Past Newsletters

DIARY

Please note the advertised lecture “Valley of the Kings” has been post­poned to Tuesday October 1st. Ted Sammes has kindly stepped in to talk and show slides of archaeological sites in Jordan.

Tuesday 2nd April A SMALL DISPLAY by Tessa Smith

At the April Lecture, there will be a small display of finds from the “pipeline” field walking. Do come and look.

LECTURE: JORDAN VISITED

Ted Sammes, one of our Vice Presidents, needs no introduction. Last year he visited Jordan for a fourteen day period, little knowing what events would be in store for the Middle East later in the year.

Ted will show a selection of slides in an endeavour to cover much of the history/archaeology of Jordan. We will see views of PETRA, JERASH, a British Museum dig at TELL ES-SA ID1YEH, MOUNT NERO, MADABA and some desert castles, with a hot-spa site thrown in for good measure.

Saturday April 13th Local History Open Weekend with Barnet Local History

Society

Tuesday May 7th Annual General Meeting

Sunday May 12th Walk and afternoon visit to the Museum of Jewish Life, Finchley

Saturday June 8th Essex History Fair (See page 5 of February Newsletter)

Saturday June 15th Outing to Mapledurham, with Ted Sammes

Saturday July 13th Outing to historic Chatham Docks

Saturday August 10th Outing to Hertford – National Archaeologists’ Day

Lectures are held at the Central Library, The Burroughs, Hendon, at 8.00 for 8.30 pm.

Dorothy Newbury adds: the entry for the Weekend in Norwich (Fri/Sat/Sun August 30/31, September 1st) is full, but names are welcome for a waiting list (tel: 203 0950).

BELL LANE/BRENT STREET

Pneumatic drills are operating and excavators are digging up the underground public lavatories which are situated on the triangle at the junction of Bell Lane and Brent Street. Also on this site is a borough horse trough and a hanging blue plaque indicating it as a site of the “old Parish Cage”. Will all members in the area keep an eye on these two historic pieces – too much of old Hendon has already disappeared.

THE QUAKER TAPESTRY

A member of the Enfield Archaeological Society has sent us the follow­ing notice of an interesting exhibition at the Forty Hall Museum, Enfield.

“Since the C17 industrial welfare has developed as an expression of Quaker faith”.

This exhibition closes on 7th April 1991.

BARNET LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY

and

HENDON AND DISTRICT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

present

A LOCAL HISTORY WEEKEND

SATURDAY 13 April – Barnet Museum, Wood Street Open Day 11.00 to 1.00 and 2.30 to 4.30 pm SPECIAL DISPLAY OF LOCAL ARCHAEOLOGY

ARRANGED BY: HENDON AND DISTRICT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

SUNDAY 14 APRIL – Guided walk round Historic Barnet

A leisurely stroll of about one and a half hours. It is hoped to include a visit to the site of a “Dig”. MEET at Barnet Museum, leave at 11.00. Repeat tour at 2.30. Numbers limited. Early booking advisable. Fee £1.00

To book phone Barnet Museum (440 8066) or 368 5345.

MEDIEVAL POTTERY IN GALLEY LANE, BARNET

In 1975, some 500 sherds of mainly coarse grey/buff medieval pottery were found at my house in Galley Lane (TQ 227 967) when a gas main was laid. A shallow trench about 0.5m wide had been dug the-length of the drive but the sherds were concentrated into one area under the car port. The conglomerated mass of broken and heat reddened pieces of pottery, in very little soil matrix, was evidently composed of wasters from a nearby kiln whose whereabouts is unknown.

The nearest known medieval kiln, found in 1959 at Dyke Cottage, King’s Road, is about mile away. (TQ 233964). It yielded a range of 13th century pottery including at least 50 cooking pots, 30 jugs and 20 bowls (Penn 1960). Like the Galley Lane material “the pottery found was made of local clay, the coarser wares being tempered with fragments of flint and quartz” (Ibid).

In the late autumn of 1990 the house had to be underpinned by the front porch about 7 metres from the previous find spot. As the odd sherd or two had also turned up in the flowerbeds, both in the front and back gardens, the prospect of a new trench was of obvious interest. Predictably the excavation began when I was away for the day and no doubt some material was dumped on the skip. Nevertheless, I retrieved 191 sherds from a trench 2m x 0.75m deep. The pottery was much more loosely packed than in 1975 but the deeper trench enabled me to sketch the section which showed a reddened pebbly layer apparently over the pottery-bearing grey clay. Again there was no sign of a kiln.

There were 17 pieces of rim, flint tempered, of variable coarseness and a colour range of greys, buffs and brown/reds. One rim had simple finger-impressed decoration. There were 4 pieces of base and 170 assorted sherds 5 of which were decorated with finger-impressed strips of clay. Similar pieces had been found in 1975.

I think that the more important area had been pinpointed when the gas main had been laid. However, with so limited a trench it is not possible to postulate the whereabouts of the nearest kiln. It may have been destroyed when the house was built and so the pottery may not be in situ but, if it is not, considering the mass of material with so little soil matrix, I do not think it could have come far.

When site watching at Prospect Lodge, at the top of Galley Lane, towards Kinds Road, I found some 30 more sherds of similar fabric and one had impressed strip decoration. This time a large area had been trenched for the foundations of several new houses but still no sign of a kiln was apparent. Nevertheless it is always worthwhile looking down even the least prepossessing of trenches in areas of no previously known archaeo­logical interest. The owner of Prospect Lodge had said “You are very welcome to have a look but there can’t be anything there.” In 1975, one of the Gas Board men, who became adept at bringing in the sherds to me and who had spotted the best piece of decorated ware, suddenly remarked “I always wondered why the old pottery we dig up in the trenches around here isn’t shiny.” I don’t think he was joking.

Penn D.F. 1960 A Medieval Industrial Site at Barnet.

In Barnet and District Record Society

Bulletin No.12, June 1960

By MYFANWY STEWART

MINIMART

Following the request for advice on car boot sales, John Enderby and Dorothy Newbury have been up at the crack of dawn on the last two Sundays setting up a stall at the Hendon Market. Dealers pounce like vultures and as a result we have been able to sell much of last years overs, as well as some recent items. If you have any good bric-a-brac available now, please ring 203 0950. As it was, we were sold out by 10.00 am and were able to leave much earlier than we had hoped.

DIGGING IN ASSYRIA The pork of the British Museum JOAN EDWARDS

The lecturer on March 5th was Dr John Curtis, Keeper of the Western Asiatic Antiquities of the British Museum. He told us that the Museum’s approach had been to look for Assyrian life on a more humble level than that of the previously excavated great palaces and temples. Due to the construction, from 1983 onwards, of a dam on the upper Tigris flooding of large areas near the Syrian and Turkish borders would result. It was decided to excavate as many of the sites which would be affected as possible and the British Museum took three village sites to excavate between 1983 and 1986: QASRIJ CLIFF, KHIRBER KHATUNIYEH, and KHIRBER OASRIJ.

At QASRIJ CLIFF potsherds were found on the river bank. On excava­tion a deep circular pit was exposed. This had originally been a grain silo but was later used for tipping rubbish including much late Assyrian pottery. No associated occupation area was found, possibly it had been carried away due to river erosion.

At KHIRBER KHATUNTYEH an occupation area was identified between two wadis. A small area was dug revealing a large “manor” house or admini­strative building. Walls were of mud brick and the area paved with stone. A grain bin and oven were present and profusion of broken pottery. Two rooms were excavated and a stone coffin found in the door­way between them. This contained no bones but had been used for storing grain. An iron sickle and whetstones were also in it. Two collapsed looms and unbaked clay loom weights were found and large “pithoi” with both flat and conical bases. It was evident that the site had been destroyed by fire in about 612BC probably by invading edes. The site actually flooded while digging was in progress and had to be abandoned. On the very last day a clay ram’s head rhyton was found.

At KHTRBER QASRIJ a settlement was found which was probably found by displaced people in 612BC escaping the tides occupation continued to about 500. Stone pavements and wall footings indicating an industrial site with a complex pit kiln surrounded by a paved area within a wall. The kiln was I1 metres deep and the roof had collapsed in on top of pots and wasters. These had been a large pit fire and probably the roof would be broken open after each firing and renewed. Some flooring stones in the surround had well-worn regular holes suggesting a pivot hole for the support of a potter’s wheel. Some complete pots were found and also nails made of pot normally used for attaching ritual displays on walls. Special finds were a stone weight carved as a sleeping duck and an Assyrian bronze fibula brooch in the shape of a woman’s torso.

The other excavations in 1989 and 1990 were undertaken at the famous sites of NIMRUD and BALAWAT. At NIMRUD a large store room was studied in Fort Shalmaneser. It had been destroyed by the Medes in 614 BC. It measured 10 x 4 metres and was 5 metres deep. Charred roof beams were found and a stone roof roller had fallen through the roof. The roof rollers were, and still are, used to roll a layer of plastered mud across the roof to seal leaks. On the floor were many bronze remains including circular bronze bosses similar to those illustrated decorating the leather harness of horses in the famous Assyrian wall reliefs but not beforefound in excavations. Glazed bricks were found scattered. These belonged to a wall panel which must have fallen in from the courtyard when the building was destroyed. The bricks bore the inscription for Shalmaneser III. They also had white paint faces and signs and black ink signs in Aramaic. This was the earliest use of Aramaic yet documented in the area. The white signs are not decipherable. Both lots of signs gave the assembler of the panel the order of assembly of the bricks. Bone plaques, faience beads and horse harness were found and also large pottery jars.

At BALAWAT work was undertaken in the area where Rasai found in the bronze gates now reconstructed in the British Museum. A small exploratory trench has begun yielding plaques and cylinder seals.

Dr Curtis finished his lecture by showing us slides of the fantastic gold jewellery and vessels found very recently by penetrating the floor of the palace courtyard revealing 4 tombs in brick vaults. The palace had previously been excavated by Woolley and Mallowan and this area had been thought to be the household area of the queens and their children.

THREE RIVER PIPELINE PROJECT

FINAL REPORT AND CONCLUSIONS VICTOR JONES

This project is to interconnect the water supply systems of the Lee, Colne and Three Rivers Water Supply Companies. It was planned a number of years ago, following the great drought of 1986. It is being constructed in stages and the Barnet western section is now completed.

The project was observed by the Department of Urban Archaeology of the Museum of London, particularly the Roman section. The Society has a copy of their report, and it is available to members.

In this Borough the work included cutting a track about 15 m wide and 5 km long, through several of the outer North Western districts, starting from Rowley Green. It then crossed fields in Arkley, over Barnet Road, through part of Scratchwood and the Edgware Golf Club, under the M1 Motorway, across Edgwarebury Fields, over the A41, and via more fields over Watling Street to the top of Brockley Hill and along Wood Lane, out of the Borough to Stanmore.

The work included removing topsoil from the full width of the service track (approx. 20m) then heaping this to one side, cutting a trench a little over a metre in width. This was sometimes deep (2 – 5m) to eliminate minor surface variation and produce an even base for the massive water pipe sections (approx. 0/8m and 5m). This was followed of course by the big job of laying, and joining and testing the system.

The Route. This passed through various places of known archaeological interest and much agricultural land, and offered a unique opportunity to examine areas not previously explored.

It commenced at a covered reservoir at Rowley Green, on a relatively unbuilt up area on the high ground to the north of the Borough. From there it first crossed a series of large fields at this level, then descending through further fields dropped approximately 10 m and crossed the Barnet Road about half way from Hiver Hall and the roundabout junction of the Barnet Road and the A1000.

The fields nearest Rowley Green had few if any artifacts – they had a thin topsoil layer approximately 15 cm deep, and an 0.25 m layer of large, rounded (water worn) irregular-shaped pebble (2 to 10 cm in). Below this was London clay. The next fields sloped down to meet the Barnet Road level. There was a greater depth of topsoil here, gradually increasing to approximately 20 cm at Barnet Road. There was also a layer of gravel of variable depth, with pebbles up to about 5 cm. below was the London clay.

A considerable range of artifacts was found, sparse at the higher levels and increasing in number and type from the high fields to those near the Barnet Road. The finds included a variety of tile, brick fragments, pottery sherds, clay pipes, small glass and pottery jars and similar items. Most are deposited at the Barnet Museum. None were earlier than 18th C. and much was Victorian.

The Viatores Route 167. The track crossed the line suggested by the Viatores as a possible Roman Route which passed through Edgware and Hendon and on to Londinium (Roman Roads in the SE Midlands, 1964).

This had been the subject of an early HADAS research project in the 60s, and reported (in the LAMAS Journal) by I. Robertson, the Director of the work. Careful search of the pipeline track did not find any evidence of a road or scatter of foundation material as would be expected if a road had existed.

No other artifacts were found in the area of track across these fields. This had passed through any line the Viatores suggested route would have crossed in the higher fields.

This agrees with earlier HADAS investigations, which included excava­tions and resistance surveys at several sites on the south of the Barnet Road. No evidence of a route was found by these investigations.

Re-examination of a possible line from the Viatores’ final “traced point” at Well End, Borehamwood to find a more south-easterly route with Rowley Lane as a possibility if the Route reached Well End is reliable.

South of the Barnet Road. The short section of pipeline between the Barnet Road and the point of the crossing of the A1000 was through the gardens of modern housing, and produced no material of interest. Such items as were found were tile, broken brick and small amounts of modern china shard.

The Scratchwood and Edgwarebury area. The route was then by tunnel under the A1000. This is to a point on the north side of the entrance of the Scratchwood Open Space picnic area. This area is a roughly rectangular grass space 200 x 250 m. The track crossed the picnic field diagonally to the southeast, and passed through the woodland area for about 500 m.

This was interesting and quite different to any other area we observed. It was almost completely without artifacts (with the exception of a 2 m square area in which fragments of a modern plate, cup etc. were found).

The soil throughout the wood consisted of light, fibrous matter from 15 to 20 cm in depth, then up to 0.5 m shading from light to darker brown of a clayey soil mix into the solid London clay, all penetrated to about 1.2 m deep.

The woodland over the track length appeared uncultivated and may perhaps have been so since the once-great Middlesex Forest covered our ancient county.

The Doomsday Book mentions food for 1000 pigs in the woods of the adjacent manor of Stanmore and 800 for Hendon.

Edgware Golf Course. The route then crossed a small section of Edgware-Golf Course. most of this is at this point on rubble filled land. It is low, has drainage streams from the higher ground, and was subject to in-filling as a council waste dump of the 20s and 30s.

I was told by the Chairman of the Golf Club that much earlier it was the site of a country residence with lake and gardens etc. This might be an interesting subject for a documentary research project, to trace its previous history for our records. The area as could be expected produced many finds of very recent material.

Edgwarebury to Brockley Hill. The route proceeds eastwards over the fields of Edgwarebury Farm to the A41. The search here produced a quantity of finds of the various types of 18th-19th C. material, scattered fairly evenly through the central part of the area. Near the M1, where the ground is low and wet, relatively few finds were made. Increasing numbers occurred as the first field was crossed, then the quantity found remained fairly uniform throughout the central area of the fields.

A small concentration of worked flint wasters was found at a point in these fields. The range of finds other than this continued from the central to a point about two-thirds of the way to the A41, and then tile and brick fragments, some possibly of Roman type, also occurred.

At about 100 m of the A41, a concentration of 19th C mixed building and domestic remnants were found spread over about a 10 m circle. The material was recent and might have been dumped, or have been from a small collapsed building.

In previous HADAS field-walks some years ago in the general area, Roman tile and other material had been found, and further walks to establish the spread and/or source of material could be of interest.

Brockley Hill East Side. The A41 was crossed about a third of the distance from the Edgware roundabout at the foot of the Hill, and the Sterling Corner Roundabout at the top.

The track entered through the existing gate a field approximately 200m south of Nut Grove, and was parallel to the A41 for approximately 100m, and then north-westwards towards the west of Nut Grove, and on to Watling Street at a point 70m from the Watling Street and Wood Lane Junction.

The A41 side of Brockley Hill produced a range of finds of mainly 18th to 19th C type, but including small brick and tile fragments of possibly Roman type.

Nut Grove to Watling Street. The route crossed the field in which HADAS undertook a major project directed by Gillian Braithwaite in 1987, under­taken just before a long postponement of the project. It found Roman tile pottery etc., buried early road, and Neolithic flint. A Bronze Age arrow­head and a Roman coin were also reported. (See Newsletter No. 202).

The field from Nut Grove to Watling Street had scattered fragments of tile and brick and small pottery shards, but close to Watling Street a road section was exposed and examined by the D. of U. Archaeology observers and Verulamium-type pottery shards were found from a flagon made some date between AD 60 and 160. Two further pieces were found on the road surface. Full details of this and work on the west side of Brockley Hill is in their report mentioned earlier, and is noted in one of my several Newsletter items.

Watling Street and Wood Lane. I was fortunate in being present while the final work an crossing Watling Street was being completed. This is a deep and narrow cut just wide enough to take the pipe, and made at an angle across the road. Most of the pipeline sections had been laid overnight.

(I had been working with John Mills of the D. of U.A. the previous day on the road exposure described in their report.)

Some final work involving machine clearance on the east approach trench was still in progress, and other machines were also operating close by.

Conditions were not good or very convenient for observation. A small area on a steel plate on the south side of the trench at about the centre of operations was free.

Mr Steel, the site engineer, agreed to my observing from there while the space was unoccupied. I was able from there to see the north face of the trench very clearly, from a distance a little from the edge.

I remained about an hour sketching and photographing. It was possible to see much detail.

Below the present surface, clear sections of two further, relatively modern road surfaces were visible. Each was quite thick and had different foundation materials. Below these was a dark, deep section of another road. Its surface shape was similar to that found on the west side, but it was much wider and deeper. The base was about q.3 below its surface, and a spread of foundation material could be seen at an estimated 1.8m below the modern surface.

Unfortunately, due to the acute angle of the view because of the narrow trench and depth, the resulting photographs were not very satis­factory. The notes and sketches, however, were sufficient to allow the compilation of a reasonable drawing.

It seems probable this may be all of the original. Watling Street which is about a metre below the present road surface, until some suitable new deep work is again undertaken at Brockley Hill. Detailed information and the drawing will be included in a final site report.

IN MEMORY OF NELL

There will be deep sadness in many HADAS households at the news that Nell Pennv is dead: for Nell was a favourite with everyone who knew her, and that meant almost everyone in the Society. She was a Committee member for many years, a cook for our Roman and Arabian banquets and a staunch worker at our Minimarts for 14 years.

She was not an archaeologist by trade or training or study – she was an historian, and a-teacher of history for most of her life. She came to archaeology latish in life, joining the Society in 1972, when she was just into her sixties; but she was a woman of great intelligence, with that rare combination: intellectual capacity backed by masses of common sense. Although she always said that recent history was her main interest, she managed to get hooked on every archaeological period back to the prehistory of Crete – a place which she visited for the first time at 80 and fell for with the enthusiasm of an 18-year-old.

For HADAS, she filled a definite gap. We haven’t all that many members who are prepared to study both history and archaeology, and Nell worked assiduously in the local archives, first of all running down the history of farms and farmers in the locality and more recently analysing census returns – starting from the three early censes for Hendon of 1801, 1811 and 1821 and going on to the published censes for the area from 1841-1881. We shan’t easily forget her regular incursions into the Newsletter with the latest tit-bit of gossip from – or of – some 19c census enumerator.

Indeed the march Newsletter carried a characteristic note from Nell about cold weather payments to the old and vulnerable in 1794. Then I telephoned her on March 8, exactly a week before she died, she was waiting for the ambulance which was to take her to hospital – and though breathing was already difficult, she insisted on coming to the ‘phone to ask, among other things “Did you like my piece in the Newsletter?”

Nell was intensely proud of the achievements of her astronomer son, Alan, and her daughter, Jan, who has already carved a place for herself as a writer and speaker on the womenfolk of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It was ironic, and sad, that on March 16, the very night after Nell’s death, Jan did a half-hour Kaleidoscope programme on Lizzie Siddal, Dante Gabriel Rosseti’s wife, on Radio 4. Nell would have relished every word of it.

And that, perhaps, was her greatest distinguishing mark – her relish for life. For those of us who knew and loved her, the relish of life is going to be much less keen because of Nell’s passing. By BRIGID GRAFTON GREEN

Newsletter 240: March 1991 Edited by Helen Gordon

Diary

Saturday March 23 LAMAS Annual Conference at the Museum of London (See February Newsletter for details).

Tuesday April 2 Lecture: ‘Jordan visited’ by Ted Sammes

Please note the advertised lecture ‘Valley of the Kings’ has been post-poned to Tuesday October 1st. Ted Sammes has kindly stepped in to talk and show slides of archaeological sites in Jordan.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday Weekend in Norwich
August 30/31/September 1

Saturday October 5 City Walk with Mary O’Connell

Saturday October 12 MINIMART

Tuesday December 3 CHRISTMAS DINNER AT THE GEORGE AND VULTURE

Lectures are held at the Central Library, The Burroughs, Hendon, at 8.00 for 8,30 pm.

EXCAVATION AND POST-EXCAVATION by Brian Wrigley

As the weather turns out, we seem to have got it right in not having a dig going on, this year, right through the bleak mid-winter as we did the last two years! In fact, good use is being made of the time in sorting and processing finds from 19/25 High Street, Barnet and from 1264 High Road, Whetstone. Our room at Avenue House is proving a great convenience for this, and much appreciated.

A few of the more intriguing or puzzling finds have been referred to the Museum of London. One, from Whetstone, was a small metal tube which Jeff Egan of the Museum pronounced to be a ‘chape’ or tag from a bodice lace ­which caused the imagination of at least one of us to run riot!

It is hoped to provide a full report and analysis on the pottery from Barnet in April or May, to add to the reports already published on the excavation itself and the animal bones.

FUTURE EXCAVATIONS?

The Borough Planning Department recently asked us about a planning application for Hill House, Elstree; this site adjoins Watling Street and is of course not far from the well-known scheduled site at Brockley Hill. Since the proposed development appeared to involve some disturbance of ground, we advised that there should be an archaeological evaluation before making a decision, and offered our help in this, so that any needed archaeological conditions for preservation or recording of remains could be included in any consent. This just could be an opportunity for a trial dig this summer. Apart from this, there might be some chances at Barnet or Hendon, but both are very much in the air at present.

SOME NEW DEVELOPMENTS FOR 1991 by Victor Jones

Brian notes the possible sites for excavation this coming year, while Dorothy announces the season’s outings and other events which, as always, cover a wide range of interest.

I have been asked to report some of the other activities we have in hand which we hope to complete before the end of the year.

