had their first outing to Orkney, an archaeologist’s paradise. Daphne helped to organise the week’s tour and we enjoyed her and Ian’s hospitality at their beautiful house overlooking Scapa Flow. In the early 1980s Daphne and Ian retired to Orkney, Ian to pursue his hobby as a lepidopterist (he left his collection of butterflies and moths to the Orkney museum) and Daphne her archaeological interests. She wrote specialist reports on human bones from excavations in many parts of Scotland, and she helped to sort and categorise the thousands of bones from the neolithic ‘Tomb of the Eagles’ at Isbister in South Ronaldsay. Daphne served on the Orkney Heritage Society Committee and was its chairman from 1996 to 2002, helping to organise two major archaeological conferences in Orkney. It was under her guidance that the Orkney Archaeological Trust (OAT) was founded, and she was its first chairman; it was for her services to archaeology that Daphne received the MBE. In 2000 HADAS members made a second visit to Orkney and again enjoyed Daphne’s hospitality at supper in Scorradale House. Sadly her health was already beginning to deteriorate, although she did manage a round-the world tour for her 80th birthday, visiting her son Andrew and his wife and daughter in Australia. When ill-health forced her to retire from OAT the Friends of OAT created a Daphne Lorimer fund to provide interest-free loans for archaeology students at Orkney College. I last spoke to Daphne by telephone in early December and she sounded very much her normal cheerful self though she knew she was in the last stages of cancer. Her sons and their wives and her grand-daughter spent Christmas with her. She died on 15th February aged 83. She was described on the OAT website as bringing enthusiasm, humour and grace to all that she did. I cannot better that description. Dear Daphne, we shall miss you sadly.

Rescue Meeting by Peter Pickering

On 5th March Rescue, the British Archaeological Trust, held its Annual General Meeting at the Museum of London, followed by an open meeting entitled ‘Rescue and Research’. Rescue is essentially a campaigning organisation. We were told how its long battle to prevent the continued destruction of the Verulamium site by deep ploughing had at last been won; how the arguments about Stonehenge had yet to be resolved; and how Colchester’s walls were crumbling. There are serious threats to Thornborough henges in Yorkshire and to many local museums throughout the country; those threats are from human beings or their institutions, but many monuments, especially barrows, are threatened by other species. Jonathan Last of English Heritage showed a dramatic slide of a barrow criss-crossed by tunnels dug by badgers; a protected animal, saved from hunting, the badger ignores the fact that a monument is scheduled. In his talk Jonathan Last was trying to counter balance the impression given by the infamous English Heritage website that Stonehenge is the only prehistoric monument in the country. I was particularly taken by what he said about the prehistoric art at Cresswell crags; and wondered if HADAS could visit it sometime. Chris Ellis of Wessex Archaeology spoke passionately about the need to engage the general public with the great amount of archaeological work being carried out by contractors on behalf of developers. He did not believe this was impossible, a threat to professional standards, or precluded by considerations of confidentiality or safety (the general public, in his view, were often more careful than students), and he believed that, as a general rule, allowing public access should be a condition when archaeological work is required before development. He hoped developers would see archaeology as an asset to be exploited, not a problem to be minimised.

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The Silk Road: Report of February Lecture by Sheila Woodward

The Silk road: what an evocative name! It conjures up visions of slow-moving caravans, laden with rich silks and other luxuries, moving in stately procession from east to west – romantic, mysterious, with just a hint of danger. Our lecturer, Dr Susan Whitfield, soon dispelled such illusions. The road or route was pioneered by the Chinese in the first century BC for military purposes. It certainly became a trading route for many commodities, not just silk, but it retained its military importance. It also played a part in the Great Game of espionage and counter-espionage between Russia and other contenders for influence in the region.

The road, which links the Mediterranean coast to Mery and Samarkand and ultimately Sian in China, crosses some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world. At its centre is the Taklamakan Desert, ‘an abomination of desolation’ subject to black hurricanes of whirling sand and pebbles which strike without warning. To the north, west and south rise the peaks of the Tianshan, Pamir, Hindu-Kush and Himalayas, and on the east the Taklamakan merges into the Gobi Desert of rock and gravel. The Silk Road skirts the Taklamakan, offering routes to the north or the south, but the going is tough and the climate extreme. Travellers need, and have always needed, to be well organised and carry a good supply of essentials. A further hazard for earlier travellers was posed by the local bandits who would attack to steal goods and animals, and later rifles, and who frequently resorted to murder. The Road could therefore, as our lecturer drily remarked, be described as both politically and geographically challenging. Archaeologists began to take an interest in the area in the late 19th and early 20th century when books in an unknown script and language were produced for sale in Kashgar, on the western fringe of the Taklamakan. There had long been legends of lost cities in the sands, and the strange books seemed to offer confirmation, or at least a chance to test the truth of the legends. Among the archaeologists attracted by this lure of new finds and new cultures was Aurel Stein. Stein was born in Hungary in 1862 of Jewish parents but was baptised a Lutheran ‘for political expediency’. He studied oriental languages and archaeology in Germany and then at the British Museum, but had to return to Hungary for his national service when he (most conveniently) learnt surveying. In 1888 he moved to India, joined the education service in Lahore, met Kipling’s father who was the curator of the ‘wonder house’ (museum) of Gandhara and learnt much about Indian iconography, and made his first forays into surrounding areas for archaeological surveys. He also read early reports on the Silk Road. Stein made his first great expedition into the Taklamakan desert in 1900. It lasted almost a year. He had to obtain leave of absence from his job (he could not afford to lose it) and negotiate the necessary permits from India and China. He made careful preparations for his journey: especially warm clothing (including a coat for his fox-terrier Dash!), thick furs for bedding, an arctic explorer’s stove and portable water tanks. He ordered some supplies from Britain, such as marmite and Cadbury’s chocolate. He arranged to hire camels and camelmen, and two Indian surveyors – he rarely travelled with other Europeans. Reaching Kashgar, Stein had to wait many weeks for a further permit. He enjoyed the hospitality of George Macartney, the British representative in Kashgar, with whom he formed a close friendship. Eventually his eastward journey was resumed. He questioned local inhabitants about the ‘old books’ which were said to have been found in the area and were for sale in Kashgar. He came to suspect that they were forgeries. However, genuine antiquities began to be unearthed: frescoes, stucco reliefs, etc. In many ways Stein was ahead of his time as an archaeologist. He appreciated the importance of ethnography and kept accounts of the people he met, and photographed them and their villages. He was a competent photographer in recording archaeological finds, giving details of date, time, exposure etc., and though he was not averse to ‘doctoring’ a photo, it was done not to deceive but to clarify. Stein was a great map-maker and his maps are still usable. He had an elaborate numbering system for his finds, which were marked and recorded each night, giving their exact provenance, and there is seldom an error. He kept everything, even apparent rubbish, and recorded it. There are about 70,000 items in all, and his photographic archive (10,000 photos) now in the British Library is invaluable. Stein was a healthy sceptic and was eventually able to prove that the ‘old books’ sold in Kashgar were forgeries. He obtained an admission from the forger – but perhaps the latter should be forgiven as the interest he aroused led to genuine archaeological finds. Stein’s excavations at Niya, which he visited four times, and his other excavations along the Silk Road produced wall-paintings, sculptures, manuscripts and artefacts of a culture previously little known. The end of the story is poignant. Stein worked in India, China, Iran – but he always wished to visit Afghanistan. In 1943, at the age of 80, he at last received the necessary permit. Within a week of his arrival in Kabul he caught a chill and died. He is buried in the small Christian cemetery there, and his grave has recently been restored by British soldiers.

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Excavation in Enfield Town Centre by Deirdre Barrie

Recently, I passed by a development site in Enfield Town Centre and spoke to the person in charge. He let me have the following informative Press Notice:- Archaeology, History and PalaceXchange The development of PalaceXchange, a new 160,000 s ft shopping destination for Enfield, is providing a rare opportunity for archaeological investigation of a large section of the historic core of the town. On behalf of the developers ING Real Estate Development, Gifford Archaeology have designed a strategy for minimising the impact of the scheme on the archaeological remains through a combination of buried preservation of deposits in situ and detailed excavation. These measures are being implemented as an integral part of the construction works being carried out by Costain Ltd. In partnership with Gifford, Pre-Construct Archaeology are undertaking archaeological excavation on the site of Nos 9-19 London Road (next to Woolworths). The earliest remains on the site comprise a well-preserved boundary ditch cut into the natural brickearth. Finds from the upper fill of the ditch include abraded prehistoric pottery and a flint tool. The majority of the archaeological features date from the 12th century onwards and include a boundary ditch running parallel to London Road, back-filled pits and postholes. There are also at least two large quarry pits which may be contemporary with the construction of the Tudor Palace to the west. Once the existing Millets building has been demolished we will be undertaking further archaeological investigation to determine whether any archaeological remains associated with the Tudor Palace survive on the site of No 10 The Town. The results of all of the archaeological investigations carried out as part of the PalaceXchange development will be published in a forthcoming edition of the London and Middlesex Archaeology Society Journal.

A Statue of Spike Milligan

Spike Milligan, author, poet, comedian, and creator of the famous “Goon Show”, lived in Finchley from 1955 to 1974. He loved his surroundings: its open spaces, its often quaint architecture, and the brook that ran at the bottom of his garden. When the Finchley Society, was set up in 1971, he was one of the first to join. He became its President and later its Patron. As you will have read in last month’s newsletter, a group of his friends and family have combined with the Finchley Society to raise funds for the creation of a bronze statue to be sited at Avenue House in Finchley. The aim is to raise £30,000 and to unveil the statue in April 2006. The life-size statue will show Spike sitting on a bench and turning as if to speak to an imaginary person sharing the bench with him. Many people, young and old, will come to have their photo taken in this unique setting. HADAS is very closely associated with Avenue House, and our members and visitors will be able to admire the statue. Since Spike was not a HADAS member, and erecting a statue is not archaeology (though excavating one would be) the Committee did not think society funds could properly be spent on the appeal. But the Committee did think that some members would like to make personal donations. Those who do are asked to send their cheque payable to “The Spike Milligan Statue Fund” to The Secretary, 17 Abbots Gardens, East Finchley, London N2 OJG. All donations will be acknowledged.

Subscription renewal

Enclosed with this Newsletter is your renewal reminder – subscriptions fall due on April 1st. The enclosure contains details of all the current subscription rates and the renewal procedure. People who have joined within the last three months will not need to renew their membership until April 2006. Please get in touch with the Hon. Membership Secretary if you have any questions or uncertainties, or if you are one of the few who have not yet signed a Gift Aid form and would like to do so now, allowing HADAS to benefit from tax recovery.

