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Nov 04

Newsletter 584 November 2019

By Roger | HADAS, Latest Newsletter, News, Past Newsletters, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

Number 584 November 2019 Edited by Micky Watkins

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE AND EVENTS PROGRAMME 2019

Lectures start at 7.45 for 8.00pm (unless otherwise stated) in the Drawing Room, Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Buses 82, 143, 326 & 460 pass close by, & it is five to ten minutes’ walk from Finchley Central Stn (Northern Line). Tea/coffee & biscuits follow the talk.

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: a royal and monastic landscape revealed by Bob Cowie.
Bob spent most of his career working as a field archaeologist with MOLA (1983–2017), notably on sites in Lundenwic, spending evenings teaching extramural students at Birkbeck about the archaeology of Saxon and medieval England. He began digging and finds processing with the
Wandsworth Historical Society in 1974, and later became longstanding member of the Richmond Archaeological Society, who helped investigate some of the sites that will be reviewed in his talk. His lecture concerns three riverside sites, which together form a nationally important historic
landscape. The earliest of these was Shene Palace, which Henry V began to rebuild with the intention of making it his dynastic seat. He also intended to found three religious houses nearby. One was to be a French Celestine monastery, but this scheme was abandoned following the outbreak of war with France. The other two monasteries comprised a Carthusian priory (Shene Charterhouse) and a Bridgettine abbey (Syon), which in their day represented a late, albeit isolated, flowering of medieval monasticism. Forty years after their final closure, when little survived of these two great religious houses, they were immortalised by Shakespeare as ‘two chantries where sad and solemn priests still sing’ (Henry V, Act 4, Scene 1). Most of the royal palace was swept away during the Commonwealth.

Sunday 1st December 2019 Christmas Party at Avenue House, 12.30pm – 4pm. The application form with the menu which will be a Christmas lunch, with alternatives is with this newsletter. £30 per head.

Tuesday 14th January 2020 at 2.30pm Ian Jones. Shelters to Shrapnel, surviving traces of Enfield at War, 1939-1945

Tuesday 11th February 2020. The Dorothy Newbury Memorial Lecture
Jon Cotton Prehistory in London – some Problems, Progress and Potential

EAST BARNET PARISH CHURCH – ST MARY THE VIRGIN Deirdre Barrie
If you are walking across Oakhill Park, East Barnet, your eye may catch sight of a mysterious large expanse of white at the top of the hill. As you draw nearer, the white becomes an ancient wall with three little windows in it. This is the north wall of the Church of St Mary the Virgin, which dates
back to 1080. It was then that the Benedictine monks of St Albans Abbey founded a small chapel.

Those Norman windows in the wall would not have been glazed, and the pieces of glass there now are remnants of the church’s medieval glass.
At the entry, you’ll notice a stile beside the lych-gate. This was once to allow access when the graveyard gates used to be closed to prevent animals straying in. The tiny, peaceful churchyard itself is kept as a conservation area for flora and fauna, and a little tour of it is well worthwhile. A thought-provoking blue leaflet available inside, “A Prayer Walk around the Churchyard” is full of interesting details of the graves. The very tall monument near the road is to Simon Houghton Clarke (9th Baronet), and is placed there so that his widow could see it from Oak Hill, a large white house still visible a few miles away and which is now a religious college.

The first chapel on the site had thick walls built of compressed rubble, lime and plaster, with stone round just the windows, while the frame of the door on the south side is probably from the Norman or Saxon period. There have been many alterations and enlargements to the church since. The chancel was built about 1400, while the first gallery was probably built in the reign of King James I, and used as a school room. In 1805 the church walls were raised by four feet, and a little later, in 1828, the tower was built, in neo-Norman style. Its three bells were recast in 1961 from the two original bells cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1861. (Alas, the Foundry closed in 2017). The tower is only 50 feet high, but tower and flag are visible from a good distance.

An amusing story is told in “The Little Church on the Hill”, a leaflet produced to celebrate the 925th Anniversary of the consecration of the church:
“In 1423 the Archbishop of Canterbury passed through Barnet, and the rector and priest were reprimanded for not ringing the church bells in his honour. When the offence was repeated the following year, the Archbishop ordered the church doors to be sealed as a punishment.”

The dissolution of the monasteries meant that King Henry VIII took over the ownership of the Manor of Chipping and East Barnet, and his son Edward VI sold on the Manor of East Barnet in 1553, but kept the patronage for himself. This means that even today the Sovereign is the patron of this church.

The church organ is apparently a very fine instrument for so small a church, and was installed in 1920 in memory of the Vernon Family’s only son, who was killed in WWI.

The nave of the church stands on the site of the original chapel, well over 925 years later, and St Mary’s is still very much alive as a centre for the community. The church is open to visitors from 10am-2pm on Saturdays. For more information see their website: http://www.stmarys-eastbarnet.org.uk/?page_id=50

THE LONG TRIP OF 2019 Jim Nelhams

After a tour of pick-up points, 36 members and friends headed westward for our four-night stay in Aberavon on the east side of Swansea Bay. A comfort break at Beaconsfield and on to Newport for our first two visits, but not in the coach shown above – an updated version.

Our first stop was to be the Newport Medieval Ship, recommended by Peter Pickering, though the Friends of the Ship had a marquee next to Hadas at this year’s Barnet Medieval Festival. At Newport, we were joined by a further five people. How nice it is that members who have moved out of the Barnet area still want to come and join us for our trips.

The Newport Medieval Ship
Newport sits on the River Usk, which is tidal and drains into the Severn Estuary. The Romans came to the area, with their camp at Caerleon, on the north side of Newport. Later, the Normans built Newport Castle. The main trading port in the area was Bristol, but Newport was a good site for ship repairs. In the summer of 2002, a new Arts Centre was being built on the riverbank in the centre of Newport. While excavating the orchestral pit, the remains of a fifteenth century boat were discovered, though concrete piles had already been drilled through the hull. Disassembling the remaining timbers tool over 3 months. Toby Jones, the curator of the Newport Medieval Ship project told us what had happened since, and what history of the boat had been established.

The ship was clinker built mainly of oak with a keel of beech. The length of the boat is about 100 feet, just small enough to fit in the warehouse where reconstruction is under way. Most of the timbers had been dated to just after 1450 and from the Basque country of Northern Spain. It is likely that the ship had been involved in the Iberian wine trade. She had been much repaired, and it would appear that during repairs around 1468, she fell on her side. Much of the upper structure, masts etc, had been salvaged for re-use, leaving a large section of the hull, which became subsumed into the mud.

Reproduced by permission of the Friends of Newport Ship

About 1,000 artefacts were recovered, including coins, 500+ pieces of ceramic, shoes, textiles, combs, stone shot, but no guns and three pumps. The silt around the hull was bagged and awaits future inspection and is bound to add to the information. The timber pieces have been scanned in three dimensions with the results used to produce one tenth scale copies on a three-dimension printer. These have been assembled to provide a model and template for further reconstruction.

The Newport Transporter Bridge
In 1896, John Lysaght of Wolverhampton wanted to build a steel works on the East Bank of the Usk, but most of the potential workforce lived on the opposite bank, and the Town bridge was becoming congested. A ferry was out of the question because of the tides and the muddy banks. The solution had to allow the passage of shipping at high tide. Tunnels and a high-level bridge were considered but were too costly. Robert Haynes, the Borough Engineer became aware of the work of

French engineer Ferdinand Arnodin, whose idea of an “aerial ferry” seemed to solve the problem within the available budget. This type of construction, now generally called a transporter bridge, consists of braced towers on each bank supporting a cross girder. From this is suspended a cradle or gondola on wires, which can be moved back and forward across the river.

(Plan of the Newport Transporter Bridge)
Eighteen transporter bridges have been built worldwide, with 6 still operating. Of the four erected in UK, Newport and Middlesbrough, across the Tees, are still operating.
Sadly, the inclement weather discouraged some from leaving the coach, and everybody declined the option of climbing the stairs at the side to walk across the top and down again.

(Photos – Andy Simpson)
As well as foot passengers, the gondola has space for 6 cars to cross at ten feet per second. Our passengers crossed over and were able to visit the motor control room which incorporates the winding machinery. This was operated by one of the knowledgeable volunteers.

Welsh Road Signs

Having crossed the New Severn Bridge (tolls were discontinued last year), we started to notice the road signs. In Wales, it is a legal requirement that road signs be in both English and Welsh but not all the people involved with road maintenance are Welsh speakers.

In this case, an official of the Highways Department emailed the English wording for a sign to a translator and, after receiving a reply in Welsh, proceeded to have the sign made up and installed. A few weeks later, Welsh-speaking drivers began to call up to point out that the Welsh read … “I am currently out of the office. Please submit any work to the translation team.”

TED SAMMES CLAY PIPE COLLECTION – PART 3 Andy Simpson
This concludes the serialised article – see Parts 1 and 2 in the August and September 2019 HADAS Newsletters (newsletters 581 and 582)

MILL HILL AREA
Hammers Lane NW7
Many readers will be familiar with the steep climb up Hammers Lane (B1461) from Daws Lane up to The Ridgeway, if only to get to The Three Hammers Pub at the top! There has been an inn on this site since around 1680, the current building dating to 1938. Hammers Lane was for a while known as Ratcliffe Lane. Somewhere along here were found several pipes, recorded in 2019 as a combination of Sammes master list nos. 151 and 152.

There is a curiously ‘bent’ length of stem, with ‘Diamond Nipple’ end, – possibly part of a novelty coiled pipe of around 1780-1820 plus three bowls; two part bowls with spurs and length of stem of type AO27, dated 1780 – 1820, both with ‘RMSS’ makers marks, one ‘CD’ and the other ‘GC’
Also found at Church Terrace, Hendon, CD may represent pipe maker Charles Dickens, Hornsey 1788 or Charles Dickens, Spitalfields 1817-28.

The other bowl is post 1840 from ‘The Laurels’, Hammers Lane, with a neatly cut bowl top. It was presumably recovered along with the Victorian small glass R Whites Syrups bottle also in the HADAS archive and marked ‘Laurels Hammers Lane 1974’

Local resident Neil Weston kindly confirms that The Laurels is a property right at the top of Hammers Lane, almost opposite the Three Hammers. It is still residential and has the appearance of an old-style cottage, a slight throwback to an earlier era.

The HADAS archive also includes 18 short, unmarked clay pipe stem fragments recovered when Bill Bass and the late Brian Wrigley of HADAS were site watching the holes dug for tree planting in Mill Hill Park, south of Daws Lane (NGR TQ2190 9210), on 5-6 December 1994. Brian Wrigley noted that the field boundaries reflected those shown on maps back to 1754 (Crow), with the former Daws farm north of the site – like most farms in the area it would have concentrated on hay production to feed the horses of eighteenth and nineteenth century London, Mill Hill being noted for its good quality hay.

Not too far away, at Galen House, Burton Hole Lane, NW7, leading off the ancient Ridgeway and adjacent to the recently sadly demolished 1939-built landmark, the former National Institute for Medical Research, were found two complete bowls of type AO25, dated 1700 – 1770. Both with neatly cut bowl tops, both maker’s marks are the familiar ‘RMSS’ one , Sammes no. 148 with a partly illegible maker’s mark(?) T ? found/owned by a H W Spooner and the other, Sammes 149, with a good length of stem and maker’s mark ‘TH’ – possibly Thomas Hodges, recorded at Smithfield, 1800, as also found at Burroughs Gardens in 1972.

CHILD’S HILL NW2
With a small hamlet already established by the time of John Roque’s map in 1756, the area was then well known for brick and tile making until the kilns were demolished for the building of the Finchley Road in 1828.
Two fairly early pipe bowls were found in Granville Road, which runs off The Vale adjacent to Childs Hill Park, south of the centre of Golders Green. Both unmarked bowls, Sammes List CFM 11 and CFM 12, are of type AO12, dated 1640-1670. Both have full milling decoration around the tops of the bowl
TEMPLE FORTUNE AREA
This general area is VERY well represented in the Sammes Collection, possibly because of the number of HADAS members who lived in the area at the time. Previously a hamlet amongst farmland, the area gradually developed following the opening of the Finchley Road turnpike and associated coaching inns from 1830, but was still semi-rural as late as 1906 but rapidly developed after the arrival of the ‘tube’ at Golders Green in June 1907.

2, Willifield Way, off Finchley Road – one part bowl and part stem, type AO25, 1700- 1770, unusually with an ‘X’ visible at the bottom of the bowl, and with a cut bowl top.

66, Hampstead Way NW11 – one bowl of form AO31, 1850 – 1910, Sammes No 97. Stem fragment with heel and part of bowl. Stamped shield mark on side of heel.

Hill Close, NW11 (off Hampstead Way) Two bowls, one part bowl of type AO26, 1740-1780, with coat of arms, maker’s mark on spur possibly IP, Sammes No 147.(I was commonly used for J in this period)
The other full bowl of type AO29, 1840-1880, makers mark on spur WB, Sammes No 146.

9, Asmuns Place, also off Hampstead Way – one complete bowl, type

61 Erskine Hill, off Addison Way, NW11. Two bowls – one type AO9, 1610-1640, with full bowl milling. Sammes List 113.The other type AO10, 1640-1660, Sammes List 114, again with full bowl milling.
56 Temple Fortune Lane (off Finchley Road) NW11
Part of bowl only, type AO27, 1780-1820. Mark on side of spur ‘CD’ Again may represent pipe makers Charles Dawkins, Hornsey 1788 or Charles Dickens, Spitalfields 1817-28.

? Giten Close NW11
The original record/label was hard to read and the A to Z shows no road/close with this name, other than one in Bromley!
What is clear is that it is a bowl, with damaged top, of type AO10, 1640-1660, with very partial milling and a cut top. No Sammes Number.

6 Temple Fortune Hill NW11 (Leading to ‘Big Wood’)
A particularly large collection of pipe fragments and other related material.
Complete bowl type AO4, 1610-1640. Full milling. Sammes No 64.
Complete bowl type AO9, 1640-1660. Full milling. Sammes no 66.
Damaged bowl type AO10, 1640-1660. No milling. Sammes No 65.
Complete bowl type AO11, 1640-1670, with incised line at rear. No milling. Sammes No 70.
Complete bowl and part stem, type AO12, 1640-1670. Full milling. Sammes No 71.
Complete bowl type AO15, 1660-1680. Half milling. Sammes No 67.
Complete bowl, Type AO15, 1660 – 1680. No milling. Incised line on part of rim. Sammes No 68.
Complete bowl and part of stem type AO15, 1660-1680. Half milling. Sammes No 69.
Bowl only, type AO15 1660-1680.Half Milling.
Bowl and half stem, type AO15, 1660-1680. Three-quarter milling.
Half bowl, missing spur, type AO22? 1680-1710
One bowl with moulded rabbit design either side. Ribbed wheatsheaf seams on bowl. Sammes No 85.
Bowl type A033, post 1840, with basket design. Sammes No 86
Bowl type AO33, post 1840, Thorn design, with most of stem. Sammes No 87.
Plus 15 stem fragments approx. 5-7mm diameter, and 30 8-10mm diameter.
Plus corroded and totally illegible coin, possibly a farthing.
Well- worn 1917 penny.
Rolled copper strip with central channel.
Circular Bakelite fitting
Tinned iron 3d token – T. Salmon & Son Ltd (from Grocery/Household store in Holloway N1 and other branches)

WHETSTONE
The Sammes Collection includes one rather lonely pipe from Whetstone, a bowl of type AO15, dated 1660-1680 from 9, Elmstead Close, Whetstone N20, close to Totteridge Village cricket ground. Sammes No 76, it has full milling and a neatly cut bowl top.

Exhibitions:
British Museum. Troy: myth and reality. Opens 21 November 2019 – 8 March 2020. Adults from £20.00. BM Society Members and children Free

Imperial War Museum. What Remains In partnership with Historic England this exhibition explores why cultural heritage is attacked during war and the ways we save, protect and restore what is targeted. Over 50 photographs, oral histories, objects and artworks will be on display Information from IWM website.

Saatchi Gallery, London. Tuankhamun : Treasures of the Golden Pharoah 150 original artefacts. 2 Nov. 2019 – 3 May 2020

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS Compiled by Eric Morgan
BARNET LIBRARIES 90 years collecting: Barnet Local Studies Exhibition
04 NOV. – 24 NOV: EDGWARE LIBRARY, Hale Lane HA8 8NN
04 NOV. – 30 JAN: HENDON LIBRARY, The Burroughs NW4 4BQ
05 NOV. – 19 NOV: CHIPPING BARNET LIBRARY, Stapylton Rd EN5 4QT
19 NOV. – 03 DEC: NORTH FINCHLEY LIBRARY, Ravensdale Ave N12 9HP
25 NOV. – 18 DEC: BURNT OAK LIBRARY, Watling Ave HA8 0UB
04 DEC. – 18 DEC: EAST FINCHLEY LIBRARY, 226 High Rd. N2 9BB
18 DEC. – 08 JAN: FINCHLEY CHURCH END, 318 Regents Park Rd N3 2LN
20 DEC. – 02 JAN: COLINDALE LIBRARY, Bristol Ave NW9 4BR
02 JAN. – 23 JAN: GOLDERS GREEN LIBRARY, Golders Gr. Rd NW11 8HE
08 JAN – 23 JAN: OSIDGE LIBRARY, Brunswick Park Rd N11 1EY

Wednesday 13 Nov. 7.45pm 7.30pm for 8pm Hornsey Historical Society. Union Church Hall, Ferme Park Rd. N8 9PX. Professor Ian Christie: The World’s First Film Studios? Putting R. W. Paul Back on the Map for his 150th Birthday: Visitors £2. Venue omitted from previous newsletter

Thursday 14 Nov. 6pm. Gresham College, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn EC1N 2HH Sir Thomas Gresham and the Tudor Court. Talk by Prof. Alexandra Gajda. Free

Tuesday 19 Nov. 7.30 pm. Barnet Museum and Local History Society, AGM Barnet Church EN5 4BW

Thursday 20 Nov. 7.30pm Finchley Society, Avenue House, East End Rd N3 3QE Finchley Origins – from a Common to a Conurbation Talk by Hugh Petrie, Barnet Archivist (Jean Scott Memorial Lecture).

Saturday 23 Nov. 10.30 am. Willesden Local History Society, Kilburn Lane W10 4AA. Guided tour round the church with Fr. David Ackerman

Tuesday 26 Nov – 19 April. Enfield at War 1939-45. Exhibition at Museum of Enfield, Dugdale Centre, 39 London Road, EN2 6DS –

Tuesday 26 Nov. 1-1.45 pm. The archaeology of War Talk by Ian Jones
Wednesday 4 Dec. 7.00- 9.00 pm Secret Wartime Britain. Talk by Colin Philpott

Tuesday 10 Dec. 1-1.45pm Heroes and Victims. Talk by Ian Jones on air raids on Enfield
The talks at Dugdale Centre are free but reservations is advised on www.dugdalecentre.co.uk or phone 020 8807 668010 –

Wednesday 27 Nov. 7.45pm Friern Barnet and District Local History Society, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL The London Cage – Britain’s secret interrogation centre in WW2. Talk by Helen Fry.

Saturday 7 Dec. 10.30 am-2.30pm Hornsey Historical Society, Old School House, 136 Tottenham Lane N8 7EL. Local History Surgery with John Hinshel Wood. NB. The 13 Nov talk will be at Union Church Hall, Ferme Park Rd. N8 9PX

Tuesday 10 Dec. 6.30 pm LAMAS, Clore Learning Centre, Museum of London, London Wall EC2Y 5HN. Denmark Street revealed. Talk by Robert Hradsky on how a remarkable group of 17th century houses were adapted to support a specialist enclave of metal workers in the 19th century and a thriving group of music publishers in the 20th century. Refreshments 6pm

With thanks to this month’s contributors:
Deirdre Barrie, Jim Nelhams, Andy Simpson and Eric Morgan

Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman: Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet, Herts. EN5 5HS (020 8440 4350) e-mail: chairman@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Secretary: Jo Nelhams, 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076) e-mail: secretary@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Treasurer: Roger Chapman 50 Summerlee Ave, London N2 9QP (07855 304488) e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Membership Sec: Stephen Brunning, Flat 22 Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road, East Barnet EN4 8FH (020 8440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk

HADAS website: www.hadas.org.uk

Aug 01

Newsletter-581-August-2019

By Roger | HADAS, Latest Newsletter, News, Past Newsletters, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

Number 581 August 2019 Edited by Jim Nelhams

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE AND EVENTS PROGRAMME 2019

Tuesday 8th October 2019: From Crosse & Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA excavations at Tottenham Court Road 2009 to 2010. Lecture by Lyn Blackmore.

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: A Royal and Monastic Landscape Revealed. Lecture by Bob Cowie.

Sunday 1st December 2019: HADAS Christmas Lunch at Avenue House. 12:30 – 4 p.m. including full Christmas dinner. Price and booking form will follow.

Lectures start at 7.45 for 8.00pm in the Drawing Room, Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Buses 13, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass close by, and it is five to ten minutes’ walk from Finchley Central Station (Northern Line). Tea/coffee and biscuits follow the talk.

Membership Renewals – a reminder. Stephen Brunning.
Many thanks to those who have already paid their subscription. If you intend to renew this year and have not yet done so, I would be grateful to receive payment by 15th September 2019 at the following rates: £15 (Full), £5 (each additional member at the same address), and £6 (student). My address is on the last page of this newsletter.
It is not necessary to return the renewal form enclosed with the March newsletter. A piece of paper with your name, postal address, telephone number and email address (if applicable) will suffice. I will then be able check the details we hold are still correct. If not already done so, it would also be helpful if you could indicate your willingness to receive the newsletter by email. This helps to keep our costs to a minimum. Thank you.
—————————————————————————————————————————
Day trip by Barnet Museum & Local History Society:
Saturday, 21st September 2019 Visit to the “Mary Rose” in Portsmouth by coach. Cost £38 for adults and £15 for children (5-18) and students.
Depart Barnet Everyman at 08.15. Leave Portsmouth: c.5pm, arrive back in Barnet c.7.15pm
These trips get booked up quickly, so if you want to go don’t delay.
Friends of members are also welcome. To book, phone Dennis Bird 020 8449 0705

Trip to Leicester
Mill Hill Historical Society have a trip to Leicester on Wednesday 4th September. This will include
visits to the King Richard III Visitor Centre and the Cathedral. Meet the coach at Hartley Hall,
Hartley Avenue, Mill Hill, NW7 2HX, at 8:50 am. Coach will leave Leicester at 5:00 pm.
To book, please phone Julia Haynes on 020 8906 0563 or email haynes.julia@yahoo.co.uk.
Cost for non-members £40. Please check as may be fully booked. Last booking date – 5th August.

Silchester Peter Pickering

I went recently to Silchester with the Herculaneum Society to visit this summer’s dig, directed by
Professor Michael Fulford, who took us round and told us what is happening. It was lovely weather,
and the tents of the student diggers were scattered over the fields; just as things used to be before
almost all archaeology was hurriedly undertaken in advance of development.

Over many years Reading University have been re-excavating the Roman city, which was the subject
of a monumental campaign by the Society of Antiquaries at the end of the nineteenth century. This
year they are continuing the work on the baths which they started last year. They are uncovering the
walls the Antiquaries found and studying the stratigraphy in a way that was not possible over a
century ago. It is clear that though the Antiquaries’ plans were very accurate, and they tried to
understand the sequence of events, they did not appreciate how complicated the site was, and how
very frequently the people of Calleva Atrebatum changed or ‘improved’ their bath building.