Finishing the work on our new room at Avenue House is, perhaps, the most important of these, because it gives us a place to carry out such activities as processing finds, arranging and storing the finds, exhibition material, and equipment. There will be space to prepare exhibits, to preserve and store properly our photographic records and detailed maps which are in constant use.

As reported in the last Newsletter, preparation of the room is going well, and it has been in use for find sorting in the last few weeks.

Cleaning of the books remains to be done; we could not start on this until the space and the facilities for doing it had been prepared and it was possible to heat the room satisfactorily. Now this is ready, and a fine new made-to-measure bookcase has been built by one of our excavation team, Arthur Till, so that the books, after proper cleaning, can be put away.

The collection of earlier records and finds from major investigations undertaken by the Society during its 30 years of activity has continued, and they are being housed in our new room.

However, a problem still remains about the room: we accepted the offer of the room, made by the Council shortly before the Avenue House fire, and sometime later at their suggestion, we stored our books there, pending preparation of a lease. This has never appeared, but the cost charged by the Council for the room has increased considerably. A grant from the Council’s Charity had been suggested, to help with the proposed rent, but this may not now be available, and we are to consider further negotiation.

Another major development in progress is the long-delayed publication of the first phase report of the West Heath dig. For the information of new members, this was a six-year investigation of a Mesolithic hunter/gatherer camp site, some 8/9,000 years old, found by one of our members on the Golders Green side of Hampstead Heath. The site is the closest of this type to the centre of London.

We also intend to publish the second part of ‘The Place in Time’ with an update on our latest work and, to hold a party to celebrate these events!

Some members will be glad to learn that the Newsletter index of the period 1986 onwards is in progress, and we hope will be finished this year.

STOP PRESS THE WEST HEATH REPORT GOES TO PRESS THIS WEEK AND WITH ANY LUCK WILL BE OUT IN TIME FOR THE A.G.M.

THE SITES AND MONUMENTS RECORD FOR LONDON BOROUGH OF BARNET

By Brian Wrigley

Members may remember from my appeal in the Newsletter of July 1990 that we have a printout of this invaluable archaeological tool, put on computor by th Museum of London, intended to include all sites or finds of

archaeological significance. We now have this information put onto disc for our own HADAS computor, thanks to Margaret Marshall who in the few months she has been a Member, has already performed this sterling work for the Society – a magnificent job, as the whole of the Museum’s 40-metre-long printout had to be typed out to be fed into our machine!-

Now, we hope we can, from the computerised information, produce a manageable written summary of the record, which can be more readily copied and circulated for information, correction and addition. Work on this is starting – and we may hope it is a job that will never end so long as the Society continues to be active in finding new sites and finds!

DISCOVERY OF A NORSE HORIZONTAL MILL reported by John Hopson

‘Recent Excavations at the Earl’s Bu, Orphir; Orkney’, the Royal Archaeological Society’s February Lecture, given by Dr C.Batey, described the excavations undertaken in the last decade north of the Earl’s Bu (farm) and Round Church. This site will be well remembered by those who were fortunate to take part in the HADAS trip arranged by Daphne Lorimer in 1978. In fact the first visit to the site on the farm of Daphne’s uncle by Dr Batey, together with her husband (now Professor) Christopher Morris and a group of archaeologists working at Birsay, coincided with ours.

However, what was then believed to be a souterrain, into which some intrepid members endeavoured to venture, excavations have now revealed to be a structure with a long passages This has been identified as the underhouse of a horizontal mill with the passage containing two leats. While the stonebuilt chamber is of unusual shape, the positioning of the wheel has been found. The Norse middens infilling the structure and underlying it, confirm a date of the late Norse period.

Similar mills have been found in Orkney (e.g. the Click Mill), also visited in 1978), in Ireland and in the Shetlands, where they continued in use until the Nineteenth Century.

Associated survey work confirms that the Norse complex is far larger than yet revealed. However, excavations would require the removal of an overburden of about 1.5 metres over a number of hectares and would be very costly.

PALISADED ENCLOSURES IN THE WEST KENNET VALLEY reported by Enid Hill

At the Prehistoric Society’s meeting on February 5th, Dr Alasdaire Whittle, who has been working on a Neolithic programme in the Avebury area for some time, described his recent work in the West Kennet Valley. Returning to get some more detail of the palisaded enclosure found in 1977, he has now added a second palisaded enclosure. Within a circular ditch was found a circular timber monument of a probable diameter of around 180 metres with closely spaced post-holes and sarsen packing stones.

From sherds of Grooved Ware it seems likely that both of these can be dated to the late Neolithic. Thus, in this area there are now two palisaded enclosures, one straggling the Kennet River, and the second close to it on the south west, near to Silbury Hill, the Sanctuary and the West Kwnnet long barrow.

MARY O’CONNELL’S TALK on February 5th reported by Margaret Marshsll

In spite of a forbidding weather forecast, there was an excellent audience for Mary O’Connell’s delightful talk on “Discovering Little Known London”. Mary spoke from a chair, a broken leg made it impossible for her to stand. We all admired her courage in speaking under such circumstances,

Those of us who thought that we knew London were discomfited by the super­ficiality of our knowledge. I had no idea that there was a police control box in the Marble Arch, nor that there was a river flowing above me when in Sloane Square underground.

The slides showed me London from a different and exciting angle, often giving a curiously homely touch to the imposing – like the chimney on Tower Bridge. Napoleon’s carriage, with its extraordinary furnishings and comforts, showed that luxury exists in curious settings. Jeremy Bentham’s waxwork head will add interest to University College for anyone passing by, while the statue of Boadicea driving a reinless chariot must increase one’s admiration of that lady’s lesser known abilities. I had already noticed the camel seats and dolphin lamp standards on the Embankment near Cleopatra’s Needle, but never knew that they were a gift from the Grocer’s Company, or even the origin of the word ‘grocer’.

As its title promised, the talk gave an insight into the lesser delights of London – two mice nibbling a piece of cheese immortalised in plaster on a wall by the workman whose lunchtime sandwich had just been eaten by mice, a porters’ rest in Piccadilly – things most of us have passed a hundred times without even noticing, let alone questioning. The old proverb may well be right, and the blind should not lead the lame, but during the evening Mary proved beyond doubt that the lame can make excellent guides for the blind!

FIELDWALKING AND FINDS – THE PIPELINE by Tessa Smith

A small group of fieldwalkers were in action before, during and after the pipe laying operation last year. Finds have been collected and processed.

About 20 miscellaneous struck flints were found, some in the field east of Brockley Hill, where Gillian Braithwaite’s team recovered “hundreds” a few years ago, thus confirming finding of evidence of prehistoric man.

Quite a lot of small pieces of red brick and tile were found, mainly in the middle area of the same field, including 3 pieces of tegulae. Gillian Braithwaite also recorded “a definite concentration of Roman building material” here.

We found no stratified material, and the deep trench dug for the pipeline was mainly pure clay from beginning to end. However, the spoil heaps were a bit more rewarding and produced 2 sherds of ring-necked flagon, a Samian rim. 1 handle, 4 rim pieces and 2 sherds of pottery.

The spoil heaps adjacent to the A41 produced abundant samples of 19th and 20th century pottery, glass and pipestems. This type of dumping was evident tut less concentrated over the fields of Edgwarebury Farm. Red tile and brick was evident, probably not Roman, a few horse-shoes and a few flints. One area of struck “core-type” material is thought not to be flint but mud-stone and possibly dumped. We met the Metal.. Detecting Group here, they have permission to use these fields once a month excluding the SSSI field at Brockley Hill.

The Mill HIll Golf Club area showed up a lot of modern decorated glazed pottery and glass bottles. A nearby dump has been excavated regularly by collectors.

The Scratchwood area spoil heaps were of clay and rooted material with no evidence of man-made artefacts. The Al Barnet By-pass section provided a few sherds of modern pottery, natural stratification and glacial residue.

The Hyver Hall fields were mainly clay, becoming stony with water-rolled pebbles, rising up to a wet area of springs.

The fields to Arkley were clay and showed no evidence of tile or brick or metalling at all.

The last field of the water pipeline is on the line of the Viatores suggested route to Cambridge, but no road or metalling or foundations were evident in the pipeline trench.

Sadly we found no new Roman kilns, although the pipeline ran fairly close to known sites at Brockley Hill. We found no foundations of any building, but the finding of Roman tegulae indicates either a building with roof tiles, or a tile manufacturing site.

We do however have a very interesting record of natural and man-made materials found along this narrow strip of our Borough, and it is hoped to mount a small display to be on show at the April lecture.

It was during the crossing of Brockley Hill A5 that Trevor Cox of the Museum of London noted (HADAS 237) part of a 10 metre wide “gravel road” exposed on the east side of Brockley Hill. Ile found 2 pieces of Roman pottery on the surface and he interprets this “gravel road” as being the original road of Watling Street – More of this on my next report.

COLD WEATHER PAYMENTS …. plus ca change .. writes Nell Penny

The government’s relaxation of the strict rules on cold weather payments to old and vulnerable persons reminds me of what happened in Hendon in February 1794.

The corn harvest of 1793 had not been a good one. The naval blockade of continental Europe was already restricting imports and the vestrymen of Hendon were unwilling to watch their neighbours starve. These people were not regular parish pensioners. They were day labourers on farms who still constituted two thirds of the working population and for whom there was no work in the frozen fields.

“Because of the severe frost” the vestry decided to subsidize the price of bread and coal. Every Tuesday and Friday at 11 am, two bakers Hobbs and Taylor were to deliver bread to applicants at 6d (21/2p) a quatern loaf – the ordinary price was 121/2d (5p). I am sure delivery was at the bakery door. “A single person was to have one loaf, a married couple two loaves, a family with 2 children three loaves, with 3 children four loaves and over 4 children five loaves. Three pounds of potatoes were to be distributed free. Coals “if they could be got” were to be sold at 6d (21/2p) a bushel.

As often in English social crises, the vestry decided to tap the generosity of the significant number of landed gentry and “fund holders” living in Hendon. £51.45p was raised in contributions of 5, 4 and 1 guineas and in many smaller contributions.

NEWS FROM HADAS COMMITTEE reported by Micky Cohen

Our computerised records and progress on our library at Avenue House have been reported above by Brian and Victor. Helpers are needed for work on the restoration of books damaged by fire, and their arrangement.

HADAS will have a stand at the LMAS Conference on March 23, and will cooperate with Barnet Local History Society on the Local History Open Days on April 13/14 – this will be an opportunity for showing the public round our sites and participating with a display of finds in Barnet Museum.

THE MOATED SITE OF OLD FOLD MANOR FARM, HADLEY by Ted Sammes

The Old Fold Manor Club recently applied for planning permission to demolish and re-develop part of the area and buildings within the moat. Part of the site is the 18th green of the golf course and presumably sacrosanct, but never the less it has some interesting ground contours.

HADAS first took an interest in the few moated sites in or near our Borough when in 1973 the Mooted Sites Research Group was formed. This has since become the Medieval Village Research Group.

There are many such moats spread over the country, but just what are they? Only careful study and excavation may, in the long term, elucidate this problem.

They are generally islands or platforms approximately rectangular in shape, varying in size from half to several acres in area. They often have a house within the mooted area. Old Fold has lost its house.

In date they range from the 11th century AD to the 14th. There are some later ones but the chief period was in the 14th century. They may be part of a Deserted Medieval Village, or on the edge of a village. Many Mill have a house or farm within the moat as at Salisbury Hall or the much nearer Fold Farm in Gulley Lane. Whilst the majority are on clay sell there are many on other geological soils. During the Medieval period the climate was wetter than today and the moats may have been dug to drain the house site. In doing so they would also have become an obstacle both for cattle and unwanted human visitors. Since moats are also found round Manor houses, they may be also a fashion or perhaps a status symbol.

HADAS looked at the Manor House Finchley complex (mostly filled in) in 1973 and again in 1977, carrying out a survey of both the Finchley and the Hadley moats.

We were successful in 1980 in securing the scheduling of the moat at Manor House, East End Road, Finchley, but, to date the Hadley moat has not received similar protection.It is hoped that it will shortly be scheduled. The site is close to the area of the Battle of Barnet 1471, and its famous hedge.

The house on this site was one of the homes of the Frowyke family in the 13th century, a site said to have been occupied by them for over 300 years. One Henney Frowick was Lord Mayor of London in 1435 and again in 1441. A Sir Thomas Frowyke was born at Gunnersbury about 1464 and died in 1506, being buried at Finchley. A Henry Frowyke who was the last male heir died in 1527. The Manor then passed to Conningsby and later to various members of the Allen family, who also held the Finchley Manor. They were followed by the Coopers, who sold it to the Byng family in 1841.

Possibly the best memorials to the Frowykes are to be seen in their chantry chapel at South Mimms.

The plan as seen on the 1898 edition of the Ordinance Survey where it is marked Old Fold Manor Farm and the moat is shown to be incomplete on the East side. However a plan of the area taken in 1726 for Thomas Allen, shows a return on part of the East side and although shown heavily wooded there are probably buildings within the moat.

Whilst the present house of Old Fold Manor outside the moat, is mid 18th century, the site behind it is most likely to date to the 13/14 centuries.

For further reading:

BA Research Report No 17 Medieval Moated Sites, pub 1978

Moated Sites, David Wilson, Shire Archaeology 44 pub 1985

Local Historian Vol 11, No 2, p 89, 1974

A Place in Time p 76, HADAS 1990

Georgian Hadley p 23 W H Gelder 1974

Dictionary of National Biography

DOROTHY writes

Mr Mike Wadham Those members who came on the outing to Cressing Temple last July will remember Mr Wadham who conducted us so enthusiastically round the site, and gave us an excellent talk in the farmhouse. Sadly we report that he died suddenly just before Christmas.

Mrs Winnie Clark She was not a member but did a lot for HADAS in her life time- sorted and washed items for our minimart, cooked for our cake stall, helped and washed up at our banquets and social functions, swept up the wreckage after the minimart, made the contacts for our outing to Quainton last year and joined us there for tea. Sadly she died suddenly in January.

DOROTHY ASKS …DO WE HAVE ANY MEMBERS WHO KNOW ABOUT CAR BOOT SALES?

We have been receiving quantities of good saleable general items and would like to dispose of some of it before our minimart, as much more has been promised. We have a member who will help us with transport. We need members who know the details. Please ring 203 0950 if you can help.

Newsletter 239: February 1991 Edited by Liz Sagues

DIARY
Tuesday February 5 Lecture: Discovering Little Known London, by Mary O’Connell. In archaeology we expect to excavate below ground to make our discoveries. Mary will take us round London and show us many interesting features above ground, and tell us their fantastic stories.

Tuesday March 5 Lecture: Digging in Assyria – the Work of the British Museum, by Dr John Curtis.

Saturday March 23rd 28th Annual Conference of London Archaeologists at the Museum of London, 11am-5.30pm, in the Lecture Theatre. The theme this year will be Recent Archaeological Work in the London Area. The morning speakers will cover excavations at West Smithfield, Fulham, Barking Abbey, Lambeth and the Limehouse Link Road. The afternoon session will be a discussion on how archaeology in London will develop in the 1990s. As usual there will be displays of recent work by local societies. HADAS will have a stand there showing the society’s work and publications.

Tuesday April 2 Lecture: The Valley of the Kings – Burial Place of the Pharaohs by Peter Clayton. This will be a survey of the major finds and history of the valley.

Tuesday May 7 Annual General Meeting.

Sunday May 12 Afternoon visit to the London Museum of Jewish Life, at the Sternberg Centre, N3.

Saturday June 8 Essex History Fair (see details on page 5 of this newsletter).

Saturday June 15 Outing to Mapledurham, with Ted Sammes.

Saturday July 13 Outing to historic Chatham Docks.
Saturday October 5 City Walk, with Mary O’Connell.
Tuesday December 3 Christmas Dinner (to be confirmed).

Dorothy Newbury adds: We had hoped to issue our 1991 programme card with this Newsletter, but regrettably there have been numerous last-minute changes with lecturers and venues. Plans were made for a weekend in Dorchester and its surrounding area, but accommodation arrangements have fallen through. Attempts are being made to arrange an alternative weekend based in Chester or Norwich.

MEMBER’S NEWS

Phyllis Fletcher, membership secretary, is pleased to report that HADAS has, as at January 1 1991, 362 fully paid-up members. This is a few up on the same time last year.

Mary O’Connell, who leads such excellent city walks, fell on the ice and broke her leg. In plaster, she has been continuing her lecturing from a wheelchair. We hope she will make it for the lecture on February 5.

Myfanwy Stewart, burnt stone specialist from the HADAS West Heath excavation days, attended an interesting conference on burnt stone in Birmingham recently.

Victor Jones, HADAS treasurer, has resigned from the council of LAMAS. At present LAMAS leans more towards history, less towards archaeology.

Mrs Banham has written to say how much she regretted being unable to attend our 1990 Christmas Dinner. She is a founder member of the society and it was the first such festive event she had missed. She has heard from some of our loyal long-standing members who have moved away but retain membership. These include Daisy Hill, honorary secretary in the early days of the society, who now lives in Chesterfield, and Alec Thompson, a regular on outings in the past, who now lives in Whitley Bay. Not so far away, Mrs Trudy Pulfer has written. She is well and will also be remembered as a regular on outings, as well as for her work assisting Mrs Irene Frauchiger over the many years Mrs Frauchiger printed and despatched the HADAS Newsletter. The society has also received best wishes from Brian Jarman, who was chairman for many years, now in Sussex; and from Lita Silver, in Stockport. Thank you all for keeping in touch,

News, please

News is sometimes short for HADAS editors, so all contributions from members, particularly of local interesting information, is welcome.

A plea, too, for new editors. With the sad loss of Isobel McPherson, who took charge of two Newsletters a year, there is a need for one more editor and a reserve to cover emergencies. Please phone Dorothy Newbury if you think you can fill the gap.

Top secret…

Dorothy Newbury reports on the HADAS visit to the Museum of London Reserve Collection on January 22

This started off as a bit of a mystery tour. We had been instructed to meet at a certain park gate as the official address did not seem to exist. Several late-comers who arrived after the main group had left the meeting point were met with blank expressions when asking locals the way! The building is totally unmarked and appears derelict – presumably to deter unwelcome attention. Once furtively admitted, however, it is like entering Aladdin’s Cave, Rack upon rack, and shelf upon shelf of nostalgia. Nostalgia, rather than archaeology, but to our group, who were mostly senior citizens, it evoked many half-forgotten memories: “I remember these,” “My granny had one of those.” One or two younger members had never heard of Utility furniture, nor seen a Walls’ ice cream trolley with Snofruit at one penny.

The afternoon was most enjoyable. We were accompanied by two very nice young ladies from the museum who obviously enjoyed the collection as much as we did.

Museum musings

First, another good reason for going to Church Farm House Museum. Running until February 24 is Cameras, Cats and Cooking Pots, an exhibition of recent donations and other objects from the museum’s collections not normally on display – everything from a 19th century Hendon draper’s cabinet to a 1930s tea service, from a mummified cat from East Barnet to an early calculator. Exhibitions further ahead include new paintings of Hendon and Finchley by Peter Hume (March 9 – April 21), Pharmacy – Past, Present and Future (May 4 – June 9), new work by photography students at the Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute (June 22 – July 28) and Picturesque Mill Hill, another in the highly-successful series of exhibitions revealing the wealth of pictorial material held by the London Borough of Barnet’s Archives (August 10 ­September 15).

Return to the atmosphere of the 18th century, as the Sir John Soane Museum in Lincolns Inn Fields introduces evening opening, to allow the astonishing cabinet of curiosities of the famous architect and collector to be seen in the lamp lit conditions he himself favoured. The house is open on the first Tuesday of every month, from 6pm to 9pm, admission free. Go in summer, after the HADAS lecture series is over.

A plea for help now, as another local museum in North London is born. The project is planned in Highgate, to display especially the remarkable collection built up by Gwynydd Gosling during the 50 years she has lived in the village, serving as librarian of the Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution for many of them. Other local material is intended to be included, too. A £250,000 appeal has been launched to buy a property to house the Highgate Village

Museum, and shareholders are sought to make it all possible. Write to 22A Hampstead Lane, N6 4RT, for more details.

Watch out for Whittington… The new “corporate image” of the Museum of London is the thrice-Lord Mayor of London with his cat, two figures in silhouette to be seen striding across museum posters, brochures and, in due course, the books it publishes and the merchandise it sells. The image is all part of a radical re-think of marketing at the museum, designed to bring in new funds to supplement grant income and make possible gallery refurbishments, new exhibitions and education activities.

HADAS at work

Not a cock and bull story, more a horsey tale

Liz Sagues reports on the animal bones recovered from the HADAS dig at 19/25 Barnet High Street

The main collection of bones studied comes from a disturbed layer containing other finds dating from the medieval period to present times, and there is no obvious indication from the bones themselves of their antiquity. But the assortment of limb bones represented could be consistent with their being rubbish deposited in a midden, and the presence of dog-gnawing on some of the bones could support such a domestic rubbish context. With so small a collection, however, this can be no more than assumption.

The bones from context 606 formed a little heap near the flint and tile wall in Trench 6. Of the 39 identifiable specimens recovered, the largest number are horse bones – principally two complete metatarsals, both left, and two complete radius/ulnas, both right, plus a third right-hand radius, somewhat damaged. In all, there are 17 identifiable pieces of horse bone or teeth, representing at least three animals. The largest of the three is likely to have stood approximately 1.4 metres high at the withers (just under 14 hands) (simple comparison with other work, using Kiesewalter’s factors). The second animal would have been very slightly smaller, the third rather smaller still. One horse at least, to judge by extremely worn incisors and premolars among the loose teeth, was very old – possibly as much as 30 years.

Sixteen bone/teeth specimens of cattle were identifiable, but in much more fragmentary condition.Five pieces of horn core indicate possibly a minimum of three animals represented, but this cannot be confirmed from the other remains. The loose teeth indicate at lease one fully adult animal.

Other identifiable bones from this trench are parts of two metacarpals and one metatarsal of sheep.

The collection is far too small and diverse to enable any conclusions to be drawn on husbandry practices. Sexing of the bones is not possible (pieces and sample too small, or complete bones not sexually dimorphic), except that the varying curvature of the horn cores indicates possibly the presence of at least one cow and one steer. As for butchery practices, again there is minimal evidence – clear cut marks can be seen only on one horse metatarsal. But the existence of complete horse bones in a possible medieval context does not preclude the possibility that the animals were eaten – evidence elsewhere (personal communication from Tony Legge) indicates horse bones were largely left whole, the meat being cut off and cooked without the bone. The bones from the modern intrusive Pit 6F1 are principally a near-complete cat skeleton, plus a single sheep incisor tooth and a skull fragment also likely to be of sheep. Obviously these can add little to understanding of the site.

