Newsletter

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The HADAS annual general meeting will take place at Central Library, The Burroughs, NW4 on 15th May — a Wednesday, not a Tuesday, this year. Coffee will be from 8.00p.m.; business meeting, with Vice-President Eric Wookey in the chair, at 8.30, followed by a slide-show of HADAS at work and play.

Dorothy Newbury has assembled pictures of as many of the year’s events as possible. These will include digs in progress, photos taken on outings (including the weekend at Hadrian’s Wall), winter work on finds, shots of various HADAS exhibitions. In addition, two small exhibits showing last year’s digs (at St. James the Great, Friern Barnet, and Woodlands, Golders Green Road) will be on display.

The committee looks forward to seeing as many members as possible at this HADAS “family” occasion.
Summer Outings

Members have already applied for this month’s joint outing to Letchworth with the Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute Society, on Sunday, 9 May.

Next month’s outing will also be on a Sunday, 13 June, to Butser and Portchester; from full details, and application form, in the June Newsletter.

Subsequent outings will be:

Sat July 10 – Kings Lynn.
Sat Aug 7 – Chedworth Roman villa and Crickley Hill.
Sept 17-19 – inclusive – Weekend at York.

The Digging Programme

The dig on the site next to the White Swan Pub, Golders Green Road, started in the weekend of April 10/11, when the area was fenced and gridded, and some “concrete bashing” on the eastern edge of the site, next to the roadway, got under way. By Sunday evening three trenches had been opened to a depth of some 9 inches. The top-soil, as expected, produced nothing except a fine crop of broken glass (mostly beer bottles), pipe stems and 19th/20th century pottery.

This preliminary work means, however, that a good start can now be made on the levels below. For the moment, work will be on Sundays only, from 10.00a.m.-5.00p.m. (No digging of this site on a made on ninth, because of the Letchworth outing). Volunteers are welcome, beginners as well as more experienced diggers. Let to Jeremy Clynes know if you intend to come along.
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The Society’s dig on a possible Mesolithic site on Hampstead Heath (discovered as a result of HADAS member Alec Jeakins noticing a number of worked flints on the surface) begins on Saturday 1 May and will continue every day until 16 May, 10.00a.m.-5.00p.m. It is hoped to provide protection over the trenches in wet weather, so rain should not stop digging.

Most Members who wish to take part in this dig have already signed up. If you have not done so, please telephone Daphne Lorimer will provide further details. The dig will be under the direction of professional archaeologist Desmond Collins (now an Hon-member of HADAS). Plans are in hand for employing various modern techniques on the site, such as wet and dry sieving. It is hoped that soil flotation equipment might also be available.
The Season’s Lectures – From Behind the Projector

Mrs. Betty Hellings-Jackson’s account of her journeys to the “forgotten city” of Petra with her husband left many members quite breathless as the audience followed her through the difficult terrain of the site. For the student of archaeology, Mrs. Jackson — a self-confessed romantic — did perhaps omit many fascinating details about the monuments and civilisations of this once flourishing city. However, her enthusiasm to share obvious delight in her explorations brought to the winter lecture season to a successful conclusion.

All the for lectures this winter have been well supported (over 90 members at most meetings) and from the “projection chair” at the back of the hall it is interesting to note that while about half the audience are regulars (i.e. come to all meetings), the other half varies slightly at each meeting, obviously reflecting the different interests of members. Of the Programme Committee are, I think, to be congratulated on providing such a good and varied season of lectures; no mean feat when one considers how wide the study of archaeology has become in a recent years.

A broad approach to the subject was succinctly and expertly surveyed by Dr Alexander in November when the Society’s nose was lifted from our local trenches to view World Development. The excellent idea of arranging a lecture about the site visited the previous summer enabled Geoffrey Toms to explain and illustrate recent work at Wroxeter which many members have seen for themselves. Andrew Saunders informative talk about Martello Towers and Napoleonic defences in January certainly put new life into these monuments for many of us. The description of Medieval York filled many members of the audience with enthusiasm when Mr Addyman described the challenging work being done by both amateur and professional archaeologists in the city. Certainly the special visit to York this September arranged by the indefatigable Dorothy Newbury should on no account be missed! Inevitably for me, certain lectures or speakers are more memorable than others (not necessarily those occasions when the slides become jammed in the protector!) And the lecture I shall particularly remember from this winter season is “Vernacular Architecture” (horrible title!) in March. Since listening to Miss Harding’s clear and well illustrated talk, I have looked at all houses with new eyes and been well rewarded in most cases.

I am sure that all members of the Society will wish to thank the Programme Committee, and particularly the Hon. Programme Secretary, Dorothy Newbury, for the tireless efforts in arranging the lecture season. Their reward is obvious in the high attendance at each meeting. All that remains for them to do is to produce a programme of equal quality and variety next year. What a demanding membership we are!
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College Farm, Finchley

HADAS has for several years taken a keen interest in what was happening to College Farm, Finchley. This is the Express Dairy Farm, once a model of its kind, near Henly’s Corner, at the junction of Regents Park Road and the North Circular Road. The last cows left the farm (now shrunk to 10 acres in extent) in 1974; a few weeks later the buildings were closed and the contents of the Museum of Dairying which had delighted many a visitor to the farm, were removed into store.

The Finchley Society and HADAS formed a small joint sub-committee to keep an eye on the situation. Both societies were worried lest vandalism should occur; and both felt that, if possible, some local amenity use should be made of the buildings and land.

The property belongs to the Department of Environment. The first action of our joint committee was to encourage the Department to get together with the Dairy Trade Federation, who were known to be looking for premises which would be suitable for a National Dairy Museum. College Farm appeared to have many advantages as the site for such a centre. Indeed, both the Department of Environment and the Federation appeared prepared to consider the idea, but unfortunately their negotiations came to nothing.

In the meantime the buildings themselves were, as we feared, suffering considerable vandalism.

We have now been informed by the Department of Environment that the land and buildings have been let on a 4-year least “for agricultural purposes.” We understand that these fields are to be cropped for hay and the buildings used for stabling horses. We had been assured that a prompt start is to be made on repairing the buildings and that part of the cost will be borne by the Department of Environment.

If this comes to pass, it seems — for the time being, at any rate — a happy solution. The fields will remain as an open space and be properly looked after. The buildings will be in use and protected. Our joint Committee, however, proposes to keep a watchful eye on the farm; and also to consider seriously what might happen in four years time were the farm again to become vacant.
The Woodlands Di`g

From 16 August, 1975, to February, 1976, HADAS explored part of the garden of No. 1, The Woodlands, NW11. This site lies on the east side of the junction of the Golders Green and North Circular roads.

The dig was directed by ALEC JEAKINS. This is his report:

The excavation took place at the western end of the garden of No. 1, The Woodlands (TQ 2410 8850). The part of the garden examined was delineated by the boundary wall along Golders Green Road on the west, and the Decoy Brook (a tributary of the Brent) flowing in a modern channel on the east.

The purpose of the excavation was to re-examine the site which had been briefly excavated in 1968 (see Trans. London & Middlesex Arch. Soc. Vol. 22, pt. 3, 1970, p.23: “An Investigation of Roman Road 167,” site C). The pebble structure uncovered in 1968 hand had been tentatively dated 14th/early 15th, following examination of the associated pottery.

The excavated area measured 3 m by 8.6 m with a 1 by 2 m extension at the Northeast or stream side. The section along the North side was drawn.
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Three features were uncovered. Nearest to Golders Green Road was:

FEATURE A. A pebble embankment, approximately 3 m wide and with a maximum depth of 35 cm. A high proportion of the pebbles were of ovoid shape and the average size was 30-50 millimetres. The embankment rested on yellow clay. The one-metre wide section cut through it produced no artefacts. Clean sand between most of the pebbles and the lack of soil contamination suggested that it has not been disturbed since its construction.

FEATURE B. A ditch-type structure dividing A from C; 1 m wide and 35 cm deep, it appeared to have been deliberately filled. The fill was a mixture of brick, tile and domestic rubbish, including a considerable quantity of Staffordshire transfer ware.

FEATURE C. A pebble embankment or road, approximately 4 m wide and between 35 and 75 cm deep. The metalling ranged from fine crushed gravel to pebbles of 20-40 mm. A number of pieces of Medieval Pottery were recovered from the upper part of this structure. Examination of the section suggested that the road had been repaired at least twice; there was a thin capping layer of fine gravel and what appeared to be a new edge to the road on the Northeast side. The Northeast end of the section also showed evidence of three or four floodings of the road by the stream. The pebble tailed off into this flood-disturbed area, and also at the base of the trench into the London clay.

The pottery from Feature C has been looked at by Michael Rhodes of the Museum of London. He considers that most of it comes from the Hertfordshire reduction kilns of the twelfth century. There is a surprising variety of fabric types, and so far I have been able to parallel only one group of sherds — with the material found at Gentle’s Yard, St. Albans. A horse or ox shoe in three pieces and two sherds of 1/13 century jug were also found among the pebbles.

