Past Newsletters

DIARY

September 4th to 7th — Long weekend in York, No vacancies at the moment, but if any member would like to join us, please phone Dorothy 0181-203­0950 in case we have any last minute cancellations.

September 26th (Friday) — Visit to Thomas Comm Foundation, WC1, (The Foundling Hospital) and a morning walk with Mary O’Connell. Details and application form inside.

October 11th (Saturday) — The fabled Minimart. St Mary’s Church, Hendon.

October 14th (Tuesday evening) — First lecture of the new season: Iron Age Working in Wales by Peter Crew.

October 19th (Sunday) — An Invitation from The Finchley Society, see inside.

Lectures are at AVENUE HOUSE, EAST END ROAD, FINCHLEY, N3, 8pm for 8.30

Ground Probing Radar at The Priory, Totteridge Lane — Roy Walker

In September, 1996, the Museum of London Archaeology Service undertook a Ground Penetrating Radar Survey at The Priory, a 17th century manor house in Totteridge Lane, Barnet. The cellar of the building had suffered problems with water seepage and it was thought that the cause may have been due to the presence of a tunnel traditionally supposed to link the Priory to nearby St Andrews Church. The owner of the property commissioned the Clark Laboratory, based at MOLAS, to locate the tunnel by use of Radar. Basically, the system sends a radio pulse into the ground which interacts with the immediate surroundings and is reflected back. This interaction is recorded by a receiver and analysed by computer. The interaction is varied depending upon the medium through which the pulses passed and a value can be given for the type of medium – for instance, air has a value of 1, concrete 7. Changes in the reflected signal are “recorded as anomalies. The transmitter and associated receiver are moved across the area in a series of survey lines. In this instance twelve lines laid out and the anomalies were noted. In two areas the anomalies were considered to reflect underground services such as drains, power cables and so forth. In one area, however, a possible buried structure was thought to be present -perhaps the tunnel – and a limited excavation was recommended. Text Box: IIn July this year, a small pit (about lm square) was dug by the owner’s contractors with HADAS attending by way of a limited watching brief. It was located in the area of the unknown anomaly but as the sketch shows, there was no significant archaeological deposits although disturbances were present including a patch of tile and brick rubble. There was no tunnel. Six days later we were notified that a further pit had been dug with the same negative result. The sequence of layers was in a slightly different order but it bottomed-out on the same sandy/clay as the first pit.

MEMBERS NEWS

Pat Bromley – In July we reported that Pat was in hospital and we were missing her and the Bromley family oel our outings. Recently she had a second operation, and again we all wish her well.

Congratulations to Stephen Wrigley on working with the Prince’s Trust as a guitar Tutor. He will be remembered by West Heath diggers where he regularly dug with his father Brian.

Congratulations to Julius Baker who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, several members attended his party.

Gareth Bartlett has passed his Diploma course of Physical Data in Archaeology, well done to him and other members who have passed exams recently.

Hendon Aerodrome Part 4 – Transporting the masses

A noted local railway historian Mr J..F.Aylard mentions in a recent ‘London Railway Record’ (July 1997) that “a regular event on the (now closed) ex-GNR Edgware branch which occurred every summer from the 1930s up to WW2 was the use the LNER made of it to assist passengers to attend the Hendon Air Force Pageant which was held in June. From 1.00pm to 7.30pm the normal Edgware service was replaced by buses and the end of the branch was used to store the trains, which stretched nose to tail from Mill Hill The Hale to Edgware after the passengers had been decanted at The Hale from a succession of nine special trains”. In the evening locomotives that were used to pull the afternoon trains were simply attached to the rear of the previous train’ before setting back off down to Finsbury Park, signalled by men with green and red flags stood at intervals. Mr Aylard says ” I think one must give the LNER full marks for ingenuity in arranging this system”.

VISIT TO HASTINGS & BATTLE, July 97, by — Pat O’Connell

The passengers and coach were all on time and off we went on a fine misty morning, which was soon gone when the sun came out for a glorious day.

We drove straight through London on clear roads to Kent and the village of Goudhurst and The Vine for a welcome coffee. Giving us time to explore the interesting village built on a hill in the 17 & 18th centuries including Kentish houses, an oast house, shops and the old church with its graveyard on top of the steep hill. As we returned to the coach, we passed the village green and duck pond. Then we were off again passing the lovely green fields and hedgerows for Hastings and the old part of town.

In no time we were there by the Net Shops and the “-L- de (shingle beach). In fact they were not shops at all, but stores for the Hastings fisherman – tall wood huts, mostly three stories high used for storing nets and tackle, 45 net shops still survive, they are unique in Britain.

THE SHIPWRECK HERITAGE CENTRE Created in 1986 by the Nautical Museums trust, a registered educational charity. Funding from the Government, local authority, charitable sources and admission charges. Staffed with volunteers, in 1989 it received the Museum of the Year Award. I must say it deserved it.

Its aim was to illustrate the history of ships and seafaring in north-west Europe primarily from

archaeological remains rescued and preserved. It is in the right area as there are thousands of sunken ships known to lie off south-west England, because for 2000 years the channel has been one of the busiest seaways in the world. We could see part of the channel navigation on the radar,/ would never make a coast guard!.

Being a large party we divided into two groups. I went to the Annex to see the Primrose a small
spritsail barge that sailed the rivers Rather, Tillingham and Brede in East Sussex and along the Royal Military Canal in Kent. The Primrose was the last to be built in the 1890’s and the only one to be built with a spritsail (- a great spar supporting and crossing the mainsail diagonally from the base of the mast) by Mr Clarks yard at Winchelsea Road, Rye. It carried up-river coal, chalk, sand, corn, lime and salt. Returning with timber bark, stone, bricks and hop-poles.

Being sold in 1937 to J & T Mackey for harbour works. In 1954 when restriction on access to the river banks were lifted it was found abandoned in the River Rother near Rye Harbour. But it was not recovered and rescued until 1992 by the Centre. Having been totally submerged by all the tides, all the planks and fittings loosened, the stern and stempost being ripped . They had a crew of two, a master and mate usually father and son. They had a cabin in the bow with a stone base for the stove, to boil their kettle on.

MUSEUM

Then on into the museum to see the Cognac brandy bottles part of a cargo of French wine and spirits, bound for the Caribbean in the Danish tombstone wreck of 1862 there were 100’s of bottles minus labels. The tombstone was carved in England for a mother and son who died on the Virgin Islands where the ship had been due.

There was so much to see and touch for the children – a Saxon dug-out, a piece of London Bridge built by the Romans c85 AD, a 15th century pot and sherds some imported, Medieval rivets used in Saxon and Viking ships, animal hair for caulking and English clay tobacco pipes from 1610 to 1750. There were Spanish silver Pieces of Eight minted in Mexico City. Carried in Spanish treasure galleons from Central America to Amsterdam, bought by a Dutch merchant ship (an East Indiaman) the Hollandia, bound for Java to buy silks and spices but the ship sank in the Isles of Scilly in 1743 while on the way to Java.

Another East Indiaman called the Amsterdam sank off Hastings in 1749, outside of the centre we had seen its anchor and also some planks wrapped in plastic, the wood felt like stone. Two-thirds of this ship is now buried in mud. Owned by the Dutch Government and a protected monument the remains are well preserved..

Finally in the theatre we saw a show of slides and talk by the ships Captain Klump giving his points of view on the loss of the Amsterdam. His 16 year old cabin boy Adrian Welgevarem from Leerdam died in the ship in 1749 Before we left the theatre we saw the much repaired timbers of the 15th century Blackfriars Bridge.

Battle by Beverley Perkins

Our tour of Battle Abbey, led by the able and enthusiastic Jane Fraser Hay , started at the imposing gateway. She explained that the original gateway had been smaller, but had been enlarged and fortified in the 1330s in the face of increasing unrest and raids by the French.

We then watched a video explaining the background to the Battle of Hastings. Edward the Confessor had died in early 1066 without a clear succession. There were three claimants to the throne: Duke William of Normandy, related through Edward’s mother, whose claim was backed by the Pope; Edward’s brother-in-law, Earl Harold of Wessex; and Harold Hardrada of Norway who based his claim on a treaty made with an earlier English King. In the September following Earl Harold’s coronation, Harold Hardrada invaded but was soundly beaten at Stamford Bridge. While King Harold was occupied in the north, William invaded, landing at Pevensey. King Harold rushed his army southwards and met William’s army on 14th October 1066. Our guide explained the Battle. The English army of foot soldiers occupied a narrow ridge backed by woodland. The Norman army, including 2-3000 mounted knights, was spread out on the opposite side of the marshy valley. The battle raged inconclusively for several hours, but finally the Normans lured the English off the ridge by feigning retreat. Harold was killed (though not by the arrow in his eye, as legend has it) without their leader the English army collapsed and fled.

Battle Abbey was built on the orders of William I both to mark his victory and as a penance, imposed by the Pope, for the regicide and slaughter. The Benedictine monks who came over from Marmoutier to: supervise its construction were horrified by what they found: a swampy, uneven site with only a narrow ridge to build on, and no water supply. They started to build to the west, but William was adamant that the abbey be built where King Harold had fallen. With great labour the site was levelled and water was brought in on an aqueduct. The abbey church, 225 ft long and built of Caen stone, was constructed first and consecrated in 1076. The complete abbey became the fifteenth wealthiest religious house in the British Isles and owned the surrounding land to a distance of 3 leagues – about nine miles.

Following the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII gave Battle Abbey to Sir Anthony Browne, who demolished the church, chapter house and part of the cloisters and turned what remained into a residence (now a school). He had the guest range restored for use by the royal princesses, Elizabeth and Mary, but they never visited Battle. We inspected the undercroft of the guest range, a series of barrel-vaulted rooms used for storage by the abbey cellarer.

Further along the ridge are the remains of the reredorter and the latrines, backed by the infirmary. The arches carrying the latrine seats may have been supplied with wooden gates which could be raised to allow the night-soil to be removed on carts. On the Abbey’s sloping site, the water supply was arranged so that it reached first the kitchen, then the abbot and monks, then the infirmary and finally the latrines.

The ground floor of the dorter is in a good state of preservation. Impressively high at the south end, the vaulted ceilings of the rooms become progressively lower as the site slopes upwards. This building housed the monks’ sleeping quarters on the first floor and the common room and novices’ room below. At the back was the parlour, the only room in which the monks of the silent Benedictine order were allowed to speak.

Finally we saw the outline of the vast church, now marked out only by a line of stones. The site of the high altar is believed to be the spot on which King Harold died.

Our visit to Battle ended with a delicious cream tea at the picturesque Pilgrims Rest, an ancient building originally built to accommodate the abbot’s guests. A great end to a thoroughly enjoyable day – thank you, Sheila and Tessa, for organising what everyone agreed was a most successful and interesting trip.