A matter of compensation

John Heathfield provides an explanation of the history of the Barnet High Street site

The history of the site of this dig is unusual. In 1618, King James I enlarged the hunting park near his palace at Theobalds by taking in part of Northaw Common. The money which he gave the parish in recompense was invested in property, from which the rent was used for poor relief.

A site “near the Woolpack” in Chipping Barnet was purchased. This land contained four tenements. The 1817 Inclosure Award shows four tenements on a site of 1 rod 35 poles, copyhold belonging to the Minister and Overseers of Northaw, and let at a total of £7 per year. Northaw also owned three further fields in Barnet and one in Totteridge, and was allotted a further one acre at the Inclosure.

In late Victorian times, the houses were converted into small shops with living quarters above and outbuildings to the rear.

News to dig into

Brian Wrigley reports on the trial excavation at St Mary’s School, Finchley.

Following the last-minute appeal for volunteers inserted with the January Newsletter, a trial dig did take place at St Mary’s School in the fortnight allowed by the developer, from January 3-17. This was organised by the Museum of London’s Department of Greater London Archaeology. The original intention had been that with the museum organising the operation during the working week, HADAS volunteers would have been able to carry on at weekends so as to make the most of the limited time.

However, in the event, the weather was against our arrangements; in what seemed to be the wettest 14 days we have had for some time, the area opened up was for most of the time a marsh of waterlogged, sticky clay, making very little hand-work possible. Hence our dozen volunteers who had nobly responded to the Newsletter appeal were not called on.

The small museum team did manage nonetheless to get some useful results from some further machine scraping and a little investigation by hand of possible features that appeared. There was quite an amount of early medieval pottery (NOT prehistoric as previous reported – as is well known the two can often be confusingly similar), at least one concentration of burning which might be a hearth, and various indications of possible features which, however, it was wise not to explore in the wet, soggy conditions.

All in all, the exploration suggested that this site was more than just a ploughsoil scattered with pottery, and might be an area of medieval domestic or industrial activity.

The museum team are eager to make a presentation of their results to HADAS members by way of a lecture or seminar, and are hoping to arrange this in the next few weeks, at the Museum of London. As it will probably be impossible to give timely notice of this in the Newsletter, may I ask any members who would like to be notified of the date and time to let me know at 21 Woodcroft Avenue, Mill Hill, NW7 2AH (081-959 5982). An addressed envelope to send the notification in would be a great convenience!

English Heritage and HADAS

English Heritage has recently appointed an Archaeology Officer for London, Dominic Perring. He has written to HADAS: “It is a difficult position and I am anxious to consult as widely as possible before deciding how to proceed. English Heritage proposals for London have caused much concern amongst the societies and professional groups working in the capital and I think it most important that these concerns are properly addressed.” He would like to meet us, and has offered to address a meeting.

We are arranging an occasion within the next few weeks when he can meet some of the officers of the society and be shown some of the places of archaeological interest in the borough. And Mr Perring has agreed to be the society’s November lecturer. His subject will be The Rise and Fall of Roman London, and the date of the talk is November 5. Watch for explosive explanations…

More places to go…

A potted history? Well, not quite, but on March 4 the Museum of London is holding a day school on the Limehouse Link, explaining its archaeological work on sites in the vicinity of the new road link from the Rotherhithe Tunnel to Canary Wharf. Not only was new evidence of the unwritten history of Limehouse discovered, from the Bronze Age to its Chinese connections in the 18th and 19th centuries, but the site of the almost legendary Limehouse porcelain factory of the 1740s was identified at last.

By popular request, the normal debriefing reception for site developers, owners, etc, has been opened to all, and the day school will give participants the chance to hear the explanations of the excavators plus contributions from Mavis Bimson, of the the British Museum Research Laboratory, and Dr Bernard Watney, president of the English Ceramic Circle. Fee for the day, which runs from 10am to 5pm, is £12, including coffee and tea. Details from the Education Department, Museum of London, London Wall, EC2Y 5HN.

The British Association for Local History writes to HADAS: “No doubt you will have heard of the Essex History Fairs, which have become a biennial red-letter day of the history calendar. It has been suggested that the BALH might offer a service to local history societies by organising a pick-up coach to the fair site at Maldon on June 8 1991. This would naturally have to be restricted to a corridor across the Home Counties, probably on a route though West, North-West and North-East London, and it can happen only if enough people show their interest!” Any members interested should contact Dorothy Newbury (081-203 0950) as soon as possible.

More university, organised archaeological holiday making, offered this time by the University of Birmingham . The list includes three-day residential courses on the Art and Archaeology of Ancient Egypt (c.1570-1070 BC) (at Ludlow, March 15-17), Prehistoric Dartmoor, tutored by Aubrey Burl (at Ashburton, April 26-28), and Prehistoric Sites in the Cotswolds (at Cirencester, September 20-22). There are longer courses and more distant destinations, too. For a brochure, phone 021-414 5605 (24-hour answering machine) or 021-414 5615.

Warming to the task

Victor Jones provides an update on progress at Avenue House

Since November, when I reported that the room was fitted with temporary shelving, all fire-damaged items removed and the rest racked, it has been used most weekends for processing finds, first those from this year’s Barnet dig, followed by those from the earlier Whetstone dig. We have not had any information on the progress of this latter project for some time, and we decided to go ahead and process the finds and report on our overall results to date. The processing group has consisted mainly of the regulars on the Barnet dig, Bill Bass, Andy Simpson and Brian Wrigley, with my occasional attendance.

Both sets of finds proved interesting. In addition to more recent items there were further possible medieval pottery shards and a variety of other items from the Barnet dig, and possibly pre-Tudor items in the Whetstone material. All are now properly labelled, bagged and sorted for specialist examination.

The room is light and pleasant to work in, but was very cold – until Phyllis Fletcher heard of our problem and solved it, by producing two spare electric fires. Now surroundings are warm and comfortable. Some rearrangement of the furniture and the storage of the books and finds also found space for the addition of a good working desk kindly donated by long-term member Celia Gould and Mr Wernick. We found space in a side storage area to house our new exhibition equipment when not in use. There is also room to erect it and prepare exhibits in the central work area of the main room.

A folding table is available at which about six people can sit to work on books or finds or hold a meeting. There is a sink, kettle, teapot and mugs, so tea or coffee can be made if brought. For the library proper there is a small windowed extension in a corner of the room. This, with suitable shelving, will house our present book and journal collections and leave space for some additions.

Making these changes has taken more time than I expected, but the programme to repair the less damaged books and to clean and then relict them, suggested by Dan Lampert, can now be restarted. We hope soon to be able to get in touch with the members who, some time ago, offered to help in this work. We would also be very glad to hear from any others who might be prepared to help either in book repair or in listing and rearranging the library. This can now be undertaken in reasonable comfort.

Avenue House is on the north side of East End Road, Finchley, a short way east of the East End Road/Regents Park Road junction. Access to our library room – known as the Garden Room – is normally through Avenue House on weekdays. At weekends the house is closed and access is via a park entrance a little beyond the entrance to Avenue House.

It will take a time to get the library fully into usable condition, but the room is already proving to be quite a valuable resource for storage and winter working.

A place of dreams

Hampstead Garden Suburb: Dreams and Realities is the latest addition to the considerable literature on the built ideal of Dame Henrietta Barnett. Its author is Kit Ikin, life-long Suburb resident and supporter of the founding aims. “What really is remarkable is that the Suburb’s founders got so much of it right,” he said in a local newspaper interview marking the book’s publication. Mr Ikin was considerably helped in his task by Brigid Grafton Green, the Suburb Archivist, who in one appendix tackles the question of names in the Suburb, describing how roads were named after great lawyers, famous poets, English artists and Suburb personalities. The book is available from the New Garden Suburb Trust office, 862 Finchley Road, NWI 1 (081-455 1066), at £9.50 (£12.50 after April 1).

NEWSLETTER 238: JANUARY .1991 Edited by D. Barrie

DIARY

Tuesday January 22nd Private Tour of Museum of London’s Private Collection. Fully booked, with short waiting list.

Tuesday February 5th “Discovering Little-Known London” by Mary O’Connell. Mary’s talk and slides will reveal a new realm of London’s History.

Tuesday March 5th “Digging in Assyria – the work of the British Museum” by Dr. John Curtis.

Tuesday April 2nd “Valley of the Kings: Burial of the Pharaohs” by Peter Clayton.

HADAS DINNER AT THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, 4TH DECEMBER

We set off by coach on a cold night, arriving at 6.30 pm at the Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, to be greeted by the Curator of the Museum, Miss Elizabeth Allen. After her greeting, we were taken into the Hunterian Museum where we looked at many exhibits in cases. I was fascinated to see all the little stillborn babies at various stages of growth preserved in bottles. Some were quite large, but others almost as tiny as a pinhead. We then moved on to look at Siamese twins and other mishaps of nature, and cases of lungs destroyed by disease. Some of us braved going into the Odonatological Room where we met Dr. Grigson, who told us about the collection, which derives from the museum started in 1856 by the Odonatological Society of Great Britain – this collection was acquired by the PCS in 1907. We looked at showcases of tooth wear, injuries and diseases of the jaws in animals and humans. Dr. Grigson then told us about the connection between the Piltdown man and the Society.

After a while I decided I had had enough of looking at innards etc. and feeling slightly off-colour, sat down with friends and announced, “I hope we are not having liver for the meal.”

We then went into the Webb Johnson Room where we had an excellent meal with quick service by pleasant staff. We were pleased that Dr. Grigson and Miss Allen joined us. John Enderby gave a great vote of thanks to our Dorothy Newbury for once again arranging such an excellent Christmas Dinner. In her reply, Dorothy said she is already thinking about Christmas 1991.

On my part many thanks, Dorothy, for this interesting evening, and yes, I did enjoy the meal after seeing the Museum etc. PHYLLIS FLETCHER

FINISHED AT LAST:

The programme of excavations at the 19-25 High Street, Chipping Barnet site is now complete, since we feel that we have sampled the site and recovered a sufficient cross-section of finds to enable the activities on the site to be securely dated, although the seeming lack of structural features remains a problem.

Working both at Barnet Museum and Avenue House, we have now completed the initial sorting of the 19-25 High Street and “Mitre” material. This has meant ensuring that all finds bags are properly labelled, ordered by context number, and the material from each context sorted by type; detailed pottery analysis and recording will follow at a later stage.

We have just started a similar process on the material covered in 1989 from the Studio Cole site, 1264 High Road, Whetstone. Initial work indi­cates that there is some early medieval pottery present, including a few grey-ware sherds c. 1150-1300, similar to. those recovered in such profusion from the “Mitre” and 19-25 High Street sites a mile or two north at Barnet. Since the building itself is estimated to date from c. 1500, this could indicate activity on the site up to 300 years earlier. More detailed analysis of the finds should elucidate this point. By ANDY SIMPSON

ERIC WARD

Eric Ward died on October 16th after a long and distressing illness.

Eric and his wife Ella were familiar figures at the West Heath dig. Eric, an electrical engineer by profession, always worked with a sense of thoroughness and took pride in a job being well done. Not a tall man, he was extremely neat, and worked on site wearing a suit. I used to joke with him that at the end of the day he looked as if he had been to his office, while the rest of us were characteristically grubby and dishevelled:

He was an accomplished photographer who kept meticulous notes. He has given his photographs and negatives of the West Heath Excavations and flint to the Society, as well as a set of HADAS Newsletters.

Eric was a man of many talents, and he built a beautiful model of the 17th century warship the “Vasa”, which he saw being raised from Stockholm Harbour. The model will go to the National Maritime Museum, who have commented on the very fine standard of the craftsmanship.

Not a man of superfluous words but always kind and courteous, Eric will be much missed. In the hope of helping others, he donated his brain to medical research. HADAS extends its sympathy to Ella, who nursed him so devotedly, and also to his family in their sad bereavement. By MYFANWY STEWART

HENDON ON THE MAP – AT LAST:

The latest addition to Alan Godfrey’s series of Old Ordnance Survey Maps is HENDON 1895. As many HADAS members may know, Alan has been searching for an original in good condition for a very long time. His persistence has been rewarded and we can now all enjoy the reprint, courtesy of the National Library of Scotland.

The map (Middlesex Sheet XI.7) fills the hole between maps of Finchley and Holders Hill (1895), East Finchley (1894) and Golders Green (1894), all of which have already been published and are still available.

HENDON 1895 covers the area between The Burroughs and Regents Park Road (west to east) and Hendon Hall to Shire Hall (north to south). As usual, the map is full of fascinating details (extensive glasshouses behind the Salvation Army Barracks), is accompanied by an extract from the Street’ Directory 1895-6 (remarkable number of laundry ladies) and excellent notes by Pamela Taylor.

You can buy your copy (price £1.50) from the libraries, or by post from the Local Studies Library (£1.75 including p & p). Worth the investment for rarity value alone: by LIZ HOLLIDAY

GILLIAN BRAITHWAITE WRITES FROM RUSSIA

Newsletter readers will remember that Gillian Braithwaite, who directed excavations at Brockley Hill in 1987, has gone to Moscow with her husband Rodric, who was appointed British Ambassador in 1988. (See July 1988 Newsletter). She writes:

“Georgia would be a wonderful place to take a HADAS trip.

Another idea I have, which I don’t know if HADAS people would be interested. There are a number of elderly Russian ladies (age 50 or so) who have taught English or English Literature all their lives and have never ever been to England. Now it is possible to go, but they are too old to get on the lists of those who are invited. Would any people in HADAS be prepared to have some of them over as guests, and in return I’m sure the Russians would invite them back. It’s just a thought. A friend of mine who heads the English teaching at Moscow University is very keen to do something for them.

If any HADAS members are interested in this venture, please contact Dorothy Newbury (081-203 0950) for further information.

(Footnote: a HADAS member has just sent a cutting from “The Guardian” of 7th December 1990, “Hunger or Hope in the Candlelight” by Lydia Grafova. This tells how food parcels are being sent from all over the world to help the poor and needy in Russia, and mentions that Lady Braithwaite is a member of a Community Volunteers committee set up to discuss the idea of a helpers’ task force to help distribute the parcels.)

Review of PREHISTORIC LONDON by Nick Merriman

Published by the Museum of London

Printed by HMSO 1990

This is an attractively produced publication that, in 48 pages, covers the occupation of today’s London area over the past 500,000 years. Obviously aimed at the general public, the book is very successful in its exposition of this long period of time and its order of events with which many people are unfamiliar.

The text is divided into three main parts, viz. “Introduction; The Hunters of the Ice Age and Farmers and Traders.” There are no formal chapters, but each of the sixteen sections begins with a ruler-like time-scale. The relevant period is coloured in red and so it is quite clear to the reader how far we have come and where we are now in the story. Anyone who has dealt with queries from the general public, as at West Heath for example, will appreciate the value of this approach.

The geology of the London Basin, the complexities of the changing position of the Thames in glacial periods and the formation of the river’s terraces are amongst the subjects dealt with in the first part. Explana­tions are clear and are supported by good illustrations. In general the strength of this book is that a great deal of information, including environmental evidence as well as the reports on excavations and finds, is presented in an easily understood format. References to the various parts of London are always interesting, and such captions as “Elephants in Trafalgar. Square” have immediate appeal.

HADAS members will be particularly interested in the references to West Heath that are in the second part, “Hunters of the Ice Age”. A good photo­graph shows a selection of artefacts from the excavation although, as in all of the illustrations, no scale is used. An imaginary reconstruction depicts five determined hunters stalking two somewhat unobservant deer. The text is unclear in parts, and I quote:

“After an early phase of occupation in a more open landscape, which was subsequently abandoned, a small camp was set up near a stream. The excavators found the remains of several camp-fire hearths and thousands of flint tools.”

The following points should be made. Firstly, the evidence for an open landscape is not given. The earliest environmental evidence for West Heath post-dates the Mesolithic occupation.

Pollen diagrams of samples taken from the boggy area 300 m to the south­east of West Heath Spa were supported by the seed and beetle assemblages, which showed lime-dominated closed forest dating to approximately 4000 BC at the lowest level. No earlier evidence was retrieved. (Girling and Grieg, 1977,45-47)

Secondly, the text appears to infer that the thousands of struck flints came from the later occupation, whereas they are associated with an earlier phase and approximately only thirty came from the later one.

Thirdly, although concentrations of burnt stones are clear and fire was obviously used, no hearths in the sense of deliberately arranged construc­tions such as a circle of large stones, for example, have been identified at West Heath.

The third section of the book deals with the development of farming, village life, ritual, defended sites and finally the coming of Rome. With the exception of the reconstruction of two Bronze Age men ploughing and apparently wearing natty suits in red and blue respectively, the text is enhanced by very good illustrations. Reconstructions such as the Heathrow temple and village and the Carshalton enclosure bring the book to life and the photographs are of a high standard. The Bronze Age axe-hammer and macehead, the hoard of metalwork and the Iron Age boar figurines are but three worthy of special mention.

In all, this hook is very good value at £4.95 and should be a very popular buy for both adults and older schoolchildren. By MYFANWY STEWART

REP: Girling G. and Grieq J., Palaeoecological Investigations of a site at

Hampstead Heath London.

In Nature Vol. 2613, 7 July 1977 pp. 45-47.

MYSTERIOUS MEDICINE WHEEL, WYOMING

June Gibson writes: ‘The piece by Stewart Wild in the HADAS December 1990 Newsletter reminded me that the ‘wheel’ was a location much used in the film ‘Pet Sematary’ (sic), a film based on the fantasy/horror novel by Stephen King. Just thought HADAS members would like to know: (Prospective viewers should have strong stomachs.

HELP WANTED:

Does anyone have an electric kettle, teapot and a set of scales they could donate for use in the finds processing room at Avenue House? If so please contact Brian Wrigley (08.1-959 5982) or Andy Simpson (081-205 4546).

Newsletter-237-December-1990

By LWDadmin | Past Newsletters, Volume 5 : 1990 - 1994 | No Comments

Issue no. 237 December 1990 Edited by Liz Holiday

Diary

Tuesday 4th December Christmas Visit & Dinner at the Royal College of Surgeons

Tuesday 5 February DISCOVERING LITTLE-KNOWN LONDON by Mary O’Connell

As archaeologists we expect to have to dig below ground to unearth our discoveries; as historians we usually find our objectives more straightforwardly. How often do we pass by some familiar object without questioning it or completely fail to notice things which could tell a fascinating story? Mary’s talk and slides will open our eyes to a new realm of London’s history.

Tuesday 5 March DIGGING IN ASSYRIA: THE WORK OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM by Dr. John Curtis, Keeper of Western Asiatic Antiquities.

Tuesday 2 April VALLEY OF THE KINGS: BURIAL OF THE PHARAOHS by Peter Clayton, Principal Lecturer on Egyptology for Swans Hellenic Cruises.

HENDON AERODROME Report by Bill Firth

Developments at Hendon Aerodrome have edged forward another stage with the submission of a modified outline plan which is expected to be considered by the planning sub-committee at the end of the month.

The overall plan looks little different from that submitted a year ago. The proposals for the listed buildings include alterations, partial demolition and change of use of the factory, office block and control tower, change of use (one might say reversion in use considering its original use) of the officers’ mess to a hotel and leisure complex, and relocating the Grahame-White Hanger within the RAF Museum site, which is to be enlarged by 1.32 hectares (which I make 3.26 acres for those more used to Imperial units).

We have been campaigning about the retention of these historic aviation buildings for a long time and it is good to see some progress at the site. The proposals may not be ideal but are acceptable and represent a good compromise. We have not been idle in the last year. Our latest protest was made in August in co-operation with the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society (GLIAS) and with the verbal support of the Borough Planning Department, in response to a request from English Heritage for information on neglected listed buildings. It would be nice to think that this precipitated the submission of the modified plans but realistically these were probably on the way anyway.

“WATERS SWEET & FRESH FOR LONDON” Lecture report by Tessa Smith

An old friend of HADAS, Dr.Michael Essex-Lopresti, entertained us with a sparkling lecture illustrated with his fascinating collection of photographs, maps and old prints of the areas round the New River. Beginning at the springs at Amwell (bringing 22 million gallons of water by gravity feed) and looping southwards, through Edmonton to the New River Head. Dr.Lopresti cleverly counterpointed charming old prints with his own photographs of modern views so that we were continually taken back and forth in time.

It was in 1604 that James I issued letters patent for the development of a new river. It was completed in 1684 but it was not until 1684 that a monument was erected at Chadwell to Sir Hugh Middelton, marking the completion of the project. Although Sir Hugh received all the praise and accolades for being the instigator of the New River, Dr.Lopresti noted wryly that there appears to be no tribute to the actual engineer – Coldhurst.

On reaching London the river water was distributed by 7″ elm wood pipes, several pipes lying side by side in order to conduct enough water to highly populated areas. Dr. Lopresti showed us an example of a slice of highly polished water pipe used as a presentation clock mounting. At the time when the Great Fire of London broke out, New River water was not supplied to the area of Pudding Lane and Dr. Lopresti posed the hypothetical question “How might the future of London been altered if the water pipes had been laid to that area at the time?”

We followed the meanderings of the New River through Edmonton, south of Alexandra Palace to Hornsey, Haringey and thus to New River Head near Sadler’s Wells. Pumping stations changed from steam power to electric power. By building aqueducts and digging tunnels loops of the river were cut off and abandoned leaving clues for Dr. Lopresti to photograph – an old bridge in the middle of a field, an iron post inscribed “N.R.C.”, the name of a street – Flash Lane.

I liked his humorous comparison of the six men armed with rakes who cleared the river of weeds a century ago, with the modern computer-controlled weed-catcher of today, which is stationed somewhere near where the New River dives down beneath the North Circular Road.

Some members will remember the Sadler’s Wells Walk, round the area of the New River Head, led by Mary O’Connell. It was Mary who gave the vote of thanks to Dr. Essex-Lopresti for a very lively and entertaining talk.