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Our War Stories: Memories of the Second World War by Jean Lamont

Yes, I know it is not archaeology …..yet! To mark the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II in May 2005, members of Barnet’s Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme have written down their memories of living through the war. Some of the writers were in the Barnet/Finchley area during the war; others tell of their experiences in other parts of the country. The booklet is not being offered for public sale, but has been sent to local schools, libraries, museums and local history societies. I know many members of HADAS belong to other historical societies and if you know of any school or other organisation which you think would like a copy, please let me know. Note from Don Cooper Jean and the team of volunteers do splendid work going round the local schools bringing a personal touch to the history of the Second World War. If you would like to know more about the organisation, the volunteers meet on the first Tuesday of each month (except January and August) at Barnet Library, Stapylton Road at 2.30pm.

Other Societies’ Events Compiled by Eric Morgan

Saturday 2nd April, 10.30am. LAMAS Historic Buildings and Conservation Committee. Exploring London Squares. Starting River Terrace, Somerset House. Walk through Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square St James’s Square to Royal Academy. Free but numbers limited. Book j.finney2(i-ktl.world.com

Saturday 2nd April Ilam-4pm. North London Transport Society. St Stephens Church Hall, Park Avenue, Enfield. Extra Bazaar. A good mix of bus and railway stalls. Admission £1.50. Light Refreshments available throughout the day.

Thursday 7th April 10.30am. Mill Hill Library, Hartley Avenue NW7. Charabancs to Rationing – Life in the ’30s and ’40s. Talk with coffee and biscuits 50p.

Thursday 7th April 8pm. Pinner Local History Society. Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner. Stained Glass in the Pinner area. Talk by Nigel Swift. Visitors £1.

Sunday l0th April 12.30-3.30pm. Museum of London, London Wall EC2. Roman Mysteries The Colossus of Rhodes. Book Launch with talks and book signing. Join author Caroline Lawrence. Also meet a Roman Armour Maker.

Monday llth April 3pm. Barnet and District Local History Society. Church House, Wood Street (opposite museum) Barnet. Arabella Stuart. Talk by Dr Gillian Gear. Monday 11th -Sunday 17th April Barnet Borough Arts Council, at Brent Cross Shopping Centre (outside Marks and Spencers). Paintings, Art and Information – What’s on. (Including HADAS).

Friday 15th April 7pm. CoLAS St. Olave’s Parish Hall, Mark Lane EC3. Piddington Roman Villa Project. Talk by Roy Friendship-Taylor (Site Director)

Friday 15th April 8pm. Enfield Archaeological Society. Jubilee Hall, Junction Chase Side and Parsonage Lane, Enfield. AGM followed by reports of excavation and fieldwork. £1.

Monday 18th April 8.15 pm. Ruislip Northwood and Eastcote Local History Society. St Martin’s Church Hall Ruislip. The History of Cassiobury. Talk by Sarah Jones. Visitors £2

Wednesday 20th April 12 noon. LAMAS. The John Stow Memorial Service. St Andrew Undershaft Church Leadenhall Street EC3. Commemoration of Stow’s life and work, including the ‘Ceremony of the Quill’

Wednesday 20th April 8pm. Islington Archaeology and History Society. Islington Town Hall, Upper Street N1 . Clerkenwell – London’s Hidden Village. Talk by Mary O’Connell (HADAS)

Thursday 21 st April 8pm. Edmonton Hundred Historical Society and Enfield Preservation Society. Jubilee Hall, Junction Chase Side and Parsonage Lane, Enfield. Domestic Architecture. Joint talk with John Donovan.

Wednesday 27th April 8pm. Friern Barnet and District Local History Society. St John’s Church Hall (next Whetstone Police Station) Friern Barnet Lane N20. Totteridge Tales. Talk by John Heathfield (HADAS member) Cost £2 plus refreshments.

Thursday 28th April 8pm. Finchley Society. Drawing Room, Avenue House. Galapagos Islands. Talk by Bruce Bennett.

Friday 29th April llam. East Finchley Library, 226 High Road N2. Spike Milligan. Talk by Bill Tyler (Finchley Society President)

Newsletter

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DAPHNE LORIMER, MBE

It is with deep sadness that we report the death at her Orkney home of Daphne Lorimer, a member of HADAS for over 35 years and one of our Vice Presidents. Further details and a tribute to Daphne will be included in our next Newsletter.

HADAS are having a major book sale

Over the Easter weekend 26th/27th March 2005, HADAS are having a major book sale at Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley, N3 3QE. During the last year or so members have been reviewing our library of books and journals with a view to cataloguing what we want to keep and assembling those duplicates and ones that are no longer deemed relevant for sale. The event coincides with Avenue House hosting a two-day Open Weekend. Entry is free, and there will be tours of the house and gardens, as well as a chance to visit the garden room where much of HADAS’ activities take place. Avenue House will have refreshments, sandwiches and teas, for sale, but HADAS are offering each member who attends a free glass of wine and nibbles. Please do come along and support this unique opportunity to enhance your book collection, meet and chat with fellow members. Don Cooper Can you help? HADAS will be at the Open Weekend at Avenue House on 26th_28th March, publicising Hendon & District Archaeological Society, alongside The Finchley Society and others. We will need helpers over the three days. If you would like to volunteer, please phone 020 8201 9271.

HADAS DIARY

Tuesday 8 March — Pinner Chalk Mines – Ken Kirkman. A talk about a unique 19th C industrial site. Ken Kirkman, a member of Pinner Local History Society, has been going down the mines for 25 years. He has the access rights from the London Borough of Harrow, and guides groups of visitors. A book was published in 1992. http://www.pinnerlhs.freeserve.co.uk.

Tuesday 12th April — Sutton Hoo and the Horse Burial – lecture by Angela Evans.

Tuesday 10 May — The Road to Rome — in the steps of a Medieval Pilgrim — Mark Hassell Tuesday 14 June — AGM – Avenue House.

27-31 July – HADAS Trip to Northumbria – a message from Jackie Brooks. This trip is now fully booked, but people can go on a waiting list. (Tel 020 8349 2253).

Lectures and meetings start at 8 pm in the drawing room (ground floor) of Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N3. Buses including the 82, 143, 260 and 326 pass close by along Ballards Lane, a five to ten minute walk from Finchley Central Tube Station.

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50 YEARS OF CHURCH FARMHOUSE MUSEUM

To mark the occasion of its 50th Anniversary this year, the Museum will be mounting a major exhibition from 30 April to 4 September — on the 350-year history of Church Farm. HADAS has always had a close relationship with the Museum, and, of course the exhibition will reflect that. But I also wonder whether any individual members might have more personal material — from memories to milk-cans — which they would care to contribute to the exhibition. If you have anything you think relevant, please ring me or Hugh Petrie on 020 8203 0130. I look forward to hearing from you.

BATTLE OF BARNET PRESENTATION

The Battle of Barnet Working Group is making a presentation on the battle of Barnet at 2.30 pm on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 March in the Swords Gallery of the National Army Museum, the occasion being the Annual Conference of the Battlefields Trust (South Eastern Region). The Group began work in September 2003, and its object is to collect and collate evidence concerning the Battle which took place on Easter Day, 1471. The Group enjoys the support of the Battlefields Trust, HADAS, and many other organisations. Its membership, expressed loosely in percentage terms, may be described as HADAS 60%, Battlefields Trust 40%, Richard III Society 20%, and local historical and archaeological societies 40%. These proportions do not reflect in any way the importance of the input received! The entire event should prove a stimulating weekend’s entertainment, expecially for those making presentations. Do come and give us your support. Andrew Coulson The National Army Museum is located in Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London SW3 4HT (Tel 020 7730 0717). There is no charge, a restaurant is available, car parking is metered on Saturday and free on Sunday. The nearest Tube is Sloane Square follow the brown signs to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, and the museum is just to its west.

PROPOSED SPIKE MILLIGAN STATUE

The Spike Milligan Statue Fund has already raised £4,000 towards their target of £30,000 to put up a statue to Spike Milligan, author and humorist, at Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, (where HADAS lectures are held). The aim of the Fund is to make this a nationwide appeal, but they think it important to have local support, and are approaching a number of significant local organisations in the London Borough of Barnet area to seek their support. They hope to raise the remainder of the £30,000 by the end of 2005. Any donation made will be acknowledged and incorporated into future publicity material. (Contact: David Smith, Secretary to the Spike Milligan Statue Fund — Tel 020 8883 4154)

ACCESSING OUR ARCHIVAL AND MANUSCRIPT HERITAGE

A new project under development at Senate House Library, University of London This project is to provide access for lifelong learners in the SE to archival and manuscript holdings held in higher education libraries. The project will develop a web interface, as well as providing opportunities for group visits to Senate House Library . Christine Wise, the Head of Special

Collections at Senate House Library, says they are now actively seeking feedback from target users such as family and local historians, genealogists, archaeologists etc. and hopes they will be prepared to comment on the development of the webface so far. Focus groups can provide feedback on Friday 11 March and Friday 18 March 2005 at Senate House Library. In return for attendance at the focus group for a maximum of two hours, the Library would be pleased to offer a free day reference ticket for the Library on either date. If you are interested to take part in the focus groups, for further information please contact Dr. Richard Butterworth, Project Technical and Liaison Officer (Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU). Tel. 020 7862 8477

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FROM THE PAPERS

Pay agreement – at present anyone can call themselves an archaeologist and bid for work (reports Prospect in their Dec/Jan 2005 issue). The only current form of regulation are the minimum standards set by the IFA (Institute of Field Archaeologists) for employers who are IFA members. Discussions are taking place between Prospect and SCALTM (the Standing Conference of Archaeological Unit Managers) on the principles of introducing a national pay agreement. Give us back our chariot — the Daily Telegraph reported on a tiny Umbrian village challenging the Metropolitan Museum in New York to return a unique 6th C Etruscan bronze and ivory chariot, sold to two Frenchmen by a farmer about 1902, and illegally exported to the US hidden in a grain shipment. (Family tradition holds that the farmer received two cows in exchange.) Metro reported the discovery of a mysterious burial in the Roman cemetery at York — 49 young men and seven children. Most of the men had been decapitated, one was shackled, and the skulls were placed in the graves beside their feet, legs or pelvis. Dr Patrick Ottaway of York Archaeological Trust suggested that the bodies could have been those of Rhineland soldiers serving under Septimus Severus (c. 200AD), and that they had been buried according to their own local customs.