Two coins were recovered: from the topsoil a sixpence (?) with all details on both sides worn away; and in the fill of Feature B a very worn William III half penny. The coin is unusually thin and the complete absence of detail on the reverse suggests it may have been used for shove-halfpenny.

An examination of the large scale maps of the area — starting with the 25 in. OS 1936 edition and going back to Isaac Messeder’s map of 1754 — provided additional information that aided the interpretation of the site. The alignment of the present Golders Green Road seems to have been established by the mid nineteenth century. Between the 1914-36 editions of the 25 in. OS, the North Circular Road was built and considerable landscaping of the garden of 1, The Woodlands took place, including the realignment and channelling of the stream. The eighteenth century maps show Golders Green Road as a wide strip of land, presumably little more than an unmetalled track, with travellers searching its width for the driest and least potholed piece of “road.” At the point where the road meets the Brent the road is very wide, with the Decoy Book running alongside.

My interpretation of these three features is as follows:

FEATURE C. A medieval road or embankment, the evidence of repairs suggests it was used for a number of years. It was presumably built as a structure that would have protected the traveller from all but the worst of the winter floods. As no attempt was made to trace its length it will be interesting to see if any similar metalling is revealed by the HADAS excavation now in progress by the White Swan, and the dig which we hoped to do on the Brent Bridge Hotel site.

FEATURE B. A post-medieval stream bed filled during the landscaping of the garden; 1864 and 1914 OS maps showed the stream in this position.
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FEATURE A. A post-medieval embankment, date of construction and function unknown. The camber on this structure was too steep to allow it to be considered as another road. This was a feature uncovered during the 1968 excavation.

I would like to thank all members of the Society who helped dig this site, and particularly Colin Evans, Paddy Musgrove and Percy Reboul who directed excavations during my absence, and Dorothy Newbury for providing refreshments in all weathers.
Industrial Archaeology

Some months ago a flurry of activity took place on the HADAS Industrial Archaeology front, initiated by Paul Carter and Alec Jeakins. Meetings were convened, a small group was formed and it was decided to record, as a special project, those farms which still remain in the Borough of Barnet.

Since then it has not been possible to carry the farm survey project much further. Paul no longer works in the area and Alec has had other archaeological irons in the fire (as you will realise if you have read the previous report on Woodlands).

Recently, however, a new member, BILL FIRTH, has offered to breathe new fire into our I.A. group. Bill, who is also a member of GLIAS (the Greater London Industrial Archaeological Society) sends this note:

“I’m keen to try to reactivate some Industrial Archaeology work in Barnet. At present I’m sifting through the Society’s records to find out what has already been covered. I have already found that a good deal of preliminary work has been done on the Farm Survey, and I hope that we shall be able to get that going again.

Ideally, one would like to take stock of the whole of the Boroughs industrial monuments and record them systematically, but I realise that often it is going to be a case of an emergency session to deal with something which is under threat of disappearing. It would be helpful if any HADAS member who knows of an industrial site or object which should be recorded would let me know about it.

And would anyone who would like to help with the Farm Survey or who is interested in Industrial Archaeology in general or in any particular aspect of it please get in touch with me and let me know?” Ring or write to Bill Firth.
The April Outing

Report by Alec Gouldsmith.

On a crisp sunny morning HADAS left Hendon for the first outing of the 1976 season.

The opening port of call was Coalhouse Fort, which commands a stretch of river where the Thames narrows considerably and provides excellent cover downstream. Originally a blockhouse had been constructed here in the time of Henry VIII, and this was further developed in the 18th/19th century. Unfortunately only the nineteenth century rebuilding is now visible, plus additions made during the two wars of this century.

Next stop was Tilbury Fort, a fine and well-preserved example of seventeenth century military engineering. As we arrived from the North, we stopped to observe the outer defences and the site of the land-gate. Our entry was made by the side of the “watergate”, an imposing edifice erected in the reign of Charles II. Although a blockhouse had been built here in 1539, the present fort was almost entirely constructed between 1660-85, with modifications in 1860 and this century. The chapel now contains an exhibition of the history of the Fort. We visited the “Dead House”, a chamber over the landgate, and the powder magazines, originally built in the eighteenth century but altered for modern requirements.
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We lunched on the river front overlooking Gravesend. After lunch we went to Greensted Church, small, wooden and Saxon, and almost completely filled by our party. It is believed that a Celtic church stood on this site from about 600-700 AD, founded by St. Cedd, who had built his cathedral inside the old Roman Saxon Shore Fort at Bradwell. The logs of which the present church is built have been shown by modern techniques to date from 845 AD. The walls were formed by splitting oak trunks in half and then joining them with wooden tongues to form a continuous wall with the flat surface inside. No doubt originally these walls were set in a trench; now they stand on a brick base. The whole is held together by wooden pins. There are no windows, but some light and was admitted through “eye-holes”, (now plugged) cut out by an augur. The Normans added a stone chancel — the arch still exists, as do the flint footings. In Tudor times the chancel was rebuilt in brick, the chancel arch modified and a priest’s door added.

Tea was taken at Chipping Ongar, in a haunted tea-room. No ghost appeared, at an excellent tea did.

Our last visit was to Waltham Abbey. Mrs. Rhona Huggins of the local history society showed us round. In the Lady Chapel we saw the recently excavated late fourteenth century stone statue of the Madonna, which had apparently been given Christian burial in the sixteenth century after being mutilated by iconoclasts (see London Archaeologist, vol. 2 No. 11). There was time to see the supposed site of King Harold’s tomb in the grounds, the lay-out of the cloisters and remains of a vaulted entry.

Many thanks indeed to Ted Sammes and Dorothy Newbury for organising this varied and interesting outing and above all for arranging such a lovely spring day for it.
Recording a Churchyard

A book published jointly last month by the Council for British Archaeology and Rescue points up the importance of the work which HADAS has been doing for some years in Hendon at St. Mary’s churchyard and the project on which we have just started at St. Andrew’s Parish Church, Totteridge. This 40-page study on “How to Record Graveyards” is by Jeremy Jones, himself a worker for the last five years one the recording Deerhurst Gloucestershire.

Mr Jones deals with the reasons for recording churchyards, what should be recorded, methods and equipment, record cards, coding and photography. He touches on what should happen after such a survey, by way of analysis and publication. His valuable bibliography ranges widely, from Burgess’s classic “English Churchyard Memorials” through learned papers on such subjects as the economics of the coffin furniture industry to Fritz Speigel’s “Small Book of Grave Humour.”

Philip Rahtz’s Preface stresses the importance, to both archaeologists and historians, of striving to provide a total record of each local churchyard before it is Lost in what he calls “the crisis in gravestone archaeology.” The CBA, he says, publishes the book “in the hope that it will enable the evidence of many churchyards to be saved from oblivion.” Obtainable by post, price £0.75, from the CBA, 7 Marylebone Road, NW1 5HA.

Newsletter

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MINIMART

STOP PRESS **** STOP PRESS **** STOP PRESS

Don’t forget the HADAS MINIMART – our main fundraising event — Saturday March 6th 1976 – Henry Burden Hall, Egerton Gardens, NW4 (almost opposite the Town Hall). 10.00a.m. – 12.00 p.m. Roll up in your hundreds!

Contributions still gratefully accepted – “unwanted” gifts, cosmetics, “cast-offs”, white elephant. Bring them to the March lecture – or ring Christine Arnott to arrange collection.
Dig News

WOODLANDS, GOLDERS GREEN. Alec Jeakins reports that this site has now been back-filled. An account of his findings will appear later.

HAMPSTEAD HEATH. Advance news of the next HADAS dig on this probable Neolithic site: digging starts on Saturday 1st May and will go on for a fortnight, fulltime, under the overall direction of Desmond Collins. Thereafter, digging will be at weekends. All members who wish to take part in the whole or part of the first fortnight are asked to give their names now to the site supervisor, Daphne Lorimer. At this stage it is difficult to estimate how many diggers will be needed, but if necessary a rota will be arranged.

By the way – if any member can supply Mrs. Lorimer with old-fashioned metal meat skewers, these would be most welcome. They are unbeatable for the job of stringing out our trenches.
Next Lecture

On Tuesday, March 2: Vernacular Architecture – Medieval Houses and their Development, by Joan Harding, FSA.

Since retiring from her work as a technical librarian in a Government Department, Miss Harding has devoted her time to masterminding, in Surrey, a scheme for recording the historical and architectural features of the small farmhouses and cottages which often disappear without a trace. Surrey is rich in genuine old farm buildings, and the files of the Domestic Buildings Research Group (Surrey), which Miss Harding founded, now cover about a thousand vernacular structures. On March 2, she will tell us of her work and discoveries.
Other Dates
Apr. 6 – There was no road to Petra – Betty Hellings-Jackson
Wednesday May 5 – Annual General Meeting

Lectures and the AGM are at Central Library, The Burroughs, NW4, at 8 p.m.
Summer Season

Our Programme Secretary, Dorothy Newbury is, like the swallows, a harbinger of summer. As soon as she mentions outings, it means the worst of the winter is over. Here is her first budget of news about summer, 1976:

On Saturday April 3, the first outing of the year will be organised by Ted Sammes. It will concern a fort, a Saxon church and a Norman abbey.