BOOKS

An extract from “Among the New Books” Antiquity March 1997 — from Peter Pickering

A singular approach to understanding the past is offered by JOHN IVIMY in Lives relived Like many other respected people, IVIMY advances the case for reincarnation. The successive lives of individual psyches can be reconstructed from outstanding similarities in character traits and resultant deeds. There are rules to reincarnation, and a distinct patterning in time and place; souls follow the centre of gravity of civilisation and so progress from the East to the Classical world and from thence to Northwest Europe. IVIMY’s classical background is ever apparent . Suggested probable reincarnations are the great Athenian Pericles, as John Churchill first Duke of Marlborough and, in a familiar vein Julius Caesar as Winston Churchill, possibly by way of William the Conqueror (succeeding in conquering Britain at that time). “A mass of purely objective historical evidence in the form of biographical sketches” supports these identifications. In favour of the reincarnation of Felix Sulla and Pompey’s souls, together, as Franklin D. Roosevelt is that all three were political men less concerned with ideology than with practical measures determined ” to restore vitality to an economy that was running down through fear and uncertainty”.

EGYPT: ANTIQUITIES FROM ABOVE by MARILYN BRIDGES , Published by Bulfinch , £27.

If your interests take in Egypt, black & white plus aerial photography then this may be the book for you. This

well produced volume contains 68 plates of Egyptian monuments some world famous, to others less so but still rich in

interest. Mostly taken between 1992-3 using the raking morning or evening light every, shape and shadow of this

countries ancient buildings – pyramids, temples, tombs and other ruins can be seen, set amongst the desert, valleys and the Nile. The authors pictures are clear and sharp allowing the contrasting light to pick-out a myriad of detail from upstanding monuments to those still lying beneath the sand.

Obtaining these images is a story in itself – after a scouting mission in 1984 this accomplished photographer of many previous exhibitions and books managed to return in the early ’90s. Permission to over-fly this security conscious land was very difficult, eventually a flight in light plane became available (you can’t hire your own) the pilot being distinctly unenthusiastic. The ride was bumpy due to hot thermals rising from the desert floor, then at one time Bridges was asked to take the controls as the pilot turned the plane east and fervently prayed! other flights were undertaken by military helicopter. Whatever method used the results were worthwhile.

The Royal Commercial Travellers Schools 1845 – 1965 — from Ted Sammes

These schools when they existed have recently been drawn to my attention by Dorothy Newbury. With a little more vision and interest they might still be functioning at Hatch End.

Richard Nichols – Secretary of the Mill Hill Historical Society, pupil of the schools 1927-1934 has written a book charting their demise in 1965. He has more recently produced a supplement to this. The original publication gives great details of the schools and the recent supplement gives eight pictures showing the inside of some classrooms and outside views. The last entry for the United Commercial Travellers Association was 1981 when it moved to Knutsford.

In a thesis by a Mrs Halsey, she stated that in 1880 there where 80,000 commercial travellers. There was camaraderie amongst the “The Knights of the Road”, who were away all week and longer. In 1880 these travellers raised £80,000 on Orphans Day that year. It is probable that the Schools were closed too quickly, possibly to achieve a commercial advantage perhaps another case of “selling the family silver”!

Today much of the re-furbished site has been sold and is now a Supermarket, but much of the park remains to give the local residents pleasure.

This was a self supporting, charitable school and in many ways can be compared with Mill Hill School, the Bushey School and the Royal Masonic School at Bushey, to mention a few others with the welfare of orphaned children at heart. Richard Nichols MSc is a life governor of the schools

For further details and copies of the book please contact Mr Nichols on 0181 959 3485

EXCAVATIONS AT THE VERULAMIUM MUSEUM, ST ALBANS — a brief account

Between August ’96 and June ’97 excavations were conducted at this well known museum at the centre of the Roman town. The building itself is to be extended providing improved facilities for general visitors and school parties (they come from all over the south-east), to increase the display space and shop area as well as extending the workshop and lab.

Much of the area has of course been dug previously most notably by Mortimer and Tessa Wheeler, Lowther and Frere amongst others. Some of their trenches were re-excavated (mostly Lowthers’s) which enabled some re-interpretation of previous ideas , however large parts still lay relatively undisturbed. The most recent work was overseen by the St Albans Museum Service, with contract archaeologists and help from local volunteers. Two trenches were opened-up, the largest , trench ‘A’ on the north-west side of the museum (adjacent to the car park) and a smaller one, trench ‘B’, to the south hidden behind the pavilion.

Trench ‘A’

After the clearance of modern drains, soakaways, walls and so forth there were the remains of a farm (St Germain’s) originally founded c1500 and lasting several centuries. This took the form of a hard rammed pebble and chalk floor/yard surface, this took some time to uncover, plan, then excavate. No obvious Saxon or Medieval features were seen although some Saxon (St Neots Ware) and Medieval pottery was recovered. Once the farm­yard surface had been removed the Roman road could now be revealed, in fact there were two roads in evidence here, Watling St and a road leading from the south-western Silchester Gate forming a junction. The road’s camber could well be seen together with its silted-up ditches, in section there was a depth of a least 1 % to 2 m deep – over 400 years of relaying, patching and heavy use (sounds like the M25), again the fabric consisted of assorted compressed pebbles in a clayey sand. Channelled into the metalling were drain and water-pipe systems, with iron-collars – their wooden pipes long decayed tracing their direction.

BASILICA

This major establishment was on the west corner of the junction, in fact its northern end can now be slightly extended by several metres due to a wall uncovered during the present dig. Hopefully a small section of this building will be on display near to the new entrance. Over the road from the basilica on the southern corner several walls were found, some substantial others less so, and of different phases. Within a ‘room’ layers of a number of slumped clay floors were excavated, burnt areas could also be seen.

Trench B’

This trench was smaller and more shallow, excavation nearby in the ’70s had revealed rooms – some with mosaics, this time floors uncovered were made of plain red tesserae, these had been re-laid over the years, one area showed signs of burning and may have been the site of a brazier and a hearth was also present. Interestingly a pile of animal rib bones were discovered sitting directly on the floor surface seemingly as left by the last Romans ? or by later Saxon inhabitants living in the old premises. Also a substantial section of fallen decorated wall plaster was lifted for conservation. Again walls of different phases pointed to these rooms being changed or converted over their life time.

FINDS

Conveniently all the artefacts that needed stabilising were only a few steps away from the laboratory. Finds include – hundreds of coins many 3-4th century in date some earlier, either found insitu or metal detected from the spoil heap, several brooches, a fine hippo sandal (to protect animal feet), toilet instruments, a ligula (for extracting medicine or cosmetics from narrow bottles), bone counters/buttons/pins and a carved knife handle. A large selection of the usual Roman pottery types were excavated most notably a complete poppy-head beaker and near complete indented beaker For the duration of this dig members of the public could observe the work proceeding and would ask questions, some must have followed it from beginning to end. Coach loads of school children would pass by every day (found anything yet ?) was a universal greeting – a good way of seeing archaeology in action followed by a tour of the finished result in the museum. One day members of the Ermine Street Guard were seen in full regalia marching up and down a genuine bit of Watling St looking very at home.

“Warwick the Kingmaker at Waltham Forest Refuse Depot — by Roy Walker

The Museum of London Archaeology Service has been excavating the site of Low Hall, Walthamstow, adjacent to the council’s rubbish depot! The site is some relevance to Barnet’s history. Low Hall was a moated manor house first mentioned in 1825 which from 1532 was the property of the Earls of Warwick. In the mid 15th century it passed to Warwick the Kingmaker who was slain at the Battle of Barnet in 1471. The manor, not unexpectedly, then passed to the Crown which in the 1560s passed it on to the Argyll family. By the 17th century it was no longer a manor and became a farmhouse. The original building had been extended in the Tudor period by the addition of a wing but the excavation strategy is to ignore the later works and to concentrate on the earliest activity on the site. There are very few small-finds, few pits to contain datable evidence, much undatable building material and accordingly much interpretation to be undertaken at the post-excavation phase. The moat was infilled in 1890 and in 1Vindolanda,e was damaged by a V1 flying bomb. Parts of the bomb have been recovered! The house had been totally demolished leaving MoLAS to machine-clear the top soil to find the sub­surface foundations of chalk, Reigate stone and Kentish ragstone. The moat is visible, edged with an orange gravel band, and what is probably a bridge abutment has been revealed.

The British Museum

The BM Magazine reports that earlier this year a new suite of galleries has been opened at the museum: Later Bronze Age, Celtic Europe and Roman Britain. General themes covered include the way that different cultural groups interacted, whether between Etruscans, Greeks and Celts, between Romans and Britains, or between more remote communities of prehistoric times. “Our galleries seek, therefore, to set out material evidence for the very beginnings of British history, and place it within the wider European protohistoric background”.

Along with the well known displays there are new sites and finds which have been found and interpreted more recently, including from the Roman gallery – many more tablets and inscriptions from Vindolanda_, the Hoxne hoard and most spectacularly a section of the barn-like building from a 4th century villa estate at Meonstoke, Hants. It was lifted by the museum in 1989, and proved not only to be colourfully and elaborately decorated, but to have an uncanny resemblance to the elevation of an early Romanesque church.

In the not to distant future it is hoped to complete the galleries with the Department’s rich holding of the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and earlier Bronze Age periods. The prospect is a 100-metre range of rooms which take the visitor down a logical cultural sequence spanning some three million years.

OTHER SOCIETIES’ NEWS

The Barnet Countryside Centre in Byng Road, Barnet has focused primarily on providing an environmental educational facility for school children for the past 24 years. However, this did not deter Barnet & District Local History Society who held their annual summer Garden Party at the Centre, enjoying the company of snakes, rabbits, donkeys, guinea pigs, frogs , gerbils, bees and a tarantula !

B&DLHS’s next lecture is – With Dr. Johnson to the House of Charles Townley 1737-1805, Wednesday 10th September, 7.45 for 8.00pm. At the Wyburn Room, Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road, Barnet.

They also have an outing on Wednesday 17th September to COLCHESTER AND THE WORKING SILK MUSEUM, BRAINTREE, cost £12.00. Contact Pat Alison on 01707 858430 (no later than 10th Sept please).

The London & Middlesex Archaeological Society are holding their 32nd LOCAL HISTORY CONFERENCE – The London of Human Frailty – The Weak the Wicked and the Well-Meaning. Saturday November 29th 1997 at the Museum of London 10.00 am to 5.00pm. Cost £5.00 tickets and details from Local History Conference, 36 Church Road, West Drayton, Middlesex, UB7 7PX.

The Archaeological Group of the St Albans & Hertfordshire & Archaeological Society are at present digging

a site at Harpenden. The nature of this site is not yet certain but it consists of a substantial burnt flint layer in a very dark matrix which includes charcoal, beneath this is a pebble-surfaced depression in the natural subsoil clay. Finds include struck flint at all levels (Late Neo/Bronze Age), the large parts of a Middle Bronze Age bucket urn stratified in the burnt flint layer, Roman sherds from the top soil. Nearby is a man-made pit probably for clay extraction.

THE STANWAY BURIALS

There’s a chance to visit the cemetery site at Colchester which has been producing remarkable finds such as the gaming boards and ‘doctors’ medical kit amongst other objects. The site consisttheseveral enclosures containing wooden chambered tombs – where all finds were cremated or smashed. But other secondary burials, are the intact ones with the fine grave-goods.