Another Internet Success! Jim Nelhams

During January, the newsletters have proved useful to another member of the public with his research. On On January 1st, our Secretary, Denis Ross received the following Email from a Mr Andrew Wells, who lives near Maidstone: “I have seen your website and hope you won’t mind my bothering you in this way. I am researching the Puget family who lived at Totteridge in the 19th century. In particular I am trying to track down Puget Family by P G Dawson. This is mentioned in Vol 6 of the VCH of Middlesex (1980), under Education in Finchley. The HADAS Newsletter, April 1978, issue 86, p 4 refers to the family among other residents of the area. Kent County reference library can’t throw any light on this publication, which I suppose may have been privately produced. Can you tell me where I can find a copy please?” Mr Wells had used “Google” to search the intemet for matches with PUGET and TOTTERIDGE — leading him not just to our website but to individual newsletters. The article he discovered was one of a series written by Joanna Corden detailing AIDS TO RESEARCH held by local archives. His interest was because three members of the Wells family had married members of the Puget family. Denis then used our website to circulate this message to other members of the committee. First into action was Graham Javes; – his response – “I cannot help with the Puget family but I did a few quick net searches. There is a copy in the British Library. Its book catalogue gives more info. t was published privately in 1976 by the author, Percy

George Dawson, born 1905. – 40 copies only printed. ISBN no 095052221, pbk, 91 pages for only 3.50 pounds. The London Borough of Barnet has a copy in the Archives and Local Studies Library at Mill Hill — a prior appointment is needed. There is another copy at Chipping Barnet Public Library, Stapylton Road, Barnet, EN5, in the Local History Reference Collection. Ring first to check that it is available. Books do ‘disappear’ and often the catalogue entry is not deleted after the book has been officially withdrawn.” The name PUGET also rang several bells in my memory. Firstly, from my work on the newsletters, I was aware of the work done by Daphne Lorimer and others on the Dissenters’ churchyard at Totteridge. More particularly, I recalled seeing a foundation stone at Trinity Church, Nether Street, North Finchley, where I rehearse every week with Finchley Chamber Choir. So at my next rehearsal, I checked and sure enough, there is the foundation stone from a school that used to stand in Dale Grove close to the old Congregational Church on the corner of Dale Grove and Ballards Lane. With the merger of this church with Trinity church in 1984, both the school and church were demolished but the foundation stones were preserved and moved to Trinity church. John Hey Puget had given the land on which the Congregational Church and school were built, so the foundation stone had been laid by his daughter after his death. Discussions with another choir member who is also a church elder revealed that Mr Dawson, the author of the book being sought, had been a member of Trinity church, and his interest in the church’s history had led him to writing the history of the PUGET family. The copy of the book in the Barnet Library Archives had been sent to them by Trinity Church. Because Trinity has just celebrated the 25th anniversary of the merger with the Congregational church, they have recently held an exhibition, and this contained a history of the two churches, including some information on John Hey Puget — and a picture of him — a photograph of a portrait. They kindly gave me two copies, one of which is now in our library at Avenue House. I visited Avenue House on the following Sunday to check our library for the Puget History. It was not there — but I also checked the folder on the Dissenters’ churchyard — to find that it contained a copy of the book with a compliment slip from Mr Dawson. This has now been loaned to a happy and grateful Mr Wells. I have also sent him the church history, some other information from Trinity Church, and photographs of two memorials, which are in St Andrew’s Church, Totteridge. Work on the transcription of our newsletters to the website continues.

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A MYCENEAN ODYSSEY by John Enderby

I have recently returned from the Peloponnese, having travelled by road from Athens on an ancient road network which took in Corinth, Epidavros, Argos and, above all, Mycenae. This prehistoric town the most important in Greece, was built on the north-east side of the Argive plain, and was once the centre of a glorious civilisation lasting from 1600 BC until 1100 BC. Even today, modern Mycenae is an important point on the road system leading to Nafplion, the first capital of Greece after Independence (1822) and thought by many (including myself) to be the loveliest town in the whole of Greece. I visited Mycenae, a thirty-minute journey from Nafplion, on a bright sunny day but, even so, the extensive ruins of this once regal ancient city were invested with a brooding sense of darkness and horror. Here, Orestes committed the heinous crime of matricide. I hope to tell the chilling story in a future article on the curse of the House of Atreus. The remarkable Mycenean civilisation reached its zenith in the 2nd millennium BC, as can be seen from the fabulous gold objects — including the gold mask of Agamemnon in the Athens Museum. Many such priceless artefacts were excavated by the German discoverer of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann, who led a series of excavations from 1874. I visited the house — now an hotel — in which he lived in Mycenae and was honoured to sign the Distinguished Visitors’ Book in the name of HADAS! Like Epidavros, which is still being excavated by Greek archaeologists with a grant of £2M from the European Union, similarly-funded workers were busily engaged in excavating several areas of the huge site, some 170 years after the “first” dig! Today one enters the site (on payment of 1,500 drachmae, about £3) through the Lion Gate, a colossal monolithic limestone tympanum flanked by two headless lionesses of impressive dimensions. On the right are the concentric stone circles that form the Royal Tombs in which Schliemann found no less than nineteen skeletons. After transversing a large ramp there is an exhausting rough climb — no English Heritage—type path or handrail — to the summit (912 ft), the early part of the way bordered by walls made up of blocks of stone that weigh as much as 20 tons, and are 26 ft wide in places. They are all so accurately cut that no mortar was needed. The view from the Acropolis and the remains of the Royal Palace was fantastic in all directions, and one realised that it must have been impregnable to attackers. Fortunately, water was not too much of a problem for the residents of the Royal Palace, as there was a “secret” water source and cistern in the eastern fortress if one was prepared — I was not — to descend ninety-nine steps in total darkness. On the way back to the modern village, I came to a true masterpiece, the so-called Treasury of Atreus, thought to have been the Tomb of Agamemnon, dating from C.1300 BC. Entrance is gained through the dromos, a long stone tunnel cut deep in the hillside. The tholos, or circular interior, is reached through an impressive portal with a lintel of enormous stone blocks, one of which has been estimated to weigh 120 tons. The vault itself is an amazing beehive structure built of thirty-three courses of ashlar mansonry (again no mortar) reaching a height of 76 feet. To me, it proved to be one of the wonders of the ancient world and, without doubt, a landmark in the history of European architecture.

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UNDERGROUND NAPLES by Deirdre Barry

Our guide pushed aside the old black bed in the tiny flat, and lifted a large trapdoor. We peered warily at the steps leading down into the gloom. Somewhere down there were the remains of part of a Roman theatre where Nero had sung. If you are in Naples, don’t miss the recently-opened Napoli Sotterranea at 68 Piazza San Gaetano, off Via Dei Tnbunali, which was one of the old Graeco-Roman main streets. It is said that “sixty per cent of Naples rests on nothing”. Excavation of the soft yellow tufa stone began 5000 years ago. Then in the 4th C BC, the Greeks quarried the stone to build their city wall (remains of which are still to be seen), and used the resulting caverns for burials. In the Roman Augustan era, some of the tunnels were used as shortcut pedestrian underpasses. (Nothing is new!) During the war, the caves became bomb shelters. An amazing amount of debris (toys, helmets, even a small military tank) remains from those days, together with sad graffiti. My eeriest experience was when our group navigated a long, very narrow stone tunnel in single file, each of us clutching a candle in a china holder. Not an adventure for claustrophobes. The tunnel, carved from solid rock, had been part of the Graeco-Roman underground aqueduct, in use until the early 1600s, when more water was needed. The Roman theatre is nearby, partly under the basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore, which itself stands on the site of the Roman Temple of the Dioscuri. Not much to see, only part of the backstage, but from the curving passageway and arches, you can deduce the size of the theatre, and our guide suggested that the builders had perhaps used opus reticulatum to make the building a little more flexible in the event of earth tremors. There were earth tremors on the day that Nero sang at the theatre. Like a real trooper, he ignored them and sang on, commenting afterwards that the tremors had of course just been favourable applause by the gods. Apparently it took him a day or two at the baths afterwards to recover from the stress of his performance.

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OTHER SOCIETIES’ LECTURES AND EVENTS – Eric Morgan

Sunday 6 March, 2.30 pm Heath & Hampstead Society — Kitchen Garden, Kenwood House, Hampstead Lane, N6. Hidden Heath — its History and Archaeology – walk led by Michael Hammerson (HADAS member). Donation £1.

Wednesday 9 March, 6.30pm, LAMAS Lecture Theatre, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2 — First Celebrity Lecture — given by Julian Richards.

Wednesday 9 March, 8.15 pm, Mill Hill Historical Society, Harwood Hall, Union Church, The Broadway, NW7. Statues, Temples and Follies at Kew Gardens. Talk by Chris Sumner.

Thursday 10 March, 8 pm, Pinner Local History Society, Village Hall, Chapel Lane car park, Pinner. The Nelson Connection — talk given by Research Group. £2.

Monday 14 March, 3pm. Barnet & District Local History Society, Church House, Wood Street (Opposite Museum) Barnet. Background to the Wars of the Roses — talk by Alan Smith.

Friday 18 March, 8pm. Enfield Archaeological Society, Jubilee Hall, Junction of Chase Side/Parsonage Lane, Enfield. Excavations at Copped Hall — talk by Christine Holloway of WEAG (HADAS did resistivity and surveying here). £1.

Saturday 19 March, 11 am-5.30pm .— LAMAS CONFERENCE, Lecture Theatre, Museum of London. Cost including tea £4, non-members £5. (For details, please see February Newsletter). HADAS will be there. http://www.lamas.org.uk/conference_arc_2005.html

Thursday 31 March, 8pm, The Finchley Society, Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Road, N3 — Spirit Experiences in Finchley and Friern Barnet. Talk by Oliver Natelson (HADAS member, Friern Barnet & District Local History Society.

Newsletter

Table of contents
1 Newsletter
1.1 HADAS DIARY-forthcoming lectures
1.2 New Series of Time Team
1.3 New Book
1.4 Jack Goldenfeld, 27 December 1929 – 23 December 2004
1.5 Laurency Bentley
1.6 Lecture Report – Durolevum
1.7 Bedford Castle
1.8 Boy Racers (And that’s what The Times called them!)
1.9 Merci!
1.10 Burgh House Exhibition
1.11 Hadas in the News
1.12 Roman Meal Follow-Up
1.13 Roman Colchester: The Western Cemetery Explored
1.14 Other Societies’ Lectures & Events: Eric Morgan’s Monthly Round-Up

2 Archive Notes
2.1 See Also

Edited by Andy Simpson

HADAS DIARY-forthcoming lectures

Tuesday 8 February ‘The Silk Road’ Dr. Susan Whitfield
Susan Whitfield was curator of the excellent Silk Road exhibition at
the British Library last autumn. She runs the International Dunhuang
Project at the British Library, providing Internet access to over
50,000 pre-eleventh-century Silk Road manuscripts now in collections
worldwide. She has written many books and articles on the Silk Road
and China, and travels there regularly.

Tuesday 8 March ‘Pinner Chalk Mines’
Ken Kirkman of Pinner Local History Soc.