DUNLEWEY:a new museum A note from Helen Gordon

Dunlewey – Dun Luiche in the Gaelic – has opened a museum almost overnight in the old home of the well-known Ferry family where Manus, the weaver, his sister Sophie who spun and dyed, and James the sheep farmer, were the centre of a group making the famous Donegal tweeds, following the traditions of their families. After the death of the last Ferry, Sophie, the house and associated buildings have been standing derelict, but now the cottage is shining with fresh whitewash, the rooms furnished as before, the loom in the weaving loft in use and the shop and other sheds preserved. In addition a large reception building to provide ample tourist amenities, cafeteria and shop has been sympathetically erected nearby among the trees. Opened at the beginning of August, 5000 visitors passed through it in the first four weeks, a remarkable number for such a small museum situated miles from the chief attractions in Donegal. The beauty of the surroundings where it lies at the foot of Errigal Mountain near the long lake is reason enough for a visit, though perhaps insufficient reason to draw it to the attention of HADAS members. However, this is only its first stage. It is the museum’s intention to record the history and exhibit every aspect of the homespun industry of Donegal (and of the hard lives of the people themselves), which must surely qualify as industrial archaeology?

Obituary

We are sorry to report that Isobel MacPherson died on 9 November. This tribute is by June Porges:

“I have only known Isobel for a few years so cannot write much about her earlier days, but in these few years she became a very dear friend to me and my husband, Hans. We met, through HADAS with which she was involved in many activities – committee meetings, outings (remember the wet but fascinating tour of Cumberland, including Walney Island where she was born?), Minimarts (always a faithful member of Tessa’s kitchen staff), exhibitions (she set up the Finchley Forum display and was filmed talking about HADAS only last July), the HADAS library (always glad to lend a hand both before

and after the Avenue House fire), field walks (the latest being the pipeline) and the eternal search for the Roman roads of Barnet. A couple of months ago when she already knew how ill she was, she stood on the ninth floor of the Royal Free Hospital and declared that from there she thought she could trace the line of the Roman road. Isobel’s enthusiasm was enormous, she had been a teacher all her life in schools and colleges – lucky pupils to have Isobel as a teacher – and she continued conveying her vast knowledge. I benefited greatly from it as we travelled through the UK, Ireland, Turkey and Italy together. Words poured out of her, informative, witty, funny, sometimes scathing. She loved words and always had to have her Times wherever we were so that she could do the crossword – she had in fact won prizes in the annual Times competition – and it was ironic that the right words deserted her in the last few weeks.

Most of all Isobel was tremendous fun, we were always laughing. The world will be a darker place without her but her memory will always be bright.”

IVER TO ARKLEY PIPELINE

Excerpt by Victor Jones from the Report on Phase I by Trevor Cox for the Department of Greater London Archaeology, Museum of London.

The preliminary report represents an initial assessment of the results of the investigation. It is not intended to give a complete account of the archaeology recorded on site, but represents a summary of findings.

A detailed archaeological investigation was carried out between June and August 1990 during the removal of ploughsoil and grass along the extent of the easement and the dumping area at Edgewarebury Road approximately 4.5 miles in length east to west. It was the first phase of a major scheme some 17 miles in total. It ran from Spring Road near Little Common, then along Wood Lane and Across Brockley Hill and a set of fields to Edgewarebury, where a storage area was set up. From there west over the hill to the Al and across the Mill Hill golf course to the Arkley reservoirs.

The area round Brockley Hill is known to contain the remains of at least fourteen Roman kilns, which were employed in the manufacture of pottery and possibly also tiles and flourished in the later 1st and 2nd centuries. The settlement of Sulloniacae was strategically placed on Watling Street to supply the market at Londinium and Verulamium. The course of Watling Street has been investigated for over 40 years by various archaeological groups and societies, because the excavations and watching briefs were only limited to current works such as pipe laying and the ploughing of fields, followed by field walking, the overall scenario of the occupation on Brockley Hill has been slowly developed.

Two roads have been recorded, one on either side of the modern A5 road running up the hill. The road to the west of the A5 was first outlined by Mr Stephen Castle and the road to the east was outlined by H.O.Neal.

About 300 metres up from the Roman cremations HADAS excavated two trial trenches along the original proposed line of the Iver/Arkley pipeline. This also revealed a gravel road and occasional Roman tile and pot fragments. To the east of the gravel road a ditch was recorded in alignment to the road. 200 metres further up the hill another large area of Roman tile and pottery was recorded around one of the ponds.

To the west of the A5 no significant finds have been recorded until just over half way up the hill, where a Roman kiln was found.

Further up, just past Wood Lane, many more kilns were recorded with post holes and at least one beam slot as evidence of standing structures at the top of the hill. This was at first thought to be the settlement of Sulloniaciae, but now is believed to be associated with the pottery/tile production.

Pottery production seems to have begun in the Flavian period and continued until about AD 160. Products included amphorae, mortaria, flagons, reed-rimmed bowls and perhaps also tiles. Potters who may have had workshops here are:- Albinus, Arentus, Atcirtitus, G.Attius Marinus, Audurdic, Bruccius, Candidus, Castus, Dares, Doccas, Doinus, Driccius, Gissus, Iunius I, Lallaius or Lallans, Marinus, Matugenus, Melus I, Mertuc(us), Mertumarus, Ramotus, Ripanus, Saturninus I,Secundus, Sollus…

After the removal of the ploughsoil and grass along the extent of the easement and the dumping area at Edgewarebury Road, sample areas were troweled off to assess if any barely discernible features, such as postholes or stakeholes survived. One such area produced a spread of gravel, but after investigation this proved to be a natural deposit. The only pottery retrieved from this area was post-medieval and Victorian in date, with some 20th century rubbish dumps. All the pottery was recovered from redeposited, ploughed silty-clay, which was approximately 0.30 metres in depth.

The Brockley Hill area proved to be much more interesting, while the contractors were crossing the A5 and joining up with the already stripped areas, Roman pottery was evident. Unfortunately this was recovered from the spoil heap. During the digging of the trench ready for the pipe to be laid, a deposit of green/grey gravel could be seen in the sections. After cleaning up the faces this indicated that a road of some sort with two ditches to the east side had been cut through. The road surface was thicker in the middle (approx. 0.05 metres in depth) and sloped down at both sides. Unfortunately the western edge was not available for examination due to the dangers of the trench collapsing, and therefore unrecordable. The eastern edge however was well defined and was accompanied by a ditch. The ditch was approx. 0.60 metres in depth and was filled with a gravel material not unlike the road makeup. The sides were gently sloping at approx. 45 degrees, with a flat base. Four pieces of Verulamium ware were retrieved; these came from a Roman flagon and were produced AD 60-160, two pieces of the same ware were also recovered from the surface of the road. Next to the first ditch there was what looked like a second ditch, although much shallower (0.20 metres in depth). It contained a similar fill and one piece of amphora was retrieved, dating to the 2nd century. Underneath the gravel road there was a deposit of silty-sand approx. 0.03 metres in depth the overall width of the road was just under 10 metres. The surface of the road was about half a metre from the ground surface.

CONCLUSIONS: The main course of the Roman road (Watling Street) was assumed to have lain more or less under the Edgware Road and the gravel road that was found to the east of the A5, together with its two ditches, are almost certainly one and the same. One of the two ditches to the east of the Roman road would most probably been a recut, though which one is the earliest is difficult to say due to the scarcity of datable finds.

The gravel dump layers to the west of the A5 are not as easy as the Roman road to explain. Although dating to the same period as the road, their position (approx. 35.00 metres apart) would suggest that they are not linked to each other directly. As they contained quite a high amount of Roman tile, they could have been construction debris, but as no major construction has been discovered in the immediate area this is highly unlikely. The likely explanation is that they were possibly something to do with the kilns, and that some of the kilns were used for the production of tiles, and that the seconds or wasters would be thrown out and deposited down the hill, away from the production area. This would help explain the large areas of pottery and tiles found in the past.

The ditch that was cutting through the dump layers could possibly have something to do with a ditch discovered during the 1970s, when the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society carried out an excavation further up the hill, although no dating evidence was found.

No other major occupation is apparent, due to the build-up of the plough soil, until the dumping of redeposited Roman soil in the fifties.

Most of the pottery retrieved from the excavation was very similar to that of Verulamium ware from St. Albans, but it could be very likely that it was produced locally from the kilns at Brockley Hill. The same could also apply to the Roman tile fragments.

[Trevor Cox records his thanks to the Lee Valley Water Company for supplying the time and money to carry out the watching brief; to Mr. Dudley Steel for his co-operation; to Brian Wrigley and Victor Jones for their invaluable help and information on the site and to Simon Nichols, Aileen Connor and John Mills of the Museum of London.

WYOMING’S MYSTERIOUS MEDICINE WHEEL By Stewart J. Wild

On a recent visit to Wyoming, I came across one of North America’s enduring mysteries which I thought might interest HADAS members. In the Big Horn Mountains of northern Wyoming, close to the Montana border and about 100 miles from Yellowstone National Park, there is a circle of stones presumed to have been built by early American Indians, about which very little is known.

The site is in a remote and desolate spot at the top of a mountain at an altitude of about 8,500 feet. It is only accessible from about May to September, being cut off by snow the rest of the year.

The Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark (for that is its name) is about 250 feet in circumference <80 feet in diameter), and has a 3 foot high central cairn of slate and stone which probably represents the sun. From this central hub radiate 28 lines of rocks, resembling the spokes of a cartwheel. These may symbolise the 28 lunar days. Around the perimeter of the wheel are six medicine tepees LIBRARY PROGRESS REPORT by Victor Jones

Since my last note further work has been completed to make the library a more convenient place in which to work. The books are now all racked and the badly damaged materials cleared away. The place has been cleaned up and even the smell of burnt books eliminated. Thanks to gifts from members and others, we now have a set of chairs, a table (suitable for working at and for holding meetings), two cupboards (for storing finds) and a desk. A fitted convection heater has been provided and we have obtained a fan-heater for rapid warm-up. There is a sink and tea making is possible. Finds can be washed and processed in comfortable conditions. There is also reasonable space to store the new exhibition equipment as well as prepare exhibits.

While all these arrangements have been in hand (longer than I thought), it has not been possible to hold the “books working parties” for people who kindly offered their help after my appeal in October. It will now be possible for this work to be undertaken in better and more comfortable conditions and I hope to re-arrange the working group for the New Year to enable the library to return to full use early in 1991.

CHRIST’S COLLEGE ARTS CENTRE TRUST

As many members will know Christ’s College is leaving its present site between Regents Park Road and Finchley Lane. The school’s departure to a new site presents the London Borough of Barnet with a considerable re-development site, which could either give the Borough a one-off cash windfall or allow the provision of an Arts Centre in the heart of the Borough.

The Christ’s College Arts Centre Trust has been formed to take advantage of this unique opportunity. It plans to take over the redevelopment site and to construct within the existing buildings an arts centre which will provide a much needed venue for vocational and non-vocational training in the arts from performance arts to pottery as well as providing meeting rooms, a cafe and a creche. The Trust plan to be self-supporting and it is hoped that the funds may extend sufficiently to build a concert hall. To do all this the Trust need your help. By showing your support for the creation of an Arts Centre you will assist in the Trust’s negotiations with the Borough. Signatures on the Trust’s petition are urgently required in the next two weeks – phone June Porges in the evening or at the weekend on 081- 346 5078 if you would like to support the Trust.

SUTTON HOO? From Brigid Grafton Green

When a diverse group (containing several HADAS members) under the aegis of the Society of Antiquaries visited Sutton Hoo several weeks ago, it was a pleasure to find yet another HADAS member hard at work in one of the trenches. That wasn’t an entire surprise, because Ann Trewick has long been a devotee of the Saxon site: she was a volunteer there well before she and her mother left Barnet in 1987 to move to Felixstowe. In the intervals of some meticulous trowelling – Ann has always been one of our top trowellers – she sent fond messages to all her HADAS friends, saying that she keeps in touch with their doings through the Newsletter. She reports that life in Felixstowe is very pleasant, and finds she has little regret for Barnet.

This phase of the Sutton Hoo dig was just nearing its end – Ann was putting in the last four days of her holiday before returning to school duties. Professor Martin Carver, who is directing this assault on the secrets of Sutton Hoo, is emerging from it still with many questions unanswered. The main one that was exercising him as he conducted the Antiquaries group around was how to interpret the Anglo-Saxon burial ground which did not appear to contain a single normal Anglo-Saxon burial. The two types of burial that it does contain are both far from normal.

One type is chieftain burials under barrows which – robbed out or unrobbed – shoe evidence for ceremonial and for rich grave goods. The other type, of which there are two groupings, are shallow graves at the opposite side of the spectrum. There are no grave goods from them, and all trace of bone has vanished, but from the soil composition and soil shadows it is possible to infer that these were probably sacrificial victims. They wre buried with their ankles on top of each other, as were their wrists – as if bound; two were decapitated, the heads being buried in one instance at the feet, in another at the crotch; in another the head was where the head should be, but so displaced as to be almost chin uppermost; one body lay face downwards; another was semi-kneeling.

There seemed to be no particular relationship between the two clutches of “victim” graves and the main group of chieftain barrows. Perhaps in the final dying weeks of the dig Professor Carver will unscramble the problem — or maybe it will have to await a further dig.

CHURCH FARM HOUSE MUSEUM

“Church End, Hendon” an exhibition based on a project by children of Sunnyfields JMI School.

This exhibition is entirely based on work done by children of Class 5 who were studying the Victorians. Some of the children concentrated on the development of Hendon in the late 19th century, with particular reference to Church End – the area surrounding Church Farm, and the heart of the old village of Hendon. The children singled out buildings of special interest – Church Farm, St. Mary’s Church and the Greyhound public house – and traced their history. With the aid of the 1881 census returns, they also looked at the origins, occupations and domestic lives of the people who lived nearby.

The exhibition is on show from 15 November until 31 January 1991.

THE BATTLES OF BARNET AND TEWKESBURY by P.W.Hammond

This detailed book charts the events which led to the Battle of Barnet and also covers the progress of Margaret of Anjou and her son Edward of Lancaster through the West Country, which led to the Battle of Tewkesbury, the death of Lancaster & Edward IV’s victorious return to London. Published by Alan Sutton, price £14.95.

EXCAVATION AT 19-25 HIGH STREET, CHIPPING BARNET Report by Brian Wrigley & Andrew Simpson

Following the HADAS excavations at the Old Bull in 1982 (Newsletter No.140) and The Mitre in 1989-90 (Newsletter No. 233) we were glad to be given permission by M. Bishop Ltd. of High Barnet, the developers of this site, to excavate and make an archaeological assessment of this site before development. The site is further down Barnet Hill than the two previous sites and on the south side of Barnet High Street. Obviously, following the results of the previous digs, interest centred on the question whether there was evidence of medieval or earlier occupation.

We have now completed enough excavation to make an assessment of the site and feel the best way to report this is to reproduce the two reports we have given to the developers. For convenience of reproduction the accompanying plan has been made in black and white and slightly reduced in size.

We hope that this will serve as the main published record of the excavation itself, whilst detailed identification and analysis of the many medieval pottery and other finds continues. We have hopes that detailed analysis may yield some pointers to the contacts and importance of earliest Barnet. A further report or reports on the results will be made later.

One point, not referred to in the reports below, should be mentioned: the ‘natural’ occurring below the archaeological layers is in some places sandy, in some solid London clay; it seems that this site is at the level where the sandy gravel capping of Barnet Hill gives out, so that the underlying clay emerges. This might very likely be a spring line and thus a convenient place to site habitation.

GETTING SHIRTY: a progress report on the dig by Andy Simpson

Work continues on the site on a smaller scale, usually during the week. Effort is concentrated on the remaining few trenches, the easternmost of which has been extended, exposing a rough, brick built drain with a tile base running east – west across part of the site, possibly of Victorian date.

The team were pleased to see the site featured in a recent issue of the Barnet Times, under the headline “Medieval Area Unearthed”. This featured our own Fred King as ‘Page 3 Digger and the interesting comment that we had found three medieval shirts! (We are now looking for the trousers to match!).

Considerable amounts of medieval pottery continue to be recovered ­some have simple thumb or pricked decoration on them.

The team has also started to check and order the finds, now stored at Barnet Museum. Work has also started on finds from the Mitre Inn and we hope to select items from both sites for display at the museum, where the full written/drawn archive for the Mitre dig is now stored.
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Issue No 236 November 1990 Editor: Jean Snelling

DIARY

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 6 LECTURE “Waters sweet and fresh for London”

Dr Michael Essex-Lopresti. Our speaker will deal with the New River as the major supply of London’s water over four centuries. He will open with a resume of London’s water at the end of the 16th c as recounted by John Stow in his Survey of London of 1598, from which the lecture title is taken. Dr Essex-Lopresti became interested in his subject while travelling in his narrowboat through Amwell, Hertfordshire. His book “Exploring the New River” will be on sale at the lecture.

TUESDAY DECEMBER 4 CHRISTMAS VISIT. Regretfully the ‘Water Rats’ cannot now be our venue. But we have arranged something much more interesting for you – a visit to the Royal College of Surgeons in Lincolns Inn Fields (instigated by our member Paul O’Flynn). The Hunterian Museum and the Odontological. Room will be opened specially for us, and dinner will follow in the Webb Johnson room.

Details and application form enclosed.

TUESDAY JANUARY 22 1991 2.0pm PRIVATE TOUR of the Museum of London’s Reserve Collection at Ironmongers Row. Cheque £1.50 to Dorothy

Newbury at 55 Sunningfields Road, Hendon NW4, 081.203.0950.

A few places still available.

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 5 LECTURE to be confirmed.

TUESDAY MARCH 5 LECTURE “Digging in Assyria; the Work of the British Museum”. Dr John Curtis, Keeper, Dept. of Western Asiatic Antiquities.

Lectures are held at the Central Library, the Burroughs, Hendon. 8.0 pm for 8.30.

MINIMART OCTOBER 6 1990 Profit – Nett – £1180.

Another great effort by everybody. Dorothy would like to thank the 48 members who helped on the day, carting the goods, hauling them upstairs, preparing and selling them, and above all clearing up afterwards. Many other members provided goods for sale, slow at first but an avalanche in the last week. Tessa would like to thank those members who provided delicious quiches for lunch, and thanks to Brigid for the mountain of meringues and cream (there wasn’t one left when I had my lunch at 12.30). Approximately another 40 members came as customers, but better still about 140 members of the public arrived to swell our funds (and we joined up 2 new members). D.N.

VIVE LE MINIMART Dawn Orr

If the time comes when HADAS has sufficient funds for its projects (and does not need a small fortune for a name-change, forewarned by Mr Wild in Oct: Newsletter), then perhaps we should continue the Minimart anyway, to raise funds for some other worthy cause. It would be a pity to go without one of the jolliest days in our calendar, to miss the cheerful loading and unloading of those carefully marked boxes, the priceless comments and banter, the gourmet miracles which emerge from Tessa’s kitchen (room for two where there’s often half a dozen, and never a cross word!). Could we bear to forego the replenishing of the wardrobe, the bookshelves and larder, the succumbing to just a few more wallflowers and another try at parsley, let alone the indulgence of another tiny glass and the little blue jug to replace the Minimart 1985 treasure that fell off the dishrack last week?? Above all, it would be a shame to miss Dorothy in full spate with all the preliminaries, in full blow (at the whistle), in full count (of the takings), and full steam (still!) at the final clearing up – – – “where have all those men gone?”

Moreover we are not only enjoying ourselves and topping up the bank balance, but we are undoubtedly providing a service to our customers in the wind-blown queue in the yard outside. A smaller queue this year – in fact the whole operation was a little smaller – (the credit squeeze?) – but nevertheless eager to run in and buy on the dot of 11.30 am. There’s always a sprinkling of colonials and country cousins looking to make a London pad seem more comfortable, a dealer or two with an eye for a bargain, a sweet clutch of infants passing over damp coins in exchange for some toy or trinket “for my baby brother” -­”for Mummy’s birthday” – – and the hard core of regulars who open large bags and smaller purses, the free readers who could well be in W.H. SMITH’s the ditherers who wonder about the size, colour, shape and scars of a 10p dinner plate and then tell you it’s for the cat food. Astonishing to see a mere male take up a little dish (With love from Ventnor) when his wife wouldn’t have it – perhaps there’s a story there. I missed the last of Brigid’s meringues while a lady tried to make up her mind to buy the ice cream machine (she didn’t) so I’ll have to come again next year – – see you there!

EXCAVATION AT 14-25 HIGH STREET, BARNET Andy Simpson

Work at the site is continuing. The team has now excavated nine trenches, ranging in size from several metres long to small test pits. With the exception of the disturbed front (north) end of the site, evidence of medieval occupation continues to be found wherever we choose to dig. This usually takes the form of a 2-3 inch soil layer with grey ware sherds lying both on the surface and within the matrix, occasionally kept company by charcoal, metal slag, animal bone, and the odd nail. Metal work of any date on the site, including coins, is conspicuous by its absence. The Museum of London note that some of the medieval sherds recovered from the site are similar to sherds found in Elstree. It will be interesting to compare our finds with sherds from the Arkley site, excavated in the 1950s.

While still distinctly short on numbers, the team continues to make good progress and we are hoping to have comprehensively sampled the site by the time excavation is completed. The sheer number of medieval sherds recovered should enable some meaningful conclusions to be drawn about the economy of 12-13th century High Barnet, as regards trade links and the like.

As always, we desperately need volunteers. Just in case anyone has missed the contact numbers and names, they are – Brian (081 959 5982), Arthur (081 368 6288), or yours truly (081 205 6456).

THE CAMDEN TOWN WALK ON SEPTEMBER 29TH. June Gibson

“Rain, rain go away, at least for this afternoon” we wished; and it did, mostly.

Under the admirable leadership of Murial Large we were able to keep well away from the Saturday shopping maelstrom of the High Street, and investigate some of the quiet and interesting backwaters of the area. We ranged between the somewhat melancholy and neglected St Pancras Gardens and the splendid ‘iced wedding cake’ style of Park Village on the border of Regents Park.

Camden Town was named from Lord Camden, the ground landlord of the acres east of the High Street.Camden Place, near Chislehurst, Kent, his family seat, was so called after a former resident, William Camden the historian. Next year Camden Town celebrates the bicentenary of its major development around 1791. There will be special commemorative events during 1991, with no shortage of historically interesting material.

The Post Office or Telecom Tower and Euston Tower are not very far distant and throughout the walk one kept getting glimpses of these landmarks, giving architectural balance to the buildings seen in our walk, in the main pleasantly low-rise. Busy though Camden Town may be, a feeling of spaciousness abounds.

Our party of 20 met at the south end of Camden High Street outside the Camden Palace, now a huge discotheque/nightclub, built in the grand manner but with some of the rococo detail now missing. Originally the Camden Theatre, it was opened in 1900 by Ellen Terry, a local resident and one of the first players there. Just along the High Street was the rival and smaller Bedford Theatre, a popular music hall of 1861, rebuilt in 1896. Marie Lloyd was a frequent attraction in this her favourite theatre. It was demolished in the 1960s and only part of one flank wall remains. The front part of the site is now an Abbey National branch.

