Volume 6 : 1995 – 1999

DIARY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MEMBERS NEWS

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

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

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

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

Hendon Aerodrome Part 4 – Transporting the masses

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MUSEUM

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

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

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

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

Battle by Beverley Perkins

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BOOKS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trench ‘A’

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

BASILICA

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

Trench B’

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

FINDS

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

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

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

The British Museum

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

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

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

OTHER SOCIETIES’ NEWS

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE STANWAY BURIALS

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

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

No. 317 AUGUST 1997 Edited by Peter Pickering

DIARY

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

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

September 4th to 7th Weekend in York

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

NEWS OF MEMBERS

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

HADAS FIELDWORK – Back on the Heath

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

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

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

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

—FOR YOUR BOOKSHELF (1)

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

Site Watching (1) by Tessa Smith

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

Planning applications have been received regarding:-

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

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

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

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

SITE WATCHING (2) Bill Bass

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

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

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

BROUGHT TO BOOK IN THE SUBURB Roy Walker/Andy Simpson

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

FOR YOUR BOOKSHELF (2)

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

PREHISTORIC SOCIETY STUDY TOUR IN THE NETHERLANDS June 1997 Brian Wrigley

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SOME SITES IN NORTH YORKSHIRE Peter Pickering

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

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

ARCHIVES

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

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

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

BROCKLEY HILL

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

BOXGROVE MAN

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

MINOAN WALL PAINTINGS

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

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

JUBILEES

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

EXHIBITIONS

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

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

A DAY-SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER

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

A CONFERENCE IN DECEMBER

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

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

(A stamped addressed envelope would be helpful)

No. 316 JULY 1997 Edited Micky Cohen

DIARY

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

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

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

MEMBERS’ NEWS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HADAS AGM 1997

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

From Palmyra to Petra June Porges

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

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

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

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

Hendon and District Archaeological Society

Chairman’s Report, AGM, 13th May 1997

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GEOLOGY

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

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

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

Newsletter 315 JUNE 1997 Edited by VIKKI O’CONNOR

Members News

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

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

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

Hendon Aerodrome Part 1 Bill Firth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HENDON AERODROME Part 3 – The Follow-up Bill Firth

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

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

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

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

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

HADAS Visit to the Garrick Club

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Roy Walker

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

Unfortunately for him Queen Elizabeth never slept there.

Planning Applications in the Northern Area Bill Bass

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

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

The Duke’s Head – Rosemary Bentley

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

Henry VI Part Two

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

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

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

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

During the next five years power changed hands several times depending

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

BOOK REVIEW – Andy Simpson

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

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

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

OTHER SOCIETIES’ NEWS

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

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

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

Church Farmhouse Museum

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

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

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

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

No. 314 MAY 1997 EDITED BY ANN KAHN

DIARY

Tuesday May 13:

Saturday June 7:

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

see also note below

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

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

HADAS Annual General Meeting June Porges

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

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

MEMBERS LIST Dorothy Newbury

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

JANET FARADAY Mary Begg

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

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

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

WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE…

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

PERRY OAKS and the STANWELL CURSES

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

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

ROMAN ROAD RAGE – Robin Taylor-Wilson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Prehistoric Society conference 1997.

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

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

present! Brian Wrigley

MEMORIAL FOR THE BATTLE OF BARNET

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

HENRY VIII’S FISHING BASKET

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ROMAN VILLA

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

TUTANKHAMEN

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

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

I am very afraid.”

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

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

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

EGYPTIAN TREASURES TO REMAIN IN BRITAIN.

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

INTERNET NEWS FOR COMPUTER BUFFS

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

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

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

(Aslib Management Information, March 1997)

FROM HERE AND THERE Vikki O’Connor

UNDERWATER SITE DETECTION

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

A GENETIC LINK WITH THE PAST

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

THE SWEDISH MARY ROSE

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

THE PRINTS OF POTTERS

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

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

No 311 MARCH 1997 Edited by REVA BROWN

DIARY March 11

What not to do with a Roman mosaic Stephen Ceosh

Stephen is the Honorary Secretary of the Association for the Study and Preservation of Roman Mosaics (ASPROM). He is a gifted illustrator and is at present working on the monumental task of recording for publication all the Roman mosaics in Britain. He is, therefore, someone who knows what should be done with mosaics, but obviously has some horror stories of what has been done on occasions. Undoubtedly, he will have some lovely slides to show.

