Past Newsletters

Lottery cash for the London archive

Dr Simon Thurley’s efforts to raise money for the London Archaeological Archive & Research Centre have been fruitful to the tune of £1.1m, reports Vikki O’Connor.

As this Newsletter went to press, Hedley Swain of the Museum of London announced this funding, at a reception at the project’s Eagle Wharf Road premises. It gives the go-ahead for plans to increase storage capacity and create and equip visitor study facilities.

The archive holds finds from a century of London excavations. A large board displays the names of 3,000­ to 4,000 sites and with LAARC’s future assured these mate­rials now have a secure long-term home.

A contributory factor in the Heritage Lottery Fund’s approval was the donations made by other bodies, groups, societies and individuals, and Hedley Swain thanked them for their support, mentioning HADAS along with COLAS, English Heritage, SCOLA, Richmond AS, Surrey AS, LAMAS, London Archaeologist, etc, etc.

The Museum continued its successful policy of bring­ing its news to public attention by inviting a team from BBC Newsroom South East to the reception and putting on show the first-ever wooden coffin found in Roman London, one of two from Atlantic House, Holborn. The imprint of ribcage and spine were clearly visible.

To maintain the current impetus LAARC will actively encourage participation from schools, universities, local societies and individuals, with information flowing two ways. HADAS already has several contacts at the Ar­chive and the future success of the Society will be en­hanced by developing these links.

Fishbourne: the invasion debate continues

As the fifth and final season of the current excavation campaign at Fishbourne Roman Palace, Chichester —visited by HADAS last year— nears its end, dig directors John Manley and David Rudkin have revealed their latest thoughts on the somewhat puzzling complex of build­ings lying just to the east of the palace, reports Liz Sagues.

They agree that the 35-metre long masonry building was most likely a principia (a prestige military headquar­ters building), built around AD50-60, before the palace was erected, and remaining in use for almost two centu­ries. But there is rather less accord on what is represented by the lines of post holes just beyond the north wall, a focus of this year’s work. John Manley’s vote is for a timber lean-to, probably used for storage.

But whatever its exact purpose, all the construction in this area confirms that the palace itself was designed to be inward-looking, with its users enjoying views over the courtyard and garden rather than to the outside world.

A new trench has failed to locate the continued north­ern extension of the masonry building’s western wall, but has revealed a possible military aqueduct.

The 1999 work won’t settle the argument over whether the main Roman invasion force did land at Fishbourne, but the whole issue will be discussed at a Sussex Archaeo­logical Society conference on October 23 (just a few places left — ring 01273 405737 for details). And read all about the dig, most entertainingly, on the Sussex Archaeologi­cal Society website, www.sussexpast.co.uk.

HADAS Diary

Fri-Sun September 3rd to 5thVisit to Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight

Monday October 4: Walk around the Euston area with Mary O’Connell.

Details and application form enclosed with this Newsletter.

Saturday October 9: The Minimart, the Society’s annual fundraiser. Look out your contributions, and volunteer to help on the day.

Tuesday October 12 Our winter lecture season begins with the Archaeology of Mexico, by Caspar Johnson.

Tuesday November 9 Britain in the Shadow of Rome: John Creighton, former HADAS member and digger on the Heath, describes the changing lifestyles and perceptions between Caesar’s and Claudius’s invasions of Britain.

These lectures, and those that follow during the winter, are in the Drawing Room on the ground floor of Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N3, at 8PM

Return to Non-Conformity

HADAS is trying to bring to publication the material which George Ingram began to collect for the Society 20 years ago on the Non-Conformist Churches in the Borough of Barnet. George had to give up in 1983 when his sight failed.

As a first stage we are concentrating on Congrega­tional and Presbyterian churches, most of which are now United Reformed churches, and some Baptist churches which are now linked with United Reformed congregations. Later we hope to go on, at least, to the remaining Baptist churches and the Methodist ones.

Some churches on which we are short of information are: The Hyde, Colindale, and Brent Street Congrega­tional in Hendon; Edgware Congregational; North Finchley Baptist; and any which have now closed. Any reminiscences, booklets, letters and photographs would be warmly welcomed by John Whitehorn, 14 Wessex Court, West End Lane, Barnet ENS 2RA

Welcome to HADAS

We had a flurry of newcomers in the early summer, some of whom attended the training dig. We hope to meet the others before too long — at the lectures? Hello to Edward Mansell, Amanda Gill, Nicholas Upton, Anne Margaret­Soer, Rona Jungeblut, Karen Levy, Peter Mattei, Rachel Marer, Susan Loveday, Maurice Spector, Katherine Treadell, Kirsten & Michael Dunne, Alexei Gouldson, Sarah Stewart, Kathryn Jackman, Teresa Smith, Michael Cannard, Brian Davies and Dr Eleanor Scott.

Members much missed

HADAS was represented by several members among the large congregations at Golders Green Crematorium for the funerals of Christine Arnott (on July 16) and John Watkins (on August 7), reports Dawn 011′.

Christine was a stalwart supporter of all HADAS activities from its earliest days — digging, committee work, exhibitions and visits, not forgetting her skills in generating income from challenging collections of bric-a-brac at the Minimart! Even failing health in recent years did not diminish her loyalty and enthusiasm.

John, who died suddenly at the beginning of his sailing holiday, followed his distinguished wartime na­val career with an equally distinguished academic one at the LSE in the Department of Philosophy, continuing vigorously after retirement. He developed HADAS inter­ests with Micky, backing up her committee activities, particularly in arranging outings with Micky Cohen —the coincidence of names did not escape his sense of humour when he was at the helm on their reconnaissance journeys. Indeed his genial presence and genuine interest were much appreciated when the trips were underway.

Our sympathy is extended to Christine’s family and to Micky and hers, along with gratitude for the contribu­tions made to HADAS by Christine and John.

Spitalfields revelations

The scale of the Spitalfields excavation continues to amaze. Bill Bass has been working at the site, and reports the following facts and figures. From a projected 4,500 buri­als, dating from around 1200 to 1500, so far some 3,700 have been excavated, and of those some 1,250 have been processed. They span the age spectrum and include unborn children. A variety of diseases have been noted, and there are some early examples of trepanation. Four men were buried with chalices, so were canons or priests.

The burials apart, a row of shops and dwellings, including cellars, also survives, dated c.1600-1700. Among the finds is a great deal of medieval pottery, and also moulded and carved stone possibly from the priory.

Excavation of this massive site will continue until the end of September, with processing on site probably for another month. After that, the on-going work “will keep someone employed for quite some time”!

Though the site is not open to spectators, there is a display centre. On Saturday September 11, the Museum of London is holding a Spitalfields seminar, with talks, a walk and a guided site visit. It runs from 1.30- 4.30pm, fee £7.50 (no concessions) and must be pre-booked — ring 0171-814 5777 to see if places are still available.

A date for your diary

HADAS Chairman Andrew Selkirk also chairs the Coun­cil for Independent Archaeology whose 1999 annual con­gress will be at Sheffield University on September 10-12. CIA events are inspirational, showing what can be achieved by the non-professional bodies, ie local socie­ties. The theme, Demystifying Archaeology, includes a session on building your own resistivity meter (and hope­fully how to use it!). Further details from Mike Rumbold, 3 West Street, Weedon Bec, Northampton NN7 4QU. Tel: 01327 340855. Bargain price of £65 (residential).

… and a whole lot more

As enrolment dates loom and prospectuses circulate, have you considered the courses available for the new academic year?

Details of Birkbeck courses are available from: Birkbeck College, 26 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DQ. tel: 0171-631 6633, fax: 017-631 6688, e-mail: info@bbk.ac.uk. URL: http:/ /www.hbk.ac.uk. Courses at various cen­tres, a number handy for North London, include the 3-year Certificate in Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology, Egyptology, Field Archaeology and Industrial -Archaeology, 4th year to convert to Diploma, short courses and study days.

Barnet College’s part-time prospectus advertises: Dis­covering London (visits & lectures), History of London Cert, Making of Modern London, Field Archaeology Cert (year 1- Prehistory of S. Britain), and Industrial Archae­ology. Contact Barnet College, Wood Street, Barnet ENS 4AZ, tel 020-8440 6321, website: http:/ /www.barnetacuk.

Some thing went wrong… For those numerically-alert members who have noticed that the number on this Newsletter has moved on too fast from the last one, here’s the explanation. The March and April Newsletters carried the same number, so we’ve skipped one digit to bring things back into the correct sequence.

Of cairns, circles and copper mines

Audree Price-Davies set out to trace early activity in Snowdonia

The Prehistoric Society’s study tour (July 12-17) pre­sented examples of burial cairns, settlement sites, cairn circles, hillforts, iron working and copper mining. It was very well led by Peter Crew of the Snowdonia National Park Study Centre, Frances Lynch of the University of Wales at Bangor and Edric Roberts of the Great Orrae Mines. The conference was housed at Plas Tan Y Bwlch, a country house near Blaenau Ffestiniog which is the Snowdonia National Park Study Centre.

The study of prehistoric archaeology is dependent on an appreciation of the landscape and climate as it must have been. Exposed sites on high ground were probably chosen because there was a more protected environment with trees and shrubs. Over time these have been removed for building and fuel. Denuded of trees, the upland soils have become more acid and peat bogs began to form. The climate was probably warmer and sites which are now inhospitable would probably have been sought after. This was perhaps the case at Cars Y Gedol in Harlech.

At Cors Y Gedol a neolithic burial chamber of the 4th or 3rd millennium BC was seen. The tomb is badly damaged but is surrounded by a well-preserved ancient landscape of settlement sites and fields dating from the late prehistoric, Roman, medieval and later periods.

The chambered long cairn at Gwern Einion had been incorporated into the walls dividing the two yards of a dwelling house, presumably to house sheep or cattle. The site had been pillaged to build stone walls and only the rectangular chamber was intact with its capstone.

The burial chamber at Duffryn Ardudwy was well preserved and is an example of a portal dolmen, and forms a common type of tomb in this region. They stood at the centre of the farmed land, a focus for the commu­nity like a modern parish church. The cairn contains two chambers, the western one an H-shaped portal with high closing slab, a rectangular chamber and sloping capstone. The other chamber is larger but has no en­trance stones. The bones found in the eastern chamber came from a later Bronze Age cremation burial.

The settlement site with an enclosed homestead at Moel Goedog was set into the hillside and at Erw Wen there was a circular enclosure with a central but circle. At moo. Goedog there is evidence of secondary occupation in the medieval period indicating the desira­bility of the site. Ceremonial sites were probably placed where there was a particular view, as at Moel Goedog. Two stone circles, not visible from each other, look out over the estuary. There was an intensity of silence and stillness at this site.

An alignment of standing stones at Waun Oer — eight of them, but with only five visible — is a rare occurrence in Wales, although there are some on Dart­moor and in Ireland. Cairn circles with surrounding stone rings are placed in strategic places which it is now difficult to explain fully.

The cairn circle at Bryn Cader Faner is a small cairn, 8 metres across and less than a metre high, but around the edge is a ring of tall thin slabs set at an angle, projecting from the mass of the cairn, like the rays of the sun. The monument may be classified as a cairn circle, but was probably a burial site rather than a ceremonial one. A hole in the centre indicates the position of a cist or grave, the contents of which are unknown.

Other sites visited were the prehistoric and medi­eval settlement at Cyfannedd and the settlement and standing stones at Bryn Seward, and the burial and ceremonial sites of the 2nd and 1st millennium BC at Y Gryn and Maes Y Caerau. The neolithic burial chamber of the 3rd millennium BC at Capel Gannon, Betws Y Coed, showed evidence that prehistoric populations moved, as it is typical of the Severn-Cotswold group, a type unusual for North Wales.

The 1st millennium hillfort at Pen-y-Gaer had a defensive area of small stones, a chevaux de (rise, on two sides. The views over the surrounding country from the well-defended site were remarkable.

Evidence of iron working was found at the later prehistoric hillfort of Bryn y Castell, Ffestiniog, dated 300BC-250AD. This was a small defended hilltop fort where iron working, both smelting and smithing, seems to have been the main activity. They used bog ore from nearby peat bogs and cut trees for charcoal to fuel the furnaces. At Crawcwellt, an isolated hilltop area, there was also evidence of iron working on a large scale. Again bog iron ore was used and trees cut for charcoal. Both sites were difficult of access, and this suggests that iron working was a highly regarded but secret occupa­tion which turned ore into swords and other items.

The bronze age copper mining site at Great Orme was a warren of narrow galleries where copper was mined by lighting fires to weaken the rock and using hammer stones to break it. The ore was smelted, using tin from Cornwall and the Continent, to produce bronze.

To return to the 20th century, our base, a country house on a wooded hillside with views over the valley, was an ideal site for the study tour, providing comfort­able accommodation and a pleasant social atmosphere. But the weather could have been much kinder.

Illustration: a portal dolmen, reproduced from The Handbook of British Archaeology by Lesley and Roy Adkins (Papermac, 1988).

HADAS went to Gloucester.

Sheila Woodward and Tessa Smith came up with some­thing for everyone on this outing, with a mixture of indus­trial archaeology, Roman, medieval and historical, pep­pered with off-beat moments. It was a recipe for another really interesting day out — with no sign of Dr Foster’s showers.

The 17th century Sherbourne Arms served as our wa­tering hole at the picturesque village of Northleach in Gloucestershire. Built of Cotswold stone, the inn had been enlarged to take in the adjacent blacksmith’s barn and many related artefacts including the original forge were on display. Our coach waited for us in the market place but the market, whose charter was granted by the Abbey of Gloucester in 1220, has now ceased trading.

We had time to look round the church of St Peter and St Paul with its earliest feature, the impressive 100ft tower, built before 1400. Equally impressive was the collection of brasses dating between 1400 and 1584. The memorial brass of John Taylour (1509) is in excellent condition and depicts a sheep, woolpack with woolmark and a crook, the chief trade of the town at that time being wool and weaving. The guide book suggests one should go round the outside of the church clockwise as legend has it that if you go anti­clockwise (widdershins) the Devil might get you…

Docks, lock and Jock

We arrived at Gloucester dockyard to the sound of wheeling gulls, and were given into the charge of two town guides, Nigel Spry and Philip Morris. We split into two groups and avoided each other for the rest of the day! The Gloucester & Sharpness canal leads into the docks, and we crossed over Llantony Bridge, a Dutch-style lifting bridge, just before it lifted for a tripper boat named Queen Boadicea II (originally from London). Gloucester used to rely heavily on water transport for its trade in grain, stone and timber.

We heard how the dangers of the tidal bore on the Severn at Newnham, with 10ft waves travelling at 15mph, had necessitated a safer passage to Gloucester and con­struction of the canal by Mylne and Telford began in 1794. However, the project ran out of money halfway to the Stroud canal, and from 1798 to 1817 it silted up. After the Napoleonic wars soldiers needed work so money was provided to employ them to extend the canal to join the Stroud Water canal—the route to London. Our guide told us that the canal was 16 miles longs, 16 ft wide, 16 ft deep and had 16 bridges — making his job easier? The total cost was £430,000, a 70% under-calculation — shades of the Jubilee Line!

Silting is still a problem and two dredgers operate. Doubtless an embarrassment for someone, when the canal level dropped in 1990 dredger DSND4 tipped over and it took two years to restore it to working order. It’s not easy to relate to these statistics, but 3.5 million gallons of water per hour are pumped in from the Severn, raising the height of the canal one inch per hour. This of course brings in silt, which is dredged up and the slurry is taken up-river and dumped. And once again, water (containing this silt) is pumped back into the canal etc etc etc. As our guide des­cribed the process I couldn’t help but daydream ways of ending the cycle but maybe this way it is ecologically stable?

A corn mill was operating until three years ago, and we noted that the “windows” of a corn warehouse were in fact ventilation openings. These Gloucester warehouses fol­lowed the design of those at St Katharine’s Dock, London.

Clean, smart and unspoilt, the Victorian dock area at­tracts film crews and our guide reeled off a list of produc­tions from the Onedin Line and Martin Chuzzlewit on TV to a film titled Buffalo Bill’s Girls (anyone heard of that one?). Boat builder Tommy Nielson has taken over the repair yards — we passed a boat which had just been re-masted — and sail training takes place. The warehouses have been restored in a continuing development programme and the 1826 Victoria warehouse is now a civic centre complete with mayor’s suite.

The Atlas sailed between the East Indies and London from 1812 to 1822, then was broken up and her bell became the dockyard time bell. In 1939 it was removed because bells sounded for invasion so it was moved to Sharpwater for use as a fog warning. The Civic Trust and Rotary Club (murmur of approval from Dorothy Newbury’s husband Jack at the mention of Rotary Club) bought the bell in 1986 and returned it to the dockyard where it hangs on Victoria warehouse.

Merchants Quay is now a shopping mall, Albert Ware­house is now the Robert Opie Collection of Advertising and Packaging (pure nostalgia), and the Llantony Warehouse is now the National Waterways Museum. However, the heat and need for liquid, even water, led most of our party to cafés rather than museums in the lunch break. And Jock? A fully kitted, or rather kilted, Scot playing Ode to Joy and other popular classics on his bagpipes next to the swing bridge. But why?

We left the docks just as a small boat left the main basin to pass through a lock into-the Severn. The -water level dropped almost as quickly as emptying a bath, but the pumps would have soon put it back. Passing the old Custom House, now a museum for the Soldiers of Glouces­ter, we heard how the Gloucester Regiment are permitted-to wear two cap badges because of the 28th Regiment who once, surrounded by the French, turned half their force round and won the battle.

Close by lay the site of the AD66 Roman fortress. A Norman motte and bailey castle later sat on the site, to be replaced by a stone castle. Gloucester sided with the Parlia­mentarians and was besieged in 1648. By way of retaliation when he came to power, Charles II ordered the town walls to be levelled, so the only Roman part remaining is the south gate and section of wall which survived below ground. The site has been purchased for the Blackfriars development and, when we visited, a couple of trenches were being excavated in the southern area which will add to informa­tion gained from previous excavations. The site has also been used as a graveyard, with thousands buried there. Soon, a six-storey car park will squat where proud build­ings once stood, and metal crates on wheels will transport plastic shopping bags where ancestors were laid to rest.

Heat reflected from the pavements as we toiled down La dybellg at e Street to the cool stone buildings at Blackfriars Priory where our guides had obtained permission for us to visit. Pink stone from the Forest of Dean contrasted pleas­antly with yellow sandstone. The Black Friars of St D ominic came to Gloucester in 1239 and built their priory around a courtyard, church to the north, chapter house with dormi­tory above to the east, the west range including the refectory and the south range comprised a ground floor store (or school room?). Above this room was the library and the friars’ individual study cells — carrels.

We were told the friars were self-taught. That in itself posed questions: had they not brought expertise with them; had the experts died out; who corrected them; did they discuss, argue, fight? The cell partitions were still discern­ible and it was easy to picture someone poring over a book, a shaft of sunlight faded by swirling dust. Silence except for the occasional cough, or was that a HADAS member gasp­ing for a cuppa?

The Priory was obtained by Sir Thomas Bell in 1538 and his wife organised the site for cloth manufacture, employing 300. Sir Thomas adapted the church for his residence,Bell’s Place, but he left some of the Early English arcading which still survives, as do the original 13th century roofs.
Moving a few roads on, we stopped to look at the site of Greyfriars. Merely a shell, it had been damaged in the

siege of 1643. Nearby, we noticed an Aviation Garden with representations of the Gloucester planes, paid for by the Civic Trust.

As we reached the pedestrian precinct at the town centre, was I the only one to look with envy at the free motorised buggies zipping round? From the street some­thing archaeological was visible, and we descended to investigate. It was part of a Roman bastion with sally ports, preserved beneath the modern shopping development.

We learned a little more local history as we moved on. Gloucester and Cirencester fell to the Saxons according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, then in 977 the town was re-fortified when the Danes were thrown out. Ethelfreda had new streets laid out — the burgage plots are still reflected in modern building widths. Some timber-framed buildings have been re-fronted,_one having belonged to John Pritchard…

The Tailor of Gloucester

Nearing the Cathedral, we stopped in an alley at the Beatrix Potter Gift Shop. This wasn’t the tailor of Glouces­ter’s premises but a tourist trap where one had to pay to see the displays. John Pritchard was the actual tailor who had inspired Potter’s story of the clothes made by fairies, and his old shop was in the High Street.

As we approached the Cathedral we heard the clamour of many chisels hitting stone. Over 40 stone masons were working under a large awning on new seating to be erected in the garden of a church near Greyfriars. They each had a block of stone and worked to the design laid out for inspec­tion on the grass next to the Cathedral. They had just that weekend to complete the work, and a percussion band beat out rhythms to keep the masons on the go. One could gain some idea of what building a cathedral would have en­tailed, the air of industry and noise, dust and people going about their trade. Also at work was a woman from one of the town museums, heating and working iron, using equip­ment borrowed from the museum.

And we still had time left for a look round the Cathedral. An Anglo-Saxon monastery on the site was replaced by St Peter’s Abbey in 1089 (on William’s instruction). This was dissolved by Henry VIII and in 1541 the church became a cathedral. We took tea in the welcome cool of the refectory, and re-emerged as a service was ending. Walking round the cloisters, I passed the school-age choristers, some of whom were still singing (the acoustics were brilliant) as they clattered into the Chapter House to disrobe. On the north walkway was the lavatorium, the monks’ washing area with its long, stone basin, and on the opposite side there were (twice in one day!) the monks’ study carrels.

We had arrived to the sound of gulls and, as we left, I noticed outside a newsagent’s a yellow poster with the Gloucester Citizen’s lead story “Drive to rid city of gulls”. I’d rather see gulls than pigeons in Finchley… Comments on a seaside postcard please!

It’s not the Knot: re-enacting the Civil War

Part-time pikeman Bob Michel explains…

The faces may change, but the questions remain the same. They range from the hopeless “You’re Morris Dancers aren’t you? through to “English Civil War —that’s William the Conqueror isn’t it?” to the more perceptive “Aren’t you the Sealed Knot?”. Believe me, there are times in a re-enactor’s life when you wish your replica musket was really loaded!

As in archaeology, public relations is all part of the fun. Luckily for us volun­teer, part-time, pretend soldiers it’s just a small part. Much more of our time is devoted to reproducing as faithfully as possible 17th century military manoeu­vres, living in general and drinking in particular.

Re-enacting with the English Civil War Society (not as snappy as the Sealed Knot, is it?) attracts me in four separate but related ways. Firstly, there’s the his­torical angle to it all. We re-create civil war battles and soldiers’ camps as accu­rately as we can, given the passage of time and budgetary constraints. Uni­forms have to be made of natural materi­als and styles have to be authentic—Doc Marten boots and Russell & Bromley sling-backs are definitely out! Food must be cooked without the aid of Camping Gaz and “killing” and “maiming” on the battlefield must be wrought in good old 17th century ways.

Next, the battles tend to bring out the actor in me. Although the punters are now too far away to ask daft questions — and it’s too noisy anyway — you’re still aware an audience is present. What’s more it has paid to be there and expects to be entertained. As a pikeman my contribution to the proceedings is being a member of a disciplined and highly-skilled team wielding 17-foot pikes. That’s the theory anyway. However, every now and then I seize the chance to break out of the chorus line (as it were) and delight the crowd with my personal brand of 17th century combat.

Thirdly, there’s the blood and guts aspect. Being a pikeman involves preventing the cavalry from getting amongst our musketeers and pretending to kebab op­posing pikemen. But sometimes we get to form a “push of pike”, the real joy. Picture a rugby maul where two sets of forwards pack together to try to send their opponents flying. Simply add a pike per man and there you are! The odd flesh wound does occur; that’s not surprising when 30 men suddenly fall on top of you. But fear not gentle reader, the body armour and helmet take most of the punishment (perhaps American Football would have been a better anal­ogy than rugby). Anyway, we usually take more casualties in the beer tent than on the field.

Which takes me nicely on to my final point — the social side. All this physical activity and answering “no” to the public makes men and women thirsty. Yes, we are an equal opportuni­ties organisation. We believe both sexes have the right to get injured! Alcohol though can help to deaden the pain. A huge marquee becomes our Windmill, otherwise known as the “We never closed” beer tent. Although prone to be a little damp under foot after a few days — as are the portaloos — this is easily the most popular social venue on site. Spirits are high after a hard day’s battling, so in the wee small hours it’s not the place for shrinking violets. Luckily each regiment usually boasts a welcoming camp fire to which the active, but less adventurous, can retire in good order to enjoy fine fellowship and some awful singing.

Changing times at Avenue House

The HADAS library and finds store/processing room has been based at Avenue House for many years, and the future of the site is again under discussion. Andy Simpson reports.

Held in the familiar surroundings ofthe Drawing Room, day-to-day running of the house and grounds. A park the Avenue House Estate Consultative Conference on keeper will also be employed. Such changes would June 30 was a well attended and at times lively meeting. require a separate account to be run for the house —The basic message to come through was that the council, built in 1859 and newly Grade II listed by English as corporate trustee, was aware that there was room for Heritage, along with Hertford Lodge and The Bothy. change, ie by reducing bureaucracy. It was pointed out by Barnet Council Chief Execu‑

The council is not, in the medium term, prepared to tive Max Caller that Hertford Lodge is council-owned relinquish control, but will be advertising nationally and not part of the estate. It might have a future as a fora dedicated Avenue House estate manager, appointed voluntary sector resource centre, rather than as the by the management committee and based on site for Continued on facing page

These were Barnet’s first ‘allotments’ by Phillip Bailey

“open field”, and was a communal field where local people could own plots of the shared land by agreement with the Lord of the Manor (in Barnet’s case the Abbot of St Albans). The strips in the field developed from the way the field was ploughed, ie by oxen. So that the oxen would not need to be turned too often the fields were made long, and they were narrow because that was all that could be ploughed in a day.

The long fields (strips) were usually known as “lands” or by the earlier form “londs”, eg Bakonslonde 1280 (Bacon’s land), Towneslonde 1280 (Town’s land). Sometimes the strips were grassed over fOr livestock to graze on, and were then known as “Ieys”.

This may mean that the name Barnetleys, 1248, had an ambiguous meaning, ie “Barnet-clearing” and/or “Barnet-grass strips”. Some of the Ley Field may have been grassed over at this time for use as pasture. This fits in well with the fact that this part of High Barnet later became known as Barnet Common, which seems to have been used mainly as pasture, retaining its communal status right into the early 19th century.

The only field identified by name here is Newlands,

1817, which was obviously the last “ancient” field to be cut from Southaw Wood, hence its triangular shape. The name dates to the 13th century (Newland 1291, Newlond 1292, Le Newelond 1334). Mays Lane was known as Mayeslane in 1427, but Maieshulle (Mays Hill) occurs in 1271 and the “May” family lived in Barnet as early as 1229. There is even a Maisland in 1288 which was likely to have been found in the Ley Field.

The Ley Field is mentioned in Barnet Manor Rolls as follows: “La Leye” 1246, 1258, 1260, 1263; “La Layefeld” 1276. The map was developed from the 19th century large-scale maps of Barnet Common.

originally proposed register office— a report is awaited following a “citizens’ jury” decision.

After introductions by Councillor Alan Williams, Leader of Barnet Council, conference chair Kathy Mc­Guirk and Max Caller, those attending were involved in some general discussion. This included suggestions for a creche and coffee machine and the danger of any increased hire charges driving people away.

Delegates were then divided (after some opposition from the floor) into three workshop groups, each “ena­bled” by a council employee but using a delegate from the floor to report back at the end. These workshop groups covered marketing and fundraising, facilities for community groups, and management of house and grounds.

Those attending all received packs detailing Av­enue House facilities, booked hours per room (which show a slight overall increase, with 2,240 bookings in 1997-98), room plans (which omitted the HADAS Garden Room!) and statement of accounts and details of the history and present use of the site, which under the will of Henry Charles “Inky” Stephens was be­queathed to the people of Finchley in 1918 and opened to the public 10 years later.

The independent Avenue House Action Group claimed that the site has been mismanaged, with the building and grounds under-used, and issued copies of its own manifesto.

This called for transfer of Hertford Lodge and its outbuildings to the proposed new management of the Avenue House Estate, to be used for the same purposes, and operation of the Avenue House Chari­table Trust by independent trustees drawn from members of the public — rather than Barnet Council being the sole corporate trustee, as at present

All in a popular weekend’s work…

Vikki O’Connor reports on the HADAS activity at Church Farmhouse Museum on National Archaeology Days, July 24-25.

The preparations began the previous Wednesday when we collected the equipment from College Farm and sur­veyed in and laid out our base line and temporary bench marks. We brought in the heavy brigade to de-turf two trenches on the Friday.

Thanks to the efforts of HADAS publicity officer Tim Wilkins, our leaflets in the libraries and a few mentions in the local press have brought in several new members, some of whom joined us on the dig. Our aim was to provide an opportunity for new diggers to “have a go” as well as get “hands on” experience of surveying and using the resistivity meter.

Ian Haigh, Stephen Aleck and Brian Wrigley organ­ised the demonstrations with gusto, despite the blistering heat. The troops took turns in the trenches with helpers firing rounds of orange juice at them when they flagged. Ian Haigh set up his computer in the cool basement of the Museum to demonstrate on both days his presentation of data from the 1996 dig. •

By Saturday lunchtime Trench 8 had yielded an ani­mal skeleton just in time for Anne, the Barnet Press photographer, to snap HADAS digger Nikki Paintin ex­posing the skull. Brian McCarthy, fresh from his volun­teer stint at the Spitalfields dig, directed the removal of the deceased quadruped which, according to the Press, was a dog, but in the Hendon Times admitted to being a sheep. Brian Wrigley and Richard Askew have since examined the bones and confirm it is a sheep.. ‘

HAD AS President Dr Ann Saunders spent Saturday afternoon dispensing refreshments and information to visitors—we recorded a total of 38 over the weekend and these included several HADAS members who came along for a quick site tour. We had put together a small display in Church Farmhouse Museum, showing finds from the several HADAS digs in that area over the past 30-plus years. Our thanks to the curator, Gerrard Roots, for making this, and the dig, possible. Thanks also go to LB Barnet information officer Dave Bicknell for attending and for his support.