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It will be a full day’s outing covering a time span from Saxon to the 19th century. The places visited will be Tilbury fort, Greensted Church and Waltham Abbey. A booking form is enclosed with this Newsletter. Please return it as soon as possible to Dorothy Newbury.

The rest of the summer programme, in outline, will be:
Sun May 9 – Combined trip with Hampstead Garden Suburb
Institute Society to Letchworth.
Sun June 13 – Butser and Portchester.
Sat July 10 – exact details not yet fixed.
Sat Aug 7 – Chedworth Roman villa and Crickley Hill.
Sep 17-19 – inclusive – weekend in York.
Bulgarian Treasures

Report by Ted Sammes.

The current exhibition of Thracian treasures at the British Museum can be thoroughly recommended. The fine collection on display is from that part of Thrace which is today in Bulgaria.

The period covered ranges from the Neolithic (5000 BC), through the late Chalcolithic into the Bronze Age. With the late Bronze age (13th/12th century BC) fine gold and silver work begins; it continues through the Iron Age into the Roman period. The material has mostly come from burial mounds – for example, the Vratsa treasure (380-350 BC) which contains among other things a delicate gold wreath of laurel leaves and a greave, with the knee formed by a woman’s head and snakes and griffins on the leg piece.

On the same visit you may, if you wish, see in the adjoining rooms the new exhibition of 2000 years of British coins and medals and the partly completed Iranian and Anatolian Room. This latter gives a chance to compare the treasure of the Oxus (5th/4th century BC) with the Thracian material.

The exhibition is open until March 28 next. Weekdays 10a.m.-5p.m. (Monday mornings – school parties only), Sundays 2.30p.m.-6p.m. Late night opening Thursdays 5.45-9p.m., last admittance 8.45p.m.
Background from London Transport

By Jeremy Clynes.

Enclosed with this Newsletter is a booklet on London Industrial Archaeology, published by London Transport, who produce many informative free publications which might interest members. Two others are illustrated booklets on the London architecture of Wren and Nash.

Of interest to members going on the April outing is a leaflet called “A Day at Epping and Ongar.” It is full of good background information. Other places dealt with by leaflets in this series are St. Albans, Greenwich and Richmond. London Transport also publishes a comprehensive set of posters and postcards, as well as specialist books on transport at reasonable prices. All can be obtained from London Transport, 280 Old Marylebone Road, NW1 5RJ.
York

A report by Christine Arnott on Peter Addyman’s February lecture.

The city of York, set in the plain of York, is at the crossing point of the River Ouse, where the natural routeways north-south and east-west meet. These factors caused the Romans to establish there their Northern Command HQ – thus beginning a link between York and the Army which still exists today.
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It was on medieval discoveries, not Roman, that Peter Addyman concentrated in his recent talk to HADAS. He first explained the background to the present exciting archaeological developments taking place at York. As a result of the pressures of redevelopment and new roads, the York Archaeological Trust was set up to excavate threatened sites. It enjoys good financial backing plus active co-operation from the local planning authority.

Much of the medieval material has come to light in the wet area between the Ouse and Fosse rivers, where objects of wood and leather have been preserved to an unusual degree and are easily recognisable. An eighth century poem mentions York as a merchant town, a mighty stronghold and a port for sea-going ships. The Ouse was tidal at York in Roman times and later, and sea-going ships could have tied up alongside the wharves. Peter Addyman suggested that many buildings described in the early poem were originally Roman, proving that much of the former town remained into the Saxon period. Many Roman buildings were robbed out to provide material for later builders. Recent excavations under York Minster, during the strengthening of the foundations of the tower, show that the tower was built over the Roman Principia. Finds suggest that the original building was in use till the tenth century. The length of the Minster nave is the same as that of the Principia.

During the Viking period (10th /11th century) there was a change in occupation area. A new bridge over the Ouse may have been built, with a consequent clustering of settlement by the river. A flourishing trade network is confirmed by finds such as silk (?from China), metalwork from Ireland and Norway, amber from the Baltic, bonework from the Friesian Islands and Rhenish pottery.

Excavations on the Lloyds Bank site underneath an eighteenth century building uncovered some 30 feet of occupation levels, including outlines of a series of rectangular houses of the Viking period. Part of this area was subsequently identified, from environmental remains, as a tannery. Elderberry seeds – originally thought to have been used for wine-making – turned out, for instance, to be part of the tanning process.

In an excavation at St. Helens on the Walls, the Church was found to have been built above Roman levels. Here many skeletons were uncovered. Skeletal material from the medieval layers of all digs is being specially studied in order to build up a picture of the health, mortality and way of life of medieval York. Bones and dental material provide valuable pointers — for example bone malformation gives clues to diseases and dietary deficiencies.

Peter Addyman’s lecture was fascinating and wide-ranging. It was warmly received by the many members who braved wintry conditions to fill the Library Reading Room.
The Dissenters’ Burial Ground, Totteridge. PART II: The Survey

By Daphne Lorimer.

In last month’s Newsletter I traced the background to the survey of this burial ground which HADAS decided to undertake last year. Now for the survey itself. Permission for the work was readily granted by the Borough of Barnet’s Estates Officer. Welcome help was obtained from Mr Marris, archivist to the Totteridge Manor Association and the Rev. Howard Rady, Minister of Whetstone United Reformed Church, who provided a written list of all inscriptions on the gravestones.

The graveyard is thickly overgrown with trees, brambles and other hazards. The gravestones have, for the most part, vanished under herbage and it was with some dismay that the intrepid team of two (Peter Clinch with his camera and the writer with billhood and notepad), ably supported by Mr. Rady, squeezed through a gap in the railings to start work. Many graves, especially those with wooden headboards, have disappeared completely, but all remaining stone memorials were photographed, their inscriptions checked and described. It was a process not without peril since, on straightening one tumbled gravestone, a wild bees’ nest was disturbed.
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The earliest burial appears to be that of Henry Kerridge (1836) and the last that of Susannah Chapman (1881). The graveyard was, therefore, in the use some 45 years. The stones record some 37 deaths — although there appears to have been a practice of recording the deaths of relatives buried elsewhere. William Purser, for example, was interred in Islington Cemetery, having apparently outlived his family.

Two graves do not record age but the mid-nineteenth century Nonconformists of Totteridge appear long lived, since the average recorded age is 50.68 years. There was, however, a practice (especially among lower income groups) for infant burials to be made in unmarked graves. This may account for the apparently very low infant mortality rate of 5% (one boy and one girl under 2). Only one boy and one girl died among the 3-12 year olds and from 13-18 three girls and one boy died. It is, perhaps, significant that of the 9 deaths recorded under 18, six were from only two families. Among young adults (18-25) the death of one male is recorded. It is interesting, however, that 19 (51%) of the burials (8 men, 11 women) lived to over 60; 11 (30%) record ages of 70 or more. Twice as many men as women (6:3) died between 25-60.

The congregation was drawn from as far afield as Hadley; the birth places of at least two were in the country — Joseph Reynolds, Swindon, Wilts, and Joseph Claypon, Boston, Lincs, where Claypon is still a familiar name. This supports Woodward’s comment (“The Age of Reform 1815-1870”) on the noticeable migration of Nonconformists to nineteenth century London.

It is hardly surprising, given the disabilities under which Dissenters suffered, that great public servants are absent from the graveyard and it is unfortunate that Catherine Puget, while remembered in her lifetime by a magnificent marble tablet in the chapel itself, was in the end buried at Paddington. Most distinguished member of the congregation in the burial ground was Thomas Jarman of the Middle Temple, barrister-at-law and one of the conveyancing council of the Court of Chancery. He is also author of a standard textbook — “Jarman 0n Wills world.”

The decoration of some of the stones is quite elaborate and some handsome iron work protects one vault, while the charming little gravestone of Rosa Fanny Rose, aged 2, has Tudor roses round the capstone. Most stones merely contained a record of birth and death, but some include a Biblical quotation. Two are adorned with in gems of Victorian funerary verse:
Farwewell dear friends, adieu, adieu,
I can no longer stay with you.
My glittering crown appears in view.
All is well. All is well.

and – I left this world in blooming years,
Likewise my friends in floods of tears,
A sudden change in moment fell,
I had not time to bid my friends farewell.

The passing of this graveyard marks the passing of an era; men were not afraid to be different and not afraid to proclaim it, so they died, as they had lived — free, idiosyncratic Englishman.
FOUND

At Dorothy Newbury’s after the recent Hadrian’s Wall film show: man’s blue-green cardigan, hand-knitted.

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HADAS DIARY

As events are crowding thick and fast into the HADAS programme, here is a run-down on what’s ahead — just so that you won’t miss anything that interests you.

NEXT LECTURE, 3 February, Central Library, NW4. Medieval York, by Peter Addyman, MA, FSA. We hope to start punctually at 8.00p.m. as later our lecturer has to get back to York.