April 8 Claude Graham-White – Hendon Aerodrome Bill Firth

May 13 Morning Tour of the Garrick Club with Mary O’Connell

May 13 HADAS Annual General Meeting

Meetings are held on Tuesdays at 8.00 pm for 8.30 pm in the Drawing Room (ground floor). Avenue House. East End Road, Finchley, N3 30E. Members can also take the opportunity to visit the library, both on lecture nights and, presently. most Sunday mornings, when the digging team are there working on finds.

22 March (Saturday) 34th Annual Conference of London Archaeologists

will be held at the Museum of London Lecture Theatre, 11.00 am – 5.30 pm approximately.

Tickets for non-LAMAS members are £4.00 each. Applications or general enquiries to Jon Cotton, Early Dept, Museum of London, 150, London Wall, London EC2Y 5HN The programme includes progress on Southwark and the Rose Theatre. HADAS will have a display and bookstand at this event.

HADAS weekend in York

4 September (Thursday) to 7 September (Sunday

We have had a good response and the weekend has been booked. More details later.

NEIGHBOURING SOCIETIES’ MARCH LECTURES:

Barnet and District Local History Society

10 March Buntingford Railway (Barry Bridges)

At the Wyburn Room, Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road, Barnet. 2.45 pm for 3.00 pm.

Enfield Archaeological Society

21 March Excavations at Number One Poultry, London: The history of a Roman,

Saxon and medieval neighbourhood.

At the Jubilee Hall, junction of Chase Side and Parsonage Lane, Enfield, 7.30 pm for 8.00. Cost to visitors: 50p.

The Finchley Society

27 March Greenwich places of interest (John Neale)

At the Drawing Room (ground floor), Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N3 3QE, commencing promptly at 7.45 pm..

PLANNING APPLICATIONS in the Northern Area BILL BASS

The following sites may be of archaeological interest;

34-38 High Street, Barnet, near to the medieval centre

113-115 High street, Barnet

23 Galley Lane, Barnet, near to medieval pottery finds.

155 Friern Barnet Lane, N20 (land rear of), close to the medieval church and the site of the Friary.

Building work at the Prince of Wales pub in Church Hill Road, East Barnet has uncovered a well, and the pub renovation was halted while building engineers inspect the well. The Prince of Wales and its forerunner The Black Prince seem to date to the mid-19th century and may have been part of a ‘National School’ before that. Parts of the timber framework suggest that the structure has its roots in the 18th century.

THE BARNETS & HADLEY BILL BASS

by the Barnet & District Local History Society

Published by Sutton Publishing Ltd at £9.99

As they say in their introduction: This second volume of photographs, taken from the Barnet Museum’s collection, is intended to provide a slightly different slant on the history of our district. As well as photographs of familiar landmarks, it includes groups of photographs on less well-know aspects of our area and devotes a section to the people themselves. Altogether there are five sections. The first three relate to Chipping Barnet, New Barnet and East Barnet. They are followed by a smaller one on Hadley, and finally, the section about people.”

The book, although slightly larger in format than the previous one, follows the same style of well-produced photographs (over 250), occasional maps and informative captions showing the dramatic development that has taken place in the area over the last 100 years. One of the people mentioned is Sir John Betjeman, who was a master at Heddon Court, a school which was founded in Hampstead in the 1890s, but moved to East Barnet in the 1920s. Sir John taught here from April 1929 until July 1930. He wrote several poems of the area and his times there, and some are included in the book, together with other anecdotes.

JANUARY LECTURE

ARCHAEOLOGY AND ALLUVIUM ROY WALKER

Our January lecture led us into the world of palaeo-environmental studies Geo-archaeological and, more specifically, alluvium. Dr Martin Bates: our lecturer, head the Institute of Archaeology’s Geo-archaeological Service facility, which undertakes evaluations of sedimentary deposits with a view to determining their archaeological history and potential. These evaluations look at how the deposits were accumulated and examine the micromorphology, diatoms, pollens, ostracods, molluscs and so forth. His lecture concentrated mainly on the alluviums and sediments of the Thames Valley and commenced by demonstrating the preservative qualities of his subject by reference to Pepys’ diary, which referred to “trees with nuts” discovered twelve feet underground during the excavation of the docks. Similarly, at Crossness in the 1800$: buried oak was preserved sufficiently for furniture to be made from it.