Tuesday 12 April To Be Announced
Tuesday 10 May ‘The Road To Rome’
In the steps of a medieval pilgrim Mark Hassell

27-31 July HADAS trip to Northumbria, organised by Jackie Brooks.
Lectures start at 8pm in the Drawing Room (ground floor) of Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N3, and are followed by question time and tea/coffee, finishing 10pm prompt. Buses including the 82/143/260/326 pass close by, a 5-10 minute walk from Avenue House or 15-20-minute walk from Finchley Central Tube Station. Non-members £1, tea or coffee 70p

New Series of Time Team

That time-honoured feature of winter Sunday evenings is back-the new series of Time Team. Channel 4, around 5.00pm (times may vary); the first episode featured a Tudor Manor House at Chenies, near Amersham. See www.channel4.com/history/timeteam

6 February Grace Dieu Lower Hull of Tudor Warship in the River Hamble, Hants.
13 February Going Upmarket in Gloucestershire (Standish, Gloucs)
20 February Picts and Hermits; Cave Dwellers of Fife (Wemyss, Fife)
27 February Lost Centuries of St Osyth (St Osyth, Essex)
6 March The Puzzle of Pickett’s Farm (South Perrott, Dorset)
13 March Norman Neighbours (Skipsea, Humberside)
20 March Tower Blocks and Togas
New Book

…advertised in a ‘Flyer’ I received recently. Titled ‘Religious Devills’ of Hampstead Individually Respected, Collectively Reviled by Ruth Rowntree. Price £19.50, including P&P Published by Harris Manchester College, Mansfield Road, Oxford, England OXI 3TD ISBN 0-9534849-3-9 Cheques payable to ‘Harris Manchester College’ The title is taken from a ditty of 1700 relating how ‘strangers’ had fenced in some wells on Hampstead Heath; these ‘strangers’ founded the Hampstead Wells Charity and were also the founders of a dissenter’s Meeting for Worship in 1692. The book covers the development of religious dissent in England, and how the congregation of the dissenter’s Meeting adopted Unitarian beliefs and built the Rosslyn Chapel that stands off Rosslyn Hill in Hampstead today. The book describes the changes alongside the development of Hampstead, outlining the influence of each upon the other. Over 100 illustrations include maps showing the location of older properties in relation to modern day Hampstead streets.

Jack Goldenfeld, 27 December 1929 – 23 December 2004

HADAS has lost another long-serving member with the recent death of Jack Goldenfeld. Jack was a regular visitor to lectures and undertook valuable work on the Ted Sammes Archive; His widow, Alice Goldenfeld, has very kindly provided the following obituary:

It is with sadness that we report the death of Jack Goldenfeld, keen HADAS member and archaeologist of some repute, on December 23rd, days before his 75th birthday and just after his 50th wedding anniversary.

Jack came to archaeology towards the end of 1979, when he determined that he would make the time, despite running a business, to study his life-long interest in archaeology.

Between 1979 and 1999, he gained the Certificate in Field Archaeology, Diploma in Archaeology, Post-Diploma in Archeological Draughtmanship, and was engaged in approximately 20 digs in the UK, France and the USA and/or archiving exercises with Universities, HADAS, Museum of London and English Heritage, as well as mounting an exhibition at Church Vale Farm; additionally he was an advisor to The Big Dig on Channel 4 television.

His biggest source of pride, and his most enjoyable activity, though, was sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm with others. He taught at Stanmore Adult Education College and West Herts Colleges, and had the enviable problem of oversubscribed classes – because his enthusiasm and knowledge was infectious.

Latterly, he had been commissioned to archive part of the collection of Raphael Salaman, benefactor of a permanent display of tools (‘Tools for the Job’) at St Albans Museum, an exercise which he did in characteristic good humour and diligence, despite his rapidly weakening condition. He completed the exercise only days before his death.

During the latter days of his battle against cancer, he said his biggest sadness was being unable to continue teaching and inspiring others.

Jack leaves a wife, Alice, two sons Nigel and Anthony and four grandchildren Zippy and Zoë; Joe and Harry. Zoë has been touched by Jack’s devotion to archaeology, and has a good working knowledge of hieroglyphics and archaeological practice; Zoë is 6 years old.

Laurency Bentley

We also mark with regret the passing of another long standing member, with thanks to Rosemary Bentley for the following;

Laurence died 6 January 2005, aged 75, after refusing further surgery (He was a life member of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society)

Laurence and Rosemary joined HADAS about 30 years ago, after he chanced to read a Newsletter in the library. There was an article on the theme of One Parking Metre equals 1.094 Parking Yards which particularly caught his attention. He was no archaeologist but took an interest in everything which came his way. Thus he went on as many trips and weekends as possible and sometimes did the write-up.

Rosemary thanks HADAS for all the fun you gave him.

Lecture Report – Durolevum

Beverley Perkins

November’s lecture was given by Dr Paul Wilkinson, Director of the Kent Archaeological Field School (KAFS) at Faversham, which offers training to archaeology students as well as to members of the general public. His subject was the ‘lost’ Roman town of Durolevum.

The first reference to Durolevum appears in the second Antonine Itinerary of the late 2nd century, which lists a road station of that name 13 miles from Rochester and 12 miles from Canterbury, placing it fairly well near the village of Ospringe, near Faversham. Flinders Petrie quotes the mediaeval chronicler Tysilio who names the gathering ground of the British at the time of Caesar’s invasion as Doral, probably a British form of Durolevum.

Judd’s Hill, situated in Syndale Park near Ospringe, has long been identified as a possible site of a Roman fort or camp. The hill dominates the surrounding area and has access to the sea via Oare Creek and the tidal Swale river – until the 19th century the main navigation route into London. When ploughing turned up pottery and a brooch in the 1780s, Hasted carried out an excavation and reported a square enclosure typical of Roman construction, defined by the remains of a ditch. A 1920s Ordnance Survey map identifies “Remains of a Camp (supposed remains of Durolevum)”. Later maps, however, show only fragments of ramparts. The cutting of a gas-pipe trench through the park in 1931 uncovered parts of Watling Street as well as storage pits, hearths, animal bones, oyster shells, Spanish oil jars and pottery; while east of the hilltop enclosure a cemetery was found containing over 380 burials.

KAFS has undertaken excavations on and around the site over a number of years. Their initial excavation found sections of a ditch with ‘ankle-breakers’ at the bottom. Pottery found in the ditch has been dated to the time of the Claudian invasion. Iron Age pottery has also been found, suggesting a long occupation of the site. However, owing to damage by extensive landscaping and gas-main trenching, no continuous ditch has come to light. There is also little evidence of permanent structures on the site. A Time Team excavation uncovered Roman ditches but concluded that there was no evidence for a fort. Interpretation has to remain inconclusive, but the site could have been a defended farmstead or a camp.

Geophysical surveys and excavations have uncovered ribbon development stretching about 2.5km along Watling Street. Although high-status artefacts were found, the buildings themselves were low-status timber constructions, suggesting ‘squatter’ developments built to take advantage of passing trade. The main town may lie under the village of Ospringe. The site appears to have been occupied from the 1st to the 5th century.

On the other side of Watling Street from Judd’s Hill lie the ruins of the Stone Chapel. The ruins were noted by Hasted as containing Roman remains, although a 1870s excavator concluded that they were “far too Roman to be Roman” and suggested that they were a Norman pastiche. KAFS excavations have identified a Roman building about 20ft square with an Anglo-Saxon and mediaeval church butting up to the remains. The entrance was located on the west side and a free-standing altar alongside the east wall. Since most Roman pagan temples had the doorway on the east and the altar outside, it is believed that this building was a Roman Christian church dating from at least the 4th century, with burials extending into the 5th century. It is the only known religious building in Britain showing continuity of worship from the Roman period into the 14th century. The area abounds in Roman remains. Dr Wilkinson pointed out on the map 18 Roman villas strung out at intervals of about 2.5 miles, set back from Watling Street along a line of springs. Most of the estates are located in the more fertile land between Watling Street and the coast, and cover about 2,000 acres, while those to the south of Watling Street, where the land rises towards the North Downs, cover about 3,000 acres. Some modern Parish boundaries can be shown to follow the Roman estate boundaries.

Our thanks to Dr Wilkinson for a most interesting and through-provoking talk on a area which is little known as compared to the familiar sites of Richborough and Rochester. HADAS members interested in the work of KAFS can visit their website at www.kafs.co.uk. The museum of the Maison-Dieu at Ospringe holds a collection of artefacts found in the area.

Bedford Castle

Just out of our area, the formerly virtually derelict site of Bedford Castle has been revamped. For this, Albion Archaeology, along with Bedford Borough Council, featured in the English Heritage sponsored Heritage in Britain Award for the best project securing long-term preservation of a site or monument. The former Royal castle at Bedford was deliberately slighted to prevent it ever being used again after a siege in 1224. Regeneration has created an urban park close to the river embankment. The castle mound has been restored as a recognisable feature. Work included restoration of stone facings to the mound, these revetment walls reminding your editor of pictures of stone and timber castles in Japan. A timber framed, tower-style shelter has been erected on the castle mound to display 13th century carpentry techniques. Timber sculptures flank the entrances to the site, and stone walling and a Victorian icehouse have been repaired and conserved. Interpretation panels have also been provided, and there has been selective felling and management of trees on the castle mound to retain its wooded character whilst ensuring he visibility and preservation of the earthwork.

Boy Racers (And that’s what The Times called them!)

Hot News from Essex is the discovery of what is being hailed as the only known Roman circus – chariot racing track – in Britain – found on the 209 acre site of a Army barracks in Colchester, now being redeveloped under the Private Finance Initiative to rebuild most of the garrison. English Heritage is studying reports on the site on Napier Road, which is hoped to be retained as open space in the new development by developers Taylor Woodrow. The Colchester Archaeological Trust have been working on the site investigating the few remains, which may be of First Century date. The site lies on flat land south of the walled Roman town, between two main Roman roads leading into the city. On each side, Two parallel walls have been found, some 250 m long and 70 m apart, the buttressed outer walls suggesting they once supported terraced seating, with other fragmentary remains. It was constructed of imported greensand stone The site has been heavily robbed, possibly to help build the nearby medieval St. John’s Abbey. Kate Orr was able to give some details at the January lecture.

Merci!

Audree Price Davies enjoyed December’s HADAS Christmas meal so much she has penned the following thank-you note – en Francais – to the French Chef, Pierre:

Cher Pierre Félicitations pour le diner que vous nous avey préparé à Avenue House, le Vendredi dix décembre. Il était bien cuisiné, et bien co-ordierré et le tout était bien présenté. Je vous en remercie.

Sincerèment
Audree Price-Davies.