Sunday morning saw an enthusiastic early start, but when Hendon MP Andrew Dismore arrived on site, the diggers had gone to the Greyhound next door to look at the clay pipe collection, or was it the beer? Fortunately, our Chairman Andrew Selkirk and his wife Wendy were on hand to welcome him. Andrew Dismore has expressed an interest in local archaeology and we hope to see him at future HADAS events.

By the end of Sunday afternoon, Trench 7 (nearest the Museum) had revealed the Victorian land drain which we had identified in 1996. The Trench 8 team had also exposed the land drain running parallel with the church­yard at the east side of the trench, but on the west side they had come down to a fill similar to the medieval ditch fill. Andy Simpson did a “eureka” when he found a Roman brick, the only Roman find that weekend.

On the Monday, a small band arrived on site, ostensi­bly to do the backfilling, but the morning was spent completing the trench plans and doing some fine-tuning on the trowelling. We confirmed that we had exposed the medieval ditch in Trench 7, but the Victorian drain had cut in and run along the same line. In Trench 8 the fill was indeed that of the medieval ditch. We have extended our knowledge of this feature inasmuch as we no longer believe it could turn east to run behind the churchyard. Also, the resistivity runs between Trench 7 and the Mu­seum indicate a feature which could be interpreted as the continuation of this ditch.

Pottery from the trenches ranged from medieval to late 20th century. The finds have now been cleaned and will during September be classified for our final report. Forty-five people participated in the five days’ work.

I’ve got plans for next year… how about some experi­mental archaeology? Anyone with polite suggestions please contact Brian Wrigley or Vikki O’Connor.

The official full report should be published in the first of the HADAS annual journals next year.

Wet Wet Wet

Not a pop group, but news from Hampstead Heath. Whose idea was it to go there in the summer? From a soggy Saxon ditch survey team over and out till drier times arrive.

THE ROSE THEATRE

When the site of the Rose Theatre was rediscovered in 1989 by Museum of London archaeologists, the remains became the focus of intense international media attention as actors and scholars united in a campaign to ‘Save the Rose’. The Rose had been built in 1587 and was the first theatre on London’s Bankside. It was at the height of its commercial success in the 1590s with a repertory including plays by Shakespeare, Marlowe and Thomas Kyd. Its success attracted others to build larger theatres nearby: the Swan in 1595 and the Globe in 1599. Eclipsed by its rivals, the Rose had closed by 1606.

The immense cultural and archaeological importance of the site was obvious and, eventually, the developers redesigned the proposed building to protect the remains and include a special basement display space. A charity, the Rose Theatre Trust, set up in the year of discovery and chaired by the indefatigable Harvey Sheldon, has been working to secure the future and public display of these important fragments.

The remains were covered up again in 1989 for their own safety during construction. They must be kept wet; and the unstable soil matrix in which the archaeology rests means that extensive — and expensive — conservation work has to form part of any attempt to get the excavation completed and a permanent display created for the public. In the meantime English Heritage inspect the site regularly to ensure that the remains are kept in a stable environment to prevent deterioration; indications are that all is well underneath. .

The new display at 56 Park Street, Southwark, on the corner of Park Street and Rose Alley, was opened by Chris Smith MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on 13th April. He said:

“The opening of the site and the launch of a permanent exhibition marks the next important stage in the

progress towards an eventual full excavation of the site. . . . This is, after all, the site of one of the

greatest Elizabethan theatres.”

The exhibition is open from 10 am to 5 pm 363 days a year (£3 adults, £2.50 concessions, £2 children; special rates for pre-booked parties). A sound and light presentation, with the commentary narrated by Sir Ian McKeltan, one of the Rose’s most loyal supporters, is seen from a viewing platform on the unexcavated area to the east of the pool of water which protects the remains of the theatre; it uses an exciting combination of old and new technologies. A video telling the story of the Rose is projected over the pool, while electro-luminescents submerged in the water are selectively lit to show where the remains lie concealed .

The exhibition is, as the Rose’s admirable website (http://www.rdg.ac.uk/rose) says, intended to reawaken public interest in the theatre, and help generate funds for its re-excavation, preservation and permanent display. The Rose Theatre Trust has plans to add further walkways that would act as viewing platforms for the re-excavation, when that takes place and they hope that will be in a couple of years time.

HADAS DIARY

SATURDAY 14th AUGUST OUTING: WEST STOWE SAXON VILLAGE, FRAMUNGHAM

CASTLE, and WOODBRIDGE.

Bill Bass. Details and application form enclosed

FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY PORTSMOUTH and ISLE OF WIGHT

3rd, 4th and 5th SEPTEMBER There are places still available. Contact Dorothy Newbury if you would like to join.

MONDAY 4th OCTOBER WALK with Mary O’Connell (NOTE CHANGE OF DATE) starting at

Euston and visiting the Quakers’ Friends House, the new headquarters of the Magic Circle, and the refurbished THE PLACE THEATRE.

SATURDAY 9th OCTOBER MINIMART: our annual fundraiser.

TUESDAY 12th OCTOBER Our winter lecture programme begins with the Archaeology of Mexico.

Members will regret to learn of the death of Christine Arnott on 12th July, at the age of 83. Christine was one of our longest-standing members. She joined in the 1960s, soon after our Society was formed, and was a keen participant in all our activities. She served on the Committee for many years, edited the Newsletter, and helped regularly with the Mini mart.

MATHELDA MARKS-KENNEDY SCHOOL MILL HILL. Stephen Aleck

This private school was going to build an extension, allowing us to do some work in the grounds of what is one of Mill Hill’s oldest buildings. Unfortunately the project has been shelved for the time being owing to a shortage of funds – we will be informed when it starts up again.

BATTLE OF BARNET- 1999 Bill Bass

The sound of cannon, thundering cavalry – bloody conflict once again raged over the wide-ranging plains north of Barnet town …. otherwise known as Barnet Rugby Club. The battle, originally fought in 1471, was re-enacted in May in aid of the Barnet War Memorials Initiative.

Arrival at the ‘battlefield’, which is in fact only a stone’s throw from the original just to the east, found a complete mediaeval encampment in full swing. The opposing armies and their followers were readying for battle in their respective tents, fully catered for with a ‘mediaeval market’ where you could buy such things as leather, fabrics, jewellery, trinkets, BoB coins, weapons – longbows, arrows, axes – food, spices and flowers. You could even buy replica mediaeval pottery from a table-laden tent.

Artist plied their trade with storytellers giving a verbal account of the terrible day. Also a band playing ‘drone’ music the repertoire of which comprises dance music from the rural communities of Europe with marches, battle calls and laments. The main instruments used are bagpipes, mediaeval English, French and German, hurdy-gurdy and a range of early percussion (it says here).

Battle commenced at 3pm with the opposing archers and their longbows raining deadly arrows at each other – rubber-tipped on this occasion but highly effective in their day. Loud cannon fire (the BoB was supposedly the first to use cannon but this is disputed) was followed by the engagement of infantry led by their knights, then the cavalry consisting of about seven horses – looking impressive all the same.

The result of course was a historical foregone conclusion, a momentous victory for the Yorkist King Edward IV over his Lancastrian opponents in just one of the battles that collectively became known as the Wars of the Roses.

MANSHEAD REVISITING by Vikki O’Connor

Following a HADAS Brockley Hill group visit to their HQ in Dunstable, Barry Horne and Joan Schneider from Manshead Archaeological Society paid HADAS a visit on 3rd July to examine the collection of finds from the late P G Suggett’s excavations in 1953/4. This pottery was excavated at a Roman kiln site at Brockley Hill a few years before HADAS was formed, and is currently in the safe keeping of the Manshead Society. Barry and Joan were met by a small group of HADAS members led by Tessa Smith who was able to pinpoint the various items of interest. After handling a representative selection of mortaria, bowls, pots and tazza, Barry suggested we have another meeting when he could bring along his binocular microscope and get down to some serious comparison.

With this in mind we have arranged for the Manshead team to take part in a whole day session on Brockley Hill potteries. Stephen Castle, who excavated there in the 1970s, has also agreed to give a talk as part of this event. We are negotiating for a Saturday in October and will publish full details as soon as they are finalised.

TRAINING EXCAVATION IN SOUTHWARK Peter Pickering

The 1999 Birkbeck College Training Excavation, held in conjunction with the London Borough of Southwark and the Museum of London Archaeology Service is taking place in Lant Street, SE I . Lant Street was immortalised in Dickens’ Pickwick papers, and the author himself was lodged in the street as a youth when his father was in the Marshalsea prison. On my visit to the site early in July, at the beginning of the third week of the dig, the students were working on the remains of the Georgian terrace where Dickens had resided, and were beginning to explore the underlying soils. Lant Street lay on the southern edge of the urban core of Southwark, where agricultural features of all periods, including Roman, may be expected. The dig is supported financially by the London Borough of Southwark, the Southwark and Lambeth Archaeological Excavations Committee, and by the Surrey Archaeological Society.

SPITALFIELDS Jeffrey Lesser

MoLAS The Museum of London Archaeology Service, to those who dislike acronyms) needs volunteers on its current Spitalfields dig. You can earn your HADAS subscription in a day and a half and simultaneously practise your archaeological skills.

You will be welcome even if only part-time or sporadically and work is likely to continue until September. The usual site procedures are carried out, but there is a great deal of skeletal material, mostly mediaeval or post-mediaeval. This needs to have the mud washed off and the bones displayed for the osteoarchaeologists to examine. There are so many, that the disarticulated remains are being left at present to concentrate on the relatively complete skeletons. This is more interesting, as it is possible to form some ides of an individual’s sex and age, particularly in the case of children. Of course, there is always the possibility of detecting evidence of disease or deformity. There are some striking instances of osteomyelitis and I have seen an intriguing depression of the skull without fracture. One very spiky lumbar vertebra went into the reference collection; unfortunately this was an isolated find.

MOLAS entice you with £5 per day expenses, if you fill in a form. It is best to ring Brian Connell the Osteoarchaeologist or the site manager Chris Thomas (0171-247 9435). Finding the entrance to the site is nearly as difficult as uncovering a known Roman villa and then you have to get past Cerberus. Despite the apron and gloves provided, wear very old clothes.

THE TUDORS OF TOOLEY STREET Bill Bass

Over four days of the last May Bank Holiday weekend, members of HADAS and other local societies were invited by Hedley Swain of the Museum of London to participate in one of their digs.

For three months MOLAS had been excavating a two-acre site off Tooley Street between the mediaeval Falstaff and Battlebridge estates near London Bridge station. Initial evaluation trenches seemed to be unpromising but the full excavations have revealed Roman remains and remarkable mediaeval and Tudor finds as well as post-mediaeval evidence. To the west of the site was a Roman revetment to an inlet in what were then the sandy eyots of Southwark, the ground level of which had survived surprisingly well amongst the subsequent development; pottery including Saurian was recovered from here. Dendrochronology from one of the preserved posts should give a close date.

The star of the show must be the full range of Tudor finds and a possible 13th century rowing galley. A series of Tudor fishponds were found, one of which was expensively built with chalk foundations, chalk-brick lining and wattle fencing. The ponds are thought to have contained pike – because the name of the ground when it was sold by Thomas Copley to Charles Pratt in 1559 was the Pyke Garden. Fish bones have been found which are being identified. There are signs of a freshwater supply for the ponds from the nearby River Neckinger, now underground. The cache of Tudor finds includes a knight’s long-spiked spur, fragments of decorated armour, swords, sheaths, saddle bags, bowling balls, pottery. cutlery and 400 leather shoes, all thrown into the fishponds when they became disused in the mid 16th century.

Timber was expensive at the time so all material, including ships, were broken up on the foreshore and recycled – thus the remains of a 13th century galley found itself lining a fishpond. The timbers measured about 18 feet and the vessel they came from is thought to have been between 40 and 100 feet long. Wooden plugs would have been placed in the oar slots when the vessel rigged its sails in the open sea, Tar used for caulking is clearly visible between the timbers and there are traces of white lead paint. Rowing galleys were important naval vessels in the 13th and 14th centuries, being used for convoy duty, for stopping and searching vessels and for enforcing customs regulations. This is the first such vessel of this date to have been found in Britain.

Towards.the end of Ow dig there was not enough time to excavate the remaining fishponds in situ so their fill was scooped out by a mechanical digger and spread on the surface. Volunteers were then asked by Dave Saxby, the site director, to trawl through the fill looking for finds; members found tokens, a lead seal, a small dice, a pewter tankard, leather, pottery, buckles, knives. a harpoon head and other small finds. Others helped to excavate a silted timber sewer which turned up some decorated beaker glass and pottery, etc.

This was a good opportunity for volunteers (albeit briefly) to work on a large, interesting and important site.

DISCOVERIES IN LONDON by Peter Pickering

As the two pieces above show, the number of exciting finds made this year in London is amazing. It is much to the credit of the Museum of London that they receive the publicity their importance warrants, and that they are very rapidly put on display so that people can see them. Visiting the museum on 6th July 1 saw part of the mediaeval ship Bill Bass describes, a number of the Tudor finds he mentions, and one which he does not —the earliest banana found in Britain; which looks just like what it is— a very old and very black banana skin.

Although these particular wonders may have been taken off display by the time you read this newsletter, who knows what will follow them. It is easy to keep up to date with such discoveries. If you call the PR office of the Museum on 0171 600 3699 they will send you their leaflet ‘Archaeology Matters’ regularly. Their website (www.museumoflondon.org.uk) is a mine of information. Best of all, just go along.

JUNE OUTING — PART 1 VISIT TO FENSHURST PLACE by Beverley Perkins

A pleasant drive through rural Kent brought us to the peaceful village of Penshurst with its ancient manor house. A low building of mellow sandstone, it has few visible traces of its late 14th century fortifications and retains its homely mediaeval and Tudor character in spite of extensive later remodelling.

The present owners, the De L’Isle family, descend from a long line of Sidneys who have occupied the house continuously since the estate was granted to Sir William Sidney by Edward VI in 1552. Linked in marriage to royalty as well as to Spencers and Shelleys, the family has a fascinating and distinguished history. The most famous member was Sir Philip Sidney, Renaissance man, poet and courtier, who died in battle at the age of only 31. His brother. Robert. became Earl of Leicester. assuming the title which had belonged to his uncle, Robert Dudley, the favourite of Elizabeth I.

The core of the house, the Baron’s hail, was completed in 1341. Its striking 60′ high timbered roof soars over the hall and is constructed — unusually — of chestnut, which is stronger and lighter than oak. The massive arched braces end in ten life-sized human figures, said to be satirical portraits of contemporary estate workers.

Tall windows, restored to their original elegant arched style, flood the hail with light. In the centre of the tiled floor is a unique octagonal hearth marked out in coloured bricks. At one end of the hall is the dais where the lord and lady and their guests would have dined, while the rest of the household lived in the body of the hall, taking their meals at the massive 20′ trestle tables which are unique survivors from the 15th century. Illustrious guests included Henry VIII (who subsequently had his host, the Duke of Buckingham, beheaded) and Elizabeth 1. The panelled minstrels’ gallery at the opposite end of the hall is a Tudor addition.

The adjoining building, known as the Buckingham building, was constructed as a hall around 1430 but was divided into state rooms in Tudor times. The furnishings of the tapestry-hung Queen Elizabeth Room include an elegant silk-upholstered daybed and rock crystal chandeliers said to have belonged to William of Orange. The harpsichord was acquired from Queen Christina of Sweden by Sir William Perry, who inherited the house in the mid-18th century and proceeded to modernise it in Italian style, mostly to its detriment. He did however acquire an impressive collection of Italian furniture. Tragically (though perhaps not for the house!), he ended his days prematurely in a lunatic asylum.

The Trafalgar Room is hung with 16th century Flemish tapestries. Among the paintings is one of the London house built in the 1630s by the second Earl of Leicester on the site where The Empire, Leicester Square, now stands. It proved a huge drain on the family’s resources and was subsequently demolished. The original miniature Leicester Square can still be found in front of the church in the nearby village of Penshurst.

The Long Gallery still has its original (restored) panelling and re-created moulded ceiling in typical Tudor style. Lit by windows on both sides and lined with portraits of the family and royalty, it formed an attractive indoor promenade. The gallery widens out into a square room, part of an earlier fortification tower.

Text Box: 7Stairs lead down to a panelled bedroom, then to the Nether Gallery containing a display of armoury including Robert Dudley’s state sword and the ceremonial helmet which was carried in procession at Sir Philip Sidney’s state funeral; the helmet bears the Sidneys’ family crest, the porcupine. Sir Philip Sidney is one of only three commoners to be accorded the honour of a state funeral, the others being Lord Nelson and Sir Winston Churchill.

The gardens, laid out in Tudor times and arranged as a series of “rooms”, are the glory of Penshurst. They range from formal gardens with pools and fountains to herbaceous walks, lavender-edged rose beds, fruit and nut orchards, and a garden laid out as the Union flag in shades of red, white and blue. The garden rooms are separated by tall yew hedges so that each surprises and delights with its scent and variety.

This short report can only convey a very brief impression of Penshurst Place and its endlessly fascinating history, but thank you, Micky and Micky, for organising such an interesting and pleasurable visit (and perfect weather for the garden!).

JUNE OUTING PART 2

LULLINGSTONE ROMAN VILLA AND EYNSFORD CASTLE by Andy Simpson

After a pleasant lunch at Penshurst we returned to the coach for another scenic run through Kentish lanes to the English Heritage managed Lullingstone Roman Villa, a long-time `must see’ for your scribe. As we approached the site the modern cover building was immediately obvious — a little weather-stained but nestling below the hillside above the river Darent quite well. Soil slip from this hillside is responsible for this villa’s good state of preservation, the complete ground plan and many structural features surviving. The villa had stood at the centre of a large agricultural estate, being first built in timber and daub on flint footings about 100AD, then remodelled in flint and tile masonry with the well preserved bath suite added later in the second century. For much of the third century, a period of economic stagnation, the villa was in a state of some neglect, though underfloor heated rooms were added in the late third century adding to the classic ‘winged corridor’ plan. Revived fortunes in the mid-fourth century saw the addition of a large apsed dining room around 360AD, along with intricate mosaics and wall paintings, some linked with Christian activity located in a small chapel which in mediaeval times continued close by with the use of material from the villa in the now vanished Lullingstone church following the villa’s destruction by fire c420AD.

Excavation through the 1950s revealed a fascinating site with adjacent large, raised floor granary, circular shrine and substantial square mausoleum, whose central pit rather touchingly contained the coffins of a young man and woman buried together in the fourth century along with supplies for the afterlife; the mausoleum was incorporated into the Saxon Lullingstone Church. We toured the site aided by the informative recorded commentary on the personal stereo issued to each visitor. Particular attention is paid to the well known chapel with its six painted plaster portraits of Christians, possibly even members of the villa owning family, at prayer, along with the Christian Chi-Rho monogram on the opposite wall. These reconstructed paintings can nowadays be seen in the British Museum. One of the few in-situ fragments of Roman painted plaster I have seen, surviving in a cellar niche, shows three water nymphs in a remarkable state of preservation. The dining room features the well known mosaic showing scenes of Bellerophon riding the winged horse Pegasus to slay the Chimaera and Jupiter in the guise of a bull abducting Europa, captioned by a couplet referring to Virgil ‘s Aeneid.

After a short coach ride we then reached Eynsford, where a magnificent spread prepared by Eynsford Women’s institute awaited us in the village hall, overlooked from both ends by the stern visage of the former drum playing lady of the Manor who had been their first president. An interesting feature here was the photographic montage showing all the men of the village who had served in the Great War. After tea we braved light drizzle to view another English Heritage property, the adjacent moated remains of the. small, flint-walled Eynsford castle, a sort of pocket Berkhamsted. Dating to c. 1088, this is one of the earliest Norman stonework defences in the country, on a site in use from late Saxon limes. Abandoned after a disastrous sacking in 1312, there was brief eighteenth century use as kennels for hunting dogs and at Christmas 1872 a large section of the north curtain wall wall collapsed into the moat where it lies still. The rest of the castle is quite ruinous but traces of four garderobes survive along with the once tile-roofed inner hall — there was no keep. Parts of the halls’s arched undereroft survive_ Interestingly, the curtain wall never had any battlements. Parts of the site were archaeologically investigated in the 1950s/60s.

RESCUE’s Early day motion Peter Pickering

RESCUE, the British Archaeological Trust of which many members will be aware, is very concerned that local Government archaeology services are under direct threat in several parts of the country owing to budgetary pressures within County Councils. An example not far from here has been the recent deep cuts in the archaeology service in Buckinghamshire. RESCUE inspired Robert Maclennan, the Liberal Democrat spokesman on cultural matters, to table an Early Day Motion on 2nd March in the following terms:‑

`”That this House notes with regret the forthcoming cuts to local government heritage services. caused by

the local government finance settlement; recognises that such services communicate the value of

archaeology and historic buildings in our economic, cultural, and educational life; and that they an

fundamental to ensuring that finite cultural inheritance can be enjoyed by present and future generations”.

`Early Day Motion’ is a colloquial term for a notice of Motion given by a MP for which no date has been fixed for debate, and generally there is no prospect of these Motions ever being debated. They are, however, widely used by MPs who want to put on record their opinion on a subject and canvass support for it from their fellow members. Early Day Motions draw matters to Ministers’ attention, and often attract wider publicity; commentators regard them as a gauge of opinion.

This particular motion had been signed by 50 MPs by 15th July; among the signatories it is good to see Sir Sydney Chapman, the MP for Chipping Barnet. HADAS members in his constituency may like to write to him expressing their appreciation. Those in other constituencies might urge their MP to do join Sir Sydney in signing the motion. The recent threats to our archive service in Barnet, and to the museums in Enfield and Brent, demonstrate that we are not immune to similar problems.

Further details on this and many other matters can be found on the RESCUE website (www.rescue­archaeology.freeserve.co.uk)

THE DACORUM AND ITS HERITAGE John M D Saunders, Vice-Chairman, Friends of The

Dacorum Museum Society

At the western tip of Hertfordshire the group of towns and villages comprising the borough of Dacorum takes its name from the ancient hundred and Anglo-Saxon name for the area. It is an area rich in historical significance and has an interesting story to tell. Archaeological evidence is abundant and Neolithic, Mesolithic, Bronze age and Roman remains have been found on various sites throughout the area.

The river valleys and track ways have determined the position of its towns and villages, the principal towns being Berkhamsted (complete with its motte and bailey castle), Hemel Hempstead, and Tring. Their prosperity was based on agriculture. Later, the coming of the canals and railways brought other and newer industries, ie paper-making, engineering, pharmaceuticals and electronics.

People have lived and worked in The Dacorum over several thousand years, and this heritage has now been recognised as worth keeping. All too often the heritage has been ignored or destroyed and much that has been preserved has left the area and been displayed elsewhere as, unfortunately, there is no museum dedicated to The Dacorum.

The need to rectify this situation came to a head in 1980 due to pressure from local archaeological and history societies who came together to form The Dacorum Heritage Trust.

The Dacorum borough council and the town councils of Tring and Berkhamsted have given able support, and the trust became a registered charity in 1993. A disused fire station in Berkhamsted, after conversion, became the museum store. It contains a large collection of material: some 20,000 items in all, ranging from flint tools, Roman vessels and decorated wall plaster from the local Roman villa site, to 17th century trade tokens, photographs, pictures and maps — an endless variety of material spanning the centuries.

To raise public interest it was decided in October 1988 to form a society called The Friends of Dacorum Museum_ The objects of the society are:

To work towards the establishment of a permanent museum or museums for the benefit of the public generally and especially for the inhabitants of the district of Dacorum in the county of Hertfordshi re.

To organise periodic exhibitions relating to local history in the said district for educational and cultural purposes.

To raise finances to enable the Dacorum Heritage Trust to purchase material relating to the area.

The society has arranged a programme of events. They have visited the new Verulamium museum and arranged historic walks in the area. Several parties have toured the museum store under the guidance of the curator Mr Matt Wheeler.

Future plans include a Dacorum canal exhibition, which will focus on the history of the canal system in the area.

The Friends of the Museum Society is growing in strength and now has 175 members.

TILE WE MEET AGAIN Vikki O’Connor

Ian Betts, a building materials specialist from the Museum of London Specialist Services (MOLSS) is, fortunately for HADAS, resident in the Borough of Barnet. This made it convenient for him to give up his free time on Saturday July 10th to come and talk brick with sixteen Brockley Hill enthusiasts. Ian gave us some background information on Roman brick/tile production and pointed out that there are no obvious differences in the fabric of tiles produced at the sites between St Albans and London, except for the Radlett kiln where the products contain black specks. He believes that Brockley Hill had a tile production kiln, and one Brockley Hill potter’s stamp has been found on both pot and tile — it has been demonstrated that it is the same stamp used on both.

It appears that recognition of the brick/tile that we have collected is more instinctive than with the pottery. Ian’s examination of tens of thousands of examples over the years, coupled with his knowledge of fabric and fabrication methods, enable him to make almost instantaneous identification. However, the members of our group, who were ‘thrown in the deep end’ and given a bag of the Brockley Hill ‘fieldwalking’ brick to identify in front of everyone else, were also able to make correct identification. Even MOLSS sometimes use outside services to analyse building material. Harwell, for example undertake neutron analysis where a core is drilled out of the sample, powdered, sent into a nuclear reactor to be bombarded with neutrons, and the data collected indicates the chemical components – all for a modest fee of £25 per sample. (If a scientifically-minded member (2ould give a truer description of this process, our next Newsletter Editor is Liz Sagues….)

Touching on a few points in brick history Ian started with the Roman building industry which appeared to be centralised using a skilled work force. He believes the use of water transport tends to be under­rated and that where there was no navigable water route then localised brick production occurred. In the late 2nd/early 3rd century AD tile found all over southern England is apparently from one production site, but he couldn’t confirm whether this was German or British. There is apparently no evidence for Saxon brick production and Roman material was re-used. Pre-Conquest tiles were very simple, as produced at Winchester_ The question was asked and, yes, site matters as an indicator of function, Tiled roofs were initially used for public buildings, and King Stephen (1135-54) decreed that only tiled roofs should be built. The York city wall material switched from stone to brick in 1490 and, a Yorkshire man himself, Ian admitted that the rivalry between mediaeval tile makers and the stone masons sorneti mes became physical as testified by Guild records. We hoped the Northern Line didn’t delay Ian too much as he sped off to meet his wife (a little later than intended as we had him pinned down to answer questions at the Catcher in the Rye). Our thanks for an interesting session.

Ian has suggested that HADAS may like to consider using the services of MOLSS in classifying the contents of our 35 boxes of brick. An advantage would he the speed of the operation – he thought three or four days would suffice, and we would have the opportunity Of getting a couple of HADAS members to observe/participate so we would be gaining in-house expertise. We would also gain our own reference collection. A further advantage would be that, by using :MOLSS on this occasion, their recording methods would set our standard for recording building material at a professional level so that, should we be permitted to complete the fieldwalking grid during 2000, we would have the capability to do up to 99% of the processing internally. Our excavation coordinator, Brian Wrigley, will be examining the pros and cons of this proposal over the next few days and we should shortly be able to reveal how we will be completing the task.

THE PREHISTORIC SOCIETY STUDY TOUR TO SCANIA by John Hooson

In June members of the Prehistoric Society (including five members from HADAS) visited many important sites in a tour organised and guided by Professor John Coles and his Swedish colleagues Professor Lars Larsson and Dr Deborah Olausson of Lund University.

The whole tour was greatly enhanced by their creating a very relaxed atmosphere. Descriptions of the sites were given with enthusiasm, emphasising the cultures of the prehistoric societies and bringing them to life. The Romans never reached. Sweden and, therefore, Swedish prehistory is regarded as extending up to the Viking age.

We visited the large late Mesolithic cemetery site of SKATEHOLM where the diverse burial practices have led to much discussion concerning the late Mesolithic as a period of complex social structures. At the Lund museum, which we visited on our day of arrival, we had seen one of the Skateholm burials displayed as it had been found.

AGEROD, a late Mesolithic lake settlement site was also visited. Part of the lake still exists but excavations of several bog sites on the shore of the past lake have revealed both occupation areas and refuse layers. Walking along the old shore line, many worked flakes lay on the surface of the presently cultivated field and John Coles recovered a magnificent core displaying where a succession of blades had been removed.

At GILLHOG, we were able to enter the low narrow entrance to the passage grave. It is assumed to have been erected in the earlier middle Neolithic but most of the finds in the chamber dated to the later part of the middle Neolithic and late Neolithic and apparently it had also been used by members of the battle-axe culture. The earth mantle covering the tomb had contained two late Neolithic cists and in an area of six metres outside the entrance large quantities of potsherds from the Funnel Beaker culture were found. At SKEGRIE we saw one of the best preserved dolmens_ It had rectangular chambers in a rectangular stone setting.

The bronze age in Scania offers much. 3,000 large mounds and cairns still exist in spite of the destruction of large numbers in the 18th and 19th centuries due to agricultural reorganisation. As we travelled around the beautiful Skania landscape we could see mounds everywhere: near the road, on nearby ridges and in the distance.

KIVIK, the largest round burial mound in Scandinavia and believed to be of bronze age date, was discovered in 1748 and contained a long c.ist of eight slabs carved on the inside surface. Unfortunately it was heavily quarried in the 19th century and the cist robbed out. In 1933, based on drawings of 1756, it was reconstructed using six of the recovered slabs and two reconstructions. A vault constructed over the cist allows visitors to study the slabs.