Examining carefully the Antiquaries’ spoil (all was actually backfilled – which is what Reading
University are doing in their turn) contributes to the discovery of many small finds – including last
year for instance a gold ring – presumably lost by a user of the baths (the area currently being worked
on contains particularly objects likely to have belonged to women and children). Besides the dig
itself we saw people working on finds – one woman was extracting with tweezers tiny pieces of
charcoal from a heap of what looked like grains of sand.

Before we went to the site we had spent time in Reading Museum, where there is a large collection
of the finds from the Antiquaries’ and other early work at Silchester, rather spoilt for us by a problem
the Museum are having with the lighting in the room. And we finished the day with tea and cakes in
the mediaeval church at the entrance to the site.

High Barnet Archaeological Round-up Bill Bass

A summary of recent archaeological activity in the High Barnet area.

70 High Street
Archaeological Solutions Ltd conducted an evaluation here finding walls, floors, pits and ditches
dating to the 18th and 19th centuries. It appears that building of an 18th structure has mostly removed
any medieval evidence. Further ‘site-watching’ will be carried out when foundations are cut for the
new development.

46-48 High Street
This site is somewhat south of 70 High Street and also within an Archaeological Priority Area, is the
subject of a ‘site-watching’ condition by Headland Archaeology to check any ground interventions
here.

Former Marie Foster Home, Wood Street

This extensive site is being completely redeveloped for a replacement Marie Foster Home, MOLA
(Museum of London Archaeology) has conducted an Archaeological Evaluation with a number of
trenches across the site, with a report to follow.

In 1993 HADAS conducted a dig at the adjacent former Victoria Maternity Hospital finding a ditch
with medieval pottery which aligned with Wood Street, this ditch would have continued into the
Marie Foster Home grounds.

Service trenches
For the past few months a number of service trenches – water, gas, digital cabling etc have been dug
around High Barnet. Recently a number of trenches have appeared in the High Street. In the spoil
some finds were noted and recovered they consisted of some large animal bone with butchery marks,
tobacco-pipe1700-1770 in date and post-medieval pottery (see photo). These finds were from a
trench near 93 High Street, Barnet.

Hadley Green gates
The Gates on Hadley Green Road which are Grade II Listed have been temporarily removed under
archaeological supervision due to extensive works here to repair a collapsed sewer. The works
involve digging a 12m vertical hole then ‘tunnelling’ in 14m to enable the repairs.

The Ted Sammes Clay Pipe Collection Andy Simpson

Like all good archaeological units and societies, HADAS has material in long-term store that invites
further study beyond that originally done possibly 30-40 years ago as our collective knowledge of the
subject and area gradually increases, a case in point being the current evening class re-evaluation of
the Mitre High Barnet dig of 1989/90 archive that is making society greybeards such as myself who
were on the original dig feel their age!

Another group of finds currently undergoing re-evaluation is the large collection of mainly local clay
pipes seemingly inherited from HADAS stalwart and benefactor, the late Ted Sammes. For many
years these were boxed up in the HADAS ‘back room’ at Avenue House and were checked and some
re-bagged some ten years ago. However, there was a problem – there was little indication of their
actual source or context, just a mysterious sequential number marked on the individual envelopes.
Happily however, a recent search of general clay pipe paperwork in our main cellar workroom and
store revealed the original ?1970s master list of over 150 individual clay pipes or small groups
thereof. They are listed with the individual sequential number, usually found on the original brown
envelopes/grease proof paper bags within which they were first put, a note of any visible decoration
or maker’s marks, and a very general indication of the finds spot – sometimes a street or general
area, very occasionally an actual numbered address, sometimes a finder’s or householder’s name,
and sadly many with no identifiable location at all, and almost never any actual date of finding or
archaeological context, which makes the interpretation even more of a challenge. I have been
through site files, past newsletters and research committee minutes but as yet have found no other
sources of information other than what is written on the envelopes or in the master list.

However, the Sunday morning usual suspects, in particular Bill Bass, Tim Curtiss, Dudley Miles,
Janet Mortimer and Peter Nicholson (and your scribe) have cracked on and pored over the A to Z as
well as the old faithful Atkinson and Oswald clay pipe identification templates (Type AO27 dated
1780-1820 being particularly prevalent in this collection) and more recent guides to clay pipe
recording to produce a detailed record more in keeping with current MOLA standards, as well as rebagging
all the pipes with new labels.

There is a good range of dates covered from the 1640s to around 1900, with some noticeable
geographical concentrations, probably reflecting the residential areas of HADAS members and
friends at the time, including 17th century fragments from Annesley Avenue in Colindale, plus 18th –
19th century examples from Finchley, including East End Road and Avenue House, two or three
sites around Temple Fortune, and Hammers Lane, Mill Hill, along with a few late examples from
Staples Corner near Brent Cross.

One particularly nice group from the Temple Fortune area also includes seventeenth century
examples and some nice trade tokens and coins of a later date. There is also a stray clay pipe from
Portsmouth!

Recording is a week or two away from completion, and I hope to produce a more detailed overview
in due course.

The Royal Albert Hall Jim Nelhams

Friday 19th July 2019 saw the First Night of the 2019 Promenade concerts, the first of 75 concerts
ending with the Last Night on Saturday 14th September. This is the 125th season.
Most of the concerts are now held in the Royal Albert Hall (a Grade I listed building), on Kensington
Gore on the south side of Hyde Park. All are broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and this year, 24 are
shown on BBC Television.

Although individual promenade concerts had taken place before, the first full series was set up by
impresario Robert Newman and called “Mr Robert Newman’s Promenade Concerts”. Mr Newman
received financial backing from surgeon George Cathcart on condition that Henry Wood be selected
as the series conductor.

Concerts were based at The Queen’s Hall in Langham Place, next to where now stands the BBC
Broadcasting House. When Newman died in 1927, the BBC took over running the concerts, though
they relinquished this duty during WW2. In 1941, the Queen’s Hall was destroyed in an air raid, and
concerts were moved to The Royal Albert Hall where they have continued every summer since.
The year 1851 saw the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, running for some five and a half months.
Among the organisers and promoters was Price Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort. The Exhibition was
a great success in promoting Britain as a world leader in technology and made a profit of £186,000.
It was visited by over 6 million people, equivalent to one-third of the UK population at the time.
An area south of the exhibition site was purchased (and nicknamed Albertopolis) and on this was
built the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. At the
north of the area, a concert hall was built, originally to be named the Central Hall of Arts and
Sciences (appropriate since one theme of the Proms this year, the 50th Anniversary of the first moon
landing, is about space,) but the name was changed when Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone to
the Royal Albert Hall. Across the road in the park, a statue of Prince Albert surveys the front of the
hall.

The Hall opened on 29th March 1871 with a concert which included some music written by Prince
Albert himself. When the concert to celebrate the centenary of the opening took place in 1971, it
started with the same music. Jo and I, as members of the BBC Choral Society, (since renamed the
BBC Symphony Chorus) were on stage for this concert.

Apart from musical performances, the Hall has seen many uses including boxing, tennis, ice skating,
opera (in the round!), award ceremonies, and the annual British Legion ceremony preceding
Armistice Sunday.

The Hall offers tours lasting about 1 hour for £13.75, though if HADAS was to raise a group of 15+,
this would reduce to £11.00. Tours must be pre-booked. (Contact me if you are interested in a tour).

Barnet Physic Well

Barnet Physic Well is a mineral water spring which was thought to have therapeutic qualities. It was
popular from the later seventeenth century through the eighteenth century, and its visitors included
Samuel Pepys, who wrote about the visit in his diary.

In 2018, it underwent extensive refurbishment work to the mock-Tudor wellhouse. It was officially
reopened on 20 November 2018. The work was paid for by Barnet Council, Historic England and the
Heritage of London Trust.

Volunteers from Barnet Museum run public openings of Barnet Physic Well monthly, giving
everyone free access to this little-known part of Barnet’s heritage.

Please be aware that the Physic Well is in a relatively small room underground and is reached by
steep stone steps. The physic well is on the corner of Well Approach and Pepys Crescent For satnav,
use EN5 3DY. It is not far from Barnet General Hospital.

The next Physic Well opening is on Saturday 17th August. Come any time between 2pm and 4pm.
Free entry. Further 2019 dates (all Saturdays) are 21st September, 19th October and 16th November.

Memorial to Major John Cartright

Hadas newsletter 573 (December 2018) featured an article about the memorial to Major Cartright in
the churchyard at St Mary-at-Finchley. The memorial fell into disrepair and was on the Historic
England “at risk” register.

Restoration work was undertaken with £79,000 funding from Historic England, and some
crowdfunding launched by the church.

Restoration has recently been completed and the memorial was dedicated by the Rector of St Maryat-
Finchley, the Rev. Philip Davison. It looks very fine and pristine. Major Cartwright is portrayed
wearing his wig.

Afternoon Course for over-75s.

Tuesday 20th August 2;30 pm – 5:30 pm, at Museum of London Archive and Research Centre,
46 Eagle Wharf Road, N1 7ED.

Join Jacqui Pearce, for a skills workshop on pottery identification exclusively for older Londoners
aged over 75. Jacqui is a Hadas member and runs our Wednesday evening course at Avenue House
and masterminds the publication of the course research.

Jacqui is a Senior Finds Specialist at MOLA and an expert in medieval and later ceramics, glass and
clay tobacco pipes. Learn about the different types of pottery discovered in the UK, how to identify
and record them and find out how they were made. Explore sherds from Roman Londinium to pieces
of contemporary ceramics and get hands-on experience with archaeological material. Support from
Photographs from David Coates of the Finchley Society.

City Bridge Trust allows places on this workshop to be free of charge but places must be booked in
advance.

For further enquiries, please contact wrathouse@mola.org.uk or call 020 7410 2207. Tea, coffee
and biscuits will be provided.

Other Societies Eric Morgan

MEETINGS / TALKS

Tuesday 13th August, 7:45pm. Amateur Geological Society at Finchley Baptist Church Hall, 6 East
End Road, N3 3QL (corner of Stanhope Avenue). Members’ evening with various talks.

Wednesday 4th September, 6:00 pm. Docklands History Group at Docklands Museum, Canary
Wharf, E14 4AL. Talk by David Gibson – Thames Sailing Barges – A history and a future

Wednesday 4th September, 7:30 pm. London, Westminster and Middlesex Family History Society,

St Paul’s Centre 102A Church Street, Enfield, EN2 6AR. Talk by Joe Studman – The History of
Enfield’s Markets, Fairs and Festivals.

Monday 9th September, 3:00 pm. Barnet Museum and Local History Society in St John the Baptist
Church, Wood Street, Barnet, EN5 4BW. Talk by David Berguer – Holidays by rail. Visitors £2.

Tuesday 10th September, 7:45pm. Amateur Geological Society as above. Talk by Richard Puchner,
FRS – Sinkholes.

Friday 13th September, 7:45 pm. Enfield Archaeological Society at 2 Parsonage Lane, (junction
with Chase Side), Enfield, EN2 0AJ. Talk by Caroline Raynor – St James’ Gardens excavations and
the HS2 Project. Visitors £1.50.

Wednesday 18th September, 7:30 pm. Willesden Local History Society, St Mary’s Church Hall,
Neasden Lane, NW10 2TS. Talk by Camilla Churchill from Brent Archive – Brent 2020, Borough of
Culture.

Wednesday 25th September, 7:45 pm. Friern Barnet and District Local History Society, North
Middlesex Golf Club, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL. Talk by Carol Harris – Ernest Shackleton and
the Endurance Expedition. Visitors £2.

Thursday 26th September, 7:30 pm. Finchley Society, Drawing Room, Avenue House. Talk by
Peter Cox (U3A) – The State of the High Street, covering the development of retail outlets in East
Finchley, Muswell Hill, North Finchley and Church End. Visitors £2.

WALKS
Wednesday 28th August, 6:00 pm. LAMAS – walk led by Eliott Wragg in either Wapping or
Rotherhithe, exact details to be confirmed. £10 for members, £12.50 for non-members. This walk
will explore the history and features of the foreshore. Visitors without a PLA licence should not pick
things up to take away, they can point out things of interest and ask Eliott about them.

Wednesday 28th August 6.30pm – Highgate Wood – Meet at the café by the information hut.
Entrances from Archway Road or Muswell Hill Road. A Historical Walk – there were 3 Roman
pottery kilns in the wood.

OPEN DAYS
Monday 26th August. Markfield Beam Engine & Museum, Markfield Park, Markfield Road N15 4AB.
Steam Day. www.mbeam.org . Tel: 07923 459020 for more info. Engine Steaming times 12:30pm to
1:15pm, 2:00 pm to 2:45pm, 3:30 pm to 4.15pm

Sunday 1st September 11:00 am – 3:00 pm. COLAS “Totally Thames” at Fulham Palace. Day of
family archaeology. Guided foreshore visits. Display stalls.

Saturday 7th September 10:30 – 2:30 pm. Hornsey Historical Society, Old School House,136
Tottenham Lane, (corner Rokesly Avenue), N8 7EL. Local History Surgery, giving advice/help
with local history research. Helpful if you first email hornseyhistoricalsurgery@gmail.com.

Saturday 7th September 11:00 am – 2:30 pm. Enfield Transport Circle – St Paul’s Centre 102A
Church Street, Enfield, EN2 6AR. A good variety of stalls, selling all kinds of transport books,
photo’s, DVD’s, maps, timetables, tickets and other memorabilia. Light refreshments available.

Sunday 15th September 12:00 am – 5:30 pm. Queens Park Open day, Chevening Road, NW6. Lots
of stalls including Willesden Local History Society.

Saturday/ Sunday 21st/22nd September. London Open House weekend. Put it in your diary.
Programme will be published on 20th August. Includes Markfield Beam Engine on both days – see
26th August.

Saturday/Sunday 28th/29th September, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm. London Transport Museum, Acton
Depot. 118-120, Gunnersbury Lane, Acton, W3 9BQ. Focus on railway termini. £12 (con. 10).


With many thanks to this month’s contributors:
Bill Bass, Stephen Brunning, Eric Morgan, Peter Pickering and Andy Simpson

Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman Don Cooper 59, Potters Road, Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8440 4350)
e-mail: chairman@hadas.org.uk

Hon. Secretary Jo Nelhams 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: secretary@hadas.org.uk

Hon. Treasurer Roger Chapman 50 Summerlee Ave, London N2 9QP (07855 304488)
e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk

Membership Sec. Stephen Brunning 22 Goodwin Ct, 52 Church Hill Rd,
East Barnet EN4 8FH mob: 07534 646852 e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk

Jul 11

Newsletter-580-July-2019

By Roger | Latest Newsletter, News, Past Newsletters, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

Number 580 July 2019 Edited by Mary Rawitzer

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE AND EVENTS PROGRAMME 2019

Saturday July 27th 2019: SECRET RIVERS – at the Docklands Museum
HADAS is planning a visit to this exhibition revealing the history of London’s forgotten
rivers. Deirdre Barrie and Audrey Hooson propose an outing to the Docklands Museum. The
Museum is staging a free exhibition called “Secret Rivers”. If you have a bus pass, your
transport is also free. Quoting from the Museum’s publicity:“Secret Rivers uses
archaeological artefacts, art, photography and film to reveal stories of life by London’s rivers,
streams and brooks, exploring why many of them were lost over time”

We will meet either at Bank Station DLR platform at 10.30, for West India Quay or at 11.00
in the museum coffee shop. The museum requests that groups book in advance, so rough
numbers are needed. Full details in last Newsletter. Please contact Deirdre Barrie
dlbarrie@tiscali.co.uk (020 8367 0922) or Audrey Hooson AudreyHooson@icloud.com.

HADAS 2019 Long Trip. Monday 23rd to Friday 27th September 2019: We have booked
the hotel for our long trip in 2019. Details will follow in due course.

Tuesday 8th October 2019: From Crosse & Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA excavations at
Tottenham Court Road 2009 to 2010. Lecture by Lyn Blackmore.

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: A Royal and Monastic Landscape
Revealed. Lecture by Bob Cowie.

Lectures start at 7.45 for 8.00pm in the Drawing Room, Avenue House, 17 East End Road,
Finchley N3 3QE. Buses 13, 143, 326 & 460 pass close by, and it is five to ten minutes’ walk
from Finchley Central Station (Northern Line). Tea/coffee and biscuits follow the talk. .
—————————————————————————————————————————
Two exciting day trips by Barnet Museum & Local History Society:

Saturday, 6th July 2019 Visit to Richborough Castle and the Town of Deal by coach.
Cost £25 for adults (£20 EH members, bring your card) £10 children (5-18) and students.
Depart Barnet Everyman (formerly Odeon) Cinema: 08.15
Leaving Deal: c.5pm; arrive back in Barnet c.7pm

Saturday, 21st September 2019 Visit to the “Mary Rose” in Portsmouth by coach. Cost £38
for adults and £15 for children (5-18) and students.
Depart Barnet Everyman at 08.15. Leave Portsmouth: c.5pm, arrive back in Barnet c.7.15pm
These trips get booked up quickly, so if you want to go don’t delay.
Friends of members are also welcome. To book, phone Dennis Bird 020 8449 0705

Annual General Meeting. Jo Nelhams (Hon. Secretary)
The AGM was held on Tuesday June 11th 2019 at 7.30pm. There were 40 members in
attendance and apologies from a further 33. It was good to hear from over 70 members.
Andrew Selkirk, a former Chairman and longstanding Committee member, resigned from the
Committee earlier this year as he has moved house, but has remained a Vice-President and
will be due for re-election in 2023.

Jim Nelhams has stepped down as Treasurer, but has remained as a member of the Committee
and Roger Chapman was voted in as his successor. The other officers have remained the
same: Chairman, Don Cooper; Vice-Chairman, Peter Pickering; Secretary, Jo Nelhams; and
Membership Secretary, Stephen Brunning. There were 2 new additions to the Committee,
David Willoughby and Rodney Burt, while Bill Bass, Robin Densem, Melvyn Dresner, Eric
Morgan and Sue Willetts are remaining as members.

The death was announced of Derek Renn, a very longstanding Life Vice-President who
passed away on 31st May 2019. Condolences have been sent to his family.

The AGM was followed by a presentation by Harvey Sheldon, ‘Imperial Rome’s North-West
Frontier: can it explain Britannia and Londinium’s role within the Province?’

An interesting AGM and thanks to all who attended.

HADAS finds course: 2019-2020 “Finds in Focus” Don Cooper
Here is the flyer for the finds course starting in October 2019. The course is very popular and
there are, at the moment of writing, only three places left. If you want to participate please
reply immediately as it is first come first served.

Hendon & District Archaeological Society Finds Group
Course tutor: Jacqui Pearce BA FSA MCIfA

A 22-week course in post-excavation analysis to be held at Stephens House (formerly Avenue House), East
End Road, Finchley N3 3QE on Wednesday evenings, 6.30–8.30, starting on 2 October 2019

This year we will be focusing on recording the medieval and later finds from the Mitre Public
House in Barnet. We are aiming to produce a short article summarising the work of the Finds
Group on this site. Regular presentations and professional tuition will be provided throughout the
course. This is an ideal opportunity to gain – or increase – your experience of working with and
handling a wide variety of archaeological finds. Teaching sessions on the various types of finds will
be complemented by practical handling and recording sessions. Our aims are to introduce the
various types of finds and provide hands-on opportunities to become more familiar with postexcavation
procedures, while working toward publication.

All are welcome – it doesn’t matter whether or not you have experience of working with
archaeological finds!

Course fee: £295 for 22 sessions. To book, contact Don Cooper (details on back page) or Jacqui
Pearce (pearcejacqui@gmail.com; tel. 020 8203 4506). Please make cheques payable to HADAS and
send to Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet EN5 5HS.

HADAS May Lecture Jim Nelhams

The May lecture, “50 Years of Recording London’s Industrial Heritage”, was delivered by
Professor David Perret, currently Chair of the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society
(GLIAS). A medical researcher by profession, David has been interested in industrial archaeology
for many years. One of his interests is stationary steam engines and he is a past President of the
Newcomen Society. David was also a contributor to the All Party Parliamentary Group Report on
Industrial Heritage issued in 2018.

In 1998 GLIAS began development of a database which the society could use to record site
information. The database has been in development ever since. He noted a wide variety of locations
and items recorded, some of which have disappeared, some that remain, and some of which have
changed their use.

Examples in transport included the Euston Arch, demolished in 1961, and the London to Croydon
atmospheric railway. This had two pumping stations one of which remains, having been converted
as a water pumping station. Another example was the viaduct built between 1834 and 1836 for the
London and Greenwich Railway, requiring around 60 million bricks made in Sittingbourne and
transported to the site by barge. Although widened and strengthened, the viaduct still has all 878
arches and is a Grade II listed structure.

Other work has been in recording Thames crossings, including Tower Bridge with its steam boilers,
Hammersmith Bridge and the Brunel Tunnel. Other static steam engines included a Newcomen
engine house at the New River Head in Islington and the beam engines at Kew and Crossness.
David stressed the importance of creating and maintaining the record of industrial archaeology.
There were lots of problems and Lottery funding was drying up.

The London Canal Museum Celebrates Ice Heritage Weekend – July 2019

Celebrate the life and story of Carlo Gatti (1817-1878) and the contribution he and his family made
to London’s life. Saturday July 27th (Gatti’s Birthday): Enter a competition to make a decorated
birthday cake. See website for rules. £1 entry fee including museum admission. Ice cream making
demonstrations, Victorian style. Family activities, design an ice cream sundae and other table-top
fun for children (morning). Gallery talks and display about Gatti and the ice trade. Adelphi
Afternoon Cream Tea 2.30-4pm £15 (£12 concessions) including museum entry (book in advance).
Information and bookings at www.lcm.me.uk/ihw. Evening, 7.30pm: Gatti’s Music Hall, presented
by the Players’ Theatre Company, an evening of music hall entertainment reminiscent of the
Victorian era. Traditional dress welcome. £25 (concessions £23) including glass of Swiss wine with
Swiss cheese. Book in advance. Sunday 28th: Ice Trade Sunday. Visits underground to the
Victorian ice wells (fit adults and teenagers only). Normal museum entry charges. Explore the only
preserved and accessible commercial ice wells in England on this rare open day, part of the Festival
of Archaeology. Sensible shoes essential! Supported by the Swiss Embassy, London, and Commune
do Acquarossa (Dongio) Switzerland. Ice cream making demonstrations, Gallery talks, pre-booked
boat trips. 12-13 New Wharf Rd, N1 9RT. 5 minutes walk from Kings Cross/St Pancras.

Thames Discovery: causeways, river stairs and ferry terminals – Melvyn Dresner

Following on from Gustav Milne’s April lecture (Newsletter 578, May 2019), the Thames
Discovery Programme launched the CRaFT project (Causeways, Riverstairs and Ferry
Terminals) in June. The project will help discover, or rediscover, the stories of these ‘landing
places’, the people who used them, those who relied on them for their livelihood and the changes
brought about by bridges and new modes of transport.