(Good practice for my O-level French, Grade E, 1976 – Ed)

Burgh House Exhibition

On until 27th February at Burgh House, Hampstead is an exhibition examining Victorian Hampstead’s reputation as the healthiest suburb in London. The natural spring waters found there encouraged many hospitals to open in the area in the nineteenth century.

The museum is also looking to collect oral history testaments from Hampstead residents who lived there during World War II. If you would like to take part, contact Curator Marilyn Green on 0207 431 0144. Due to receipt of lottery funding, much of the building, including the Hampstead Museum, is closed for rebuilding in March/April.

Hadas in the News

HADAS have been in the press again – with a useful article in the 23 December 2004 edition of the Barnet & Potters Bar Times, who heard of the HADAS website from a press-release by Tim Wilkins. The article, ‘Excavated and online’ is illustrated with a photo of the first season of excavations at Church Farm House Museum in 1993, with Graham and Sylvia Javes to the fore! The article describes the website and past excavations, with details provided by Bill Bass.

Another press article of interest was in the Barnet Express, dated 25 November 2004, recording the discovery by amateur metal detectorist Darren Wright of a well-preserved Bronze Age palstave axe in a field north of High Barnet. The axe is shown being examined by Barnet Museum staff Pat Allison and Dr Gillian Gear – it had been sent to Verulamium Museum for identification. Mr Wright has now donated the axe to Barnet Museum

Roman Meal Follow-Up

Jeffrey Lesser

In the interests of experimental archaeology, I followed your recipe for Movetum, the Roman savoury relish. Perhaps something was lost in the translation. The amount of garlic would be better with 4 cloves rather than 4 bulbs (which is 32 cloves.) This could explain why the Romans were forced to leave Britain or alternatively why their enemies fled the field of battle. Similarly 4 tablespoonfuls of vinegar and 2 of oil should be the other way round for smoothness.

Salve!

Roman Colchester: The Western Cemetery Explored

Jean Bayne

Talk by Kate Orr from the Colchester Archaeological Trust, January 14th 2005

Close-up of part of Roman cremation burial with pottery lamp.

awaiting image –cja 02:08, 4 Mar 2005 (GMT)
Kate followed up the HADAS summer visit to Colchester with a talk on the Roman burial practices discovered during the excavation of the Western Cemetery in 2003. This took place as a result of the demolition of Handford House, a Victorian building. Some crude nineteenth century efforts at excavation had already been made but the techniques now available enabled more precise results to be ascertained although there were limited opportunities to explore the whole site of 75 square metres: only 10% was dug. It was calculated that the site contained around 600 burials of which 63 were excavated. On the whole, it was well preserved, as there had been very little ploughing on the site since Roman times.

As is usual in Roman towns, the burial site was outside the walled area and its use spanned the first and second centuries. It included both cremations and inhumations and two bustas or special pyres. Some of the cremations would have been removed earlier but even so the diversity of types of burial was very interesting. There was no consistent pattern apart from the clusters of inhumations on one side: these were presumably later, although probably not Christian as this cemetery was in earlier use. The skeletons were not arranged in an east -west direction. The cremations were scattered about the site.

The bodies were of Romanised Britons, buried with coins in their mouths, rather than native Britons and there may have been many military burials as there was a garrison at Colchester. The tombstone of the centurion, Facilis, was an example. But there is evidence, among the bones and the grave goods, that women and children were also buried there.

Some cremations were in single pots in circular pits; others included several pots alongside, or on top of, the covered urn These pots may have been for food and drink for the deceased to take on his/her journey to the underworld or left over from graveside feasts to commemorate the dead or libations. Some included lamps, many very well preserved, hidden under broken pots which seemed to be shielding them. Some had symbols, or pictures, on them: a crocodile, lion, coins, a masked head and may have represented guardian spirits, particularly for children. These were also likely to be linked with early interments, perhaps predating Boudicca (60 AD). There were also Amphora burials. These amphora, possibly from Spain, may have originally carried wine. The one excavated was over a metre down in a narrow slot. The urn and pots were found inside along with the top of the amphora, a flagon and a lamp. It was a factory lamp, not a picture one, and therefore later in the first century. One curious burial, thought to be that of a child, was found deep down in a very wide pit. However the remains, alongside a little beaker, melon beads and a small amulet were small in comparison to the space, suggesting that inhumation may have been a first choice and then came a change of mind. Evidence from hasps, a copper alloy lock plate and a ring mean that some circular urns were placed in wooden boxes. Scraps of textile suggest there was either a lining to the box or the bones were put in a bag. There may also have been decorative straps on the box.

An unusual find on this site was the evidence of bustas. This is were the body was burned above the pit and was left resting in it, rather than being placed in an urn or pot .In the first 6 ft. long rectangular busta, the body was in anatomical order: toe bones, pelvis and skull. Charcoal was evidence of burning and there were nails, most likely of hobnail boots. (Many hobnail boot nails were found on this site). In the second, roughly oval shaped smaller pit, the bones were jumbled. They were likely to have been those of a woman, as a two-piece mirror was put in after the pyre together with a spoon, maybe for lotions. Other types of burials included ones with debris placed around the pot.

This excavation raised many questions: there was such a diversity of cremation types that they may have had different meanings, perhaps representing the differing status of the people who died. Or it may just have been fashionable to undertake one type rather than another. There may also have been inhumations alongside cremations and some bones may have been kept rather than others. May be inhumation was easier and cheaper as it used less wood for burning .The later skeletons as evidenced by the pottery, although higgledy-piggledy, suggest ideas about resurrection and the after life which may have preceded Christianity. The two bustas cannot be dated precisely so they may be from different centuries or for different practices.

The quality of some of the artefacts was astounding: for example, a very well preserved first century cup in one piece, a glass jar, possibly for unguents and many of the lamps. The other claim to a special find for this cemetery was the discovery of the two bustas, known to be connected to military centres There is one in St.Albans and one in London but no others have yet come to light in Colchester. So it is a relatively rare discovery.

It was an intriguing, well presented and illustrated talk and led to many questions from the audience. Our thanks to Kate for a very enjoyable evening.

Other Societies’ Lectures & Events: Eric Morgan’s Monthly Round-Up

Wednesday 9 February 8.15pm Mill Hill Historical Society Harwood Hall, Union Church, The Broadway, NW7 AGM, followed by he Old Watling St –Talk by David Baker.

Thursday 10 February 8pm Finchley Society Local History Group Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Rd NW3 Speakers include archivists Hugh Petrie and Yashin Webb.

Monday 14 February 3pm Barnet Local History Society Church House, Wood Street Barnet Forty Hall Pleasure Gardens, Grounds and Park (where HADAS have done resistivity work) Talk by Geoffrey Gillam, Enfield Archaeological Society.

February 14-19 10-6 daily Royal Air Force Museum London (Note new name) Grahame Park Way Colindale ‘Helicopter Half Term’ – visiting helicopters, models, story telling and model making for the kids.

Wednesday 16 February 7pm. Royal Air Force Museum London (Hendon) Claude Grahame-White and his Aircraft Factory by Edward Sargent Grahame Park Way, Colindale

Thursday 17 February 8pm Enfield Preservation Society Jubilee Hall, Jcn Chase Side/Parsonage Lane, Enfield A Nostalgic Walk Around Enfield Frank Bayford.

Friday 18 February 6.30 for 7pm City of London Archaeological Society (COLAS) AGM and lecture: Survival or Introduction? Romanitas in Britain Ken Dark, Unvty of Reading St Olave’s Hall, Mark Lane, London EC3 (2 minutes from Fenchurch St Station)

Thursday 24 February 2.30pm Finchley Society Drawing Room, Avenue House Will Societies Like Ours Survive? Talk by John Hajdu

Saturday 19 March 11-5 42nd Annual Conference of London Archaeologists – the LAMAS CONFERENCE Museum of London Lecture Theatre. 11am – 5.30pm Morning session – recent work. Afternoon-LAMAS 150th anniversary presentations. Afternoon coffee available. Stands and displays, hopefully including HADAS, in attendance. Tickets £5.00 non-members from Jon Cotton, Early Department, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2 5HN. Early booking advised. See you there!

Thanks as ever to this month’s contributors; Bill Bass, Jean Bayne, Rosemary Bentley, Alice Goldenfeld, Jeffrey Lesser, Eric Morgan, Beverley Perkins, and Audree Price-Davies.

Please send copy for the March issue (by 13 February latest) to; DEIRDRE BARRIE

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HADAS DIARY

Tuesday 11 January: COLCHESTER Lecture by Kate Orr A follow up to our last summer visit.

Tuesday 8 February. . TIE SILK ROAD Lecture by Dr. Susan Whitfield

Tuesday 8 March: THE CHALK MINES OF PINNER Lecture by Ken Kirkman — Pinner Local History Society

Tuesday 12 April: TBA

Tuesday 10 May: THE ROAD TO ROME

Lecture by Mark Hassell, In the steps of a medieval pilgrim.

27 to 31 July 2005: HADAS trip to NORTHUMBRIA

Lectures start at 8.00pm in the Drawing Room at Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley N3. Non-members £1. Tea or coffee 70p. Meetings close promptly at 10.00pm. Nearest tube station is Finchley Central.

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HADAS NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES by Jim Nelhams

Following an appeal for help, I have been working for the past few weeks to transcribe HADAS newsletters in a text format. This follows the work done by Andrew Coulson in scanning them as images — effectively photocopies, It is by no means a small task and so far 100 newsletters (over 500 pages of text) have been processed. So if it is so much work, why bother? Archaeology depends a lot on the quality and accessibility of documentation. The old maxim “Knowledge is Power” is of no use to an archaeologist if the knowledge gained by any predecessors is not available as a building block for progress. We have paper copies of most if not all newsletters at Avenue House — at least three sets — but they are not indexed, so finding something in them is not easy even if you know roughly when it was published. And they do contain a lot of information. By having them stored in text form on a computer, it means that anyone with access to the HADAS web site and the appropriate password, can now search for a word or name, and get a list of all the newsletters where that appears. I have already had some feedback from one user who is finding this extremely helpful in preparing a book on the history of Hendon. The storage on computer also gives us additional security so that if the paper copies should be destroyed or damaged, we have the computer copy elsewhere. Needless to say that we must also make sure that the computer copy is itself secure.