John Coles, who has made a long-term study of Swedish and Norwegian bronze age rock carvings, took us to a number of sites where his explanations were of invaluable help in identifying the intricate groupings of boats, animals, humans, battleaxes and other representations.At JARRESTAD, the largest rock carving site in southern Sweden, we saw the “Dancer”, who dominates, together with footsoles (naked feet) in pairs and singly and many boats and horses with riders. At FRANNARP the carvings are of wheels and carts with schematic horses. It was on this occasion that we resented the brilliant sun which we had had all week as it cast shadows from the surrounding trees on to the carvings making them difficult to view. Fortunately a cloud intervened a couple of times to provide an excellent opportunity to see the carvings clearly.

Among the iron age sites visited was ALE STENAR the largest ship-setting in Sweden with a commanding view over the Baltic Sea. There are various hypotheses for its use including the grave or cenotaph. Also visited was the cemetery at VATTERYD with around 375 standing stones and 20 ship carvings.

We saw a number of Viking runic and picture stones which are frequently associated with early churches. The church at STORA KOPINGE was probably built in the late 11th century and, like many of these early churches, preceded by an earlier wooden church. These churches are often richly decorated and SANKT OLOF’s church has many wall paintings and coloured carved furnishings.

On the first full day we had visited the ongoing excavations at UPPAKRA, it was discovered in 1934 and settlement has now been dated from 20013C to 950AD: It had been an important market-place, production site and a residential place of government until replaced by Lund, founded five kilometres away. Shortly after leaving the site, Lars Larsson received a call on his mobile informing him that an important brooch had just been found there. On the last day, at the Lund museum, we were able to see this square-headed gilt-bronze brooch which they were dating to 450AD. No cleaning had been necessary apart from brushing off the dirt.

It was a truly magnificent find and brought tea fine conclusion a truly magnificent study tour.

ARCHAEOLOGY DATA SERVICE Peter Pickering

The Higher Education Funding Council is sponsoring a project to encourage the reuse of digital archives, the Archaeology Data Service. An on-site version of the Greater London Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) maintained by English Heritage is now available for use as part of the Service’s on-line catalogue, ArcHSearch. Members may like to visit its website (ads.ands.ac.ukfeatalogue).

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

September 8th to January 9th. “Alfred the Great”, an exhibition at the Museum of London. This exhibition should interest members going on the Portsmouth weekend, as our first stop at Winchester is to view an on-going excavation at Hyde Abbey. Records dating from the Dissolution indicate that Alfred, his wife Ealhswith and son Edward the Elder were buried at Hyde Abbey. This year’s excavation hopes to locate the site of these royal burials.

October 23rd. This year’s Chairman of SCOLA (the Standing Conference on London Archaeology), Professor Graham-Campbell, will give a lecture on LONDON AND THE VIKINGS in the Lecture Theatre of the Institute of Archaeology, Gordon Square; the lecture will be preceded by a brief report on SCOLA’s activities. The afternoon will begin at 2.30.

November 27th. The CBA Mid-Anglia and South-Eastern groups, and SCOLA, are jointly sponsoring a conference in the Museum of London on post-mediaeval London. The cost is likely to be £25, including the conference papers. Watch for publicity and application forms in due course.

BRITAIN’S OLDEST ROOF

Advances in dendrochronology reveal that the oak roof in St. Mary’s Church at Kempley, Gloucestershire, could be dated 1120 to 1150, to be the oldest in Britain and one of the oldest in Europe. According to Francis Kelly of English Heritage it was the earliest and most complete roof structure on any building to be dated using scientific methods. (Guardian 25 May 1999)

ROMAN SHIPS FROM PISA

British and Italian classical scholars have found eight almost perfectly preserved ancient Roman ships buried in the mud of what was once the harbour of Pisa. Stefano Bruni, the Tuscan archaeologist was in charge of the dig; Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, director of the British School in Rome, said the ships were in pristine condition. About a fifth of the boats had been uncovered so far, there could well be more. The ships range in length from 24ft to 90ft and seem to date from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD. (Times 21. 4. 1999)

HEROD, PATRON OF WINE SNOBS

A new exhibition at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem concentrates on the often copious drinking habits of the people in biblical times and on the paraphernalia they used. Apparently the wine bibbers of Greece, Lebanon and Israel looked down on the beer drinkers of Egypt and Iraq as their equivalent to modern day “lager louts”. This was especially true of King Herod, a frequent party giver, who imported wine from Italy as supposedly superior to the local supply and who had his own “wine butler”. (Times 28.5. 1999)

DIARY

Saturday July 10 (11.15am till lunchtime) Brockley Hill Finds Processing

Scout Hut (beside/behind Hertford Lodge, next to Avenue House)

Ian Betts, Museum of London finds specialist, has agreed to instruct us on the finer points of identifying brick and tile. Some 35 boxes need sorting. Anyone interested please contact Vicki O’Connor (0181 361 1350)

Saturday July 17 – Outing to Gloucestershire with Tessa Smith and Sheila Woodward. Details and application form enclosed

Saturday/Sunday July 24/25 – National Archaeology Days [details overleaf]

Saturday August 14 – Outing to West Stowe and Framlingham, Suffolk with Bill Bass

Friday, Saturday, Sunday September 3,4,5 – Weekend in Portsmouth and Isle of Wight. Places still available. (Ring Dorothy Newbury 0181 203 0950)

Monday October 4 – Walk with Mary O’Connell

Saturday October 9 – Minimart

NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY DAYS – Saturday 24th, Sunday 25th JULY

To celebrate National Archaeology Days, HADAS will be returning to Church Farmhouse Museum grounds for a Training Weekend. Two new trenches will be opened to extend our knowledge of the ditch feature that we excavated in 1993 and 1996, which runs parallel to the churchyard. Members with digging experience will be asked to pair with first-timers, under the direction of their trench supervisor. ‘Trainees’ will be instructed in excavating and recording methods, and a finds processing team will be at work on site during the weekend, with visitors offered the chance to participate.

A selection of finds from HADAS excavations in the Church End locality will be displayed in Church Farmhouse Museum and a resume of the Church Farmhouse digs to date will be available on site. Demonstrations of surveying and resistivity testing will be given on both days so, if you always wanted to try it yourself, please come along. We are hoping to generate some outside interest – the event will be publicised in Barnet libraries and, hopefully, in the local press. The success of the weekend depends on our members committing to one or two days so that we can complete the excavation to time, with new excavators gaining experience, and Barnet borough residents have the opportunity to see what we do.

TIMETABLE:

Friday 23rd – surveying in the grid and laying out

grid, de-turfing trench one.

Saturday 24th

9am Diggers report to get equipment set up

9.3Oam Open to visitors/external participants

1 0.30am Surveying demonstration

11.00am Finds processing table open to visitors

11.30am Resistivity demonstration
I pm – 2pm Lunch

2.3Opm Surveying demonstration 3.3Opm Resistivity demonstration 5pm Close

Sunday 25th –

9.30am Diggers report to get equipment set up

10am Open to visitors/external participants

1pm – 2pm Lunch

2.30pm Surveying demonstration 3.30pm Resistivity demonstration

The editor of ‘Current Archaeology’, aka HADAS Chairman Andrew Selkirk, will be visiting site on Sunday afternoon.

5pm Close.

Monday 26th

9am Complete recording, backfill trenches.

WE NEED • our experienced diggers • pot washers, ‘old hands’ from previous Hendon digs,
anyone who knows a probe from a ranging rod, someone to make the tea??? (We’ll be lucky)

a couple of stewards – the press gang – armed with charm, facts and application forms

site photographer • visitors – come along in the afternoons to encourage the troops

fitness freaks required to back fill trenches on the Monday morning!

SIGN UP NOW!
CALL OUR FIELDWORK CO-ORDINATOR BRIAN WRIGLEY ,

A VISIT TO HIGHGATE CEMETERY by Stewart J. Wild

Highgate West Cemetery is a gem. It isn’t a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it ought to be. Seventeen acres of North London hillside, laid out on a private estate 160 years ago, are now the permanent home of thousands of the great and good of the Victorian era, plus a few later arrivals from more recent times. Some of the splendid funerary monuments, saved from decay and in many cases restored, are Grade 1 listed, undergrowth has been stopped from becoming overgrowth, trees and creepers have been trimmed and wild flowers have been planted to encourage the butterflies and the Victorian atmosphere.

On a lovely Spring evening at the end of April some two dozen HADAS members gathered in Swains Lane for a guided tour. We were lucky that one of our guides was Mrs Jean Pateman MBE, Chairman of the Friends of Highgate Cemetery, an organisation founded in 1975 to rescue and care for the cemetery when the owning company gave up. Mrs Pateman and her colleagues, nearly all volunteers, have done a magnificent job over almost 25 years to raise funds, maintain the cemetery and keep it going as an important part of our heritage and a living memorial to the dead.

Mrs Pateman was ably assisted by her Vice-Chairman Mrs Yuille who shared the guiding duties. We entered through the gates of the two brick chapels – whose architecture has been described as Undertakers’ Gothic – and, after an introductory talk, climbed the hillside. It’s amazing how different each grave and its accompanying monument, heavy with symbolism, can be; we saw stone wreaths, truncated columns, heavenly angels, upturned torches, carved effigies, and representations of things the deceased enjoyed in life, like a cricket bat, a musical instrument or an adored pet.

One monument, complete with whip and horn, commemorated James Selby (1843-88), a noted coachman who covered the 108 miles from London to Brighton and back again in a record-breaking seven hours and fifty minutes, then died of exposure. Other notable tombs included those of Charles Spencer (1837-90), an early hot-air balloonist; Gabriele Rossetti (1783-1854), poet, scholar and London University professor; Thomas Sayers (1826-65), a noted bare-knuckle prizefighter whose dog, frozen in stone, still guards his master’s grave; and famous scientist Michael Faraday (1791-1867), the genius who discovered electro-magnetism.

We proceeded along Egyptian Avenue, between splendid mausolea whose heavy doors protected the mortal remains of some of Queen Victoria’s most eminent subjects. We saw the Columbarium, not for pigeons, but a part of the Circle of Lebanon with niches to hold cinerary urns. The conservation of the Lebanon Circle, which gets its name from the 350-year-old cedar tree which towers above it, cost a fortune, was partly funded by English Heritage, and recently won a Europa Nostra award.

Close to the rear of St. Michael’s church, at one of the highest points in London, we peeped into the colossal mausoleum of financier Julius Beer (1836­1880), once owner of The Observer, and of his half-mad family. The German-born magnate had his memorial designed to resemble the tomb of King Mausolus in Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Descending the hill, we saw the more recent graves of actor Patrick Wymark (1926-70) and of polymath Jacob Bronowski (1908-74). There was just time to cross the road to the East Cemetery to view the memorials to novelist George Eliot (1819-80) and to Highgate’s best known resident, Karl Marx (1818-83). He’d surely be happy to know how well his last resting place and its surroundings are cared for today. So ended an enjoyable and educative visit: once again our thanks to Dorothy Newbury for the organisation.

INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY – CHIMNEYS

A group, organised by Vikki O’Connor, is taking a new look at the industrial archaeology, particularly that of the 19th century, in the Borough. The aim is to produce a publication to celebrate the HADAS ruby anniversary (and correctly), the millenium in 2001.

One way of identifying a factory is by a chimney and we would urge all members to look out for factory chimneys and to let Vicki (0181 361 1350) or Bill Firth (0181 455 7164) know about them. Do not be alarmed, we will not ask you to do more than report the chimney and its location. the group will do the research. Please do not hold back because you think a chimney has already been reported. We would rather have multiple reports than none.

You will also be doing the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society a favour by contributing to their London wide chimney survey. Bill Firth

SECRETARY’S CORNER

The last meeting of the Committee took place on 8 June. Matters of over­riding importance will doubtless be referred to elsewhere in this Newsletter but the following general items may be of interest:‑

The increased publicity about the Society and its activities has generated more enquiries and applications for membership. Tim Wilkins has been responsible for the publicity and for placing posters in libraries, press contacts and other means. A revised leaflet about the Society is in an advanced state of preparation. Steps have been taken to improve the presentation and layout of the Newsletters.

Barnet has convened a meeting to consider the future management of Avenue House at which the Society will be represented. Our lease for the Garden Room comes up for renewal at the end of the year.

The following appointments were confirmed:

Membership Secretary and Research: Vicki O’Connor; Field Work: Brian Wrigley; Site Watching: Myfanwy Stewart; Publications: Andrew Selkirk; Publicity: Tim Wilkins; Newsletter and Programme: Dorothy Newbury with June Porges; Librarian and Archivist: Roy Walker Call posts except the last include ‘Co-ordinator’ in their titles – Edl. Denis Ross

MILLENIUM ACTIVITIES

Barnet Council is planning to mark the event. It would like to hear of any activities planned by the voluntary sector. (Contact: BVSC, 1st Floor, Hertford Lodge, East End Road, N3 3QE) (The Archer May 1999)

USEFUL WEB SITES

Historical Manuscripts Commission – http://www.hme.gov.uk

Human mummification – Egypt to Peru

The Bloomsbury Summer School of University College, London, ran a study day on May 15th on Human. Mummification – from Egypt to Peru.

The first presenter was Ms. Roxie Walker, a Director of the Bioanthropology Foundation, the Sponsor of the new Galleries of Egyptian Funerary Archaeology in the British Museum. She used a selection of case studies to emphasise the goal of funerary archaeology as showing how the peoples at the time lived their lives, and what can be determined about their health and medical practices.

Ms. Walker was followed by Dr. Sonia Guillen, Director of the Centro Mallaqui, Peru, who gave an astonishing presentation of mummification practices from several ancient Peruvian peoples.

The Chinchorra, who lived 10,000 – 4,000 years ago in the coastal plains near Peru’s border with Chile, practised mummification by natural means, using the dry desert and its naturally occurring salts. However they also removed the skin from the body, removed all the soft tissues and flesh, strengthened the skeleton with wooden rods, refilled the body with clay and fabric, and replaced the skin. These ‘remade mummified bodies they then placed up-standing on a frame to take their place in society.

The Chiribaya, lived 1000 years ago in the desert and also used natural mummification from the dryness and desert salts. They wrapped the bodies in mummy bags made from exquisitely decorated fabrics which were then buried with foods and everyday artefacts. Much evidence is being lost as the remains are robbed by looters, and sadly, as Peru is a poor country trying to develop its industrial wealth, they are also at risk from industrial and infrastructure development.

The Chachapaya, also from 1000 years ago, lived in the Andes, near the border with Equador. Many tomb sites were recently found around a magnificent lake. One tomb alone had 219 mummies in, but only 3 intact as the result of looters. Another 19 tomb sites were found in the same district, but when the news reached Lima, despite the remote and inaccessible location, tourists started arriving wanting to their pictures taken next to the mummies. This again highlights the problems of needing to blend the demands of archaeology and wealth creation, in this case tourism, especially in under-developed areas. As the local village headman said “there’s no money in archaeology for us, but there’s lots in tourism” Also the news brought more looters – one tomb site when they got to it had been completely cleared by looters who had flown in by helicopter. The Chachapaya mummies were mummified naturally, but when the region was conquered by the Inca, they took over the same tomb sites and also used them for storing mummies – this time mummified by extremely effective methods, such that the Spanish described them as being completely life-like. There are Spanish engravings of the mummies being carried through the villages on ceremonial occasions.

After the lunch break, during which there was a special opening of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, Dr. Joann Fletcher, Lecturer in Egyptology at the Centre for Extra-Mural studies at the University of London, continued, fresh from her successful TV programme on mummies in the Canary Islands. She examined in more detail the decoration of both the Chiribaya and Egyptian mummies, especially the information they give about how hair was used and decorated in these cultures. She also looked at body tattoos – the Chiribaya liked having frogs tattoed on their thumbs and she got very excited about head lice – one of the Chiribaya was found so full of lice that the resultant infection and blood loss could well have been the cause of death. This has also been found in a pre-dynastic Egyptian mummy.

Finally Dr. John Taylor reviewed the concept and content of the new Roxie Walker galleries in the British Museum, which were then opened for a private viewing after the formal lectures were completed. Tim Wilkins

OLDEST CHARITY IN THE UK?

The Finchley charities of Wilmot Close in East Finchley was established in 1488 and may be one of the oldest in the country. (The Archer May 1999)

BARNET LOCAL ARCHIVISTS

Members will be interested to learn that the following posts have been advertised recently in the professional press – ‘Local Studies and Heritage Officer’ and ‘Archivist’ both for 18 hours pw. (Library Association Record Vacancies Supplement March 1999

LOCAL NEWSPAPERS SAVED

The Local Newspapers in Peril project has netted the largest preservation grant ever made in the UK from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The most fragile newspapers dating between 1800 – 1950 will be microfilmed, readers will be placed in libraries throughout the UK and there will be information on the Internet on library holdings. (Library Association Record May 1999)

SUMMER DIGS

SIGNOR ROMAN VILLA, near Arundel, West Sussex (July and August)

Archaeology and field courses. Five day, two-day and one-day training courses suitable for beginners and for the more experienced (contact: Mrs, Maltby, University College, London, Field Archaeology Unit, 1 West St., Ditchling, Hassocks, West Sussex. BNE 8TS (Tel: 01273 845497 Fax: 273 8441873

e-mail: fau@ucl.ac.uk) (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/fau)

CYPRUS, Pyrgos tis Reginas, The Queen’s Tower, Akamas peninsula, West Cyprus

The University of Wales will begin excavation at this archaeological site this summer. There will be some thirty students working on the site under the direction of the site director. John Howells, Head of the Department of Archaeology, and of the site manager, Dr. Paul Croft, a professional archaeologist resident in Cyprus. The site is almost certainly a medieval monastic community, but there are possibilities of much earlier finds being made in the area. “Paying guests” to work alongside the students would be welcomed; Heritage Participation Ltd (Archaeological and Heritage Tourism), in cooperation with the Cypriot Tourist Office and their “Agra Tourism!’ initiative have organised transport and accommodation at the Amarakos Inn at Kato Akourdia, a family run hotel with a pool and “wonderful home cooking”. Other accommodation is available, also visits or staying in other parts of the island. Work would start early in the morning with the afternoons free for relaxation or further explorations. There is one week minimum stay. (Further details from Heritage Participation Ltd„ The Old Post House, Leashaw, Holloway, nr. Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 5AT (Tel 01629 534072, Fax 01629 5344332, E-mail: hpldigs @ hotmail. cam)

IT’S NOT ALL DISNEY (A short stay in Northern Florida)

I have just returned from a trip to the United States, during which I visited a dig in the oldest city in America, St Augustine, on the north-eastern seaboard of Florida. A team of local archaeological society volunteers were working under the direction of the City Archaeologist, excavating an urban site prior to development – a not-unfamiliar scenario! They worked in much the way that we do, of course, trenching, platting, recording by drawing and black-and-white photography plus colour transparencies. All spoil is sieved (‘screened’ as they term it there) immediately after the trowel work, in fact the screens are positioned right next to the trenches so that trowelled finds can be immediately related to micro-finds which may have escaped the eye of the excavator. The terrain is all sand, unlike our soil in which we can usually detect changes in soil-type, colour and texture. Nevertheless, they have taught themselves to recognise such differences which can quickly disappear in the heat (it was 91°F), as the moisture evaporates. They mark the outline of stratigraphic colour differences with lines of nails, linked to each other with a brightly-coloured cord to form a continuous line thus recording the soil ‘event’ .

The finds were mostly 16th and 17th century European pottery from the days of the earliest settlers – (St Augustine was founded by the Spanish in 1585) – so there was Spanish majolica ware, English blue-on-white ware, and some Dutch and Rhine ware sherds.

They were especially proud of their most spectacular find – the flint-lock mechanism of a (British) ‘Brown Bess’ musket.

Whilst in Florida, I crossed over the state to the Gulf of Mexico coast on the west, to visit the Crystal River State Archaeological site in Citrus County. This six-mound complex covers about 14 acres and is considered to be one of the longest, continually occupied sites in Florida, dating from about 200BC to AD1400. Various culture groupings have been identified there with successive occupations becoming increasingly concerned with ceremonialism, involving cremation burials, the manufacture of grave goods, tomb construction and chiefdom societies. There are are large, rectangular, pyramidal and flat-tapped temple mounds constructed primarily of oyster shell and earth. The largest of these is Temple Mound A which is 30 feet in height with a base 182 feet long and 100 feet wide with a ramp 80 feet long and 21 feet wide. In shape and size this form of structure has similarities to the monumental stone temples and palaces of the Mesoamerican cultures like the Olmec and the Maya of the Yucatan peninsula, with the painted and stamped pottery of both areas showing a resemblance to each other. Also, there are two limestone stelae, or carved ceremonial stones, standing in situ at Crystal River which, according to one authority, form the back-sights for a giant calendar created by the orientation of the mounds with the function of marking solstices, equinoxes and north-south alignments-of the stars – in other words. a primitive solar observatory. Shades of Stonehenge! Altogether, a most interesting and thought-provoking short trip which I would thoroughly recommend to any society members who are looking for somewhere a little different to visit.

JACK GOLDENFELD

SUMMER READING

BERMONDSEY AND ROTHERHITHE PERCEIVED: a descriptive account of two riverside localities, with historical notes and engravings, contemporary photographs and drawings. Compiled and written by Peter Marcan. Peter Marcan Publications, PO Box 3158, London, SE1 4RA (0171 357 0368) price £9.95 plus £1.50 p&p

GREENWICH MARSH; the 300 years before the Dome; the industrial and natural background. By local historian/industrial archaeologist Mary Mills. With details of ships, big guns, barges, steam engines, tide mill, and ‘the biggest gasholder in the world’. Copies available from: M. Wright, 24 Humber Road, London, SE3 7LT (0181 858 9482) price £9.95 including p&p.

VISIONS OF SOUTHWARK: a collection of nineteenth and twentieth century pictures and photographs by Lesley McDonald, with historical notes and descriptive imaginative writing. Peter Marcan Publications, PO Box 3158, London, SE1 4RA (0171 357 0368) price £9.95 plus £1.20 p&p

EVENTS ELSEWHERE

JEWISH MUSEUM, 80 East End Road, London, N3 2SY (0181 349 1143)

— Till 7 November 1999 – Exhibition. Behind the scenes at the Museum

— Sunday 25 July and 22 August 10.15am – Walking tour of the Jewish East End

KENWOOD. A programme of informal guided walks has been advertised by the Kenwood Visitor Information Centre. The walks will start outside the Mansion Cottage and must be booked in advance by phone (0171 973 3893) cost £2 includes hot drink in the Restaurant.

— Wednesday 14 July 10am – lecture and walk: Heath invertebrates, butterflies and other bugs. Ray Softly of the London Natural History Museum

— Sunday 25 July llam – guided walk of the estate by an Estate Ranger

— Wednesday 18 August 7.30pm – evening lecture and guided walk of the estate by an Estate Ranger

NEW DISCOVERIES-NEW INSIGHTS

It is received wisdom that the Neanderthals did not contribute to the development of Cro-Magnon man but ran parallel until they disappeared. New evidence has come to light which challenges this view. The skeleton of a young boy found in Portugal, shows distinct features of both the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon. As the Telegraph has it reporting the find, the two strains “made love not war”!!Joking apart, if there is inter­breeding it can be interpreted to challenge the long held “Out of Africa” theory that the early humans evolved in Africa before moving north and west to displace the Neanderthals without mingling. No doubt the new approach will give rise to much discussion.

The mummified bodies of three children have been discovered in NW Argen­tine at 22,000 feet. The richness and variety of grave goods have been wonderfully preserved in the dry cold. The completeness of the evidence throws light on the religious practices of the INCA some 500 years ago. They were then the most powerful civilisation in the Americas. It is thought that the altitude of the burials indicates sacrifice to the mountain gods. There is no evidence of violent killing; rather it is believed the children were drugged and buried while in a stupor, but still alive. Although the finds were made some five years ago, the team kept secret their importance until able to secure the site. They hope for a major advance in knowledge of the cultural and political context of the burials.

(Science)

Nearer home, an unsuspected and uniquely untouched site outside Swindon has revealed what is probably a large Roman religious complex. English Heritage have paid nearly £ 1 min to buy out an intending developer.

This a very large purchase for them, reflecting the importance placed on the site. Testing with keyhole bores is in line with EH’s intention to move slowly, and in the greatest detail, taking years rather than months to develop the dig. (Times)

HADAS DIARY

Saturday 12 June- OUTING Penshurst Place, Lullingstone Roman Villa

and Eynsford Castle with Mickys Cohen & Watkins

Saturday 17 JULY OUTING Gloucestershire with Tessa Smith &Sheila

Woodward

Saturday l4 August- OUTING West Stow & Framlingham(Sflk)with Bill Bass

HADAS LONG WEEKEND Portsmouth &Isle of Wight SEPTEMBER 3,4&5.

WE NEED A FEW MORE MEMBERS WHY NOT JOIN, BRING A FRIEND?

Mary O’CONNELL advises SPITALFIELDS SITE opens Mon-Fri12-2pm (no Sat)

Suns 10-4pm

Sunday 25 July SPECIAL TOUR-1pm. Booking advised

EXCAVATION SECRETARY’S CORNER

SITE WATCHING ON LOCAL WATER-COURSES Brian Wrigley

Newsletter 336 contained 03) an item on the notification to us by the Environment Agency of proposed dredging of the Silk Stream at Colindale, and our request to be allowed to observe and record any features of archaeological interest. We have now had notifications of similar work on Pymmes Brook, and on Dollis Brook at Finchley Bridge.

Our most recent information is that the Silk Stream and Pymmes Brook works are at present “on hold” so we have to await further news. The Dollis Brook works, I am

told, will possibly start about September, and I should of course be glad to hear from any Members who would be available to help with observation.

Another scheme we have notice of is a Silk Stream Flood Alleviation Scheme which involves considerable earth-moving work in various areas. The ‘Environmental Assessment
Scoping Consultation’ we have received includes reference to possible archaeological investigations and we shall be in consultation and co-operation with English Heritage’s Advisory Officer over this. There seems to be widespread consultation on environmental issues and it may be some time before we know when the work will be likely to start, but meanwhile I should be glad to hear from any Members who would be interested to help in any archaeological work which may fall to us.

HADAS AGM 1999

Our new President, Dr. Ann Saunders, ably chaired the AGM with her usual efficiency and good humour. The Chairman gave his report, and in the absence of the Hon. Treasurer on

holiday in the Bay of Naples (groans of envy from the audience!) he also presented the

accounts which were duly approved by the meeting.

All the nine Vice-Presidents were confirmed in office, and the Officers and ten members of the

Committee who had offered themselves for re-election were duly elected.

We were then able to move onto the more entertaining part of the evening when reports were given on the activities of the Society over the past year.

Andy Simpson gave a briefer version of the talk, with slides, which he recently gave to the Finchley Society on the history of HADAS over the last ten years.

Vicky O’Connor talked about the field walking on Brockley Hill. Funded by English Heritage this included training sessions in surveying and pottery identification. There have been many weeks of finds processing and analysis, which will continue for some time and helpers are always welcome. Roy Walker spoke about the future work on surveying the ditch on East Heath. This Anglo-Saxon boundary encloses land granted to Westminster Abbey by Ethelred in 986. The HADAS survey was started in Kenwood and will continue across the Heath.

Brian Wrigley, the Fieldwork Secretary, then outlined proposed interests for the next ten years,

including the Hampstead Heath continuing survey and watching the activities of the Water Board. They have a large programme for dredging the Silk Stream and Dollis Brook. He

appealed for ideas on work which could be undertaken by the Society. Many thanks to the President and to the Speakers for an enjoyable AGM.

Hendon and District Archaeological Society Chairman’s Reports 11th May 1999

HADAS has enjoyed another successful year, with membership just exceeding the 300 mark.

The most notable project undertaken by HADAS over the past year has been a field walking exercise carried out at Bury Farm, Brockley Hill in the scheduled area which took place over the weekends at the cad of August 1998. English Heritage gave scheduled monument consent on condition that we received training and instruction from professional archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaeology Service. We are very grateful to Fiona Seale), and her colleagues for helping us lay out the site and identify the Roman pottery. English Heritage gave us a grant to cover the professional fees. Since then the working party has been fully engaged in its Sunday sessions in marking and quantifying the pot and in the process learning a lot about Roman pottery.

The lectures and outings continued to flourish and we are very grateful to June Porges for organising a stimulating lecture • session. The highlight of the outings was the three day trip to Bristol, organised once again by Dorothy Newbury on the 3rd to 6th September.

A major event for the Society is always the Minimart which happily turns a fund raising event into a happy social occasion: It was held this year on 10th October and raised nearly 4.1500, a record.’ Once again our grateful thanks are duc to Dorothy Newbury and her helpers for its success.

The Newsletter continued to appear under its roster of editors which resulted in a wide range of styles and typefaces and indeed different colours. At the last meeting the committee resolved that one of the issues in the late Spring should be enlarged to form the HADAS Journal in which all the work done by our Society or concerned with archaeology in the Borough of Barnet in the past year should be brought together.

The Publicity and Publications Committees have been active and the publication of the revised edition of our Blue Plaques book entitled, Commemorative Plaques – People, and Places in the London Borough of Barnet, by Joanna Cordon and Liz Holliday has been scheduled for early in 2,000. Gill Baker generously left the society L1,00 in her will, and this has been earmarked towards the cost of this new book. A new publicity leaflet has also been produced thanks to Tim Wilkins.