Mr Addyman has been working at York since 1971, when he reported, for the Yorkshire Philosophical Society and the Council for British Archaeology, on the archaeological implications of proposed road developments in York. In 1972 he was appointed to his present post as Director of the then newly-formed York Archaeological Trust. He is a co-opted member of the CBA Executive and Chairman of the CBA’s Churches Committee.

Whatever he may tell us about York is bound to be interesting. A wealth of medieval material has been uncovered in rescue excavations in the city in the last three years. These have included a number of Church and monastic sites; a 14th century hospice for infirm chaplains; the Medieval Waterfront on the Ouse, built as a single development in the early fourteenth century; an early mediaeval (Viking) commercial settlement which produced 7 meters of waterlogged material going backwards from the twelfth century. This last site contained layer on layer of houses and a stratified sequence from middle Saxon through late Saxon times, with wood, leather and textile finds and environmental evidence from flora and fauna.

FURTHER MEETINGS include:
Mar. 2 – Vernacular Architecture – Joan Harding
Apr. 6 – There was no road to Petra – Betty Hellings-Jackson
Wednesday May 5 – Annual General Meeting – More detail later

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7TH. BOOKS-AND-COFFEE MORNING by kind invitation of HADAS member Daphne Lorimer. This is the result of an unexpected windfall of some 200 second-hand books given by another HADAS member, Philippa Bernard. Please come along for coffee and a browse from 10.30a.m. and bring your bookworm friends, too.

FEBRUARY 14/15, 21/22, 28/29. three pottery processing weekends at the Teahouse, Northway, NW11, 10.00a.m.-5.00p.m. each day. Finds from Brockley Hill, Church Terrace and from recent field walks will be dealt with.

SATURDAY 6TH MARCH. Don’t forget THE MINIMART 10.00a.m.-12.00p.m., Henry Burden Hall, Egerton Gardens, NW4. Contributions of garden produce; home-made cakes, sweets, preserves; good clothing; books; cosmetics; stationery; bric-a-brac; jewellery; Victoriana — all gratefully received at the February or March lectures or will be collected by Mrs. Lorimer, Mrs. Newbury or Mrs. Arnott.
AND A FEW DATES OF NON-HADAS EVENTS

Thursday 5 February, Hendon Library, talk on the Mogul Empire, by James Hall.

Saturday 27 March, Conference of London Archaeologists, Guildhall. Doors open 1.30p.m. Short talks on London digs; exhibits by various societies, including HADAS. Further details from the Hon. Secretary.
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24-25 April, Kiln Seminar, organised by London Kiln Study Group, University College, Gower Street. Talks on London kilns of all periods and on pottery technology.

Until 29 February. Exhibition at Church Farm House Museum, Hendon, on the world of birds.
Death Of A Founder-Member

It is with deep regret that we announce the death, on 13 January last, of Miss E.A.R. Hinge, a founder-member of our society and, until quite recently, one Vice-Presidents. Her family, owners of a flourishing in dairy business, were linked with Hendon for many years, and passing breaks a local link.

When, on Wednesday 19 April, 1961 a group of people met at Hendon Library, the first Resolution on the Agenda was “that a local archaeological society be formed.” It was proposed by Miss Hinge, and past nem. con. Then Mr T Constantinides suggested that the actual inauguration of the Society be back-dated to 1 April 1961, because, he maintained “that was the day that St. Dunstan gave this land (of Hendon) to the monks of Westminster and it also coincides with the beginning of the financial year”. This, too, was passed. Three Vice-Presidents were elected — Mr Constantinides, Miss Hinge and Mr J.H.B. Warden.

Throughout her association with HADAS Miss Hinge showed interest in our work and gave us warm support. It was on her land at Church End that the Society’s first dig took place in the early 1960s — in the area behind the Scout Hut, between the old barn and the then Church End Farm, where Miss Hinge lived. The barn and the farmhouse – a 19th century building which replaced an earlier house — were both demolished eight or nine years ago. All that remains of Hinge’s Farm is the curiously shaped building, at the top of Greyhound Hill almost opposite the Museum, which was once the Model Dairy.
Napoleonic Defences and Martello Towers

A report by Elizabeth Holliday.

At last I (in company with about 95 other members of the Society) know considerably more about “those round towers” along the South Coast, after Andrew Saunders’ fascinating January lecture.

Our speaker briefly outlined the military threat to England after the 1779-80 invasion scare by the Franco-Spanish fleet which led to the planning of improved coastal defences. Mr Saunders led us to expertly through the bastion system of fortification, explaining the use of geometric design to provide gun platforms with overlapping fields of fire. The resumption of war in 1803, and the previous disbandment of the militia, leaving a regular force of only 130,000 men, forced the military planners to examine the south and east coasts for all places vulnerable to attack.

Principal ports had been protected since the time of Henry VIII and although improvements had been made and some new batteries built at the end of the eighteenth century, the renewed war impelled to the authorities to act. Work began on the building of an entrenched camp at Chelmsford, protective fortifications along the lower Thames and at Chatham, the strengthening of the western heights at Dover and the construction of the Royal Military Canal sited to cut off the low-lying land at Dungeness.

The first suggestion to erect fortified towers was made before 1803 but it was not until 27 December 1804, after considerable political and military wrangling, that instructions to begin building were given. Of the 81 to 86 towers proposed, only 74 were actually built, and these were not completed until after 1808.
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When complete, the towers presented a formidable stronghold. About 33 ft high, 26 ft in diameter and with walls 9 ft thick at the bottom and 6 ft thick at the top, each tower contained a store at ground level, barrack accommodation for about 27 men on the first floor and was surmounted by a platform mounting a 24-pound gun. The towers were either surrounded by a protective ditch or the means of access was by a removable ladder leading to an entrance on the first floor. Larger fortifications mounting eleven guns were built at Eastbourne and Dymchurch.

Throughout the early years of the century isolated gun towers were built at many other vulnerable places along the coast and may still be seen on the East Coast, at Leith Harbour in Scotland, Hoy in the Orkneys, St. Mary’s in the Scilly Isles, on Guernsey and in Ireland.

The towers were never tested in battle and the advent of more powerful guns rendered them obsolete. It is perhaps fitting that their popular name should commemorated the tower on the Corsican Cape Martella, which showed such remarkable resistance to a British attack in 1794.

(Note: a tape recording of the lecture was made by Peter Wilson who is a professional sound recordist. He hopes to build up a collection of recorded lectures for use by members of the Society).
Congratulations

— to Colin Evans, HADAS member who lives in East Barnet and does much work for the Society on both the Programme and Research Committees. This year he not only completed the London University Extra-Mural Certificate in Field Archaeology, with Distinction; he also gained one of the two Gordon Childe Book Prizes for Extra-mural Studies. These two prizes, of £10, are awarded each year, one for Diploma of Archaeology finalists and one for the Certificate, on an assessment of the results of sessional examinations, essays and practical work.

The Certificate represents three years work — hard work, too, considering it is all done in spare time. Each year there are 24 lectures, 4 field visits at least 12 “units” of essay work, practical work and, at the end of each academic session, an examination.
The Dissenters’ Burial Ground, Totteridge

Part I: The Background — by Daphne Lorimer.

In the middle of the eighteenth century John Wesley pulled the bewildered, rootless, virtually pagan workers of the new Industrial Revolution out of the gin palaces and gave them a new face. By accident, he taught them sobriety, industry and thrift, which not only damped down possible Jacobin tendencies, but had the unexpected result, half a century later, of producing the phenomenon of the wealthy, Nonconformist, merchant middle classes which dominated industrial England during the nineteenth century.

Totteridge already had a Dissenting tradition. Richard Baxter, eminent English Puritan divine and “the chief of England Protestant” (Dean Stanley), retired there, following the Act of Uniformity in 1662. Baxter, a great preacher and writer, had been a King’s chaplain and had refused, on principle, the Bishopric of Hereford. From 1662 to the Indulgence of 1687 Baxter was continually harassed and persecuted but his time in Totteridge and in Acton, Middlesex, was his greatest period of activity as a writer.
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At the end of the eighteenth century, despite of the Toleration Act of 1689, Dissenters were still effectively barred from public life by the Occasional, Conformity Act of 1711, barred from sending their children to the older universities and public schools by the Schism Act of 1714 and barred by the Church authorities from burying their dead in consecrated parish churchyards. The Conventicle and Five Mile Acts of 1664 had made them wary of worshipping within a town so, as persecuted minorities will, they tended to congregate in groups, outside the cities — often along the route of an itinerant preacher of their faith. With this history behind them, a large group of wealthy Nonconformists settled in Totteridge in the nineteenth century — to the disgust of the curate of the parish, George Meyler Squibb, who was to write, later, that when he came to Totteridge in 1869 “it was a stronghold of Non-conformity, the handsome residences which form so conspicuous a feature being occupied by some of the wealthiest and most influential Nonconformist families – Puget, Wood, Claypon and others of high standing.”