Excavations started on July 13th for 10 weeks. There will be site tours, replicas of some of the finds, and video presentations. Visitors are welcome any time, Wednesdays to Saturdays. The site is near Colchester Zoo, on the opposite side of the road, and about 100 yards back towards Colchester

No. 317 AUGUST 1997 Edited by Peter Pickering

DIARY

Saturday 16 August Visiting Hertfordshire with Bill Bass and Vikki O’Connor.

Moats, mills, lock-ups – and we trust, no hiccups. Visiting Reed, Anstey, Buntingford, Cottered, Cromer & Pirford. Booking form within. (Extra pick-up point).

September 4th to 7th Weekend in York

Friday 26th September Thomas Coram Foundation, WC1, and a morning walk with Mary O’Connell. (Please add this to your programme card)

NEWS OF MEMBERS

Alec Goldsmith is leaving our Society with regret. His initiation into HADAS was a very, very wet weekend on Hadrian’s Wall in 1974. But that did not deter him, and since then he rarely missed an outing or lecture. Some ill-health (and age) overtook him a year or so ago and he has decided to move to Dorchester to be nearer his sister. We miss him, and wish him well in his new home.

HADAS FIELDWORK – Back on the Heath

Our work on the Anglo-Saxon ditch on Hampstead Heath continues. We have completed the `—contour survey within the Kenwood area and are now using our new resistivity meter on an area where the ditch has disappeared, in order to trace its previous course.

Our main task then will be to produce an interim report on the above work supplemented by descriptions of the state of the ditch, photographs/drawings, locations of its boundary stones, and details of trees and vegetation alongside and within it. This latter task will require expert experience as the excavation team cannot tell a bramble from a blackthorn or a beech from a birch. Our contact at the Suburb weekend will be helpful, but are there any experts amongst our membership?

Our presence on the heath has provoked curiosity (and concern!) but much interest (and relief!) is shown when our purpose is explained. It would be helpful if more members could attend Sunday mornings to help on the publicity side if not on the survey side.

If you are interested please contact Brian Wrigley (959 5982) or Roy Walker (361 1350) for details of the days we are active.

—FOR YOUR BOOKSHELF (1)

An Archaeology of the Early Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms by C Arnold, has recently been fully revised – paperback £17.99, hardback £50.00.

Site Watching (1) by Tessa Smith

If you are walking in any of these areas please take a lively archaeological interest and report any “goings on”

Planning applications have been received regarding:-

Copthall Stadium to be demolished and a multi-sports stadium erected. Pottery and evidence of a possible Roman road have been found nearby by HADAS. English Heritage say that it warrants further consideration.

Brockley Hill Farm – west of Watling Street Extensions to the farm are planned to become a crematorium. Although it is out of our borough, we are still concerned as it is in the areas of the Roman potteries.

The Corner House – Stone Grove – Edgware. The Museum of London are watching this site, where extensions to the public house are being built, alongside Watling Street

Land between Belmont Riding Stables and St. Vincents – The Ridgeway NW7. Robert Whytehead of English Heritage considers that this application warrants further consideration as a mediaeval hamlet stood on the ridgeway – also, prehistoric finds have been made at Mill Hill School.

SITE WATCHING (2) Bill Bass

HADAS will be observing the ground clearance and foundation trenches of a site at the ex ‘Wheels’ Parking Lot, Potters Lane, Barnet (junction of Potters Lane and the Great North Road). This is due to take place during the middle of August; would any volunteers contact me on 0181­449 0165.

Development of a site on land at the northern end of Barnet Gate Lane has been given a waiver of archaeological assessment/evaluation by English Heritage as it is unlikely to affect any archaeology in this area (none is known).

The vast Aldenham Works, latterly used to overhaul Routemaster buses has been demolished to make way for a business park. It was originally built to service the proposed tube extension from Edgware to Bushey Heath. When this was abandoned it was adapted for aircraft production especially Halifax bombers during the war, the overhead traverser cranes being particularly useful in their assembly. Used as a bus depot from 1955 it was closed in 1986.

BROUGHT TO BOOK IN THE SUBURB Roy Walker/Andy Simpson

Those who watched BBC1’s Omnibus on 7th July would have noticed the scenes filmed at the Hampstead Garden Suburb Weekend. We were there too – selling HADAS books. Our stall, initially, was not under cover but the rain held off until later in the day after we had moved into a nearby tented vacancy. Membership forms were distributed to those who showed interest in the Society’s activities, and a useful contact was made with the secretary of a Hampstead Heath ecology group who can advise us on the horticultural aspects of our ongoing Saxon ditch survey. Our books sales for the one day we were there totalled £60.60, and our presence resulted in a meeting with a local bookshop proprietor who subsequently purchased a selection of publications for resale in his Temple Fortune shop. In all, a worthwhile day, even though we just missed appearing on BBC1 – possibly a blessing! Many thanks go to Arthur Till for transporting our display to and from the Suburb and to Andy Simpson and Vikki O’Connor for manning the stall

FOR YOUR BOOKSHELF (2)

The latest volume of Hertfordshire Archaeology is now published. Copies are available from the Hertfordshire Archaeological Trust, The Seed Warehouse, Maidenhead Yard, The Wash, Hertford, SG14 1PX. Cost 215.00, plus p&p £1.80.

PREHISTORIC SOCIETY STUDY TOUR IN THE NETHERLANDS June 1997 Brian Wrigley

This was a most interesting week, if at times a little strenuous – we never stopped at one hotel more than two nights! Our round trip started from Maastricht in the south-east, via Leiden (or should I spell it Leyden?) near the coast clockwise northwards to Assen then south to Nijmegen, and Leendert P Louwe Koolimans, our guide, was assiduous in explaining the varying geology of the areas we passed through. This gave a very good picture of the millennia-long contest between dry land and water partly from natural forces and partly from human activities; this has left many areas of past occupation in wet environments so that organic remains are preserved.

A good example of this is the terp, a man made mound for dwelling and cultivation (equals Dutch dorp, village – and English thorpe?). There are many of these in Friesland and Gronigen in the north. Terpen seem to have originated (6th or 5th centuries BC) by the building up of land in areas periodically inundated, and quite often animal dung was used in quantity which has made a useful preservative for archaeology! Examples go from Middle and Late Iron Age to the middle and late Middle Ages, and can show the distribution of dwellings/farms, and the laying out in plots of agricultural land. much impressive archaeological evidence of ancient land use patterns we were also told about at Weert and Someren in the south, where since 1990 large areas of the landscape (formerly mediaeval arable lands) have been surveyed by test excavations, yielding evidence of Early Iron Age urnfield ‘cemeteries’ and, in the area around, traces of dispersed Iron Age farmsteads – 13 at Weert, some 20 at Someren; and besides prehistory, both sites have traces of continuing occupation through Roman times on to the Middle Ages.

Indeed, we got an overall impression of the lack of any dividing line between ‘prehistoric’ and `Roman’ in the attitude of Dutch archaeologists, who have the evidence of the continuity of the way the native population carried on in the same way during Roman times. Some of us prehistoric enthusiasts were a little put out by the amount of Roman stuff we were shown in the areas of the Roman frontier (Limes was a word much used), but we began to realise the advantage of this non-divisive attitude in finding out the story of local communities. And we certainly got an impression of the local-community interest in archaeology, reflected in work being done by archaeological groups in partnership with local authorities – and at Oss, in the south, we were invited to the start of a dig where the local Mayor operated the mechanical digger

..„) open up the first trench at a site of numerous Bronze Age barrows! We were also welcomed by the mayor at Stein, where a boat Museum contains, in situ, a neolithic gallery grave which was the centre of a settlement of the early Neolithic (Bandkeramik), of which the ground-plans of many houses have been found.

Stone monuments are limited in Holland – there is not much rock about. However, in areas in the north, glacial erratics have been used to construct hunebedden, which are gallery-graves, 2 rows of upright stones with capstones across the top; they date from 3400 to 3000 BC and are related to the Neolithic TRB (Trichterband) culture of Schleswig-Holstein and southern Scandinavia. They have yielded quite a lot of grave goods and offerings (pottery, flint etc.) and burnt bone remains. We saw quite a number of these in our travels.

Another point of community interest was the extent of amateur work we were told about. A particular site we visited was the flint mine at Rijckholt, in south Limburg. Here there is what the Dutch call ‘a hill’ (they realised we should think this an exaggeration!) which has chalk below it with seams of flint – very reminiscent of Grimes’ Graves. Research has gone on here since last “century, and vertical shafts were discovered in the 1960s; however these could only be explored with the help of a group of amateur archaeologists who happened to have mining expertise, and this group tunnelled horizontally into the side of the slope, with the result that now there is a neat

Text Box: On 1st January the Greater London Record Office was renamed London Metropolitan Archives. Owned by the Corporation of London, the Archives now offer a greatly expanded range andconcreted passage, with apertures at the side giving a view along the ancient galleries and of the shafts that have been found. The mining experts were most impressed with the extremely safe and efficient mining techniques of their prehistoric predecessors.

Time and space prevent me from giving details of the many more sites we visited than the above few, but I hope this is enough to demonstrate the interest of this trip.

SOME SITES IN NORTH YORKSHIRE Peter Pickering

On a recent week in North Yorkshire with the Royal Archaeological Institute we visited Philip Rahtz’s excavation at St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale. The church is especially famous for a sundial (now hidden from the sun in a porch) with an Anglo-Saxon inscription recording its rebuilding by Orm son of Gomal between 1055 and 1065. Research on the church and area, including topographical and geophysical survey, documentary study, structural analysis and excavation, has been in progress since 1994, on behalf of the Helmsley Archaeological Society and the University of York, with some support from North Yorkshire County Council. Important finds include a piece of lead sheet with an Anglo-Saxon inscription of 8th-early 10th century date, and a tiny (6mm by 3mm) bead or fragment of glass with spiral yellow and white trails – “a very classy piece” according to Professor Rahtz, paralleled only from San Vincenzo in Italy; whether it was imported, or made locally it emphasised the importance of St Gregory’s Minster, very remote though it seems now. On our visit there was a 3m by 3m trench open at the foot of the tower; an empty stone sarcophagus had just been extracted from it, and besides bones (including three skulls which had been found facing east) there was a robber trench, probably of the church which Orm rebuilt, and perhaps traces of glass-making.

Also during the week – which was led by Brian Dix, who talked to HADAS recently about garden archaeology – we saw the Roman camps at Cawthorn, in the middle of a forest; when these camps were partially excavated in the 1920s, they were thought to form practice works – it is certainly odd to find adjacent a coffin-shaped camp enclosing some 2 hectares, a square one immediately to the west overlying its defences, and another to its east – the last one subsequently provided with an annex on its eastern side. But re-appraisal suggests that they were used by a permanent garrison up to about 120 AD. From the other end of the Roman occupation of Britain came the Signal Station on the edge of the cliff within the precincts of Scarborough Castle. Little survives of that, but English Heritage are thinking of constructing a replica nearby.