Finally, I should record the sad death of one of our Vice-Presidents, Ted Sammes, on- November 7th -1998. Ted was one of the founder Members of the Society and directed two of the early excavations in Hendon at The Burroughs and more particularly at Church Terrace, the latter of which was published in one of our booklets, Pinning Down the Past: Finds front a Hendon Dig. He also wrote a book for Shire Publications,: South Eastern England in their Discovering Regional- Archaeology series. Ted was a cereal scientist by profession and shortly before his retirement he moved to Maidenhead. In his will he generously left the residuary estate to be divided between the Maidenhead Archaeological Society and HADAS, and in the coming year we will have to decide how best to forward the interests of archaeology with the help of this valuable bequest.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the members of the committee who have given us once again such a successful .year. In particular I should like to thank Denis Ross, our new secretary, for throwing himself in the task with such vigour; to Micky O’Flynn who manages the accounts with such quiet efficiency; and in particular to Vikki O’Connor who performs the thankless but vital task of Membership Secretary. Above all I would like to thank Dorothy Newbury, now our Vice President, for all she does for the Society, for organising the Minimart, masterminding and printing the Newsletter and masterminding and herself arranging many of our excursions, and the Christmas Dinner. I must not forget Brian Wrigley, who organises the working party and deals with most of the legal and planning side and represents us on many bodies, and who, with his wife Joan, makes our committee meetings so comfortable. Our thanks to you all.

APRIL LECTURE REPORT

In his second lecture to HADAS on the Thames Archaeological Survey (TAS), Mike Webber concentrated on the educational aspects rather than detailed site reporting. TAS has created public awareness of the river’s resources, partly through organising walks and talks and partly through national press coverage which has been slanted towards human interest rather than artefacts. The finding of a baton-shaped object last September led to Press headlines proclaiming ‘the first cricket bat’ . Mike admitted that a more cautious interpretation would be a tool to kill fish caught in traps or a flax beater. Although English Heritage weren’t amused by the press headlines, Mike found justification when he

learned that a full classroom session at Stoke-on-Trent had produced some colourful pictures of the object with alternative uses. The foreshore project has fostered public involvement through the open events, hands-on and feet-in. School parties are encouraged to visit and the children are enthused by the things they pick up and by the variety of wildlife they observe. Their perception of the Thames is changed by their experience, from seeing the Thames as dirty and boring they come to realise it is fascinating and possibly the cleanest capital city river in the world. Although archaeology does not feature in the National Curriculum, the Thames survey does connect through geography, geology, social and environmental sciences and history.

The objectives of the survey, as expressed at their Archaeology of the Thames Foreshore conference last year, have been fulfilled. The baseline archaeological survey of the tidal Thames from Teddington

to Greenwich actually went further, at no extra cost, to include Rainham and Erith.

Through the survey activity Londoners were able to access their archaeological heritage, students and several local societies participated – giving their members the opportunity to learn and practice a range of new skills. TAS raised awareness of the potential of the foreshore as a resource, it is now on the agenda of planners, politicians and businessmen.

Mike highlighted some of their archaeological discoveries and latest interpretations. At Erith a submerged forest is suffering erosion, the area is the subject of study by PhD student Sophie Seal who has labelled 600 trees to date, sampling for species and felling age. Also, seeds which are buried in the sand and mud need to be researched further. Comparative study of trackways, such as at Beckton, may link them with felling in the Erith forest. Stone axes found at Erith are now (obviously) a product of forest management and not, as previously described, ‘ritual objects’.

The 3-year survey completed at the end of May 1999, and to Mike and his team’s credit, held to budget. (Perhaps they should have worked on the Jubilee Line extension or built the British Library instead?).

We were grateful to Mike Webber for agreeing to talk to us at very short notice, as our scheduled speaker had double-booked our date, and we look forward to a third visit…

Vikki O’Connor

MEMBERSHIP NEWS

Michael Holton writes to Dorothy Newbury:‑

“As a Geographer I have always admired the work of of HADAS and joined it hoping to support it. Alas I have too many irons in the fire but the Newsletter became a most enjoyable, informative and continuous

source. The membership is very good at writing up and interpreting events and the team at publishing results. One gets a clear picture of what is afoot over a very wide area of interest. A lot of effort.

My current chief task is to research the story of the Garden Suburb during the last war. I have been surprised at how much information there is still around mainly social history, though some of which has an archaeological aspect – though the physical remnants are now mainly below ground.”

Dorothy suggests if any member has anything to tell or any photos about the garden Suburb during the last war, I am sure Mr Holton would be pleased to know.

Dorothy would like to take this opportunity of thanking the Editors and Contributors for their hard work on behalf of members, and says she receives many letters of appreciation.

CONGRATULATIONS to Stewart Wild for winning the Telegraph competition

“Where is it?” in May. Readers are asked to identify a mystery photo -what the object is and where located not easy with a minimum of clues. THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME…

Several HADAS members were working on finds at the Garden Room on Sunday 10th May and as it was a sunny day they were working outside. Around mid-day a St John’s Ambulance lady approached us asking if this was the right day for the Church End Festival ‑

there being no sign of any activity in the park other than the usual kids, bikes and dogs. We hadn’t seen any notices around but we believed this was the right date and very soon people began to arrive, dragging trestles, bags and boxes to the lawns. Not one to miss the chance of a sale, Andy Simpson quickly set up our display board next to where we were working and improvised a sales point with the projector stand. When we called it a day at around

3.30pm, Andy had sold £25-worth of HADAS publications and may even have recruited a new member or two.

BROWSERS’ CORNER

Barnet Conservation Volunteers have published their 1999 task programme targeting Arrandene Open Space, Mill Hill; Totteridge Fields

nature reserve; Moat Mount Open Space, Mill Hill; and Hadley Green. IM s not archaeology but you do get the fresh air! For more information, visit their Web Site at: http://www.aborigine.demon.co.uk/bcv/

London Borough of Barnet is also now contactable on the Web (anyone care to test this?) www.barnet.gov.uk

SPITALFIELDS – Web site for information on the excavations: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/sdg.htm

RETIREMENT NOTICE

Henry Roots, veteran of the Hendon anti-squirrel league has hung up his hunting claws. His bemused ‘owner’, Gerrard, (if anyone can claim to own a cat!), says that Henry has learned to live at peace with the wildlife around Church Farmhouse Museum – a complete change of character. This is the animal who, on more than one occasion, deposited a verminous beastie in the Roots’ bath. The new persona seems to coincide with the broken tail event reported in HADAS newsletter 323, although there are other possibilities. Could he have been converted by a vision of a deceased squirrel in the churchyard? Has he become a vegan? Is he worried about pollution in the food chain, or genetically-modified rats? Does this mean the Museum will have to recruit a new pest controller? Take your NOMINATIONS along to Church Farmhouse Museum at the top of Greyhound Hill, NW4, when next you visit…

Farm Museum.

The current display at the Museum, “A Century of Bears’, finishes on 6th June and will be followed by an exhibition on the origins and history of the St John’s Ambulance Brigade – opening on 26th June.

An exhibition on Haunted Barnet (Borough) is being planned for the autumn. Anyone with material/suggestions/anecdotes to offer should contact the Gerrard Roots, Curator at Church Farmhouse Museum, on 0181-203 0130.

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS

Barnet & District Local History Society

Wednesday 9 June, 8pm – Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road, High Barnet BDLHS Vice-President(and member of HADAS)Graham Javes will reveal his recent researches into the history of Chipping Barnet and its Market. (Donation requested from non-members.)

Enfield Archaeological Society have planned an ‘Air Raid Experience’ to be held for their members and friends at Millfield House, Enfield on Sunday 4th July, with tours of a large communal shelter between 11am and 5pm. Details of their society from Geoffrey Gillam, 0181 367 0263.

HADAS DIARY

Tuesday 9th March Sam Moorhead — Letters, curses and the landed gentry in

Roman Britain

Tuesday 13th April Eric Robinson — Archaeology of local building materials

Tuesday 11th May
HADAS AGM

The Royal Exchange by Roy Walker

Our January lecture was delivered by our recently appointed President, Ann Saunders. Ably qualified to speak on a range of topics, her theme that evening was The Royal Exchange, and we benefited from Ann’s wide-ranging, in-depth knowledge of history and archaeology, coupled with the entertaining addition of anecdotes and insights into the lives of the associated characters. Her own involvement with the Royal Exchange began in 1989 when its Curator/Keeper telephoned to ask if she could research a 400 page book in eleven months! The Queen was to re-open the Exchange after refurbishment and the book would be needed by then. A publication was produced but Ann, having realised that the subject required a much broader approach, contacted thirty experts (including Ralph Merrifield) who agreed to contribute to a definitive history.

The story starts with Richard Gresham, Lord Mayor in 1538. He was impressed by the Bourse (the covered market) in Antwerp and requested Thomas Cromwell to obtain Henry VIII’s support for such a building to be constructed in the City of London. He was unsuccessful. Richard’s son, Thomas, working as his father’s representative in Antwerp was also impressed by The Bourse. Wars with Spain created trading difficulties in Europe which heightened the need for an Exchange in London. The death in 1654 of Thomas’s only son left no heir to the family name and Gresham then proposed that if the City provided the land he would build an Exchange, the income passing to his wife during her lifetime then to the City. This application was successful and an architect from Antwerp, Van der Paesschen, designed the first building which was opened in 1569. It was very basic -a courtyard with shops around. It was to have been called Gresham’s Exchange but following a visit by Elizabeth I in 1570 was renamed The Royal Exchange which did not please Sir Thomas! Gresham died in 1579 but had not left the Exchange solely to the City as promised. After his wife’s death, it passed jointly to the Mercers Company and The City provided that his own house in Broad Street was used as Gresham College.** His name was finally perpetuated – the College still operates today from Barnard’s Inn, High Holborn. This first Exchange was destroyed in the Great Fire but was rebuilt within three years, only to be destroyed by another fire in 1838. The third (and present) Exchange was designed by William Tite.

The lecture was enlivened by many interesting asides, most of which could have been the subject of lectures in their own right. For example, the portrait of Thomas Gresham held by the Mercer’s Company was the first full-length portrait of a commoner; part of the land compulsorily purchased for the construction of the third Exchange belonged to Charles Roach Smith, the Father of London’s Archaeology, who had been a thorn in the side of the City Corporation over their failure to respect the archaeology revealed during building works; the first Exchange was prefabricated in Antwerp – much to the annoyance of London’s workmen; William Tite published a book on the archaeology discovered during the excavation of the site, which led eventually to the formation of the Guildhall Museum.

The Royal Exchange is a building that I pass almost every day, but, since Ann’s lecture, I am now much more aware of the reasons for its existence and of the personalities that brought about its construction. And I eagerly await our President’s next lecture, hopefully in the not too distant future.

** Gresham College provides free hour-long, lectures on the topics of astronomy, divinity, geometry, law, music, physic, rhetoric and Commerce. For the lecture programme, contact Gresham College, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn, EC1N 2HH —0171 831 0575

Rescue Excavation at Saracen’s Head Yard, Holywell Hill, St Albans — 29th June to 17th July 1998 by Jack Goldenfeld

Following an evaluation prior to a redevelopment scheme, an excavation directed by Simon West, Field Archaeologist, was mounted by the St Albans Museum’s Archaeological Unit, in which I took part. The official part of the investigation is still being compiled, so this summary is merely a very brief and un-detailed overview of the project.

Structures

Walls dating to the 16th century and the Victorian circular drain more or less provide a bracketed time period for the site’s surviving structural remains. Also found were many medieval roof-tiles.

Features

There were a number of 12th/13th century pits and wells, and some possibly medieval post-holes. The pits and wells could only be excavated down to the level of 1.2 metres, the limit beyond which shoring up would have been required under current health and safety legislation. The expense involved, plus the limitations of the time-frame precluded going down any further

Finds

The pottery included 12th & 13th century wares, medieval grey wares, 17th and 18th century glazed and decorated wares, plus Victorian types. Two broken Saracen’s Head Inn glazed tankard pots with part of the name of the inn and a depiction of the Saracen’s Head were also found, one of which bore a date reading 177- (the last digit was missing). Three coins were found, the earliest of which was an issue of Henry VII (1490-1510), the two others being late 18th century issues of George II. There were, unsurprisingly, lots of bottles and bottle-glass fragments, also of late 18th century date and pieces of tobacco-pipe bowls and stems.

The best small find was a late Saxon bone thistle-head pin dated c.1000 AD, whilst the largest was the completely articulated skeleton of a horse that had died at a considerable age, probably after a lifetime of hard work. The back bones were fused and the lower limbs, which must have suffered injury at some time, showed signs of new bone growth. Arthritis was also present. The fact that Dobbin hadn’t been sent off to the knacker’s yard and that he had been formally buried might mean that he had been in service with his owner for quite some time and was affectionately regarded as almost a member of the family! During the very last minutes of the very last day, I came across a small tin quatrefoil-shaped belt or harness decoration in a

shallow pit that I was excavating – a fitting end to an interesting and enlightening, if all-too-short, archaeological episode.

(Jack joined HADAS in 1987 and has dug on many professional excavations with MoLAS, Bucks Archaeological Unit, and the St Albans Unit in the UK, also in France and the USA. He lectures on archaeology at West Herts College, and is a key member of our Avenue House finds processing team.)

Membership News Vikki O’Connor

We have had another boost to the membership numbers – Dr John Navas, Dominic and Maja Green, Philip Bailey and Yvonne Melnick have all signed up in

1999. Yvonne has already visited the Garden Room to see what we are up to – and was soon put to work marking up pottery! (No arms twisted, honest, guv!)

We are pleased to tell you that Marjorie Errington is back at home again after a spell in hospital, and we hope to see her at Avenue House and on summer outings again soon.

Obituary by Rosemary Bentley

PAT CALLAGHAN 1926-1999

Pat, a Canadian, loved London and settled in Golders Green with his Greek wife, Angela. They joined HADAS a year later, intrigued by our varied programme.

We met last September, at the start of the trip to Bristol, when I shared his ashtray.
After that, we pariahs, with our loyal spouses, stuck together. But one didn’t need an

excuse to speak to Pat, a teacher of literature, an accomplished musician, a collector
of paintings and a gently humorous humanist. As Vicki has said, he was a man who

knitted people together. He had had pneumonia, but his death on 21st January was unexpected. Listening to the funeral tributes from recent friends and a companion of

his youth come all the way from Canada, I was struck with a sense of loss. Not because of old memories, but for a rewarding friendship that might have been.

 

Site Watching

The Environment Agency have contacted HADAS, via Committee Member Brian Wrigley, notifying us of proposed ‘heavy maintenance in the form of dredging to …. the Silk Stream at Colindale, NW9’. Brian has replied suggesting that, as this

particular area does not fall within the Areas of Archaeological Significance noted on
the LB of Barnet’s Unitary Development Plan, sufficient archaeological coverage

might be provided by organised observation and recording of features of possible
archaeological interest which may be revealed by the works, and asking when they

will commence. Brian has also discussed this project with Robert Whytehead, the Borough’s archaeological adviser from English Heritage, to confirm that EH had no plans to undertake this work and that they support HADAS’s proposal.

We have been supplied with a copy of the Environment Agency’s location plan and will be contacting our members living close to the proposed works who may wish to participate. If you live a little further afield but are interested, please contact

Brian Wrigley 0181 959 5982 or Vikki O’Connor 0181 361 1350. (Brian noticed that, according to A Place in Time, a mammoth bone was found in this area a century ago!).

News from Bill Bass

 

During January, noted pottery specialist Jacqueline Pearce from Finds and Environmental Specialist Services paid a visit to both Barnet Museum and the HADAS archive at Avenue House. She is currently working on a monograph dealing with South Herts Greyware and local coarse wares, as part of a type-series of medieval pottery mainly found in the City of London. Jacqueline inspected a number of assemblages from sites such as Kings Road, Arkley, the ex-Victoria Maternity Hospital, Wood Street, Barnet, 19-29 Barnet High Street, and Church Farm Museum, Hendon. The meetings were useful, with an exchange of ideas and information on all sides.

On Thursday, 28th January, Andy Simpson gave an entertaining lecture to the Finchley Society at Avenue House about HADAS during the last ten years. He explained a range of our activities with excavations, including 1264 Whetstone High Road, The Forge Golders Green Road, and others mentioned above, fieldwalking at Brockley Hill, finds processing, exhibitions, publications and so forth. For some reason, most of the slides appeared to have a public house I them. A thirsty Andy then led a small contingent of HADAS members to the Queens Head for further research into this strange phenomenon. Late in January, earthmoving contractors in the Northampton area uncovered some stone footings and, being ‘Time Team’ watchers, they contacted the local archaeological unit who were maintaining a watching brief on the large site. The footings in fact turned out to be a hitherto unknown Roman villa — the most visible feature of which was part of the bath house complete with hypocaust pilae (part of the cold plunge bath was later rescued from the contractors’ spoil heap). Of two parallel trenches, one had evidence of at least two Iron Age roundhouse with Roman ditches cutting them. This trench was excavated immediately by the Northampton Unit as it had no planning condition (pre-PPG 16). The other trench contained most of the ‘front’ section of the villa, whilst this was not under immediate threat, the are needed to be rapidly exposed to ascertain the full extent of the structure. A call came through the archaeological grapevine for volunteers to help at very short notice. Thus Andy Simpson and myself found ourselves on site with 20 or so other volunteers from various other sources for a weekend’s digging on the recently discovered villa. The idea was to basically clean the mud left by the earthmoving with trowel, mattock and hoe down to the top of the pitched stone footing. Andy comments — “The villa seems to be of the classic winged corridor type with the bathhouse at one end and a channelled hypocaust in the centre of the main building. Deeper surviving foundations on the outside wall of the corridor suggest the building stood on a slight slope with a good view of the wide adjacent valley. The date of the building is suggested by 3rd century tile in the footings and pottery (including Nene Valley Ware) and coins covering the first to the fourth century, indicating occupation of the side throughout the Roman period.” By the end of the weekend, most of the main plan had been revealed so that the developers and English Heritage could decide what to do next. Funding was forthcoming to record what has been found so far and for geophysical work.

The Archaeology of the new Millennium Bridge — the first pedestrian bridge is being built across the Thames

Mike Webber, Co-ordinating Officer for the Thames Archaeological Survey is speaking at series of seminars and foreshore visits during March. Unfortunately, these are fully booked, but Mr Webber, who has lectured to us at Hendon, is trying to arrange a special visit for us in April. Will interested members please contact

Dorothy Newbury on 0181 203 0950. If a visit can be arranged, an application form will be included in the April Newsletter.

36th Annual Conference of London Archaeologists

Saturday, 20th March 1999 Museum of London Lecture Theatre

11.00 Chairman’s opening remarks and presentation of the Ralph Merrifield Award 11.10 Excavations at Atlas Wharf, Isle of Dogs (Bronze Age trackways and Thames flood defences) David Lakin, MoLAS

11.30 Excavations at Monument House, City (Roman culvert and Great Fire deposits (Ian Blair, MoLAS)

11.55 Excavations at Charter Quay, Kingston-upon-Thames (Medieval High Street and backland activity) Phil Andrews, Wessex Archaeology

12.20 Excavations at Blackfriars House, Fleet Valley (Fleet River reclamation and

17th century Bridewell burials) Catherine Kavanagh, AOC Archaeology

12.40 Excavations at Deptford Power Station, Deptford (Post-medieval ship building

and Trinity House almshouses) David Divers, Pre-Construct Archaeology 1.0 LUNCH (not provided, available in the café)

2.15 The Thames Archaeological Survey 1995-98: A review, Mike Webber, field Officer, Thames Archaeological Survey

2.45 An Archaeological Research Framework for the Greater Thames Estuary, John Williams, Kent County Council

3.15 Topographic modelling of the Thames flood plain, Martin Bates, University of Wales, Lampeter

3.45 TEA (provided)

4.30 Towards a Museum in docklands, Chris Ellmers, Museum in Dockands

5.0 Recent excavations at the Eton Rowing Lake, Tim Allen, Oxford
Archaeological Unit

HADAS will be providing a display of our recent work.

• Cost: £4.00 — enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope with your cheque

Ticket applications and general enquiries to: John Cotton, Early Department, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN

More Time Team programmes

Sunday 7th March: Kemerton, Worcs — significant Bronze Age settlement Sunday 14th March: Bawsey, Norfolk — hunt for ceremonial or religious site Sunday 21st March: Nevis, West Indies — search for evidence of the slave trade Sunday 28th March: Nevis (pt 2) — the culture of the Amer-Indians

Summer Activities

A course on ‘Ancient Crafts & Technology’ run by the University of Sussex, 26th 30th July J I at the Iron Age Activity Centre, Michelham Priory, covers pottery, metal and woodworking, textiles, building technologies and boat building. Fee £125
(concession £100). To enrol, phone Lisa Templeton on 01273 678527.

UCL Institute of Archaeology courses at Bignor Roman Villa offer training in Excavation Techniques (5 days £120), Surveying for Archaeologists (5 days £120 or 2 days £50), Archaeological Conservation (1 day £30), Planning and Section Drawing (2 days £50) and Timber-framed Buildings (2 days £65). The dates fall between 5th July and 15th August – full details from Mrs Sheila Maltby at the UCL Field Archaeology Unit in West Sussex, tel: 01273 845497.

The University of Oxford’s Department for Continuing Education (OUDCE) is offering two archaeology weekends:

19th- 21st March — Settlement and landscape in the mid- to late Bronze Age Britain

April — Understanding medieval towns.

Cost in a shared room – £115. Contact the Administrator, Day and Weekend Schools, OUDCE, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA — 01865 270 380

In conjunction with Distant Horizons, OUDCE has arranged a study tour of Norman Sicily from 6th-13th September, led by Trevor Rowley, author of Norman England. The price is £1,050 per person. Contact Daniel Moore, Distant Horizons, 4 Amherst Road, Manchester M14 6U0— 0161 225 5317.

Little known museum

The Scott Polar Research Institute Museum, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, open Monday to Saturday 2.30-4.00, admission free, was founded in 1920 as a memorial to Scott and his companions. Exhibitions include Shackleton’s photos, letters from Oates to his parents and from Wilson and Scott resigned to their deaths, snow shoes, skis, sledges, Eskimo and whaler carvings, geological finds — and specially designed food, for instance Huntley and Palmer’s “Antarctica” cream crackers.

HADAS DIARY

Tuesday 13th April Archaeology of Local Building Materials

Lecture by D r Eric Robinson – a geologist who has found some surprising use of local brick and stone since Saxon times. He will focus on St Mary’s Church

Thursday 29th April Visit to Highgate Cemetery with Stewart Wild

(application form enclosed )

Tuesday 11th May at 8.00 pm for 8.30

HADAS Annual General Meeting

followed by Talk and Slides on the Year’s Activities

Coffee and biscuits will be available as usual before the meeting

Saturday 12th June Outing to Penshurst Place, Lullingstone Roman Villa

and Eynsford Castle with Micky Cohen and Micky Watkins

Saturday 17th July Gloucestershire with Tessa Smith and Sheila Woodward

Saturday 14th August Suffolk with Bill Bass

NOTE CORRECTED DATES FOR JULY AND AUGUST OUTINGS

HADAS WEEKEND from Dorothy Newbury

Please accept my apologies. I have had numerous phone-calls re absence of a Weekend date. Now I know you would like one I will work on it. I have been trying our member Daphne Lorimer for a return visit to Orkney – no luck this year – should we try for the Millenium? It would be pricey. For this year how about Southampton University with visits in that area, and a day on the Isle of Wight? Jacky Brookes is getting me some information.

BARNET ARCHIVES

HADAS members know how important the Archives are to our local historians and archaeologists as well as to schools. We feel very much indebted to our two experienced local Archivists, Joanna Corden and Pamela Taylor (part-timers), who have hitherto been helped by a local studies librarian (full-time). Now Joanna Corden is leaving to become Archivist to the Royal Society, but it is a shock to hear that Pamela Taylor has resigned on account of the freezing of the librarian’s post which means a 50% cut in staffing.

We are glad to hear that the Council has agreed to provide temporary cover while advertising for a part-time librarian and a part-time archivist. It may be very difficult to fill these posts with well qualified people for salaries are less than for teachers. Moreover, the appointment of two part-timers will still leave one post unfilled. We must make the council unfreeze the other post as soon as possible. In any case, we will have lost all the experience and local knowledge that Joanna and Pam have been able to give us.

MEMBERS’ NEWS

Helen Gordon has fallen again and broken her fifth limb, but she is soldiering on and hopes to participate in some of our activities again soon.

Cyril Pentecost has phoned and I am sure all our outing regulars would love to have him join us again this summer.

Dr Reva Brown, our March Newsletter Editor, is now Professor Reva Brown. Congratulations and thanks for continuing as editor of one of our Newsletters. How about organising an archaeological trip in your area for year 2000? Derek Batten”s `Castle’ might be excavated by then.

TIME STOPS IN EAST BARNET JANET HEATHFIELD

As a resident of East Barnet I have become increasingly concerned about the state of disrepair of the clock tower situated on the roof of the parade of shops known as Clock House Parade in the centre of East Barnet village. The tower is in urgent need of painting before the wooden part of the structure deteriorates further.

According to the Victoria County History, in 1406 Thomas Dudman is recorded as paying rent to the Abbot of St Albans for a tenement known as Mendhams. He left the house to his daughter Agnes – she married William Rolfe of Chaseside.

In 1619 and 1654 there are further references to a house known as Dudmans.

In 1821 Dudmans had its name changed to the Clock House. It is reasonable to assume that a clock was erected about that time (not necessarily the present one). By 1900 a new front had been added to the Clock House. The photo from about that time shows the present clock tower in position on the roof of the house.

In 1926 the Clock House was pulled down and was replaced by a new parade. Fortunately, the clock tower was rescued and placed on the roof of the shops and until recently the clock kept good time. The mechanism was restored some years ago and the clock face is currently being refurbished by a local man.

All the beautiful old houses in East Barnet were pulled down to make way for housing development in the 1930s and the clock tower is one of the few remaining links the village possesses with its past.

I am in the process of getting the problem referred to English Heritage with a view to asking the owner to put repairs in hand. Local people are anxious that it should once again keep the time for the villagers. Has anyone any suggestions to offer as to the next step?

ARCHIVE CATALOGUE

IN MEMORY OF BRIGID GRAFTON GREEN

Most HADAS members know that our Society owes a great deal to the work of Brigid who died in 1991. She edited the Newsletters from 1970 for nearly twenty years, and was Hon. Secretary to the Society. She was deeply involved in the West Heath Excavation and she organised all our entertainments – Who will ever forget the Roman Banquet and Arabian Nights with all the authentic food?

Brigid was also the Founder of the Hampstead Garden Suburb Archive. She collected the material together, and was the Archivist from 1973 until her death. It has long been recognised that there should be a memorial to Brigid, but nothing suitable could be found . Now two grants of £1000 each from the Millie Apthorp Fund and from Barnet Council will reinforce the Trust’s funds and make it possible to produce a Catalogue of the Archive. The Archive Trust intends to dedicate the Catalogue to Brigid’s memory.

Most of the Archive is now housed in the London Metropolitan Archive, 40 Northampton Rd., Clerkenwell (0171-332 3820), where house plans, photographs and much written material can be seen – Please ring to make an appointment. Remaining in the Basement Room at the Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute is a small reference library, some duplicate photographs and tape recordings and many files of Suburb history. The Basement Room is usually open on Tuesday mornings during School terms – You are welcome to make a visit – please ring the Suburb Archivist, Mr Harry Cobb (0181- 458 3688)

The Archive is of national and international interest as well as of local importance, and the Catalogue when completed will be a fitting tribute to Brigid.

PAUL ROBERTS’ VILLA OF MYSTERY by PETER PICKERING

For our February lecture we had a return visit from Paul Roberts of the British Museum, telling us about his work at Forum Novum in the Sabine Hills as part of the Tiber valley project. Forum Novum was one of the small towns of Roman Italy – a type of settlement about which little is known. It was a very small town; though it had a forum with two temples, there did not seem to be many buildings other than public ones. Paul’s slides made it look an idyllic site, rural with Mount Soracte in the background. Forum Novum was important in early Christian times as the scene of two martyrdoms under the emperor Diocletian. The basilica was excavated in the 1970s, and the floor of the important romanesque church restored in 1990; Paul was scathing about both of these operations.

The British Museum’s team carried out a geophysical survey, using ground penetrating radar, found a huge villa, completely unknown hitherto – it came as a surprise to the local inhabitants. The outlines of the villa were very clear, but the team’s hopes of finding fine mosaics and wall plaster were dashed. The remains of the walls, only a short way below the surface of the ground, were bare, and over most of the area there was no rubble and very few artefacts of any sort; one corner of the courtyard, and a drain, however, were rich in finds. But the finds were from centuries later than the building itself, which dated from the time of the emperor Nero. What the excavators had at first thought was a drain proved wider than would have been expected, and had pots built into its walls – perhaps it was a fishpond for the production of eels, a Roman delicacy.

The mystery is why so little was left of what had been a huge villa. The excavators considered and rejected the idea that it had been comprehensively demolished; no clearance could have been as thorough as this must have been. The most likely solution is that the villa was never finished. Was it being built for a rich and important senator who fell from imperial favour in the troublous times of the emperor Nero, and vanished from the scene?

Perhaps further investigations will reveal more. And perhaps Paul will come back to tell us more about his mystery.

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, Epidaurus, 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 second millennium BC as can be seen from the fabulous gold objects – including the gold mask of Agamemnon – now 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. 1 visited the house – now a hotel – in which he lived in Mycenae and was honoured to sign the Distinguished Visitors Book in the name of NADAS!

Like Epidaurus, 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 1500 drachma, 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 traversing a large ramp there is an exhausting and rough climb – no English Heritage type path

or handrail – to the summit (912ft ) the early part of the way bordered by walls made up of blocks of stone that weigh as much as 20 tons and are 26ft 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’ 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 treasure 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 at 120 tons. The vault itself is an amazing beehive structure built of thirty three courses of ashlar masonry (again no mortar ) reaching a height of 76ft. 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.