The Thames Discovery Programme, City of London Archaeology Society and the Institute of
Archaeology at UCL are working together on this project. There are many ways to get involved,
such as through archive work, foreshore fieldwork, discovering features in paintings or literature,
blogging, foreshore photography and recording. It is not just about getting muddy, there are others
ways they need your help.

If interested to find out more please email: angela.broomfield@yahoo.fr

Festival of Archaeology 2019 Sue Willetts

The 2019 Festival of Archaeology is being coordinated by The Council for British Archaeology
with events taking place over a fortnight from Saturday 13th July until Saturday 28th July. The
theme this year is archaeology, science and technology.

The website https://festival.archaeologyuk.org/ allows searching of events by area, type of activity
and by period such as Roman, Medieval.

Thomas Gresham 500th Anniversary Exhibition Sue Willetts

As part of the 500th celebrations for Gresham College the Guildhall Library has a free exhibition
about Sir Thomas Gresham, Tudor trader, shipper, spy and founder of both the Royal Exchange and
Gresham College. It explores Gresham’s life and some of the amazing items in the Gresham history
collection at the Guildhall.

The exhibition is open Monday-Friday, 9.30am-5pm (Wednesday till 7.30pm) at the Guildhall
Library and is completely free. It’s open from now until mid-September. More information:
https://guildhalllibrarynewsletter.wordpress.com/2019/06/03/new-library-exhibition-sir-thomasgresham-
tudor-trader-shipper-spy/

Visit to the Rose Theatre Jim Nelhams

LAMAS run monthly walks and visits under the heading “LAMAS LATES”.
See http://www.lamas.org.uk/lamas-lates.html for more information. A notice of a visit to the Rose
Theatre was circulated to HADAS members and five of us went along.

The site was found in 1988 when buildings were being redeveloped. Harvey Sheldon, HADAS
President, explained that the original dig had been allowed 5-6 weeks while the builders took their
Christmas Holiday. It had been expected that the remains of the theatre would then be permanently
buried and destroyed, but there was much public pressure, including by prominent members of the
acting profession, resulting in a building redesign incorporating horizontal rather than vertical
beams, so allowing the retention of the site. The buildings are now 30 years old and due for
renovation.

The Rose was built by Philip Henslowe in 1587. In 1592, Henslowe’s step-daughter married
Edward Alleyn, who went on to found Dulwich College. Dulwich old boys are known as Old
Alleynians. Many of Henslowe’s papers including accounts and records of plays have survived in
archives at the college.

The dig discovered inter alia gallery walls, two stages and the arena floor. The site was covered in
1989 to protect it from building works and the weather. The remains now exist within a basic shell
with no heating or toilets, but have survived. They must be kept wet to preserve the timber. A small
viewing gallery is usable for events and to raise money. Lighting indicates where walls have been
found. Some of the original structure is beneath an adjacent building and not accessible.

The site is run by The Rose Theatre Trust, founded in 1989, of which Harvey is Chairman. The
Trust has a lease of the site until 2042. Because the site is kept under water, it must be monitored.
Jane Sidell, in her role as Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Heritage England, has been
monitoring since 1999, checking the water levels and the acidity of the water.

For more information about The Rose and their events sees http://www.roseplayhouse.org.uk/

Trip to Orkney Janet Mortimer

I have recently returned from a long-anticipated holiday in Orkney with fellow HADAS member,
Barbara Thomas. We were part of a small group of eight (three of whom were Americans) who
went on a mini-bus tour with Orkney Archaeology Tours, led by leading archaeologist and bone
expert, Dave Lawrence. Dave and his fellow archaeologist wife had gone to Orkney to work, and
ended up living there permanently as, it seems, have many other archaeologists including HADAS’s
own Daphne Lorimer. It is not hard to see why – the almost over-whelming amount of history that
surrounds you everywhere you go on each island of Orkney could keep you interested for a lifetime.
Our first day started with a drive around Scapa Flow to Ophir Round Kirk and the 12th century
Earl’s Bu, which was the site of a large Norse drinking hall. We then went on to Skara Brae. I had
wanted to go there for years, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. We went to the nearby Skaill House,
owned by the man who discovered Skara Brae, and one of the highlights for me was the large
cabinet with carved wooden doors that came from one of the ships of the Spanish Armada. It is
amazing to think that on this small patch of land it is likely that there has been continuous
occupation for the last 5,000 years, with finds not only from the Neolithic period, but also the
Bronze Age, Iron Age and the Vikings.

Later we went to Kirbister Farm Museum. This is a fine example of how people lived in Orkney
until comparatively recently (this one was occupied until the 1960s) and the lay-out is actually not
too dissimilar to the houses at Skara Brae. The peat-burning hearth is in the middle of the floor
with a hole in the middle of the roof to let the smoke out, and there is a bed area carved into the
stone of the wall. It was also the place where Annie Lennox filmed sequences for the video of
“Here Comes the Rain Again”. On the way back to the hotel we visited the magnificent Broch of
Gurness.

On the second day we took the ferry across to the island of Hoy to visit the Hackness Martello
Tower and Napoleonic battery. We started in the barracks room where we were greeted by a man
resplendent in his Napoleonic uniform. He was a friend of Dave’s who was an authority on the
subject and we got a special tour. If you have seen the film “Zulu” you would recognise the lay-out
of the barracks – identical to the hospital block in the film. Apparently they were all built in exactly
the same way around the world so that the men could move in and know exactly where everything
was, including which bed was theirs. Their food ration was fairly meagre but they had a daily drink
allocation of a gallon of beer (weak or “small” beer – but still a gallon!) and a big mug of gin. Helps
to pass the day, I suppose! We then climbed up into the Martello Tower – the only one made of
stone instead of brick. Our uniformed officer showed us around and then we climbed up onto the
top, where he showed us the huge gun, able to revolve around 360 degrees, and we marvelled at
how he managed to keep his hat on in the fierce wind that was blowing.

After this we went to the beautiful Rackwick Bay then onto see the Dwarfie Stane. This is a huge
block of stone which has been carved out into a Neolithic burial chamber and is quite
magnificent. There was a sea eagle nesting nearby but, despite the best efforts of the RSPB who
kindly let us look through the telescopes they had set up, we didn’t manage to see it.

The next day we started off on a walking tour from our hotel in Kirkwall to marvel at the puzzling
architecture of the Earl’s and Bishop’s Palaces and to visit the Cathedral. Interestingly the
Cathedral is not owned by the Church, but is owned and maintained by the people of Orkney.
We then jumped back into the mini-bus and headed off to the Rennibister Earth-house. This is
accessed by climbing down a ladder in the courtyard of a farm into an underground chamber. The
underground experience was good preparation for our visit later in the day to what was (after Skara
Brae) my favourite place to see – the Cuween Cairn. For this we climbed up a steep slope, then
were issued with thick gloves and knee pads and we had to crawl through a dark tunnel into the
Cairn where we viewed it by torchlight. It was large enough to stand up inside and there were four
side chambers, three of which you could climb into. Unusually 24 dog skulls were found in this
tomb, along with human skulls.

Our next call was over the Churchill Barriers to the Italian Chapel, which is astonishing. It was
made of an old Nissen hut during the war by Italian prisoners and it shows what a beautiful
structure can be made with limited materials, just as in Neolithic days.

The following day we went to Stromness which is very different from Kirkwall, and has the feel of
an old-time seaside town. We had a stroll around and visited the art gallery and museum, then we
were off to Maeshowe. Although this is very impressive, we had to join a guided tour with a crowd
of other people, so it was sometimes difficult to see exactly what the guide was pointing out. We
saw the Viking Runes and the Orkney dragon, and the guide told us what some of the runes
meant. In the mini-bus later Dave told us what some of the other ones said which I will not repeat
here for fear of offending. Suffice to say that they were the usual boasts of young men about their
conquests in rather graphic terms!

The next day we caught the ferry over to Rousay for a day viewing brochs and cairns. We visited
Taversoe Tuick then went onto Blackhammer Cairn. Personally I found this terrifying as we had to
walk through a field of frisky young bullocks to get to it, but thankfully they had disappeared by the
time we came out. We then went to Midhowe to see a very impressive Cairn in which they found a
disproportionate amount of skeletons exhibiting signs of congenital deformities and other
illnesses. The nearby broch was fascinating, dwellings clearly laid out, and even a rock-carved
inside toilet!

Our last day started at the Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stenness. Later we walked over the
causeway to the uninhabited island of the Brough of Birsay to view the Earl’s Palace and for those
brave enough (not me!) to lay down and hang over the cliff edge to see the puffin nests. We
finished our visit to Orkney visiting the last working water mill at Barony Mills.
We had a great week seeing a variety of history from Neolithic days right through to the recent
history of WW2 which was made even better by the running commentary by Dave as he transported
us around from place to place. I particularly loved his tales from the Orkney Sagas with people with
memorable names such as Magnus Barelegs and Oliver the Violent. It really was the trip of a
lifetime

Restorations Jim Nelhams

It’s always nice when something you think has gone returns.
The book “The Blue Plaques of Barnet” published by HADAS in 1973 included a plaque that was
on the wall of “The Castle” public house at the junction of Hermitage Lane and Finchley Road in
Childs Hill. Then the building was closed and demolished to make way for a block of flats.
Concern was raised about the whereabouts of the plaque and HADAS was advised that it was being
stored by Barnet Council. The flats are now complete and it is nice to see that the plaque is on the
new building close to the front door.

Another pub that closed was Ye Old King of Prussia just south of Finchley Central Station.
This became a restaurant named The Chicken Society serving chicken in varied forms. Perhaps the
chickens have gone back to roost, because the building now contains “Ye Old King of Prussia”
again. The internet identifies this as a neighbourhood bar with craft beer, cocktails and pizza. So
maybe not as it was, but still serving beer.

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS compiled by Eric Morgan

Tuesday 9th July, 7.45 pm. Amateur Geological Society, Finchley Baptist Church Hall, 6 East End Rd, N3
3QL (opp. Avenue House): Triumphs & Disasters in Engineering Geology. Talk by Prof David Norbury.

Monday 15th July, 12.30pm. Mill Hill Historical Society Tour of Spencer House, 27 St James’s Place,
SW1A 1NR. Cost: Members £12 (concessions £14. Meet 12.20pm for Tour. To book: first contact Julia
Haynes, 38 Marion Rd, Mill Hill, London NW7 4AN (tel: 020 8906 0563, haynes.julia@yahoo.co.uk) to
check availability and payment procedure.

Wednesday 17th July, 7.30pm. Willesden Local History Society Guided Walk meeting at Neasden Station,
Neasden Lane NW10, finishing at The Grange, Neasden Roundabout, NW10 for a talk on its history,
followed by refreshments.

Friday 19th July, 7pm. COLAS, St Olave’s Church, Hart St, EC3R 7NB. Medieval Mass Burial at St Mary
Spital: Excavations 1999-2002. Talk, Don Walker (MoLA). NB originally scheduled for Friday 21st June).

Saturday 20th July – Sunday 29th September. Stephens House & Gardens (Avenue House) Hospital for
Heroes. Exhibition remembering 100 years since Avenue House became the central hospital for the RAF,
and its use as a hospital during, and in the aftermath of, WWI. Free entry, but a minimum £2 donation to the
work of the Avenue House Estate Trust would be welcome. Opening times: Wednesdays, Saturdays &
Sundays 2-4.30pm.

Sunday 21st July, 12-5pm. Stephens House & Gardens: Summer Garden Fete. A packed day of fun and
games with food, craft stalls & brass band. Free admission.

Tuesday 6th August. Camden History Society . Outing to Saffron Walden & Kentwell Hall Departing
promptly 8.30am, Camden High St, outside Marks & Spencer’s; 8.45am; Hampstead High St. (outside
Waterstones); Swiss Cottage (o/s Library) 9.00am. Send SAE and full details, where joining, name etc, with
cheque for £35 (includes coach, tip, and admission to Hall), payable to Camden History Society, to Jean
Archer, 91 Fitzjohn’s Ave, London NW3 6NX (Tel: 020 7435 5490).

Wednesday 14th August, 11am. Mill Hill Historical Society . Walking Tour of Bloomsbury. Meet 10.50 for
11am start, Russell Sq tube. Finish nr. Foundling Museum. Booking details: see Monday 15th July, above.

Friday 16th August, 7pm. COLAS, Address: see Friday 19th July. Members’ Evening.
Talks by COLAS members. Visitors £3. Light refreshments after.

Sunday 25th August. Markfield Beam Engine & Museum, Markfield Park, Markfield Road N15 4AB.
Steam Day. www.mbeam.org . Tel: 07923 459020 for more info.

With many thanks to this month’s contributors: Don Cooper, Melvyn Dresner, Eric Morgan,
Janet Mortimer, Jim Nelhams, Jo Nelhams, Sue Willetts
Hendon and District Archaeological Society

Chairman Don Cooper 59, Potters Road, Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8440 4350)
e-mail: chairman@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Secretary Jo Nelhams 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: secretary@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Treasurer Roger Chapman 50 Summerlee Ave, London N2 9QP (07855 304488)
e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Membership Sec. Stephen Brunning 22 Goodwin Ct, 52 Church Hill Rd,
East Barnet EN4 8FH mob: 07534 646852 e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk

Join the HADAS email discussion group via the website at: www.hadas.org.uk

Jun 06

Newsletter-579-June-2019

By Roger | HADAS, Latest Newsletter, News, Past Newsletters, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

Number 579 June 2019 Edited by Melvyn Dresner

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE AND EVENTS PROGRAMME 2019

Tuesday 11th June 2019 7.30 pm Annual General Meeting, Jo Nelhams
This year’s meeting will be followed by a lecture from our President, Harvey Sheldon, entitled
“Imperial Rome’s north-west frontier: can it explain Britannia and Londinium’s role within the
province?” We hope that many members will attend showing their support for those who
voluntarily give their time by standing for the committee and organising HADAS. Without them
there would be no society. Tea and coffee at the meeting will be free of charge. If you are unable to
attend, please send your apologies to Jo Nelhams by email (jo.nelhams@live.co.uk) or phone (020
8449 7076) Please note early start time.

Saturday July 27th 2019 SECRET RIVERS – at the Docklands Museum
HADAS is planning a visit to this exhibition revealing the history of London’s forgotten rivers. As
announced at our last lecture, Deirdre Barrie and Audrey Hooson have proposed an outing to the
Docklands Museum on Saturday 27th July. The Museum is staging a free exhibition starting from
24th May called “Secret Rivers”. If you have a bus pass, your transport is also free. Quoting from
the Museum’s publicity:

“Secret Rivers uses archaeological artefacts, art, photography and film to reveal stories of life by
London’s rivers, streams and brooks, exploring why many of them were lost over time.
“The intriguing histories of the River Effra, Fleet, Neckinger, Lea, Wandle, Tyburn, Walbrook and
Westbourne will all feature in the exhibition. Each river will highlight a broader theme such as
poverty, industry, development, effluence, manipulation, activism, sacred association and
restoration.”

The museum requests that groups book in advance, so although we require no deposit, rough
numbers are need. There is a coffee bar at the museum and other places for lunch close by, or you
can bring your own sandwiches. Will meet either at Bank Station DLR platform at 10.30, for West
India Quay or at 11.00 in the museum coffee shop. Please contacts Deirdre Barrie (020 8367
0922) dlbarrie@tiscali.co.uk or Audrey Hooson AudreyHooson@icloud.com

HADAS 2019 Long Trip. Monday 23rd to Friday 27th September 2019. We have booked the
hotel for our long trip in 2019. Details will follow in due course. The hotel is: Best Western
Aberavon Beach Hotel, Aberavon Beach, Port Talbot, SA12 6QP.

Tuesday 8th October 2019: From Crosse & Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA excavations at
Tottenham Court Road 2009–10 by Lyn Blackmore.

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: a royal and monastic landscape revealed by
Bob Cowie.

Lectures are held at Stephens House & Gardens (Avenue House), 17 East End Road, Finchley, N3 3QE, and start promptly at 8 pm, with coffee / tea afterwards. Non-members admission: £2;
Buses 13, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central station (Northern Line), is a 5-10 minute walk away.

History of Clitterhouse Farm, Hendon Roger Chapman

The inaugural memorial lecture for Dorothy Newbury MBE (15th February 1920 – 13th February 2018) was given by Roger Chapman on 12th February 2019.
Clitterhouse has been known by many names – Clater’s House, Clutterhouse, Clitherow and Clytterhouse being some of them. The Clitter part of Clitterhouse is thought to originate from the word ‘clite’ or clay and has been roughly translated to mean ‘clay house’. The early history of Clitterhouse Farm is vague, clouded in mystery, tied up in disputed Charters and ripe for historical myth making. Earthen banks identified by aerial photography, were suggested to form a moated enclosure and defence line against Viking invasion across to Oxgate lying on the western side of the Edgware Road. In the past it was speculated that the Farm may have been a Viking raided homestead, blackened by fire, and then restored as: ‘A house of clay … of such thickness of wall that even a modern bullet would scarcely penetrate.’

From these ashes, Clitterhouse, the clay house ‘probably arose.’ It is a great story but evidence to support it is thin. The land is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 though Hendon is mentioned. In the Domesday Book (1086) it is estimated that Hendon had a population of 250 with enough woodland to support 1,000 pigs. By 1321, the time of the Black Book, there was still a great deal of woodland in existence, but less than at the time of Domesday. Clitterhouse Manor starts with Robert Warner, lawyer and one time under Sheriff of Middlesex. In 1439 he granted the land to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital on condition that a Chaplain and four youths would pray for him. Green, a son-in-law of Robert Warner secured a payoff from the will, on payment of a sparrow hawk, of sixty acres of land, six acres of pasture and 36 acres of woodland in Clitterhouse. Not a bad transaction for a sparrow hawk. The manor was eventually released to the hospital in 1446. The Farm remained in the ownership of St Bartholomew’s until 1921. The hospital’s property in Hendon was augmented in 1446 by two nearby estates granted by Henry Frowyk and William Cleeve, Master of the King’s Works. The first, called Vynces, lay north of the Clitterhouse estate and the second, Rockholts, lay south of the road to Childs Hill.

A survey in 1584 of Clitterhouse Farm “now in the tenure of Edward Kempe” was undertaken by Ralfe Treswell. At this time the farm was over 200 acres comprising 18 fields, each with a perimeter woodland strip, 2 woodlands, an orchard, farmhouse, outbuildings and a moat. Emphasising the importance of woodland, at the time, the survey identifies 1295 ‘timber trees’ on the farm. Timber was the building material of choice and would also be used for fencing, wattle work and in large quantities for fuel. The farm land extended to the ‘West High Waie’ (Edgware Road) and was bordered to the south by land belonging to the Abbey of Westminster. To the north the landowner was Sir Roger Cholmeley, founder of Highgate School. Primary access to the farm was via a trackway from a feature called ‘Clitterhouse Cross’, presumably a wayside cross or Calvary, on the ‘West High Waie’ and this ran past fields called Great Rockholts, Noke Field and Great Camp to the House and then a track ran (roughly on the alignment of Claremont Road today) past Bente Field, Hill Field and Great Vince, out past Whitefield Gove which was on Cholmeley’s land. Edward Kemp occupied the farm in 1610 when his house was broken into and a woman’s violet coloured gown worth 40 shillings and other personal goods were stolen. Three men and a woman were charged. Two of the men were ‘at large’, the other man pleaded not guilty and was acquitted. The woman, Joan Eliott, stood mute and for that reason was condemned to a punishment called “peine forte et dure”. She was laid on her back under a great weight and on alternate days was fed small quantities of bread or water until she died. One reason she may have stood mute is by
not pleading she would avoid forfeiture of property. This type of harsh punishment was abolished in 1772, though its last use was in 1741. Thomas Kempe was resident during the time of Cromwell and in his 1667 will left the lease of the farm to his son, Edward, with all the ‘corn, hay, cows, sheep etc.’ Edward continued at Clitterhouse until 1674 when he responded to a ‘hue and cry’ raised against highway robbers who had held up the mail coach on the Windsor Road and then fled across country from Hanwell to Harrow. All available able men in Hendon mounted their horses and tried to cut off the miscreants. Edward Kempe was to the fore and as he approached them, on the narrow lane leading to Hampstead Heath, they fired and he fell from his horse with a bullet in his side. He survived for 24 hours. The villains were caught, taken to Newgate gaol, and eventually executed. The body of their leader, Francis Jackson, was hung in chains on a gallows tree between the Heath and Golders Green. The Kempe’s kept a connection with the Farm until 1794.

By 1715 a new plan of the Farm, prepared by Robert Trevitt, shows a much reduced woodland area, only 19 acres out of 203 total. Most of the woodland strips surrounding the fields had been grubbed out and a further 7 acres were lost by 1753. This plan also contains a superb drawing of the farmyard in 1715 showing timber framed and weather boarded buildings making a tight group around the farmyard. John Roques 1746 plan ‘10 miles around London’ shows a range of five farm buildings called ‘Claters House’.

The decline of woodland continued and in a survey of agriculture un 1794 hay was a key crop and in the neighbourhood of ‘Harrow, Hendon and Finchley there are many hay barns capable of holding 30 to 50 and some even 100 loads of hay’. Hendon by the time of the Tithe apportionment map of 1843 was 91% (7330 acres) in meadow and pasture use with just 0.04% of land (283 acres) in arable production and a miniscule 40 acres (0.005%) woodland. Clitterhouse Farm, now tenanted by Jonathan Caley, reflects this with the majority of fields shown as meadow and only some as arable. In the 1860s the coming of the Midland Railway Company cut Clitterhouse Farm in two (north to south) and led to the building of Claremont Road. The land west of the railway line became Brent Sidings in the 1880s. From 1876 until 1915 the Brent Gas Works supplied stations from Mill Hill to St Pancras, including the Midland Hotel and the railway workers cottages called Brent Midland Terrace (1897). Between 1884 and 1913, the influential suffragette Gladice Georgina Keevil (1884 – 1959) lived at Clitterhouse Farm. At age 6, she won a prize for her clay modelling at the local kindergarten. In February 1908 she was one of those arrested with Emmeline Pankhurst in taking part in a demonstration outside the House of Commons.

Keevil’s picture was taken in 1910 by Colonel Linley Blathwayt (died 1919) at Eagle House near Batheaston, Somerset. Where she (and other suffragettes) went to recover and celebrate a prison sentence for the cause. Here with shovel in hand after planting a tree.

By the First World War, Clitterhouse farmland was much reduced in size, becoming a dairy farm, which was 100 acres in extent and had “40 cows in full milk” producing 10 quarts per day on average. Land had been for Hendon sewage works in the 1880s, and to Hendon fever hospital (1890-1929). The estate remained the property of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital until 1921, when it was sold to the War Department; it was later split up among private developers. Hendon Urban District Council acquired some of the land for playing fields and to provide a new home for Hampstead Football Club in 1926 (which became Hendon FC in 1946).