Across the road is Mornington Crescent Underground Station, opened in 1907, with its splendid exterior facing of ox-blood red tiles on three sides of its corner site. Now closed on Saturdays and with no lifts operating, one remembers it is part of the Northern (Misery) line. Nearby on a large traffic island set where the High Street and Hampstead Road converge, is the statue to Richard Cobden (1804-1865) the great campaigner for Corn Law Reform. The statue was erected in 1868 by public subscription, and as there was probably farmland remaining thereabouts at that time perhaps its site was a fitting one. It marks the site of an older toll bar.

Walter Sickert, leader of the Camden Town group of painters, married Cobden’s daughter and lived at various addresses nearby. Charles Dickens went to school at the now vanished Wellington House in Hampstead Road from 1824-26, when the Dickens family lived in nearby Baham Street. The college was one of many casualties in the railway land-grab when it cut through c.1834. In Hampstead Road , behind Mornington Crescent Station today, Tennyson lodged in 1849-50 and Cruikshank the caricaturist lived in Mornington Crescent until his death in 1878. So did the Rossetti and the Terry families. H G Wells lived in Mornington Terrace c.1896, as did William Crookes (1832-1919) the prominent X-ray researcher.

We proceeded along Crowndate Road, once Fig Lane, noting particularly the Working Men’s College, founded in 1854 in Holborn and moved to Camden Tbwn in 1906. Nowadays of course working women are included. Early associates and lecturers included Rossetti, Ruskin and Madox Brown.

Noted too was Goldington Court, the first council flats in St Pancras, completed in 1904. Dr Crippen’s mistress, Ethelle Neve, lived here at time of the infamous murder. His wife and victim Belle Ellmoor was a singer who often appeared at the Bedford Theatre.

In Royal College Street we saw the Royal Veterinary College, erected in 1792 on a green-field site. The first of its kind in the country, it was largely rebuilt this century. As the area built up the RVC built an extra establishment at Hawkshead Road, Potters Bar, where there will be an Open bay on April 27 1991.

The Camden Town building displays a plaque with the College arms and motto. Poets Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud once lived in this street.

In Pancras Road we came to St Pancras Gardens, once a graveyard for the old church. There are still gravestones and tombs including one for Sir John Soane, in poor condition. There is a new Soane Monuments Trust, to effect restorations, including his own. (Trust secretary Robin Moore Ede, 21 Burton Place,WC1) In the Gardens is an unusual cast iron drinking fountain which would reward care. At the rear of the Gardens we passed under the railway to the entrance of Camley Street Nature Reserve, with its wrought iron gates brought from the old railway coal yard. This visit was a high-light of the walk. From photographic slides we could see the amazing transformation made by volunteers since 1984. Land that was quite derelict is now a wonderful haven of greenery and ponds beside the canal, for all kinds of wildlife. It is a great educational experience for school children and one hopes that British Rail will permit the reserve to continue after the Channel Tunnel terminus begins at Kings Cross.

Returning under the railway to St Pancras Way we passed the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the gigantic NW Area Sorting Office (Post Office) built on the old Midland Railway goods yard. Outside is a hexagonal Victorian pillar box painted dark green; post boxes were not painted red until mid-1870s.

Next to Pratt Street/passing the IDRIS soft drinks factory and the old Fire Station, both derelict. A detour into Camden Street took us to the outside of the Greek Church, built 1824, designed by William Inwood (a bailiff’s son of Kenwood). The church is one of the most handsome buildings in the area, and well cared for by the remaining Greek community.

From Pratt Street into St Martin’s Gardens, another disused burial ground, now a tiny park. It was opened in 1803 as an overflow cemetery for St Martin in the Fields. St Martin’s Almshouses, still to be seen, were erected in 1817. There is no access to the chapel. The writer of Tom Bowling, Charles Dibdin (d.1814) is buried there. As Camden Town was the centre of the piano and sheet music trades in 19th c and early 20th c it is surprising that there are not more relics. We left by an alley way, noting St Martin’s Tavern with its top plaque of St Martin. The pub was built on the site of a charnel house (full of spirits?)

We crossed the. High Street into Delancey Street (Dylan Thomas there briefly in 1952). On this west side the land was originally owned by the Southamptons, from whom come the family names, Arlington, Fitzroy, Mornington. The coming of the canal and later the railway with a huge interchange at Camden Lock decimated the area, causing much upheaval and distress.

The Crown land towards Regents Park was developed by Nash at great financial risk from 1811 onwards. The Regents Canal, opened between Paddington and Camden Town in 1816, was then a prominent feature with its attendant bustle. A branch of the Canal from the Zoo to halfway down Albany Street served the hay market by Cumberland Basin. The canal branch survived until 1940 when it was sold and filled in with bomb-damage rubble. Gloucester Gate Bridge remains, now bridging only wooded and grassed earth. Pre-1940 finds! What a marvellous spot for archaeologists in some far-distant future! The bridge, replacing one of 1814, was designed by William Booth Scott and built in 1877-8. It has a bronze plaque by Fucione of the martyrdom of St Pancras and splendid lamp standards set into the balustrade.

Onward to the delightful cream-coloured stucco houses of East and West Park Village, by John Nash, where we saw numerous pretty details. Then into the Outer Circle past beautiful Nash lodges and terraces (a blue plaque on a house revealed that Sir Henry Wellcome the pharmacist (1853-1936) lived there. We went to see St Katharine’s Church with the replica runic stone in the garden. What a world of difference! The Victorian brick Gothic was a shock after so much of Nash’s meringue-like style. St Katharine’s was established here from what is now St Katharine’s Dock. The earliest church was founded by Queen Matilda in 1148 and re-endowed by Queen Eleanor in 1273. It became the principal Danish church in London in the first World War and has remained so. The runic replica in the garden was placed there in 1955 following aDanish exhibition at the V&A. The original was erected in 980 AD at Jelling by Harald Bluetooth, first Christian king of Denmark.

Passing over Gloucester Gate again on our way out, we saw a stone fountain, part drinking, part ornamental, installed in 1878 and incorporating a bronze figure entitled ‘Matilda’ by Joseph Durham. We entered Parkway, which continues on into the very heart of Camden Town. We dispersed there as it was after 4.30 and everyone headed for watering holes, some requiring instant sustenance;-others following Muriel to Marine Ices at Chalk Farm. It was a very satisfying afternoon, with much to mull over as we refreshed ourselves.

ARCHAEOLOGY IN BARNET BOROUGH’S: UNITARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN Brian Wrigley

Readers may well feel it is about time we had some more news on this matter – the last report having been in June when a discussion with the Borough Council and the Museum of London was in the offing. Well, it took plan although it had to be postponed to 4 July, and was a useful exchange of views, following which (7 August) the Council gave us a revised draft. There was then a period of further negotiation in which some telephones and certainly my typewriter got quite hot, but eventually, in the nick of time before the D of E Inspector was due in his Public Inquiry to reach our submission (on 27 September), a wording was agreed between all three parties, approved by the Council and accepted by the Inspector. This final version is as follows:

3.4.17 ARCHAEOLOGY. Archaeological sites and ancient monuments are important aspects of the Borough’s heritage and must be respected in preparing development proposals. The Council will promote the conservation, enhancement and public presentation of the Borough’s archaeological heritage. Local areas of special archaeological significance may be defined by the Council and nationally important remains may be protected by the Secretary of State for the

Environment. The council will seek the presentation in situ of the most important remains and their settings and will encourage suitable design, land use and management to safeguard archaeological sites generally.

POLICY E3. 1

THE COUNCIL WILL PROTECT ANCIENT MONUMENTS AND THEIR SETTINGS AND OTHER ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES OF ACKNOWLEDGED IMPORTANCE FROM INTRUSIVE OR DESTRUCTIVE DEVELOPEMENT. NATIONALLY (IMPORTANT SITES MAY BY REFERRED TO THE SSCRETARY OF STATE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT FOR SCHEDULING ANCIENT MONUMENTS.

Where a site is expected to reveal material of archaeological importance the Council will expect prospective developers to seek specialist advice at an early stage, in accordance with the British Archaeologists and Developers Liaison Group Code of Practice. A preliminary archaeological site evaluation may be required so that the Council has sufficient information upon which to base an informed planning decision, incorporating adequate heritage safeguards.

POLICY E3.2

WHERE DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS MAY AFFECT THE BURIED HERTTAGE? THE COUNCIL WILL EXPECT APPLICANTS TO HAVE PROPERLY ASSESSED AND PLANNED FOR THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS. THE COUNCIL MAY REQUIRE A PRELIMINARY ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE EVALUATION BEFORE PROPOSALS ARE CONSISIDERED.

Where preservation in situ is not required, modern methods of site clearance and construction will tend to destroy completely potentially significant archaeological remains. In such cases, the Council will expect the developer to enter into an agreement for rescue investi­gations to be carried out by archaeologists in advance of development. POLICY’ E3.3

BEFORE DEVELOPMENT BEGINS ON SITES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE,

A RECOGNISED ARCHAEOLOGICAL ORGANISATTON SHALL UNDERTAKE APPROPRIATE

RESCUE INVESTIGATION’, EXCAVATION’, ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION AND

PUBLIC PRESENTATION OF THE RESULTS, UNLESS PRESERVATION IN SITU IS REQUIRED. ALL SUCH WORK SHALL BE CARRIED OUT TO A FORMAT TO BE APPROVED IN ADVANCE BY THE COUNCIL.

Table 3.7 SCHEDULED ANCIENT MONUMENTS

Brockley Hill Romano-British Pottery

Manor House Moated Site, East End Road, Finchley.
Proposals Map

(In addition to the amendments to 3.4.17, the Borough’s

scheduled ancient monuments will be marked on the
Proposals Map and included in the Key.)

For us, I think probably the most important of these provisions, and the one that I am most pleased about, is Policy E3.2 and the note above it: this recognises that, in our Borough, our ancient villages lie beneath our present shopping centres: we are jolly sure of this but cannot prove it archaeologically unless we are given the chance to explore when redevelopment offers it. This Policy, we may hope, will give us that chance to add to knowledge of the Borough’s past – and with it a responsibility to shoulder!

EXCAVATION IN WEST AFRICA: ORIGINS OF BRONZES PROM IGBO-UKWU

Margaret Taylor, St Albans

Dr Paul Craddock’s lecture on October 2nd.

I came to this lecture with a personal interest as my uncle worked in Lagos in 1906-1926 and was friendly with the King of Benin. He returned to England with a collection of small bronze sculptures and wood carvings, one made by the King when a prisoner. My father gave the collection to the British Museum in 1960 and it was returned to Nigeria to be exhibited at the Jos Museum.

Dr Craddock went recently from the British Museum to shed light on the Igbo-ukwu bronzes of south-east Nigeria. He needed to reconsider this area of civilisation situated between the Sahara desert and the rain forests, where iron of high grade has been exported for a long time.

What is so amazing has been the discovery, through excavations around 1960, of quantities of bronze images, some dating back to C.9 AD. In the last 30 years there has been reappraisal of this high technology, which remained a mystery until now. In modern times in the Igbo-ukwu area there was no hint of any technological expertise. Pottery also of very high quality and richly ornamented was found in the excavation, smashed into pits as by some ancient ritual. The burial of a chieftain or priest in a wooden chamber, sitting on a stool, with bead stockings and elaborate head­dress, was accompanied by other vessels. The discovery of what seems to have been an open shrine with 600 bronzes is truly remarkable. The slides of some of these were beautiful one was in the form of a whelk shell of one foot long, richly ornamented and decorated with patterns, the bronze itself only 1-2 mm thick. A large bowl, 2 feet across and complete with two handles, poses the problem of how it was cast, as no modern sculptor could achieve such perfection of 2 mm thickness. All the bronzes were cast by the lost-wax method and each was completed in one casting.

It had been thought that outside influences must have come from Coptic or Byzantine sources, perhaps using local designs, but now it is believed that this was a local technology which developed in isolation without awareness of other methods of working bronze. The metal is an alloy of copper and tin with lead. An American laboratory has been carrying out research into lead isotope ratios for these bronzes, which shows them to be made of local metals. Dr Craddock is seeking to locate the early workings by collecting slag. He concluded that the majority of the bronzes do come from the Igbo-ukwu area and said with confidence that it shows a completely indigenous industry with a very long tradition to have attained such high proficiency.

The superb slides of the area, excavation sites and artefacts made me want to revisit the Museum of Mankind and the British Museum to admire their collections. A fascinating and exhilarating lecture.

MEMBERS’ NEWS

John Hooson has completed his (“most interesting”) four year course at the Polytechnic of East London and has been awarded a BSc in Archaeological Sciences. Our hearty congratulations, and good wishes for his hope of a Postgraduate research project connected with the analysis of prehistoric pigments or similar residues.

Myfanwy Stewart has an excavation going, all on her own. As a result of subsidence she has rebuilding work at her house in Galley Lane, Arkley (late Gallows Lane) and has pottery galore coming up, probably from a local kiln. It is C.13 or 14, and could be Herts Greyware.

Daphne Lorimer fell in her garden on Orkney, with a cut leg, stitches and much bedrest. We wish her a sound and a speedy recovery.

Isobel McPherson is at Edenhall, 11 Lyndhurst Gardens, London NW3. She would welcome a line (or postcard) from any members who would like to write to her.

Paul Beevor, who joined HADAS nearly 20 years ago as a small boy, is off to do postgraduate teacher training at St Peter’s College, Oxford, after doing preliminary practice at St Mary’s and St Joseph’s School in Hendon. He has travelled abroad a good deal.

THE THREE RIVERS PIPE LINE – THE CROSSING OF WATLING STREET

Victor Jones

With this Newsletter comes Victor Jones’ report on the Water Pipeline crossing Watling Street. A report on It@ Pipeline has been received’ from the Museum of London, and now awaits our next Newsletter.

Note – Tessa Smith has collected many of the finds from our walks and has offered to hold an exhibition, with those any other members may have. This will be at her house, 94 Hillside Gardens, Edgware, 081 958 9159.

In the October Newsletter I reported that Watling Street had been crossed, but we had little warning of the timing. The work was undertaken in a very concentrated way over one weekend. This, of course, had to happen only a day or two before I was to go on holiday, so there was only time for a brief note. Since then, not only has that work been finished but most other work is also completed.

The track across the golf course is now within a short distance of the Motorway, and the tunnel underneath has been constructed. Same of the pipes are in place on the north side, and may well be so on the Edgwarbury side as I have not recently walked there. The tunnelling is under both the A1000 and the A41.

The field walking has been continued and further observation obtained inthis way, However, the major remaining item of interest is the result of theexcavation at Watling Street, to take the pipeline across this major Roman road, now used as the route of the A5 and so still one of our great trunk roads.

The place chosen for the crossing is towards the top of Brockley Hill. It is interesting both because of the close proximity of the early manufacturing site of Roman pottery at Sulloniacae, and because we might hope to find remains of the original Roman road. Watching of this special area was undertaken as a joint interest-of HADAS and the Museum of London.

The work was planned to be undertaken in August and, to avoid major traffic disruption, limited to four days around a weekend, first intended for August and then rearranged for 6-9 September, at a final starting time advised only shortly before the event.

As reported earlier, the wide soil-cleared track and its deep central pipe trench had only been taken to within about 40 yards of Watling Street.

The first stage of the preparations for making the deep trench to take the pipe across the road was to clear the trees and bushes and level the approaches to the road edges, in order to get the heavy earth-moving and other equipment to the road. This work was started on Friday 7th, and I and a representative of the Museum watched that day until late in the evening. On both sides the road surface is below the fields levels, so a considerable depth of soil had to be removed. The big water-supply pipe had, for safety reasons, to be

taken deeply below the road, and the central trench was of the order of 8ft below it.

On the east side the ground slopes irregularly but steeply, upwards and risessharply at the road edge, from 4 to 10 ft. When the soil was cut through to the road, there was exposed a section of heavy clay with a varying gravel-clay mix of 1-2 ft at the surface. A few brick and tile fragments were found in it.

On the west side of the road there is a drainage ditch and a short flat area and the ground then slopes steeply to above the road level. The field on the west is the one in which a number of Roman kilns were found by Stephen Castle in the 1960s (reported in LAMAS Trans. V.23 Pt 2 1970). In the 1960s the field was used as a dump for demolished materials (Young Archaeologists, please note for future reference). They were probably from London bomb sites and raised the ground level by over 10 ft in places. Nothing of interest to us was to be found here. The broad trench had to be dug through this stuff and then the pipe trench down a further 8-10 ft across the road. This produced a volume of soil to be dug and moved, making the site more like a mine than a building operation.

A section was produced on the east side of the road, well below the natural (pre 1960s) level. Next day, Saturday 8th, John Mills of the Museum saw a small dark section in this exposure which he thought interesting. We worked on this through the day, extending it and cleaning it, and when fully exposed it proved to be a section of a small road.He photographed and drew it in some detail using his portable equipment.

I arrived on the Sunday to find the pipe already laid at the bottom of the road-crossing section, which must have been worked on during the night. Two large machines were operating either side of the road, still clearing away further materials and men were working on the pipe at the bottom of the cutting with others repairing various disturbed services. A sort of approach-reinforcement for machine had been made at the centre of the road and I was able to perch on it. Made of two thick steel plates covered with clay, it was the only way to see, at a right angle, into the narrow cutting (less than 1 M wide and ¾ m deep.

I was surprised to see that the section was very cleanly cut; there were very sharp outlines in the clay of various coloured materials across as much of the road as I could see. The view on the left was restricted but I had a clear view at an acute angle to the right and down to the base of the trench. The layers extended down a long way with the clay appearing at about 9 ft, near the pipe at the bottom. At the top was tar with small gravel; then large tarred granite chips; then a lighter layer appearing to be a concreted gravel; below, a layer of brown gravel-and-sand. Under this was the outline of a section very similar to that of the road found on the previous day, but much wider and several times thicker with a deep central section. Photographs were attempted but the acute angle of view and the low level of light in the trench gave poor results. However notes were taken and a rough measurement made, even this being difficult in limited space on a slippery surface, A sketch was completed in situ and further activity was curtailed by the approach of a large excavating machine. These observations of the trench were made facing north, up the hill.

HADAS THAT NAME

Pat Alison writes: ‘Why change the name of HADAS? Does it matter what words the initials stand for? People join HADAS for the wealth of information and enjoyment the Society offers. People from far and wide belong. The fact that H stood for Hendon never deterred me from remaining a member when I moved from FINCHLEY to POTTERS BAR.’

Harold Cover writes ‘as I no longer live in the area that enables me to participate in the Society’s activities, the name HADAS means more to me than a geographical location. HADAS is a compact sturdy logo that to me signifies a group of archaeologically minded, enthusiastic and friendly people eager to share any knowledge gained with others. I still treasure the memory of

Daphne Lorimer in her best dress on the floor at Flower Lane classes – giving us a demonstration of flint-knapping to her admiring pupils – Happy Days!! I am still interested in all archaeological activities and look forward to the monthly Newsletter. Please keep the name of HADAS untarnished. (from Kirby Cross, Essex)

Fraternal greeting from Mr Richard Nichols, Mill Hill Historical Society ­’I should stick to HADAS by which you made your reputation over a very wide field, in more senses than one’.

BOOKS The Story of Mill Hill can be bought from some of the Barnet libraries, including that at Mill Hill; Maxfields in Mill Hill Broadway, Whites, newsagents in Hale Lane, Lodges paper shop in Daws Lane (opp.main sorting office) and Kelly’s paper shop Mill Hill East.

The Museum of London have published Recent Archaeological Excavations in Greater London, the work of the Department of Greater London Archaeology, 1990. This covers prehistoric, Roman, Saxon and medieval London excavations in brisk text, sketh maps and plans, and generous coloured photographs.A good buy for £3.25. (References to such outlying places as Harlington, Merton Priory and West Heath)

THINGS TO GO TO

Day School on The Archaeology of Greater London, Sat November 17th. at the Museum of London, from 10.0am to 16.45pm. Various DGLA speakers on Prehistory, Uxbridge site, Roman Southwark, Roman burial practices and Hooper Street cemetery, Saxon London, Med. Religious Houses incl. St Mary Graces, the Post Med. Archaeology of Limehouse Link Project, and Post Medieval Theatres. Fee £10, concessionary £5 further information and tickets from Education Dept. at the Museum, London Wall, EC2Y 5HN. If by post, send SAE.

REWLEY HOUSE WEEKENDS, Oxford Flints November 24-25, 1990. Surveying in Archaeology.

16-17 March 1991. Jean Snelling has further information.

ISSUE No 235: October 1990 Editor: Micky Cohen

DOROTHY’S DIARY

Tuesday, 2nd October First lecture of the Winter Season

“Excavation in West Africa” Origins of West African Bronze Work by Dr Paul Craddock

Paul Craddock, who works at the British Museum, is well known to the Society. He has given us some excellent lectures over the years, taken us on day trips to Rochester, Canterbury and Swanscombe, and provided us with scrumptious teas at his home in Rochester. He conducted us on our tour of the Fakes’ exhibition at the B.M. in April this year, and this time he is coming to talk to us about his work in Nigeria last year.

Saturday, 6th October Minimart at St. Mary’s Church House, Hendon NW 4 11.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m.

Help is urgently needed on various stalls. Please ring 203 – 0950 if you can offer your services – if only for the first hour when the rush starts (we hope’.) or for the last hour of cut-price time and clearing up. And ALL members, please come for lunch – Tessa’s special! A REMINDER for jam and cake makers – your contributions are particularly welcome, as well as goods for other stalls. Remember – this is our only fund-raising event of the year, and crucial for keeping the Society going. If anyone can display a small advert for the Minimart in their local shop window or their car, please send for one – ring 203 – 0950. The Exhibitions at Church Farmhouse Museum, opposite the Hall will be well worth a visit at the same time (see last months’ notice for the Minimart).

Thursday, l8th October Historical Association – Illustrated Lecture at 8 p.m. at Westfield College Kidderpore Avenue, NW 3. “Feeding the City – London’s Market Gardens, 16th to 18th century.” HADAS members welcome.

Tuesday, 6th November Lecture: “Waters Sweet and Fresh for London” Dr Michael Essex Lopresti

Tuesday, 4th December, Christmas Dinner – more details later. We are having some difficulty with this event at the moment.