ARCHAEOLOGY VS. SYCAMORES

Our member Derek Batten writes that life at Castle Mount is not all plain sailing. You may remember that Derek now lives in Northamptonshire and bought this 800 year old Norman castle with the intention of excavating it. At present the castle is covered with a great many shrubs and trees – 130 trees in all – and Derek wants to cut down 10 sycamore trees before they damage the 11 metre high ramparts any further. In this he is backed by English Heritage. The Villagers are fighting to protect the trees, fearing that they may all be cut down, and led by the chairman of Grafton Regis parish meeting they have sent a 60-signature petition to the planners. Derek hopes the Time Team may get interested in the Castle. Would this turn all the village into keen archaeologists?

OLDER THAN WE THOUGHT

The methods used to calculate age from skeletal and dental remains have recently been challenged by scientists working at Leeds and Bradford Universities. They think that we have systematically underestimated age at death. This may explain why there is a great difference between scientific and documentary evidence of age. For instance analysis of skeletons suggested that life expectancy in Ancient Rome was less than 50, while documentary evidence shows that lots of Romans lived to be 70 or more If these new ideas are correct, it will lead to a radical revision of ideas about health and welfare in the past. (Times 11.3.1999 )

SPITALFIELDS EXCAVATION

The Museum of London Archaeology Service is undertaking a cemetery excavation in Spitalfields running through to September, and has asked local societies to form a reserve of volunteers. The work falls into two categories – excavation and other. Excavation of the burials requires helpers who are competent in this highly specialised task. To an extent you will be working without too close supervision so this is not a task for beginners, nor is it a training dig. Other tasks include manning the viewing gallery and helping to explain the excavation to visitors and finds processing. Instruction will of course be given. If you are interested in volunteering for this work please contact Vikki O’Connor (0181-361 1350) who will forward your name to MoLAS_ STOP-PRESS

Archaeologists working at the Spitalfield site have just made a rare find – a Roman coffin made of lead – indicating a very high-ranking, wealthy occupant. The Roman Mayor of London?

OTHER SOCIETIES EVENTS

Barnet & District Local History Society

Wednesday 14 April, 8pm, Wesley Hall, Stapylton Rd, Barnet `City Churches’ – Paul Taylor

Visitors – small donation.

Finchley Society

Thursday 29 April, 8pm, Drawing Room, Avenue House ‘Countryside & Conservation’ – Lisa Stringer, LB Barnet (Membership Sec: Lynn Bresler 0181 446 6249)

Camden History Society

Thursday 22 April, 7.30pm, Heath Branch Library, Keats Grove,Hampstead NW3 ‘Keat’s Triangle.

Willesden Society

Wednesday 21 April, 8pm, Rising Sun Pub, Harlesden Rd.,Willesden Green NW10 `Kensal Rise Onwards’ by Ted Brooks

Hornsey Historical Society

Wednesday 14 April, 8.00pm, Union Church Hall, Ferme Park Rd., N8 ‘London’s Country Houses’ by Caroline Knight

HADAS DIARY

Tuesday 9th Feb Lecture – Paul Roberts – Villa of the Mysteries ;

Recent excavations at Villa Novum in the Sabine Hills, Italy.

(Members will remember the fascinating lecture which Paul Roberts gave last year when he came from the British Museum to talk about Mummy Portraits from Ancient Egypt. Last summer’s Sabine Hill excavations did not turn out as expected – hence the Villa of Mysteries!)

Tuesday 9 Mar Sam Moorhead – Letters, curses and the landed gentry in Roman Britain.

See below for more on Mr. Moorhead.

Tuesday 13 April Eric Robinson – Archaeology of local building materials.

Tuesday 11th May HADAS. AGM.

BACK TO SCHOOL

Our March Lecturer, Sam Moorhead, is giving a course at the British Museum, titled The History of British Archaeology’ on Tuesday evenings, 6 April – 18 May 1999, 5.30-7.00p.m. In these lectures he will be exploring archaeology in Britain through the people who founded and developed its study. These include famous names such as Camden, Stukeley and other antiquaries, through the age of Darwin and Pitt-Rivers to Woolley, Carter, Wheeler and Kenyon. (Readers could give themselves a mini-quiz by associating these names with the relevant sites, which include, among others and in no particular order, Wroxeter, St. Albans, Ur, Valley of the Kings and Avebury – Ed.) The course includes optional field trip and museum visits. Tickets £90.00, BM Society and concessions £80.00.

The Archaeology of Landscape public lecture course at the Institute of Archaeology, Birkbeck College,26 Russell Square (barely 10 minutes walk from Euston Station) began 21 January. February lectures include Roman Spain (4th), landscapes in late prehistory (11th) , landscape archaeology in Northamptonshire (18th) and, starring Mick Aston from Time Team ( and University of Bristol) medieval settlement in Somerset (25th). Thursdays from 7pm; £5.00 on the door (Concessions £2.50).

URGENT APPEAL****URGENT APPEAL****URGENT APPEAL****URGENT APPEAL

Local author, Hendon resident and HADAS member PERCY REBOUL seeks help; he is working on a book about the London Borough of Barnet in the 20th century and would be delighted to hear from any HADAS member who has a good photograph of the 1997 Princess Diana funeral procession passing at any point through the Borough, (a weekend memorable for those of us on the HADAS trip to York – which was shut for the day of the funeral. Many members signed the books of condolences at some of the Yorkshire churches -Ed). He undertakes to return the picture within 24 hours and the usual credit would be given. Percy can be contacted on 0181-203-3664.

NEW BOOK REVIEW – VIKKI O’CONNOR

Between Two Hedges is Peggy Wells’ personal account of the history of Village Road, Church End, Finchley 1908 – 1998. Her parents moved there in 1911 when the area was newly developed along the lines of the model planning used at Letchworth. The two hedges of the title mark old field boundaries and may have been planted in medieval times. A pedestrian visitor passing through Village Road with its enclosed green space may sense the same air of nostalgia I experienced whilst reading this delightful book – a living local history bringing together facts, photographs, maps, anecdotes about the early residents, a decline in communal activities after World War II and, more recently, a revival of ‘village’ events. The 28-page book is obtainable by post from Peggy Wells, 50 Village Road, N3 1TJ, price £3.00 plus either an A5 stamped addressed envelope or an additional 50p to cover same. (It would be fascinating to see more books like this…).

THE JEWISH MILITARY MUSEUM

A new museum for north-east London is The Jewish Military Museum and Memorial Room in Stamford Hill. The Association of Jewish•Ex-Servicemen and Women (AJEX) Military Museum was established several years ago at the AJEX Headquarters to commemorate the contribution to various military campaigns made by British and other Jewish men and women over the last two centuries, with a particular emphasis on the two world wars. The displays use material purchased and donated by veterans and their families and includes the uniform of Lieut. F. A. de Pass, the first Jewish VC. (1914); the Museum also serves as a resource centre for serious researchers by collecting a variety of papers and documents and advising on availability of official records such as the WW2 British Jewish Chaplain Index cards kept on serving personnel.The Museum is staffed by volunteers and is presently open by appointment only to groups and individuals by writing to ; The Archivists, AJEX Museum, AJEX House, East Bank, Stamford Hill, London N16 5RT. Appointments can also be made by telephoning Archivist Henry Morris on 0181 800 2844 or faxing Assistant Archivist Martin Sugarman at 0181-533-5228. Admission is usually free but donations are very welcome.

LONDON ARCHAEOLOGICAL ARCHIVE AND RESEARCH CENTRE – A REMINDER As mentioned last month, the Museum of London LAARC Project at Eagle Wharf Road, Hackney still needs donations. Fellow society COLAS have contributed £200,000 from one bequest, and over £500.00 from member’s donations, but the gesture of support is as important as the money in many ways and HADAS Hon Treasurer Micky O’Flynn (address on back page) will be pleased to receive any contributions to one overall HADAS donation as agreed by the Committee.

COMMITTEE NEWS

Ever wondered what the Committee does other than drink all the Wrigley’s Tea and fuss the cats? HADAS Secretary DENNIS ROSS reveals all…

Meetings of the Committee are held quarterly. At a recent meeting, it was agreed to include in Newsletters matters of general interest to members discussed at such meetings. The last meeting was on 11 December 1998 and included the following items;

The Committee expressed its regret at the death of Ted Sammes. It was reported that he had left the Society half a share in his residuary estate. It will, of course be some time before the actual amount of this bequest can be established.

Various working groups and their respective leaders were identified; Field Work, Brian Wrigley; Research, Vikki O’Connor; Industrial Archaeology, Bill Firth; Site Watching, Myfanwy Stewart; Roman Group, Stephen Aleck; Publications, Andrew Selkirk; Programme and Newsletters, Dorothy Newbury.

As mentioned elsewhere, examination of the Brockley Hill finds continues. Fiona Seeley of MOLAS had looked at the finds and established a ‘reference collection’ and the Roman pottery will be further inspected by Fiona in due course.

4 The Treasurer reported the receipt of a f1000 legacy from Gill Baker, and the Minimart showed a profit to date of £1385.

5 There are now 291 members of the Society. The Committee has under consideration ways to increase membership and the question of publicity generally.

VIKKI O’CONNOR adds ;

The Society regularly receives correspondence from official bodies, most of this requiring carefully considered attention, and Brian Wrigley is frequently the Committee Member who, in consultation with the Committee, undertakes these labours..

Hadas was recently requested by the London Borough of Barnet to provide comment/suggestions for amendments to the areas of archaeological significance noted on their Unitary Development Plan (UDP). This document is consulted when the Borough considers planning applications, in compliance with Planning Policy Guidance Note 16 (PPG 16). We proposed that one of the areas should be extended to include the Decoy Pond and a short stretch of the Mutton Brook to the north of this feature close to Golders Green Road. The Borough’s Planning Department has confirmed to Brian that our recommendation has been accepted.

HADAS has copies of the Borough’s official maps of areas of archaeological significance which are kept at Avenue House and are of course available to any interested members.

LEAP

The Environment Agency has conducted HADAS, inviting us to comment on environmental issues for inclusion in their North London Local Environment Agency 5-year Plan (LEAP). A extract of Brian’s reply on our behalf follows:

`Routes of watercourses are in general of potential archaeological interest, particularly where there are areas of open land beside them where ancient land surfaces (possibly containing evidence of past use) may be covered and protected by alluvium. We should very much like to see some provision in the LEAP for archaeological work to be allowed, and indeed encouraged, in such areas where for any reason operations take place involving earth moving such as dredging, de-silting or water course changing’

NEWS FROM OUR NEIGHBOURS

Barnet & District Local History Society Venue – Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road, Barnet. Mon 8th February 3pm Talk by Jack Edwards; The Eleanor Crosses

Mon 8th March 3pm Talk by Dr. John Kent; London’s Money, From the Romans to the Victorians.

Edmonton Hundred Historical Society ( Also at the Jubilee Hall Enfield – Visitors £1) Wed 24th February 8pm Talk by Dr. Jim Lewis on Forgotten Industries of the Lea Valley

Enfield Archaeological Society

Venue – Jubilee Hall, Junction of Chase side and Parsonage Lane, Enfield. Visitors welcome – £1. Fri 19 February 8pm Talk by John Clark; The Industries of medieval London

Hornsey Historical Society

Venue – Union Church Community Centre, corner of Ferule Park Road and Weston Park, N8. Wed 10th February 8pm Talk by Ruth Phillips on Historic Food in England

LONDON AND MIDDLESEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

The 36th Conference of London Archaeologists

Saturday 20th March 1999 11.00 AM – 5.45 PM Museum of London Lecture Theatre Morning Session; Recent Work. Afternoon Session; Archaeology of the River (Thames)

Speakers will include Mike Webber of the Thames Foreshore Project, John Williams of Kent County Council speaking on the Research Framework for the Thames, and Martin Bates from University on the topographical modelling of the Thames flood plain. (Both Mike and Martin have talked to HADAS within the last couple of years)

Tickers, £3.00 (LAMAS Members) £4.00 (Non – Members) available from Jon Cotton, Early Department, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, London EC2Y SHN.

Cheques payable to LAMAS- S.A.E. Required.

Pinner Local History Society (0181-866-3372) (Village Hall, Chapel Lane, Pinner) Thurs. 4th February 8pm Talk by Catherine Dolman on Renaissance Jewellery

FROM THE PAPERS – I

The Daily Mail recently reported that life for the dinosaurs some 200 million years ago may have had its problems. Palaeontologists at Portsmouth University have found evidence that they may have been bothered by parasitic mites ; in one example they found 70 micrometer wide mite eggs on a 120 million year old fossil archaeopteryx ( a bird -like creature) feather found in Brazil.

PROGRESS ON BROCKLEY HILL FINDS

Members are still in residence at Avenue House, Finchley most Sundays and Wednesdays carrying on with post-excavation work .We are presently engaged in analysis of the material from the fieldwalking at the Roman pottery kiln site at Brockley Hill last August. The material has all now been cleaned and bulk sorted; we are now beginning the task of sorting the Roman pottery by type and form and marking it up with the site code. There is a small amount of Samian table wares, some grey-wares and a great deal of Verulamium Region ware, known to the cognoscenti as `VRW’ including; as would be expected, many mortaria sherds plus fragments of flagon necks and strap handles also from jugs and flagons. There is also a considerable quantity of Roman brick and tile including flanged `tegula’ and lesser quantities of clay pipe and post medieval pottery and glass. As this material comes from the plough soil it is well broken up with few pieces of pottery larger than 2 or 3 inches although these do include some good base fragments. Most of the Roman pottery does appear to have come from the area nearest the road with totals thinning out the closer you move to the centre of the field; more analysis will permit further exploration of distribution patterns.

Contact Brian (0181-959-5982) or Vikki (0181-361-1350) if you wish to join in!

PLANNING APPLICATIONS – News from TESSA SMITH

Edgwarebury Farm Installation of sewage treatment plant – warrants further consideration says English Heritage.

Mill Hill School The Ridgeway. EH again recommend further investigation.

94 Gervase Road Burnt Oak Near the site of the Roman finds excavated by HADAS from the drive of a house in Thirleby Road in the 1970s.

TRANSPORT CORNER by ANDY SIMPSON

No North London tram books to review this month, but ever keen to maintain a theme, I popped out one lunchtime recently for a quick bit of transport archaeology fieldwork. Until a few months ago, one of the attractions (?) of Mill Hill Park was the dingy underpass beneath the Barnet By-Pass. This has now been completely rebuilt and is much larger and better lit. One feature that did disappear during the rebuild was two four-five feet long lengths of grooved tram track stood vertically in the pathway at the western end, acting as barriers to bikes and other wheeled traffic. To my knowledge this was the last tram track still visible in the Borough; other track, disused since 1938, is certainly still in situ at the foot of Barnet Hill, though well buried by modern road surfaces and only visible during roadworks, and some of the track at the site of Colindale depot survived into the 1970s. If anyone knows of other extant tramlines in the Borough I would be interested to hear from them. South of the River of course, a whole new generation of trams is already running on test as Croydon Tramlink nears completion with classic street track around Croydon and reserved track to Wimbledon. Recent transport studies have considered modern ‘light rail’ or even trolleybuses back on the Edgware Road but as with the suggested reopening of the rail route from Mill Hill East to serve Copthall Stadium these plans have yet to materialise.

FROM THE PAPERS – II

The Evening Standard recently reported the discovery of the possible foundations of a large Roman triumphal arch at the main entrance to Londinium on a site at the rear of the Old Bailey, along with a tributary of the lost River Fleet. The foundations could alternatively be those of a huge mausoleum.

TV NEWS – TIME TEAM AND MEET THE ANCESTORS

We are now well into the new 10 part Time Team series on Channel 4 at Sunday Teatime as usual. Following programmes on kiln sites in the Potteries, and Roman Cumbria in a back garden, at the time of writing we have still to see programmes on the 7th Feb Smallhythe, Kent – medieval port destroyed in 1514; 14th Feb Beauport Park East Sussex -iron works of the Classis Britannica; 21st Feb Reedham Marshes, Norfolk recovery of two WW2 B17 bombers; 28 Feb Turkdean ,Gloucs return to the Roman villa site; and four more programmes in March.

Also back on Thursday nights is BBC look-alike ‘Meet the Ancestors’ which has already reconstructed the Saxon Warrior found buried surrounded by the graves of small children, also with weapons for the afterlife, found on an American Airbase in East Anglia, and a Roman inhabitant of Winchester in his lead coffin.

Lucy Etherington in the Evening Standard ‘Hot Tickets’ Entertainment guide, in that publication’s usual objective manner, reviewed ‘Ancestors’ thus; ‘I always thought that people working at the British Museum were the sort who had been told by their doctors to avoid excitement. If so, there’s going to be a lot of sick notes when archaeologist Julian Richards presents them with his (sic) latest find -an Anglo Saxon warriors grave…For those who found Tony Robinson’s Time Team on Channel 4 a touch infantile, this is the sensible BBC2 version for grown-ups and pipe smokers.’ Charming!

NEWS FROM CHURCH FARMHOUSE MUSEUM

Latest in the always excellent programme of temporary exhibitions at the Museum, running only until Valentine’s Day (146 Feb) , so hurry – is ‘JIGSAW PUZZLES’.

This display is based on three extensive local private collections and features jigsaw puzzles from the early nineteenth century to modern day 3-D versions. The huge range of puzzle subjects is well covered including educational tools and TV tie-ins, including such childhood memory-joggers as Andy Pandy and the Flower Pot Men, which is not, contrary to rumour, the name of the new digging team rock band. (Mind You, Bill does a mean air guitar!)

But seriously folks, the modern items such as the 3-D ‘Millennium Falcon’ space ship and bust of Darth Vader from Star Wars are impressive, as is the wonderful selection of GWR publicity jigsaws. Depending on your railway allegiances, the ‘Great Way Round’ or ‘Gods’ Wonderful Railway’ certainly knew how to keep itself in the public eye, the jigsaws featuring holiday destinations and GWR locos, especially pride of the fleet, the ‘King’ class express passenger locos. For the children -and others – there are plenty of puzzles to try out.

Following on from 13 March to 9 May 1999 will be ‘HAUNTED BARNET’ – the story of the supernatural and occult in Barnet Borough, covering ghostly highwaymen and witches’ covens.

FAMILY RECORDS CENTRE

Those with an interest in family history may like to check out this new facility established by the ONS and the Public Record Office; it provides a new base for the research facilities previously at St. Catherine’s House and the Census Reading Rooms in Chancery Lane. The centre provides advice on its collection of genealogical records and a bookshop, photocopying service and refreshment area. Visit it at 1 Myddelton Street, London EC1R 1UW. Tel. 0181 392 5300. Those ‘on line’ can check the web site at www.open.gov.uk/pro/prohome.htm Got that?

DOROTHY NEWBURY reports on THE HADAS CHRISTMAS DINNER (AVENUE HOUSE, FINCHLEY 3 DEC 1998)

After many trials and tribulations with the planning of the 1998 Christmas Dinner- and even a couple of sleepless nights- the evening seemed to go well in the end. With three different council departments to deal with I just could not believe things could possibly run smoothly. However all was well in the end, and the 54 members present all seemed to enjoy the evening. (Definitely! – Ed). After a preliminary glass of wine and get together, Norman Burgess our Finchley Society speaker also had some problems trying to track down a working projector. No matter – his talk on Henry Charles ‘Inky’ Stephens and the Avenue House grounds and house itself was amusing and very enlightening and started the evening off well, as did the opportunity to view the Stephens Museum. Our traditionally served meal was excellent and the service of the catering staff was most jolly and efficient – so all was well that ended well.

must also thank Vikki and Roy for handing me a greeting and thank you card for my efforts, signed by those present and accompanied by a box of luxury chocolates. Thank you all for appreciating my efforts. ( A pleasure Dorothy – amply deserved as always – Ed.)

A HADAS MEMBER’S VIEWPOINT

Dorothy Newbury pointed out this item which appeared (under a different title!) in a October 1998 Northamptonshire County Council Newsbrief;

Councillor Derek Batton’s unique initiative only yards from his home caught my eye…read on to discover this news story which has hit national and local headlines…told in his own words.

A HADAS MEMBER’S HOME IS HIS CASTLE

Well, not quite. This story began in April 1997. M•route to many local areas took me from my home in Paulerspury through the small village of Alderton and along the side of a wooded mound which I passed countless times without giving it a second thought. Suddenly an Estate Agent’s board appeared: FOR SALE: CASTLE AND MOAT.

Curiosity and a lifelong interest in history took their grip soon after election day and I clambered to the top of the embankment to be amazed at the extent of this neglected monument. Further details from the agents gave me a flavour of its history and I was suddenly in a bidding race. Something else happened at this time. The Norwich Union de-mutualised and I was given a vast number of shares, the value of which seemed to me to verge on the immoral. I had to submit a final sealed bid, dreamt up a number, panicked and then realised that the number had some significance to me, stuck with it, put in my bid and was delighted to be successful.

So, what am I going to do with this castle I’ve bought? I intend to release the latent archaeological and historical potential of this historic Ringwork. I had done some archaeological work in the past, in America on Indian Wars and Civil War Battlefields, and thought it would be fun to.start digging my own castle. Not too easy. This is a scheduled monument (only some 7% of monuments are scheduled, so it must be important) and I am not allowed to put a spade in the ground or hardly pull up a weed without consent from English Heritage, but with the inestimable help of Northamptonshire Heritage, we are working on it. The next year should see us doing some geophysical-work and then, maybe, some ‘real’ archaeology.

There are five Ring Works in Northamptonshire. Mine at Alderton is by far the largest and is the one about which least is known. The scale of the moat and ramparts is dramatic; I have a badger sett in one corner ; surface pottery finds so far have been identified as Iron Age, Medieval and Roman.

The top is a natural amphitheatre with great potential; there is scope for finding something really important. As a friend of mine remarked: ‘Derek, it’s great big toy, isn’t it? Just about the most exciting toy I’ve ever possessed.

A friend tells me that Warwick Castle is up for sale. There is a horse called County Councillor running in the 2.30 at Kempton Park tomorrow, starting price should be 25 to 1. Now, if I take what’s left of the Norwich Union money out of the bank…..

HADAS DIARY

Tuesday 12 January The Royal Exchange given by our new President, Dr Ann Saunders F.S.A., Ph D. Particular attention of this lecture will be focused on to the building of the third, present, Exchange and to the archaeological discoveries and arguments surrounding it.

Tuesday 9 February Lecture: Villa of the Mysteries by Paul Roberts.

Tuesday 9 March Lecture: Sam Moorhead – “Letters, curses and landed gentry in Roman Britain”.

(Not prehistoric as previously announced)

Lectures for 1999 will be in the Drawing Room (ground floor) at Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N3

Brockley Hill, Bury Farm Fieldwalking Project

Work on bulk identification of finds should have been completed by the New Year at Avenue House. After which work will continue marking and quantifying the pottery – fabric, form, date, types and so forth. This is not (always) as daunting as it seems and gives a good opportunity to handle such material at first hand. Contact Vikki O’ Connor on 0181 361 1350 or Brian Wrigley 0181 959 5982 if you wish to take part on Sundays or most Wednesdays.

On Saturday 14th November Fiona Seeley of The Museum of London Finds and Environmental Service held a successful workshop at the Old Training Centre, r/o Hertford Lodge, Avenue House, showing and advising members the finer points of Roman pottery identification. Fabrics such as Verulamium Region Ware, Brockley Hill Slip Ware, Colour Coated and the odd sherd of Samian Ware were studied under various lenses. Hopefully this will all be remembered for the next phase of the project!

Some of the most interesting glass sherds from the fieldwalking were taken to John Sheperd at The London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (L4ARC). They were identified as being from a 17th ‘cloche’ – an early form of bell-jar to help grow and propagate plants. These were large and fragile vessels, the manufacture and transport of which must have been a difficult and hazardous affair. We also have an invitation to return so that we can study and compare the material/archive of earlier Brockley Hill excavations with the finds – pottery & tile etc. from our recent fieldwalking.

AN APPEAL

The above is a small illustration of how useful a facility such as the L44RC project can be for London’s archaeological societies. The staff are now fully installed at Eagle Wharf Road, Hackney – working on the archive, various projects and publications – but are not open to the public. Also the Centre can now, once again, accept finds and records from London’s excavations for storage. At present they are waiting for the result of their bid from the Heritage Lottery Fund so that they can convert the building into a major Centre for public access to the archive (see April ’98 Newsletter) – but they also need public support….

To this end the HADAS Committee are supporting the Museum of London’s appeal for donations to the project from all local London societies and interested bodies. Please send any contributions, however large or small, to the Hon. Treasurer, Micky O’Flynn (address on last page), cheques payable to HADAS, they will be then sent as one donation from the Society, thank you.

The November Lecture – Bronze Brass and Zinc in ancient and modern China
by Paul Craddock

This was a most interesting talk on ancient metallurgical technology. Paul’s last lecture to us was in 1990, on zinc production in India, and this lecture followed the story on to China – well he spent a little time reminding us of what he said before in case we did not all rememher, although I think most of us did

Production of zinc as a metal has the problem that it vaporises at a temperature below that of which it can be smelted from its ore: thus the process has to include one of distillation of hot zinc vapour Distillation was done earliest in India, using a furnace containing clay retorts pack with ore and appropriate reacting materials, the neck of the retort protruding downwards through the furnace floor to a cool chamber where the zinc vapour condensed. This is thought to have started in the 10th century BC.

By the 16th century, India had a world-wide export trade in zinc, whilst china had none, but China took the industry up and by the end of the century dominated the international market. They used a technique varying from the Indian, in that the clay retort was larger, and the other way up, ie the furnace heat was to the closed bottom of the retort, whilst the open top had a closed lid with, below it, above the heated charge of ore and coal, was a saucer-shaped lid, round which the vapours could pass, the zinc vapour then condensing on the upper surface of the ‘saucer’. Large numbers of retorts would be packed in rows in a large furnace.

What was particularly amazing was that Paul was able to show us a video of these techniques still being used when he was in China in 1995 – by rural groups competing with industrial works. The techniques have evolved somewhat, for example the furnace is now a building, with a single fire outside, the flames from which are guided by channels in amongst the neat rows of charged retorts.

A most interesting and informative lecture for anyone interested in ancient technology Brian Wrigley

Membership News

Our current membership is around the 290 mark and the following are our latest additions – Richard Riding, Mrs P. Baker, Ms M. Baker, Lisa Todd, Melanie Lloyd, Mrs S Ross, Richard Askew, Jacqueline Schofield, Hugh Hamilton, Emily Towers, Stephen Brunning. We welcome them to HADAS and hope they will find time to participate in our activities. It is gratifying that several of our more recent members have been active on the Brockley Hill fieldwalking project. We are planning more work for you next year

Incidently, if anyone is attending archaeology classes and would like a couple of membership forms to pass round please give me a call – Vikki O’Connor

Audree Price-Davies reports on The Wroxeter Hinterland Survey lecture given by Roger White Being computer-ignorant and knowing nothing about the Wroxeter Hinterland Survey are not the best qualifications for writing up a lecture on the subject. However the lecture was clear informative and very interesting.

The Romans decided to build a new town in the NW Midlands. This area was not exposed to Roman trade or influence and the native population lived largely in hill-forts or enclosures. The project was aimed at investigating the evidence for the Romanisation of the hinterland. To this end every possible means of investigation was used -technological in the use of a geographical Information System (GIS), which can cope with a large range of data, and also traditional methods such as fieldwalking, small-scale excavation and metal detected finds. Volunteers were recruited and 400 people worked on the project. Some foreign teams were also represented – from France, Japan, Germany and Canada.

The excavation covered Many of the sites of the Cornovii tribe – at Meole Brace and at Duncote Farm over 2000 pieces of pottery were found. A pattern emerged – Roman pottery scatters followed the main roads, so Roman life seems to be a thinly applied veneer where people acquired pottery if it was easy to do so. In addition, prehistoric flintwork as well as Roman and Medieval pottery were found near existing farms. This may perhaps indicate that Shropshire settlement patterns has a great deal of continuity more villa sites may be masked by later farms.

One of the villa sites was excavated. Whitley Grange,. 4 miles SW of Shrewsbury and 9 miles west of Wroxeter was chosen. The excavation revealed a set of baths and a swimming pool around a central courtyard and at right angles, a central room with a smaller room at each side. The main room had its mosaic floor still mostly preserved and was credited to the W.Midlands school and was dated 350-375 AD. The baths were used possibly up to 550 AD and afterwards there was squatter occupation. But this was not a villa as there were no bedrooms or living rooms. It could have been a hunting lodge or dacha, such villas were popular among the late Roman aristocracy, or it could have been a ritual site.

The geophysical surveys and aerial photographs are being used to reconstitute Wroxeter buildings in Virtual Reality and this will help us to understand this complex site and the surrounding countryside.

See ‘Current Archaeology’ 157 for further details of this large scale survey.

News of Members

Philip yenning FSA a member for many years and was active on the West Heath excavation team, has recently joined the newly created Westminster Abbey Rihric Commission whose job is to advise on all works to the Abbey including archaeology.

Marjorie Errington is temporarily in The Cottage Homes, Bedford House, Hammers Lane, Mill Hill, London NW7 4DR. She would be glad to here from friends.

Freda Wilkinson is out of hospital and home again, she was also at West Heath and dug with Ted Sammes at Church Terrace, Hendon. Freda, an expert on flint artefacts still takes a keen interest in archaeology and the activities of HADAS. Prior to his illness Ted visited her in Hendon, and now Margaret Maher keeps her up to date with HADAS when she visits her.

From Dave Bromley

Dear Dorothy,

Can Graham and I, through you, thank all our friends in HADAS for all their kind words and support during this difficult time for us both. It helps to know that Pat was held in such high regard, and will be missed by so many. We were overwhelmed by the number who attended her funeral and can we thank those from HADAS who were there and those who donated to the collection, this raised to date £1010.00 and I have passed cheque’s for this amount to the Friends of the Royal Free. They will hold this money until a request is received for a specific piece of equipment for the Friend Oncology Day Ward, they thought this would be more appropriate than just using it in the general ward fund. They will send details when this is finalised. Once again thank you all.