In 1913, the southern part of Clitterhouse farm became the Beatty School of Flying (a joint venture with early American aviator, George Warren Beatty 1887-1955, and Handley Page). This became the Handley Page’s Cricklewood Aerodrome and factory during 1917. Handley Page developed and tested Britain’s first bombers. After the First World War, passenger flights to the continent became popular. In 1929 the Aerodrome was closed, and the land became Laing’s ‘Golders Green Estate’. Jean Simmons, the actress, was brought up on the estate. Shortly after 1926 Hampstead FC (Hendon FC from 1946) rented some of the land from Hendon Urban District, finishing Clitterhouse as a farm. The rest of the land became a public open space. From 1920 to 1938, Cricklewood Studios occupied part of the aerodrome; these were the largest film studios in the UK. To get an idea of the film studios in action: https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/how-make-your-first-silent-movie-count

The Clitterhouse Farm Project
The Clitterhouse Farm Project was founded in early 2013 by local residents – who all live within a five-minute walk of Clitterhouse Farm. They are working to protect the historic Victorian farm outbuildings from demolition and to secure their future, so the entire site can be transformed into a vibrant, creative and sustainable hub that supports the community and small businesses. They wish to provide a compatible and flexible space relevant to the needs of the local population and to create a tangible improvement to the area before, during and after the Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration. They have secured over £100,000 crowdfunding in December 2018 for community café and workshops including money from the Mayor of London’s Good Growth fund. They are slowly working through the planning stages, as they hope to start on site later this year.

Working closely with the Clitterhouse Farm Project, HADAS members excavated trenches in the garden area to the south of the building in 2015 and in 2016 trenches were dug to the north and along the front of the current buildings. From these we found the foundations of what we believe to be the Wheat barn (see below) and traces of the moat. Our finds include small amounts of pottery from the 12th century along with more extensive amounts from later centuries. The excavations suggest that the older range of buildings should be found under the car park.
The line A–A runs is roughly along the front of the current building as shown in the photo below.

Environmental Samples
Mike Hacker collected environmental samples during 2015 dig, the assemblage of pollen and spores (Scaife 2016) were found to be typical of other moats fills. This shows the vegetation diversity of the local human habitats sealed into the ditch or moat. The sources include grassland/pasture; thatching; animal faeces and offal waste (animals fed on hay); and river/stream courses which may have flowed into the ditch. The arboreal pollen is largely oak and hazel, from the wider region and most likely managed woodland, though with birch and elm. Pollen of sedges, grass and willow from damper conditions of the moat associated with a phase of silting/drying out of the moat; perhaps after abandonment. There is a strong representation of cereal pollen: more likely from secondary than local cultivation such as domestic waste – human and animal faeces, offal and from dumped waste food and floor coverings.

HADAS aim to carry out more work over the coming years to expand our knowledge of the development of this important moated farm. With the new café we hope to contribute to a small permanent diplay of material and archaeological finds. Clitterhouse Farm covers more than a thousand years of history from Viking raids, dairy farming, highway robbery, the coming of the railway age, suffragettes, pioneers in aviation for war and commercial travel, early Cinema, the rise of out of town shopping centres and much more. There is still much more to discover.

Bibliography
“Cricklewood High School and Kindergarten”. The Middlesex Courier. 31 July 1891. p. 3. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
Andrea McKenzie, “This Death Some Strong and Stout Hearted Man Doth Choose”: The Practice of Peine Forte et Dure in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century England”, Law and History Review, Vol 23, No 2, Summer 2005
Dr Rob Scaife, Pollen Analysis of Samples from Clitterhouse Farm (CLM15) (007), Visiting Professor of Palaeoecology, School of Geography and Environment, Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton 2016
David Sullivan, “The Westminster Corridor: Anglo-Saxon Story of Westminster Abbey and Its Lands in Middlesex”, 1st January 1994, Historical Publications Ltd
Patricia Warren British Film Studios: An Illustrated History, London: B.T. Batsford, 2001, p.22

Arkley Greyware medieval pottery production, South Hertfordshire Melvyn Dresner
The material found at the Arkley kiln site (Dyke Cottage), Barnet was discovered in 1959/1960 (including a complete pot). The HADAS finds group (led by Jacqui Pearce) help re-package and process the finds in 2014/15. We also undertook some further chemical and petrographic analysis including linking the kiln site with consumer sites. We are in process of writing up this research, as well as continuing to working on other Barnet sites, where this type of pottery was used (e.g. Ye Olde Mitre Inne, Barnet dug by HADAS in 1989). This report is part of this ongoing work.
The Arkley Brick – One piece of kiln furniture returned to the HADAS archive from Barnet Museum by Derek Renn earlier this year, which is part of the evidence of pottery production in Barnet since the 11th century. The material found at the site was medieval greyware – South Hertfordshire. This was mainly waste pottery sherds; material that failed as usable pottery due to production faults, as well as kiln furniture – fire bars and parts of the dome of the kiln. The finds were found in pits cut into the clay. The kiln itself was not found.

Medieval Barnet and wider landscape

The Romano-British tradition (Renn 1964) of pottery manufacture was known along the route of Watling Street between Brockley Hill and St Albans, which is to the north and west of Arkley, though continuity with pottery of 11th century is unlikely. We know St Alban’s Abbey owned the land around the site (Taylor 1995). St Alban’s Abbey, with the shrine of England’s first martyr, became prestigious and important. Throughout most of the medieval period it was England’s premier Benedictine abbey with numerous daughter houses stretching from Tynemouth in the north to Binham near the Norfolk coast. The Abbey was one day’s ride from London. The first Norman abbot was Paul of Caen from 1077 to 1093. By 1100 the Great North Road had been built, with two early settlements at East Barnet and Barnet Gate (or Grendelsgate). The Market charter was granted by King John in 1199. Manor court were sometimes held at Grendelsgate. According to Renn (1964), the Barnet Court Book shows a flourishing community by 1245. He suggests the Potters Lane may date from 1247. Woodland would be split between lord of the manor (St Alban’s Abbey) and peasants who worked the land, would have had rights such as firewood. The potter would need access to fuel (wood, charcoal), water for processing, clay (geology, clearings, glades), the market, organisation, and subsistence. Pottery at Arkley marks the transition from domestic production for use within the household to larger scale production for the market. The rule of Benedict had a particular attitude to craft and the market, which help us understand the potter’s world.

“If there are craftsmen in the monastery, let them practice their crafts with all humility, provided the Abbot has given permission….
If any of the work of the craftsmen is to be sold, let those through whose hands the transactions pass see to it that they do not presume to practice any fraud…
…and in the prices let not the sin of avarice creep in, but let the goods always be sold a little cheaper than they can be sold by people in the world, “that in all things God may be glorified.”
Renn (1964) suggests that the 13th century Arkley kiln would be a vertical kiln, where pots were stood on a platform of firebars radiating from a central support, with hot fumes escaping through a hole in the dome. Domestic refuse includes sheep and ox bones; metal slag; micaschist whetstone, oak, beech and birch charcoal. Wasters that were under fired; dunted; or spalled. Also included building material – such as chimney pots or roof finials. He parallels finds here with South Mymms castle.

Pottery Fabric
The pottery found at Arkley can be classified into four types (SHER 1, 2, 3 and 4). Over seventy per cent of the pottery is course medium oxidised (SHER 3). Around 25% is reduced course ware (SHER 1). Fine ware makes up around 3% of the estimated number of vessels, with 2% reduced (SHER 2) and 1% oxidised (SHER 4). Work continues….

HADAS Finds Group, sorting South Hertfordshire from Ye Old Mitre Inne, Barnet, March 2019

Bibliography
Renn, Derek (1964). Potters and Kilns in Medieval Hertfordshire.
Taylor, Pamela. The Early St. Albans Endowment and its Chroniclers, Historic Research, Volume 68, Issue 166, June 1995
St. Benedict’s Rule for Monasteries http://www.gutenberg.org/files/50040/50040-h/50040-h.html#chapter-57-nl-on-the-craftsmen-of-the-monastery

West Heath mystery, Orkney and HADAS Melvyn Dresner
HADAS has a long link with Orkney and its archaeology, we are trying to locate a missing video.
Daphne Lorimer’s worked with HADAS on the West Heath Mesolithic site, Hampstead during the 1970s and 1980s, which was pioneering – helping to bringing together scientific techniques with community archaeology, lithic analysis and environmental sampling. Daphne was awarded an MBE for her equally impressive role in Scottish archaeology in Orkney and as founder of the Orkney Archaeology Trust. Janet Mortimer has just returned from an archaeological tour with tales of Daphne, and a mystery to be solved. There was a film made at West Heath in 1970s, and where is it now? What we know, is on the HADAS trip in 2000 to the Orkneys, members were shown around by Jane Downes and Julie Gibson. One afternoon included a visit to Daphne’s place ‘Scorradale House’ she had laid on a ‘high-tea’ and some displays including a video of a TV programme made at the West Heath dig of which Daphne was heavily involved and co-author of the dig report. Janet found out that Daphne’s archaeology-related books and reference material went to Archaeology Institute at Orkney College, University of the Highlands and Islands. So far no video. Dudley Miles is visiting Orkney next month on his trip to the Northern Isles. I return for a third season to work at Ness of Brodgar, any clues much appreciated.
More info about Daphne Lorimer here: http://www.orkneyjar.com/archaeology/dhl/dl/index.html and also HADAS newsletter (409 April 2005). Some photos from HADAS dig at West Heath in 1970s.

Surprisingly Rewarding on the Thames Foreshore Catriona Stuart
Catriona Stuart gives her take on Thames foreshore archaeology.

Only 7 miles away from the Quadrant Stone, the biggest available archaeological site in England – the Thames Foreshore, revealed twice a day at low tide. This isn’t news to you. But maybe its availability for archaeological research and its’ urgency because of the rapidly changing foreshore – is! At low tide 5th century fish traps, ancient causeways, river crossings have all been observed. Boats, both building and breaking, smaller craft put to other uses, rituals both old and current (Hindu ceremonies) evidence of all are to be found on the foreshore.
Apart from the Roman Bridge across the river, originally the main traffic along or across the river was by boat. Car boot sales a totally modern invention? Not exactly. Imagine a Briton pulling their boats up onto the Thames foreshore when Romans occupied London and selling their goods in exactly the same way. This happened just upstream of the Londinium – the Roman port was downstream of the Roman wall. Who when stepping over water into an unstable boat who hasn’t worried about dropping something into the water, to be lost beyond retrieval? Nothing has changed.

The collection of fast flowing tributary rivers and canals fusing to become the Thames, finally turns into a wide meandering river flowing over flat lands of thick mud. These dangerous wet mudbanks were made usable by folk who lived on the riversides sinking all their rubbish onto the riverbanks. From offcuts of leather shoes tied in a bundle thrown in at Tudor Greenwich, to the debris from the Great Fire of London. (I am still looking for signs of burn marks on the broken 17th century roof tiles that litter the foreshore under Cannon Street railway arch). Clearly to be seen at Bermondsey and Rotherhithe are the remains of World War Two bomb damaged buildings pushed onto the foreshore!

Once there were slow vessels going through a crowded river, powered by sail or physical rowing docking, mooring tight to one another. There was steam and mechanically powered boats. This, in the life of river traffic was only for a short length of time. Since the change in 1960 to container shipping, and the opening of the London Gateway container dock at Tilbury 30 miles from London, the Thames’ old docklands is now an open river with comparatively little river traffic. The Thames is travelled by large river buses going at speed. The wake from these river buses rapidly runs up the foreshore eroding both it and everything on it. Downstream of Teddington Lock the foreshore is also subject to tidal movement. There is also deposition of mud from the many tributary rivers. So the foreshore is subject to both deposition and erosion at the same time! Hence the constant change of the foreshore from week to week! The Thames, both the river and the foreshore reflects its continued use by humans for well over 2,000 years. Everyone is allowed onto the Thames foreshore.

Digging into the foreshore is NOT allowed without a Port of London permit. Everything taken from the foreshore is subject to the scrutiny of the Museum of London and officially belongs to them. You are likely to find things of amazing interest, however finding something of monetary value is very unlikely. Nevertheless, with all of everyday London life going on unnoticed only a few meters unseen above, standing on the foreshore of the Thames cocooned in silence, while being surrounded by 2,000 years of tangible often visible history is a very, very, special experience, and yours to enjoy. If you would like to learn more contact www.thamesdiscovery.org Port of London www.pla.co.uk shows Tide Tables under the strap line of safety/hydrography.

Cerne Abbey Site Re-Assessed Charles Leigh Smith
Inspired by Mick Aston referring to a village about to be demolished he mentions that its remnant features might become part of a palimpsest. Aston, like W. G. Hoskins, liked maps – if only they could speak! They do speak to archaeologists of the landscape. Historic sites with dispersed structures often remain a puzzle; but, sometimes illuminated by early maps. Charlie Leigh Smith re-assesses Cerne Abbey, in Dorset, part of his Masters course at Birkbeck College, University of London.

The abbey established in 987, situated just north of Cerne Abbas village, was built towards the end of the 10th century religious reform, when secular religious establishments were being replaced by Anglo-Saxon monasteries. By the 12th century, it was taken over by the Benedictines who replaced the early church by a conventional abbey with church, chapter house, etc. The abbey could also be expected to have its own workshops, brew-house, barn(s) etc, thus allowing it to become largely self-sufficient, and private, as required by the Benedictine rule. For Cerne Abbey the problem had always been that with so few buildings remaining after the Dissolution in 1539, it became impossible to know exactly where the abbey once stood. The earliest OS map marked a cross (+) in Beavoir Field, but these locations have often been incorrect. Beavoir Field is bare grass but lies adjacent to the village cemetery.

A few abbey buildings have survived: the main gatehouse (Abbey House), Porch (a fine monumental structure), lodge (possibly a guest-house), and small barn, which lie nearby. Villagers knew that spot finds came from the back of the village cemetery, such as glazed tiles and parts of tomb effigies. The two horizontal cemetery walls suggested these were the remains of an abbey church, and the 3m (12ft) walls at the St Augustine well, might indicate these could be the remains of a South Transept. But these imaginings were based on interpretations without scientific foundation. Firstly, one of the cemetery walls (on the north side) was too narrow and was shown on an estate map dated 1768, to have been a hedgerow. Observation by John Leyland travelling to the abbey in the early 1500’s, when it was standing, noted a chapel over the St Augustine well; what is currently displayed are the partial wall remains of the chapel’s undercroft (possible pump-house). A resistance geophysical survey in Beavoir Field by Bournemouth University (2014/0071), provided evidence for a linear anomalous area under the grassy field but follow up test pitting disallowed by the landlord (Lord Digby); it was a Scheduled Monument. The subject seemed appropriate for further in-depth research.

A License for a geophysical survey was obtained from the Inspector of Ancient Monuments for West England which came with a recommendation to see the abbey in a wider contextual setting. Research used the tools available to the landscape archaeologist i.e. aerial photographs, LiDAR, OS and historic estate maps; relevant documents held at Kew, Victoria County History, and observations from local writers were reviewed and noted, each providing relevant information. But the most valuable evidence was the find-spot locations (Davey et al., 2011), detailed descriptions and layout plans from other known Benedictine monasteries (Greene, 1992), out-houses (Cook, 1961), fishponds (Aston, 1988), the Cerne abbey seal (Kew archive), and observation on the ground in Beavoir field at the western end some distance from a field gate. This last observation identified a faint linear feature on the grass surface, about 15 feet long with something hard beneath the surface. There was also a large square faced ragstone beside it. It was also evident this section of Beavoir Field had once been levelled off from prevailing downhill lie-of-the-land. It turned out this line probably marked the abbey’s west front and suggested the abbey was aligned not exactly East-West, but EbS/WbN, which would have allowed the abbey to fit with earthworks to the east. The abbey seal showed a turret on either side, and by overlaying the topographical map with Muchelney Abbey (of similar date) the location of the spot finds fell exactly where one would expect a Lady Chapel to have been. What the wider survey indicated was a private (inner religious) area, and a working (secular industrial) area for brew-house and outhouses, one likely late Anglo-Saxon.
Interestingly, a chance conversation with Lord Digby told of a time when as a boy he saw a small wheel about 6 feet in diameter set mostly below ground in the Victorian milking parlour – since demolished. This provided the clue to the site for the abbey’s water mill. This location fitted the water channels seen on the 1768 Estate Map, emanating from this spot. It confirmed the abbey’s work area. The 18th century estate map was drawn up for Mr Pitt-Rivers, who had recently purchased the abbey lands, and although he himself never lived in the village, it was he who we must thank for saving the abbey buildings that survive to this day. A meeting with his grandson (Anthony) at his hall in another Dorset town revealed the abbey’s altar, now re-used as a fireplace but whose provenance was carefully labelled. It was looked down from the other side of the room by a large painting of this once eminent Antiquarian. The outcome of this piece of landscape archaeology research was to provide an holistic layout for Cerne Abbey, but which also led to the probable site for the earlier Anglo-Saxon church, and a reasoned argument why it had come to be built in this remote location of Dorset. Hopefully, the puzzle is solved.

Bibliography
Aston, M., 1988. Medieval fish, fisheries, and fishponds in England (Vol. 1). BAR.
Cook, G.H., 1961. English monasteries in the middle ages. London, Phoenix House.
Davey, J., Belamy, P., Le Pard, G., Pinder, C., 2011. Dorset Historic Towns Project, Cerne Abbas Historic Urban Characterisation, Dorset County Council.
Greene, J.P., 1992. Medieval monasteries. Leicester University Publishing.

Architecture of London Guildhall Art Gallery (off Gresham Street) EC2V 5AE
31 May – 1 December 2019 The Guildhall Art Gallery’s forthcoming exhibition brings together works from the 17th century to the present day to illustrate how London’s ever-changing cityscape has inspired visiting and resident artists over four centuries. As part of the six-month exhibition, John Schofield, cathedral archaeologist at St Paul’s Cathedral; Dr Jane Sidell, inspector of Ancient Monuments for Historic England; and Dr David Allen and Dr Simon Elliott, historian and archaeologist respectively, will lead a series of talks on the use of stone, the tradition of bricklaying within London’s architecture, and historical insights from the Great Fire of London.

The Architecture of London will feature 80 works by over 60 artists, drawing from the City of London Corporation’s extensive art collection to examine the rich diversity of London’s buildings and its varied portrayal by artists, including masterpieces by renowned and emerging artists, such as Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach and Catherine Yass.
More details here: https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/visit-the-city/attractions/guildhall-galleries/guildhall-art-gallery/Pages/default.aspx

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS Compiled by Eric Morgan
Friday 7th June. Doors open 7.30 pm for lecture at 8.00 pm Landscape Archaeology of Northwest London, Sandy Kidd, GLAAS. Jubilee Hall, Parsonage Lane Enfield (close to Chase Side). Visitors are very welcome (£1.50 per person).

Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th June Barnet Medieval Festival 2019, Barnet Elizabethans RFC, Byng Rd, EN5 4NP

Monday 10th June 3.00 pm Beanos, Boozing & Hopping! Memories of the Old East End, John Lynch
Barnet Parish church (St John the Baptist Church, top of Barnet Hill) Cost: £2 (free for Members of Barnet Museum & Local History Society)

Thursday, 20th June. 7.30 pm – 9:00 pm, Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley in Somers Town – Charlie Forman, Camden History Society, Burgh House

Sunday 23rd June. 12-6pm East Finchley Community Festival has been taking place in Cherry Tree Wood every summer for nearly 40 years.

Friday 28th June, A Treaty of Peace, Today marks 100 years since the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the most important of the peace treaties which brought World War I to an end. The Stephens Ink Company always maintained the treaty was signed in their ink and you can learn more and view our 1919 Stationery Office copy, Stephens House and Gardens, 17 East End Road, Finchley, London N3 3QE. Telephone 020 8346 7812

Wednesday 3rd July. 5.30pm Brompton Cemetery Catacombs and Chapel Meet just inside the north gate off Old Brompton Road by the Information Centre at SW5 9JE for a tour of the catacombs and chapel at Brompton Cemetery. £10 for members, £12.50 for non-members, including a cup of tea and biscuit in the chapel following the tour www.brompton-cemetery.org.uk

Friday 12th July. Doors open 7.30pm.Geoffrey Gillam Memorial Lecture: Survivors: Surviving World War II Structures in Enfield Ian Jones EAS. Enfield Archaeological Society, Jubilee Hall Chase Side, Enfield, EN2 0AJ. Visitors £1.50.
Enfield Archaeological Society will be returning to Forty Hall this summer from the 16th to 28th of July 2019 to continue our investigation of Henry VIII’s Elsyng Palace. You need to join the society if you would like to dig. Open day 27th July. Check their website: https://www.enfarchsoc.org/

With thanks to this month’s contributors: Roger Chapman, Catriona Stuart, Charles Leigh Smith, and Eric Morgan
Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman: Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet, Herts. EN5 5HS (020 8440 4350)
e-mail: chairman@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Secretary: Jo Nelhams, 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: secretary@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Treasurer: Jim Nelhams, 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Membership Sec: Stephen Brunning, Flat 22 Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road, East Barnet EN4 8FH (020 8440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
Join the HADAS email discussion group via the website at: https://www.hadas.org.uk

May 01

Number-578-May-2019

By Roger | HADAS, Latest Newsletter, Past Newsletters, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

Number 578 MAY 2019 Edited by Sue Willetts

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE AND EVENTS PROGRAMME 2019

Tuesday 14th May 2019 50 years of recording London’s Industrial Heritage
by Professor David Perrett. Professor Emeritus of Bioanalytical Science, Barts & the London
School of Medicine, Queen Mary University of London
The last 50 years has seen major changes in London’s industrial heritage. Both traditional
manufacturing and craft industries have almost disappeared from the Capital. Transport
infrastructure has been totally modernised and railway sites have been redeveloped. Similar changes
have made Docklands unrecognisable. Some Industrial Archaeology sites, especially those
associated with public utilities have been preserved. The Greater London Industrial Archaeology
Society (GLIAS) was founded in 1969 to study and record London’s industrial archaeology. This
talk will describe some of these changes and the look at the problems associated with IA in London.
David is an active medical researcher with over 250 scientific publications and sits on Dept. of
Health Committee relating to CJD and surgical instruments. He can trace his IA interests to a
Yorkshire coal mining community upbringing. He lectures nationally and international on both
science and the history of technology & industrial archaeology. He is a Past-President of the
Newcomen Society (The International Society for the History of Engineering & Technology) based
in the Science Museum. He is a Council Member of the Association for Industrial Archaeology
(AIA). He has been a member of the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society (GLIAS) for
over 40 years and is the Society’s present Chair. His IA interests include stationary steam engines
especially the Newcomen Engine and London’s Industrial Archaeology.

Tuesday 11th June 2019 Annual General Meeting, Jo Nelhams
The Society would not exist without the volunteers who work on your behalf to run the
activities of the Society. The Constitution states that as well as the officers of Chairman, Vice
Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Membership Secretary, there can be 12 more Committee
members. For some years there has not been the full quantity, but at the moment there are
only 6. The number of Committee meetings is small, generally only 4 each year. Most of the
present members have served for many years and can’t go on forever. We hope that there will
be some new volunteers prepared to be nominated to become members of the Committee.
Nomination forms are with the AGM papers.

We hope that all members will think to attend this meeting. If you are unable to attend please
remember to send your apologies to the Secretary either by phone or email. Contact details
are on the back of the Newsletter. Thank you.

Following the meeting, our President Harvey Sheldon will give a lecture entitled, Imperial Rome’s north-west frontier: can it explain Britannia and Londinium’s role within the Province?

HADAS 2019 Long Trip. Monday 23rd to Friday 27th September 2019
We have booked the hotel for our long trip in 2019. Details will follow in due course.
The hotel is: Best Western Aberavon Beach Hotel, Aberavon Beach, Port Talbot, SA12 6QP.