Tuesday, 22nd January 2.00pm “Behind the Scenes” – Private Tour of the Museum of London’s Reserve Collection at Ironmongers’ Row.

Numbers are limited, so if you would like to participate in this visit, please send in quickly with a cheque for £1.50 to Dorothy Newbury, 55 Sunningfields Rd., Hendon NW 4. Tel: 203 – 0950.This event is in place of the January lecture, as the first Tuesday falls on New Year’s Day. LAMAS members will see that the HADAS “Behind the Scenes” visit was advertised in the LAMAS September Newsletter for October 9th. This as an error – sorry.

NOTE; LECTURES are held at the Central Library, The Burroughs, Hendon NW 4 8.00 p.m. for 8.30 p.m. NEW MEMBERS, please make yourselves known

PROGRAMME SECRETARY: Dorothy Newbury (203 – 9050) for information on outings, lectures and walks.

MEMBERS’ NEWS

Sick reports first – we are pleased to tell members that – Mary Barnett is out of hospital, home and feeling stronger.

Ann Lawson is also home from hospital and recovering. (Both these members were booked for the Ironbridge weekend and had to cancel.)

Isobel McPherson is home from hospital too, and is pleased to have had letters and cards from members. Last weekend she was able to visit the pipe-line route where it crosses the A 5 at Brockley Hill.

Member Mr X left a message on June Porges’ Ansaphone. His name was inadvertently rubbed off. He wanted information regarding the review of the book on Mill Hill. It is as follows – “The Story of Mill Hill” by John W. Collier, published by the Mill Hill Historical Society at £3 + 50 p & p, from Mr Ralph Calder, 2 Feather­stone Road, NW? 2BN.

Brian Wibberley Artistic Director and scene-maker for HADAS “period” banquets, has changed career course. After many years with Johnson Matthey, he has taken redundancy and taken up lecturing at Hatfield Polytechnic. Our best wishes to him.

Alec Jeakins We are delighted to report the birth of a second son to Alec and Ursula in August.

Nigel and Ann McTeer, Nigel was our coach driver for the Ironbridge weekend and writes: Please thank the members of HADAS for their welcoming into their midst of Anne and myself. The trip was excellent, marred slightly by my coach. Please give in your next Newsletter my thanks to all who contributed to my gift; it was not really necessary as I enjoyed the whole trip (Bridges as Well). But most of all, thank you for the grand way you accepted us “new boys” into HADAS. I look forward to driving you again and joining in your trips.

Mrs McNicol a member who moved to the Isle of Man in 1989 writes:” the Isle of Man is archaeology rich, to put it mildly. So very glad HADAS gave me such a “taste” for it, and taught me how much I had to learn. What a feast it was to an Australian with only 200 years of European buildings, etc.

The Newsletter is a delight – brings such happy memories, such tempting trips, more gaps filled into my slim knowledge. When I have the operations on my feet I can put my feet up and properly study this year’s file of Newsletters….” She sends her best wishes and thanks to all.

George Inghram wishes to convey to everybody, his very grateful thanks and appreciation for the many cards, gifts and good wishes received on the occasion of his 90th birthday. Also to thank the Newsletter (September) for the so aptly-written report of the party, which, indeed, was a great surprise and gave him much happiness – it was nice to meet so many friends and the time went all too quickly.

Malcolm Jack Goldenfeld Congratulations to Malcolm, HADAS member from Chorley-wood, who has just finished a long trek. In 1980 he started studying for the extra-mural Certificate in Field Archaeology – and got it. Then he decided to cap the Certificate with the Diploma in Archaeology. This summer, after ten years hard labour in all, he has passed that, too, with flying colours.

“Someone suggested evening classes once, when I was helping at the Museum of London,” he told me. “Then, getting the Diploma seemed like the heady heights of Olympus.” However, that’s not the sum of Mr Goldenfeld’s ambitions. Now he has his eye on a post-Diploma course in the subject he knows best and enjoys most: Archaeological draughtsmanship.

Are there any other HADAS success stories among the summer examination results ?

If so, the Newsletter would love to hear of them.

CHANGING THE NAME OF HADAS

We have had a lively correspondence (more than 30 letters) on changing the name of HADAS. Three more letters are published in this issue. So far more than 80% of opinions expressed are not in favour of any change. Those, who do favour change have made many different suggestions; no consensus has emerged.

The Committee of HADAS has had an opportunity of considering all the letters received to date. They have decided to wait until all those who wish to express a view have had the chance to do so. On present form, the Committee are inclined against a formal change to our name, but in favour of adding “Based on the Borough of Barnet” beneath the heading “Hendon and District Archaeological Society” on our letter paper and elsewhere.

This form of words shows that our interest covers the whole of Barnet, but does not confine our activities within the Borough.

Members views are represented by:

Mr Stewart Wild, 33 Cyprus Road, Finchley, London N3 3SD (28th August, 1990)

I have been following the correspondence regarding a possible change to the Society’s name with great interest.

I am surprised that some folk should feel that a new name might be desirable, and support wholeheartedly the views so eloquently expressed by Daphne Lorimer, writing from Orkney in the last Newsletter. Perhaps distance lends perspective.

If the HADAS name were lost, no matter what name might replace it, I can just imagine that in years to come, there could easily be a public misconception that the Society had expired along with its name. Any marketing man will tell you that you don’t change a brand name without spending a fortune on an advert­ising campaign to re-enforce the message.

Since we don’t have thousands of pounds to spend on advertising, common sense suggests that we leave well alone.”

Mr John Whitehorn, 16 Falkland Road, Barnet. (30th August, 1990)

I suggest that the Society’s name be changed to “Hendon and Barnet Archaeological Society”.

It would be easy for insiders or outsiders to get used to the very slight change in the acronym: HABAS for HADAS; and only a very small change to the logo ”

Mrs Olive Banham, a Founder Member, 72 Bertram Road, Hendon NW 4 (5th Sept. 1990) ” Please don’t change the name of HADAS It is known world-wide. We want to be different. I’m sure Mr Constantinides would agree. ”

MORE ABOUT AMPHORAE from Mrs Nell Penny

Is there space for me to challenge Brigid Grafton Green’s scholarly article about the universally useful amphora in the September Newsletter ? Where there is no documentary corroboration, archaeological arguments are informed guesswork, possibly to be modified or contradicted by the next “dig”. Is there any eulogy of the humble amphora in those Greek and Roman manuscripts which survive ? I’m sure I could find a nineteenth century ode to the domestic teapot and a twentieth century paean about the plastic jerrican and bucket. Both of these have flat bottoms. And if the amphora was so easy to handle, why did it not survive the Western Roman Empire ? Were the Celtic and Teutonic tribesmen mindlessly destructive of anything so useful, or were they truly innovative when they “threw” pots which could stand on their own feet or bottoms ?

STOP PRESS I!

Brian Wrigley reports that Richmond Archaeological Society have arranged a PANEL DISCUSSION on ENGLISH HERITAGE’S PLANS FOR LONDON ARCHAEOLOGY, to be held on FRIDAY, 12th OCTOBER,1990, commencing at 8 p.m. in THE VESTRY HALL, RED LION ST., RICHMOND. Admission; £1.00

CHRIST’S COLLEGE ARTS CENTRE TRUST

HADAS members will know that Christ’s College is due to move from its present site to new premises at the end of this year. A Trust has been formed to secure the site for a much needed arts and leisure centre for Barnet residents. Our own June Porges is on the board of the Trust though not as a HADAS representative. The Trust has found that the new “Unitary Development Plan” for Barnet, which goes to Public Enquiry this month, has defined specific sites for particular leisure developments and in the case of Christ’s College proposes the use of the site for an hotel development.

Barnet is lacking in facilities for cultural activities and performing arts. The opportunity to use a site that is central, well served by public transport and of reasonable size for arts and leisure purposes may not arise again for many years. The Trust objects to the possible use of the site as a “Civic Centre” being excluded from the Plan, and has put in a formal objection. HADAS is equally concerned that the possibility of the site being used for arts and leisure purposes should be safeguarded and has also submitted an objection to the Plan, seeking the inclusion of this alternative use in the proposals.

VISIT TO THE ROMAN VILLA AT PIDDINGTON by Micky Cohen

We left for the last day’s outing of the season in wonderful weather and a surprising lack of traffic. Our coffee stop at Newport Pagnell was the “Swan Revived” Hotel. Partly, Tudor, one of the bars was unusually decorated with shelves of baked clay painted models of local shops and homes of note, complete with timbered façades, window boxes, awnings and shop signs. A local artist takes commissions. We had time for a short visit to the town and the much restored church of St. Peter and Paul. This has a fine ceiling and set of bells which were being rung into position for an afternoon wedding.

The next stop was our main objective: the Romano-British villa at Piddington. Roy Friendship Taylor lectured HADAS on this site last October. The Nene Arch­aeological Society have dug here at weekends for ten years. Some of the excavation area has been covered over after recording what remains presents a striking example of a rich villa – the furnace, bath house and pillared wing of rooms, cellar and courtyard clearly visible. The walls remain to a good height. Vents, pillar bases, hypocaust system, tiles, window and door openings can be distinguished and are visually graphic. Fragments of painted plaster tiles and mosaic indicate that the villa was decorated and painted inside and out and must have had an almost garish appearance. There is no doubt that the villa was the centre of a thriving settlement and rich area. It is and active dig – about eleven years of work remain to be done.

After our packed lunch (tea from a refreshment stand the Nene Society provide on open day) we went on to Towcester, the site of Roman Lactodorum; a staging post with Watling Street running straight through it. The area is the site of Saxon and Danish clashes and later Roundheads and Cavaliers. A member of the local Historical Society took us round buildings of note – a Chantry School, and old windmill and a now reduced Roman mound among the sights.

We finished with tea provided by the Women’s Institute in the modern Riverside Leisure Centre, a most welcome stop after a long, hot, but most interesting day.

THE THREE RIVERS PIPELINE PROJECT by Victor Jones (crossing Roman Watling Street)

Work on this project in our Borough is now nearly finished. It has involved in effect the digging of a huge ditch, as wide as a large road and about a foot deep.

It has a central deeper section, wide enough to take the huge water supply pipe, one metre in diameter. In places, the ditch is as deep as the height of a small house.

The work is now almost complete; the pipe is laid and covered for most of its route across the North West section of the Borough. There is now only one gap left and since my last report, the section from the Arkley side of the A1000 is to be tunnelled under the road. The route has been cut through the Scratch-wood Open Space (a little-known but large Bird sanctuary with wooded walks and picnic area) to the edge of the Edgware Golf Course. I have seen it suggested that the woods might be a remnant of the ancient Middlesex Forest and would welcome any suggestions on how this could be traced.

The crossing of the Golf Course will take place soon and then a tunnel will be laid under the M1 to join the Edgwarebury Farm section, which is complete, and continues to join a nearly complete Brockley section. This brings me to the main news. Watling Street was crossed last week and, as most members will know, it was hoped would perhaps reveal something of the orig­inal Roman road. Both we and the Museum of London were only alerted a day or so before the event.

Arrangements for watching were hurriedly made, and both Museum and HADAS were present during the whole weekend. Isobel McPherson, who many members will know is unwell, managed a visit with June Porges’ help. Tessa Smith and I were there, and representatives of the Museum, particularly John Mills who spent so much time and effort on a possibly early road construction.

Reporting all this will take some time; I hope it will be possible in the next Newsletter, but it is quite a long story.

WEEKEND IN SHROPSHIRE by Stewart Wild

Our members know a good thing when they see one. Discovering that the 1890’s pharmacy and chemist’s shop at Blists Hill stocked hair restorer, they asked for two gallons of it. The friendly staff, in true Victorian style and garb, enjoyed the joke. Alas, they said, we only have eight-ounce bottles, priced at three farthings

Forty-one of us were spending a thoroughly enjoyable weekend in Shropshire, a pleasant, largely rural county where the sleepy upper Severn valley belies the fact that 250 years ago it was, to coin a phrase, the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. With Roman remains, some excellent museums, a restored Georgian mansion, a ruined abbey, a stately home, a church made of recycled building materials, and industrial archaeology all around, the latest HADAS outing had something for everyone.

We left Finchley early on Friday morning, 31st August, with the added pleasure of discovering that our coach driver, Nigel McTeer, was also a HADAS member, and that our guide for the weekend would be Fred Bishop, secretary of the London branch of the Friends of Ironbridge Gorge Museum.

Our first stop was at Wall Roman Site (Letocetum) near Lichfield, the remains of a Roman fort and staging post on Watling Street, where we visited the tiny museum and enjoyed a short talk by the curator before attacking our picnic lunches. Excavations here at the end of the last century revealed the remains of a large bath house and a furnace room; the rest of the sprawling site, dating from about 70 A.D. remains buried under the houses, gardens and fields of the present-day hamlet of Wall, now mercifully by-passed by the heavy traffic on the A5.

On to Coalport for a short tour of the kilnsand workshops of the former china works which, under the control of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, opened to the public in 1976 after half a century of disuse. There’s a dazzling display of porcelain ware on show, a fascinating museum which explains the manufact­uring process (do you know what a saggar is ?) and an adjacent shop. The Trust has ambitious plans for further renovation on the site, including digging out a blocked canal.

A short walk brought us to the Tar Tunnel, at extraordinary relic dating from 1786, and the only place in the Gorge where one can venture any distance underground. The tunnel was dug horizontally from a riverside meadow into the hillside, to connect with the shafts of the Blists Hill coal mine about 1,000 yards away. The intention was to build an underground canal which would facilitate the removal of the coal by barge instead of hauling it up the shaft and then carting it back downhill to the river. Such an ambitious scheme had an unusual outcome when the miners struck a spring of natural bitumen about 300 yards from the entrance. To start with, the tar flowed at a rate of some 600 gallons a day, but by 1820 the flow was reported to be only one barrel per month. The discovery brought wealth to the area as the bitumen was used in a great variety of products from skin ointment to varnish and pitch for the preservation of wood.Although the canal was never built, the tunnel was used for extracting coal until 1930. It fell into disuse and was forgotten about until 1965. Since 1973, visit­ors have been allowed to venture a short distance – tar still comes through the brickwork, and it’s heads down all the way.We stayed two nights at Harper Adams Agricultural College, near Newport, where the single-room accommodation in sixties-style-blocks was surprisingly comfortable. There were no complaints about the catering either, particularly as )orothy paid for the wine ! After dinner on Friday we were treated to a most interesting talk and slide show by Ken Jones, secretary of the F.I.G.M., who proved to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Ironbridge area and its history. We were thus well prepared for the day ahead.

We would all have liked to have stayed longer at the Museum of Iron in Coalbrook-dale. On three floors of an historic building, it features all you could ever want to know about iron and the part it played in our industrial history. The fame of the Ironbridge Gorge in the late 18th century, its thriving ironworks, collieries and lime works, its steam engines, its innovations in the use of iron and in the ceramic and chemical industries, all depended ultimately on mineral wealth, on the extraction of coal, iron ore, clay and limestone from the earth. Here in the Gorge they had all this, plus the use of the River Severn to transport the finished goods.

The museum also dealt with social history: the Bristol Quaker families Darby and Goldney, who provided the necessary private funding; William Reynolds, scientist, engineer and founder of Coalport; and Thomas Telford, born in Scotland in 1757, who achieved fame by building roads and iron bridges, and after whom the thriving new town of Telford is named. We learnt too of the original John Bull, and iron­worker named William Ball (1795 -1852) whose massive strength and size (80″ round the waist) made him a local legend. In 1850 he was exhibited in London and else­where as “John Bull the greatest man in the world”.–Weighing 36 stones, he must have been an awesome sight – it took 20 men to carry his coffin at his funeral.

A short walk took us to Rosehill House, built in the 1730’s and home to several generations of the Darby family. It has been beautifully restored by the Trust, and provides an insight into the daily life of a wealthy family in the 19th cent­ury. Nearby, a row of cottages is being restored to illustrate the living conditions of the working classes.

At last to the Iron Bridge itself, the world’s first, dating front 1789, when it was constructed as a demonstration of the ironmasters’ skills. we admired the Tollhouse, walked over and under the bridge, took photographs galore, and some of our party were fortunate to meet a riverside resident who still builds coracles in the traditional way. Then we passed the ruined Bedlam furnace on our way to the Jackfield Tile Museum, a remarkable collection of ceramics adjacent to derelict workshops which will one day also be restored. Quality bricks-and tiles were essential to the ironmaking process.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at Blists Hill Open Air Museum, a wonderful collection of buildings, some on their original sites. The complex re-creates a typical Shropshire industrial community of the 1890’s, complete with shops, bank, pub, printer, candlemaker, cobbler, locksmith and so on. The site includes a canal, the original pithead of a working coal mine, a mission church, the remains of blast furnaces, and a rebuilt wrought iron foundry. Houses include a doctor’s surgery, a tollhouse and a squatter’s cottage. Local residents and shopkeepers (Friends of the Museum in Victorian costume) complete the illusion wonderfully, and once again Ken Jones was a wonderful guide, setting the scene with an astonishing amount of knowledge as we walked around.

That evening our guide to Wroxeter Roman City joined us for dinner. A former HADAS member, Dr Roger White is a young and enthusiastic archaeologist with a great knowledge of Wroxeter gained by working there over several seasons. His erudite talk and slide show was the perfect introduction to this important site.

Sunday morning found us on the way to Wroxeter, with a stop first at Buildwas Abbey. These ruins of .a Cistercian monastery and abbey are remarkably well preserved, and the guardian proved an excellent guide for our visit.

Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum) was the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, covering an area of 180 acres (the size of Pompeii). Begun in A.D. 60, it served as a garrison fort for the troops massing for the assault on Wales (the Severn nearby was fordable at this point). The remains of the forum and extensive bath houses have been excavated; quite a lot is known about public buildings, but very little about private dwellings. The site contains Britain’s largest piece of standing Roman wall, a section about 18 feet high that is affectionately known as “The Old Work”. Yet again we had an excellent guide – Roger seemed to know everything. A small museum on the site has some of the more interesting finds.

It was a short walk to St. Andrew’s Church nearby, now redundant but still cared for Michael Watson, the county archaeologist, did a fine job showing us round and pointing out some of the unusual features, including a font made from the upturned base of a Roman column.

It was a pity time was so short, but we had to be on time for our lunch at Attingham Park, a magnificent mansion built for Lord Berwick in 1785, and now in the care of the National Trust. We had time to look over the house and stroll in the grounds. It was a nostalgic visit for five of our party who had stayed there on the occasion of the first HADAS weekend in 1974.

Roger White then accompanied us to Shrewsbury where we enjoyed a walking tour of the streets and back alleys of the medieval town, finishing with an orgy of calories as we tucked into tea and scones at the 17th century Lion Hotel.

We returned to London via the A5, the journey taking rather longer than planned on account of heavy traffic in places. But nobody seemed to mind – we had had a splendid weekend with fine weather throughout, and once again Dorothy’s org­anisation had been faultless. Thanks go to her and our guides Fred, Ken and Roger, and driver Nigel, for all their hard work.

Where to next year?

PROGRESS AT 19 – 25 HIGH STREET, CHIPPING BARNET by Andy Simpson

With the onset of cooler weather, work at this site continues apace; the developer, Bishops, have again kindly made available a “JCB” and driver. The opportunity was taken to back-fill three “worked out” trenches and to open up three new ones.

The smallest of these three new trenches, in the far north-west corner of the site, close to the street frontage, exposed, below the concrete shop floor, a small pit, cutting the natural clay. This was excavated and proved to be of medieval date, containing grey ware and animal bone. A long narrow East-West trench, further back, has exposed more of the medieval cobbled surface, also with associated “grey wares”. The new trench at the rear of the site, linking two earlier trenches, has proved to be perhaps the most productive yet: the first feature noted is a short length of wall foundation, constructed of flint rubble and red tile. John Mills of the Museum of London tells us that he has seen sim­ilar examples, serving as dwarf walls for timber buildings, in the Uxbridge area dated to 1400-1700. A structural feature at last! This wall is butted on one side by a large pit: this was found to contain a superb pottery assemblage of c. 1700 A.D., including tinglaze, stonewares, slipwares, and mottled wares. Many of the sherds should be reconstructible into identifiable vessels.

The “portakabins” on site will shortly be moved, making more space available for excavation. However, we can do little without rather more bodies on site.

Come and help us make the most of this sizeable slice of medieval High Barnet

Details, as always, from Brian (tel: 081-959-5982; Arthur (tel: 081-368-6288) or your ever-pushy scribe, Andy (tel: 081-205-6456). WE NEED YOU!!

OTTOMAN JOURNEY by Rosalie Ivens

In June, I flew to Istanbul, then took a coach across the Anatolian plateau to Ankara, thence to Cappodocia. This area has the most amazing rock formations, for example the “Tuff” which was formed by volcanic ash millions of years ago, and sheltered by hard rock boulders above from wind and rain, which ate away the rest. Thus gradually appeared tall columns capped with rocks to look like fossilized mushrooms, called “fairy chimneys” by our guide. In the valley of Gorene, strange cone-shaped sandstone rocks had been hollowed out by Christians of 1,400 years ago, hiding from persecuting Arabs. Until quite recently people lived in an ancient monastery and a convent, built in the rock, with chapel walls painted with frescos, carved altars, and refectories with long tables and benches carved along the walls.

At the ancient ruins of Hieropolis, we swam in the Sacred Pool in hot thermal spring water, surrounded by roses, hibiscus, oleanders, cedar and cypress trees ­and under the water, fluted columns and Corinthian capitals from the Roman portico nearby. Outside the city is the necropolis – some 1,230 tombs unearthed in recent excavations.

On to Ephesus, one of the best preserved Greco-Roman cities in the world, and the site of the temple of Artemis, once one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Now it is rather a mournful site, just a single reconstructed column standing beside the excavation pit with foundations stones and architectural members. The rest of Ephesus is most impressive: colonnaded streets and avenues, the great theatre seating 25,000, the Market Place, the Library of Celsus, and the large pub-ic bath house of the Scholastics, in front of which stands the Temple of Hadrian, with its reconstructed porch sheltering the. bust of Tyche, protectoress of the city. For light relief (?) our party was photographed sitting in the ancient public latrines! We also visited the 6th century Basilica of St. John (which marks the spot where the apostle spent his last years and died) and the Virgin Mary’s House, discovered 100 years ago through the visions of a German woman. It is now a place of pilgrimage, venerated by Moslems as well as Christians.