“The Grammar School for the sons of Protestant Dissenters,” founded in 1807 at Mill Hill, provided the excellent education the Nonconformists craved for their children. In 1825 a rival establishment was started at “The Grange” by John Wood, former “Resident Master-In-Charge and Domestic Superintendent” at Mill Hill and his brother-in-law, John Charles Thorowgood, who had run a preparatory school for Mill Hill on the Ridgway. By 1851 yet another Nonconformist school was flourishing at Totteridge Park.

On 1 September 1825 a room was certified for use as a Dissenting Chapel in “The Grange.” In 1827 Catherine Puget of Poynters Hall (widow of John Puget, a Governor of the Bank of England) built a Dissenting Chapel in Totteridge Lane (Whetstone Lane as it then was) opposite the present West Hill Way. It was plain and unprepossessing but, in its heyday, it had a large congregation and, later, a gallery had to be built to accommodate the boys from Totteridge Park School.

It is believed that burials were originally made in ground now covered by James and Sons’ premises at the top of Totteridge Lane, where the original Congregational Mission was thought to have stood; but a new burial ground was opened beside the new chapel and, since the congregation and clergy of the parish church were reputed to be riven by feuds, in Totteridge, at least, the Nonconformist faith appears to have been that of the social elite.

In 1888 the Chapel moved to Whetstone and the passing of the Burial Laws Amendment Act in 1880 made the provision of a Dissenters’ Burial Ground unnecessary. The chapel was leased for use as an Austin car repair depot before the Second World War. It became an ARP headquarters during the war and a factory afterwards, having then been acquired by the then Barnet Urban District Council in 1939.

It was the news that the Borough intended to develop the site for use as an Old People’s Home and Day Centre which stimulated HADAS to undertake a churchyard survey before another piece of Local History disappeared. I hope to tell you of the actual survey in the March Newsletter.
HADAS Members’ List – A Correction

Our Hon. Sec. (who is not very bright at figures) has a recurring nightmare at this time of year. She dreams that the “phone numbers on the HADAS members’ list have got inextricably mixed up.” She hopes this hadn’t happened this year — but one number, certainly, has gone awry. Would have members please correct Mrs. Lucile Armstrong’s number on their lists to —–. And if any other number is wrong, will the owner please accept of the Hon. Sec’s apologies and let her know?

Newsletter

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In this season of good resolutions one of the best that HADAS can make is to keep our Society’s financial head above water in 1976. So we don’t apologise for opening this New Year Newsletter with details of our next fund-raising effort — the Spring Minimart, in which we hope all members will co-operate as actively as possible.

The Minimart will take place on Saturday 6 March from 10.00a.m.-12.00p.m. at the same venue as last year — Henry Burden Hall, Egerton Gardens, NW4. There will be six main stalls:

1. BOOKS — in charge, George Ingram. Hardbacks, paperbacks and magazines in good condition.

2. GARDEN — Elizabeth Holliday. Any things for the garden, including established cuttings, seeds, seedlings, indoor plants, bulbs.

3. MISCELLANY — Neil Penny. “Unwanted” gifts, cosmetics, stationery, trinkets, jewellery.

4. PRODUCE — Daphne Lorimer. Home-made cakes, jams, marmalade, pickles, pastries.

5. GOOD-AS-NEW — Dorothy Newbury. Ladies’, gentlemen’s and children’s garments; to always and oddments such as balls of wool, remnants of material, etc.

6. BRIC-A-BRAC and VICTORIANA — Christine Arnott.

Contributions to any or all of these stalls will be most gratefully received. They can be brought to the January or February meetings, and there handed over to Mrs. Lorimer, Mrs. Newbury or Mrs. Arnott. Alternatively, if you care to telephone any of these three members, collection can be arranged. The earlier contributions are received, the more time there will be to sort and price them.

Another kind of help will also be welcome: if you can spare time to help with setting up, selling and clearing away, please let Mrs. Arnott have your name.

The Minimart is a social occasion, too — as last year, coffee and biscuits will be dispensed by Joan Bird; and there will be a small exhibit of photos of various HADAS occasions to look at and discuss.
The January Lecture — Napoleonic Defences and Martello Towers

The next HADAS lecture, on Tuesday January 6th, 1976, will be by one of our Vice-Presidents, Andrew Saunders, on a subject of which he has made a special study. Mr Saunders is an historian, who joined the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings in 1954. He was appointed Chief Inspector in 1972.

At various times in the past England has suffered the threat or reality of invasion. As a result the English Coast, particularly in the Southeast, is strewn with the remains of defensive systems thrown up to meet the exigences of their time.
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Nervous inhabitants of Britannia raised a string of forts along the Saxon Shore in an effort to retain their Roman way of life, while in 1588 defences were built against the danger of the Spanish Armada. Over two centuries later the threat came from Napoleon; and the Corsican “Torre del Martella” became the prototype for a defensive line of circular, brick-built Martello Towers from Aldeburgh in Suffolk to Seaford in Sussex. Between 1810-12 103 were built and 45 still survive. A backup system of signal stations, from Portsmouth and Deal to London, were also created. These Napoleonic defences will be the subject of Andrew Saunders lecture.
Looking Ahead

These are the HADAS lectures for the rest of the winter:
Feb. 3 – Medieval York – P. V. Addyman MA
Mar. 2 – Vernacular Architecture – Joan Harding FSA
Apr. 6 – There was no road to Petra – Betty Hellings-Jackson

Meetings are held at the Central library,, The Burroughs, NW4, starting at 8.00p.m. with coffee. The lecture follows about 8.30p.m.
The Parish Boundary Survey — A Progress Report

By Paddy Musgrove.

The London Borough of Barnet covers an area of 35 square miles, so the length of its perimeter is considerable. If we add to this the lengths of all the internal boundaries of the ancient parishes, it is obvious that the HADAS boundary survey project must be a long-term activity. For that reason it was decided last spring to launch a pilot scheme designed to establish (a) the most appropriate forms of investigation and recording, and (b) the suitability of the activity for our junior members and for school groups within the area.

Results have been encouraging. As the volume of reports, drawings and photographs of located boundary markers increases, we shall clearly have to refine some of our methods for handling the paperwork. Basic procedures, however, seem to be correct. As for the participation of school groups, Elizabeth Eveleigh’s report in the November Newsletter indicated the enthusiasm with which four students from Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School entered into the field work. Their final reports formed part of a HADAS exhibit to the recent Local History Conference of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, exciting considerable interest among other societies. The exhibit will be on show to HADAS members that are January meeting.

The boundaries so far surveyed are in the south end of the Borough, extending from the Finchley Road to the Kenwood area (Hendon/Hampstead, Finchley/Hampstead and Finchley/Hornsey boundaries). It is hoped to start work soon on other sections to the east and north of the modern Borough.

We have learnt that careful map research is needed before the outdoor workers set off to locate, clean, draw, photograph (and sometimes excavate!) the stones and other markers. Comparisons of the recent and the 1862-68 OS 25 inch plans indicate boundary changes and point at which markers have been inserted or resited. Maps of intermediate date have also yielded extra information, and we foresee instances where it will probably be necessary to consult the tythe maps.

Ultimately, we shall have information leading to the establishment of a typology of boundary stones, posts and other markers over a period of about 200 years. A study of the Vestry and Local Board Minutes can yield information concerning the placement of individual markers, the Rogationtide beating of the bounds, the historical reasons for minor boundary changes and similar matters of interest to the local historian.
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Research of this type, though of interest, can however wait. The urgent problem is to locate and record the existing boundary markers and, where necessary, preserve them. Since the old boroughs were incorporated into the London Borough of Barnet, practical reasons for their retention have disappeared. Some have been removed to facilitate recent road improvements or in the interests of private gardening. Some iron boundary posts have already rusted into illegibility and all the others need de-rusting and protection by paint or other means.

Our need, therefore, is for more hands — and feet — to carry out both the preliminary map work and the search and recording in the field. In addition, although ordinary “snap-shot” technique is good enough for most of recording, more experienced photographers are needed for certain problem locations.

Christine Arnott and I will be glad to hear from volunteers in any capacity.
Edgware Field Walk

On 14 December Daphne Lorimer and Ann Trewick organised a field walk in the northwest corner of the Borough, in the vicinity of Bury Farm. After obtaining permission to walk from Mr Shepherd at the Farm, they chose Field Number 5831 on the OS plan TQ 18/94 for the exercise, as this had recently been ploughed.

The walk started at the southeast corner of the field. The party went up the eastern side as far as the boundary fence with the M1 motorway. It then turned across the field to the western boundary and back again. Some interesting pieces were found, including building material, tobacco pipes, glass and pottery. As it was possible to walk over only a small area, it is hoped to do a further walk in January. Members interested in taking part in this second walk should get in touch with Mrs. Lorimer for details. After the second walk, and when the material already found has been fully studied, a further report will be made.

HADAS would like to take this opportunity of recording its thanks to Mr Shepherd for kindly permitting the walk to take place.
HADAS at Work

A report on a three processing weekends held recently acts of the Teahouse, Northway, NW11.