ARCHIVES

The British Library has recently published a report of the Newsplan project in the London and South eastern Library Region. Member Ann Kahn has drawn attention to a review of this in a recent number of Refer, the journal of the Library Association, which says “No-one should doubt the importance of Newsplan. Although many libraries have acted to preserve their local newspapers, Newsplan offers a co-operative solution, with cost-sharing opportunities, to some of the problems which local newspapers bring to libraries. It works through a two-stage programme in each region. The first stage is an audit of regional resources and preservation requirements and priorities, carried out with substantial financial support from the British Library. In the second stage, which the London and South Eastern Library Region project has now reached, the region’s libraries co-operate, with continuing support from the British Library, to achieve more preservation of local newspapers at less cost.

This volume provides, for the first time, a view of London and south-east England’s local newspapers as a regional resource and in a national context. This is an indispensable tool for all local historians and researchers into aspects of local studies and a splendid role model for how reference books should be compiled.”

quality of service. There are some 31 miles of archives, books, maps, prints and photographs including a rich and varied collection of official and deposited London and Middlesex archives. The Archives are open to everyone five days a week (nearest stations Farringdon and Angel). There is access for people with limited mobility and parking bays are available for orange badge holders next to the building.

BROCKLEY HILL

The latest Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society includes an evaluation of the Roman Road at Brockley Hill. Members may recollect our own field walking and small excavation in that area in 1987. The Museum of London Archaeology Service dug fourteen archaeological evaluation trenches in February 1995 and had a watching brief subsequently. In six of the evaluation trenches adjacent to the modern road a Roman road with a ditch on the west side was found directly below the topsoil. Limited investigation showed that the road had been constructed on a bank of clay and gravel layers, and had undergone periodic maintenance as indicated by a number of successive road gravels and re-cutting of the ditch when it had silted up. Dating evidence confirmed the road was in use into the fourth century, Early Roman pottery was of the type produced at Brockley Hill and the Roman ceramic building material was of fabric types produced in kilns found alongside Roman Watling Street. The most significant find was a Roman folding knife.

BOXGROVE MAN

Members who went to Boxgrove in July 1995 or heard Simon Parfitt’s lecture last year may be interested to read “Fairweather Eden: Life in Britain Half a Million Years Ago as Revealed by the Excavations at Boxgrove” by Michael Pitts and Mark Roberts (Century, £17.99). A recent review of this in the New Scientist by Paul Bahn includes the following paragraph “Boxgrove’s other major contribution to our knowledge of early humans derives from its evidence for butchery and hunting. Cuts on animal bones were first noticed here in 1986. Gradually archaeologists discovered them on the remains of many more large animals, indicating the systematic and skilful removal of muscle from creatures such as a horse and a rhino. Moreover, any marks of carnivore teeth on the bones occur on top of the cut marks, proving that the humans were there first. Finally, a horse’s shoulder blade displays part of a circular perforation which pathologist Bernard Knight found to be consistent with a blow from a thrown spear these early humans were hunters of large, fit, mature animals. They also carried out the butchery of the carcasses in an unhurried, efficient and cooperative manner.”

MINOAN WALL PAINTINGS

Professor Doumas of the University of Athens gave a lecture recently in the Institute of Archaeology on the wall-paintings of Akrotiri on the Greek island of Thera or Santorini. These wall-paintings, in mineral colours, and lacking green, were preserved by a volcanic eruption in the middle of the second millennium BC. They come from private houses – presumably from the wealthiest part of the ancient city – and have a great variety of themes – a frieze of a naval expedition, showing its various ports of call; youths holding fish; women gathering saffron; two youths boxing; a woman in obvious pain from a cut to her toe; flowers of various sorts, aquatic birds, dragonflies, and decorative patterns. The style owed something to Egypt and the near east, but Professor Doumas emphasised the European nature of the art. He interpreted several of the scenes with figures as of initiation into adulthood, since heads seemed to be shaven. It was with sadness that the audience learnt at the end of the lecture that there was no point in rushing straight to Heathrow for a plane to Santorini, since the paintings are not yet on display.

Enfield Archaeological Society’s chairman, Geoffrey Gillam, was apparently ‘trampled in, the rush’ of volunteers offering to assist with their society’s activities. Geoffrey – what’s the secret?!!

JUBILEES

It is 100 years since Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee and twenty years since HADAS published “Victorian Jubilees”, edited by Ted Sammes, in the year of our present Queen’s Silver , Jubilee. It is evocative to read of the celebrations – church services, dinners, teas, sports, processions (in some places these put off for a couple of days and then spoiled by rain); and of the projects – two parks, a cottage hospital, and the refurbishment of the Campe almshouses in Friern Barnet Lane. Members who do not have a copy of this booklet can get one at the genuine bargain price of £1 including postage and packing (50p at meetings) from Roy Walker (2a Dene Road, N11 1 ES).

EXHIBITIONS

The Islington Museum Gallery, 268 Upper Street, N1, has an Exhibition: Your Museum: Present schemes and future dreams’ from 6 – 31 August. The gallery is run by the Islington Museum Trust, an independent charity whose aim is to establish a permanent museum located in the Town Hall, Upper Street, which would house and display their collections. The Trust has three support schemes: the Business Friends; Patrons; Friends of the Museum, and they are currently working on a lottery bid. This exhibition offers the chance to view part of their collection, learn their future plans and visit the proposed site. Opening hours are: Wed – Fri 11am – 5pm; Saturday 11am – 5pm; Sunday 2pm – 4pm, Admission free. —

The Church Farm House Museum, Greyhound Hill, has an exhibition this month entitled “Made in Heaven”; some 400 wedding photographs selected from a unique private collection. The Museum is closed on Fridays and Sunday mornings.

A DAY-SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER

A day-school “Treasures from the Grave: Latest spectacular Discoveries at Colchester and St Albans” is to be held at The Lecture Room, Colchester Castle, Colchester on Saturday 27th September from 11.00 am to 4.45pm. Fee £16 (£12 concessionary) Speakers are Philip Crummy, Director of Excavations, Colchester Archaeological Trust, and Rosalind Nisbett of St Albans Planning and Heritage Department, St Albans District Council. For more details and tickets send to: The Centre for Continuing Education, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, C04 3SQ). (tel 01206 872519). Cheques payable to ‘University of Essex’.

A CONFERENCE IN DECEMBER

SCOLA (the Standing Conference on London Archaeology) has decided that it would be timely to revisit and expand “The Future of London’s Past”, that seminal document published almost twenty-five years ago. A conference, with Martin Biddle and Peter Addyman among the speakers, is therefore being arranged for Saturday 6th December in the Museum of London. It will cost £7.50 (£6 for members of SCOLA) to include tea and coffee.

This month’s editor is the Assistant Secretary of SCOLA, and if you will send him (P E Pickering, 3 Westbury Road London N12 7NY) a cheque payable to SCOLA he will send you tickets.

(A stamped addressed envelope would be helpful)

No. 316 JULY 1997 Edited Micky Cohen

DIARY

Saturday 12th July: Outing to Hastings application form with Tessa Smith and Sheila Woodward. Apillication form enclosed.

Saturday 16th AugSeptembershire with Bill Bass and Vikki O’Connor. – September 4th to 7th :Weekend in York.

Friday 26th September: Thomas Coram Foundation, WC 1, and a morning walk with Mary O’Connell. (Please add this to your programme card.)

MEMBERS’ NEWS

A message in a recent Newsletter from our old friend ‘Shenny’ (Miss Shenley) has been followed by the sad news of her death on 6th June.

She will be remembered by many members on our outings and by many Garden Suburb friends far her kindly gifts of fruit and flowers and never failing good humour. Her sewing skills raised some hundreds of pounds for good causes. – all done a real ‘labour of love’ – she had never an idle moment; truly an unforgettable character.

Pat Bromley, a Member who always joins us on our weekends away and on outings with husband David and Con Graham (who is one of our digging team) is in hospital. We missed the happy trio on our June outing to Chedworth and Cirencester. We wish her well and look forward to seeing them all again soon.

And Vikki O’Connor reports a letter received from long-standing Member Elizabeth Sanderson, who has decided that,having lived in Sussex for twelve years, it is time to resign from HADAS. She sends “her best wishes to the Society and hopes we enjoy our outing to Sussex in July.

Just a thought – but – do people retire TO Hendon ?

HADAS Chairman ,Andrew Selkirk, has been celebrating the thirtieth birth­day of his publication ‘Current Archaeology’ and told Vikki of his plans for a ten-year lead-in to ‘retirement’ with the writing of more books and the possibility of a ‘Current World Archaeology’ publication. If there are any HADAS members who do not subscribe to ‘Current Archaeolo­gy’, but would like to do so, Please contact Andrew on 0171-435-7517.

It carries a lively letters page, and the HADAS Newsletter would also benefit from more comment, constructive criticism or questions from the membership over to you ….

HADAS member Pat Alison asked Vikki to publicise the outing she has arranged for the Barnet District Local History Society on Wednesday, 2nd July. They will visit Brixworth and Cottesbrooke Hall,Northampton, and several Places are still available; cost £14.

The report of the HADAS excavation at 296 Golders Green Road, the Old Forge Site (GGR91), will shortly be published but as a taster some details of the clay tobacco pipe finds are set out below.

The shape and dimensions of the pipe fragments found at the forge indicate dates from the early 17th century to the late 19th century and possibly later. A few intact bowls and the larger pieces enable closer dating of some samples.

Makers’ spur marks include: -B, NA, GD, -W, WT, CC, N-, and W-.

One spur bore a crown each side. Only one stem had a legible maker’s mark, that of W.TINGEY, HAMPSTEAD.

Clay tobacco pipes are some of the most usual finds on our digging sites and are well-known as a useful aid for dating the context in which they are found. Fragments are so numerous that it is easy to forget that through these common bits of clay our ancestors actually drew breath, tempered by the smoke of tobacco when they could afford it and pure undiluted Hendon and District air when they couldn’t.

HADAS AGM 1997

The AGM was held on May 13th and chaired by our President Michael Robbins FSA. The formal business was dealt with very smoothly, the Chairman gave his yearly report (see IN 4 ) and the accounts were presented by the Hon. Treasurer, Micky O’Flynn, and approved by the meeting. Officers and members of Committee were re-elected, and the appointment of Dorothy Newbury to be a Vice-President was acclaimed.

From Palmyra to Petra June Porges

After the A. G. M. a short formal proceedings, Stewart Wild showed us what he called his holiday snaps which he had taken while on a fantastic three week tour which started in Damascus and finished in Aqaba on the Red Sea. There were many high-lights but obviously Palmyra was one of the brightest. It was a way. station on caravan routes from Tyre on the Mediterranean via Damascus to Mesopotamia and eastern frontiers of the Roman Empire at Doura Europas on the Euphrates. After 1000 years as an Assyrian trading post, it was in turn a Greek, a Parthian and finally a Roman town,when it became for a time the richest city on earth. Emperor Hadrian visited in AD129 and declared it a free city, thus introducing the world to the concept of duty-free goods. Palmyra’s most famous character was Queen Zenobia its ruler from 266AD, who claimed descent from Cleopatra, and who defeated a Roman army sent to clip her wings, besieged and sacked Bosra and invaded and conquered Egypt. The Emperor Aurelian finally captured her after regaining Egypt and Asia Minor, and conquering Palmyra. After becoming a Christian, then Muslim town, Palmyra was destroyed by an earthquake in 1089. It was later visited by another remarkable woman, Lady Hester Stanhope, during her travels in the Levant. There are remains of all these cultures to be visited, and Stewart showed many slides to illustrate them.