Museum News

Good news landed at the RAF Museum at Hendon, on December 2nd it was confirmed- that the Heritage Lottery Fund have agreed to award a development grant of £79,200 to undertake further feasibility studies into the museums expansion project outlined in Oct 1997. Additionally, the fund have approved in principle a further sum of £4,562,800 towards the construction of a new landmark building for the display of the collections and to expand the recently opened fun ‘n’ flight interactive gallery. It is also hoped to move the Graham White hanger to the new site, eventually displaying the collection of earlier aeroplanes, This sum is dependent on the Museum completing its designs within the agreed financial limits and raising a ‘further £1,000,000 to support the project.

A lottery grant of £851,200 has also enabled the Verulamium Museum, St Albans to open their new extension, this features an impressive new rotunda entrance, shop and colonnade, new Iron Age displays and introductory ‘virtual reality’ video. Other areas have been expanded such as the conservation lab, photographic studio and storage rooms. Processing of the finds, including 500 coins, from the preceeding excavation is advancing well, the potential for additional information from this site is enormous, with an almost complete sequence of archaeology running from the earliest Roman town through to the 1930s and the building of the Museum.

Any members who visited the British Museum recently will have not failed to see that work on the Great Court scheme is taking shape and on target for its opening in autumn 2000. Oversailing The Reading Room and surrounding quadrangle, without visible means of support, will be a stupendous glass roof, 6000 sq. m in area, covering the entire two-acre central space. The cost of the whole project is £97 million with a whopping £45.75 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Stars In Their Eyes

Any couch potato members who were watching the ‘mid-week’ lottery draw on Wed 25th November may have just spotted two HADAS diggers lurking in the audience. There was an archaeological theme that night – ‘The Salcombe Bay Treasure’. The story concerned a team of amateur divers working twelve miles off Devon’s coastline finding and recovering 400 gold coins, gold ingots, pottery fragments, lead weights and other objects. This important find was properly reported to the Receiver of Wrecks (remains of the actual wreck have not yet been located), the site was immediately designated. The unknown vessel is likely to have been sailing from Morocco to England when it sank. The coins and jewellery are almost all Moroccan dating to around the 1630s or 1640s – the largest assemblage of Islamic gold coins found in England.

The BBC on these occasions like to involve an audience (almost) related to the subject. Thus Andy Simpson and your Editor, through the good offices of HADAS Secretary Denis Ross found themselves under the bright lights of the TV Centre, together with a motley crew from the Institute of Archaeology. Order of events went something like this – rehearsals/ food & drink/ Carol Smillie’s interview with the divers/ food & drink/ short film of the wreck site/ lottery draw live with John wotsisnarne of the white gloves/ free ticket – didn’t win sobt/ lots of clapping/ off air. Andy wonders if Carol needed an assistant..

The finds are now on display in the British Museum’s Money Gallery – who hope to acquire them, full story in the Spring 1998 BM Magazine. Work on the wreck site will continue.

Pisa cake

During early December there was a further attempt to stabalise The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Under the scheme, plastic-covered cables 338ft long and four inched thick are being attached to the second loggia of the tower at a height of 70ft. Built in 1173 as the campanile (belltower) of the adjoining cathedral, the tower leans about 15ft out of true in a southward direction. The idea being to remove soil from the northrn side to correct the tilt “fractionally”.

THE TIMES 12/12/98

Realms of the Maya (and hurricanes) by Bill Bass

Our first site was Chichen Itza on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula – an amazing introduction to Mayan architecture. This is one of the best preserved Mayan cities, here amongst other platforms and structures laid out over a wide area are pyramids, temples, ball courts, steam baths, an observatory and a spectacular natural well 60m deep x 35m used for sacred purposes. It is thought that Chichen Itza (the Mouth of the Well of the Itzaes) was first settled during the Late Classic period between 550 and 900 AD. Shortly thereafter Chichen was invaded by the Toltecs, who had moved down from their central-highlands capital of Tula, north of the present-day Mexico City. Thus there is a fusion of images from the two cultures to be seen as we walked around, many where of Chac – an important Mayan rain god.

The sun god was not slacking either as it was in the 90s, so it came as a relief to walk the 300m through the leafy jungle to the Sacred Cenote (the natural well). Hundreds of artefacts have been dredged from here including gold and jade- jewellery, along with skeletons of men, women and – mostly – children. We spot a large Iguana basking in the sun apparently not bothered by the attention. Back at the Main Plaza we could examine the El Castillo temple/pyramid which is in fact the Mayan calendar formed in stone with terraces, stairways and panels all equating to their days, months and years. This pyramid was built over a previous version – a regular occurrence of all Mayan building, earlier structures were built over every 52 years or so. We were able to climb a passage inside the older pyramid to a chamber which boasted a brilliant red jaguar throne with inlaid eyes of jade. Inside it was hot, sweltering, slippery experience, once outside we climbed the 25m to the top – an archaeological assault course! But it was worth it as you could survey the whole of this magnificent site.

Travelling by public transport we reached Merida – capital of the state of Yucatan. This was a centre of Mayan culture before the Spanish conquest (1542), now a pleasant colonial town of narrow streets, parks and squares. Merida’s Cathedral was built on the side of a Mayan temple – incorporating some of the stone, it was completed in 1598 – therefore celebrating its 400th anniversary.

Rising from the Yucatan plain are the Puce Hills, home to Uxmal, an extensive city dating from 600-900AD. Puce also gives its name to the local architecture – a hypnotic form of repetitive geometric design including serpent imagery, columns, phallic symbols and our friend Chac – the rain god who was needed here, given The lack of water in this region. Many of the ruins have been restored, while others, a little more than piles of stone _await their tun Buildings include the 39.m high Pyramid of the Magician – unusual in that it was built on an oval base, this being the 5th incarnation. The Governor’s Palace is a massive building said to be one of the finest specimens of Mayan architecture. Also impressive was a courtyard complex named the Quadrangle of the Nuns as it somewhat resembles a cloister. In fact, no-one knows for certain what purpose it served, perhaps a palace. The structure which is entered by a fine corbelled arch, is covered by intricate lattice and fretwork decoration with masks of gods and mythical beings. Elsewhere, a large stone/platform area had been gridded and opened for excavation – a lot of work for somebody, no archaeologists were on site as it was a Sunday. At another site, Palenque, an opportunity was taken to fly over the site in a mierolight at sunrise in the still, early morning air – an excellent highlight.

As the panoramic road climbs steeply from humid rainforest through pine forest and cloud, the temperature gradually becomes fresher. San Cristobal de Las Casas (2,100 metres) is an attractive colonial town with a colourful, busy market and several churches. A particularly fine example is Santo Domingo, built by 1560, with a spectacular baroque facade added in the 17th century. We stayed at the Hotel Na Bolom which previously had been the home of Danish archaeologist Frans Blom, who died in 1963 and his Swiss wife, the anthropologist and photographer Gertrude Duby-Blom_ The hotel now preserves photographs,. books (14,000)–aFtefaots and ,so on .from Moir work; they shared a passion for -the Chiapas region particularly the Lacandon Indians.

We took a tour of some of the local Tzotzil and Tzeltal Indian villages. For most of the colonial era San Cristobal’s Spanish citizens made their fortunes – usually from wheat – at the cost of the Indians, who lost their lands and suffered diseases, taxes and forced labour. Not much seems to have changed as in early January 1994 the Zapatista National Liberation Army representing Mexico’s (and especially Chiapa’s) oppressed Indians, seized San Cristobal by force of arms. Though the rebellion was suppressed by the Mexican army within a matter of weeks (there are still many army road-blocks) resentment still goes on, in spite of Golrernment promises to improve matters with recent peace talks. The Indians welcome (tolerate?) tourists as they can publicise their cause and also sell home-made produce and crafts – mainly elaborately woven goods. On entering the village church at San Juan Chamula you’re greeted with an amazing sight – a carpet of burning candles and incense, around the walls are many images and statues of various Saints. Amongst this scene huddled worshippers kneel praying to religious deities but also making offerings to the spirits of the ancestors buried nearby – a complete mixture of Catholic and shaman/pagan practice.

We reached the Guatemalan border via the Pan-American highway which then skirts 3,800 metre high peaks of the Sierra de Chumatanes our destination being Lake Atitlan and the town of Panjachel. The lake, some 10 miles long by 6 miles wide, is overlooked by an outstanding panoramic view of three volcanoes which are reflected perfectly in the lakeside water, the lake itself is a collapsed cone 320 metres deep. Some of the many villages surrounding the lake were explored by boat, three separate languages are spoken by the different Indian groups clustered round the lake, A short ride away is Chichicastenango famous for its large market on Thursday and Sunday (today). The stalls are many, varied and packed into narrow alleyways and any other nooks and crannies, the place is a sea of people – tourists and locals, there’s nothing for it but to dive in and get swept along. Everything is sold here: food produce, leather goods, household, pottery, clothes and much else_ The locals are colourful in their traditional clothing – the styles, patterns and colours used by each village are unique. A refuge is sought in the two churches which oppose each other across the market square and a small local museum of Mayan objects including pots, figurines, flint and obsidian spearheads, collected by the local residents over the years, there is also a beautiful jade display.

Outside the town most of the local population live in scattered villages, ranches, or else on small crofts and farms clinging to the hills, many lived in very basic housing – thatched mud brick or wooden tin-roofed structures_ Making a living from corn/maize and other arable products with perhaps a few animals. Often they were to be seen walking their produce to the local market or waiting for a lift at the roadside_

Antigua was a former capital until a series of earthquakes devastated the town forcing the capital to move a few miles south-east to the present site at Guatemala City in 1776. Antigua is a picturesque place full of ruined and restored colonial buildings many of which can (and were) visited – churches, convents and colleges etc, or you can just wander round, there’s a pleasant cosmopolitan feel to the place. It’s difficult to get lost here as the area is dominated by volcanoes, particularly Volcan Agua in the south-east, which could be seen towering over most parts of the city.

By now we begin to hear of a hurricane developing in the Caribbean Sea but information is hard to come by as nobody is sure where it’s heading.

A domestic flight from Guatemala City takes us from the highlands down to Flores, capital of the Peters region. Here we are back in the steamy heat of the tropics – the dense Peten rainforest lies in the centre of the southern Yucatan Peninsular, covering a vast range which extends to the borders with Mexico and Belize. Flores town stands on a island in Lake Peten-ltza, connected by a causeway to the mainland. This is a base to visit the vast Mayan complex of Tikal located in a national park – a 575 sq km preserve containing thousands of separate ruined structures. The central area of the city occupied about 16 sq km with more than 4,000 structures. Tikal was settled by the Mayans in c.700 BC, one reason may have been the abundance of flint nearby, with the subsequent trade and exchange for other goods brought prosperity and the start of

monumental building c.500 BC. By the dawn of the Early Classic Period about 250AD Tikal had become an important religious, cultural and commercial city with a large population.

We are at the site very early in the morning, there’s an eerie sound of howler monkeys calling from the forest. It’s still dark and torches are needed to follow our guide and the trail. Our first objective is Temple IV, and 64m high structure, much of which is covered in trees and has to be climbed by ladders, but once at the top there is again breathtaking views for miles over the forest with the tops of other temples emerging from the forest canopy. From here we have an excellent 5-hour tour winding around the various plazas, acropolis, palaces and pyramids, also taking in flora and fauna – monkeys, bats, toucans and colourful wild turkeys. Here also monuments are being excavated and restored by the University of Pennsylvania and Guatemala Institute of Anthropology and History – I wondered whether they had any vacancies…

Our route should have taken us across the border to Belize but, due to hurricane Mitch, Belize City was being evacuated and the borders closed. Returning to Guatemala City was not an option as it was being affected by high winds and heavy rain. Mitch decides to move inland and hits Honduras and Nicaragua and those living there with devastating effect. It’s decided to head west and north, crossing back to Mexico by the river Usumacinta eventually reaching Villahermosa in the Tabasco region.

Here we can visit the La Yenta Parque Museo which houses artefacts and carvings from the site of an Olmec settlement of La Yenta. Petroleum excavation in the 1950s forced the removal of the most significant objects 123 km west to Villahermosa, and are now arranged in a ‘jungle’ setting/park similar to their original site. The Olmec culture dates from 1500 BC and flourished from 800BC to 200AD and they are best known for their sculptured massive basalt heads – the largest of which weighs 24 tons and stands more than 2m tall.

We flew from Cancun – mostly developed into a tourist resort area, a complete contrast to the open green countryside of the Yucatan dotted with the sites, towns and villages of the Maya and their descendants. Their rich heritage deserves a return visit in the future.

Echoing to the sound of the sacred Quetzal ?

A suggestion that the ancient Mayans built a pyramid to echo like the call of a sacred bird, marking perhaps the world’s oldest sound recording, has been put forward at a meeting of acoustic researchers. Handclaps evoke chirped echoes from the staircases of the pyramid of Kulkulkan at Chichen Itza, Mexico. David Lubman said ” What is very interesting is that the chirped echo sounds arguably like the primary call of the Mayan sacred bird – the Quetzal, could the Maya have intentionally coded this sound into the pyramid architecture? I think this is possible. In the millennium since this pyramid was built, though plaster has eroded from the limestone staircases, the sound is still recognisable,” A Mayan glyph from the Dresden Codex makes the connection between the pyramid of Kulkukan and the Quetzal.” This magnificent bird, now near extinction, has for many years represented the spirit of the Maya”, he said. (The Daily Telegraph)

Fleet Street Corner with Stephen Aleck

Archaeologists have been, excavating Britain’s ‘most complete’ Roman town-house, at Colliton Park, Dorchester, with the help of a £300,000 grant from Dorset County Council. The site has been known for sixty years, but it was abandoned at the start of the war, and covered with soil to preserve it. A new glass roofed stone structure has been built, based on the original foundations, to enclose the site. It is planned to open it to the public in early 2000. A particularly interesting feature is the well preserved floor mosaics, which visitors will be allowed to walk on ( – with care, presumably).

The Times 24111/98

Members who are offered dodgy footprints at car boot sales should note the following, from the Evening Standard, 27/1 l /981

‘Australian police are targeting Europe in the hunt for a fossilised dinosaur footprint believed to be 120 million years old.

It follows the arrest of two men who have been charged with stealing the fossil and other rare human footprints from an Aboriginal site near Broome in Western Australia. The artefacts could fetch hundreds of pounds on the black market.

Dates for your New Year diary:

Following The Archaeology of Towns in England lectures at the Institute of Archaeology, the-1999 series continues on Thursdays 7.00pm with The Archaeology of Landscape – and starts with:

21 January, The Anatomy of Midland Landscapes, Tony Brown/University of Leicester

28 January, Late Prehistoric Landscapes in Northern Britain: Desertion or Continuity, Rob Young/Leicester 4 February, Approaches to the Roman Landscape in Spain, Simon Keay/University of Southampton

Fee: £40/£20 concessions, single lectures £5/£2.50, more details Birkbeck College – 0171 631 6686

Birkbeck are also running an Anglo-Saxon England course with Dave Beard as lecturer. Starts Monday 11th January 1999 2.00pm – 4.00pm for 24 meetings. Fee: £102/£51. Contact Anna Colloms on the above number.

23 January, CONFERENCE London Bodies: generations past – The discovery, care and investigation of human remains will be discussed by experts from many fields. Tickets £16/10, contact Interpretation Unit on 0171 600 3699.

The Museum of London are presenting some of their lunchtime lectures in connection with the London Bodies exhibition, Fridays 1.10pm 50 mins’

15 January, Anne Mowbray: a medieval princess – specialists shed new light on medieval diet, costume and burial customs. Bill White and John Clark.

29 January, Shaping the queen: the cut and construction of the Phoenix dress – Jean Hunnisett’s lecture will explore the construction of the clothes which created the Elizabethan shape.

16 January, Mastering mosaic – a one day workshop at the Museum of London, 10.30am-4pm.

Learn the ancient, but newly fashionable, art of mosaic in a day. Find out about London’s stunning Roman mosaics from a museum expert and then learn the basic techniques from a qualified mosaic artist. Tickets £30/£25, contact Interpretation Unit on 0171 600 3699.

Barnet & District Local History Society

Their opening lecture of the new year is Mediaeval Embroidery & Embroiderers by Kay Staniland. At Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road, Barnet. Monday 11th January, 2.45 for 3.00pm start .

St Mary’s Church on The Ridgeway, Mill Hill have had a beautiful scale model built of nearby Belmont House complete with fixtures and fittings. The dolls house 3ft tall and 211 4ins wide (valued at £15.000) is being raffled to raise funds for the Church Hall, it can be viewed in Mayfields of Mill Hill Broadway during January. The full scale house was built in 1772 in the style of Robert Adams, the architect being James Paine Junior. Features include Georgian furniture and a spiral staircase surmounted by a glass lantern. The structure still stands now owned by Belmont School, a few alterations have been made but the general style remains intact.

If you like to buy one of the raffle tickets, send a SEA to Janette Poulton, 5 Parkside, Mill Hill, NW7. Tickets are £1 for one or £5 for a book of five.

HADAS DIARY

Thursday 3 December Christmas Dinner at Avenue House

Tuesday 12 January

The opening lecture for 1999 will be. given by our new President, Dr Ann Saunders F.S.A., Ph D. Dr Saunders joined HADAS shortly after the Society was formed in 1962. She is a historian, ,writer, editor and lecturer and Hon. Editor to the London Topographical Society. Her lecture is entitled:

The Royal Exchange. Particular atten­tion will be given to the building of the third, present, Exchange and to the archeological discoveries and argu­ments surrounding it.

Tuesday 9 February

Villa of the Mysteries by Paul Roberts

Tuesday 9 March

Sam Moorhead will give a lecture on a prehistoric subject (title to be con­firmed)

All lectures are held at Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N3 at 8.00pm for 8.30pm

TO LET/FOR SALE

ANCIENT THEATRE

Part of the largest Roman theatre in Britain, built around AD190, has been discovered in Canterbury beneath an estate agent’s premises. A major section was found 47 years ago, under another estate agents. “Extensive accommoda­tion, to seat 3,000. Should be seen.”

NEWS OF MEMBERS

Mrs Banham, a founder-member, who was reported to be recovering from a fall in the last Newsletter, has unfortunately fallen again and fractured her other pelvis. Following another spell in hospital she is back in her residential home and being well cared for. She has her own phone if anyone wants to contact her. She was still cheer­ful but fed up when Dorothy spoke to her in mid November.

Bill Bass has just returned from an archeological holiday in South America . Fortunately the dreadful hurricane and floods only curtailed his last two days when he was due to visit Belize.

Pat Bromley – sadly, we report her death. Several members attended her funeral held on 11 November. Pat, her husband David and their son, Graham were regulars on our weekends away and at Christmas parties. Graham, now in his last year at Bangor University, was a member of the digging team at Church Farmhouse Museum. Our deepest sympathy goes to David and Graham and we hope to see David again at lec­tures in the New Year.

Ted Sammes F.S.A. founder-member, Vice-President and mine of information on any archeological subject, died of pneumonia in hospital on November 7. Tributes to him appear within this Newsletter.

Andrew Selkirk, our Chairman, is now in Guatemala for an archeological conference, so he has also missed the devastation that has hit that part of the world.

SITEWATCHING REPORTS

St Stephen’s Hospital, Mays Lane, Barnet

English Heritage have waived any further requirement for archaeological assessment and evaluation of this site. The hospital, now demolished, stood on a large area of land to the north of Mays Lane where evidence of medieval settlement might have been expected. However, it is now thought that the southern half of the site, adjacent to Mays Lane “has been significantly affected by previous development”, while the northern half “although open land, is likely to have been open field throughout histo­ry, and it would not seem that earlier occupation evidence would lie there”.

45 Rowsley Avenue, Hendon, NW4 (Planning application)

Excavations at nearby Church Terrace revealed Saxon, medieval and Roman material. A cremation urn was found close by at Sunny Gardens Road.

35 Southbourne Crescent, Hendon, NW4 (Planning application)

Neo-Jadeite axe and a coin of Probus have been found nearby.

Wood Farm, Wood Lane, Brockley Hill, Stanmore

Rob Whytehead of English Heritage tells us that the Oxford Archaeological Unit have undertaken desktop assessment and subsequent field excavation. New opinion is that the site does not appear archaeologically promising in spite of finds made nearby.

Northgate Clinic, Goldsmith Avenue, NW9

A field excavation has been recommended as Roman pottery finds were made close to

Stewart J Wild reviews “THE BIG DIG”

Subtitled “Archaeology and the Jubilee Line Extension”, this attractive, well-illustrated book was published last summer by the Museum of London. It gives an overview of how London Transport’s £2.6 billion engineering project was driven through some of the most archaeologically sensitive areas of London, ending up on top of a medieval abbey in Stratford. The excavations and finds at Westminster, Borough High Street and Stratford get the most coverage and are presented in an easy-to-read-style calculated to have broad appeal. There are panels on archaeological techniques and snapshots of the capital’s history from the last Ice Age to the 20th century – quite an achievement in 44 pages. At £4.99 The Big Dig is good value for money and would make an attractive Christmas Present, especially for children.

SULLONIACIS – A DAMPENER FOR SUN-WORSHIPPERS ? Pamela Taylor adds some cautionary notes to October’s article

Stephen Aleck’s article in Newsletter No.331 Sulloniacis found – at Hendon? is a stimulating essay, but a few notes of caution need adding.

The idea that St. Mary’s, Hendon, was founded on a centre of pagan sun-worship derives from Fred Hitchin-Kemp, an enthusi­astic local historian active in the 1920s. Mr. Hitchin-Kemp did valuable pioneering work on some actual documents, but his wider theories were, even by the standards of the time, wildly ahistorical. This is perfectly demonstrated by his derivations for the place-names of Ravensfield – where the Danes raised their standard- and the Silk Stream – from a market or souk held at Hendon. Both con­cepts add to the gaiety of nations, but to nothing else, and his association of Hendon church and Sunny Fields with pagan sun-wor­ship similarly proves nothing beyond the strength of his local patriotism and imagination.

English place-names, usually, and to a truly remarkable extent, derive from Anglo-Saxon, not Romano-British, settlement. Watling Street, for example, takes its name from the Waeclingas not from their Romano-British predecessors. Even if the connection between the Roman Sul/ – of Sulloniacis and Sol/sun is acceptable, the jump from this to an Anglo-Saxon tribe of Sonningas is extremely dubious. There were indeed such tribes, and they gave their names to Sunbury (West Middlesex) and Sonning (Berkshire). Hendon, however, is resolutely Hendon – “at the high down”.

The first reference to Sunny Hill Fields comes only from the 18th century, and is both late and minor. A significant name might perhaps have surfaced on the earlier manorial surveys. Looking at the 18th century maps, I am more impressed by the way in which the Sunny Hill Fields seem to be taken (cleared?) from the surrounding woods of Downage.

It is true that there are good examples of estate-continuity between Roman and Anglo-Saxon England and also, doubtless, that early churches were sometimes endowed with their pagan predecessors’ estates. The surviving 10th century Westminster Abbey char­ters with their detailed boundary clauses show beyond any possible doubt, however, that neither situation applied to Hendon. This area must have been converted to Christianity, if not at the start of the 7th century then certainly by its end, and this is not a state­ment about lingering private beliefs but about the guaranteed destruction, or conversion, of cult centres. Even if Westminster Abbey was around at the time, which is doubtful, it did not receive these lands then. Indeed, as late as 957 land in Lotheresleage and Tunworth, much of which was soon to become the northern part of the abbey’s manor of Hendon (hence the charter’s preservation) was granted by the king to one of his thegns. Not only was the unified manor of Hendon recorded in Domesday Book made up of at least four separately acquired components, but the 957 boundaries make it clear that at that stage almost the whole of the Watling Street stretch, and on both sides of the road, lay not within Hendon but within Lotheresleage and/or Tunworth. A meticulous exam­ination of these documents, along with helpful maps, is provided by David Sullivan in his book The Wesimister Corridor (1994).

The staging post of Sulloniacis recorded in the Antonine Itinerary, on the probably safe assumption that it was on this route at all, must have lain actually on Watling Street. If it was separate from the pottery works at Brockley Hill, then Harvey Sheldon’s sug­gestion of Redhill has much to recommend it. All the early maps show this as a significant hill, normally a criterion for any early set­tlement on our heavy clay, and probably equally as attractive for a staging post (as with the later Chipping Barnet). Redhill became the standard name for this area from the 17th century onwards, but deeds and other references from 957 through to the 19th century make it clear that it was the original centre of Tunworth, one of the subjects of the 957 grant referred to above and was a large and important estate covering the whole of northern Kingsbury. If continuity were to be sought, and I personally wouldn’t, then this would be a better bet.

The ealden tunstealle of 957 is convincingly located by Sullivan at the northern edge of Tunworth. Place-name study has made considerable progress since 1910, and the name is very unlikely to mean anything more than an enclosed farmstead.

The HADAS dig at Church End in 1973-74 under Ted Sammes’ exemplary leadership, triumphantly proved both Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon habitation at the top of the high down. There is certainly more to be discovered, not least the explanation for the Romano-British spoil pit at Thirlby Road – both the obvious exception to the generalisation about early habitation seeking high ground and fairly close to Redhill. Wider theories about continuity, though, have to take full account of the already existing and sur­prisingly detailed documentary evidence.

TOY STORIES

Christmas exhibition at The Museum of London

Favourite toys from the past fifty years will be on display from 1 December until 4 January 1999. Toy-giving to children is a recent phenomenon, although Londoners have a long history of giving gifts at the winter festival. The earliest display will feature a Roman ‘good luck’ New Year oil lamp and New Year finger rings from Tudor times. More modern ‘must haves’ include Mecsano and Hornby trains from the 1950s right up to the Teletubbies and Nintendo of today. Special attention will be given to long-stand­ing favourites, such as Christmas annuals, dolls and the teddy bear – first introduced in 1933.

The Museum is open 10am-5.50pm Monday to Saturday and 12noon – 5.30pm on Sundays. Charges: £5 adult, £3 Concessions, £12 Family (5 people, maximum 2 adults), under 5s free. All tickets valid for 1 year. Free admission after 4.30pm.

JIGSAW PUZZLES
a new exhibition at
Church Farmhouse Museum

12 December – 14 February

Jigsaw puzzles have been a popular pas­time for over 200 years. This exhibition displays hundreds of examples, from simple early 19th century “push-fit” models to the elaborate 3D puzzles of today. In addition there will be lots of puzzles for the young and not so young to try.

Edward Sammes F.S.A., A.R.P.S.
1920 – 1998
Cereal scientist, photographer, amateur archaeologist and local historian

John Enderby, a Founder Member and Vice President of HADAS writes:

It was with much sadness that I received the news of Ted’s death on 7 November. He will always be remembered with respect and affection as a rare if some­what austere character, whose long ser­vice to HADAS never faltered until he experienced serious heart problems some two years ago.

I first met Ted in 1960 when, along with Brigid Grafton Green and Mr. Constantinides, he attended Professor Zeuner’ s archaeology lectures at the Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute. Ted quickly proved himself to be an outstanding student whose well-researched written work shamed the others. I immediately struck up a rap­port with him and, as a comparative newcomer to the area, found him to be a fund of knowledge on Middlesex and Hendon in particular.

It was Ted who persuaded Mr Constan (as he was always known) to found HADAS in 1961, the early meetings being held in his home in Hendon.

Ted’s working life involved the scien­tific study of yeast, and I have often wondered if his occasional tetchy out­bursts were the result of the fermenta­tion process! Certainly they were instantly forgiven by the HADAS com­mittee on which he served for over thir­ty years and where he initiated many worthwhile endeavours. Articles, such as Milestones (1976) flowed from his pen on a variety of subjects, while his camera recorded hundreds of artefacts. I fervently hope that when Ted’s home in Taplow and flat in Hendon are cleared, all this valuable material will be pre­served to cherish his memory.

In a long life, one of Ted’s happiest moments was when he earned the acco­lade of being made a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries – a rare honour for an amateur archaeologist. LAMAS, too, was much indebted to him, not only for his regular attendance, but often for knowledgeable and often pithy contri­butions.

Earlier this year HADAS happily decided to “come down my way” and Ted, bless him, although already very ill, typically wrote to me apologising for not being able to journey down to Dorset with what he called “The John Enderby Fan Club”.

We shall all miss him and have our own memories. Personally, I feel privileged to have known a man of stature intellec­tually who belied a fragile frame with courage and determination in an active retirement.

From Percy Reboul, HADAS member and Hendon resident:

I cannot think of Ted Sammes (I always called him Uncle Ted) without remem­bering his delightful old mother and father who walked regularly in Sunnyhill Park. All three seemed to me to be the very epitome of Hendon Past. Ted, I think, took after his father who was a master craftsman. Ted’s great strength was in practical matters which provided a nice balance with other HADAS members who had more intel­lectual pretensions. He was, for exam­ple, a fine photographer, much travelled and well read on a variety of historical and archeological subjects.

Text Box: LHis digs at The Burroughs and Church Terrace will always be the highspots of HADAS activities for me. With hind­sight, they were not as sophisticated as today’s digs but they were enormously enjoyable, with afternoon tea being brewed on a wood fire rather than being brought in flasks. Ted’s decision to pub­lish his findings in the form of a booklet rather than a more traditional report was not liked by some but I believe that Pinning Down the Past (what a marvel­lous title) and its associated exhibition at Church Farmhouse Museum did more for local archaeology than almost any­thing else.

With Ted’s death, another great char­acter and talent has left our ranks. We shall not see his like again. May he rest in peace.