Any member who participated in these weekends will know that they were distinguished by an atmosphere of nose-to-the-grindstone concentration. 25 different members took part, some only for occasional sessions; but a hard core (and hard-working core, too) of ten turned up most days. Those with experience of handling Roman Pottery dealt with the Brockley Hill material; others worked on finds from Church Terrace.

The Church Terrace contingent finished washing the animal bones from the Saxon ditches, marked them and boxed them for sending to Don Brothwell at the Institute of Archaeology. Mr Brothwell, a leading expert on bones and a member of the team which uncovered the Piltdown forgery, has kindly agreed to examine and report on the Church Terrace bones.

Subsequently more work was done on the Church Terrace pottery, particularly on weighing the body-sherds in order to assess the total amount of pottery coming from each level.

On the Roman side the complete indexing, drawing and/or photography of two important of Brockley Hill types – amphorae and flagons – was finished. Amphorae divide into two main types — long and short necked — with one or two sub-types under each main heading.

Flagons fall into many more types, the principal ones made at Brockley Hill being disc-mouthed, pinch-mouthed and ring-necked; ring-necked flagons in turn have many sub-types, according to the number of rings, the length or shortness of the neck and the angle of its expansion. Commonest type is ring-necked, single-handled flagons with 4 neck-rings.
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A good start was made, too, on completing the index of jars – cordoned wide-mouthed jars; “honey” jars (they take their name from the fact that one of the first found at the word “Mel” scratched on the side); roll-rimmed jars; and storage jars. These latter provided many different rim shapes; probably most of them were imports to Brockley Hill, and were not made there. Two, for instance, in coarse pinkware tempered with iron pyrites, may be oil amphorae fragments from Spain.

In course of studying the jar fragments, a number of sherds were observed as being a very similar to ware found a recently at Highgate Wood. About 40 Highgate-type sherds from Brockley Hill are therefore to be studied by Harvey Sheldon, who directed the Highgate dig and is now Archaeological Field Officer to the Museum of London. It is hoped to have some of them thin-sectioned, to prove whether they were made at Brockley Hill, were imported from Highgate or came from the yet a third site. The results of such a study would provide interesting information about both the Highgate and the Brockley Hill potters.
HADAS at Play

A light-hearted report of a light-hearted occasion by Helen Gordon.

The famous HADAS Annual Examination took place as usual this year on Friday 5 December, invigilated with decorum by that well-known Educationalist and Alumnus of Oxford, Mr John Enderby. 20 questions on subjects ranging from middens to strigils gave cause for serious thought to some 80 aspiring Candidates; for remarks being claimed by only one Examinee whom it was later found necessary to disqualify for failing to comply with the rules — a sad reflection on the state of morals of some of the Younger Generation, and aptly demonstrating the need to study the Noble Ideals of our Golden Past so rightly emphasised by our Society in its incessant search for the Minutiae revealed in our painstaking and meticulous excavations.

The Examination also included an Anthropological section based on the Evolution of our illustrious Committee from the Ape, a pictographical test on local nomenclature, a section on the Roman Apparel in Northern Climes, and a Practical Examination in the latest Chinese Method of Excavation. (But it is to be regretted that the medals awarded were too ephemeral to provide much information for the archaeologists of the future.) We were much indebted to Pam Selby and Margaret Musgrove for the soundness of the examination.

All candidates were entertained to a most splendid Yuletide Banquet generously donated by our members, skilfully planned and directed by Irene Frauchiger, the liquor flowing freely under the expert and of moustachioed Colin Evans and his pretty wife Ann; later the Company were delighted by Christmas Carols sung divinely by Andrew MacGregor with the support of all present and accompanied tunefully by George Ingram on a Clarinet.

In fact, so well combined were the elements of noble Self Improvement and Entertainment, that our forward-looking Society might well suggest to our Borough that, in these times of financial stringency, far-reaching economies might be achieved by combining all schools, colleges, restaurants and public houses in multi-purpose units…..

… in other words, the HADAS annual Christmas party went with its usual hilarious swing, and our thanks go to all who contributed to it, in cash, in kind and in smiling service.

Newsletter

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New Look Party

Happy Christmas, everyone! To open the festivities we are looking forward to meeting you all at the HADAS Christmas party on Friday 5 December at 166 Station Road, NW4 at 7.45p.m.

Most of the organisers of this year’s party are trying their hands for the first time and are full of fresh ideas. Irene Frauchiger has some mouth-watering notions for the buffet, with wine. Pam Selby and Margaret Musgrove have got together about entertainment — their advice is don’t bring your trowel to this archaeological event, but do bringing a pencil for light-hearted quizzes — positively nothing of brain-stretching.

The experienced hand on the tiller will be that of John Enderby, who has compered many a HADAS party. As master of ceremonies he’ll carry us along at a spanking pace. No Tombola this year, by the way — but a hamper and sherry raffle instead.
HADAS Field Walk

To give yourself an appetite for Christmas, how about joining a special HADAS field-walk in the historic Bury Farm/Brockley Hill area (Bury Farm was the centre of the mediaeval manor of Edgware, Brockley Hill’s Roman Connections needed no introduction to HADAS members) on Sunday, 14 December? Organisers Daphne Lorimer and Ann Trewick plan to start at 10.00a.m. from a rendezvous at Spur Road roundabout on the A41, at the entrance to Green Lane.

If you intend to join us, please ring Daphne Lorimer and let her know, in case there is any last-minute change of plan.
Other Dates Ahead

HADAS lectures for the second half of the Winter will be:
Jan. 6 – Napoleonic Defences – Andrew Saunders MA FSA
and Martello Towers
Feb. 3 – Medieval York – P. V. Addyman MA
Mar. 2 – Vernacular Architecture – Joan Harding FSA
Apr. 6 – There was no road to Petra – Betty Hellings-Jackson

You might like also to note that:

Saturday morning, 6 March, will be the HADAS Minimart, Henry Burden Hall, Egerton Gardens, NW4.

Starting 27 April and each Tuesday evening thereafter for six weeks at the HGS Institute, lecture course on the Mesolithic, run by Desmond Collins in connection with next Spring’s HADAS dig.

Note: the Mesolithic course is University sponsored and therefore limited to 25 students. HADAS members and those in Camden History Society who wish to participate will have priority in bookings until 29 February. Members would be wise to sign on soon with John Enderby, as even within our and Camden’s membership it will have to be first come, first served.
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Hampstead Garden Suburb Boundary Markers

In at the last Newsletter Raymond Lowe asks for information about a cast iron plate attached to a tree in the garden of 33 Denman Drive, NW11.

This is a Finchley boundary marker. Another in slightly better condition may be seen not many yards away, attached to a garden fence on the western boundary of Little Wood. A third, bearing the same “tree and castle” emblem but in a different style, stands in Addison Way, close to its junction with Erskine Hill. There is probably another on the western end of Big Wood, but concealed by garden rubbish.

Mr ealso refers to an iron post close to the tree marker in Denman Drive. This too is a Boundary marker. Although it has been uprooted, there is no reason to think it has been moved more than a yard or so from its correct site. It is, according even to the latest 6 in. OS map, just where it ought to be, as is another of the same type still in situ in a back garden to the east of Erskine Hill. This now shows only about 9 in. above ground level.

Because of the relative positions of the plates and posts, it seems most likely that the latter were erected by Hendon, but this is a matter which will be settled when the boundary survey can be extended to that portion of the Finchley-Hendon boundary which runs through the Suburb. None of the markers which I have mentioned has yet been fully studied or recorded, as the survey has not yet reached that stretch of the boundary.
World Archaeology

A report on the last HADAS lecture by Daphne Lorimer.

At our November lecture Dr John Alexander took HADAS by the scruff of its collective neck out of its parochial trench on a survey of Archaeology throughout the world. In his view, it is in this broad vision that the future of Archaeology lies.

Not only is Archaeology the only discipline which gives any information about a large period of mankind’s history, but archaeological finds are accepted by all countries and races. This has a unifying effect and, in Dr. Alexander’s opinion, could well be the future basis of the teaching of history in schools the world over.

The concept of world archaeology has evolved only in the last 10-15 years and has been taught and studied only in the last five; only since the 1940s have archaeologists been at work in every country so that an international framework of information could be built up. In every country, too, a vast amount of information awaits the excavator — far more than was envisaged even a few years ago — due too many new techniques (such, for instance, as palaeobotany). Dating methods haveve improved and it is possible to compare mankind’s development during 3,000,000 years between one country and another.

The movement of man can also be studied. Australia was colonised 20,000 to 30,000 years ago, apparently by boat. The inhabitants of South America came southwards down the western side of their continent, with civilisations ultimately so advanced that archaeologists are forced to question the hitherto-accepted theory that civilisation began in the Middle East.

Dr Alexander went on to describe the calculation of the size of a group in a hunter-gatherer area, not only in Europe but among Red Indians and Australian aborigines; he examined the world centres of the domestication of animals and plants and theories of the dissemination of indigenous growth of cultures and techniques.