After visiting Bosra with its fortified Roman theatre the tour left Syria, and moved into Jordan which Stewart likened to leaving the scruffy and old-fashioned Spain of thirty years ago and entering the lively and modern Spain of today.

We saw slides of Jerash, and of Stewart reading the Times while lying in the buoyant water of the Dead Sea, 1300f1 below sea level and geologically part of the Great Rift Valley. Next , a ytsit Xarak Castle, which is the site of a citadel as far as back as the Iron Age. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Moab, and is shown on the world’s oldest map, a sixth century mosaic map preserved on the floor of a Byzantine church in Madaba.

Then we saw Stewart’s first sight of ancient Petra. It lies on cross-roads of two important trade routes of the ancient world, and had abundant fresh water , plenty of rain in winter which was stored in the many cisterns to be seen. There was also copper mining in the area, possibly the origin of King Solomon’s mines. Rome annexed Petra from the Nabateans in 106AD in a peaceful takeover. The first westerner to see Petra was the Anglo-Swiss explorer John Lewis Burkhardt in 1812. Access is by a narrow defile about one mile long called the siq. Swiss archaeologists last year uncovered paving of an ancient roadway here. Horses are no longer allowed, visitors have to walk or go by carnage, the dramatic entrance to the siq brings you out facing the Treasury. This is a misnomer for what was in fact a temple, or a tomb or a royal mausoleum, or possibly all three. The facade is a memorial frieze full of the symbolism of death and life after death. It is a mixture of Nabatean, Egyptian and Greek beliefs all mixed together. This was the first slide in a series from this fantastic site, which must have inspired everyone who has not been there to start plotting to make the journey. We all envy Stewart his tour, and were very grateful to him for sharing the experience with us.

Hendon and District Archaeological Society

Chairman’s Report, AGM, 13th May 1997

The past year has been one of quiet but steady work. Once again an excavation was carried out to the rear of Church Farmhouse and in July and August work took place on ten Sundays and eight weekdays with a total of 27 volunteers participating. Three trenches were opened, one of which contained many shards of medieval pottery and a possible Roman tile. The medieval pottery appears to have been redeposited at a later date, but at least it suggests that there had been some substantial medieval occupation in the area.

Subsequently the Society has also purchased a new resistivity meter to replace the old meter which, after 25 years, was becoming increasingly erratic and we would like to thank those charitable trusts who supported us in this. Already the Excavation team under Brian Wrigley, Bill Bass and Roy Walker have put it to good use in carrying out surveys along the line of the Saxon boundary ditch on Hampstead Heath. The excavation section also continues to support English Heritage in monitoring threats in the Borough and they have submitted a dozen Error Report Forms for English Heritage’s Sites and Monuments Record.

A regular series of lectures and excursions took place throughout the year, thanks to the energetic work of June Porges, the lecture secretary and Dorothy Newbury the excursion secretary and her team of helpers. A highly successful four day visit to Cornwall took place from 29th August to 1st September and after an initial shock when the windscreen of the coach shattered on the way to Cornwall, the remainder of the trip was conducted with the usual efficiency. There was also a memorable Christmas dinner combined with a viewing of the mechanism of Tower Bridge. The annual Minimart took place on 12th October which not only raised £1000 a vital element in the society’s accounts, but also proved to be a very enjoyable occasion.

The Newsletter continues to appear throughout the year edited, as is our custom, by a rota of editors. It is a system that should not really work but in practise it does, thanks to the gentle support of Dorothy Newbury who actually prints the Newsletter.

The problem of the Society’s premises remains difficult, and the rent we pay continues to strain our finances. Other societies are taking the opportunity to acquire their own premises. At Hornsey and in the Upper Nene, former chapels have been acquired and at Dunstable the Manshead Society has bought a former pub. With the lottery continuing to offer money to local societies such as ours, it would appear that there is a ‘window of opportunity’ which may not stay open for long, but I suspect that the great British gambling public would be happy to let us have 50% of the cost of any premises, which would present us with the interesting challenge of raising the other 50%. The Lottery may not continue in its present affluent guise for very long, so if any member has any ideas, please let me know as soon as possible.

Other projects which we would like to undertake include a revised edition of our booklet on The Blue Plaques of Barnet and if any member would like to undertake what will probably not be a too arduous task of revising the former booklet and adding in the new blue plaques, will they please contact me. We are also planning to hold a Saturday symposium at which members of the society and others can present work done in Barnet.

Finally can I extend my thanks to all those who have helped throughout the year -to Dorothy Newbury who not only masterminds excursions and the news letter but also runs the invaluable Minimart; then to our meetings secretary June Porges; and finally to my fellow officers, Brian Wrigley the Vice Chairman and excavationsecretary who does much of the real work;to Liz Holliday our hard working secretary to Vikki O’Connor the membership secretary; and a particular welcome toMicky O’Flynn whose work as Treasurer has meant that for the first time in three years, the Chairman has not had to step in at the last minute to prepare the accounts. Thanks to you all.

NEWS from OTHER SOCIETIES and GEOLOGY TTEWS Vikki O’Connor
Barnet & District Local History Society, The Finchley Society and Enfield Archaeological Society all resume their lecture programmes in September. We will advise details nearer the dates.

Islington Museum Gallery, 268 Upper Street, N1. From 9-27 July: ‘OWODYO’ an exhibition on the use of art and design in everyday Africa – textiles, antique masks, jewellery and wood carvings.

GEOLOGY

Two items from the June edition of Bristol University’s newsletter report some current work on dinosaurs. A series of 52 footprints found in a National Trust-owned quarry in Dorset are thought to be those of 70-ton herbivore Sauropods. Led by Dr Jo Wright, Bristol University Geology Dept is examining the finds which will be conserved and accessible to the public.

The Geology Department team is also working on mineralised soft tissue from Pelecanimimus polyodon, found in Lower Cretaceous rocks in Spain. These fossils were so well preserved that external wrinkles and underlying muscles are discernible. A report is to be published in the July edition of the Journal of the Geological Society.

Sale of the Centuries A national newspaper reported in May that the Bronze Age Rollright Stones are up for sale with an asking price of £50,000. The vendor, Pauline Flick, inherited them from her father who bought the Little Rollright Estate in 1929. She wished them to go to ‘someone who will look after them but not commercialise them’. Legend has it that the stones cannot be accurately counted – so how will the new owner know he/she has them all?

Newsletter 315 JUNE 1997 Edited by VIKKI O’CONNOR

Members News

GOOD NEWS DOESN’T TRAVEL FAST… The Committee passed a ‘secret’ resolution at their meeting in February this year and kept it hidden from fellow Committee Member, Dorothy Newbury, for two months. But what – and why? All was revealed at the AGM on Tuesday 13th May when Andrew Selkirk, who chaired the Meeting, announced that Dorothy Newbury had been appointed as a HADAS Vice-President. This gesture of appreciation for her prolific contribution to the administration of the Society is long overdue. Dorothy says “how unexpected it was and how much I appreciate the thought behind it, and my apologies for not acknowledging the honour when it was announced at the AGM”. No problem Dorothy, the honour is all ours!

HADAS Chairman, Andrew Selkirk, has this month been appointed Vice-President of the Royal Archaeological Institute. The Institute, founded in 1844, has some 1500 members and aims to assist in the preservation and conservation of national antiquities, offering research grants, keeping in contact with local societies, and publishing The Archaeological Journal. Congratulations, Andrew!

WE sadly record the death of Paul Beevor at the Royal Marsden hospital last month. Paul, who was only 35, was a long-standing member, having joined HADAS as a 12-year old during our excavation behind the Town Hall at Hendon. His Mother and Aunt are members and our sympathy goes to them both.

Hendon Aerodrome Part 1 Bill Firth

Just too late for the last Newsletter the Hendon Times reported plans for a massive expansion of the RAF Museum including the rescue of the Grahame-White hangar and the construction of a new aircraft display hall.

I did not have time to inspect the plans before the next issue of the Hendon Times appeared. This gave a more complete picture. The Ministry of Defence is negotiating the sale of the East Camp to developers, the Mercury Group, including the listed factory buildings and the control tower but not the Grahame-White hangar which would be moved to a site nearer the RAF Museum.

The Mercury Group’s plans for the site include a leisure complex with a cinema, health and fitness centre, bingo club, bowling, restaurants, a theme pub, an MOT driving test centre, an `autopark’ with up to ten motor dealerships and other facilities. It does not sound so very different from some earlier plans for an `autopark’, and other facilities.

English Heritage has said it will support the plans provided the hangar is moved in an “acceptable manner” and the other listed buildings are repaired.

A number of development schemes along these lines have been proposed over the years. It will be interesting to see what comes of the latest plans. Perhaps we have come far enough out of recession for redevelopment at Hendon Aerodrome, with preservation of the historic buildings, to become a reality at last. We must wait and see.

Part 2 Claude Grahame-White and Hendon Aerodrome – Andy Simpson

The April lecture had a very local theme covered in detail by our own Bill Firth. Claude Grahame-White was a pioneer motorist and airman with a strong

connection to Hendon although, as Bill pointed out, flying in the area can be traced back to August 1862 when a hot air balloon landed in fields, possibly on the later aerodrome site. Later in the 19th century there were balloon ascents from the Welsh Harp pleasure grounds which attracted a rather rowdy element to the proceedings. Another venture was the aeroplane built in the ballroom of the Old Welsh Harp pub. This plane, which never flew, was built by H P Martin and G H Handasyde, who three years later formed the successful Martinsyde Aeroplane Company at Brooklands, employing Sydney Camm, later designer of, that Battle of Britain stalwart, the Hawker Hurricane fighter.

In 1909 E J Everett, director of a local firm of instrument makers built a single seat monoplane in a shed at the edge of what was to become the Hendon airfield. His `Grasshopper’ or ‘Hedge Hopper’ taxied but never flew, although a model made from drawings of the original, with an improved power/weight ratio, did later fly.

Grahame-White first flew from Hendon in January 1910 and took out an option to purchase 207 acres of pasture between Colindale and Hendon as an aerodrome, purchasing it at the end of the year. He was born in 1879 near Southampton, the third child of a local businessman; at sixteen he became an apprentice with a Bedford engineering company and in his spare time was soon running his own bicycle factory and established his own automobile business in 1901. He took up ballooning but was frustrated by its lack of directional control.