A few nights’ rest at a small seaside village Altinoluk, and then a trip to ancient Pergamum, where Asclepion, dedicated to Asclepius the god of healing, was a highly reputed medical centre. It provided hot baths, massage, spring water for drinking, primitive psychiatry and interpretation of dreams. We saw the ruins of the library (Antony stole the books and gave them to Cleopatra) the very steep theatre, and the site of Zeus’ altar, removed by the Germans in the Second World War and now to be seen in East Berlin.

At last came Troy, where nine different cities have been built over the centuries. Now there are signs to tell you.which layer you are looking at L Then the ruins of Assos, whose massive walls still remain on the western side,with an arduous climb above for a rewarding panoramic view over the Aegean, and the ruins of a temple to Athena. Finally, we returned to Istanbul via Bursa – Ottoman capital of the 14th century, now famous for two great mosques and a beautiful Green Tomb – a pleasant city. Many more sites to visit in Turkey – I hope to go back !

Newsletter 234: September 1990 Editor: Brigid Grafton Geen

DOROTHY’S DIARY

Sat Sept 29 CAMDEN TOWN WALK with Muriel Large

Tuesday October 2nd Lecture: “Excavations in West Africa” Dr. Paul Craddock origins of West African Bronze work.

Saturday October 6th MINIMART St Mary’s Church House, Hendon NW4

Tuesday November 6th Lecture “Waters Sweet and Fresh for London” Dr. Michael Essex- Lopresti

Tuesday December 4th Christmas Dinner

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

This Newsletter is being put to bed by a surrogate editor because, as readers will be most sad to hear, our real editor, Isabel McPherson, was unexpectedly taken off to hospital in the middle of August. Friends wishing to enquire after Isobel can get the latest news from June Porges, on 081 346 5078 (evenings only); or if you would like to drop her a “best wishes” card, address it to Cordwainers Ward, Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, NW3.

Before she went to hospital Isobel had already accumulated a heavy postbag. Here is a selection from it:

Would HADAS by another name smell sweeter?
From Mr R G Michel

Dear Editor,

I would like to record my support for the status quo party in the debate on a possible change of name.

I read Jennie Cobban’s “The Case for Change” in Newsletter 231 with interest, but in my view the defence at present has no case to answer.

Even if it had, I suspect finding improved name would prove a difficult task. I do not favour the use of “Barnet” because of the potential for confusion with the town or with the local authority. I am certainly against anything like “London Borough of Barnet Archaeological Society” unless the Council intend to fund in full our academic activities.

“North West London” would not do at all. I’m sure the residents in the vicinity of Barnet High Street and Stanmore (for insurance purposes if no other!) do not consider themselves to live in that area.

I am certainly not against change in principle, but on the other hand I do not like change for change’s sake. If a convincing case for change can be assembled and a more appropriate name created, fine – until then I suggest the noes have it.

Yours sincerely,

ROBERT MICHEL

163 Colin Crescent,

Colindale, August 2, 1990 London N1 19 6ET

From Mrs Daphne Home Lorimer FCR, ARPS, FSA (Scot)
Madam,

I was sad to read that there is, once more, a desire to alter the name of the Hendon and District Archaeological Society. The name is descriptive (it started in Hendon and now encompasses the District of the Borough of Barnet) and it is well known. HADAS is so well known, in fact, that people as far apart, for example, as the Secretary of the Palaeopathology Society in the USA and the new Professor of Archaeology in the University of Glasgow have heard of it. HADAS is a name to be proud of and to cherish.

It is not unknown for a local society to change its name – for example, the East Anglian Archaeological Society became the Prehistoric Society and the South London Entomological and Natural History Society became the British Entomological and Natural History Society. In each case, however, it was in acknowledgement of the fact that the society in question had become a national body. HADAS, much as we love it, will never be a national body. By changing its name, 25+ years of work will be forgotten, except by those involved in it, and HADAS will lose its identity.

It is for the present custodians of the HADAS name to see that it is as well known as it used to be throughout the Borough of Barnet. However much we used to grumble at manning exhibitions at every fete and jamboree, at giving talks to schools, lectures to adult evening classes and penning short notes for the papers whenever asked, it did keep the name before the people of the Borough.

The origins of the names of local societies are as much part of the local history as the origins of its street names and the changing use of its buildings. Might I suggest, Madam Editor, that far from changing its name, HADAS appoints an archivist to burnish it?

I am your obedient servant,
DAPHNE LORIMER

Scorradale

Orphir

Orkney KW17 2RF

From Mr Alan Lawson
Dear Editor, 4th August 1990

In any discussion about possible change of name that might take place within HADAS, I think that we need to be most careful in our choice of words and cliches that we use to argue our case.

No one would deny that HADAS has changed, inasmuch as its membership has changed over the years, BUT its objectives remain the same. “Moving with the times” (Percy Reboul, Newsletter 233) is a truism not an argument.

Really! Amami, Drene, etc, and also Passing Cloud (probably very carcinogenic) have nothing to do with HADAS, unless of course we should come across some discarded containers on one of our digs years hence – and then they would be classified as “industrial archaeology.”

Finally, TRAMS! They are now beginning to re-emerge as the “in” means of solving urban transport problems.

Yours,

68 Oakwood Road, ALAN LAWSON
London NW11 6RN

BOTTOMS UP FOR AMPHORAE

Also in the Editor’s incoming mail was a letter from Nell Penny which set things off on quite a different tack. Nell was curious about the shape of an amphora’s bottom; she wrote:

“Stimulated by Brian Wrigley’s lucid and witty ‘metallurgy for beginners,’ I am emboldened to ask some potter-archaeologist why the Greeks and Romans persisted through a millenium in using amphorae – two-handled vessels which couldn’t stand up for them­selves. I am told that these later cultures were copying Middle Eastern habits. There practically anything will stand up in sand.

The capacity to stick flat bottoms on large jars certainly existed in the second millenium BC – I saw it proven in the huge jars of Minoan Knossos. Why then did Mediterranean societies continue to make and use unweildy amphorae? Innate conservatism?”

Amphorae are a subject dear to the heart of any archaeologist interested in the period from the Bronze Age to the Dark Ages. These large, clumsy vessels possess – from a digger’s point of view – priceless assets. Because of the detailed chronology which has been built up on the basis of their changing shape, colour, capacity and stamping, they are an invaluable tool for dating, sharing in that respect the important characteristics of more elegant artefacts such as coins and Samian pottery forms; and amphora fragments from many sites round the coasts of the Mediterranean and western Europe provide the bedrock for modern theories on the trade routes and economics of the ancient world.

Returning to Nell’s problem, I don’t believe that died-in-the-wool traditionalism had anything to do with dictating the contours of an amphora’s bottom, whether it was peg-tip, long sharp spike or button-like “pip.” I’ve always understood that because wine amphorae were so heavy ­often over a metre tall, containing up to 25 litres of wine and possibly weighing, when full, some 50kg – you had to be able to hold them firmly when you picked them up to decant the liquid. A flagon like object of that size and weight, flat-bottomed, could not have been easily held – but put a spike on its bottom and you could sling it around, gripped at the top with a hand through one handle and at the base by the spike.

The essentials of amphora shape were summed up by an American archaeologist who took part in the excavation of the Agora in Athens a few years back, where 800-odd commercial amphorae were re-assembled. In a pamphlet, Amphoras and the Ancient Wine Trade, he described the finds, which covered over a thousand years, from 500 BC to the 6c AD. He found that the amphorae had in common

“a mouth narrow enough to be corked, two opposite vertical handles and at the bottom usually a tip or knob which serves as a third handle, below the weight, needed when one inverts a heavy vessel to pour from it. A flat bottom big enough for the jar to stand on would give no purchase for lifting. Attached bases like those on small two-handled vases for the table would add uselessly to the weight of these containers and to the inconvenience of stowing them as cargo, as well as to the cost of manufacture. Stands of various kinds were ordinary household equipment … when the jars needed to be kept upright – sometimes wooden or bamboo tripods, or large pottery rings in which the body of the amphora sits as in an egg-cup.”

Wine-jars on stands appear in tomb-paintings of Egyptian and Syrian banquets; but not at Greek parties. The Greeks usually drank their wine diluted with water, and the mixture was prepared in a krater or mixing bowl away from the table: but the boy who prepared the wine must have had to up-end the heavy vessel over the krater just as a server would have done at table, and must have needed the spike equally. The Syrians and Egyptians often sucked their wine direct from the jar on its stand through a bent tube – an almost exact ancestor of today’s “bendy straw” so beloved of modern toddlers.

Though amphorae began by being vessels for wine, often being fired in kilns beside the vineyard, the American digger in Athens writes that “they tended to accumulate just as gasoline cans do in countries today, and to be adapted to many purposes. They were re-used for all sorts of commodities – cheese and pickled fish, beer, nuts, honey. Some became funerary urns; others, with a section cut from one side, served as coffins for infants. Whole or broken, their bulk was exploited in filling disused wells or cisterns, or levelling a stretch of ground for a large building. Their hollowness … was used for strategic purposes, most memorably as Herodotus tells by the Phocians of central Greece, who dug a great pit in a mountain pass, laid in amphoras and covered them with earth, and so trapped the enemy cavalry, whose horses crashed in and broke their legs.”

As in Athens, so later in Londinium amphorae were used for many purposes. The Capital Gains exhibition at the Museum of London a few years ago showed an amphora dated AD70-120, found on a riverside site in Southwark. An analysis of the residue showed it had contained liquamen, or fish-sauce; the inscription read “Liquam/Antipol/Exc/ L Tettii Africani” – i.e. “the finest fish sauce from Antipolis (Antibes) product of Lucius Tettius Africanus.” Although the amphorae from British sites often had the weight, content and name of the producer inscribed on the body of the vessel, earlier wine-jars which provide so much evidence for east Mediterranean trade often showed a stamp impressed on the handle of the jar before firing.

Other imports into Roman Britain in amphorae between c. AD50-200 were whole olives, olive oil, wine, concentrated sweet grape juice, dates, figs and salt fish. An amphora found unbroken in the Thames estuary still had its undisturbed contents – about 6000 olives. Sweet grape juice, known as defrutum, was an essential ingredient for Roman cooks. Olive oil usually arrived in distinctive globular, round-bottomed amphorae from southern Spain. c. AD200 was the beginning of the end of the amphora era, although the vessels continued to be used in dwindl­ing numbers for three or four centuries: for instance, fragments of a Palestinian wine amphora made in Gaza in late 4c/early 5c AD helped to date one of the last Roman buildings built in Londinium. Casks and barrels, however, used in Europe since the let century BC, were becoming increasingly popular.

Finally, something about stoppers, or bungs. Ancient vintners had a choice of substances with which to close the mouths of their amphorae: wax, clay, wood (though that was mainly used as bungs for casks); but they did not, so far as we know use cork for wide-mouthed amphorae, though cork from Spain and North Africa was known in Rome in the 1st c. BC and Pliny mentions it. Cork comes into its own as a closure for wine only in the early 15c AD, when cork and glass bottles get together.

There are, in the Greek gallery at the British Museum, some objects made of twisted bronze openwork strips, about 9cm long and perhaps 3cm in diameter, found in tombs dated c. 750BC. The caption suggests that pitch-coated twine was wound round and round these, and that they were used to close wine jars. Pitch had long been used for various purposes in the prehistoric wine trade – for instance, to paint the bodies of Greek amphorae to render them more impervious. It has, indeed, been suggested that storing wine in pitch-treated amphorae originally gave the Greeks their liking for what is still a local product, retsina – wine with a turpentine taste.

A recent article in Archaeometry took that theory back into the Bronze Age. Divers exploring a shipwreck off the Turkish coast dated c.1350 BC found about a hundred Syrian amphorae. They contained lumps of greenish-amber coloured resin, thought to have been used for sealing them. Chemical analysis identified the lumps as a species of pistacia, still known as the turpentine tree. That gives modern retsina a really long ancestry. Brigid Grafton Green

TALKING OF BARNS AND TEMPLES . . . PETER PICKERING describes HADAS’s July adventures in Essex

Dorothy advised us to bring a packed lunch and rainwear. So we did, and we took them home again, untouched. Our vision of crouching under a shared umbrella trying to undo a sodden bag of sandwiches proved the diametrical opposite of the reality. The globally-warmed sun blazed down on a large marquee, in which were all the goodies the Essex Federa­tion of Women’s Institutes could muster.

But I must control myself, and begin at the beginning. Our first visit was to Harlow Museum, in Passmores House, which has a medieval core, a 1723 front, and an imported Adam fireplace. Congratulations to Harlow Council on its imaginative purchase of this attractive building. The curator, Ian Jones, who had fascinated us in February with his account of the excavation of the Temple of Minerva, displayed his collection. The Harlow area is rich in Roman finds, and had a flourishing post-medieval pottery industry particularly yellow on brown slipware whose quality, if Mr Jones was not slandering it, was not of the highest. There was also an exhibition of jigsaws, including one with pictures of the peoples of the world, with brief characterisations a la Nicholas Ridley.

Thence to Cressing Temple. The soubriquet “Temple” comes from the Knights Templars, whose two great 13c barns (the Barley and the Wheat Barns respectively) are the dominant feature. They were hives of activity, with crowds milling around the Women’s Institute competition entries. But Mr Wadhams found a quiet place in which to tell us the history of the site, and teach us about medieval carpentry and timber-framed building construction. He then took us through the barns themselves, where the apter pupils could spot the different types of joints on the beams, rafters and braces for themselves. Congratulations to Essex County Council on its imaginative purchase of this beautiful and important complex, which will be even better in a year or two when the walled garden and the court house are restored.

Next to Coggeshall and another barn, equally grand and even older, but seeming somehow lifeless, perhaps because so much was rebuilt from a derelict state in the 1970s, or perhaps because instead of the thronging Women’s Institutes doing their thing there were National Trust displays. Nevertheless, congratulations to Braintree Council for saving it in 1982 (am I perhaps dropping a series of hints to our own dear Borough?) The party then split up to wander round Coggeshall, trying to find shady spots from which to see the wealth of domestic buildings, many with pargetting or carved bessumers, or even to have a cream tea. Then homewards, with thanks to Frank, our helpful driver, and congratulations to George Ingram, about to celebrate his ninetieth birthday.

MORE ABOUT THAT PIPELINE by Victor Jones

We reported in Newsletters 230, 231 and 233 on HADAS’s monitoring of the Three Rivers Pipeline which the water authorities are cutting across north and northwest London. When it has been completed the pipe­line will pass through about seven miles of our Borough. The present line starts at Rowley Green and we are watching its progress closely, hoping to pinpoint information of archaeological interest. The cut being made in the surface of the ground is 10m wide and 25cm deep; with an inner cut, which will carry the actual pipe, 75cm wide by 2m/3m deep.

The original intention of the water authorities sounded a bit like the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway through the Rockies – to start at each side (in the case of LBB from Brockley Hill, going NE, and from Rowley Green, going SW) and meet in the middle. However, that’s not how it has worked out in practice.

The digging proramme in fact began at Edgwarebury Farm, in the area some little way to the east of Brockley Hill; since then the plan has been changed almost weekly, so that we have had to tailor our watching on a day-to-day basis. Here is a report on what is happening in the different sections:

The Edgwarebury section (from the A41 to M1) is almost complete, the pipe having been laid and covered. We made a few finds while watching and they are being processed.

As reported in the last Newsletter, work on the section between the Ml and A1000 won’t be completed until the end of September, because one part of it crosses Mill Hill golf course and the golf club is to be allowed to complete its match programme in peace. The part of this section which covers Scratchwood open space will require constant watching during the next few weeks.

The section between the A1000 and Arkley was completed in June/July as far as the Barnet Road; again, finds are being processed. The line has now been taken across the Barnet Road and the NW corner of Hyver Hill to the A1000. We have found no material of interest in the part cleared and walked so far, about halfway to the A1000.

As reported in the last Newsletter, the section from the A41 to the AS (Watling Street) was started in June, and then adjourned to the other side of Watling Street, going from Wood Lane down to the point where the crossing of Watling Street is to be made. Little material of interest was found. In the last Newsletter we reported that the crossing of Watling Street would take place in the first week of August, but that did not happen. We also outlined the agree­ment reached with the contractors by which we would have time to examine the pipeline on both sides at the Watling Street crossing, an area which might prove to be of outstanding archaeological interest. The crossing is now scheduled to be made from Sept. 7-10, and we hope the same arrangements will stand.

The finds and observations made so far have not provided anything of outstanding interest. Pottery and other artefacts consist mainly of material dated to the last two/three centuries, and are of the kind one might expect in a spread of farm rubbish in field and woodland, in an area geared mainly to the provision of hay, for the horses in a metropolis. A full report on the finds will be made when monitoring is complete and they have been studied; and it is hoped to publish in a forthcoming Newsletter a map showing the line taken by the pipeline.

Meantime, members interested in taking part in the remaining walks, or in the investigation of the Watling Street crossing, please phone either Tessa Smith (081 958 9159), Brian Wrigley (081 959 5982) or Victor Jones (081 453 6180).

MEMORIAL TO A LOCAL HISTORIAN

It was sad to hear last month of the death of Bill Taylor, aged 84, leading local historian of the northern part of our Borough and a colleague of HADAS’s of long standing. We had many links with him. From 1965-83 he was Curator of Barnet Museum, a position which went well in tandem with his secretaryship of the Barnet & District Local History Society, with which he had been associated since he first joined it as a young man in his twenties.

HADAS’s collaboration with him was probably at its closest during the planning of the Battle of Barnet quincentenary when, on our first suggesting a commemoration of the battle, Bill gave us his wholehearted co-operation in forming a committee and then in collecting, preparing and mounting a large exhibition in the old Council chamber at Barnet, next door to his Museum.

That was in 1971, and our association continued to thrive in such matters as the exhibition of Industrial Archaeology, Here Today, Gone Tomorrow,” .which Bill invited us to put on at Barnet Museum in 1979; and the backing which he gave to HADAS’s efforts to spread blue plaques, commemorating famous people and events, outside the environs of Hendon to other parts of the Borough. That project culminated, among others, in plaques on Thomas Lipton’s former home in Chase Side, Southgate; on the Tudor Hall, in Chipping Barnet; and to Benjamin Waugh, founder of the NSPCC, in Friern Barnet. I remember Bill saying he rejoiced in all those. BGG

UP-DATE ON THE DIG

19-25 High Street, Chipping Barnet

As the heatwave continues, so does work on extending this site. A fifth small trench has now been opened on the eastern edge, close to the entrance. This is in the hope of picking up traces of buildings fronting the original line of the Great North Road, which runs along the eastern edge of the site and out into the main lower High Street; however, modern interference – what appears to be a brick-built toilet block – has removed most of the archaeology at this point. The exception is a small area of medieval deposits immediately below modern topsoil, which has yielded 12c/15c material.

Traces of buildings continue to be elusive over the rest of the site, despite extensions to trench 2 in the centre: however, much medieval pottery, mostly “grey wares,” continues to be found. Digging on the site is expected to continue into September: the hardy band of a half-dozen or so regulars could certainly do with some help to extend

The trenches and complete the surveying. Details as always from the “Gang of three”. Come and help us add to our present tally of one hand-made sherd “not later than 1150AD.

The HADAS LIBRARY

This is an attempt to kill two birds with one stone: to provide an interim progress report and to cry for help.

Our Hon. Treasurer, Victor Jones, reported in the June Newsletter on the suitability of our new room at Avenue House “for housing a small, well-ordered library.” Since then he has been working out the practical­ities of that project. First step is to take stock of salvaged material.

Though some of our books and papers were badly damaged in the Avenue House fire, many people working many hours managed to save something from the wreck. The full tale of that marathon rescue is likely to become a HADAS legend and Victor hopes to tell the complete story in a forthcoming Newsletter.

The salvaged material went into storage until details of our new accommodation could be settled. Now Victor and Ted Sammes, continuing the work of June Porges, have started the long trek towards getting the less damaged material back into use.

They have unpacked some books and begun the job of putting then on the shelves. That’s not, however, quite as simple as it sounds – and this is where our cry for help comes in. Every item has to be carefully examined, a decision taken about its condition, books cleaned, dusted, covers replaced, and so on.

Would you – yes, you who are reading these very words – be able to spare even an hour or two to help? Even better, a whole morning, after­noon or evening? The work is not difficult, though it is a bit grimy and calls for old clothes, if you can help, will you ring Victor Jones on 453 6180 and discuss days and times? You’re guaranteed to get a great welcome.

SITE-WATCHING

The following sites, subject of recent planning archaeologically sensitive. Members living near are on them and report anything of possible interest to John Enderby, on 081 203 2630.

Central Area

Manor House, 80 East End Road, N3

Five Bells PH, 167 East End Rd, N3

St Michaels Convent, Nether St, N3

Northern Area

62/72 Wood St, Chipping Barnet

58 Union St, Chinning Barnet

19/29 High St, Chipping Barnet

98/100 High St, Chipping Barnet

56 Galley Lane, Arkley

170 Bells Hill, Chipping Barnet

198 High St, Chipping Barnet

92a Bells Hill, Chipping Barnet

Western Area

30 Church End, NW4

Rosebank Barn, The Ridgeway, NW7

93 Francklyn Gns, Edgware

108/110 Edgwarebury Lane, Edgware

30 Hartland Drive, Edgware

MME PATAUD BROODS ON ETERNITY

HELEN GORDON, our woman in the Dordogne, sends this despatch

Another museum has been opened in Les Eyzies this year, on the site of the Pataud shelter which lies between the Prehistoric museum in the castle, and the Cro-Magnon hotel. Here the cliff towers above the village road about 200m from the Vezere; the shelter lies partway up the cliff in a deep overhang.

The shelter bears the name of its farmer proprietor at the end of the 19c when signs of its ancient prehistoric inhabitants were first recognised Peyrony and the other French archaeologists recovered much material from the area, but it was not until a full-scale excavation was carried out between 1958-64, led by Harvard Professor Movius, that the shelter was shown to be one of the most important upper palaeolithic sites in France, having been occupied on numerous occasions between 32-30,000 BC and 18-17,000 BC.

The site itself has been preserved in one section of the museum, showing clearly the stratification and the location of the principal finds, replaced where they were discovered. The second part is located in the troglodytic cellar of the farm which has required little adaptation for the display of a rich selection of the material, and incidentally, with great serendipity, provided a wonderfully cool atmosphere in which to enjoy it, in this hottest of Dordogne summers (temperatures reaching 40° C).

Needless to say the museum is well equiped with headphones in different languages, ever-changing screens of information, and a final electronic game to test a visitor’s knowledge and observation, sending him back to look again if he fails. In the centre sits “Mme Pataud,” brooding over eternity. She has been modelled by the sculptor Eirik Granquist, advised by H-A de Lumley, a palaeontological specialist on diseases, on information derived from the well-preserved skeleton of a young woman found buried with her new-born baby-at the back of the shelter. She was in her twenties when she died, a strong young woman and, belonging like us to the genus homo sapiens, one who might pass unnoticed in a modern crowd; though I detected a certain ferocious toughness in her expression which might cause surprise.