In short, he gave HADAS members a glimpse into the huge sum of knowledge to which their mite can contribute — and when one is overwhelmed by the vastness of world archaeology, it is comforting to reflect that the parochial trench is part of it, too.
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St. James the Great, Friern Barnet

During the last nine months Ann Trewick has reported in the Newsletter several times on the progress of the dig on this site, which ended two months ago. Below is her final summing up of the excavation.
The Objectives of the Dig

In 1973 HADAS was asked for advice by the authorities of St. James the Great. A tombstone had been lifted in the churchyard near the east wall of the Church (rebuilt 1853), in order to take it inside for display. The stone commemorated Sir William Oldes (d. 1718) Knight Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod to Queen Anne. As a result a brickwork corner had been revealed.

The Rector wished this to be further investigated (a) in case it was connected with an earlier church on the site; (b) to find out the original position of Sir William Oldes’ tomb, as his tombstone was thought to have been moved previously. Owing to other commitments, HADAS could not start digging until February, 1975. Meantime, the hole above the brickwork was backfilled.
The Excavation

Initially two trenches were opened, each 2 m square with 1 m baulks. They were sited outside the east wall of the south aisle. This wall provides a datum line, the datum point being taken at the corner between the south buttress and the east wall of the Church. Trench A started 1/2 a meter north of the datum point, with Trench B to its east.
Trench A

Three vaults and all burials discovered, except one, occurred in this trench. Our first action was to reopen the 1973 hole. This revealed the brickwork of Vault 1 at 10 cm below ground surface. Adjacent, on the south side of the trench, more brickwork of Vault 3 was uncovered. Between was a smaller vault, No. 2.

During the dig Trench A was extended in two directions: northwards by 25 cm to enable the brass coffin plate and the lead coffin with which it is associated to be cleared; and westwards into Trench A1 (see below).

Apart from burials and vaults, the only feature uncovered in Trench A, at 125 cm below ground level on the north side, was an area of large cobbles over smaller stones. The area was too small for it to be possible to interpret the purpose of these laid cobbles. The trench was excavated natural and the baulk between Trenches A and B was removed, exposing the full length of Vault 1.
Trench A1

At the request of the authorities we investigated the foundations of the east wall of the church within the north-south limits of Trench A, which was therefore extended up to the Church wall.

It was hoped to find the foundations of the earlier church. What in fact was demonstrated was the very shallow foundations of the 1853 church — only 50 cm below modern ground surface. Some floor tiles were noted among the foundation stones. At some stage underpinning had been necessary, as a concrete shelf was uncovered, 1 meter long. When later the south baulk was removed this concrete continued towards to the south buttress.
Trench B

This trench was dominated by Vault 1 which allowed little space in which to work. The vault had been cut by the laying of a drain. In fact 2 drains were found: one of brick-and-tile against the east section of the trench, possibly pre-dating the 1853 Church; and a twentieth-century drain running across the trench at the floor level of Vault 1, about 180 cm below ground surface. This effectively stopped digging and natural was never reached in this trench.
The Finds

Small finds included a boar’s tusk, oyster shells and bottle glass, as well as fragments of stained glass and building materials. Some of these may relate to the earlier church — a possibility which is still being studied. The most interesting finds were connected with the burials, both in the vaults and outside them.
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Vault 1

This was a brick structure measuring at least 2.7 m long, 1.44 m wide and 1.6 m high, built to contain one or at most two coffins. The length could not be precisely determined because the end had been destroyed by the drain. The vault contained a single burial, in a wooden coffin. The wood was much decayed, but had been decorated with small brass studs; there was no coffin plate. On top of the coffin was found part of a clay tobacco pipe, dated 1700-1760, and thought probably to belong to the earlier part of that period.
Vault 2

This was small and of brick, measuring 1.54 m 76 cm. It was shallow and could have been a child’s grave. It appeared to have been disturbed and the bones were not of one individual.
Vault 3

This was the family tomb of the Bretton family, who were intimates of Sir William Oldes. It was investigated, at the Rector’s suggestion, at the end of the dig. Only part was revealed, because the top is still covered by a large, commemorative slab. The entrance was not excavated — a small hole in the brickwork permitted the interior to be seen. Steps within led down from the bricked up entrance.

Two undisturbed lead coffins lay in the vault. These had been decorated with studs probably pressed into a wooden coffin encasing the lead one. Lead coffin plates were affixed. Lying on top were secondary coffin plates recording the names of Mrs. Frances Bretton (d. 1742) and her daughter, Susannah Crewys (d. 1756). There had been other burials within the vault, but flooding had clearly caused much decay. The vault was re-sealed. Vault 1 seems to have been inset into Vault 3.
The Lead Coffin

The first indication of this was an unattached brass coffin played, beautifully engraved, recording of the death of Samuel Crewys in 1746. Soon after finding this, a damaged lead coffin was excavated. On the lid was a lead plate also recording Samuel Crewys’ death. This coffin was elaborately decorated with brass studs set into the wood. Its length was at 195 cm, width 63 cm, average height 35 cm. Samuel Crewys was the husband of Susannah Crewys, née Bretton. The slab above the Bretton vault records his burial near by. The coffin was reburied as near its original position as possible.
Other Burials

Two other burials in a wooden coffins were recorded — one under the lead coffin, the other under Vault 2. Another burial was noted within the north baulk of Trench A, also below the level of the lead coffin. The burial under the small vault gave the earliest date of the excavation, on a much decayed coffin plate where 169-was just visible.

All bones moved during the excavation work carefully re-buried in Vault 1.
Summary

Although the hoped for objectives were not achieved, this dig provided valuable excavation experience and many interesting side lights on eighteenth century social history. Problems arising from working in a churchyard were tackled and much was learnt. That Sir William Oldes was buried in Vault 1 has not been proved by evidence; nor, however, is there anything to suggest that the occupant of Vault 1 was not Sir William. The fact that the foundations of the early at Church were not found suggests the possibility that they may like within the confines of the present Church.

Our thanks are due to the Rector, Canon Gilmore, and to all those connected with the Church for the unfailing support and interest in the dig.

Newsletter

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The Boundary Marker Survey – Help from Queen Elizabeth’s

Welcome, if unexpected, help was obtained this summer by the Boundary Marker Survey team from pupils at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School, Barnet. It was with great pleasure that we include an account of their activities by Elizabeth Eveleigh this Newsletter: —

At the end of the 1975 Summer Term, Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School Barnet, allowed the pupils who had finished their “O” level examinations to partake in out-of-school activities. Four of us were very interested in archaeological work. I therefore contacted Mrs. Grafton Green who knew that Mrs. Arnott was in charge of a survey of the boundaries of all the local parishes. Paddy Musgrove, who very kindly organised everything for us, gave us the section of the Finchley parish boundary that lies in Hampstead Heath — which proved a very lovely section.

Armed with maps and dressed for battling our way through the holly and bracken of Hampstead Heath, we started the survey. A large number of the boundary stones lay in the grounds of Kenwood House. A great amount of our time was enjoyably spent in these beautiful surroundings and in glorious summer weather. We cleaned up the boundary stones (some of the earlier ones dated from the eighteenth century), photographed them and later, in the comfort of our homes, compiled a report for HADAS and for the School.

We were unable to find some of the stones as they had been taken away by the owners of the land in which they lay or because we were refused entry by owners. We were, however, generally accepted with helpful enthusiasm; one lady telling us the history of her house, and another cleaning out a broom cupboard where the boundary stone lay so that we could record it. To us, the survey was a worthwhile and enjoyable project and taught us a great deal and we hope that efforts have been of some use to the Society.
Cast Iron Boundary Markers

By Raymond Lowe.

Fixed to an oak tree in the corner of 33 Denman Drive,NW11 is a cast iron plate. The boundary of the garden was, (until our masters saw fit to make our Borough larger than several well-known sovereign states) the boundary between the old boroughs of Finchley and Hendon and the plate marks the spot. The plate has been on the tree for 40 years — possibly longer. The tree, however, has made no growth around it thus possibly indicating that the plate does not pre-date the foundation of the Garden Suburb. Below is appended a description of the plate in the hope that one of our members may know of a similar one and be able to help with identification.

Shape: rhomboid with four straight sides. The height is 10 1/2 inches, the top width 9 in. and bottom width 9 3/4 in.

Description: there is a 1 in. border at the bottom and side borders which are 1 in. wide at the bottom but only 5/8 in. at the top. The corners are raised. A large downward pointing arrow is situated immediately above the centre of the bottom border. Top centre, there is a rectangular shield 4 1/2 in. by 4 1/2 in. bearing on the device of, on the left hand side, a deciduous tree and on the right hand, a tower with a possible twin turret on its right. They both stand on raised ground. On and parallel to either side are two words.
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The plate is fixed to the tree by a bolt through each of its four corners. Also found in the same garden under a compost heap is another cast iron object 3 ft 10 in. tall by 9 in. wide with a beaded edge 1 1/2 in. thick and having an internal depth of 1/2 in. The remains of a legend runs round the top, inside the beaded edge, and the word PARISH can possibly be deciphered across the face together with the date 1864 underneath. The post has a foot, 14 in. wide and 1 in. thick to prevent it from being pulled from the ground. The piece is obviously not in situ and raises doubts about the bona fides of the other — is there is a collector’s corner for boundary markers?