Tuesday 8th October 2019: From Crosse & Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA excavations at Tottenham Court Road 2009–10 by Lyn Blackmore.

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: a royal and monastic landscape revealed by
Bob Cowie.

April Lecture: The CITiZAN Project by Gustav Milne. Deirdre Barrie
Gustav Milne has worked on a wide range of sites, from Roman and Saxon to Medieval ones, including the site of the Roman London Bridge. He has been a lecturer at UCL since 1991, he founded the Thames Archaeological Survey in 1993 and the Thames Discovery Programme in 2008. He has worked on several recording projects, including a medieval ship in Sandwich, Kent, a wrecked Elizabethan merchantman in the Thames estuary, and the launch site for Brunel’s SS Great Eastern in Millwall. He is now Project Leader of the CITiZAN Project.
Unlike archaeological sites on dry land, coastal sites on the foreshore and low tide sites have no statutory protection. CITiZAN is a national project, formed to record and monitor long-term programmes led by active volunteers from linked organisations, and backed by the Lottery Heritage Fund.
CITiZAN’s aim is to preserve our coastal heritage by recording the foreshore and sites below low- tide, which can be lost by storm damage, tidal scourage and erosion, or even by rising sea levels. Some sites could be washed away before they are even seen! There are at present 300 trained CITiZANS for the whole of the country, plus 600 additional members who identify, survey and monitor long-term 20 key sites.

Over the last twenty years or so there has been a move to bring together organisations, local universities and volunteers. The Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Surveys commissioned by Historic England is a national attempt to try to quantify English coastal archaeological resources. Website link to Rapid Coastal Zone Assessments https://citizan.org.uk/resources/rczas
Since 2014, CITiZAN has been co-operating with other national organisations, such as the National Trust, the Crown Estate, Historic England, the Council for British Archaeology and the Nautical Archaeological Society. Training filters down from CITiZAN and local universities to community volunteers who are then trained. The objective is complete national coverage.

There is an astonishing variety of sites, which come under the following headings:
Abandoned Vessels consists of boats, barges and ships – anything from Bronze Age and Roman vessels to the Newport ship of 1486, (left in an inlet and submerged). The ship has been dismantled for preservation. Some ships need little excavation, the erosion of the sea carries this out. Drones are now especially useful in providing aerial views, e.g. where treacherous Thames mud is concerned.

Coastal Industries include shipbuilding, sea salt production, fixed net fishing and mining. The sites of these industries can reveal the high tides of the day – for instance in Essex, mid-Saxon fish traps operated at a lower tide level than now.

Coastal Defences such as those of WWI and WWII, and the Saxon Shore Forts are now being attacked by the sea, rather than the enemy, commented Gustav Milne.
As for Lost Landscapes and Settlements, there are 36 lost medieval towns in Yorkshire alone.

Prehistoric features are often revealed at low tides – human, animal and bird footprints, not to mention submerged forests dating back 8000 years to the Mesolithic period. In one incident, an observant Essex oysterman, Dan French, called the CITiZAN team’s attention to remains of a wooden trackway dating back to 952 BC.
http://www.merseamuseum.org.uk/mmresdetails.php?tot=64&cat=&col=MM&typ=c&rt=XT&hit=26&pid=COR2_027

It is hoped that the England Coast Path (ECP) should be ready by 2020. It should include foreshore trails where walkers (with mobile phone cameras) can monitor archaeological sites.

CITiZAN were joint winners of the 2018 British Archaeological awards for Best Community Engagement Archaeology Project with SCAPE (http://scapetrust.org, Scottish Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion. Community Archaeology is the future for foreshore archaeology, ended Gustav Milne.
———————————————————
Recommended reading: England’s Coastal Heritage: a Review Since 1997 by Peter Murphy (English Heritage, 2014). Websites:
CITiZAN: https://www.mola.org.uk/citizan-coastal-and-intertidal-zone-archaeological-network
Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/citizan and Twitter: http://eepurl.com9vRNH
Thames Discovery Programme: [http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/]

News from the Barnet Museum and Historical Society Don Cooper

The Barnet Physic Well had a grand reopening after refurbishment on 20th April 2019 and it is hoped to have regular monthly openings soon. If you do get a chance do go and see it. Please check with Barnet Museum for detailed opening dates and times.

Barnet Museum and Historical Society are running two “day “coach outings this summer.
One is on Saturday, 6th July 2019, to visit Richborough Castle and the Town of Deal. The cost for Adults £25, English Heritage members £20 (don’t forget your membership cards) Children £10. Pick-up is at the Barnet Odeon (now called the Everyman) at 08.15am.

The other is on Saturday, 21st September 2019, to visit the Mary Rose at Portsmouth. The cost is £38 for adults and £15 children. Pick-up is at the Barnet Odeon (now called the Everyman) at 08.15am

To book ring Dennis Bird on 020 8449 0705 and get a booking form.

Local Government Boundary Commission for England
Invitation to comment on draft recommendations consultation for London Borough of Barnet
Link to consultation document

Local people and organisations are asked to comment on draft recommendations for new ward boundaries across Barnet and to make suggestions to change and improve these recommendations. They will consider all the submissions they receive whoever they are from and whether your evidence applies to the whole of Barnet or just a part of the area.
There are proposals for new ward boundaries and it is possible to compare the proposals (in red) to the existing boundaries (in blue) and search across the whole of Barnet, even down to street level.

Click on any ward to find out how many voters are included in it and how many councillors they propose should represent it. You can submit comments or upload a document by clicking on the ‘Have your say’ link at the top of the page. You can also draw your own boundaries and annotate the map by clicking on the button.
There is plenty of information to help you make a submission in the ‘Useful links’ section at the bottom right of the page. This stage of the consultation closes on 24 June 2019.

Tours organised by London Transport Hidden London is London Transport Museum’s programme of tours and events at disused stations and secret sites across London. Led by experienced guides, ready to share unusual and little-known stories surrounding the stations’ varied histories, these visits offer an opportunity to explore locations rarely seen by the public. London Transport Museum is offering 8 different tours between April and September 2019 at the locations below: Charing Cross – Access All Areas Clapham South – Subterranean Shelter Down Street – Churchill’s Secret Station Clapham South – Tour & Screening 55 Broadway – London’s First Skyscraper Highgate – Wilderness Walkabout Euston – The Lost Tunnels Aldwych – The End of the Line They suggest setting up a London Transport Museum account before purchasing tickets. If you already have an account, have your login details and password to hand when buying tickets.

New free exhibition at the British Library: Imaginary Cities

5th April -Sunday 14th July. Entrance Hall, The British Library 96 Euston Road, NW1 2DB Opening times and visitor information. This newly-commissioned body of work showcases fantastical cityscapes created by artist in residence Michael Takeo Magruder.

Traditional materials combine with cutting–edge digital technologies to remix images and live data from the Library’s digital collection of historic urban maps into fictional cityscapes for the Information Age.

Advance notice of a conference: Saving ancient treasures for the world Wednesday 3 July 2019, Beveridge Hall, Senate House. Check for booking details nearer the time. Speakers will include:
Dr Roger Bland (Keeper of the Department of Portable Antiquities and Treasure, British Museum, 2005-2013)
Professor Eleanor Robson (Professor of Ancient Middle Eastern History, UCL)
Dr Maamoun Abdulkarim (Director General for Antiquities and Museums of Syria, 2012-2017),
Dr John Curtis (CEO Iran Heritage Foundation)
Colonel Matthew Bogdanos (Chief, Antiquities Trafficking Unit, NY District Attorney’s Office).
A day conference, generously supported by Mr Christian Levett.

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS Compiled by Eric Morgan
Thursday 16th May, 6.30pm Institute of Archaeology, 31-34 Gordon Square, Wine reception 6.30pm for 7.00pm AGM & lecture Keeping the lights on at Hampton Court: discoveries from the first phases of the ring main replacement project at the palace. Guy Hunt & Daniel Jackson. Free.

Friday 31st May, 10am-5pm. British Museum, Gt. Russell St WC1B 3DG. Objects and Death: on the trail of grave goods. Day conference, exploring how people have confronted, explained & come to terms with death through objects. Speakers include Paul Pettitt, Richard Osgood & Gaye Sculthorpe. www.britishmuseum.org.uk/whats_on/events. £10 (£7.50 concessions).

1st June, 2.30 – 5.30 pm. Roman Society – Annual Meeting for members, followed by lectures open to the public. Woburn Suite (G22/26), Senate House

2.30 Prof. Tim Cornell: Roman dictators and modern politics

3.00 Prof. Catherine Steel: Sulla’s dictatorship: revival or recreation?

3.45 Tea

4.15 Prof. Federico Santangelo: From Paris to Turi: constructions of Caesarisms

4.45 Prof. Maria Wyke: Roman Dictatorship in Britain: Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra on
stage and screen

Tuesday 4th June, 2.50 for 3pm. Mill Hill Historical Society, Visit to the Stationers Company, St Martin’s-within-Ludgate, 40 Ludgate Hill, EC4M 7DE. Private tour of the historic hall, gardens, archive & Church of St Martin’s-within-Ludgate. Tour lasts about 75mins. Refreshments at end. Book by Thursday 16th May. Send cheque payable to Mill Hill Historical Soc. & SAE to Julia Haynes, 3b Marion Rd, Mill Hill NW7 4AN. For further information phone Julia: 0208 906 0563 or e-mail haynes.julia@yahoo.co.uk. Members £10, non-members £12.50.

Tuesday 4th June, 6pm. Gresham College, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN. The Treaty of Versailles a 100 Years Later. Talk by Prof Margaret MacMillan. To consider if the treaty led to the outbreak of WW2 & whether the attempt to create a new world order was a failure. Free.

Wednesday 5th June, 8pm. Docklands History Group, Museum of London Docklands, No.1 Warehouse, West India Quay, Hertsmere Rd, Canary Wharf E14 4AL. Rotherhithe & Bermondsey. Talk by Pete Smith. Visitors £2.

Thursday 6th June, 6pm. Pinner Local History Society, Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner HA5 1AB. The History of Hatch End Station. Talk by David Reidy on the story of Pinner’s first station. Visitors £3.

Friday 7th June, 7.45pm. Enfield Archaeological Society, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane junction Chase Side, Enfield EN2 OAJ. Landscape Archaeology of North-West London. Talk by Sandy Kidd (GLAAS). Visitors £1.50. Refreshments, sales & info. from 7.30pm.

Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th June, 10am-4.30pm. Barnet Medieval Festival, Barnet Elizabethans Rugby Club, Byng Rd, Barnet EN5 4NP. Including a living history camp, combat & weaponry displays, battle demonstrations, medieval traders & activities, local organizations, including HADAS. Food & drink stalls. Free entry.

Monday 10th June, 3pm. Barnet Museum & Local History Society, St John the Baptist Church, junction High St/Wood St, Barnet EN5 4BW. Beanos, Boozing & Hopping: memories of the old East End. Talk by John Lynch. Visitors £2.

Wednesday 12th June 7.45pm. Hornsey Historical Society, Union Church Hall, corner Ferme Park Rd /Weston Park, N8 9PX. The Bayeux Tapestry. Talk by Mike Brown. Visitors £2. Refreshments, sales & info. from 7.30pm.

Thursday 13th June, 6pm. Gresham College at the Guildhall Old Library, Gresham Street / Aldermanbury EC2V 7HH. Sir Thomas Gresham 1519-2019. The Sir Thomas Gresham Annual Lecture by Dr John Guy. Free, but reservations required: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/gresham-college-9868216333 or enquiries@gresham.ac.uk or tel: 0207 831 0575.

Friday 14th June, 7.30pm. British Library, Knowledge Centre, 96 Euston Rd, NW1 2DB. The Languages of History in the Middle Ages. Talk by Robert Bartlett on the languages of medieval Europe. Cost £12/£10/£8.

Saturday 15th June, 12.30-5.30pm. Highgate Summer Fair, Pond Sq, Highgate N6. Lots of stalls, incl. Highgate Society, Highgate Scientific & Literary Institute. Also crafts, gifts, clothes, etc. Free.
Tuesday 18th June, 6pm. Gresham College, Museum of London. Address as June 4th. The Weimar Republic: Germany’s first democracy. Lecture by the Gresham Provost, Sir Richard Evans FBA. Free.

Friday 21st June, 7pm. COLAS, St Olave’s Church, Hart Street, EC3R 7NB. Medieval Mass Burial at St Mary Spital. Talk by Don Walker (MoL).Visitors £3.

Friday 21st June, 7.30pm. Wembley History Society, English Martyr’s Hall, Chalk Hill Road, Wembley, HA9 9EW (top of Blackbird Hill, adjacent to Church). England’s Kennedy Moment: Prime

Minister Spencer Perceval shot dead in Westminster, May 1812. Talk by Lester Hillman (Islington Archaeology & History Society). Visitors £3.

Tuesday 25th June, 11am-12noon. Kingsbury Library, 522-524 Kingsbury Rd, NW9 9HE. Kingsbury’s Post-War Prefab Homes. Talk by Philip Grant (Brent Archives). Free, incl. coffee.

Wednesday 26th June, 6.30pm. Highgate Society History of Highgate Wood, guided walk. Meet at the cafe, nearest entrance Archway Rd N6 opp. Church Rd.

Wednesday 26th June, 7.45pm. Friern Barnet & District Local History Society, North Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane N20 0NL. From Potage to Peacocks: Food in the 16th Century. Talk by Maureen Poole. Visitors £2.

Thursday 27th June, 7.30pm. Finchley Society, Drawing Room, Avenue (Stephen’s) House, 17 East End Rd, N3 3QE. Annual General Meeting. Visitors £2.

Saturday 29th June, 10am-4.30pm. Verulamium: The Life and Death of a Roman City, Marlborough Rd Methodist Church, 69 Marlborough Rd, St Albans AL1 3XG, All day conference to mark the

Cathedral’s Roman Festival and Verulamium Museum’s 80th anniversary, covering recent research about Verulamium, including extensive geophysical survey & excavations on the Roman Forum. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/verulamium-the-life-and-death-of-a-roman-city-tickets-59814584031

With thanks to this month’s contributors: Deirdre Barrie, Don Cooper, Eric Morgan, Sue Willetts
Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman: Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet, Herts. EN5 5HS (020 8440 4350)
e-mail: chairman@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Secretary: Jo Nelhams, 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: secretary@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Treasurer: Jim Nelhams, 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Membership Sec: Stephen Brunning, Flat 22 Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road, East Barnet EN4 8FH (020 8440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
Join the HADAS email discussion group via the website at: www.hadas.org.uk
——————————————————————————————————————–.-

Apr 28

Newsletter-577-April-2019

By Roger | HADAS, Latest Newsletter, Past Newsletters, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

Number 577 APRIL 2019 Edited by Sue Willetts

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE AND EVENTS PROGRAMME 2019

Tuesday 9th April 2019. The CITiZAN Project by Project Leader Gustav Milne
CITiZAN stands for the Coastal and Intertidal Zone Archaeological Network, a national project to
highlight the threat to a wealth of coastal and estuarine sites, most of which have no statutory
protection. The range of archaeological features encompass a long time span – from prehistoric
forests and settlements to Roman forts and villas to 19th-century ship-breaking yards full of
abandoned boats, barges and ships, many of which are of considerable local and national
significance. This information has been taken from their website

Gustav began working in archaeology in the City of London in the 1970s, gaining expertise in the
excavation of waterfront sites along the Thames. He has worked on a wide range of sites, from
Roman and Saxon to Medieval, including the site of the Roman London Bridge. He has been a
lecturer at UCL since 1991, he founded the Thames Archaeological Survey in 1993 and the Thames
Discovery Programme in 2008. He has wide experience in nautical archaeology, having worked on
several recording projects including a medieval ship in Sandwich, Kent, a wrecked Elizabethan
merchantman in the Thames estuary, and the launch site for Brunel’s SS Great Eastern in Millwall.
Tuesday 14th May 2019. 50 years of recording London’s Industrial Heritage by Professor David
Perrett

Tuesday 11th June 2019. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. It is hoped that there will be a talk –
details in the next newsletter which will include, or have attached, the papers for the AGM.

HADAS 2019 Long Trip. Monday 23rd to Friday 27th September 2019
We have booked the hotel for our long trip in 2019. Details will follow in due course.
The hotel is: Best Western Aberavon Beach Hotel, Aberavon Beach, Port Talbot, SA12 6QP.

Tuesday 8th October 2019: From Crosse & Blackwell to Crossrail – MOLA excavations at
Tottenham Court Road 2009–10 by Lyn Blackmore.

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: a royal and monastic landscape revealed by
Bob Cowie.

Lectures are held at Stephens House & Gardens (Avenue House), 17 East End Road, Finchley, N3
3QE, and start promptly at 8 pm, with coffee/tea afterwards. Non-members admission: £2; Buses
13, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central station (Northern Line), is a 5-10
minute walk away.

Lost and Found: The Rediscovery of Roman London. Lecture by John Clark
Report on March Lecture by Andy Simpson

A well-attended lecture with some 36 HADAS members and friends present.

John reminded us that the Saxon port of Lundenwic around Covent Garden was only rediscovered in the twentieth century, and even Roman London was forgotten for 400 years. In the ninth century the Bishop of Winchester mentioned Roman ‘Lundonia’, but little was actually known about the Romans. Neither Gildas nor Bede knew of the accounts by the Roman historian Tacitus, although they did know of Orosius who lived in what is now Spain around AD 400 – he wrote a world history which made little mention of Britain. He does mention the revolt by Boudicca, but he did not mention her name nor the names of the two cities she destroyed.

Gildas misdated the construction of Hadrian’s Wall by some 200 years, and Bede did his best with limited sources. He mentions the Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, declared Emperor in York, and the legend that his mother, Helena, was daughter of Old King Cole – Cunobolinus- who reigned at Colchester.

Geoffrey of Monmouth’s well known ‘The History of the Kings of the Britons’ was claimed to be a translation of a book of the Britons with London – New Troy – founded by the refugee Trojan Prince Brutus in the land of Albion – an island settled by giants, the history continuing down to the seventh century with King Cadwallader. This became the standard history of Briton with New Troy founded even before Rome with the name Trinovantum taken from the Trinovantes of Essex. A list of kings includes Brenus, a real Gaul, who did actually capture Rome and is claimed as a Briton by Geoffrey. Very few dates are given, but the four great roads of Britain – Watling St, Icknield Way, Fosse Way and Ermine St – were built in 390 BC by Brennius according to Geoffrey. King Lud is listed as the 80th King of the Britons, around 60 BC, and contemporary with Julius Caesar’s invasions, with his base at the fictitious ‘Caer Lud’ – London.

In 1480, pioneer printer William Caxton produced his own history, based on Geoffrey of Monmouth, with London founded by Brutus. Caxton’s history in turn influenced William Shakespeare.
At this point, the speaker’s presentation was unfortunately interrupted by computer problems, with which he coped admirably, and continued his talk without illustrations.

The Renaissance brought the rediscovery of Roman historians Tacitus and Dio Cassius, who mentioned Boudicca. People then realised that Geoffrey’s history did not fit the newly rediscovered facts. Henry VIII’s Court Historian, Virgil, did not believe in King Arthur, despite Henry’s elder brother (and originally intended husband of Katherine of Aragon) being named after him, but was able to promote a new heroine, Boudicea/Boudicca; there was an attempt to visualise the ancient Britons – the noble savage – by comparing them to Native Americans then being encountered.
In 1570, cremation urns were found and identified as Roman burials. William Camden dismisses various previously suggested names for ancient London, and claimed that the London Stone, still partly extant today, originated as a Roman milestone, and erroneously claimed that St Paul’s Cathedral was the site of a temple of the goddess Diana.

Redevelopment of London after the Great Fire of 1666 led to more Roman discoveries by Sir Christopher Wren and others – Wren using a Roman road found 18ft down and 4ft thick and described as a ‘Roman causeway’ as the foundation for the tower of one of his rebuilt churches, this being the east-west road through Roman London.

When rebuilding St Paul’s Wren looked for the supposed temple but did not find it, but he did record the tombstone of a Roman soldier, now in the Museum of London, and at St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, ‘walls exposed of Roman workmanship’ which were actually a Norman crypt.

An early amateur archaeologist was apothecary John Lenyers, who visited building sites and collected many finds. Happily, his original notebook survives. He visited London area gravel pits and collected Roman pots and noted a Roman kiln NE of St Paul’s. An elephant tusk was found in the River Fleet, Sir Hans Sloane suggesting it was an elephant swept away by the waters of the Biblical Great Flood. In 1679, Lenyers found a second tusk and it was suggested this was from an elephant brought over by Claudius in his invasion of Britain in 43AD.

John Bamford, leather worker and owner of an academic and scientific bookshop, was a founder member of the Society of Antiquaries, whose wealthy other members rather patronisingly called him ‘Honest John’. Finds and discoveries at the time still had to be compressed into the Church of England approved date of the Creation of the world by God in 4004 BC.

Further Roman cemeteries were exposed in 1678-9. Polymath and antiquarian Dr John Woodward collected a variety of ancient items from London, and recorded the distinctive Roman tile courses in bastions on the city wall.

William Stukeley, renowned for his interest in Druids, lived in London 1717-1726. Although not too interested in ancient London, in 1722 he did produce a map of Roman London – ‘Londinium Augusta’ – showing the line of the medieval city wall, our old friend the ‘Temple of Diana’, the London Stone, medieval roads and an area of occupation ‘earlier than the rest’ – a pre-Roman city. The actual word London seems to be Indo-European pre-Celtic and can be translated as ‘area where the river flows’

This excellent and thought-provoking talk was followed by some detailed questions and discussion.

Membership Renewals Stephen Brunning

The HADAS membership year runs from 1st April to 31st March, and so all members who pay
by cheque will now be required to renew (except those who have joined since January this year).

Members who pay their subscription by standing order need take no action.

Please return the renewal form (sent as an attachment last month or use the paper form also sent last month) along with the appropriate amount as soon as possible. The current rates and where to send your payment are on the form. If you need a form, please contact me (see back page). Many thanks.

News about College Farm. The farm in Regents Park Road, close to Henly’s Corner, has been successfully listed as an Asset of Community Value. On 8th March 2019 the committee at Barnet Council unanimously agreed that the Farm should be listed. This is an important step in ensuring the farm stays as an open space for all. The campaign was run by the Finchley Society.

New exhibition opening April: Writing: Making Your Mark – British Library
This runs from Fri 26 Apr – Tue 27 Aug 2019 and it is possible to make bookings now. Full Price: £14.00 Concessions available. Discover the extraordinary story behind one of humankind’s greatest achievements through more than 100 objects spanning 5,000 years and seven continents. Follow the remarkable evolution of writing from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs carved in stone and early printed text such as William Caxton’s edition of The Canterbury Tales, to the art of note-taking by some of history’s greatest minds, and onwards to the digital communication tools we use today.