All this happening as powered flight developed. As Bill commented, ‘Who invented the first aircraft that would not fly? – The Wrong Brothers!’. In 1910 he was awarded Aero Club de France certificate No 30 as the first internationally recognised British pilot. In 1911 he formed the Grahame-White Aviation Company which set about turning the leased 207 acres into an airfield – the ‘London Aerodrome’ with its flying schools and aircraft factory producing Grahame-White machines. The Great War was a busy time, with the airfield served by its own branchline and sidings connected to the Midland main line near Silkstream Junction; some 8,000 aircraft were produced at factories surrounding the aerodrome from a wartime British total of 55,000. The post-war years were difficult for Grahame-White with aircraft contracts cut overnight following the armistice, with no compensation for materials already purchased and the Grahame-White factory surviving by using wartime timber stocks to build car bodies and furniture. A long-running campaign for compensation from the Government, following their requisition of the airfield, was finally settled in 1925 for some half million pounds. An embittered Grahame-White emigrated and concentrated on property investments, dying in August 1959, having served as a firewatcher in WWII. He was ahead of his time and possibly trod on the toes of too many politicians to get a fair deal.

As a curator of the RAF Museum myself, I enjoyed Bill’s photos of the last days of the former East Camp side of the Hendon airfield, closed to flying since 1957 and now largely covered by the Grahame Park Estate. Development proposals for the East Camp land have been less than successful to date and its few remaining buildings are derelict, with the exception of the former Officers’ Mess which is now part of the Middlesex University’s student accommodation.

An excellent lecture that brought numerous questions at the end and I would recommend David Oliver’s paperback ‘Hendon Aerodrome – A History’ (Airlife 1994) to those seeking more detail.

HENDON AERODROME Part 3 – The Follow-up Bill Firth

There were a few unanswered questions after my lecture for which I now have answers.

FIRST – “Hangar” – I remembered this on the way home! Hangar is a French word for a shed and since aviation in Europe developed in France, the English at least, adopted the French word. The full French term was ‘hangar aux avions’ to distinguish an aeroplane shed from other large sheds but the ‘aux avions’ was soon dropped. The word actually derives from the medieval Latin `angarium’ – an agricultural shed or barn.

SECONDLY – Flying Fortresses at Hendon. Flying Fortresses were never based at Hendon which was far too small for them but several battle-damaged B-17 Fortresses and B-24 Liberators of the USAAF made emergency landings at Hendon in 1944 when returning from bombing raids.

THIRDLY – Last Flights The last official day of flying at RAF Hendon was 4 November 1957. However, in January 1959 No 617 Gliding School was based at Hendon and continued glider flights until March 1968. In the meantime helicopters used Hendon (as they still do) and occasionally powered fixed wing aircraft landed with by special permission or in emergency and, once or twice, by mistake for Northolt.

The very last aircraft at RAF Hendon was a helicopter on 1 April 1987 which flew in for the closure ceremony.

HADAS Visit to the Garrick Club

There is currently an eight-year waiting list for those wishing to join the £800pa Garrick Club. Membership is restricted to gentlemen only, who must be good conversationalists with an interest in the arts. Actors are especially welcome. HADAS members, thanks to Mary O’Connell, however, did not have to wait that long nor pay such a large sum to spend a morning at this pillar of London’s clubland.

The Garrick was founded in 1831, some fifty years after the death of David Garrick after whom it was named. The Duke of Sussex, its founder, wished to establish a club where actors and men of refinement might meet on equal terms. A club which was ‘noisy’ hence the desire for good conversationalists. The first meeting was at the Drury Lane Theatre, subsequently at premises in King Street and finally at the purpose-built Garrick Street premises from 1864. The street, incidentally, was named after the club.

The Club is a veritable art gallery dedicated to the theatre. A founder member, Charles Matthews, was an avid collector of theatrical portraits. His collection was purchased after his death by Robert Durrant, Trustee of the Club, who presented them to the Garrick. This collection has been added to, principally by donations, so we were able to recognise portraits of actors of our own lifetime amongst the 1,000 or so paintings as well as those of the great names from theatre history.

Our first sight of these treasures was in the Coffee Room which is the focal point of the Club. The long table is for members only and it is a rule that members must sit next to an occupied seat – no gaps are to be left. This is to encourage conversation. The table has been designed especially narrow to facilitate cross-table discussion. The paintings here include those of Garrick, in costume, showing the extravagant gestures of his then revolutionary acting style. We saw Mrs Siddpns as Lady Macbeth and Mrs Garrick who outlived her husband by forty years. They had no issue but this apparently does not deter visitors to the Club claiming to be descendants!

The Irving Room is dominated by a typical David Roberts painting on a classical theme which, unfortunately, is too large to be removed through the renovated kitchens. The key portrait in the room is, of course, Sir Henry Irving (1838 to 1905) showing off his distinctive profile. Surprisingly, his first application for membership was blackballed. Anthony Trollope (in a letter on display) suggested he stood again, this time with success.

We then entered a rather hybrid room – the tablecloths were pink and white, even the chandeliers had pink shades. This was the Ladies’ Lunch Room! It is actually called A A Milne’s Room after his donation of 25% of Pooh royalties to the Club some 25 years ago. His donation funded urgent upgrading of the Club’s facilities. Relics of Milne are few – a bear statuette and a small portrait of Christopher Robin.

The landings on the stairs to the first floor are home to Garrick’s chair and Henry Irving’s chair ‘where he breathed his last’. At the top of the stairs is a portrait of the Club’s patron, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Cocktail Bar (reminiscent of those found in older theatres) had portraits of theatrical artists of more recent times – Olivier (wearing the Club tie of ‘salmon and cucumber’ stripes), Michael Hordern, Leslie Howard, Constance Cummings, Ben Travers, Sir John Gielgud (the only one actually purchased by the Club), Alistair Sim, Alec Guinness, Basil Dean and many others.The Morning Room, where we enjoyed coffee and biscuits, had unfortunately suffered water damage from leaks in the heating system and looked the worse for wear – paintings had been damaged, the walls looked very bare by comparison with the rest of the building.Stage memorabilia occupied several cases on the landing outside, including such items as the crown Donald Wolfitt wore as Lear.The first Constitution of the Club stated that a library should be formed from donated books, such donations to be noted on the members’ list. It took three years for the library to actually get under way and until 1982 a guinea was deducted from the membership fee to fund acquisitions. Nowadays it is generally funded. Naturally, the theme is the theatre. Henry Irving donated Garrick’s papers – the Club must have appreciated his eventual election to membership – a much valued research collection. Gems from the acquisitions include: Kemble’s prompt books; ‘The Era’ (forerunner of ‘The Stage’) for 1859-1939; Drury Lane/Covent Garden playbills 1798-1859 and Noel Coward’s visitors’ books from three houses, Bona fide researchers can access this unique resource.These outings organised by Mary O’Connell let us access London’s treasures. We know of the Garrick as a Club but, thanks to Mary, we are now aware of its history and the wealth of theatrical art and literature within its walls – and we can even recognise the Club tie!

Roy Walker

An item in the May edition of NOTTINGHAM UNIVERSITY’s newsletter reports the publication of Wollaton Hall: an archaeological survey. This Nottingham Tudor great house was investigated by their Department of Archaeology who unravelled four centuries of building alterations, including cellars, water supplies and a Tudor sewer system. The survey sheds new light on original plans and impact of lifestyle on the accommodation. The house was designed by master mason Robert Smythson who later designed the re-build of Hardwick Hall for Bess, Countess of Hardwick. The Nottingham house brought no such fame to its owner Francis Willoughby who was financially ruined by the building of Wollaton, which he had hoped would elevate his social standing.

Unfortunately for him Queen Elizabeth never slept there.

Planning Applications in the Northern Area Bill Bass

Barnet College, Wood Street, Barnet This extension to the college lies in the grounds of Tudor Hall (the oldest standing building in Chipping Barnet ­1577). English Heritage have recommended a watching Brief on any earthmoving. In a subsequent application, agents for the above site have asked for the above condition to be removed (decision forthcoming). Land South of the Marie Foster Home, Wood Street, Barnet

This site lies on high ground over­looking the Dollis Valley and may have been little disturbed in the past, on topographic grounds English Heritage are asking for a watching brief here. HADAS conducted an excavation near this location finding a medieval ditch. Hadley Green Garage, Great North Road, This empty structure has been the subject of previous planning applications. It lies within the Battle of Barnet area, has been identified as the site of a medieval windmill and is near to an ancient boundary ditch to Enfield Chase which met the South Mimms boundary, known as Gannick Bank (J.Cobban).

The Duke’s Head – Rosemary Bentley

York: So, if the issue of the elder son Succeed before the younger, I am King. Warwick: What plain proceedings is more plain than this?

Henry VI Part Two

AT LAST there are firm plans for a statue to commemorate the Battle of Barnet, 1471, one of the major conflicts of the Wars of the Roses. If we walk round the walls of York this September we shall pass a display about one of the battle’s protagonists, the future Richard III and, on the opposite side of town, the Micklegate Museum where one can see a spike ‘similar to that on which the Duke of York’s head was displayed’. The power struggle between the royal houses of Lancaster and York and their Geographia of followers originated in 1399 when the son of John of Gaunt the last Duke of Lancaster deposed Richard II and was crowned Henry IV. He was succeeded by Henry V and then, in 1420, by eight-month-old Henry VI. Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, the baby’s uncle, found his authority as Regent constantly challenged by his own uncles, the Earl of Somerset and the Bishop of Winchester, ‘the Beauforts’, sons of John of Gaunt but born many years before their parents married. The rivalry became permanent when Henry VI proved to be unworldly if not actually feeble-minded. England was badly governed, France was lost; the next Earl of Somerset was elevated to Duke and Humphrey died in disgrace, his wife accused of witchcraft.

The second Duke of Somerset was a close friend of the Queen, Margaret of Anjou. There is no evidence that they were lovers but when, in 1455, Margaret was pregnant after ten years of marriage, Henry said it was the act of the Holy Ghost. He was so disoriented by this miracle that it was necessary to appoint another regent, so, Somerset keeping a low profile, the Council sent for the Duke of York who, for thirty-five years had been the unacknowledged heir to the throne.

To understand the Duke’s place in the Plantagenet family tree it is easiest to go back a century to Edward III whose large family included the Dukes of Clarence, Lancaster and York. Clarence left a daughter, Phillippa: Lancaster’s legitimate son became Henry IV and York’s younger son, the Earl of Cambridge, married cousin Phillippa’ s granddaughter. She died in 1411 giving birth to a son whose distant connection with the more senior house of Clarence gave his father an excuse to plot against the Lancastrian King. Cambridge was executed by Henry V and the little orphan put in the Tower for safe keeping. He inherited the Dukedom of York when his uncle was killed at Agincourt and grew up to be a loyal Lancastrian, serving in France and then in Ireland. He had spent little time at the court he now ruled.