Should any members have ideas or help to offer, I would be glad to know. It is hoped to show photographs at one of the lectures. Finally, I must express my thanks to Mrs. Nell Penny for allowing access to her garden.
Hadrian’s Wall – September 26/28 1975

By Helen Gordon.

When a brand new coach swept us off to Hadrian’s Wall early on the morning of Friday 26 September, we began a weekend’s expedition which fully matched the Romans’ military campaigns in the brilliancy of execution. From small details, such as the ready typed labels for our thermos flasks, to the provision of the excellent Mr Timothy Newman, research assistant at the University of Newcastle’s Museum of Antiquities, as mentor throughout, the weekend went without a hitch — save for the weather on Saturday. How it rained! As Mr Newman stood, cheerfully lecturing, on one Roman pile after another, cap on head and coat flapping in the wind, looking not unlike a young Lenin haranguing the multitudes, we became more and more sodden; but undaunted, we missed nothing of our programme.

Briefly, our itinerary included a visit to the Newcastle Museum of Antiquities on our arrival on Friday, followed by a drive along the wall to our HQ, the Twice Brewed Inn; visits to Hexham Abbey, Corbridgre (Corstopitum), Chesters (Cilurnum), and Chesterholm (Vindolanda) on the wet Saturday ; and visits on Sunday morning in perfect weather to Carrawburg (Brocolita) – fort and Mithraeum – and Housesteads (Vercovicium), followed by a walk along the beautiful stretch of the wall climbing high along the cliffs overlooking Carg Lough between Housesteads and Steel Rigg car park; milecastles and turrets and the native settlement of Milking Gap were examined on the way.

We were thus enabled to follow the history of this, the furthest northern Roman frontier; first, the pre-Hadrianic Stanegate, the road with its line of forts including Corstopitum and Vindolanda built by Agricola, just south of where Hadrian subsequently put his wall. Hadrian’s wall was originally intended to be used in conjunction with these forts, but as the 80 Roman miles of wall were built, plans changed; it was found more suitable for the forts to be actually on the wall, the Cavalry forts even jutting out to the north, as we saw at Cilurnum and Vercovicium.

The forts themselves provide much interesting evidence of the Roman army’s way of life — the care devoted to the storage of grain in the large granaries with their raised, ventilated floors; the well-designed water and drainage systems, with bath houses, water tanks (lead lined), and latrines equipped with a flow of clean water for dipping the sponges used in place of toilet paper and the contrast between the comfortable, heated quarters of the Commandant and the barracks of the lower ranks. We saw also the evidence that, as time went on, women were allowed to live with their men in domestic quarters. Much else deserves mention: the scraps of cloth, the leather and shoes, the fragments of writing on tablets excavated and on display at Vindolanda and much sculpture and quantities of inscriptions which are, of course, a mine of information about troop movements and individuals.
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The Wall demonstrates the grandeur of Hadrian’s vision and under his reign the Roman Empire reached its greatest prosperity. Yet there was a sadness in him and he wrote this, is only poem to be preserved, shortly before he died:
O blithe little soul, thou, flitting away
Guest and comrade of this my clay,
Whither now goest thou, to what place,
Bare and ghastly and without grace?
Nor, as thy wont was, joke and play.
Report on the October Lecture

By Derek Grant.

Question: what have a BBC transmitter on the Wrekin, the XIV Legion, a fire in a market place, a gymnasium larger than Canterbury Cathedral, a sixth century palace and a lion a ring in common?

Answer: the erection of a BBC transmitter on the Wrekin was preceded by a small excavation which showed that the iron age inhabitants (the Cornovii) lived in square huts at a considerable population density and that the hill forts were permanent settlements to the hill towns of Italy today.

The XIVth legion constructed a military fortress at Wroxeter, whose existence and shadowy outline in the basal sand were only discovered a few years ago. When the Legion advanced to Chester, Wroxeter was developed as a planned town of 200 acres with a magnificent Civic Centre. The move from the closely packed hill fort to a large stone built town was literally entering a new world where one could pass the time exercising in the gymnasium and recover with a leisurely and convivial bath. The forum or market place, surmounted by a fine inscription to Hadrian, was likewise a source of wonder — especially one market day when it was dissolved into flames, spilling stall loads of merchandise into the gutter, to await archaeological rediscovery centuries later.

After Roman control slackened in the fifth century a native resurgence took place with a return to vernacular building styles, though judging by the dimensions of a sub-chieftain’s wooden palace on the site of the demolished gymnasium, they were capable of erecting generous structures.

Mr Toms, having recharged the memories of those of us who toured Wroxeter with him last year (and filled with envy the uninitiates who missed it) enlightened us with pictures of some of the most recent small finds — someone probably wept over the loss of the fine lion intaglio, the centurion may have been disciplined for losing his belt plate and who knows what happened to the husband who returned without his front door key?
Woodland Dig

By Alec Jeakins.

The possible road surface has been cleared and work lifting the pebbles has now started. More medieval pottery and two very worn and unidentifiable coins have been found, and it is hoped that the pieces of Herts ware (Medieval) from within the road surface may give some indication of a date. Digging will take place every Sunday (weather permitting) until the start of the processing weekends (November 15/16). I need more diggers on Sunday mornings, please come along if you are free — previous experience is not necessary.
Processing Weekend

Material from Brockley Hill and Hendon sites will be processed on the weekends of 15/16, 22/23, 29/30 November and the Teahouse of the Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute. All members who would like to work with this material and help with this project, will be most welcome.
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November Lecture – World Archaeology

For the second lecture of the season, we are lucky to have a Dr John Alexander who is lecturer in Archaeology at The University of Cambridge. He will stimulate us and them make us think of this wider approach to Archaeology. Dr. Alexander is well known to many of us who have learnt from him in the course of taking the Diploma in Archaeology. Let us have another good attendance on November 4th.
Christmas Party – Friday December 5th

7.45p.m. at 166 Station Road, NW4. Superb Buffet with Wine! For our new members, come along and meet each other; for old members our annual festivities. Price: £1.20. Senior Citizens and Juniors £1. If transport is a problem, please ring any committee member and we will see if a lift can be arranged. If any member can offer something for the buffet or a raffle prize or item towards a Christmas hamper, please ring Mrs. Frauchiger or Mrs. Carrell. Tickets will be available at the lecture on November 4th from committee members, or at the door.
Mesolithic Dig/Lectures

Mr Desmond Collins will give a course of six weekly lectures on the Mesolithic period at the Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute, commencing on Tuesday 27 April 1976. Priority bookings for this course will be given to members of HADAS provided they apply, in writing, to Mr John Enderby at the Institute before the end of February. Cost: £1.50 for the course. The excavation of the Mesolithic site on Hampstead Heath will run concurrently with these lectures, starting on Saturday 1 May for two weeks and then every weekend.
Exhibitions and Lectures

FINCHLEY SOCIETY is sponsoring a Public Meeting at Christ’s College Finchley on 7 November on “Conservation and Rehabilitation of an Architectural Heritage”. The principal speaker will be Mr Donald Insall who will make particular reference to his work in Chester.

LAMAS. The 10th Local History Conference will be held in the Livery Hall at Guildhall, EC2, on Saturday 15 November. An exhibit by HADAS will be included. Doors open at 1.30p.m. conference starts at 2.30p.m. admission by ticket only obtainable from to the Hon. Sec., Local History Committee. Cost £0.50 (including tea). Cheques payable to London and Middlesex Archaeological Society.

CHURCH FARM HOUSE MUSEUM. The Hendon times is celebrating its centenary with an exhibition of photographs and reproductions which show “The Changing Times 1875-1975” in the north and north west of London. Closes 23 November.

BRITISH MUSEUM – ANATOLIAN ROOM. Christine Arnott writes: I would like to draw your attention to the new Iranian and Anatolian Rooms that are now open to the public for the first time, as part of the major rearrangement in the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities. These rooms on the upper floor of the Museum are designed to demonstrate cultural changes in Iran and Anatolia over a period of 3,000 years. Those members who are taking the second year Diploma in Archaeology will be pleased with the material displayed in the Anatolian section. I found the simplicity of the exhibit focussed more attention on the objects shown — for example the clay tablets from Kultepe, a trading colony in Cappadocia (Central Anatolia) established about 1800 BC, were shown with enclosing “envelope”. Their writings translated for us give details of the business transactions and private problems of one man. One of the more attractive finds is a silver bull with gold inlays, possibly from Alaja Huyuk, c. 2500 BC, although some members may find the Urartian furniture fitting in the form of a human-headed winged bull more fascinating (8th-7th century BC).
Don’t Forget – HADAS has for sale
“Blue Plaques of Barnet”
“Chroniclers of the Battle or Barnet”
Ball-point Pens and Notelets

See Yellow Insert.