Visit the new Virtual Museum celebrating Hampstead Garden Suburb

Marjorie Harris
Nikolaus Pevsner described Hampstead Garden Suburb as “the most nearly perfect example of that English invention and speciality, the garden suburb”. Founded by Dame Henrietta Barnett and her husband Canon Samuel Barnett in 1908, it soon became home to families seeking refuge from deprivation in the East End of London, as well as artisans and the middle classes.
The history of these residents from the beginning to the present day is recorded and available for all to see in the new HGS Virtual Museum at www.hgsheritage.org.uk/
Currently it includes within it separate areas – ‘rooms’ – devoted to each of 26 organisations based in the Suburb, as well as the HGS Residents Association, the HGS Trust and the Archive Trust.
The beauty of a Virtual Museum is that it has no walls and can accommodate endless material. New collections can be introduced all the time. Our recent WW1 Armistice Collection shows that, even in the early days, the community came together to work for the war effort. It includes deeply-moving memorials to the many local men who lost their lives on the battlefront. Our latest entry is the Raymond Lowe Collection of fascinating picture postcards showing the development of Suburb architecture and residents’ activities. Raymond was a member of HADAS.
The HGS Virtual Museum seeks to ensure that any unique memorabilia or artefacts that Suburb families may still have at home are not lost or forgotten, by photo-recording and digitising them without families losing ownership. There are extensive archive records and much more information which could go into the Museum and we are always looking for computer-literate volunteers to help with this. Please contact me if you are willing to be involved or have anything you think should be included in the museum collections.

Marjorie Harris, Press Officer – HGS Heritage, marjorieharris@btinternet.com

Remembering Ann Saunders, Past HADAS President.

Don Cooper (Part 1), Mike Pitts FSA (Part 2) & Adrian James FSA (Part 3)
Part 1: Ann died 13th February, aged 88. She was a member of HADAS from 1969 and quickly became an active member. Over the years she gave us many lectures. Her subjects were generally London centred and she was very knowledgeable on many aspects of it such as livery companies,
St Paul’s Cathedral, Marylebone village, Regents Park, the London Bomb map for the Second World War and other London themes. She was an entertaining speaker and it was a joy to listen to her. She became President of HADAS in June 1998 and in that role represented HADAS at many events. Ann ceased to be President in June 2001. She was married to an engineer and had two sons.

Ann was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in May 1975 and the following two tributes have been compiled using material from issue 421 of the Salon Newsletter – Fellows Remembered section. With grateful thanks to Mike Pitts and Adrian James for their permission.
Part 2: Ann Saunders was a distinguished and prolific editor and historian of costume and London topography. She was, from 1975, Honorary Editor for the London Topographical Society, producing its occasional London Topographical Record, her most recent being in 2015, and overseeing the publication of nearly 60 books, maps and other items. As Ann Cox-Johnson she began work at the City of York Art Gallery, returning to London as Deputy Librarian at Lambeth Palace. She moved to St Marylebone Library, and received her PhD from Leicester University, which she incorporated in her Regent’s Park: A Study of the Development of the Area from 1086 to the Present Day (1969). Her many publications on the capital city include The Art and Architecture of London: An Illustrated Guide (1984/1988/1992), Tudor London: A Map and a View (edited with John Schofield FSA, 2001), the first edition of London County Council Bomb Damage Maps 1939–45 (2005) and Historic Views of London: From the Collection of B E C Howarth-Loomes (2008). She spoke with captivating authority and a regal presence at Gresham College (illustrating with what she called lantern slides) on the subjects of London early in James I’s reign (2004) and Napoleonic war monuments in St Paul’s Cathedral (2005), both of which can still be seen in Gresham College video recordings. She was also an Honorary Fellow of University College London, was elected a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Horners, and was awarded an MBE in the 2002 New Year honours, as historian and as Honorary Editor for the Costume Society and the London Topographical Society

Part 3: Ann Saunders, known to the scholarly world as a tireless historian of London and an editor of exceptional assiduity, was equally a keen supporter of the Society of Antiquaries, a regular user of its library and above all a faithful friend to the Society’s staff. The distinguishing mark of her character was outstanding personal kindness, which never once wobbled even when illness had reduced her appearances to painfully slow but determined progressions to the heart of the Society’s library and collections. One always knew that Ann had been within doors when a lavish box of chocolates or packet of gourmet biscuits was discovered on a staff member’s desk! Ann’s astonishingly productive career encompassed the writing of more than a dozen books on London, whilst her longevity as an editor of learned journals must have very few equals, and hardly any peers. Her stints as honorary editor of the journals of the Costume Society and London Topographical Society cover the years 1967 to 2015, a length of editorial service to rival the late L F Salzman FSA’s record for the Sussex Archaeological Society.

As recently as 2015, she published in the London Topographical Record the series of Stephen Harrison’s designs for triumphal arches to frame the ceremonial entry of James I into the City of London, thus making this important document in the Society’s Harley Collection widely available for the first time. Vast amounts of archive material must have been photographed for publication over the decades at Ann’s behest. After one such session under Ann’s ever-vigilant eye, the photographer sighed to me, “Dear Ann is not entirely of this world!” Not everyone may have appreciated her devotion to exacting academic standards, which remained with her to the end of her life. Latterly she had taken to corresponding with me at my home address, and it became quite a familiar sight to see Ann’s handwriting on re-used envelopes, a thrifty habit that she attributed to growing up during war-time scarcity. Despite her profound feeling for the history and topography of London she moved to a semi-rural residence in Hertfordshire towards the end of her life, remaining in touch with the Society until the end. She was truly a lady of whom we shall not see the like again.

Book news for the younger reader (and the young at heart) Sue Willetts
The Time Travel Diaries (£6.99, Piccadilly Press) is a new book by Caroline Lawrence, author of the very successful Roman Mystery novels. A Time Machine enables Alex, a twelve year old boy who knows a smattering of Greek and Latin, to travel back to Roman London through a portal in London’s Mithraeum. The story was inspired by the burial of the teenage girl with the ivory knife found in Lant Street, Southwark.

Help requested for a new project – The War Generation

WarGen is a project founded by broadcaster/historian Dan Snow and author/broadcaster James Holland. They are creating an online repository of oral history from the people who lived through World War II and looking for individuals willing to join the volunteer team as interviewers to go out into their local communities and record these important stories of a fast disappearing generation, or to let them know if they have a family member or friend, or even know of someone, who they believe would like to have their stories recorded.
Please visit the website for the interviews that have already been carried out. If anyone is interested, contact Shane Greer by email.
The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion was launched at Senate House, University of London, on 25th March and is based in the Classics Department of the Open University. It has been set up to support research into the material, visual and other sensory aspects of ancient religions, focusing primarily on the Greek, Etruscan and Roman worlds. The aim is to explore the sacred objects, bodies and rituals of classical antiquity, addressing such topics as votives, magic, oracles, cult statues, pilgrimage, places and sacred healing. The Centre plans to work with art and archaeology, but also to look beyond these conventional ‘homes’ of ancient material religion, drawing on the methods, tools and perspectives of literature, philology, philosophy, classical reception studies and digital humanities. See website for events, projects etc.

Sounds of Roman Egypt Exhibition Free entry at the Petrie Museum – part of University College London – from 2nd Jan – 8th June 2019, 13:00 – 17:00
Open Tuesday – Saturday but closed 17 Apr – 22 Apr 2019

This exhibition explores the objects people used to make music, what they sounded like, and how instruments were used in Romano-Egyptian rituals, homes, and childhood. The Petrie Museum has one of the largest and best-documented collections of Roman artefacts in the UK, including musical instruments that are too fragile to be played today.

For this exhibition, researchers used laser scanning and computer modelling to create 3D printed replicas of the original objects in the Petrie collection, and made recordings of the instruments to reveal sounds not heard for hundreds of years. See original artefacts, listen to recordings and have a go at playing these models yourself at one of the special events throughout the exhibition.

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS Compiled by Eric Morgan

Thursday 2nd May, 8.00pm. Pinner Local History Group, Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner HA5 1AB. Talk by Philip Crouch, Jewel of Metroland: St. Alban’s Church, North Harrow. Visitors £3. Preceded by AGM. Please note: The time shown for 4th April talk should also have been 8.00 pm

Wednesday 8th May, 7.45 pm. Horney Historical Society. Union Church Hall, Corner Ferme Park Rd / Weston Park, N8 9PX. A North London Railway: Pictures of The Edgware, Highgate & London Railway. From the Alan Lawrence Collection. Talk by Hugh Petrie (Barnet Archivist) Visitors £2.00 Refreshments / Sales from 7.30 pm

Friday 10th May, 1.50 pm. Mill Hill Historical Society. Visit to Supreme Court, Parliament Square, Westminster (directly opposite Houses of Parliament, close to statue of Abraham Lincoln). Cost: Members £7.00 Concessions £5.00. Non-members £9.00, Concessions £7.00 Meet 1.50 pm for a 2.00 pm tour. Book by Thursday 25th April.

Please send cheque and S.A.E to Julia Haynes, 38 Marion Road, Mill Hill London NW7 4AN. Cheques to be made payable to Mill Hill Historical Society.
Contact: Julia Haynes on 020 8906 0563 or email haynes_julia@yahoo.co.uk. For electronic replies, please supply your email address, otherwise, give your name, telephone number and number of places required, or book online at www.millhill-hs.org.uk, but send cheque. Please note that ‘haynes’ was omitted from the email address, as was ‘hill’, from the web address in the Tuesday 30th April visit details.

Friday 10th May, 7.45 pm. Enfield Archaeological Society, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane junction Chase Side, Enfield EN2 OAJ. Vice Presidential Address by Jon Cotton. Title to be confirmed. Visitors £1.50 Refreshments, sales from 7.30 pm

Monday 13th May, 3.00 pm. Barnet Museum’s Local History Society, St John the Baptist, Barnet Church, The High St/Wood St, Barnet EN5 4BW. The History of QE Girls’ School and its Place in the Community. Talk by Violet Walker Visitors £2.

Monday 13th May, 6.30-8.00 pm. Finchley Church End Library, 318 Regents Park Rd, N3 2LN. London’s East End: An Evening with Kate Thompson & Melanie McGrath talking about all things East End of London, Stepney, Silvertown, Roman Road, Pie & Mash & Hop Picking. The talk will cover Kate & Melanie’s books followed by a ten-minute Q&A session, with a mystery prize for the best question. Register for free Tickets

Wednesday 15th May, 10.00 am. Finchley Society. Outing. Brunel’s London by Boat and on Land. Meet outside Embankment Station (Riverside entrance) at 10.00 am to meet Robert Hulse, Director of Brunel Museum (has lectured to HADAS). He will guide us on a river trip under 3 Brunel Bridges and over 2 of Brunel’s tunnels, past broken slipways on the Isle of Dogs to the world’s most important tunnel. Cost per person £16.50 incl. boat trip, guide and entrance to Brunel Museum. Boat leaves at 10.30 prompt and lasts about 3 hours. Return home from Rotherhithe (Overground) nearby or Bermondsey or Canada Water (Jubilee line) about 10 mins walk.
Stay for lunch at the Mayflower Pub or other places nearby. To book email Harriet Copperman: harrietcopperman@gmail.com or phone 020 8883 3381. Cheques should be made out to The Finchley Society and sent to Harriet at 21 Stokes Court, Diploma Ave, N2 8NX by 30th April. Places allocated on first come, first served basis.

Thursday 16th May, 7.00 pm. The London Archaeologist. UCL Institute of Archaeology. 31-34 Gordon Square. WC1E OPY. AGM and Annual Lecture on Hampton Court.

Friday 17th May, 7.30 pm. Wembley History Society. English Martyr’s Hall, Chalk Hill Road, Wembley, HA9 9EW (top of Blackbird Hill, adj. Church). Serving with the Colours. How Peabody Tenants went to War, 1914. Talk by Christine Wragg. Visitors £3.00

Friday 17th May, 7.00 pm COLAS. St Olave’s Church, Hart Street, EC3R 7NB. Archaeology at Knowle House by Natalie Cohen (National Trust) NB Temporary venue which also applies to Friday 26th April’s talk

Monday 20th May, 8.00 pm. Enfield Archaeological Society, address see 10th May. The London Underground. Talk by Tony Earle with pictures from its steam-powered inception to modern times, with recollections from the 1950’s to the present day. Including a quiz. Visitors £1.00. Also Wednesday 22nd May, 2.30 pm. Enfield in the 14th Century. Talk by Joe Studman £3.00

Wednesday 22nd May, 7.45 pm. Friern Barnet & District Local History Society, North Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL. Evacuation in World War II. Talk by Mike Brown. Visitors £2. Bar open before and after the talk.

Thursday 30th May, 1.00 pm. Gresham College at Barnard’s Inn, Holborn, EC1N 2HH. Aristotle’s Lyceum. Talk by Edith Hall. Free. Looking at the archaeological site of the Lyceum discovered accidentally in 1996 and how the remains can illuminate Aristotle’s life and work. NB Arrive early to be sure of a place.

Saturday 1st June, 10.30 am – 4.30 pm. British Association for Local History. Local History Day. Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, WC1R 4RL. Programme includes: Sites of Suffrage: local histories and the suffrage centenary, Professor Krista Cowman; 2019 Local History Awards: for research & publication, for a society newsletter and for personal achievement; British Association for Local History AGM; BALH Annual Lecture: Rulers of the County: the magistracy and the challenge of local government, c. 1790-1834 by Dr Rose Wallis.

Tickets (including morning tea/coffee & sandwich lunch. Meat & vegetarian options will be available. If you have special dietary requirements email development@balh.org.uk when you order tickets). £25 BALH members, £35 non-members. Please book early. Bookings after 18 May are subject to availability. Book and pay online at www.balh.org/events/ or send your payment details to BALH (LHD), Chester House, 68 Chestergate, Macclesfield SK11 6DY. Include your name, address, postcode, phone number & SAE or an email address. Indicate number of tickets required/membership number (if applicable) and pay by bank transfer: Ref L.H.D. to CAF Bank, sort code 40-52-40, Account number 000093883, include membership number or surname.
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With thanks to this month’s contributors: Stephen Brunning, Don Cooper, Marjorie Harris, Adrian James, Eric Morgan, Mike Pitts, Andy Simpson
Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman: Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet, Herts. EN5 5HS (020 8440 4350)
e-mail: chairman@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Secretary: Jo Nelhams, 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: secretary@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Treasurer: Jim Nelhams, 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Membership Sec: Stephen Brunning, Flat 22 Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road, East Barnet EN4 8FH (020 8440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
Join the HADAS email discussion group via the website at: www.hadas.org.uk
——————————————————————————————————————–.-

Oct 04

Newsletter 583 October 2019

By Roger | News, Past Newsletters, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

Number 583 October 2019 Edited by Robin Densem

HADAS DIARY – LECTURE AND EVENTS PROGRAMME 2019

Lectures start at 7.45 for 8.00pm (unless otherwise stated) in the Drawing Room, Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Buses 82, 143, 326 & 460 pass close by, & it is five to ten minutes’ walk from Finchley Central Stn (Northern Line). Tea/coffee & biscuits follow the talk.

Tuesday 8th October 2019: Andersons and Ack: The 20th Century Conflict Archaeology of London. Andy Brockman.
Abstract: The archaeology of modern conflict is one of the newest and fastest moving disciplines in archaeology. A status which is only likely to be enhanced as the two World Wars of the twentieth century pass beyond living memory.

This talk will offer a number of case studies illustrating the conflict archaeology of Greater London, including sites on London’s World War Two anti invasion stop line B, shown in the 2007 Time Team programme “Blitzkrieg on Shooters Hill,” and one of London’s first anti aircraft gun sites
built in 1915 to engage German Zeppelin raids. While examining some of the special challenges of conflict archaeology, particularly those of safety and the ethics of dealing with sometimes difficult or traumatic subjects, it will also suggest how this is a field of archaeological research where local
archaeological groups and heritage projects have a significant role to play in discovering and understanding the conflict archaeology of their communities.

Biographical: Andy Brockman has a MA in archaeology from Birkbeck College and directed the excavation of the anti aircraft gun site at Eaglesfield Park, and a survey of the former POW Camp 1020, both on Shooters Hill. A regular contributor to Britain at War magazine and other
publications, he has also appeared on Channel 4’s Time Team and conducted research for, as well as appearing in the Channel 5 documentary What the Dambusters did Next

Tuesday 12th November 2019: Shene and Syon: a royal and monastic landscape revealed by Bob Cowie.

Sunday 1st December 2019 Christmas Party at Avenue House, 12/30pm – 4pm. The application form will be in November newsletter, with the menu which will be a Christmas lunch, with alternatives. £30 per head.

Tuesday 14th January 2020 at 2.30pm
Ian Jones
Shelters to Shrapnel, surviving traces of Enfield At War, 1939-1945

Tuesday 11th February 2020. The Dorothy Newbury Memorial Lecture
Jon Cotton Prehistory in London – some Problems, Progress and Potential

Birdoswald: A photo from 1929 and a recent visit to the Roman fort on
Hadrian’s Wall – Robin Densem

Hadrian’s Wall is a long way from our HADAS homelands in Hendon and Barnet. But this article may encourage you to visit, I hope so. I visited the Wall in June 2019 to take the photos at figs 8-11, 13, and 15-22, to illustrate some of what can be seen. Limitations on space in this issue spared you
my writing many words: the article is mainly pictorial.

There is much information on the internet, including at https://www.englishheritage.org.uk/visit/places/hadrians-wall/hadrians-wall-history-and-stories/history/sources/ and at https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/hadrians-wall/hadrians-wall-history-andstories/
history/

Fig 1 is a beauty and is an example of some of the 19th century interest in the Wall.

In Autumn 2004 Harvey Sheldon and I took a group to visit the Wall, including the Roman fort at Birdoswald. I was overcome with the beauty of the nearby River Irthing as we crossed to reach a turret on the Wall on the far side of the river. And, giving talks on the development of archaeology
for Harvey’s MA Archaeology course I began to use the famous 1929 photograph of the early stages of an archaeological excavation at Birdoswald in 1929 (fig 5) as it seems to encapsulate the early days of modern archaeological investigation, along with some social history – the contrast between the archaeological ‘toffs’ and the workers. The photograph features in many archaeology books and re-ignited my interest in Birdoswald. There is a marvellous account in Wilmott 2001 of the taking of the photograph in 1929 and the sudden realisation the next day that some of the people had been standing on Roman inscriptions re-used as floor slabs in the Roman barracks!

The location of the 1929 excavation is shown at fig 308 of Wilmott (ed) 2009
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/hadrians-wall/hadrianswall chap6/

Acknowledgements
I am grateful for help from the English Heritage staff at Birdoswald; and for other help from Megan Evans, Dr Andrew Gardner, Dr Christopher Gilley, Professor Simon James, Rob Partridge, Harvey Sheldon, Dr Matthew Symonds, Colin Theakston, and Tony Wilmott. Errors are mine.

Bibliography
Breeze, David J and Dobson, Brian 2000 Hadrian’s Wall. London: Penguin Books Limited
English Heritage History of Hadrian’s Wall https://www.englishheritage.
org.uk/visit/places/hadrians-wall/hadrians-wall-history-and-stories/history/ accessed 25th July 2019
Frere, S S 1967 Britannia: a history of Roman Britain. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
Richmond, I A 1930 “The University Excavations on Hadrian’s Wall”, The Durham University Journal, Vol. 26, No. 5, pp. 305-311
Symonds, Matthew 2017 Protecting the Roman Empire: Fortlets, Frontiers, and the Quest for Post-Conquest Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Wilmott, Tony 1997 Birdoswald, Excavations of a Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall and its successor settlements: 1987-92. English Heritage: London
https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDSarchiveDownload?t=arch-1416-
1/dissemination/pdf/9781848021365_ALL.pdf accessed 1st June 2019
Wilmott, Tony 2001 Birdoswald Roman Fort: 1800 Years on Hadrian’s Wall. Tempus: Stroud
Wilmott, Tony (ed) 2009 Hadrian’s Wall Archaeological Research by English Heritage 1976–2000
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/hadrians-wall/ accessed 25th July 2019

Ted Sammes Clay Pipe Collection – Part 2 Andy Simpson

Many of these ‘back garden’ finds are well away from other known archaeological find spots, so I have attempted to put them in roughly geographical groups.
As mentioned on Part One in the August 2019 HADAS newsletter (newsletter number 581), these are all recorded as ‘unstratified’ and there is rarely any details of finder or date.
Those wanting full details of mouthpiece type and bowl rim milling and finish – ‘bottered or cut? ‘can refer to the fully completed MOLA clay pipe recording sheets held in the ‘Ted Sammes Pipe Collection’ folder now in the HADAS archive.

We start with finds spots roughly associated with the main Edgware Road, moving north – south;

BROCKLEY HILL
Two found during fieldwalking in the winter of 1977/78 at this well-known Roman occupation / seasonal pottery kiln site on the A5/Watling Street north of Edgware.
Three bowls were recorded, all with makers’ marks on the sides of the spurs, leading to that familiar Sunday morning cry of ‘Relief, moulded, side of spur’ (RMSS)
Complete bowl, AO25 1770-1770 Mark I-(illegible)
Bottom of bowl and stem fragment AO29, 1840-1880 spur mark JH with (illegible) London on stem,
Complete bowl, AO33, post 1840, wheatsheaf design either side of bowl, shield design on spur, with ‘SULL 53’ (Sulloniacae 1953) site code inked on stem, so presumably a VERY old find from the 1953-4 excavations by the Sulloniacae Excavation Committee in the area published in the
contemporary LAMAS transactions.

COLINDALE
Penn Court, Annesley Avenue NW9
This short, mainly residential road links the Edgware Road with Colindale Avenue, with Penn Court flats near the junction with the latter opposite the Chandos Arms pub on its street corner site. An interesting location to find an English Civil War period clay pipe bowl of type AO10, 1640-1660
and four stem fragments of possibly similar date. No trace of a maker’s mark. Not on Sammes master list. A note with the pipe fragments records that they were found approximately nine inches down in the subsoil within an area above three square feet, in the week ending 18 July 1976 – the
infamous ‘summer of ‘76’ – before heatwaves became the norm, with the added comment ‘I’m sure that the rest is down there.’

STAPLES CORNER
Further HADAS archives that have only just come to light after many years’ storage off site indicate that near that glorious jumble of concrete and bridges where the A5 Edgware Road meets the A406 North Circular south of West Hendon Broadway and the Welsh Harp, two HADAS members making a weekly inspection of road works in March 1972 found a whole layer of clay pipe fragments, nearly 1100 in all, of which just six Victorian pipe bowls, all of type AO29, 1840- 1880, and an oval stem/tip fragment now remain in the archive.
Two of the bowls had the familiar Ribbed Wheatsheaf seams, ‘RWSS’, one combined with a thorn design, one of just thorn design, and one plain bowl fragment. Another had a ‘flanged’ spur and another a noticeable forward spur. Not on Sammes master list.
An exhibition caption in the rediscovered archive records that the pipes were all of late 19th/early 20th century date and were probably fairings – for blowing bubbles, not smoking.
The find-spot was part of the fairground beside the Lower Welsh Harp public house, rebuilt in 1858 as the centre of his pleasure gardens and again in 1938, which was demolished in 1971 to make way for the southern extension of the M1 motorway at this point, to which end the Staples Corner
flyover had already been completed in 1965.
https://pubwiki.co.uk/Middlesex/Hendon/OldWelshHarpTavern.shtml
The collection includes a b/w photograph of the find spot – the embankment adjoining the former West Hendon Police Station, (now a Jewish School), below a large advertising hoarding.