During the process, I have learnt a lot about the history of HADAS; the various digs and other projects which were undertaken, the outings, and most important the people who contributed so much to the foundation and growth of the Society. Some of these people are still active today. I noted on recent visits to Church Farm House Museum, Hendon and to W. H. Smith at Brent Cross how many of the books on sale there showed the names of people who were HADAS members. And at the Christmas Dinner. I was able to produce the newsletters which related to the 1979 Dinner (a Roman Banquet) — slides of which were presented by Sheila Woodward. These newsletters contained instruction sheets for making your Roman costume for the occasion. Since these instructions contained diagrams, they have not as such been transcribed, but can be easily found in the images Andrew has already stored. I have used several techniques in the transcription. At the start I used a program that allowed me to read the newsletter into a microphone and the program then did its best to translate my voice into words in a word processor. This gave some problems, since a lot of the more technical words were not in the computer’s dictionary, and I had to type those, but it got over 90% of the words correct. Some interesting misinterpretations arose: Fortifications came out as 40 vacations, Broxbourne came out as frog’s spawn, and a visit to Avebury came out as a visit to a brewery! (Now that sounds like a good outing! — BB). Gradually, as the age of the paper decreased and the quality improved, I was able to change to a scanning process, with rather better success, though occasional fading still gives a problem. A piece of Finchley history came out as a PIE of Finchley history. And the next article was headed “Food for Thought!” So I am now up to November 1979 — only 25 years to go and the newsletters have grown from 2 pages to 10, so I don’t expect to complete this quickly. And I am sure I will have made some mistakes which ideally should be found and corrected. Christian Allen’s recent appeal for further help has not as far as I know generated any response. Certainly help would be greatly appreciated and need not require keyboard or computer skills. For example, proof-reading what has been done already. And it need not be a big commitment. Each newsletter completed gets us nearer the final goal. So if you can spare a couple of hours and would like to help, please give me a call or email. My info is at the end of the newsletter.

HADAS NEWS

When Victor Jones died he left a legacy of £1000 to HADAS “to start a fund for a Borough of Barnet Schools Archaeological Finds Collection”. Church Farmhouse Museum are now hoping to take this project forward by making-up boxes of archaeological finds and other material from the museum and Hadas collections. These will be lent to schools for educational purposes. A bench dedicated to Brian Wrigley should be located (subject to administrative matters) on the terrace outside the Garden Room at Avenue House. There is a project in hand to rationalise and reorganise the HADAS library. The result is there will be a number of surplus library books for sale, it is hoped there will be a book sale early in the New Year, (watch this space). A resistivity survey was carried out at Pinner Golf Course in July, with useful results in connection with a demolished 17th century Manor House. Ken Kirkman of the Pinner Local History Society has approached the General Manager of the golf course with a view to digging two small trenches. Developments are awaited.

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Digging in the City of the Sun: settlement archaeology in Egypt by Lynette Wilkins

The first lecture of the winter series took place at Avenue House on 12th October to a full lecture room. It was given by Lucia Gahlin, a lecturer in Egyptology for the Universities of Exeter, Bristol and Birkbeck College London. She is the Chairman of the Friends of the Petrie Museum and is responsible for editing that museum’s database of material from Tell el Amarna, a site she has worked at as Registrar of finds. Lucia began by explaining the significance of the site. It was created as a new capital, an administrative city, by pharaoh Amenhotep IV who took the new name of Akhenaten early in his reign (1352-1336 BC) to reflect his sponsoring of a new monotheistic cult of the sun god Aten. He moved the capital to a new site at Amarna, equidistant from Memphis in the north and Thebes in the south (about 200 miles from each). He called it Akhet-aten ‘Horizon of the Aten’ and it is thought that the site was chosen partly because the sun rises above a cleft in the surrounding rock cliffs. The move was also a political one to reduce the influence of the powerful and rich priesthood of the god Amun, based in Thebes. Akhenaten’s queen was Nefertiti, known to millions from the beautiful painted bust of her head, now in the Berlin Museum, which was found in one of the workshops at Amarna. Much of the art of the Amarna period shows Akhenaten, Nefertiti and their daughters being given life by the rays of the Aten sun god. the site is very large — about the size of Brighton — and it was abandoned a few years after Akhenaten’s reign, when the capital moved back to Thebes in the reign of Tutankhamun, The value of the site is that it is a city in a time capsule – it was a virgin site before its foundation and has not been built on since, except for a few Romano/Christian buildings. However, the area is now being settled by local families who scratch a living farming nearby, and the site is suffering from encroachment. It extends on both sides of the Nile, with the administrative and residential buildings on the east bank and mainly agricultural land on the west bank. It is bounded by cliffs on both sides of the Nile and the perimeter is marked by 15 massive inscribed stelae cut in the rock face. The main archaeologists who have excavated at Amarna are Flinders Petrie in the 1890s (hence the excellent range of Amarna finds in the Petrie Museum) and, more recently, Barry Kemp. Flinders Petrie is often called the father of scientific archaeology for his insistence on meticulous recording of the context of the finds and his interest in technology, trade and process of manufacture — he often kept the moulds and tools he found as well as the finished goods. Since 1979, Barry Kemp has been re-discovering the site — carrying out detailed mapping and using scientific analysis. especially archeobotany to learn more about the inhabitants. He has also encouraged experimental archaeology particularly bread and beer making! The extant remains at Amarna are nowhere near as impressive at first sight as those at the more famous sites. This is because they were constructed mainly of unfired mud brick with just a casing in stone blocks, and these collapsed over the years. The stone facings have sunken reliefs, which indicate the speed with which the city was constructed. Each stone block is exactly one royal cubit in length (about 52cm). However, there are remains of many types of building along the east bank, linked by a royal avenue, or King’s Road, as well as royal tombs in one of the wadis through the cliffs. At the north of the King’s Road was the North Palace, thought to be residence of the royal women. It had beautiful painted plaster walls and much conservation effort is now being made to conserve and consolidate the mud bricks to prevent further loss. Here, inscriptions naming Meritaten, a daughter of Akhenaten, have been cut over earlier inscriptions to Kiya, a second wife and possibly mother of Tutankhamen. The pharaoh would travel in procession each morning along the King’s Road to the centre of the city, where the Great Palace is linked to residential quarters via a bridge over the King’s Road. Also nearby are the Great Aten temple and the small Aten temple. These temples are different to normal temples found elsewhere in Egypt. They are open courts, rather than roofed, and filled with a grid of many offering tables to the god Aten and there are no shrines to the god as he can be worshipped in the sky. After worshipping the god Aten in the temples, the pharaoh appeared at a window in the residence to distribute gifts to loyal officials.The unique value of Armana is in the housing area, south of the temples and the nearby workshops. Unlike other Egyptian cities which have grown with the population, Armana seems to have been planned as a garden city. The main houses are large with gardens and smaller houses for servants clustered nearby. There are remains of ovens and granaries in the gardens. The houses, both large and small, have a tri-partite plan of entrance area, public rooms and private rooms. In the workshops have been found evidence of the processes of manufacture and numerous bread moulds. Barry Kemp has re-examined the spoil heaps from earlier excavations in this area and found much that was ignored or discarded by less meticulous excavators. Lucia illustrated her talk with many beautiful slides of the site and its finds, supported by clear maps of its location and layout. Her knowledge and evident enthusiasm for Egypt, and Amarna in particular, was infectious. Responding to questions following the talk, she noted that there have been very few domestic sites excavated in Egypt as they were usually located on arable land close to the Nile. This means that any archaeology is destroyed by subsequent inhabitants. The only exceptions to this are the workmen’s villages of Deir el Medina on the west bank at Thebes and on the Giza plateau, which are atypical as they were for a specific purpose. This is what makes the domestic areas of Armana so valuable and unique. Lucia encouraged everyone to visit the Petrie Museum at University College. just behind the British Museum and recommended the Petrie web-site at www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk/museum where all of the museum’s collection can be viewed.

IT’S CHRISTMAS AGAIN!! by Don Cooper

HADAS held their annual Christmas dinner on Friday, 10th December 2004 at Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley. More than 45 members and their guests assembled at 19.00 for 19.30 in the Drawing Room and were treated to canapes and a welcoming glass of wine. This year instead of “turkey and all the trimmings”, a French chef (Pierre) came, introduced himself, and primed us for the wonderful meal we were about to enjoy. Dorothy as usual had prepared a table plan and recorded the different courses we had all chosen when we first applied for tickets. this was a very sensible precaution as not everybody’s memory was totally reliable!! I won’t tickle your taste buds too much by describing the various courses, however, I must mention the Hot Fondant Chocolate, which was amazing!! In the interval between the main course and dessert, the customary raffle of many prizes” took place and gradually the pile of goodies” was reduced as winners collected their reward. After the meal. Sheila Woodward gave a brilliant talk, with many slides, on a previous HADAS Christmas dinner. The dinner; which took place in 1979, was a Roman banquet with togas. authentic Roman cuisine, slaves etc. Remarkably a least half a dozen of this year’s participants had been present on that famous occasion!! They had hardly changed at all!! The talk stirred up many memories and stories of the past. It was time for “carriages” and all that remained to round off a very successful evening was to thank Dorothy Newbury MBE and all her helpers for a great evening and to wish all HADAS members and their families a HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

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Catacomb? Daily Mail 8/12/04

An ancient stone carving which was used as a headstone for a pet cat was sold at auction for more than £200,000. Johnny Beeston and his wife Ruth thought the slab, found in a quarry by stonemason Mr Beeston years before, would make a fitting memorial for their much-loved tabby, Winkle. It wasn’t until amateur historian Chris Brewchorne spotted the stone on his daily walk passed their cottage in Dawlish Walk. Somerset, that its historical importance became clear. The stone has been assessed as a rare piece of sculpture, probably from King Alfred’s reign between 871 and 899AD when he was fighting the Vikings from his base in Athelney, close to the Beestons’ cottage in Somerset. The 18 x 17in carving depicts St Peter and may once have been part of a l5ft Christian cross or on a frieze in a Saxon church. ‘It is a rare survivor of English stone carving at its best’ said specialist Alexander Kader.

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Report on Resistivity Surveys at Friary Park, Barnet

Site:Friary Park, Friern Barnet N12 (Woodhouse Ward, LBB). Grid ref: TQ 2730 9270 (centre of park) History and importance of the site: Friern Barnet Lane was until the 12th century the main road from London to the north. A community sprang up in the vicinity of St James church to serve travellers on this main thoroughfare. The original St James Church is first mentioned in 1187, the present (rebuilt) church contains a possible Norman arch. Because of the place-name ‘Friern’ it is suggested that there may have been a 12th century friary in the area possibly with an associated hospital (hospitulum). The Manor House of Friern Barnet, formerly held by the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem is thought to lie close by the church or the adjacent golf-course. The eastern half of Friary Park lies in an area of possible Special Archaeological Significance. as indicated by Barnet Council and English Heritage. Dr Oliver Natelson of the Friern Barnet & District Local History Society considers the present evidence:

(1) Evidence on the ground

Two earthworks – one mound (western), and one causeway or bank (eastern) now grass-covered are present.

(i)Local people who are well acquainted with the park cannot explain these earthworks.

(ii)These earthworks do not correspond to any known structures in existing records.

(iii)The western mound has old oaks growing on the surface and at a lower level to the south of the mound. These trees are about 2 centuries old, which indicates that the mound is older still.