At the end of the visit, lights go out and a five minute film is projected on the background of the rock, showing shelter life. A fire is blazing, lighting up returning hunters, animals being skinned, tools being made, food prepared and eaten; (the sense of reality, which breathes life into the museum exhibits, its unfortunately jolted by the close-ups, inevit­ably out of scale with the background). This aside, the museum provides an excellent introduction to this slice of prehistory, and I find endearing their emphasis on the continuity of occupation of the shelter, from the Aurignacians to N. Pataud, and indeed to the museum.

GEORGE IN HIS NAUGHTY NINETIES Spotlight on a special occasion, hosted recently by JUNE PORGES at her Finchley home

There was a touch of “This Is Your Life” about George Ingram’s 90th birthday party – because it was all a surprise. George expected to enjoy a little light supper with one or two cronies – and instead he walked into a gathering of twenty or so HADAS friends waiting to congratulate him.

The occasion, however, had none of the formality of “This Is Your Life.” It was a glorious July evening and there was no official programme. People drifted from sitting room to garden and back; and there was much nattering about HADAS and its high spots, past and present. The age-range was roughly two-plus (our hostess’s grandson) up to George’s ninety: no generation gap visible at this party.

Of course good food and wine marked the event – including a birthday cake with candles, lovingly made, needless to say, in a HADAS kitchen. Glyn Daniel started something when he suggested more than a quarter century ago, in his classic The Hungry Archaeologist in France, that there is an affinity between good food and archaeologists. It’s a tradition HADAS cooks like to nurture.

The party went with such a swing that one hostess, in charge of presents, nearly forgot to give George his. They were a series of albums ­four or five, each immaculately wrapped, to hold his photos, starting with a tiddler for casual snapshots and building up to a monster which could take full-size exhibition prints. One or two photos of George (in HADAS gear, with trowel or guide-book at the ready) started each album off. Know­ing George’s canny hand with a camera, they seemed a most appropriate gift.

After gossip, goodies and gifts there came, naturally, “Happy Birthday To You,” sung with a will by the assembled company. That’s a wish, dear George, with which the Newsletter warmly associates itself.

MARY O’CONNELL – so successful as a guide to City tourist groups that she is now tutoring classes for probationer guides – is also busy on another front. She and. her husband have bought a holiday home in Taunton and are busy equipping it – no wonder they are keeping a beady eye on what comes in for the Minimart.

Sad news from MARY BARNETT, currently in hospital undergoing tests for an undiagnosed infection. She and husband Barney, two of our most regular outings addicts, had signed on for the Ironbridge weekend, but whether they will be able to take part is in the lap of the doctors.

REVA BROWN, HADAS member since 1979, is now studying at Bradford-University. Her subject is unexpected. “I’m looking at the purpose of university schools,” she writes, “and at academics and the management of knowledge. It’s proving fascinating.” She is two-thirds through her course, so we can hope to welcome her back to London before too long.

Thought for the day, seen on the Institute of Archaeology notice-board:

“Competent Field Archaeologist wanted with survey, drawing
and excavation skills, for four to six weeks’ field work in Kuwait.”

Underneath a wag had written “Combat experience preferred.”

ISSUE No 233: Edited by Vikki O’Connor AUGUST 1990

DIARY

Saturday 25 August PIDDINGTON ROMAN VILLA & TOWCESTER (Details & application form enclosed)

Friday 31 August – SHROPSHIRE WEEKEND

Sunday 2 September 44 Members have booked for this trip. Due to cancellation two places have become available. Please phone Dorothy Newbury on (081) 203 0950 if interested.

Saturday 29 September CAMDEN TOWN WALK – Muriel Large

Tuesday 2 October LECTURE “Excavations in West Africa” – Dr Paul Craddock

Saturday 6 October MINIMART – only a month to go, goods are coming in thick & fast!

DIGGING NEWS

19-25 HIGH STREET, CHIPPING BARNET – ANDY SIMPSON

“MAD COWS & ENGLISHMEN” (with apologies to Noel Coward)

After bemoaning the heavy rain in the last note, your scribe can now whinge about it being too hot… But seriously folks, work on the 19-25 High Street site at Chipping Barnet is continuing, with effort concentrating on the centre and rear trenches. A considerable amount of medieval pottery has been recovered and identified by Jennie Cobban as being mostly South Herts ‘greyware’, South Herts variant, and London-type ware, of the period 1150-1350, i.e. very similar to the range and date of material recovered from the ‘Mitre’ as recounted in the report accompanying this newsletter.

The excavation team have been much amused by the rutted nature of the presumed medieval pebbled yard surface revealed in the centre trench, giving rise to dubious jokes about medieval mad cows. It keeps us sane, I suppose…

With the time allotted for the excavation coming to a close, we would be very grateful for extra ‘hands’ for the final weeks – details, as ever, from: Brian (081-959-5982); Arthur (081-368-6288) or your scribe (081-205-6456).

THE MITRE DIG BRIAN WRIGLEY

The final report on this dig appears as a supplement to this issue of the newsletter. To acknowledgements formally recorded there, I would like to add our further thanks to the Willcocks family who provided the Kanga Hammer, and Victor Jones for organising the initial surface breaking with it; also to all those who dug and drew – Anna Fraser, John Heathfield, Graham Javes (who also worked on the finds), Fred King, John O’Mahoney, Brian McCarthy, Vikki O’Connor, Peter Pickering, George Sweetland, Don Watson, plus Ann, Lisa, Miriam, and Peter (whose surnames unfortunately did not get recorded!)

I would like to add a small point of correction to the historical record: the aptly-named licensee of The Mitre, Mr Bishop, told us his house had in the past had a bad Press – I think it was Pepys and Dr Johnson who referred to the poor victuals provided by The Mitre. We must put this right by putting on record that we found The Mitre’s victuals most enjoyable, and I particularly commend their excellent crusty cheese sandwiches!

THREE RIVERS PIPELINE PROJECT VICTOR JONES

Several sections are completed and the remaining work has now been re-programmed.

As some Members will know, rather more than half of the project is finished and we have walked all of it several times. Finds of various kinds were made and are sorted by section. No work has so far been undertaken on the section between the M1 and the A1000. This has to cross a golf course and part of the Scratchwood open space and its woods. The main works on this will not be started until mid-September as much of this is in the golf course area, and is delayed due to the Club’s match programme. This work is expected to take two or more weeks.

There is also the smaller section between the A1000 and the Barnet Road. This crosses the north-west corner of Hiver Hill and should commence when the Arkley section is finished.

The section from the A41 to Watling Street and on to the Wood Lane side of Brockley Hill was started in June. The topsoil removal finished three weeks or so ago but Watling Street crossing was not undertaken as arrangements had to be made first for the road to be closed. This is now planned for the August holiday weekend (4th – 7th August).

When we discussed the project with the Consultants to the Water Company it was agreed they would ask the contractors to give us access to both sides of the road and to clear ditch and banks to road level before this work so that we might look for possible remains of the Roman road foundations, and examine the “Hollow Way” to the east of Watling Street. It may possibly be the continuation of the road we discovered during our 1987 dig and was thought to be of Middle Ages construction.

Members interested in taking part in these walks or the Watling Street work, should this prove possible, can phone Tessa Smith, Brian Wrigley or Victor Jones for information.

MEMBERS’ VIEWS: “HADAS” – THE NAME

The following Members’ views have been received for publication in the Newsletter. The Hon Secretary has received more letters on the subject which will be duly placed before the Committee for consideration.

“Our name HADAS is widely known by people in the archaeological world, as meaning a North London society practising and promoting archaeology. The name is a kind of password among the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society and similar groups; in the Museum of London, and among senior staff of the Departments of Urban and Greater London Archaeology. It is known to the Council for British Archaeology and to readers of such reputable journals as Current Archaeology and the London Archaeologist. If we were to be differently named I believe many would ask “but what happend to HADAS?” Let us stay the same but with a sub-title, eg HADAS, FOR ARCHAEOLOGY IN BARNET.”

JEAN SNELLING

“I am wondering whether I attended the same AGM as Joan Wrigley! As I remember it, the motion was printed on the agenda papers and I heard it read in clear tones by both the Hon Sec and the Chairman. In short, the proceedings were properly and meticulously adminstered.

The reason why the motion succeeded so overwhelmingly was that members found it reasonable and pertinent, not that the back row was enjoying a zizz. Resistance to change is the curse of this country. We see it, and have seen it historically in medicine, agriculture, politics, the arts, archaeology … you name it. For goodness sake let’s accept the fact the HADAS has changed. It has little in common with the aims of its founding fathers – all honour to their memories. It has grown in every sense of the word thanks to the skill and dedication of a number of people – including some whom I know object to the name change. But we must keep moving with the times. There is nothing sacrosanct in a name: the Amami, Drene, Oxydol and Passing Cloud of my youth, like trams and steam engines, are now part of history – treasured memories but replaced by more relevant products and services.”

PERCY REBOUL

“I would confirm what I tried to say at the recent AGM of the Society in Hendon Library. I am still of the opinion that if a suitable note be printed on HADAS stationery, membership cards etc – to the effect that “HADAS ACTIVITIES INCLUDE THE WHOLE AREA OF BARNET BOROUGH” it would solve the controversy.

As you know, HADAS has established itself in several publications, etc and is known to many people and organisations – any change of name might necessitate the loss of this acronym. Also the ‘logo’ might have to go.

I appreciate there may be some feeling among our members who live in the northern parts of the Borough of Barnet – Hendon is a few miles to the south, but it is the base from which the Society was established and no doubt there are some members who still live in the area which once ‘came under the Borough of Hendon – it was from 1st April 1965 that the new London Boroughs formed, but the Councils of Barnet and Hendon could not agree on the title, nor could the other 3 Councils of Finchley, Friern and East Barnet – so the Minister of Housing & Local Government confirmed “Barnet” as his decision! (One good suggestion, I think, was ‘Northgate’ which if adopted would have avoided troubles of identity!)

It would be nice if the Barnet Corporation could let us use their title, also to fund us perhaps, but as that seems unlikely I think our present title should be

retained with that little note re. Barnet.”

GEORGE W INGRAM

(As an ‘outsider’ to the Borough, born and raised in Bounds Green, still living in N11 just within the Barnet boundary, I thought I could view the identity issue with detachment but on reflection this is not true. I feel privileged to belong to HADAS – a name synonymous with the best traditions of local voluntary archaeological groups – the HADAS stand flying the flag at LAMAS conferences is a tradition in itself. (Jean Snelling makes the point about our reputation with various bodies.) Boundaries come – and go ­the “& District” not only provides for the inclusion of Barnet but there is room for expansion if that were ever appropriate. Barnet already has a thriving local history society bearing its name -a Barnet Archaeological Society could cause confusion. – Ed)

A FURTHER VIEW FROM JEAN SNELLING:

“We need to be better known in our London borough. This means steady hard work to show local people what we do. Rescue digs are mostly brutish and short. Local shows, lecture opportunities and press reports may have to be our bread and butter at present and probably we should build up our exhibition material. There is great interest in the recent and probably more understandable past such as the Water Pipeline, the Whetstone medieval house and the Icehouse, and in our publications about the present and last centuries. Roman kitchen ware and prehistoric stuff are less persuasive, yet the West Heat site fascinated primary school children who visited it. We could do with a demonstration set of flint tools that people could actually handle (feeling is better than just looking), and how helpful a local Roman villa or a really spectacular and prolonged excavation would be. At exhibitions people like to take our Newsletters. So let us send Newsletters regularly in rotation to our public libraries for readers to take away.”

TRIBUTE TO A ROYAL MUM AND GRANDMA TED SAMMES

Opening to the public on the Queen Mother’s Birthday, August 4th will be an Exhibition at the Guildhall, Windsor. The exhibition, Ninety Glorious and Memorable Years, traces the life of Her Majesty and includes mementos of her visits to diverse countries. It will be open daily from 10am to 5pm until August 31st. The exhibition is being staged by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, and will cost £2 for adults and £1 for senior citizens and children. Visiting this also gives a chance to see other parts of the Guildhall, which is not normally open to the public.

SOME THOUGHTS ON METALLURGICAL FOLKLORE BRIAN WRIGLEY

For anyone interested, as I am, in ancient swords and daggers, it is impossible to ignore early metallurgy, and not to become conscious of the varying characteristics of metals used in prehistory – which, as one not formally trained in metallurgy, I may see in the same sort of terms as a prehistoric metalworker might have used in the instruction of his apprentice son

COPPER, (my lad, he might have said) is surely feminine – the red harlot of the metals; the first, so all say, to attract Man’s attention in her native state, by the dull gleam of her Red Light in the earth. And once in Man’s service, she shows herself, malleable and ductile, ready to adopt any pose or contortion her master’s whim should dictate, after only little firing and gentle beating. She faithfully strives to stay in her master’s service; when other elements attempt to corrupt her, she uses them only to clothe herself in protective coverings, often of eye-catching electric greens and blues; only old ever-present Oxygen and underworld Sulphur can cover her in drab greys and browns, and even then beneath her dull garb, she keeps her shining copper-red spirit, ready for her master to admire whenever he should choose to give her a little polish.

But she is weak; her very willingness to bend and stretch are against her being firm and strong; to stiffen her up into BRONZE, she needs the help of her sister, TIN, who is far to seek and hard to find; her cousin ARSENIC (who is always around and often found with her) can help in this, but he is untrustworthy, giving off fumes deadly to Man, and should only be made use of with care and at arm’s length.

(Our prehistoric smith, of course, could not have known that, millennia later, COPPER would show her worth yet again as Man’s hand-maiden in fetching and carrying his newly-discovered electric currents.)

IRON, on the other hand, is definitely masculine. In its native state, as pure iron, it simply does not exist on this Earth, apart from some meteoric strays from outer Space. He exists here, as metal, only in the service of Man, who has torn his ore from Earth, put it to intense fire, much fiercer than that needed for COPPER, and beaten him hard and mercilessly to make him emerge as a metal. Not for IRON is the readiness my lady COPPER shows, to become a fluid and take the shape of the mould Man provides; in the fiercest heat, he will glow and soften, but still has to be beaten with heavy blows to form into the shape Man wants. (When we say, the smith a might man is he, it is the IRONsmith we speak of.) This very obstinacy is of course also the strength we so prize. But IRON is an unwilling slave; he ever wants to quit Man’s service, and must be closely overseen; left to himself for the shortest of times, he can be seen to strive to change himself back into rust – the ore from which he came – hoping to creep unnoticed back into the womb of Mother Earth.

GOLD, of course, is also masculine and indeed the King of metals. Disdaining to combine himself with any inferior element, he nonetheless will on occasion deign to alloy himself, in nature, with his Queen, SILVER, in the form known as electrum. (SILVER in passing, is prone to dubious alliances with some of the lower orders, such as smelly old Sulphur ­which alliances get black marks, as sometimes shown on our eggspoons, for example.) GOLD does not serve Man; he makes Man serve him – grubbing in the earth, quarrelling, lying, fighting and slaying to acquire this sovereign metal. However, conscious of his regal duty to his subjects, he is willing to be spread very thin to lend to objects of common stuff an aura of wealth as gold leaf; he only insists that the beating to achieve this should be gentle, and under the protection of layers of leather, as befits his royal status.

Now, my lad, (the smith might have gone on to say) I have told you some of the secrets of our craft, which you have sworn never to betray to any outsider. As a sign of this, we must go down to the river and make a votive offering by throwing in a bronze dagger.

MEMBERS who visited Southside House, Wimbledon last year with Mary O’Connell may like to know it is now open to the public on Saturdays for guided tours at 2pm, 3pm, 4pm and 5pm. (Phone: 081-946-7643) Other Members may have seen Lucinda Lambton’s programme on TV recently and want to go there. Built in 1687, with an exciting history, descendants of the same family still live there.

OUTING REPORT – RICHMOND, JUNE 23 MARY BARNETT

Only 34 of us turned up for the June outing to Richmond. Illness accounted for a few absentees and possibly many members have done Richmond under their own steam.

The town and its stately homes were well worth a first or second visit and our itinerary was relaxed by HADAS standards. Gracious living, art collections, the beauty of the river, woodlands and meadows made a welcome change on a sunny day from our habitual dogged treks across muddy fields and windswept hills, much though we enjoy that sort of outing.

Richmond is well preserved in all its elegance made up of the cream of domestic architecture of the past several centuries. This is due to the vigilance of the local organisations and to the royal dimension. Much of the area is Crown land not up for grabs. Queen Elizabeth lived at Richmond Palace, built by Henry IV or V, and in fact she died there. Nothing remains of the palace now except the Tudor gatehouse and buildings known as Wardrobe Court.

Our small party enjoyed the luxury of three guides, members of Richmond Voluntary Guides, who met us from the coach outside the Star and Garter Hotel and led us down Richmond Hill and round the town. The views from Richmond Hill were spectacular, the hill itself lined with gracious terraces and houses. Our guide pointed out the residences of illustrious figures from the past, such as Sheridan and Kean, who settled in Richmond to enjoy the good air and pleasant environment.

In these days of rampant development and market forces the people of Richmond have to work hard to preserve their town. The well-known architect, Terry Quinlan, has introduced the styles of 17th and 18th century into the new Riverside Development that bears his name. Evidently local opinion is sharply divided about the complex of office buildings. HADAS members weren’t sharply divided; some thought Richmond had got off lightly.

At any rate the development does not stick out like a sore thumb as does a stark office building not far from the Thames – “That’s one that got away, before Richmond was declared a conservation area,” said our guide, who lives near the offending block.

We managed to fit in Richmond Green, the town museum housed in the Old Town Hall, and coffee, before being taken in our coach to visit Marble Hill House, Orleans House and gallery and finally Ham House.

Marble Hill House is an early 18th century Palladian villa where the mistresses of George II and George IV lived for a time. It was restored by the GLC and houses a fine collection of furniture, paintings and Chinese porcelain. It is administered by English Heritage. At Orleans House Gallery we viewed the collection of paintings and prints of Richmond and Twickenham bequeathed with the house to the locality by Mrs Ionides on her death in 1962. An interesting feature of the house is an octagon room richly decorated and containing the Royal medallion portraits and busts.

In three groups, we took the historic Richmond ferry, a small boat with an outboard motor and a lively boatman who told us “We’ve not lost a person overboard yet”! Across the Thames we went to Ham House, the spacious 17th century home of the Duke of Lauderdale and his second wife, Countess Dysart. Ham House is one of the best preserved houses of its period with much of its original furnishings and a large collection of pictures, including Lely’s picture of the Duke and Duchess of Lauderdale. The property is now owned by the National Trust and administered by the Victoria and Albert Museum. The garden has recently been restored to its original design.

The Duke was a minister in Charles H’s secret court, the Cabal; (the ‘1’ in Cabal stands for Lauderdale). Before Ham House, he lived at Lauderdale House, the 16th century mansion, now a community centre, on Highgate Hill.

We enjoyed a thoroughly interesting and pleasant day, the more so because we had a real peach of a coach driver. On his way to pick us up he was diverted back to base for a change of coach. We started half an hour late but he managed to get us to our starting point to meet our friendly and very well-informed guides on time. And our driver did not complain when we returned to the coach for the journey home dripping wet from the first rain of the day. Our thanks to Dorothy Newbury for arranging the outing.

BOOKS

MAPS AND PLANS For the Local Historian & Collector – David Smith

Batsford Local History series, paperback, 0 7134 5192 0 £15.95

WHARRAM PERCY: Deserted Medieval Village – Maurice Beresford & John Hurst

This title is one from a new series from English Heritage/Batsford edited by Stephen Johnson, Academic Editor at English Heritage.

Paperback, 0 7134 6114 1 £10.95 (also in hardback £19.95)

COURSES IN ARCHAEOLOGY 1990-91

For details of enrolment & other courses, contact: Birkbeck College (University of London) Centre for Extra-mural Studies, 26 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DQ, telephone 071 636 8000 ext 3854.

(D /T = daytime, E = evening)

CAMDEN AEI, Longford St, NW1: Digging up the Bible (D/T)

CITY LIT, Stukeley St, WC2:

Greek Civilisation: Writers in Translation (D/T)

Introduction to Egyptian Hieroglyphs (E)

Aztecs & Maya, Ancient & Modern (D/T)

Industrial Archaeology (E)

MUSEUM OF LONDON, London Wall, EC2

The Prehistory of the Thames Valley in its British Context – NICK MERRIMAN (E)

INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY

The Rise of Civilisation: World Prehistory & Protohistory – NICHOLAS JAMES (E)

WEA, BARNET, Ewan Hall, Wood Street, High Barnet

Industrial Archaeology – 1st Year Tutorial Class – D P SMITH, (Monday evenings)

WEA, MILL HILL & EDGWARE, Union Church, Mill Hill Bdwy, NW7

The Celts & Their Heritage – MRS D SERJEANTSON (Friday mornings)

WEA, SOUTHGATE, United Reformed Church, Fox Lane, Palmers Green, N13 Byzantium and the World of Late Antiquity – TONY ROOK, (Wednesday mornings)

Courses for the 4-year Diploma in Archaeology will be held at the Institute of Archaeology, Gordon Square; courses for the 3-year Certificate in Field Archaeology will be at the City Lit (and other venues less accessible from North London).

MEMBERS’ NEWS

George Ingrain, our Birthday Boy of the month (July) has reached his 90th. Still a regular participant in outings and lectures, and in the past a digger on excavations at Church Terrace, Hendon, Fuller Street, Woodlands, West Heath, Finchley Old Rectory, White Swan, Golders Green and Cedars Close, he was on the Committee for several years and ran the Library from 1974 to 1980. To start with he would turn up at lectures with his little attaché case full of books and when he handed over to June Porges in 1980 it had become a real library. Happy Birthday George!

Brigid Grafton Green – we are pleased to see Brigid back on the Outings Circuit. For the information of new members, Brigid was Secretary of HADAS for 14 years and Editor of the Newsletter for 16 years. She was the Master Cook at our various functions ­Roman, Arabian Night and the “historical feast” at our 21st Birthday Party.

Desborough Brooks. Those members of the Society, mainly in Hampstead Garden Suburb, who knew Desborough Brooks will be sorry to learn that he died suddenly in July. He had joined the Society 3 years ago on retiring from business. He enjoyed our lectures greatly and had hoped to take part in other activities.