Henry VI regained what there was of his wits and York returned to Ireland but the King became permanently incapacitated a few months later, after Margaret gave birth to Prince Edward of Lancaster. York was sent for again and tactlessly suggested that, all things considered, he might as well be king. By then the Earl of Warwick, the Duchess of York’s nephew and grandson of a female Beaufort, had already fired the first shot in, what some Victorian was to dub, the Wars of the Roses. According to legend it was a lucky shot, bringing down the signboard of a St Albans’ inn upon the head of the Duke of Somerset. He was replaced by the third Duke but not before Warwick had taken charge of the King and the country on behalf of York.

During the next five years power changed hands several times depending

HADAS member Rick Gibson wrote about the Golders Green clocktower in newsletter 289 (April ’95). Last summer we noticed that the clock had, once again, came to a halt for several weeks. Rick explains “the electric motor that winds up the weights burnt out and it took Barnet Council a while to obtain a replacement”. Rick’s article mentioned two electric motors, fitted after the last war. Does this mean the other motor is due to burn out? Should we campaign for a millennium sundial?

BOOK REVIEW – Andy Simpson

YES, I’ve found another excuse to write about trams in the HADAS Newsletter! Over the past three years or so the Middleton Press have been producing an excellent series of hardback books in their ‘Tramway Classics’ series covering the tramways of Southern England. Whilst some titles cover the former tramways of such towns as Southend, Portsmouth and Reading in a single volume, the tramways of London are being covered very comprehensively area by area; already some 18 volumes have been published on London alone, with more (including the Edgware Road routes) to come. Volumes of local interest already published include `Holborn and Finsbury Tramsways’ covering Highgate Angel and Manor House routes (published 1996) and `Hampstead and Highgate Tramways’ covering Chalk Farm, Hampstead, Parliament Hill Fields, Highgate Village and Archway Tavern and south to King’s Cross.

All of these volumes feature a short introductory piece of text, a very high pictorial content from 1900s-1950s, tramway rolling stock details, track plans, rules and regulations, timetable extracts and extracts from 1-2500 O.S. maps of the areas covered. Latest volume published is ‘Barnet and Finchley Tramways’ by Robert J Harley (April 1997, ISBN 1.873793 93 6) which follows the former Metropolitan Electric Tramsways route along the Great North Road from Highgate Archway Tavern, through East Finchley, North Finchley, Whetstone and High Barnet, plus the route to Golders Green via Church End the heart of HADAS territory! All this for £11.95.

There are some splendid photos of the terminus at Barnet Hill with St John’s Church prominent; of trams – and a trolleybus – under the railway bridge at the foot of Barnet Hill; street scenes in Whetstone; (there is a good balance of street scenes and rolling stock close-ups); Tally Ho Corner; the former tramway station at Kingsway; a lovely night-time shot of Finchley Tram Depots Ballards Lane, Church End, Golders Green East Finchley, and Highgate Archway, often of locations still recognizable today, sixty or more years after the trams (which finished in this area in 1938) ceased to run. For anyone with an interest in local history – not just transport – I would recommend this volume unreservedly.

OTHER SOCIETIES’ NEWS

The City of London Archaeological Society found themselves in the news recently. Several COLAS members are taking part in the Thames Foreshore Project which held a Press/Open Day at Shadwell which was reported in the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian. Project Leader, Mike Webber, gave a talk to HADAS in April last year (reported In May 1996 newsletter). There will be another Open Day on Sunday 6 July to be held at Chiswick. If anyone would like to attend, they should contact the COLAS Chair/Field Officer, Rose Baillie on 0171-359 1774 (evenings).

The next Barnet & District Local History Society lecture is by Jennie Lee Cobban (a HADAS member), entitled The Legend of Geoffrey de Mandeville. Date: Wed 11 June, 7.45 for 8pm. Venue: Wyburn Room, Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road, Barnet. (Confirmation of details from Barnet Museum on 0181-440 8066).

Hampstead Garden Suburb weekend: 21/22 June – see local Press for details. HADAS will have a bookstall there – we need helpers to man (person??) the stall, please phone Roy Walker – 0181-361 1350.

Church Farmhouse Museum

The current exhibition The Splendour of Heraldry , prepared by the Middlesex East Heraldry Group, explains origins and displays a variety of examples of insignia. There is a section on local families’ coats of arms and, for the faithful, pub signs in the borough of Barnet. (Closing time is June 29th). Liz Holliday informs that a group of medieval archers, the Handown Mercenaries, will be visiting the museum on Sundays 22nd and 29th of June to display weapons, livery badges and an encampment showing 13/14th century campaign life. If you wish to check times, please phone the museum on 0181-203 0130.

While you are there, watch out for Henry (Curator Gerard Roots’ ginger torn) who prowls the garden area. He is famous for decimating the local squirrel population single-pawed and might not take kindly to a group of archers on ‘his’ hunting ground. Pusstols at dawn?

Butser Ancient Farm – is once again running a season of 3- and 6-day residential courses on Roman Villa construction, pollens, experimental earthworks, and experimental archaeology. Also planned are one-day workshops on flint knapping, bow making and food in prehistory. The last course of the year is in November. Information from: Butser Ancient Farm, Nexus House, Gravel Hill, Waterlooville, Hampshire P08 OQE. Tel: 01705 598838.

(A personal favourite memory of HADAS is our visit to Butser two years ago, with our members sitting round a smoky campfire on logs and sheepskin rugs, snug inside the roundhouse whilst the rain tipped down outside, and being told by Peter Reynolds that Celts do not exist).

No. 314 MAY 1997 EDITED BY ANN KAHN

DIARY

Tuesday May 13:

Saturday June 7:

Morning – tour of the Garrick Club with Mary O’Connell Details and application form with this Newsletter Evening – A.G. M. 8.00pm for 8.30pm in the Drawing Room (Ground Floor) at Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N.3.

see also note below

Outing to Cirencester and Chedworth Roman Villa with Micky Watkins and Micky Cohen Details and application form with this Newsletter
Saturday July 12: Outing to Hastings and Battle with Tessa Smith and Sheila Woodward

September 4 -7: Weekend in York. We are fully booked for this , with a short waiting list. Members are welcome to add their names to this list if they wish.

HADAS Annual General Meeting June Porges

As usual we shall keep the AGM business as short as possible – HADAS has quite a good record in this respect! Afterwards Steward Wild, who has recently returned from that area, will give a talk entitled “From Palmyra to Petra”. There will also be a display of recent work done by the Society including some Roman pottery and building material found at the Church Farm House Museum site.

Our Library is housed at Avenue House, so if anybody would like to visit it please come early.

MEMBERS LIST Dorothy Newbury

My apologies to those members who asked for a list last year. This is now in hand but if any member would prefer to have their address and/or phone number deleted pleas ring Dorothy Newbury (0181 203 0950) immediately. The list is only available to members.

JANET FARADAY Mary Begg

We regret having to report that Janet died on March 11th. She had major surgery two years ago but rarely talked about her illness and was still working part-time as a physiotherapist this January. Her speciality was hand therapy. She loved life, had a positive outlook and had many interests ranging from Spanish and Scottish dancing, to learning Russian, astronomy, theatre and travel. She supported numerous animal welfare causes. She was young for her 66 years and will be greatly missed. Some members of HADAS were at her funeral.

34 Annual (LAMAS) Conference of London Archaeologists, Museum of London, March 1997.

HADAS attended with our exhibition boards and book stall – and sold quite a few, the general attendance appeared very good this year. Proceedings kicked-off with the presentation of a new award – the Merrifield Award, for archaeology in London. Richmond Archaeological Society were the winners for their work on the Thames Foreshore Survey. Harvey Sheldon was the conference chairman.

WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE…

Cue Mike Webber – Thames Archaeological Survey Officer to provide us with a 1996 update. Sites included a wooden log platform at Rainham Marshes, a Saxon structure at Chelsea, remains of a pair of substantial reused timber rudders and an important early jetty at Greenwich. Concern was expressed at the rapid erosion of these features by dredging, tidal action, and ‘historical landscaping’.

PERRY OAKS and the STANWELL CURSES

From water to air or more precisely the environs of Heathrow. This area is rich in sites from all periods attracted by the well draining gravels and fertile overlying soils. These same attractions are now leading to the destruction of such sites through ploughing, gravel extraction and general urban sprawl. A review of the area is being undertaken by MoLAS and other agencies, this comprises of a large-scale, multi-discipline investigation, the strategy being to find human occupation and its influence on the landscape. Firstly, past records such as the Sites and Monuments Record, earlier excavations and finds were extensively consulted with the results plotted on a computer mapping system. Other methods included trial trenching and comprehensive soil-sampling to find features over a large area. One site was Perry Oaks, west of the airport, bounded by the River Colne, north and south runways, not far from the sludge works (very exotic). Initial results here found truncated features dating between 4000-1000 BC with finds of worked flint and eroded pottery sherds, unfortunately environmental evidence from sampling has not survived well. Iron-age and Roman activity has also been detected.

A wider landscape of another area looked at was the Stanwell Curses – excavated in the 1980s. The earthwork lies within a Neolithic landscape of monuments, timber avenues and barrows (many ploughed out), post-holes were found to predate the curses. A later Middle Bronze-age community continued to focus on this location with a boundary ditch (4m wide by lm deep) crossing the Neolithic monument, other find spots avoided the curses respecting its presence. The Middle Bronze-age layout constantly changed over time with ditches, droveways, huts and field systems perhaps reflecting different agricultural practices such as winter & summer crops, stock management, storage and so-forth. Overall this evidence is useful as much previous MBA material usually comes from cremation cemeteries, this being an occupation site can add further ideas.

ROMAN ROAD RAGE – Robin Taylor-Wilson

This site at Lefevre Road and Parnell Road, Old Ford in east London was already known for its Roman activity by excavations in the 1970s & 80s. They found Romano-British field systems and burials, a Roman road section was partly dug and pre-Roman features were also seen, some containing post Deverel Rimbury pottery of 1100­900 BC.

The more recent excavations by Pre-Construct Archaeology divide the area up into two zones

Zone ‘A’ – early Roman material possibly within a decade of the invasion.

Zone ‘B’ – prehistoric activity and further Roman evidence.

In zone ‘A’ a quarry for the agger was found beside what appears to be a ” 3 lane highway” defined by ditches at 80 ft wide. The road section consisted of redeposited brickearth with sand and gravel over a 4.6m wide camber of conquest built date. Beside the road to north and south were two hollow-ways with metalled tracks which were resurfaced periodically, the north track elevation was then abandoned at some time. Of the bordering ditches a palisaded example preceded one of a ‘V’ shaped type. Also in this zone the wall and floor remains of a

Roman structure were recorded. By the 4th century field deposits began to overlie the road surface which showed the road going out of use. In zone ‘B’ more of the field system was revealed plus an inhumation burial of the 4th century dated by pottery. An interesting find was a gold finger-ring with intaglio which had a mouse inscription. The road here had some use in the post Roman period, but not into the Saxon area,

Other lectures included the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Saxon site, and reappraisal of the Grimes Cripplegate sites. The afternoon reviewed – Full time archaeology in Southwark; the first 25 years. Bill Bass

FROM SOMERSET TO SIMRIS – A conference in honour of JOHN COLES

The Prehistoric Society conference 1997.