(2) Other possible evidence

(i)A portion of land was originally given to the Knights of St John of Jerusalem in a document signed by King John.

(ii)What the knights actually did with the land is not known. Nonetheless it is felt that the knights would have put up a building – a hospitulum. There may well have been a church. However this is speculative.

(iii)If a hospitulum was built, it would have served pilgrims on the road from London to St Albans via Muswell Hill – where there was a shrine in the Middle Ages – although the position of the shrine is now uncertain.

(iv)The parish became known as Fryan Barnet or Friern Bamet (modern spelling) on account of the Freren or brothers who occupied a Friary. However there is no documentary evidence that there really were Freren let alone a Friary.

(v)the name of this parish “Frier Barnet” (became Friem Barnet Urban District Council in the 20th Century)

(vi)Little is known of the site before about 1860.

(vii)The 1863 map shows that Friary Park and St James church land were under one ownership.

Suggested archaeological fieldwork (by HADAS): A resistivity survey may show up archaeological features such as banks, ditches, pits, postholes or foundations of earlier buildings. The natural sub-soil (probably London Clay with gravel) and how heavily the park has been landscaped in the past, may affect the readings. The park is known to have been landscaped and planted cl909.

Areas surveyed:

1.The ‘eastern’ bank or causeway running between the boundary of Friern Barnet Lane and the path in front of the house called The Friary’. There are obvious earthworks and undulations in this area.

2.The western terrace — a flattened mound or terraced feature to the west of the house and the bowling green.

Results For the record the meter used was the TR Systems Ltd/CIA Resistance Meter, using grids of 20x20m, recording at 1.0m intervals. During Spring 2002 HADAS surveyed 4 grids of 20x20m squares over the bank or causeway area (1. above) and another 4 grids slightly further south west. The straight white line across the plot is a modern tarmac path. Beneath this there appears to be two curved features of high resistivity (the light areas), these seem to be of two phases. Phase 1 is an existing curved gravel (or gravel topped) bank, the stones can be seen eroding from the top surface. On the ground, the bank fades away southwest beneath the modern path, but as can be seen from the plot it continues on a straight course southwest, appearing to terminate in a (broken?) hook/circle shaped feature. This gravel feature does not appear to be natural (glacial gravels etc.), neither does it look structural similar to building foundations, although without excavation this cannot be totally ruled out. Could it be an early access road, path or coach drive leading to the former mansion house within the vicinity? The hook/circle shape feature is a strong and substantial signal, it lies on higher ground on the edge of the south westward slope. The nature of this feature is not known, possibly a dump of demolition rubble or a solid foundation? Phase 2 is the earliest feature and curves gently southwest and appears to end indistinctly in the same area as the circle above. This may be a natural gravel feature or work connected with the early landscaping of the park e.g. ponds, of which one is thought to have been in this area. The second area surveyed (2. above), the western terrace, was surveyed with one grid of 17x20m this area proved difficult to survey as it was covered by many trees, bushes and plants etc. The plot shows no archaeological features. This garden is heavily terraced and at the western end leads to a slope and then a putting green. Any archaeological features surviving here would be difficult to detect.

Future work Although there are some strong signals from the plot, no obvious building plans that can be detected, it would be advantageous in the future to test the strongest signals by excavation to determine the nature and date of the high resistance levels.

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OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS by Eric Morgan

Thurs 6 Jan: 10.30am, Mill Hill Library, Hartley Avenue, NW7. The Story of RAF Hendon. Talk with coffee and biscuits, 50p.

Thurs 6 Jan: 8pm, Pinner Local History Society, Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner. The Chelsea Physic Garden – London’s Secret Garden by Mike watts, visitors £2.

Sun 9 Jan: 2.30pm, Pubs, Pomp & Paupers – Historical Walk in High Burnet. Meet outside Barnet College, Wood St, Barnet. Cost £5.

Mon 10 Jan: 3pm, Barnet & Local History Society, Church House, Wood St, Barnet, (opposite museum). Earning a Living in Barnet c1005-2005 by Graham Javes (Hadas member).

Weds 12 Jan: 6.30pm, LAMAS, Interpretation Unit, Museum of London. A Possible Bronze-Age/Iron-Age Crannog in the Lea Valley at Edmonton by David Birchfield.

Weds 12 Jan: 8.15pm, Mill Hill Historical Society, Harwood Hall, Union Church, The Broadway, NW7. St Albans Abbey – Past & Present by Mrs Pamela Martin (Cathedral Guide).

Weds 12 Jan: 8pm, Hornsey Historical Society, Union Church Hall, Corner of Ferme Park Rd/Weston Park, N8. The Dead & the Living in London in the 16th and 17th centuries by Dr. Vanessa Harding.

Mon 17 Jan: 8.15, Friends of Barnet Borough Libraries, Church End Library, 24 I lendon Lane, N3. 1936-An Incident in Cable Street-Terror in Londons’ East End by Cyril Dombey.

Weds 19 Jan: 8pm,Willesden Local History Society, Willesden Suite, Library Centre, 95 High Rd, NW10. The Naimster Collection (early paintings & sketches of Willesden) by Tim Morton & M Barres-Baker Thurs 20 Jan: 7.30pm, Camden History Society, Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, NW3. Eleanor Farjeon & Family in Hampstead by Ann Harvey.

Thurs 20 Jan: 8pm, Enfield Preservation Society, Jubilee Hall, Junction of Chase side/Parsonage Lane, Enfield. Spitalfields talk by Stuart Harvey.

Fri 21 Jan: 7pm, City of London Archaeological Society, St Olave’s Parish Hall, Mark Lane, EC3. The Death Ritual in the Middle Ages by Robert Stephenson (Colas).

Weds 26 Jan: 8pm. Friern Barnet & District Local History Society, St John’s Church Hall (next to Whetstone police station), Friern Barnet Lane, N20. The Friary Park Story from 1909 By Helen Hooper (Hadas did resistivity in the park – see this newsletter).

Thurs 27 Jan: 2.30pm, Finchley Society, Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Rd, N3. Peru Journey by Bill Tyler (President).

Newsletter
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HADAS DIARY

Tues 10 February 2004′ Churchyards of Greater London: Decay and Resurrection’ . Dr. Roger Bowdler

Hendon and Finchley churchyards are among Middlesex’s finest. This slide lecture will look at them against the background of an ongoing survey of the graveyards of Greater London. Roger Bowdler works for English Heritage and is responsible for listing in London and the South East, but his academic speciality is in the understudied realm of funerary monuments.

Lectures start at 8pm in the Drawing Room (ground floor; of .4 venue House, East End Road, Finchley, N3, and are followed by question time and tea coffee.. finishing 10pm prompt. Buses including the 82, 143/260/326 pass close by, a 5-10 minute walk from .Avenue House or 15-20-minute walk from finchley Central Tube Station.

Saturday 6 March 2004 TR systems resistivity meter ‘Master Class’ — 10am — 5pm, Millbrook Village Hall. Beds, cost £35.00 for the day including lunch and coffee. Details from Kevin Fadden, tel. 01525 402273, . Full details in February issue.

Our July long weekend to Cumbria is almost full; 40 members have already booked; if you want to go, BOOK NOW! (Details in leaflet issued with previous newsletter)

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TRANSPORT CORNER Andy Simpson

Got some room for a nice print or two on the wall? The Sheffield based Fotheringay Folio continues to add superb quality full-colour prints and greetings cards of paintings by Richard Berridge of vintage London transport to their collection. Latest releases of local interest include a print of a wintry Finchley Tram Depot in 1938, with a Feltham double-deck tram in the foreground and depot building, overhead tower wagon and replacement trolleybuses in the background, approx size 15.5 x 11 inches, cost £15.00. Another print ‘Hampstead Heath 1952′ shows trolley bus 485 standing in the snow at South End Green on the 639 service to Moorgate; image size and price as before. (The surviving former tram shelter at this location is shortly to be restored, reports the Camden New Journal) Greetings cards (inside blank for your own message, supplied cellophane wrapped with envelope) include the Hampstead Heath trolleybus scene, size 179 x 129mm, price £1.50 each, and another of a trolleybus passing beneath the bridge at Archway Road in the winter snow of 1961. Size 145 x 145 mm, cost £1.25 each. They are available from the London County Council Tramways Trust (of which your editor is a trustee), with proceeds going towards restoration of surviving London Tramcars at the tram museum at Crich, Derbyshire. Send your orders to LCCTT (Promotions) Ltd.. 2 Sanctuary Close. Kessingland, Suffolk NR33 7SX; please add 10% postage and packing, minimum 50p. to orders for cards under £25 (you can order both prints for £25 the pair, post free, sent in toughened tubes). Cheques payable to `LCCTT (Promotions) Ltd’
FIRE ENGINE CORNER by Andy Simpson

In October 2003 I made my annual return visit to stay with old college friend Greg Hunt. whom many of you have met when he makes his annual visit to coincide with a HADAS outing. He kindly took me along on the Saturday to the Science Museum Air Transport Collection and Storage Facility at Wroughton Airfield, Wilts, just off the A4361 near Swindon, for one of their occasional open days; many of the museum’s large objects are held here. The Iron Age hill fort of Barbury Castle overlooks the Museum site from the north. Close by are the prehistoric sites at Avebury, the Ridgeway track along the Marlborough downs, and Hackpen Hill. See; (www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/wroughton) Two of the hangars were open, full of airliners including a De Havilland Comet 4B, 1936 built Douglas DC-3 and Lockheed Constellation, aero engines including one from a Messerschmitt 262 jet fighter, vintage buses including a splendid Swindon Corporation 1943 Guy Arab double decker complete with wartime austerity bodywork and wooden slatted seats, the Science Museum collection of invalid carriages, and a splendid collection of vintage fire engines, including an ex London County Council Dennis Big 4 pump/escape ladder engine in use 1936 – 1956, a former Southgate horse-drawn Merryweather built fire engine, and a remarkable — and well-preserved – specimen from the one-time Finchley District Council. Supplied to Finchley by Merryweather and Sons Ltd in 1904,and with the registration number H1553, this was the first self- propelled petrol motor fire engine used by a public fire brigade. In excellent condition and mechanically complete, though now minus its original escape ladder, it is painted fire-engine red with straw coloured lining out, and proudly bears on its side the crest of Finchley District Council Fire Brigade. It was relegated to spare engine in 1913, but not finally withdrawn until 1928! (Peter Pickering tells me it featured on a Royal Mail postage stamp some years ago) Also on show is a 1944 Austin K4 with 60 ft Merryweather turntable ladder. This was one of the special machines built to equip the small ‘flying columns’ of fire engines formed to deal with the German VI flying bombs and V2 rockets attacking London during 1944-45.
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INTERESTED IN VIKINGS? Peter Nicholson