FINCHLEY AREA
30 Arden Road, between A504 Hendon Lane and A598 Regents Park Road, N3 Single bowl and stem, type AO5, 1610-1640, incised mark on side of heel ?I No milling. – Sammes List 131
50 Basing Way (Off East End Road) N3 A selection of fragments;
Thee broken fragments of bowl too small to identify; 15 stem fragments of 5-6mm diameter, 13 of 7-9mm diameter and 6 of 8-10mm diameter – Offcentre bore may suggest an earlier date.
One bowl of type AO30, 1850 – 1910, with scallop and rope decoration around the bowl and rope decoration around the top. Two lugs at base of bowl for stand. Sammes Number 99
One bowl possibly AO33, post 1840, with wheatsheaves along the bowl seams, front and back. Also has ’Rope’ decoration around top of rim and 8-part scalloping around the bowl.
East End Road, Finchley Two bowls; One part bowl fragment type AO4? 1610-1640 One complete bowl and part stem type AO25, 1700 – 1770, one side noticeably burnt. Sammes No 82.

Avenue House, East End Road
One complete bowl, part burnt, type AO5, 1610-1640, Full milling to bowl edge. Sammes No 79.
One part bowl type AO27, 1780 – 1810 with part of stem. Side of spur mark MC. Sammes No 80.
One fragment of bowl with basket design. Sammes No 83.
One stem fragment Sammes No 81, orange-brown in colour.
One stem fragment relief marked Andrews Highgate along the stem.
William Andrews of Highgate, pipemaker, is recorded in 1823 and 1828 and probably working before and after these dates as well – several bowls and a stem of his were found at the HADAS Church Terrace, Hendon excavations in 1973-74.

HENDON
Over 50 years on, we are STILL finding items from the Church End Farm excavations recorded some years ago in the HADAS publication ‘The Last Hendon Farm’
Sammes List CFM 30 is another one of these – an unmarked bowl of type AO25, 1700 – 1770, finely burnished with a cut top and marked with trench/context details CEF64 K2 30, suggesting it is from the main farmhouse site, on the west side of the west wall area. The August 1969 work on the site of the former Mount Pleasant and The Retreat terraces in the Hendon Church End area soon reached natural glacial gravelly sand at a depth of around two feet where the ground had not previously been cultivated. Surviving material in the HADAS archive recorded in April 2016 includes a quantity of clay pipe from the Mount Pleasant trenches.
In one trench (in grid L5) in the garden behind Mount Pleasant, – once a row of seven small cottages built around 1870 – lying some 50ft north of the former Chequers pub, was found a small York stone paved back yard, each being some 2 inches square and 3 inches deep, possibly with a
step down through a thin brick cross-wall into a red-tiled area, and beneath this heavily pebbled brown earth dump containing broken pottery and the stems of 18th-19th century clay pipe – 33 of which remain in the HADAS archive .
A trench in the front garden (O2) produced Victorian pottery similar to that at the nearby Peacock’s Yard, drainage pipes and a well-smoked clay pipe bowl and part of stem of form AO30, 1850-1910, marked W. TINGEY HAMPSTEAD on the stem. Sammes List 78
Also from this front garden trench were; Fragment of bowl, ribbed decoration, nineteenth century, marked O2 (1) Sammes List 92
Fragment of decorated stem and spur marked WA with wheatsheaf decoration, AO27, 1780 – 1820,
Marked with trench/context O2 (2) Sammes List 93
Short length of stem with partial makers’ lettering Tingey Hampstead in relief on both sides of stem Marked with trench/context O2 (2) Sammes List 94
Victorian pottery and clay pipe was also found throughout Trenches one/J3 and two/J5 in this area west of L5, including Staffs. creamware and Brownware, and ‘modern blue and White, plus iron and bone. These trenches featured well-worked dark loamy garden/cultivated soil, the area in 1753 being fields owned by John Coles.
The partial HADAS archive retained eleven pipe stem fragments and two bowl fragments from Trench J3 and seven stems and two bowl fragments from J5, the latter also yielding a single intact clay pipe bowl type AO33 with Irish Harp decoration dated post-1840 Sammes List 96
Other pipes from the site were identified during analysis of the separate Ted Sammes curated Clay pipe archive in 2019 were;
Complete bowl, AO25, 1700-1770 Marked with rear garden trench/context L5 (2) Sammes List 77

Plus another bowl.and stem fragment of similar type with relief spur mark WH Sammes List 95
Decorated bowl and length of stem, AO30, 1850-1910 Wheatsheaf decoration around top of bowl. Marked with trench/context J5 (1) Sammes List 91
There is also a post-1840 bowl, type AO40,
A further trench was opened, then rapidly closed, when a wartime Anderson air raid shelter was the only item found.
Trench 02 yielded garden soil on natural, electric cable, four lengths of field drain in one corner running NW/SE some 22 inches below the modern garden surface, and a gas pipe. The circular field drain lengths of 4in diameter/3in bore/11.5-12in long included one of buff-coloured fabric as well as three of the usual red fabric and this and one of the others were retained as samples; they contained little evidence of silting. The straight and well-made pipes were each laid on one notably flattened edge. This trench yielded large quantities of clay pipe – 61 stem fragments remain in the HADAS archive, plus a well ‘chewed’ mouthpiece, 20 small fragments of pipe bowl and four more complete bowls, type AO30, dated 1850-1910, which links well with the construction of the houses in the area around 1870.
A similar trench in the front garden of the former The Retreat – once a row of four cottages also built around 1870 south of the Mount Pleasant row ‘produced nothing of interest’ There have been several investigations in the presumed area of the former medieval manor house of Hendon. It is believed to have been built around 1325/6 as the Abbot of Westminster’s country retreat, being rebuilt around 1550 and again in the 1720s, when named Hendon Place. Renamed Tenterden Hall, and after use as a boy’s preparatory school, it was demolished c.1934 to make way for the present Cedars Close.
The first archaeological investigations recorded on the site were those by HADAS in 1969, noted in the HADAS newsletter for October 1969.
Resistivity surveying and excavations at Westhorpe Tenterden Grove (a large nineteenth-century house with surrounding grounds off Finchley Lane) – TQ2354 8962, SMR 081979 revealed a bed of gravel approximately nine inches below the surface. Resting on this were found sherds of
17th century pottery and clay pipe stems, together with an 18th century pipe bowl. After the preliminary surveys in August and the weekend of 1-2 November 1969 noted above. seven 10 foot square trenches were opened at Easter weekend, 27-30 March 1970 on the basis of the survey results;
Numerous sherds of pottery (including Bellarmine/Bartmann stoneware jug sherds of 16th/17th century date) were found, also roofing tiles, nails and clay pipes, two of which , dated 1640-1660, bear the initials R.B – see list below. All the finds were again resting on a gravel surface, in which was discovered a post hole and small areas of burnt material.
There are also a number of clay pipe fragments; analysis in 2019 of those identified from the separately curated Ted Sammes clay pipe archive, all marked ‘TG’ include the following;
Sammes List
102 Part Bowl, Form AO10, 1640-1660, Relief Marked RB on heel
103 Damaged bowl, Form AO10 1640-60, also marked RB as above.
104 Unmarked bowl, Form AO10, 1640-60.
105 Unmarked bowl, Form AO11, 1640-1670
106 Unmarked bowl, damaged rim. Form AO15, 1660-1680
107 Unmarked bowl, damaged rim. Form AO15, 1660 – 1680
108 Unmarked bowl, damaged rim. Form possibly AO20, 1680-1710
Two other bowls assumed to be from this site are one damaged bowl, possibly Form AO9 or AO10, 1640-60, and one part bowl possibly of Form AO22, 1680-1710.

Ted Sammes photographed the substantial two-story Victorian villa named Westhorpe during the 1970 excavation when it was in an advanced state of dereliction and almost roofless.

To be continued…

AN EXHIBITION, A BOOK, AND AN EXHIBTION IN A MUSEUM
Hot Peascods exhibition! – Guildhall Library’s outdoor exhibition explores street food through the ages from 1-16th October
This free exhibition in Guildhall Yard, EC2 brings together rarely seen images of London’s street food and street hawkers from the 16th century to the 19th century. The exhibition explains how selling street food in the capital, probably, since Roman times, was often the only option for some
people who could not find alternative paid employment and used it as a stop gap until they found a better job. Sometimes requiring little more investment than a basket and the cost of the first batch of pies,
gingerbread or eels, it would keep some people out of the workhouse, while others fell into poverty and found that selling food on became their life’s occupation.

Medieval Londoners edited by Elizabeth A. New and Christian Steer will be published on 31st October and is to honour Caroline M. Barron, Emeritus Professor of the History of London at Royal Holloway, University of London, on her 80th birthday. Her remarkable career has revitalized the
way in which we consider London and its people. HADAS members may remember her excellent lecture in October 2016 on medieval women in London.
The rich evidence for the medieval city, including archaeological and documentary evidence, means that the study of London and its inhabitants remains a vibrant field. Medieval Londoners brings together archaeologists, historians, art-historians and literary scholars whose essays provide
glimpses of medieval Londoners in all their variety.
Published by University of London Press, 400 pp. Available from 31 October 2019 in print for £40.00, kindle and e-pub £32.00 and will be free Open Access pdf

Last supper in Pompeii – Ashmolean Museum, Oxford until 12th January 2020
This is an excellent exhibition which concentrates on the activities relating to food: eating and drinking but also the production and buying and selling of food and wine. There are over 400 objects which are well displayed. There are several sections which have projected backdrops which
give a good impression of the rooms in Pompeian houses. There is also a section on Roman Britain including some of the wooden writing tablets from the Bloomberg / Mithraeum site. It is advisable to buy a timed ticket as this is a popular exhibition – with an excellent catalogue for £20.00

OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS Compiled by Eric Morgan
Weds 9 Oct 2pm – 3,30pm, Mill Hill Historical Society at Trinity Church, 100 The Broadway, London NW7 3T. Fiona Smith: Work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Visitors £2.
https://millhill-hs.org.uk/events/work-of-the-war-graves-commission/

Thurs 17 Oct 7.30pm – 9pm Camden History Society at Burgh House, New End Square, London NW3 1L. Cynthia Floud: What can Phyllis Ford’s Childhood tell Social Historians? Visitors £2.
http://www.camdenhistorysociety.org/events/2019/10/17/what-can-phyllis-fords-childhood-tellsocial- historians-a-talk-by-cynthia-floud
Mon 21 Oct 8.15pm Ruislip, Northwood & Eastcote Local History Society, at St Martin’s Church Hall, High Street, Ruislip at 8.15pmAGM followed by the Society’s Medieval Research Group: Medieval Ruislip. Visitors £2. https://rnelhs.btck.co.uk/Lectures
Sat 26 Oct Amateur Geological Society of North London, meeting at 2.30pm platform 1 of Canary Wharf station of the Docklands Light Railway for a walk led by Mike Howgate The Stones of Canary Wharf. Non-members £2. Do bring a hand lens. Book by contacting Mike Howgate 0208
882 2606, mobile number (for emergencies & on trips) 07913391063, email
mehowgate@hotmail.com . https://amgeosoc.wordpress.com/breaking-news-2/
Sat 2 Nov 10am to 4pm. Aldenham Transport Spectacular, held at Allum Manor House & Hall, 2 Allum Lane, Elstree WD6 3PJ. Admission £3.

Sat 2 Nov 10.30am – 4.30pm. Geologists’ Association Festival, including exhibitors from the world of geology, including fossil and mineral displays. University College London, Gower Street, London WC1 6BT. Free event https://geologistsassociation.org.uk/festival/
Sat 2 Nov 10.30am – 2.30pm Hornsey Historical Society Public Local History Surgery , held at Hornsey Historical Society, 136 Tottenham Ln, London N8 7EL. Telephone 07531866714 or email hornseyhistoricalsurgery@gmail.com in advance to book a half hour appointment and to let the Society know the advice and assistance you require.
Mon 4 Nov 2pm-3pm, British Film Posters – An Illustrated History: Sim Branaghan at Finchley Church End Library, Gateway House, 318-320 Regents Park Rd, Finchley, London N3 2LN. Free admission. https://www.barnet.gov.uk/sites/default/files/yol_barnet_libraries_a5_prog3_hg3_0.pdf
Weds 6 Nov 5.30 for 6pm – 8pm, Docklands History Group at Museum of London Docklands, West India Quay, (off Hertsmere Road) London E14 4AL. Robert Hampson: Conrad and the docks and the river. Visitors £2.. https://www.docklandshistorygroup.org.uk/page3.html
Thurs 7 Nov 2pm – 3pm Guildhall Library, Aldermanbury, London EC2V 7HH. Robert Stephenson: The Gruesome History of Bodysnatching. Free event but tickets to be booked in advance via Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-gruesome-history-of-bodysnatchingtickets- 66661064037
Thurs 7 Nov 8pm Pinner Local History Society, Pinner Village Hall, Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner HA5 1AB. Pat Clarke: Mrs Marshall, Pinner’s Other Domestic Goddess. Visitors £3.
https://www.pinnerlhs.org.uk/programme16 –
Fri 8 Nov 7.30pm for 7,45pm Enfield Archaeological Society, Jubilee Hall, Parsonage Lane Enfield (close to Chase Side). Neil Pinchbeck: Flints and Mammoths: London N13. Visitors £1.50 https://www.enfarchsoc.org/lectures/
Weds 13 Nov 2pm -3.30pm. Mill Hill Historical Society at Trinity Church. 100 The Broadway, London NW7 3T. Dorell Dresseekie: An Act of Faith – The Story of The North London Hospice. Visitors £2. https://millhill-hs.org.uk/events/an-act-of-faith-the-story-of-the-north-london-hospice/
Weds 13 Nov 7.45pm 7.30pm for 8pm Hornsey Historical Society. Professor Ian Christie: The World’s First Film Studios? Putting R. W. Paul Back on the Map for his 150th Birthday: Visitors £2. https://hornseyhistorical.org.uk/talks/
Sat 16 Nov 10.30am – 4pm London and Middlesex Archaeological Society local history conference
In Sickness and in Health: The wellbeing of Londoners through history. Weston Theatre, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, London WC2Y 5HN. Various speakers, local society displays, refreshments. Tickets £12.50 if bought up to 31st October, thereafter £15.
http://www.lamas.org.uk/conferences/local-history.html
With thanks to this month’s contributors:, and Eric Morgan

Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman: Don Cooper, 59 Potters Road, Barnet, Herts. EN5 5HS (020 8440 4350) e-mail: chairman@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Secretary: Jo Nelhams, 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076) e-mail: secretary@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Treasurer: Jim Nelhams, 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076) e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Membership Sec: Stephen Brunning, Flat 22 Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road, East Barnet EN4 8FH (020 8440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
HADAS website: www.hadas.org.uk

Jan 20

Newsletter-191-January-1987

By Roger | Past Newsletters, Volume 4 : 1985 - 1989 | No Comments

Newsletter 191 January 1987 Edited by Liz Holliday

DIARY^,

Wednesday 7 January LECTURE CANCELLED

We have just heard from the library that the lecture hall is to be redecorated and will not be available for:our January meeting. An alternative venue was suggested, but we felt this would not be satisfactory at such short notice.

Wednesday 4 February “London in the Mid-Saxon and Viking Period” by Dr. Alan Vince, Museum of London. At Hendon Library. The Burroughs, Hendon. Coffee available from 8pm. Lecture begins at 8.30pm.

AFTER IRON a note from Dr.E.H.T. Hoblyn

“I was very interested in Percy Reboul’s page in your December issue but was puzzled by his reference to Parkesine. My organic chemistry is now more than rusty but I wonder if chloroform and castor oil would produce a sub-

stance ‘hard as horn’, I have therefore, done some digging and have found from Sylvia Katz who wrote ‘Plastic Plastics’ that Alexander Parkes in his early work in the 1840s mixed cotton fibre and wood flour with nitric and sulphuric acids (which would give him nitro-cellulose) and he then mixed the ‘resulting product with castor oil and wood naphthna to produce his original ‘Parkesine’. It was, however, when he moved to mixing camphor with nitrocellulose and alcohol that,’ in 1865, he produced the better known form of ‘Parkesine’, the forerunner of celluloid orxvlonite as it was better known in thiscountry.(‘Plastics in the Service of Man’ by Couzens and Yarsley).The British firm manufacturing celluloid was the British Xylonite Company founded in 1877 which, in 1887, built a factory at Brantham on the banks of the River Stour opposite Manningtree, Essex. They made artificial ivory and tortoiseshell for combs (functional and decorative) and hairbrushes; tubing for bicycle pumps and bodies for fountain pens; handles for toothbrushes and shaving brushes; and a large tonnage of piano keys and knife handles in the form well known before the modern dishwasher led to metal handles.

They were made in the plain-and excellent grained ivory forms. Another popular product was the celluloid collar and shirt front (or ‘dicky’) which comprised a sheet of linen sealed between two sheets of white celluloid. I do hope that Percy Reboul will keep us posted with his findings.”

SOME ANSWERS TO THE GREEN PUZZLE

The borough archivists are grateful for two helpful replies to the enquiry concerning ,green lanes, one recommending W.G.Hoskins’ comments in The Making of the English Landscape and the other pointing out that in 1764 Hendon Lane/Finchley Lane was not a particularly major road.

This month’s accessions to the Local History Collection include archives from the Mill Hill Highwood Townswomen’s Guild; copies of deeds and photographs concerning the Alexandra public house, East Finchley and the surrounding area; albums of photographs of Chas. Wright & Co.’s factory, Hendon and a booklet of photographs of Barnet and Hadley produced in about 1900 by J.Cowing.

Herbert Norman’s donation of his drawings of local buildings was mentioned in the Newsletter last month members may like advance notice that these will be on display in an exhibition of his work to be held at Church Farm House Museum from March 28 to April 26 this year.

A STORM IN A VESTRY TEA CUP

Nell Penny uncovers a rebellion by the Hendon Vestry

Local rates, be they parish, borough or county, have ever been matters of controversy. In 1820 the vestry of Hendon parish, conscious of having to set ever increasing poor rates (in 1821 they were to set three rates at 6d in the £ – 7.25p in the in all) began to look at rating valuations. They found that these had not been changed since 1722, and promptly appointed a committee which revalued the parish at a total of £24,470.

At the same time the Vicar, the irascible Reverend Theodore Williams, was also doing his sums. Since 1722 Hendon vicars had been accepting a 3d rate in commutation of their “Great and Little Tythes”:- “always excepting Surplice. Fees and other Perquisites”. Mr. Williams gave notice that he was putting an end to this system. The vestry therefore had the vicar’s property and his tithes assessed. The vicar protested – the parish persisted. In 1822 the Reverend Williams and Thomas Street appealed to a General Quarter Sessions against the assessments. Mr. Street was presumably a newcomer to the district – his name does not appear in .the 1821 census. The vicar chaired the vestry meeting in September, a function he very rarely performed; the officers of the parish did not feel bold enough to contradict him to his face. They appointed a sub-committee of William Geeves, Thomas Shettle and Mr.Goodchild, all farmers and office holders, to reconsider the valuations. By ‘December the vestry had decided to let the valuations stand and to pay their solicitor to defend them against the vicar at the Quarter Sessions.

Meanwhile, the vestry had taken steps to turn itself into a Select Vestry according to legislation of 1818. In theory a vestry had been a town meeting of ratepayers in practice it had been a monthly gathering of half a dozen office holders, churchwardens, overseers of the poor and surveyors of the highways who accepted the accounts of the overseers of the poor. There might be a few more ratepayers at a meeting where the poor rate-was to be- set. The crowded meeting in the parish church in November 1822 decided by 200 votes to 165 that a Select Vestry should be elected. Henceforward a vestry meeting could not be larger than twenty members, but a minimum of five was necessary for a quorum.

But back to our storm in the vestry tea cup. Eventually Quarter Sessions reduced the assessment on Mr. Williams’ property from £672 to £640 and on his tithes by a similar percentage. But Williams did not wait for the outcome of his appeal. It seems that he regarded the Vestry Clerk, James Goodyer as his arch enemy and the leader of the vestry rebellion. I think James disliked the vicar as much as the latter disliked him. Preserved among the parish archives are meticulous copies of most of the letters to and from the vestry at this period – all in Mr.Goodyer’s beautiful copperplate handwriting. There is also a list of Goodyer’s own property: five houses in the Burroughs and one in Brent Street. On the new valuation he had secured rating reductions which averaged 11 per cent.

On January 29th 1823, the vestry met and read a letter from the vicar to Mr. Greeves, one of the churchwardens The letter attacked James Goodyer on three counts: a) that Goodyer’s personal property was wrongly rated; b) that the vestry clerk had been appointed to his job in 1796 by “private appointment” and that his salary of £40 a year out of the poor rate was “extravagant and unwarranted” and c) “I will submit to your own good feeling whether a man who is capable of making a false entry in a Parish minute book be not morally incapable of fulfilling any public trust”. The vestry held a Special meeting next day and replied to the vicar a). all rating appeals were up for arbitration so the parish would not comment in the meantime; b) Mr. Gooyer’s appointment as Clerk had not been a private appointment but by a “valid public vote” and the parish was obliged to “those gentlemen.— for the discrimination used in the selection of a gentleman to fill that office whose conduct in and great attention to the Duties thereof, have given general satisfaction… the salary paid to Mr.Goodyer’ is neither extravagant nor unwarrantable”^. c) the charges of falsifying the accounts against Mr Goodyer were so serious that the vestry asked the Reverend Williams to produce his evidence for their consideration.

Unfortunately this letter was in Goodyer’s beautiful handwriting^. The Vicar would not open it and returned it to the vestry. This provoked the vestry to write to the Bishop of London regretting that “Communication between the Vicar and themselves had been cut off” and asking for the Bishop’s guidance. At the next vestry meeting in February 1823 the Vicar took the chair, but stormed out when the Vestry would not endorse his accusations against Goodyer. A churchwarden had to preside so that he could sign the minutes and announce the date of the next meeting. Another letter to the Bishop of London told him the vestry would like “Counsel’s opinion” about the Act of 1818 which they thought laid down that if the Vicar took the chair at a vestry meeting he must sign the minutes.

In April of the same year the Vicar and the vestry were at it again. A parishioner had paid what she thought were agreed fees for a tombstone of brick and stone to be erected in the churchyard. Disputing the fees, the Vicar had it dismantled – immediately – and “thrown into the Public Road”. Again to the Bishop the vestry regretted “the varience unhappily existing between the Vicar and his Parishioners which promotes secession from the Church” .

At the same April meeting James Goodyer resigned as Parish Clerk. Perhaps he felt that over twenty-five years of copying accounts and taking minutes was enough – perhaps he felt he must leave the fight against the Reverend to a younger man. He pleaded ill health. The vestry paid they were very sorry to lose him. There is no record of what the Reverend Theodore said.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SERVICE

Gerrard Roots outlines the current exhibition at Church Farm House Museum

The St. John Ambulance Brigade – the uniformed branch of the Order of St. John, which has itself existed in Britain since c.1148 – celebrates its centenary in 1987. Founded •to promote knowledge of first aid amongst the general public, its first division in this area was set up in 1903 and was based upon. Queen Eizabeth’s Boys School in Barnet. Since that time numerous divisions have been created in the Barnet area.

The activities of the Brigade have greatly expanded since its inception. The Brigade numbers increased significantly during World Wars I and II when members of the St. John volunteered for active service with the Royal Army Medical Corps or provided emergency first aid at home with the air raid patrols.