Five members of HADAS, including our Chairman Andrew Selkirk, were at Exeter University for the weekend 4-6 April to enjoy this most instructive and sociable Conference. I would describe its theme as being an updated round-up of the results of new approaches, encouraged and worked on by John, to archaeological investigation in the last few decades. For example, detailed scientific examination of organic materials made possible by their preservation at wetland sites; from Scandinavia, sites preserved by windblown sand; and experimental archaeology, not only in trying out bronze age weapons (we saw quite a number of slides of John with bronze sword and shield in hand!); but also in trying out prehistoric technology such as the distillation of pitch and tar from wood and bark in Poland – not to mention the charming recital we had of tunes on prehistoric-style birdbone pipes.

The contributions indeed came from worldwide – not only from Scotland (now established neolithic), Ireland (trackways over bogs) and Denmark; but also from France, Northwest America, and of course, Poland. It was the Polish delegation, in fact, who managed to stop John in his tracks (m’ m) in his speech of thanks after the Conference dinner when he described how sometimes in his work he had felt he wished he had a sword in his hand – by presenting him with a handsome bronze-age sword as a token of appreciation – to heartfelt applause of all

present! Brian Wrigley

MEMORIAL FOR THE BATTLE OF BARNET

John Somerville, a Barnet sculptor, has designed a battle-weary horseman to commemorate the Battle of Barnet in 1471. It is designed to be a one and a half times life-size bronze statute; one side showing triumph, the other defeat, and the whole entitled Pyrrhic Victory. The original maquette was exhibited at the Royal Academy recently. The only existing memorial is the obelisk at Hadley Highstone and this sculpture could be a fitting celebration for the millenium locally. It is estimated that £100,000 will be needed, some of which might come from the National Lottery. The project has the full support of the Borough Council and its arts body, Barnet College, the local Historical Society and Chipping Barnet Traders’ Association. (Barnet Borough Times 13 March 1997)

HENRY VIII’S FISHING BASKET

A wicker fishing basket, shaped like a fish trap, has been uncovered in
the West Moat of the Tower of London. The West Moat, west of the White Tower, was a fishing area used exclusively for the Royal Household in the 16thc. Graham Keevil, director of the excavation, said the basket dated from the late 15thc to the middle of the 16thc and that this discovery backed up all the documentary sources we had for this period. Artefacts made from organic material such as wicker rarely survive due to bacterial decay from the soil. Preservation was probably due to water levels in the clay and being buried four metres below the surface. The basket will be taken to Hampton Court for conservation treatment. (The Times 9 April 1997)

WHAT NOT TO DO WITH A ROMAN MOSAIC Roy Walker A cautionary tale was told at our March lecture. Stephen Cosh (with David Neal) has been researching the Roman mosaics of England in preparation for a definitive guide soon to be published in four volumes. His studies had revealed many cases of mishandling and these became his topic for the evening. The worst case was to excavate, not record and to fail to publish. Before photography this was quite usual with only brief notes being made of the event. However, a good written description enabled drawings subsequently to be made such as that of the Oldcotes mosaic excavated in 1870. Drawing would seem to be the most satisfactory medium for recording in the absence of photography but the mosaic at Micklegate Bar, York, drawn in 1814 was claimed at the time to represent “not what it was but what it should have been.” It was fragmented and the artist had put in his own interpretation substituting “joints of venison” for, possibly, the four seasons.

The East Coker, Yeovil, mosaic saga showed that even museums cannot be trusted! The mosaic was drawn then sawn off its bedding. It fell to pieces, was reconstructed, then decayed. It was placed in Taunton Museum but comparison to the drawing showed that a dog had lost its head and that it had gained another section. One mosaic found at Spaxton, Somerset, was divided into three sections, two went to a museum the third to the finder.

The provision of a cover building does not guarantee preservation. At Preston, Dorset, in 1852, a small stream was diverted away from the mosaic and a building constructed over. The mosaic slowly disappeared as visitors stole the tesserae. The building was then used for chickens, then by a gang of thieves. The roof collapsed and the stream flooded. By 1932 there v was nothing left. A mosaic discovered at Dorchester Prison in 1858 fared little better. It was relaid in the prison chapel but in 1884 the chapel was demolished leaving the mosaic exposed to frost damage. It was transferred to Dorchester Museum but was restored “with changes” and was no longer the genuine article. It now has a painting over it! One now in Winchester Museum was drawn, the tesserae were shovelled up and the mosaic recreated from the pieces – our lecturer thought this mosaic now should be regarded as Victorian rather than Roman. Some sites had not been adequately published. Three mosaics recovered near Yeovil had been drawn for publication but had no indicaton as to the extent of the reconstructed elements within the illustration. The site photographs showed not only that very little had actually survived but that conversely the coarse border to the mosaic had not been included in the drawing. The excavator had used just a tidied-up sketch plan when publishing another mosaic from the site. The photographs too were unhelpful – selective, oblique shots of mosaics that had not been cleaned for the occasion. Stephen showed us his own reconstruction of how the mosaic should have looked.

The Newton St Loe villa, Bristol, had a railway constructed through it. The mosaics were drawn and lifted. The Orpheus pavement was relaid in Keynsham railway station but was, ( later moved (with a pickaxe) and stored at Bristol Museum in chunks but a fire in the store was not helpful to its preservation. Another piece from the villa is now in a coffee table, another piece is assigned to the wrong site. An interesting example of incorrect provenance was presented later in the lecture. A villa at West Dean, Hampshire, was excavated in 1841. In the 1870s the local vicar working at the site excavated an aisled building with 4th century mosaics which were drawn, lifted and presented to the local museum. The mosaics were subsequently lost but the description fitted that of a mosaic held in Bristol Museum which was claimed to be from Gatcombe. Additional research showed that the cleric later had been posted to Gatcombe and had even participated in the excavation of Gatcombe villa.

The Keynsham Villa (or palace) was partially excavated and the mosaics lifted although no illustrations were made at the time only tracings of part. They were found in Taunton Castle Museum, untouched since the 1920s. The mosaics, in two hexagonal rooms at the end of one range, were considered by our lecturer to be among the best examples of Romano-British mosaics – they are now in the cellar of Keynsham Town Hall.

When the Hendon Roman villa is excavated by HADAS (we know it’s out there somewhere) its mosaics will be given the best treatment ever – we would not wish to be included in one of Stephen Cosh’s future lectures!

ROMAN VILLA

A fragment of mosaic floor was discovered in the garden of Thatched Cottage in Wortley, Gloucestershire. In 1982, Keele University took over the management of the site as a student training centre. Several rooms have since been discovered, including a cellar and the remains of an irrigation system.. The villa could be quite extensive, but though accepted as an important archaeological site, it is not recognised by English Heritage. Unfortunately
the owners have to sell and there is nothing to stop the new owners from discontinuing the dig and filling in the site. (Daily Telegraph 2 April 1997)

TUTANKHAMEN

Professor Bob Brier, from Long Island University in New York believes that Tutankhamen may have been killed by his tutor and regent Aye. Brier re-examined an old X-ray of Tutankhamen’s skull, and thinks that either Aye or a trusted servant delivered a fatal blow to the ruler’s head. Aye was ambitious; but as a commoner, he could not become ruler except by marriage to Tutankhamen’s queen, Ankhesenamen. Evidence indicates that Tutankhamen lingered on long enough for Ankhesenamen to write to a neighbouring Hittite king, begging for one of his sons as a husband – an unheard of request. That letter, now in a Turkish museum, states:

“Never shall I pick out a servant of mine and make him my husband.

I am very afraid.”

The Hittite king sent one of his sons to marry Ankhesenamen, but near the border the son and his party were ambushed and killed. What happened next is unclear, but a ring found in Cairo in 1831 bears an inscription indicating that Aye and Ankhesenamen had married. The young queen was not heard of again, and Professor Brier believes that she too was murdered. Aye, on the walls of his tomb at Amarna, left this message:

“I was one favoured by his lord every day, great in favour from year to year, because of the exceeding greatness of my excellence.”

Aye’s tomb showed his wife at the time of his death was called Tiy. She eventually became queen of Egypt. (Daily Mail, 20 March 1997).

EGYPTIAN TREASURES TO REMAIN IN BRITAIN.

The Egyptian government has dropped its demand for the return of the Rosetta stone and other exhibits in the British Museum, and of other antiquities such as Cleopatra’s Needle on the Thames Embankment. This may modify the Greek demand for the Elgin marbles. (Sunday Times 23 March 1997)

INTERNET NEWS FOR COMPUTER BUFFS

Computer literate members who have access to the world wide information network may be interested in the following:-

THE MEDIEVAL VILLAGE is part of the Camelot International site. Camelot is a travel agency which claims that “about 90% of our site is non-commercial, providing information. THE VILLAGE, complete with local yokels to act as guides, together with jesters and knights, will add to a vast amount of historical detail which exists
on the site already.” (Times Interface, 5 March 1997)

THE INTERNET LIBRARY OF EARLY JOURNALS aims to provide full texts of eighteenth and nineteenth century journals. The first title is Notes and Queries from 1849 and is ready for use. The organisers would like to hear from interested researchers in this area. (Contact: Bill Jupp at the Edward Boyle Library, University of Leeds (+ 44 (0) 1132 335 565)

(Aslib Management Information, March 1997)

FROM HERE AND THERE Vikki O’Connor

UNDERWATER SITE DETECTION

A research project at Southamnpton University is aiming to find new methods to detect archaeological sites beneath the sea. Rising sea levels since the last Ice Age have caused sediments to bury coastal sites of human activity. The profile of these hidden landscapes can now be detected by acoustic methods which are sensitive enough to study minute changes associated with landscape identification.

A GENETIC LINK WITH THE PAST

A team from the University of Bristol has established a direct genetic link between Cheddar Man (9,000 years old) and a 42 year old local resident. The test used mitochondrial DNA which only descends through females therefore both subjects must have had a common female ancestor – which indicates a remarkable continuity in the local population. It has enabled archaeologists to claim that the introduction of European techniques of farming around 7,000 years ago was a local initiative not the result of mass immigration from Europe.

THE SWEDISH MARY ROSE

Using a diving bell, a team of archaeologists has been excavating the wreck of the Kort Konig’s Kravel, a 75 feet wreck once part of the fleet of Gustav Eriksson Vasa, the first king of modern Sweden. The warship, which sank in 1525 in a fjord in the Stockholm archipelago, is believed to contain the largest amount of early 16th century naval wrought iron guns ever found.

THE PRINTS OF POTTERS

Archaeologists on the site of an ancient pottery workshop near Taranto, southern Italy, have found about 400 fingerprints on fragments of forty vases. The Greek potters, working around 2,400 years ago, left their prints in the damp clay and paint of vessels. Analysis has enabled four potters to be identified ­one was a modeller, two were painters and the other a touch-up expert. Other prints indicate that around fourteen people were employed by the workshop.

Jeannie Lee Cobban. “The legend of Geoffrey de Mandeville” Barnet and District Local History Society – Wyburn Room, Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road, Barnet: Wednesday 7 June at 7.45 for 8pm