A tribute from Pamela Taylor, Archivist for London Borough of Barnet:

Ted was unique and utterly irreplace­able . A Hendon resident for most of his life, and with a father both active in local politics and a keen photographer of events and places, he must have imbibed a sense of the importance of history and its recording from his very earliest days. One of the photos he gave the Local Collection shows him as a suitably angelic choirboy at St. Mary’s, and is typically and helpfully endorsed: “Four members of SL Mary’s Church choir about 1933+, since my diary for 1933 says ‘April 16th, Easter Day, we started wearing frills’. Previously it had been stiff Eton collars which we laun­dered at our own expense!”

Among a great range of interests, archaeology was his abiding passion, and to it he brought all his formidable qualities. He was absolutely right to be furious that before the 1944 Education Act, someone of his outstanding talent had been denied a university education. Anyone who knows anything about the digs he led, or ever called on him for help, will know the range and depth of his knowledge, organisational skills and energy – all constantly and generously shared.

The last time I saw him, earlier this year, was completely typical. Despite all his undaunted will-power, he never fully recovered from his heart bypass operation and accepting that he was never going to manage to organise all his collections fully before handing them over, decided to transfer the St. Mary’s churchyard survey to us. I arrived to find the table covered with boxes, brought downstairs at heaven knows what cost, and full of archival material for HADAS and us. After we had gone through them, and refusing the rest he needed, he let down the ladder

Ted Sammes was cremated at Slough Crematorium on 18 November. Over 100 former colleagues and friends attended his funeral including representatives from Weston Research Laboratories Ltd where he worked, the Maidenhead Archaeological Society and HADAS. Weston Laboratories generously provided tea and refreshments after the service and this gave people the opportunity to share their memories of Ted. The society will be making a donation to the British Heart Foundation in Ted’s memory and if you would like to contribute please contact Sheila Woodward

NEW LIGHT ON LONDON’S PREHISTORY

Study Day at The Museum of London reported by Stewart J Wild

On Saturday 7 November I enjoyed a well attended full-day seminar at The Museum of London, part of the Museum’s ongoing
Education Programme. Jon Cotton, Curator of Prehistory, introduced the six speakers by saying that in the last few years a whole
new generation of sites have come to light in Greater London and that prehistory can now be seen as a worthy study in its own right.

John Lewis, a specialist in prehistory spoke of his excavation and analysis of late Palaeolithic and early Mesolithic sites in the Colne Valley at Uxbridge. Hunter-gatherers, migrating out of the pre-Ice Age North Sea Plain had moved up the river valleys in search of reindeer and red deer. Bone artefacts, tools and flints had been found, while flints and a hand axe found at Stamen near Heathrow Airport had been dated to around 22,000BC.

Reader in Archaeology at the University of Sheffield, John Barrett’s previous excavations include Highgate Wood, and he is cur­rently involved in the archeological programme connected with the proposed development of Terminal 5 at Heathrow. He illustrat­ed his paper with slides showing his work at a pair of late Bronze Age sites at Mucking in Essex, stressing that sites should be seen in relation to each other and the surrounding landscape in order to understand the evolution of the political and social evolution changes of that landscape.

John Dillon joined The Museum of London in 1983 and worked on a number of complex sites, including deeply stratified water­fronts. He has also been involved with the Jubilee Line extension. He revealed the secrets of a well-sealed and well-preserved Bronze Age site at Rammey Marsh, Enfield, on a former sewage works just south of the M25 alongside a tributary of the River Lea. Along 80 metres of channel-edge excavation finds included late Bronze Age pottery and metalwork, a Romano-British ditch and bones including a complete cow skeleton. The site is now being developed as a business park.

Jane Sidell of the Jubilee Line Extension Paleo-environmental Research Project spoke of the great opportunities afforded by the extension of the line to Stratford – more precisely of the excavation required for new ticket offices and approach passages, for the running tunnels are deep in London clay. Many of the fifty or so sites were very complicated, including Westminster, Borough High Street, North Greenwich and Atlas Wharf and Rotherhithe. Some contaminated sites had to be avoided. Knowledge was gained of fluvial history, sedimentary processes and prehistoric ecological development. Radiocarbon dating and pollen analysis were helpful and the study of prehistoric diatoms revealed salinity and therefore tide levels. The site at Union Street, Southwark contained 140 different types of pollen revealing much about early agriculture.

After a wide-ranging career including work in Peru, Frank Meddons is now a Director of Pre-Construct. Archaeology Ltd based in London. His presentation featured his work on a number of Bronze Age sites on gravel terraces along the Thames: Rainham, Dagenham, Barking, Beckton, Silvertown, Southwark (Hopton Street) and Runnymede Bridge. Trackways dating from 1600­120013C were found almost always to be made of alder, and evidence of ancient ploughing has been revealed, along with a quantity of stone tools and artefacts.

Mike Webber is a Curator in the Museum’s Early Department and the co-ordinator since 1995 of the Thames Archeological Survey. Thousands of objects have been found in the river, often as a result of dredging. Further ongoing study of the Thames fore­shore has revealed many sites of interest. The most ancient are those furthest up-river. They include Richmond (dating back to 7000BC), Syon Reach, Chiswick Eyot, Hammersmith Bridge, Putney and Vauxhall Bridge (could the wooden relics revealed at low tide and dated to around 1630BC be the foundations of London’s lust bridge?). Remains of submerged forests have come to light at Westminster, Southwark, Bermondsey and Rainham, and the constant erosion of estuarine mud continues to reveal more.

Jon Cotton summed up a fascinating day by thanking the speakers for casting a lot of light on London’s prehistory and reminding us that this also served to show us bow much more there is to know.

There was just time afterwards to take a quick look at the Museum’s current exhibition – London Bodies. This major presentation, which runs until 21 February 1999, explores the changing shape of Londoners from prehistory to the present day. Including skele­tons from different periods as well as other artefacts and images, the exhibition examines how fashion, environment, human migra­tion and invasion have all played a part in changing the appearance of the average Londoner. If you’ve an hour or so to spare, this is well worth a visit. The Museum closes at 6pm but is free of charge after 4.30pm.

APACHE AUTUMN 1998

Derek Batten reports his latest exploits in New Mexico

Once again, I am indebted to my good friend Charlie Haecker for notifying me of this dig in Mescalero Apache Country in the Guadelope Mountains of south east New Mexico. His postcard arrived in early September giving me the dates. A diary consultation showed, almost unbelievably, a completely clear week. No further encouragement needed.

Historical background – a brief outline

The Lipan, Chiricahua and Mescalero Apaches occupied this inhospitable land for centuries before the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in the area. They lived by hunting, gathering, trading with and raiding their neighbours. Their reaction to increasing white incursion into their land was much the same as other Indians – they didn’t go much on the idea!

We were particularly concerned with the Mescaleros, so called because of their partiality to a staple diet of mescal, made by roast­ing or steaming the mescal plant – a somewhat evil looking cactus type flora, still to be seen today. Their homelands were in and around the Guadelope and Sacramento Mountains in the south-east corner of New Mexico. The famous John Butterfield Stagecoach Line skirted to the south of these mountains and was sometimes attacked by the Mescaleros, just like the last but one reel of John Ford’s Stagecoach. Raiding and stealing horses and cattle from white settlers was another nuisance pastime. Eventually, the frontier army was called on to stop these deprivations.

The Mescaleros lived in tipis, somewhat similar to the Plains Indians and in wickiups made from branches of trees. These were grouped together and given the Spanish name Racheria_ Army tactics were simple. Locate these settlements, move in and scare away the Apaches – preferably in winter, destroying everything: tents, animals, food, cooking pots, clothing, and leave the harsh climate to kill off the scattered families. Such ‘attacks’ were made before and after the Civil War.

We were concerned with two such punitive expeditions by F Troop of the 3rd Cavalry under the command of Lt. Howard Bass Cushing. The first of these was in November 1869, locating and fighting a band of Mescaleros who had stolen cattle and horses from up on the Rio Hondo. In December the same year two other engagements took place on 26th and 30th. (I have copies of Lt. Cushing’s reports if anyone is interested).

The project

This had two objectives: the site of Cushing’s November engagement had been located in Last Chance Canyon, but the parameters of this were unsure and as this area is likely to be opened for public access with an interpretive trail, more detailed on-site investi­gation was needed. The location of the fight on 30th December is known but that on 26th, probably in Dark Canyon, is less sure. Hence our week’s work. I discovered late in the week that this whole project was part of the Forest Service’s Passport in Time pro­gramme, where volunteers (such as me) become involved.

Our leader is a youngish guy – very dark, black beard, long black hair, bandanna and the unbelievable Anglo-Saxon name of Christopher Adams. The other volunteers are the usual mixed bunch including two archaeologists from Wyoming (husband and wife, both experts on rock art); my old friend Larry Grimes from Oklahoma City (who worked with me on the Washita Battlefield and La Glorietta digs); a Swedish guy (very good looking and a Western devotee). Altogether about twelve of us. Accommodation is better than average with bunk beds, comfortable mattresses, a good living area with TV, adequate kitchen and bathroom. I arrive more or less on time after a night in Albuquerque and a basin of Mexican food at La Hacienda on the terrace overlooking Albuquerque’s old Town Square, still a lot more comfortable than the better-known main Plaza. in Santa Fe.

My first real conversation with Chris proceeds as follows:

Me: (ever mindful of my first Little Big Horn discomfort) What’s the mosquito situation round here?

Chris: They’re no problem this time of year but we do have a plague of rattlesnakes.

Me: Rattlesnakes! (gulp!)

Chris: Yes, we’ve seen several recently. The rock rattlers are the worst as they don’t actually rattle to give you a warning they’re about to strike.

Me: Sorry Chris, I’ve just remembered I’ve a vital appointment on Tuesday …

Actually, in the end, none of us saw a rattlesnake. I learnt an old Apache trick. I cut a stout stick from an Agave plant and kept it with me all the time, banging it constantly on the ground. Sound travels more through solids, as my old physics master, Potts Murphy, taught me and the constant banging of the base of the stick on the ground frightens away the rattlesnakes. It certainly worked for me. At the end of the week I was more sorry to leave my stick than to say farewell to some of my compadres.

Last Chance Canyon

A pretty desolate place. I’m not sure why anyone would choose to live here but they did. Our first day out involved a visit to the local beauty spot: Sitting Bull Falls. A curious name as the great Oglalla Sioux chief was never within hundreds of miles of the place. Here we met some real Mescalaros, one of whom claimed to be a direct descendant of Cochise. They were interested in the project, so Chris showed them, and us, the extent of his findings to date and the skirmish line that F Troop had formed. After lunch, a small party of us climbed up to a promontory to look for Apache breastworks. A rear view, no breastworks but hard going for me as the elevation here is 6,000 – 6,500 feet up.

The next day we start metal detecting in earnest. Chris is anxious to establish the extent to which F Troop penetrated the canyon, so we set to beyond his established skirmish line. I’m very apprehensive about the snakes but when we gather for lunch we’ve found nothing. After lunch we move up to a widish flat area of land and lo and behold, I make the first major strikes, unearthing an Apache tinkler and a flat piece of metal from which they made their arrow heads. Other finds in the area seem to indicate that this is a Racheria site undisturbed by Cushing. Another piece in the jigsaw puzzle. By the way, a tinkler is a piece of metal, rolled roughly into a cone shape and about 1″ long. They were used by Apache women to decorate their clothing.

This seems to conclude our Last Chance Canyon investigation. The extent of Cushing’s incursion has been established. I suggest it should be called “The Battle of Last Chance Canyon” because both sides exchanged fire and both side suffered dead and wound­ed.

Dark Canyon

This occupied our last three days. I’d expected Dark Canyon to be a forbidding place. Not so. Last Chance had been rocky (rat­tlesnakes?) and vegetated with desert plants: yucca, cholla, sotal, agave, luchuguilla and plenty of prickly pear. By contrast Dark Canyon was pleasantly wooded, mainly with ponderosa pine, oak, juniper and ladrone with cholla here and there. This was pleasant terrain with isolated clearings. The trees afforded shade which was just as well as we hardly saw a cloud during this time and suf­fered temperatures in the upper eighties.

We began in an area Chris reckoned Cushing might have been. We set off metal detecting across an incline, gradually increasing to quite a steep slope. Unlike previously, we investigate our own hits. I keep going upwards and very soon find myself alone. Do I continue up, move left or right or what? Oh for Irvin Lee’s regimented procedure! I can still see our vehicles some 550 feet below and a figure nearby. My binoculars tell me it’s Bill, so I decide to go down – not easy on the loose stony soil underfoot. Somehow we all meet for lunch, all recording nil information.

Bill is a quiet guy, born in Plymouth, his mother a G.I. bride. He has a hunch about a flat area of land closer to the mouth of the canyon. So we have a go at that and within minutes locate an Apache bracelet. Who finds it? Need you ask? Seems we’ve stumbled on another Racheria site which yields a great deal of Apache goodies, plus the odd button, musket ball, minnie ball and tinklers by the score.

We work this area for the next two days finding the odd arrow point, more buttons but alas no Spencer Cartridge cases or slugs. We survey in the major finds by a curious mixture of prismatic compass bearings and pacing. Goodness knows how accurately these will plot. The prevailing theory is that this may have been the site of an 1858 fight and the Cushing location remains a mystery. There’s a lot of private land hereabouts and the owners don’t much care for archaeologists. At that point the week’s project ends. Some more refinement of history has taken place and, from my viewpoint, it’s been just great.

Billy the Kid

I could have flown into El Paso which is slightly nearer to the Guadelopes than Albaquerque. I chose the latter not only because of my affinity with the town but because the journey south would take me through the heart of Billy the Kid country. So, on the Sunday, I detoured to Fort Sumner first to visit the grave and see the remains of the fort itself. The grave is now inside a large cage – rather like an old fashioned jail – as the headstone had been stolen in the recent past. The nearby museum is full of memorabilia but arranged in a haphazard way, poorly documented and displayed. Fort Sumner, built to guard the Navajos on the adjacent Basque Rodondo Reservation, was abandoned years ago but there is an interpretive trail and a nice small display manned by a most helpful, well informed, State Trooper. The house where Pat Garrett shot Billy is gone but a plaque marks the spot.

My original journey back was to have been to El Paso but having made good time in the first hour or so, I considered returning to Albuquerque. I rearranged my flight and was able to visit Lincoln, centre of the Lincoln County War. Many of the important build­ings are still extant and I was able to visit them all. The museum is one of the best. “Why is your flag at half mast?” I asked. “Because we’ve heard today that the Board of Governors have decided to close down the museum”. Unbelievable!

The drive to Socorro for an overnight stop was spectacular. A good genuine Mexican meal with half a carafe of Inglenook Blush, the wine costing just $4.50. (Gosh! prices in California are a rip off!). Problems in Albuquerque, but all sorted out eventually. Homeward bound!

This was my seventh dig. I feel I’ve made a modest contribution towards the project and I’ve certainly learnt a lot about Apache history and culture. I have a Forest Service magazine with details of similar schemes, all asking for volunteers and most providing free food and accommodation, so it looks as if I have a choice of digs for the future.

HADAS Diary

Tuesday 10th November Lecture –‘Bronze, Brass and Zinc in Ancient and Modern China’ by Paul Caddocy

Thursday 3rd December Christmas Dinner at Avenue House with talk by Norman Burgess, curator of the Stephens’ collection.

Tuesday 12th January LECTURE – ‘The Royal Exchange’ by

Dr. ANN SAUNDERS, PRESIDENT of HADAS.

Tuesday 9th February LECTURE – ‘Villa of the Mysteries’ by

MARK ROBERTS.

NOTE: LECTURES will be held at AVENUE HOUSE, EAST END ROAD, FINCHLEY,N.3 8 p.m. for 8.30 p.m.

MINIMART – OCTOBER 10th DOROTHY NEWBURY

I forgot to ask anyone to write a report – so this is an opportunity to thank all those who provided such excellent goods for sale, made cakes, jams and meringues for the food and provision stalls, and quiches for the lunches. Tessa and Sheila, with their regular teams, coped efficiently, as always, on cakes and lunches.

Thanks to Mary, Doug and Christopher for their help with tables and chairs the day before, Bill and Christopher for loading up and transferring goods to the hail and back again with the remains’, the eam of tough guys who staggered upstairs with it all, our staunch team of regulars who manned the stalls and cleared up afterwards, leaving the premises CLEANER (I may say) than when we started.

By 3.30 p.m. I gave up, but Bill and Andy carried on by coming home with me and counting the money – and with excellent results. Sales on the day
exceeded £900 ! Add to this pre – Minimart sales, generous donations from

Myranwy Stewart and Mrs Banham who could not attend, and we reached the MAGNIFICENT TOTAL of nearly £1500 A RECORD

And,of course, the members and friends who came to buy were most important too. Forgive me if I have left anyone out to whom I should give special thanks.. (signed) Dorothy Newbury (alias Auntie Wainwright of ‘Last of the Summer Wine’.) PLEASE NOTE: For the weeks prior to the Minimart, rumour has spread in the Society that anyone who calls at 55 Sunnyfields Road with goods for the event, or for any other reason, connected with HADAS or not, is not allowed to leave the house without buying something…, this is true (adds another) but nevertheless there was plenty left to sell, and in a particularly jolly atmosphere, even the clear-up; Don’t give up, Dorothy !

Some preliminary thoughts on
KECHYNER’S MANOR AND AN ‘AULA’

I recently noticed a thirteenth century entry in the manorial records which may prove of significance to our research on the early history of East Barnet. This reference of 1273 seems to describe a ‘hall’ at East Barnet belonging to ‘the lord’. The entry, along with Pamela Taylor’s translation (which she describes as ‘more literal than stylish’ – well it has to be better than I can do, Pam), runs as follows:

Priori a Conquestu

Halimot apud Barnet die Lune proxime ante festum sancti Luce evangeli anno duo Robertus de Molendino ManquamJ iustus heres et propinquior gersumavit terram Simonis fratris sal. et dominus seisivit eundem Robertum cum eadem terra coram multibus hominibus in aula sua de Estbartzet. et dat domino pro ingresso .habendo. et pro herietto Simonis fratris sui xxxs.

Robert of the Mill, the just and nearest heir, paid the entry fine for the land of Simon his brother, and the lord gave the same Robert seisin [tenure) of the same land in front of many men in his hall of East Barnet, and for having entry and fora heriot [death duty) for his brother Simon he gives the lord 30s.

The passage is rather ambiguous, (is it Robert’s hall or the lord’s?) but Pam says that her sense of the word ‘aula’ is that it refers to a rather grand hall, and is unlikely to refer to Robert’s dining room.

Whether or not this ‘aula’ can be reconciled in any way with Kechyners Manor at East Barnet is an interesting question, and one which is impossible to answer at present. Much research remains to be carried out on this fascinating ‘manor’ and its relationship with the manor of Barnet as a whole.

What we can say is that in medieval times Kechyners Manor was held by the Kitchener of St Alban’s, who was one of the obedientaries of the Abbey. As things stand, I think we should imagine the manor as a farm estate, whose specialised job was to provide food for St Alban’s Abbey. (The monks paid ‘carriers’ to transport food from the outlying estates to the Abbey.) The Kitchener had assigned to him several manors, all of which seemed to be known as Kitchener’s ferm’. He received rent from the Abbot from these particular manors. In return, the Abbot received from the Kitchener an allowance of food. (VCH Vol. 4, p 413)

The date at which our monastic farm was established at East Barnet is unknown. In 1363, Abbot Thomas de la Mare (a former Kitchener himself) readjusted the lands held by the Kitchen because at that time its income was £181, while its expenses were £255 Ss 8d Kycheners Manor at East Barnet may date from this time of re­allocation of lands, or may already have been allocated to the Kitchener’s use at some earlier date. It may be worth pointing out that Levett says that ‘the Kitchen is said to have owed many of its endowments to Adam the Cellarer.’ [from 1151-56]. (Studies in Manorial History, p 113)

A monastic estate such as Kechyners Manor would, as I understand it, comprise a fairly substantial farmhouse (?hall) and a chapel, along with a storage barn and, occasionally, dovecote, fishponds and vineyard. (Did I once hear somebody mention that they had seen a map of East Barnet which marked a vineyard, or is this my imagination?) The actual farm buildings were often set around a courtyard. I have not yet considered whether the farm would be worked by monastic lay brothers or the local peasantry or both. Its organisation probably changed through the years according to the economic climate.

It is worth noting that many of these farms continued to be worked in post-Dissolution times, and that East Barnet (according to Gillian Gear) possessed an old barn within the Church Farm complex to the South of the church. The Church Farm house itself is thought to have dated from circa1660, but could well have been earlier, or a rebuilding. But I think we should maintain an open mind about the location of this farm, or manor complex (and `aula’1). The site may well lie adjacent to the church towards, perhaps, the north or north-west. Our evidence is too sketchy at present to make any assumptions.

According to the VCH (Vol. 2, p 332), at the Dissolution Kechyners Manor passed to the Crown and in 1547 was granted to Sir Richard Lee. Sir Richard was a military engineer and friend of Henry VIII (Richard’s wife, Margaret, was even friendlier towards Henry VIII than Sir Richard if we can believe the gossip!). He was granted extensive St Alban’s Abbey property and when he acquired Ketchyners Manor in East Barnet in 1547 it was at that time in the occupation of the rector of Barnet.

By 1554, when Anthony Butler acquired the manors of Barnet and East Barnet from John Goodwin and John Maynard, Kechyners Manor was reserved from the sale and was said to be held by the parson of Barnet. (Had Sir Richard earlier re-conveyed Kechyners Manor back to the church, as he did his monastic property in St Albans itself in 1557?) From the Dissolution until 1554 it does seem that Kechyners Manor was serving as the rectory for East Barnet. Its name then disappears from the records.

However, Reverend Cass (East Barnet, p 243) tells us that in 1558, Sir Anthony Mason, the curate (the `sir’ is an ecclesiastical title) took in a parcel of East Barnet churchyard, which adjoined the Town House which he occupied. Now if Kechyners Manor had been occupied from 1547 – 1554 by the local clergyman, there seems little reason to suppose he would have removed himself by 1558. It seems to me to be worth considering that the name `Kechyners Manor’ disappeared because that manor (or a part of it) had became known as the Rectory by 1558. (This is presumably the property described in 1631 as being ‘a decayed tenement adjoining the churchyard’, rent £1 3s 4d, when a new rectory was acquired elsewhere. (Cass, East Barnet, p 243-4). Cass goes on to tell us that this old Rectory lay `near the churchyard gate’. Whether he is referring to the lych-gate or some other gate is not made clear. Neither is his reasoning.

What should be clear from the above is that we have a lot of work to do on the early history of East Barnet. We are making a start, but at present every excursion into the records seems to raise more questions than it answers! Any comments, corrections, or further information relating to anything discussed in the last couple of pages (representing little more than random research notes) would be most gratefully received.

ROMAN HENDON UPDATE PART 1. Stephen Aleck

SULLONIACIS FOUND – AT HENDON?

In Newsletter 327, June 199S, Bill Bass reviewed In Search of Sulloniacis, which raised the question of the location of the Roman place called Sulloniacis, mentioned in the Antinonine Itineraries: was it at Brockley Hill, Edgware, Burnt Oak, or somewhere else? In fact it I think it can be argued that Sulloniacis was an estate of larger area than has normally been acknowledged, taking in Brockley Hill and probably another place on Watling Street that was used for the reception of travellers, and that the centre of the estate-was in Hendon, near the church. The reasoning is as follows.

Perhaps an investigation of the name, Sullomacis, might help to identify the place to which it referred. The ending -acis signifies ‘the estate belonging to …’ some group, possibly … the family or descendants of ‘. This suggests immediately that Sulloniacis may cover, not just one single hilltop, but a larger Romano-British estate. The first part, Sulloni-, is interpreted as an otherwise unknown personal name, Sulloni, or Sullonios.

Harvey Sheldon has suggested that the first syllable of Sulloni- might come from the name Sufis, the goddess of the spring at Bath, assimilated by the Romans with Minerva. Subs is often described, based presumably on the characteristics of Minerva and the association with Aquae Sufis, as a goddess of healing waters, but in fact she may originally have been a sun-goddess. Subs’ temple at Bath had a perpetual coal-fire burning on the altar, which may seem more suitable for a solar deity than a healing one. Indeed one of the finest finds displayed at Bath is a large carving representing the face of a sun-god. Sun-goddesses were worshipped under similar names to Sulis by the Celts and their contemporaries in various parts of Europe. In modern Welsh (the closest extant language to ancient British Celtic) Dydd Sul (or something similar sorry Welsh speakers!) means Sunday. Sun-worship became increasingly popular in the Roman world just before the advent of Christianity. An interesting foot note about Subs in the Roman volume of the Oxford History of England says ‘She is traditionally called Sul; but Professor Tolkein points out to me that the Celtic nominative can only be Subs, and our authority for believing that even the Romans made a nominative Sul on the analogy of their own Sol — perhaps meaning the same — is not good. The Celtic suits can mean ‘the eye’, and this again may mean the sun.’ Professor Tolkein was of course a considerable expert in real ancient languages, as well as those that he made up himself.

It was suggested by Hendon historian Fred Hitchin-Kemp that St Mary’s Church in Hendon was founded at what was formerly a centre for sun-worship. This theory is derived from the name of the hill upon which the church stands: Sunny Hill; three fields of this name are shown on Messeder’s 1754. map, being the first three fields encountered on the left hand side when going along the footpath from the churchyard towards Mill Hill, and they now form the highest part of the park. The name ‘Sunny Hill’ demands some thought, but it is not unfortunately mentioned in the English Place-Names Society’s volume or any other place-name literature. The park is certainly a very pleasant place, but no meteorological data I have ever seen suggests that it is sunnier than any other hill in the area! I suspect the first element might be a corruption of Sunning (as in the name of the nearby Sunningfields Road, so named in Victorian times), from Sunningas — tribe or followers of the sun, or of a person called Sunny, whose name may also relate to the sun.

So perhaps Sulloniacis refers to Hendon? Further consideration of the second syllable of Sullomacis might help with this theory. Refering to a modern Welsh dictionary, an attractive option is liwyn, ‘a grove’ — a grove being a sacred place to the Druids. Hence, perhaps, the double consonant in Sulloniacis? (Also, there was an old property called ‘The Grove’ on the west side of Hendon hill, now the park behind the Town Hall; but a connection here may be stretching credibility just a little too far). So could Sullon mean the grove (or temple?) of Sulis, the sun-goddess; the Sulloni the people pertaining to such a place, and Sulloniacis, the estate belonging to them? Hendon manor was, from at least the ninth century, granted by successive monarchs to the use and upkeep of Westminster Abbey. It is known that in the dark ages, Christian institutions took over lands and estates belonging formerly to heathen religious establishments.

We do know from finds in the Church End, Hendon area that there was indeed a Roman presence there. But if Sulloniacis’ centre was to be found at Hendon, there must-have been at least one other settlement within the estate, since Church End Hendon is too far from Watling Street to be the staging-post mentioned in the Antonine Itineraries. The Roman rubbish pit found by HADAS at Burnt Oak and thought to be derived from a villa is probably also rather too far from the Street, being half a kilometre distant, and the unsuitability of Brockley Hill in this respect has been mentioned by others.

To further confirm the presence of a Roman rest-station on Watling Street (as opposed to some distance off it), the charters by which Saxon kings granted Hendon to the Abbey gave descriptions of the bounds. These bounds include an old tunsteall, apparently on Watling Street, somewhere between Colindale and Edgware. The literal meaning of tunsteall is `town enclosed-place’. (An alternative interpretation of tunsteall could be ‘farm yard’, but McClure (1910) clearly saw the name as referring to an old town. He assumes in fact that the place referred to is Brockley Hill, and wonders why it is mentioned in the wrong geographical location! Perhaps other English place names derived from the same words should be investigated for evidence of early settlement on the basis of the ‘town’ meaning).

So whereas we might now start to consider that Sulloniacis might have been a whole estate centred on Hendon, the problem of the location within it of the staging post mentioned in the Itinerary is

still not resolved, except to the extent that it was probably on Watling Street, between Colindale and Edgware.

And was the pottery industry of Brockley Hill also within the Sulloniacis estate? I think probably it was. One reason is proximity: Brockley Hill and Hendon are seven kilometres apart, and clearly visible from each other. The intervening valley is drained by the Silkstream, whose early names (Sulk, sulc, suluc) denote an association with Sulloniacis. Then there is the evidence offered by pieces of Roman pottery made in Northern England stamped with the name Sullon, presumably a craftsman who named himself after a place where he had previously worked or served his apprenticeship, thus confirming a connection between Sulloniacis, and pottery.

References. Bird/Hassell/Sheldon Interpreting Roman London, 1996, the chapter In Search of Sulloniacis by Harvey Sheldon: location of Sulloniacis, possible association with Sufis and Silkstream. McClure, British Place Names in their Historical Setting, 1910: meanings

of tunsteall and Sulloniacis. Gover etc. The Place Names of Middlesex, EPNS, 1941: derivation of Silkstream from Suluc, AS charter reproduced as Appendix 1. Rivet and Smith, The Place-names of Roman Britain, 1979: derivation of Sulloniacis. Fred Hitchirr‑

Kemp, Notes on a Survey of Hendon made in 1754 …, Hendon 192819, typescript in Hendon library: poss. association of Sunnyhill with sun worship, pp 7 — 8, 230 — 232. Janet McCrickard, Eclipse of the Sun, 1990: sun worship across Europe, Su/is as sun goddess. Encyclopaedia Britannica: various articles give details of sun-worship in Roman times. The Roman Surveyors … , Dilke: heathen religious sites taken over by Christians. Oxford History of England – Roman Britain … , Collingwood and Myers: information about Sufis. A new history of Hendon church is in preparation by Mr R Somes, containing further information, and I am indebted to him for pointing out the sun-worship connection.ROMAN HENDON (Contd) Steve Aleck

ROMAN HENDON UPDATE PART 2,- VIATORES ROUTE 167

The Viatores in their book in the sixties, pointed out that a Roman road ought to pass through Mill Hill and Hendon, and delineated what they thought to be its route. HADAS then conducted many investigations of this route, without finding any evidence of it ( – although a Roman road was discovered, it was probably a different one!) Since that time some members have suspected that route 167 does indeed exist, but on quite a different line to that which the Viatores published.