The Brigade, as well as continuing its first aid training, provides first aid assistance at public gatherings, gives an aeromedical service to bring the sick home from abroad, and through the St. John Air Wing, transports vital organs and medical supplies for transplants.

This exhibition presents through photographs, documents, costume and other memorabilia, the wide range of St. John activities in the Barnet area over the past 80 or so years. It also shows something of the history of the origins of the Order of St. John from its first hospice in Jerusalem in AD 600.

The exhibition will be on show from 3 January until 8 February.Please remember that there will be no lecture in January. The next lecture “London in the Mid-Saxon and Viking Period” will be on Wednesday 4 February

LETTERS FROM HADRIAN’S WALL

Anne Cheng summarizes a recent article in Omnibus by Alan K. Bowman and J. David Thomas.

At the Roman fort of Vindolanda, a mile to the south of Hadrian’s Wall, a unique collection of writing tablets is being unearthed. The texts, which date to around AD 100 include both official documents and, the private correspondence of military personnel. They are written in ink on thin slivers of wood, which was used instead of papyrus as this would have, been expensive and difficult to obtain in Britain. The deposit of writing tablets appears to extend to at least twenty metres and over 500 new finds have already been catalogued.

Many of the new texts belong to the archive of one FIavius Cerialis, a commander of a unit at the fort. However, the outstanding discovery of 19.85 must be the archive of Cerialis’ wife, Sulpicia Lepidina. Two texts in this archive contain closing lines written by Claudia Severa, Lepidina’s correspondent. This is certainly the earliest known example of writing by a woman in Latin.

Claudia’s letter is written in two columns side by side as is normal in these tablets. She invites Lepidina to a birthday party:

“Iii Idus Septembr[e]s, soror,ad diem

sollemnem natalem meum vogo

libenter facies ut venial

ad nos incundiorem mihi

diem?] interventu tuo factures si

venia]s”

After transmitting various family greetings she adds the following lines in rather an awkward hand:

“sperato te, soror
vale, soror,anima
mea, ita valeam
karissima et have”

“I shall expect you sister. Hail and farewell, sister, my dearest soul, as I live in health”.

The processing of these finds is extremely time-consuming and demands painstaking attention to detail, but with the amount of material already found, there is hope of yet more exciting discoveries to come.

Nov 01

Newsletter-572-November 2018

By Roger | HADAS, Latest Newsletter, Past Newsletters, Volume 10: 2015 - 2019‎ | No Comments

No. 572 NOVEMBER 2018 Edited by Sue Willetts
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
HADAS DIARY – Forthcoming lectures and events Lectures, the finds group course, and the film are held at Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Buses 13, 143, 326 & 460 pass close by, and it is five to ten minutes’ walk from Finchley Central Station (Northern Line). Tea/coffee and biscuits follow the lecture.

Sunday 9th December – HADAS Christmas Lunch at Avenue House. 12:30 – 4 p.m. £30 including full Christmas dinner. See p.2.
Tuesday 8th January 2019 NO LECTURE
Tuesday 12th February 2019. Jon Cotton Prehistory in London – some Problems, Progress and Potential
Tuesday 12th March 2019. John Clark Lost and Found: the Rediscovery of Roman London
Tuesday 9th April 2019. Gustav Milne The CITiZAN Project
Tuesday 14th May 2019 Lyn Blackmore (but waiting for final confirmation) Crosse and Blackwell factory excavations
Tuesday 11th June 2019 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Tuesday 8th October 2019 To be arranged. Tuesday 12th November 2019 Bob Cowie Shene and Syon: a royal and monastic landscape revealed

For your diary – 2019 Long Trip
We have booked the hotel for our long trip in 2019. Details will follow in due course.
The hotel is: Best Western Aberavon Beach Hotel, Aberavon Beach, Port Talbot, SA12 6QP
Dates Monday 23rd to Friday 27th September 2019

Cost will be slightly higher than 2018 because of the increasing cost of fuel for the coach.
If you are interested, please let Jim Nelhams know (treasurer@hadas.org.uk)

Battle of Barnet Project
We were pleased to receive from the above a card saying: “Thank you for being part of the Battle of Barnet Project”. This is in recognition of our help with the test-pitting and other associated actions.
Although no site for the Battle of Barnet…….

Remember, Remember, Remember to sign up for the HADAS Christmas party.
The party is on December 9th, 2018, between 12.30pm and 4.00pm at Avenue House, 17 East End Road, N3 3QE. The party is for HADAS members and their guests. The price is £30 per person.
Send remittances to Peter Pickering, 3 Westbury Road, Woodside Park, London N12 7NY
Or pay directly to: Account title: HADAS, Bank code: 40-52-40 Bank account: 00007253
Please title the payment “HADAS Party 2018”

HADAS vacancy
As Jim Nelhams, who has been HADAS treasurer for the last ten years plus, has decided to stand down at next year’s AGM, HADAS is in dire need of a replacement.
Could you manage HADAS’ treasury function? If you could we would love to hear from you.
To discuss this vacancy and what the role entails please contact me (Don Cooper) by any of the various methods below. (See last page of the newsletter)
PS An assistant editor to help Sue Willetts in preparing the newsletter for printing would be very welcome. Please contact Don Cooper to discuss this role.

Exciting archaeology news from the Black Sea and Pompeii Sue Willetts
A merchant ship, thought to be Greek, dating back more than 2,400 years has been found lying on its side off the Bulgarian coast. The 23m (75ft) wreck, found in the Black Sea by an Anglo-Bulgarian team, is being hailed as officially the world’s oldest known intact shipwreck. See the BBC website for more information: It was discovered with its mast, rudders and rowing benches all present and correct just over a mile below the surface. A lack of oxygen at that depth preserved it, the researchers said. The principal investigator of the Black Sea Maritime Project (MAP) is Professor Jon Adams – his view is that this will change our understanding of shipbuilding and seafaring in the ancient world.
In Pompeii a new coloured fresco has been discovered in the House of the Enchanted Garden, so called due to the variety of animals and plants that decorate its walls, which was partially excavated in the 19th century but the frescoed room has only now been found. The director of the site is Massimo Osanna. The frescoes include the figure of a horse, birds in flight and a strange human figure with a dog’s head. The main room is believed to be a lararium, a room designed to hold the images of the lares, divine protectors.
For more information and images from the Daily Telegraph – click here – or look out for more coverage to come in the archaeology press.

New Publication Information from Don Cooper The Roman Pottery Manufacturing Site in Highgate Wood: Excavations 1966-78 by A. E. Brown and H. L. Sheldon.

This book co-authored by our president Harvey Sheldon has, after a long germination, finally been produced. It is being sold by Archaeopress and is priced at £60. I know it is expensive, but you can also download it as a pdf from the link to the Archaeopress site below.
Perhaps one of our Romanists would like to write a review in due course.
See http://www.archaeopress.com/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id=%7B7915E40D-7B87-49DD-B1CC-08D5FDABB505%7D The following text is taken from the publicity for this volume.
Excavations over a period of eight years uncovered at least ten pottery kilns, waster heaps, ditches and pits, but only a few definite structures. The pottery from the site indicates a period of operation extending from the first half of the 1st century AD to the later 2nd century. The pottery made at the site included initially a vegetable tempered handmade ware, but subsequently the bulk of it consisted of a grog tempered ware and then pottery in a sandy fabric which is well known from assemblages in London. The type of kiln varied with the pottery fabric; there was possible evidence for a pre-Roman pit firing, and later kilns set in ditches were of the twin flued type, eventually replaced by the more familiar above ground kilns with raised floors. Changes in pottery fabric were reflected in different methods of clay preparation, which led to changes in the function of the various ditches, the stratigraphy of which, along with the variation in the fabrics, was significant in enabling the four broad phases into which the site has been divided, to be proposed.
The report includes a very detailed analysis of the forms and fabrics of the pottery made at Highgate. Finds of prehistoric flintwork and pottery during the excavation, and of material of later date, together with the observation of earthworks and historical research, have been used to show the place of the pottery kilns as an element in the exploitation of the woodland of northern London over the last eight thousand years.

London Archaeologist 50 (1968-2018): an archaeological conference held in London
Robin Densem

I went to an archaeological conference on 6th October 2018. The conference, at King’s College London, was attended by some 200 amateur and professional archaeologists, and others, and was held to celebrate fifty years of the London Archaeologist magazine that had been founded in 1968. I saw at least two other members of HADAS there, including Harvey Sheldon who was co-chairing the proceedings.

The publication is an A4 sized quarterly magazine that presents archaeological research and excavation reports; interviews; finds, artefact, and bioarchaeology studies; book reviews and an events diary, and it is probably well known to our members.

The magazine contains articles from writers across the archaeological spectrum in London, on topics ranging from human skulls in the Walbrook, to community archaeology in Fulham, to Tudor bee boles in Greenwich.

London Archaeologist is run by a completely voluntary team elected annually each May at the AGM. The production of the magazine, marketing, membership and financial matters are handled by the officers. The officers are joined on the Publication Committee by up to six further ‘ordinary’ members, drawn from the professional and voluntary side of archaeology. The organisation is a registered charity, no 262851.

The presentations by various speakers at the conference included considerations of the development of archaeological practice in London over the last fifty years, and specialist contributions on finds, public engagement, health and safety, and commercial archaeology carried out to satisfy town planning requirements.

It may be that developers, planners, and construction professionals would find it interesting and worthwhile to subscribe to the magazine, as well as local society members and other archaeologists, if they are not already doing so: https://www.londonarchaeologist.org.uk/ . One of the themes at the conference was the importance of archaeology in enhancing development schemes and this is one of the threads in commercial archaeology, in amongst the fact that archaeology is a material consideration in the planning process. The reality that a developer may be faced with ten, twenty or more planning conditions, of which the historic environment is just one of these.

The left-hand image shows the front cover of a recent issue of the magazine, featuring the reverse of a gold coin minted in London of the Saxon king Coenwulf who ruled Mercia (the Midlands down to London), from AD 796 until his death in 821. The legend reads DE VICO LUNDONIAE (‘from the wic of London’). A wic was, of course, a Saxon trading settlement or emporium, usually on a navigable river or on the coast, and the place-name element can be present in some in modern place names, such as in Sandwich on the Kent coast, or it may be preserved in the archaic names for places such as Hamwic for Southampton, Jorvic for York, and Lundenwic for London. These places were all important Saxon trading settlements, and in London and York’s cases they overlay former Roman towns there.

The right-hand image was taken during the conference. Clive Orton who edited the magazine for 40 years from 1976 can be glimpsed at the lectern on the extreme right facing the audience as he reads a paper written by Peter Marsden on the latter’s important work on Roman London. Peter Marsden is on the left on the slide on the screen, taking notes from Mortimer Wheeler who, with his arm raised, is declaiming the history of an archaeological site in London in the 1960s. Wheeler (1890-1976) was a big figure in archaeology in England, publicising many discoveries, latterly on television, and founding the Institute of Archaeology in London, now part of University College London, in 1937.

A speaker at the conference explained how some archaeological sites in London are now being displayed for public access, notably the Temple of Mithras in the City of London. Another speaker told how a Roman sarcophagus has formed a central element of an exhibition on Roman Dead at the Museum of London (25 May – 28 October 2018) at its Docklands site. A room of displays at the conference featured books for sale, and t-shirts, though with the weather as it was on the day umbrellas would have been more appropriate!

HADAS Long trip to East Anglia Jim Nelhams
Monday 17th September and a quick tour around the borough to pick up 34 travellers for our trip, with five more to join us later at the Hotel in Brome, just south of Diss.

Cressing Temple Peter Pickering
A comfort break at a service station apart, our first stop out of London was at Cressing Temple, which I remembered having visited on a HADAS day trip in 1990, when there were ‘crowds milling around Women’s Institute competition entries’, and before the walled garden had been restored. The temple is not, as its name would imply, a place of worship, but rather a group of enormous barns with ancillary buildings and a beautiful walled garden. It is called ‘temple’ because the two largest barns were built in the thirteenth century by the Knights Templar, the famous, indeed unfairly notorious, military order who fought in the Crusades and got some of the finance for these operations out of agriculture. The ‘Barley Barn’ is the first, built early in the thirteenth century, and the ‘Wheat Barn’ came some fifty years later. Magnificent barns like these are often compared to cathedrals, and because they do not have stone or much-decorated vaults it is easier to comprehend from barns how the carpenters covered great buildings. Add to these two barns from the thirteenth century one rather similar from the seventeenth and another, smaller, from the eighteenth – and a seventeenth century farmhouse – and the true value of this complex emerges. But that is not all; Essex County Council, to whose stewardship we owe it, have, since the 1990 HADAS visit, restored the walled garden, with lots of (clearly identified) interesting and attractive plants, which looked glorious in the balmy autumnal sunlight. Oh, and there was a cafe run by Tiptree, which leads on to . . .

Tiptree Jam Shop, Tea Room and Museum Deirdre Barrie
The second stop on Day One allowed HADAS to shop early for presents (albeit weighty ones!) at the Tiptree jam shop and museum. There was also an outdoor exhibit of farm machinery. Tiptree not only manufacture jams, but also chutneys and delicacies such as an addictive lemon curd – and there are FIVE varieties of raspberry jam alone. (One preserve is actually called “Traffic Jam!”). Most of us will be familiar with the handy little 28 gram mini jars of jams and honey available in restaurants and supermarkets (and later at our hotel).
Those who could bear to postpone their trip to the tea shop could visit a small museum about the history of the firm. The Tiptree business was founded in 1885 by the Wilkin family. Peter John Wilkin (who lives nearby in a house unsurprisingly called Tiptree Hall) is the fourth generation of the Wilkin family to join the board. One of their early, witty company mottoes was “By their fruits shall ye know them.”

The management appear to have been caring employers. Houses were built for their workers, and whole families have and still do work for the company. “Wilkin & Sons Limited”, says the sign outside the factory. Present management are watchful that modern slavery does not play any part in their suppliers. Production methods continue to improve. Before the Killie Jam Filler machine was introduced in 1950, an employee could manage to fill only 20 jars of jam in an hour by hand. Now 200 jars whizz along the production line in the same time.
Jam was sent to the troops in World War I, and Tiptree was awarded a Royal Warrant for jam in 2008.
Part of the Tiptree secret is that they grow all their own fruit. Twelve mulberry trees not far from the factory were planted 120 years ago. Tiptree even have their own variety of strawberry, named “Little Scarlet”. Apparently Little Scarlet Conserve is a favourite of James Bond – it is mentioned in the Ian Fleming novel, “From Russia with Love”.

East Bergholt Church Peter Pickering
We arrived in East Bergholt fortified by Tiptree and walked from the coach past many reminders of the artist John Constable (whose parents’ house had stood there) to the imposing church of St Mary. The church signalled at the same time the wealth produced by the wool industry that had paid for it and the ferocity of the reformers who had despoiled it. Was the strange half-built but clearly ambitious tower outside the west doors evidence of a recession in the wool industry or an early sign of the reformers’ zeal?
Inside, the austere appearance left by the Puritans, who were strong in the area, is only partly softened by the Victorian reintroduction of stained glass. Careful exploration, however, reveals many features of interest – the parish chest, a fifteenth century wall-painting of the Resurrection, a seventeenth century brass (the only survivor of many once on the church floor), and a monument to Edward Lambe listing his merits in two columns – one of those beginning with E and the other of those beginning with L. But perhaps most striking was the monument to John Mattinson, schoolmaster, who was ‘unfortunately shot’ in 1723; he is described in a Latin verse as ‘a terror and a delight to his pupils’.
We were also amused by a repeated notice in the choir stalls reminding those inhabiting them to be careful what they say because the microphones mean that it will be heard throughout the church; one wonders what libellous or ribald remarks made such a reminder necessary. On our way out of the church we noted various tombs, including those of Constable’s parents, and a free-standing bell-cage, needed because there was no tower.

Flatford Mill Don Cooper
And so to Flatford Mill, the last visit of the day before we went to the hotel. Flatford Mill is rightly famous for being the site of many of John Constable’s paintings. John Constable (1776-1837), one of the greatest British artists, was the son of the owner of Flatford Mill. The mill itself is sited by the river Stour in a beautiful landscape now often referred to as “John Constable country”. Constable created many of his more famous paintings in the area of the mill and its surroundings. Below are a couple of my photographs, I hope they convey some sense of the beauty of the area.

Figure 1 Stour river at Flatford

It was fascinating to see the actual landscape which has hardly changed from the time it was painted by Constable. The sun was shining, and the late afternoon light highlighted the colours of the trees, vegetation and reflections on the water.

Figure 2 Willy Lot’s cottage
There is a small museum with poster illustrations of some of his paintings as well as a tea and gift shop on the site. For those, like me, that love Constable’s paintings this was an exciting and rewarding visit.
Further reports on the trip will follow….

Queen Eleanor’s Journey – Part 3 Jim Nelhams
After leaving Geddingstone, the procession made its way to Hardingstone, where another of the surviving crosses remains.

The route continued across to Watling Street (A5) and southwards along it to Stony Stratford, now part of Milton Keynes.
No trace remains of this cross – it was destroyed during the civil war by troops on their way to the Battle of Naseby. The town has many Royal connections including King John, Edward IV and Richard III.
A house at the north end of the High Street displays a plaque with the following wording.
“Near this spot stood the Cross erected by King Edward the I to mark the place in Stony Stratford where the body of Queen Eleanor rested on its way from Harby in Nottinghamshire to Westminster Abbey in 1290”
Further south along Watling Street, the cortege made a slight diversion to the Cistercian Abbey at Woburn. The original Abbey is thought to have been somewhere near the west side of the current Woburn Abbey. In 1547, Henry VIII granted the land to the first Earl of Bedford, John Russell. The building was rebuilt in 1744, and remains the residence of the Dukes of Bedford.
No trace of the Woburn Cross remains.
This is situated on the A508 London Road on the south side of Northampton. It is at the edge of Delapré Abbey, or more properly, the Abbey of St Mary de la Pré, which was a monastery, originally founded as a nunnery about the year 1145 devoted to the congregation of the great Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, France.
Its expansive sloping grounds are a nationally-protected Wars of the Roses battlefield, as a one-time site of the advance of the Yorkists during the Battle of Northampton (1460).
This cross is octagonal and stands on some steps. The steps have clearly been replaced. When erected, there was a cross at the top, but this was lost before 1460.
Continuing along Watling Street, the next stop was at Dunstable, where overnight custody of the coffin was taken by the canons of Dunstable Priory and placed on the High Altar. The carriage was kept near the crossroads. There is a plaque on the wall of the NatWest Bank by the traffic lights.

In High Street North, there is now a modern statue of the Queen.
Nearly there. Only three more stops before Charing Cross.

OTHER SOCIETIES & INSTITUTIONS EVENTS, compiled by Eric Morgan Please check with the organisations before setting out in case of any changes / cancellations

Friday 16th November 7.30 pm Wembley History Society, English Martyrs’ Hall, Chalk Hill Road, Wembley, HA9 9EW. Talk by Camilla Churchill. Brent archives revealed, Visitors £3. Refreshments
Monday 19th November. 6.00 pm Council for British Archaeology. London Archaeological Forum, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN. An opportunity to hear about London archaeology in recent months – the sites currently under investigation, recent discoveries and to discuss the issues that matter for the protection and promotion of archaeology in the capital.
Thursday 22nd November. Mill Hill Preservation Society. An evening meeting held at The Hub, Hartley Avenue, Mill Hill Library Building, Hartley Avenue, NW7 2HX – doors open 7.15 pm for coffee / subscription payments. Individual membership is £13.00 per year. The meeting will start at 7.45 pm when Chris Beney, chair of the Open Spaces Society (OSS founded 1865) will be giving a talk on the important work it does – including the protection of footpaths, common land, green spaces and parks. OSS is the oldest National conservation body in the country.
Sunday 25th November 11:30 – 16:30 Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Frost Fair with the Finchley Women’s Institute who are hosting their 7th Annual Frost Fair, with art and craft stalls.
Wednesday 28th November. 7.45 pm. Friern Barnet & District Local History Society, North Middlesex Golf Club, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 0NL. Film about Britain’s past. Coast and Sea. Non-members £2.
Thursday 29th November. 8.00 pm Finchley Society. Drawing Room, Avenue House, 17 East End Lane, N3 3QE Lecture VAD Nurses in WWI. Jean Scott Memorial Lecture given by John Drewry + actors. Non-members £2. Refreshments
Thursday 6th December. 8.00 pm Pinner Local History Society. Village Hall, Chapel Lane car park, Pinner, HA5 1AB. Talk by Brian Thompson. West Hertfordshire in the Footsteps of Herbert Tompkins on exploring with a Victorian Guide. Visitors £3.00
Friday 7th December 7.30 pm Wembley History Society (address as above). Talk. Turning the pages of History – on a historical oddity (Or Odyssey?) by Philip Grant (Brent Archives) Refreshments & mince pies. Visitors £3.00
Tuesday 11th December 6.30 pm LAMAS. Clore Learning Centre, Museum of London. (address as above) The Everyday Heroes of Postman’s Park. Talk by Dr John Price (Goldsmith’s College, University of London) Refreshments 6.00 pm Non-members £2.00
Tuesday 11th December, 7.45 pm Amateur Geological Society, Finchley Baptist Church Hall, East End Rd, N3 3QL (opp. Avenue House): Talk on enigmatic minerals of the UK by Mike Rumsey (Natural History Museum)
Wednesday 12th December, 2.30 pm. Mill Hill Historical Society. Trinity Church, 100 The Broadway, Mill Hill, NW7 3TB. Talk. Richard III: the body in the carpark. Dr Barry Walsh.
Thursday 13th December, 7.30 pm. Camden History Society. Burgh House, New End Square, Hampstead, NW3 1LT. Käthe Strenitz’s Camden Town and the Railways Lands. Talk by Peter Darley on how KS’s drawings are a unique record of Camden’s past and deserve far greater recognition. Visitors £1.00 Wine and nibbles from 7.00 pm.
Saturday 15th December. 1.30 – 3.30 pm Barnet 1471. Battlefields Society. St. John the Baptist Church, Barnet Church, junction High St. / Wood St. EN5 4BW. Mad Monk of Mitcham. Talk by Andrzej Lubienski on Medieval jewels and gemstones. Non members £5 + donation for refreshments. Pay at door.
Wednesday 19th December. 7.45 pm for 8.00 pm Edmonton Hundred Historical Society, Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane at the junction with Chase Side, Enfield, EN2 0AJ. Christmas traditions. Talk by Howard Whisker. Wine and nibbles. Visitors £1.


With many thanks to this month’s contributors:
Deidre Barrie, Don Cooper, Robin Densom, Eric Morgan, Jim Nelhams, Peter Pickering, Sue Willetts

Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman Don Cooper 59, Potters Road, Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8440 4350)
e-mail: chairman@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Secretary Jo Nelhams 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: secretary@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Treasurer Jim Nelhams 61 Potters Road Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Membership Sec. Stephen Brunning Flat 22 Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road,
East Barnet EN4 8FH (0208 440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
Join the HADAS email discussion group via the website at: www.hadas.org.uk

Past Newsletters

Newsletter 583 October 2019

Newsletter-191-January-1987

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Volume 8 : 2005 - 2009

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Volume 6 : 1995 - 1999

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