Oxford University Department of Continuing Education (OUDCE) is holding a Weekend School ‘The Viking Contribution to Britain’ from the 16th to 18th of April. Besides England, both Scotland and the Irish Sea region will be covered. and also topics such as Viking Art and artefacts and the Vikings’ contacts with the Church.OUDCE runs a wide-ranging programme of weekend and day schools on archaeological (and other) topics. Examples of those scheduled for this year include Egypt above the Nile Cataract. The Neolithic in the British Isles, and Tribes of Ancient Italy. Anyone who wants to be on their mailing list can contact them at: Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA or (Tel) 01865 270368 or e-mail) ppdayweekox.ac.uk.
NEW SERIES OF TIME TEAM

That time-honoured feature of winter Sunday evenings is back-the new series of Time Team. Channel 4, around 5.30pm (times may vary) Syndale (1 February); Green Island (8 February); Oakamoor (15 February); Goldcliff/Severn Estuary (22 February); Cranborne Chase (29 February); Wittenham (7 March); Nassington (14 March); Ipswich (21 March) Roxborough (28 March)
ROMANTIC BRUM

Also on the theme of continuing education, following on from our talk on the archaeology of Birmingham’s Bull Ring during our September 2003 HADAS long weekend, those wishing to spend Valentine’s Day (Saturday 14th February) in Birmingham can for £20.00 including tea/coffee attend the University of Birmingham, Centre for Lifelong Learning with CBA (West Midlands) annual round-up of West Midlands Archaeology ‘NEWS FROM THE PAST — 2003’, 10am — 5pm, at the Education Building, University of Birmingham. Details on the University web site — www.ell.bham.ac.uk/2003dayschools.htm#Archaeologv or phone 0121 414 8065. Provisional papers include The Shotton Project: A Midlands Palaeolithic Network: The Birmingham and Warwickshire Burnt Mound Survey; Iron Age and Romano British Farmsteads in Central Worcestershire; Medieval Parks in Herefordshire; The Crescent Lockworks, Willenhall, and The Stone Street Square Glasshouse, Dudley.
GOTHIC AT THE V&A by Bill Bass

The exhibition GOTHIC – Art for England at the V&A included a couple of items of local interest. One exhibit was a gold ring said to have removed from the body of Earl of Warwick after his death in the Battle of Barnet. The oval bezel of this massive ring is engraved with a hear chained to a staff This was the badge of the Warwick’s in the 15th century. There is no written record of the finding of the ring on his body before the 18th century. The ring is on loan from Liverpool Museum. Another exhibit was a large pair of doors from St Albans Abbey. They were made for the two portals of the now-demolished Early English west end, constructed between 1195 and 1214. The doors themselves are of mid 15th century date with an impressive tracery pattern,they are of laminated construction held together by wrought-iron nails which also act as decoration. The exhibition finished Jan 18th 2004.
Membership Renewal: Standing Orders Mary Rawitzer (Membership Secretary)

HADAS membership charges for next year (from 1st April 2004) have increased to £12 for individuals and £4 each for further family members at the same address. Members who pay by standing, order will need to fill in a new form for their hank or building society. If you normally pay by standing order you will find a form enclosed with this Newsletter. There is also a Gift Aid form for people who have not yet completed one, but might like to help HADAS’s income in this way. Members who normally pay by cheque don’t need to do anything YET: they will get their renewal forms with the April Newsletter. Any mistakes, questions or uncertainties? Please let me know – see contact details on the back page.

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IN MEMORIAM

Christmas 2003 sadly brought the passing of several well-known I IADAS members and associates.

BILL FIRTH, HADAS and GLIAS stalwart, whose company we had so recently enjoyed at the HADAS Christmas dinner, died suddenly at home. Dorothy Newbury adds; It is with great sadness that l have to report the sudden death of Bill Firth. He died on December 18th aged 78 and his funeral was held at Golders Green on December 29th. Bill joined HADAS in 1969 and had been a valuable member ever since. Industrial archaeology was his main interest. He was Secretary of the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society (GLIAS) for 11 years. HADAS members will have read his name in our newsletter over the years. He recently encouraged members to observe old and new letterboxes in our area-and to keep an eye on old milestones, many of which have disappeared. Years ago he fought hard to save the Graham White aircraft hangar at Hendon (now moved, reconstructed and incorporated into the Royal Air Force Museum), which was. then near collapse. (He had served as a Navigator in the wartime RAF). Sheila and I sat next to him at the Christmas dinner on December 9th and he was his usual lively self and knew all the answers to our Hendon Quiz. HADAS Christmas dinner was one of our social events he never missed, and HADAS will miss Bill too.

VERA TILL, widow of HADAS digger and all-round handyman Arthur, also passed away on Saturday 271h December after a short spell in hospital; her well-attended funeral service was held at New Southgate on Wednesday 7th January, including several HADAS members. Vikki 0- Connor adds; Mrs Vera Till joined HADAS in the late 1980s in joint membership with her husband, Arthur. Like many ‘partners’, Vera’s interests had not until then included archaeology, but it was impossible to ignore the growing stack of books, magazines, collection of unstratified artefacts, and HADAS digging equipment which came home for repair to the Till workshop (usually the spare bedroom, rather than the shed!). Fortunately for Vera, there were the good times too — the outings and the HADAS minimart which she continued to support after Arthur’s death in October, 2000. Although the archaeology books made their way to the HADAS library, Vera did not forget the people she met at HADAS and we were saddened to learn of her recent death. Some of these friends attended her funeral at New Southgate; the chapel was full to capacity — a tribute to a loving wife and mother. Our condolences to children, Barbara, Liz and Alan.

Dorothy adds also BARBARA HOWE joined HADAS in 1980 and died in Eden Hall Hospice. Hampstead, shortly before Christmas. She joined HADAS shortly after her sister Dr Joyce Roberts joined in 1976 to investigate and date seeds and pollen on the bog site at West Leath, Hampstead during our Mesolithic excavation there 1976-1978. Barbara was a regular on our summer outings until a few years ago. She had no near relatives and Micky O’Flynn regularly visited her at home, in the Royal Free hospital and finally at the hospice.

STAN MORGAN and MRS MORGAN, who many of our old members will remember. joined HADAS in 1973. They were active members and after moving away in the late 1980s continued membership up until now. Mary Rawitzer then heard from a relative or friend to say Stan had died, and that he had always enjoyed receiving and reading our newsletter until he died.
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OTHER SOCIETIES’ LECTURES & EVENTS Eric Morgan’s Monthly Round-Up

Wednesday 4th February 5pm British Archaeological Association Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House. Piccadilly WI; Gothic Remodelling Itself; Restoration and Intention at The North Porch of St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol Talk by Jon Cannon.

Thursday 5th February 7.30pm London Canal Museum 12-13, New Wharf Road, King’s Cross N1 The Navvies Year: Talk by Martin Ludgate £1.25 concessions.

Saturday 7th February 10.30 —4 LARC — Mortimer Wheeler House, 46, Eagle Wharf Road, NI; Piecing Together The Past: Conservation Open Day Meet the experts who care for the objects and discover the many techniques they use to preserve archaeological finds for storage, study and display, and Ceramics and Glass Project. LAARC is opening up its internationally important collection dating from 4,000 BC to the present day.

Monday 9th February 3pm Barnet & District Local History Society Wyburn Room, Wesley Hall. Stapylton Road. Barnet. The History of the English Public House Talk by Graham Javes (HADAS Member)

Wednesday 11th February 8.15pm Mill Hill Historical Society Harwood Hall. Union Church, The Broadway, NW7 Our Marble Tribute; Napoleonic War Funerary Memorials in St Paul’s Talk by Dr Ann Saunders (Former HADAS President)

Wednesday 11th February 8pm Hornsey Historical Society Union Church Hall, corner of Ferme Park Road/Weston Park, N8 From Electric Palace to Multiplex Cinemas, a History. Talk by Allen Eyles. Visitors £1.00.

Friday 13th February, 8pm Enfield Archaeological Society Jubilee Hall, 2, Parsonage Lane/Junction Chase Side, Enfield Ethiopia: Africa’s Empire From the Cradle of Humanity to A Democracy Talk by Ian Jones. Visitors £1.00

Wednesday 18th February 6.15pm London & Middlesex Archaeological Society, Interpretation Unit. Museum of London, 150. London Wall, EC2 The Third Radio-Carbon Revolution. Talk by Clive Orton (President) Preceded by AGM.

Wednesday 18th February 8pm Stanmore and Harrow Historical Society Wealdstone Baptist Church. High Road. Wealdstone Leslie Green’s Underground Stations Talk by Geoff Donald.

Wednesday 18th February (Popular date!) 8pm Willesden Local History society Willesden Suite, Library Centre. 95, I ligh Road, NW10 Mother Emily Ayckboum-Some Willesden Schools A Talk by Margaret Pratt (Featuring Schools in the Victorian Era)

Thursday 19th February 8pm Enfield Preservation Society Jubilee Hall. Junction of Parsonage Lane/Chase Side. Enfield E A Bowles-his garden at Myddleton Talk by Christine Murphy (I IADAS have done some resistivity survey work there)

Friday 20 February 7pm City of London Archaeological Society St Olave’s Parish Hall, Mark Lane, EC3 The Arte & Crafte To Knowe Well To Die — Archaeology of Medieval Burials Barney Sloane (English Heritage) following CoLAS ACM.

Friday 20 February 7.30pm Wembley History Society St Andrew’s Church Hall, Church Lane, Kingsbury, NW9 Amy Johnson — talk by Terry Lomas £1.00.

Wednesday 25 February 8pm Friern Barnet & District Local History society St John’s Church Hall, Friern Barnet Lane, N20. Theatrical London Diane Burstein.

Thursday 26th February 2.30 for 3pm Finchley Society Drawing Room, Avenue House, East End Road, N3 Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum 011ie Natelson (HADAS Member)

Saturday 28th February I lam —4pm North London Transport Society St Paul’s Centre, Junction Church St/Old park Ave. Enfield (5 minutes walk from Enfield Chase railway Station) Spring Transport Enthusiast’s Bazaar — your chance to stock up on road and rail memorabilia including tickets. timetables, postcards, models, books, magazines, badges and luggage labels..11.50 admission. Light refreshments available.

And, advance notice — Saturday 27 March 11-5 41S` Annual Conference of London Archaeologists — the LAMAS CONFERENCE Museum of London Lecture Theatre. llam — 5.25pm Morning session — recent work, including Roman sites in Enfield. Shadwell, and Southwark. Afternoon — Victorian London and its Archaeology. Afternoon coffee available. Stands and displays, hopefully including HADAS, in attendance. Tickets £5.00 non-members from Jon Cotton, Early Department, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2 5HN. Early booking advised. See you there!