We are currently investigating this route, and trying to find an area which will warrant excavation and/or geophysical testing. A group of intrepid members took a break from washing Brockley Hill sherds on 11 October and tramped over a part of Copthall Fields, but found that the interesting-looking mound that I thought was a Roman road is more likely to be associated with a sewage pipe!

ROMAN HENDON UPDATE PART 3 – THE PADDOCK

Drainage work in this field at Church End, Hendon is being watched as mentioned in the last newsletter. A full report will be prepared when the work is finished, but at this point we can say that, although non situ archaeological remains have been seen. We have now found one or two sherds of apparently Roman pottery, as well as several pieces of Roman brick, in addition to the late- and

post- mediaeval material mentioned last month.

MATHILDA MARKS-KENNEDY SCHOOL, MILL HILL Stephen Aleck

This private school is in buildings, formerly Shakerham Farm, of which the oldest part is timber-framed. The small timber framed wing is thought to be a remaining wing of an original hall-house (i.e. a house without a chimney, open to the roof).

The school wants to demolish some modern structures at the back of this site and build a new block, and the Council, advised by English Heritage, agreed to allow this, provided that archaeological site watching is carried out to see whether remains of the hall-house turn up in the excavations. EH suggested that HADAS might be able to do this work, and have offered to assist us in preparing a programme of archaeological work.

Would anybody who might be able to visit the site during the works please contact Brian Wrigley or Stephen Aleck (959 0722). (Works are starting in March.)

MEMBERS’ NEWS DOROTHY NEWBURY

MRS BANHAM – a Founder Member of HADAS. All her friends in the Soc­iety will be pleased to hear that she is progressing well after her fall on the way to church. a member of the nursing home staff tells me that Mrs Banham is a very determined lady (don’t we all know it?). With somebody to hold her arm to give her confidence, she can walk the length of the corridor – in spite of her broken pelvis, broken wrist and sprained ankle ! She can also write letters again. We all wish her well.

TED SAMMES – another Founder Member, is in hospital. He has been at home with daily care since his heart operation a few years ago. Maid­enhead Archaelogical Society contacted us through Liz Holliday on 18th October, and will be in touch re his progress. Ring Dorothy on 0181- 203-0950 for any further information or his address.

TWO PIECES OF INTEREST FROM BRIAN WRIGLEY

More News of Oetzi the Alpine Iceman

A kind friend and neighbour has given me a copy of an article in the New Scientist of 12th September, by Tom Loy, about his scientific re­search into the Iceman’s toolkit. He has spent many years making and using tools of prehistoric types, then examining the microscopic res­idues, which had clearly helped his investigation. Some points which interested me follow

The 2 arrows were long and deep-penetrating (from the bloodstains up to midshaft),feathered (fletched) spirally to provide spin for long shots.

The scraper was ‘of classic design’ – triangular in section, one edge for cutting grasses (silica gloss), one for bone scraping (collagen res­idues), ends for skinworking, backbone shaped as a plane to shave bone or antler – ‘the original Swiss Army Knife’

The copper axe residues included collagen and blood, suggesting use in butchering; the nicks and dents in the edge matched the scallops pattern­ed on the bow also found, suggesting Oetzi had made his own bow.

Tom Loy’s interpretation is that Oetzi was a highly skilled hunter who made his own weapons, carrying all necessary multi-purpose tools ‘for hunting , butchering and bringing back meat, skins, antlers or horn on his lightweight pack frame’.

Still to come is the completion of laboratory DNA tests on blood resid­ues to show what species they were from. I find the evidence of ancient technological skills most impressive. If any reader would like a copy of the full article, I should be happy to provide it.

North London Archaeological Liaison Committee

This Committee meets three times a year, organised by MoLAS for repres­entatives from MoLAS, local authorities and Societies, and the Greater London Archaeology Advisory Service of English Heritage. I usually att­end for HADAS, and at the October meeting I was very pleased to find that Councillor Steven Blomer was there for Barnet Council – the first time for some years they have been represented. English Heritage apologised for absence, due to a meeting of their own discussing London archaeology’s organisation, consultation, research agenda etc.

The current planning application for golf courses at Edgwarebury was men­tioned, and T reported HADAS’s submission in support of GLAAS’s; MoLAS (who did the desktop assessment) are submitting proposals to the develop­ers. I was asked about ‘The Paddock’ in Hendon and was able to report some sitewatching owing to the assiduity of our Stephen Aleck.

I also reported English Heritage’s request for us to help on a school site in Hale Lane, Mill Hill, and, of course, to update our position on fieldwalking at Brockley Hill. (For Stephen Aleck’s updates see page h )

PLANNING APPLICATIONS (From Robert Whytehead of English Heritage)

Kingshead House, The Ridgeway. N.W.7,near where pre-historic and Saxon finds have been made.

Northgate Clinic, Goldsmith Ave. N.W.9, which is close to the early site of Kingsbury end where Roman material has been found.

Sobek House Rooker Way and 1 – 5 Rushgrove Parade N.W.9, along the Edgware road, former Roman road of Watling Street.

In London Borough. of Harrow, the Council itself is planning to change the use of land and buildings at Wood Farm, Wood Lane, Stanmore, to cemetery and residential use. Although out of our Borough, this site

is very close to the Roman potteries site of Silonicae at Brockley Hill, where we have been fieldwalking recently. (From TESSA SMITH)

BURY FARM FIELDWALKING PROJECT

We have passed the halfway mark in cleaning the finds thanks to the unflagging efforts of the fieldwalking team, but we do need to maintain the present pace to complete this work by the end of October. The next phase will be identification of the contents of each bag and recording on bulk finds sheets – less messy and more fun than bowls of mud? After all this has been done, we will get down to the detailed work on the pottery recording sheets.

In the meantime, if you have expertise in pot, brick/tile identification but have not already taken part in this particular project, could you get in touch with Brian Wrigley on 0181 959 5982 or Vikki O’Connor on 0181 361 1350.
Fiona Seeley of the Museum of London Finds & Environmental Service (MoLFES) will be spending the day with us on Saturday 14th November to make a start on analysing the pottery.

VIKKI O’CONNOR

OTHER SOCIETY EVENTS

Barnet & District Local History Society

Wednesday 25 November – Annual General Meeting

At: Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road, High Barnet, 7.45 for 8pm

City of London Archaeological Society

Friday 20 November

Iron Working in Roman Britain – Dr David Sim

At St Olave’s Hall, Mark Lane, EC3, 6.30 for 7pm. Visitors welcome.

Enfield Archaeological Society

Friday 20th November

London’s Medieval Monasteries: the fruits of post-excavation research – Barney Sloane

At: Jubilee Hall, junction of Chase Side/ Parsonage Lane, Enfield, 7.30 for 8pm, visitors 50p. Hornsey Historical Society

Wednesday 11 November

The Council for the Preservation of Rural England – Stephen Cooper

At: Union Church Community Centre, corner of Ferme Park Road & Western Park, 8pm.

Pinner Local History Society

Thursday 5 November

Harefield, the Last Village in Middlesex – Eileen Bowlt

At: Pinner Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, 8pm, visitors £1.

St Albans & Hertfordshire Architectural & Archaeological Society

Friday 27 November

Geophysical Methods for Archaeology – Dr Vince Gaffney

At: St Albans School, 8pm.

The Archaeology of Towns in England – public lecture series

The Institute of Archaeology, 31-34 Gordon Sq, WC1, 7.00pm. £5 (£2.50 concessions) at the door. Thurs 12 November: IPSWICH – Keith Wade, Suffolk County Archaeologist

Thurs 19 November: VERULAMIUM – Ros Niblett, St Albans Museum

Thurs 26 November: DORCHESTER – Peter Woodward, Dorset County Museum

Thurs 3 December: CANTERBURY – Paul Bennett, Canterbury Archaeological Trust Thurs 10 December: WINCHESTER – Martin Biddle, Hertford College, Uni. of Oxford

LAMAS 33rd ANNUAL LOCAL HISTORY CONFERENCE
Perceptions of London – Writers and Artists in the Metropolis
Saturday 21 November 10am – 5pm
Tickets £5, available from: 36 Church Road, West Drayton, Middlesex, UB7 7PX

WHAT’S ON THIS WINTER – COURSES AND EVENTS (CONTD.)

Extra-Mural Studies at The Instituter, Hampstead Garden Suburb

London. N.W.11 7 BN

Tel

(Birkbeck Extra-Mural Studies Centre, University of London)

Certificate and Diploma in archaeology

Course no. 374 The Archaeology of the Ancient Levant

Mondays 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Institute – 20 Meetings + 4 visits

from 28.9.98.

Teacher : J. Clayton B.A.

Fee:94.00 (OAP, low waged, unwaged: £47.00)

This course will give a broad overview of the archaeology of Palest­ine and its neighbouring countries from the earliest times until the end of the second milennium B.C. Special reference will be made to
the relationships between the archaeological and textual sources. Includes coursework.

Historical Association (Hampstead and North London Branch) Fellowship House, Willifield Green, Hampstead Garden Suburb N.W.11, at 7.45 p.m.

Thursday,l9th November – Dr Kate Lowe (Goldsmiths’ College)

‘Female Witnesses in 16th C. Italy’ Nun historians on the world

within and without their cloisters.

Thursday, 10th December – Miss Brenda Bolton (queen Mary and Westfield

College)

‘Innocent III meets his Martin Guerre :the strange case of Gills and Palmerius, who returns from captivity to claim her from her second

husband.’

Mill Hill Historical Society

Harwood Hall, Union Church, The Broadway,Mill Hill, at 8 p.m.

Wednesday, llth November – Mrs M. Smith,who gave an excellent lecture to the Society last winter, and we are pleased to welcome her again.

Java, Sulowesi (Celebes) Sumatra’

Wednesday,9th December. – Mr Richard Nichols

‘Bethlem Hospital’ This famous hospital celebrated its 750th

anniversary last year. The design of the new building erected after the Great Fire of London set the standard for such hospitals caring for the mentally ill for the next 150 years.

PLANNING APPLICATIONS (Contd. from page 7 )

In late 1995, we were invited to, and did, comment on the Planning Brief for possible redevelopment at Mill Hill (East) Gas Works Site, as did English Heritage (GLAAS). We were told an archaeological ass­esment would be needed to support any planning application. In Nov­ember, 1996, Herts Archaeological Trust completed a desk-based ass­essment for British Gas. December 1996 GLAAS advised the planning authority that any application should be supported by a field eval‑

uation on the playing field area. In August 1998, our Committee heard that Barnet Council had given planning consent without any archaeol­ical provision and I was asked to write expressing our disappointment We have had an apology for ‘the oversight’ with explanation that the permission is only ‘outline’ and it is hoped that the omission will be corrected when further applications are made before the commence­ment of works. (From BRIAN WRIGLEY)

A weekend in Bristol and South Wales

Day 1- Thursday 3rd September 1998

Lacock and Bath Tessa Smith

Leaving the umbrellas of London far behind us, a coach of HADAS pilgrims travelled towards the west country to sample the archaeological delights of Bath and Bristol. In spite of a crawl of heavy traffic, a dizziness of roundabouts and a close encounter with a low bridge, we emerged triumphant in glorious autumn sunshine into the National Trust village of Lacock. We were like children set free in a sweet shop. The assortment of buildings range from a large 14th century barn and tiny 14th century cruck beam cottage, to the 19th century school, complete with children playing in the playground. The market cross, the village lock-up, the 15th century wool merchant’s house, with a fine horse passage and over-hanging jetty, every corner was a delight.

Lacock Abbey was founded in 1232 and the town developed as a wool town, with spinning and weaving, but today, a silver smithy fronts the slaughter house, a pottery replaces the weaver, and not a sheep is to be heard. Only the `oo’s and ah’s’ of HADAS members! (whoops! Sorry)

At the dissolution of the monasteries Lacock Abbey was converted into a private country house, and eventually owned by the Talbot family, who gave it to the National Trust in 1944, together with the whole village. Although the Abbey was not open, some of us visited the fine medieval cloisters and admired the 15th century wall paintings. All of us visited the museum.

The most famous member of the Talbot family was William Fox Talbot, the pioneer of photography. The Fox Talbot Museum shows the fascinating development from the camera obscura to the earliest photographs using the properties of silver nitrate and the positive/negative process. It is claimed that Fox Talbot was an eminent botanist, mathematician, physicist and transcriber of Syrian and Chaldean cuneiform texts, (hieroglyphs?) He also remodelled the south elevation of Lacock Abbey, giving it an elegantly ornate tower, roof balustrade and oriole window.

Well satisfied with our first stop, we sped on to Bath, grand and golden in the sunshine, the only natural hot springs in Britain.

Central to the baths at Aquae Sulis is the Great Bath, smooth and serene as a bowling green, open to the sky and fed by clean hot mineral waters, which gush out of a huge drain with tremendous force, heat and steam. In Roman times a vaulted roof of timber and tile covered this 5 foot deep swimming pool, keeping the waters clear. Now it is dangerously full of green algae. The pool is lined with massive sheets of lead, mined from the Mendip lead mines; this lead lining has never leaked and never been stolen! Adjacent to the Great Bath the hypercaust system fed heat to the tepidarium, caldarium and laconicum, a circular chamber that provided dry heat. Here we made offerings to the gods of the Archaeological Trust, and hand-tested the surprisingly high temperature of the water.

Latest archaeological excavations have centred on the temple ruins below the pump room, and have revealed more of the shrine dedicated to Sulis Minerva, the Romano-Celtic goddess of the springs. The Museum contains the shield of Minerva decorated with the famous Gorgons head, the gilded head from a statue of Minerva, Roman carvings and sculptures, offerings of jewellery and coins, and lead curses. These curses were scratched on sheets of lead, rolled and given to the gods.

It seemed incongruous to be transported to the 18th century Pump Room above, filled with 20th century diners in a Georgian Salon. Did anyone try the medicinal waters and live dangerously? I think more of us went to worship at Sally Lunn’s, the oldest house in Bath.

Alternative Bath researchers sought out the Pulteney Bridge and Weir, some took the open top bus ride, some worshipped at the train museum, some translated, hilariously, Latin inscriptions on monuments in the Abbey. We ate ice creams in the street. Would Beau Nash have approved? A good time was had by all.

From Bath to Bristol, beside the Clifton Suspension Bridge which spans the tremendous Avon Gorge, past the Bristol Zoo to Hyatt Hall, where hot water gushed out in abundance and where we were made to drink intoxicating liquors before a somewhat early night.

Day 2 – Friday 4th September 1998

Of Druids, Witches and Rubbery Masses Bill Bass

After a coffee at the ‘Druids Arms’ we were ready to step back 5000 years into pre-history.

The megalithic stones of Stanton Drew greeted us with a cloak of mist and drizzle, we convinced ourselves that this made the place more atmospheric and mysterious. Incongruously the site is approached through a small housing estate which opens-up into an area of high ground, this is overlooked by the rolling countryside of North Somerset on all sides.

Our guide was Gail Boyle of Bristol City Museum who explained that the stones were first recorded in 1664 by John Aubrey and first planned by Stukely in 1776, There are in fact three circles, the largest of these (Great Circle 115m dia) is second in size only to Avebury, the other two being comparatively small_ The Great and adjacent north-east circles were approached by short avenues of standing stones. This being farmland a herd of cows together with HADAS members listened intently as Gail mentioned the megaliths were of local manufacture – a source 3 miles distant and that apart from the odd chambered tomb and hillfort there is a relative lack of detected prehistoric sites in the area, though this may change soon (see below).

The site has attracted a considerable tradition of folklore. Most persistently is the tale that the stones represent members of a wedding party and its musicians, lured by the Devil to celebrate on the Sabbath and thus becoming petrified in their revels. As it happens I felt a bit like this as I had left my coat on the coach.

Stanton’s stone circles lie somewhat off the beaten track and have been minding their own business for many centuries with little in the way of modern research. But this has changed – big time. In 1997 as part of a re­evaluation of the site, the Ancient Monuments Laboratory of English Heritage carried out a magnetometer survey of the large field which contains the Great Circle and north-east circle. Its results were surprising and well publicised in the press. Readings showed a very large buried ditch enclosing the largest stone circle plus a concentric pattern of buried pits within the megaliths. These have been compared with sites such as Woodhenge, near Stonehenge, and the Sanctuary , near Avebury where it’s thought that similar pits held massive upright timbers that may or may not have been roofed.

This has thrust Stanton Drew into the spotlight as an important and complex henge site used a focus for gatherings, religious or otherwise. Further survey work is planned to explore the south-west circle which stands slightly aloof and overlooking the other two. When Gail wins the Lottery she’s going to have the whole surrounding landscape surveyed! Once more to the ‘Druids Arms’ because in its beer-garden is a group of three large stones called the Cove which must closely relate to its sister monuments down on the farm.

It was a fascinating visit to a quiet, untouched and as yet undeveloped site that has more secrets to reveal.

Next stop was the Chewton Cheese Dairy where a ton of Cheddar cheese is produced every day (how do they get it through the door?) by traditional methods.

The Dairy belongs to Viscount Chewton, heir to the Earl Waldegrave, whose ancestor, Sir Edward Waldegrave, was given the land by Queen Mary, daughter of Henry VIII in 1553. The Wildergrave family has owned the land ever since. There was a Benedictine house on this site, later occupied by the Carthusians and then in its place a large Gothic style house – Chewton Priory now mostly gone.

We were given an introduction by Simon Foulds and Francis Disney – a right pair of comedians, also, Simon at one time had been a lecturer in archaeology. They conveyed a well rehearsed and amusing talk on the process of making their cheese. After traditional cheese words such as cows (a lot), milk, starter, lactose, curds, whey, salt and rubbery masses had passed us by, it was time for a brief tour of the dairy. This included a demonstration on how to make the all-important rind which allows the cheese to mature properly, our cheese then gets pressed for a very, long time. In the strangely near empty storeroom we could view the finished result, a mild cheese is usually about 5-6 months old while a mature (or tasty cheese) takes 8-12 months. The temperature in here is kept at a constant 50°F or 10°C – I knew this as I had left my coat on the coach.

On then to Wookey Hole Showcases. Millions of years ago the River Axe as it became known dissolved limestones and conglomerates to form passages and caverns through the Mendip Hills. Stone tools prove that The

caves were occupied c 50.000 years ago, they were hunting bear, hyena and rhinoceros, much later Iron-age people of c 250BC also lived here. Bones from a Romano-British cemetery have been found but they were washed in when the caves flooded periodically.

Inside a trail led us through a dramatically lit series of chambers with stalactites, stalagmites, amazing colourful rock formations and the clear waters of the Axe. One minute we’re ducking through a low passage then next we’re high above on a catwalk. Our guide impressed us with the legend of the Witch of Wookey ” an evil old woman who lived in the caves with her dog, one day while casseroling a child she was turned to stone by a monk who sprinkled her with holy water”. No change there then, being turned to stone is obviously an occupational hazard in Somerset. Inside Wookey’s chambers the temperature is a slightly chilly 11°C damn!

From the caves a path leads to the Wookey Hole Mill, one of two handmade paper mills in Britain. A papermill was recorded here in 1610, advantages included a good supply of clean water from the Axe, good drying breezes up the valley and little air pollution, although it was close enough to Wells and Bristol for a supply of cotton rags, the essential raw material for making paper at that time. When machines took over in the mid 19thC a William Hodgkinson bought the mill to preserve the handmade skills which ran until the 1950s. Nowadays Madame Tussauds runs a commercial operation with the old Victorian machinery.

For some reason the mill also houses a tribute to the Victorian Seaside Pier with penny arcades, crazy mirrors and so forth. My particular favourite being the ‘Magical Mirror Maze’ with over forty mirrors, each eight feet high and set at precise 60° angles creating the impression of a huge vaulted crypt – very effective.

By now it is tipping down with rain, from Wookey the coach takes us the scenic route through Cheddar Gorge to the village of Priddy where we had a fine dinner at ‘The New Inn’.

Day 3–Saturday 5th September 1998 Denis J Ross

We emerged from our single rooms for breakfast at 8 and took to our coach at 9 bearing our packed lunches. We drove 12 miles to Ca erwent, not far over the Severn Bridge in Wales. There we were met by Howard Pell, an independent guide. He proved to be as enthusiastic as he was articulate in taking us round the remains of what was once Venta Silurum , “the market town of the Silures”, the tribe conquered by the Romans around 75 AD after lengthy hostilities. We learnt that ” Caer” meant “Fort” and “Went” meant “Market Place” and that the town was thought to have had a population of some 3,000 people. In about 330 AD, the Romans, as part of the town, built a Temple to Mars Ocelus and a market centre with shops, houses, forum and a basilica which housed council and tribunal rooms. The remains also included a large,

centrally heated town house of the 2nd. or 3rd. century AD obviously belonging to a person of some substance.

Howard then took us on a walk (no slouches us!) right round the town walls which were in varying degrees of height and preservation. Our progress in one part was impeded by some aggressive looking long-horned cows (Welsh Blacks) protecting their calves but we showed no fear and passed safely. The walls were built in about 330AD and Howard posed the question of why, at that stage, they were thought to be necessary.

Then to the Village Church which had incorporated into its structure some Roman masonry and a Roman mosaic. It also had on display a block of stone dedicated to Mars Ocelus and an inscribed statue base honouring the name of Tiberius Claudius Paulinus, onetime commander of the Second Legion when it was stationed in the area.

Back in the coach and 10 miles further into Wales to Caerleon. Again we met Howard to extend his enthusiastic approach with the 50 acre Legionary Fort of Isca Silarum . It was built in about 75 AD (about the same time as the Coliseum in Rome) as a base for the 5500 men of the Second Augustan Legion (crack troops) after the pacification of the Silures. In the time available, we could not see everything and Howard concentrated on the The Barracks and The Amphitheatre.

The barracks were a series of 60 single -storied buildings each of which accommodated 80 men, commanded by a centurion, in 8 man

cubicles. Only one line of these had been excavated and the floor levels revealed. The other lines were indicated by “stone maps”. Howard evoked the lives of the soldiers in their cramped conditions (the centurion was better off) with special reference to their bathing and toilet needs.

The enormous amphitheatre was excavated in 1926/7 by Sir Mortimer Wheeler. Here could be seated 6000 men on tiers of wooden seats to watch military training, gladiatorial combat or the baiting of wild animals. Howard indicated the various entrances and exits and, with his help, we could imagine the original height and the sight it must have been when full. A belief existed, and may still exist, that the amphitheatre was the site of King Arthur’s Round Table. Howard gave this theory short shift!

Having thanked Howard Pell for his impressive performance, it was back to the coach and off on the 23 miles to Monmouth the very name of which speaks history. We were met (near the famous 13th century stone-gated Monnow Bridge) by Steve Clarke of Monmouth Archaeological Society. He gave us a preliminary chat about his Society’s activities and then led us to their current excavation in Monnow Street (the main street) itself. This was remarkable for an amateur Society. It was inside a very large building which had so far been saved from development. A large area had already been dug to a considerable depth and a further area was in course of being dug. As to the dug area, Steve told us about the various levels which had been identified from Roman (50AD) onwards including mediaeval house floors and terraces and areas of flooding. He also described the impressive finds of pottery, bones and artefacts. We looked at the area now being dug and Steve pointed out a stone furnace and a well.

After thanking Steve, and a walk around,and tea in, Monmouth, we drove the ten miles via the Wye Valley to Tintern there to gaze in wonder at the ruins of Tintern Abbey-a break from the earlier Roman

emphasis as it was founded by the Cistercians in the 12th century. The ruins are as magnificent a spectacle as ever with the graceful lines of the towering walls and the “open to the skies” effect.

We then repaired to The Anchor in Tintern for food and drink before returning to our base in Bristol. It had been a long and tiring day but a very interesting and enjoyable one. There were some drooping eyelids in the coach on the way back!

Day 4 – Sunday 6th September 1998

SUNDAY IN BRISTOL – CASTLES, CHURCHES, BOATS AND TRAMLINES

ANDY SIMPSON

Following our morning ration of bacon and egg we said our tearful farewells to the University and departed for the centre of Bristol for our tour led by Bruce Williams of the 11-strong Bristol City Museum based Bristol and Region Archaeological Services. Your scribe noticed as we pulled up at Broad Weir to meet our guide some tell tale signs and trotted gleefully off to photograph traces of lifted tramway pointwork fossilised in a length of surviving granite sets – Bristol lost her trams, and much else besides, in the 1941 Blitz.

We were given a quick historical account of Bristol which had a late Saxon Mint, the contemporary town standing on a plateau defended by rivers, the later Norman Ringwork and Motte and Bailey Castle (later rebuilt in stone in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries) protecting the landward side. We traced the line of the east castle wall in an area which became the commercial heart of Bristol until utterly destroyed in the 1940/41 air raids and totally rebuilt post-war when the new shopping area moved elsewhere in the city. In the modern, landscaped Castle Park we viewed the surviving sally port and two surviving arches of the King’s Hall, some of the few castle fragments visible above ground and not demolished in 1656 or lost to later cellars and bomb damage. The much battered remains of the twelfth century south curtain wall displayed the typical local red mortar, due to its local Triassic sandstone content and two arrow slots, plus very visible evidence of decay of these only recently conserved remains which badly needed repointing. Still in good working order was the Courage Brewery in the floating Harbour area built to ease traffic and control the former 40 feet tidal drop of the river Avon. We viewed the surviving shells of the blitzed churches of St. Peter and its neighbour St. Mary-le-Port, both now sheltering some of Bristol’s homeless population. Moving to the medieval centre at Broad St, where the road junction once had a church at each corner, we viewed the 4 sixteenth/seventeenth century bronze pillars where Bristol merchants transacted business on these ‘nails’, hence the phrase `to pay on the nail’. We also saw the surviving 13th century town gate at Tower Lane, surmounted by the redundant church of St. John the Baptist, now maintained by the Redundant Churches Fund.

Following this informative tour we moved to the Great Western Dock area for lunch, giving your scribe chance to visit the aircraft engines, motor vehicles, broad gauge railway carriage side – and tram model – at the excellent Bristol Industrial Museum, to where he travelled courtesy of the new flywheel operated Parry People Mover electric tram running on a trial basis along a surviving length of the old dock railway system.

We then moved on to that magnificent vessel, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s S.S. Great Britain, launched in 1843 as the worlds’ biggest ship and recovered from the Falkland Islands as a derelict hulk in 1970 – restoration has been underway ever since. She was the first ocean going propeller driven iron ship and effort is presently concentrated on recreating the ‘Great (steam) Engine’- then the most powerful in the world, developing some 1,600 horsepower and consuming 70 tonnes of coal daily. After a very informative guided tour, which stressed the strict Victorian separation of the social classes, (divided by the engine room !) a stroll on

deck – and beneath the ship – a slightly intimidating experience, walking round the base of her dry dock – brought home her sheer size, impressive even today. Her long and varied career as luxury liner, armed gold carrier, troop ship, cargo sailing ship and storage hulk is well covered by the interior displays.

A fast run back to London ended another wonderful weekend. Well done Dorothy!

OUTING to KENSAL GREEN CEMETERY – LONDON’S FIRST NECROPOLIS – TESSA SMITH

Who would have believed that, adjacent to the noisy and traffic-polluted Harrow Road, there lies an area of 77 acres of peace and tranquillity, with easy parking

Stewart Wild made it possible for a large group of HADAS members to visit All souls’ Cemetery recently, where we met outside the Anglican Chapel. Inside this neo-classical building, built of Portland stone in Doric style, with porticos and colonnades, we sat on long pews which overlook

a huge brass-topped catafalque. During Victorian funerals, this mechanism supported and lowered magnificent triple-lined coffins, by means of hyd­raulics, down to the catacombs below. Recently this catafalque has been restored to full working order by the Friends of the Cemetery.

The catacombs are the largest working catacombs in the country, with a capacity for about 4,000 coffins, now three-quarters full. They are com­posed of long brick passages, with vaulted roofs, compartmented to contain sealed coffins on shelves in perpetuity. We peered through iron grills at decaying wood, burial wreaths, rusting brass, velvet and verdigris, and urns of ashes long forgotten.

All souls’ Cemetery was thefirst great commercial cemetery to be opened in London (1833) in answer to the scandalous overcrowding and appalling con­ditions of city churchyards at that time. For those who could afford it, it offered a secure and fashionable burial, usually pompous and pretent­ious, in accord with Victorian values and taste.

The variety of monuments crowded together, of all shapes and sizes, is quite breath-taking, reflecting the beliefs, the perceived importances and wealth of those past times. There are also some modern burials, which also reflect these same influences. The graveyard is open to all today.

The stonemasons of times past were kept busy: Greek sarcophagi, winged cherubs, female figures in attitudes of grief, doves, swags of flowers, Gothic pinnacles, a riot of crocketting, huge pedimented mausoleums, a cornucopia of stonework. In contrast, some burials are simply remember­ed : a wooden cross, a pathside headstone, a polished granite slab.

Part of the fascination of this necropolis is the variety of people buried there : Charles Babbage, Wilkie Collins, W.H. smith, three children of King George III, Sir Terence Rattigan, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Blondini, the mother of Oscar Wilde, the sister-in-law of Charles Dickens. Some HADAS members searched out thoir own particular relation’s grave.

An area of the cemetery is devoted to Dissenters from the Anglican Church. The Dissenters’ Chapel was, like the rest of the cemetery, in a poor state after the Second World War, and has been restored very recently. it was here, in an area behind the north wing, that we gathered for a splendid afternoon tea.

it was a fascinating, soulful and weird experience – not to be forgotten –

Thank you, Stewart.