Alluvium is a water-lain deposit which can take many forms. A meandering river would lay down clays and silts on its flood plain, but peats within the ox-box lakes cut off by its meandering. Erosion would occur on the outside of the bends with sands and gravels deposited on the inside. The ice-melt in the last glacial deposited sedimentary gravels. Estuarine deposits would contribute to the alluviums with salt marshes. Martin pointed out that these various deposits from various sources would all be designated alluvium on the geological map. He illustrated other examples – banded hill wash deposits, tufa deposits in Dover and marine sands and gravels.

These deposits extensively spread along the Thames, the Medway, the Essex coast, Dungeness, Romney Marsh and the Wealden Valleys. Yet, there had been little work carried out on these wetlands of southern England, in comparison with other areas. Their importance is a result of their method of accumulation. When rivers overflow their banks, the silts and clays are usually laid gently, with no disruption of artefact scatters, as confirmed at Uxbridge where red deer bone workings were gently sealed some 20 metres from the river. Deposition is close to the water table. creating the anaerobic conditions for the preservation of organics such as wood -note the Roman warehouse at Southwark. Ard marks were preserved at Bermondsey beneath alluvial deposits.

In the Thames area, however, there is a problem. Subsidence in the London Basin at the rate of 1.5 metres per 12,000 years had led to inundations and swamping; creating large depths of peats, clays and silts. The sediments at Tilbury are 13 metres deep, and at Woolwich 5 to 6 metres. Mesolithic remains could be 5 to 12 metres below ground. The problem of such a depth of sediment is compounded by the fact that the water table might only to 1 to 1.5 metres below the ground, leading to deep excavation requiring much waterproofing additionally, aerial photography is of no help in locating such deep archaeology and the SMR tends to be biased in favour of the near surface zone. Field walking is limited to 18t and 19th century history and geophysical survey has only shallow penetration.

These problems are surmounted by the use of boreholes. An interesting range of appliances are used by the research team, from hand augers to motorised commercial drilling rigs. The latter can remove 45 cm long core samples,

undisturbed and bagged ready for further analysis in the laboratory. From a continuous sequence, it is possible to build up a ground model and the basis for the investigation for the archaeological sensitive areas. This is much quicker and cheaper than just trenching.

Martin finished with two examples of work undertaken by his unit. The first was al Dover where essential road building works were cutting through the old town providing the opportunity to investigate the archaeology. The core removed from a borehole in the churchyard revealed gravels on top of peats and tufa with clays, silts and gravels below. The bottom layer was identified as the infilling of the old harbour, the peats and tufa as a prehistoric layer that would be archaeologically significant. The adjacent excavation revealed a large Bronze Age boat within the tufa deposit*. The second site discussed was Chatham dockyard, where the Medway Tunnel was under construction. The tunnelling involved excavating a 10 metres deep hole through gravel which would remove 7:000 years of sediments at one go! Boreholes showed a high chalk area overlooking peats and alluvium. The sequence was saltmarsh deposits above peats, the latter dated to 4,800 bp, Mesolithic, containing one flint, and charcoal signs of some human activity on the floodplain. the chalk bluff proved important. Knapping debris on this was sealed by alluvial deposits which had preserved the Neolithic or Bronze Age flint working. Romano-British ditches and pits had been cut into the alluvium.

Martin’s wife, Susan, is a member of HADAS and our first introduction to Martin’s sphere of work was at Church Farmhouse in 1993 when, on a brief visit to our excavation, he interpreted one aspect of stratigraphy as being a ‘landslip ” layer, which enabled us to make more sense of the nature of the site. Martin’s lecture, too. has added much more to our knowledge of this specialise aspect of archaeological investigation, for which we thank him very much.

*The full story of the Dover Boat can be read in “Current Archaeology” no. 133 A copy is in the HADAS library, or it can be purchased direct from the publisher – our Chairman!

AND FINALLY …

Archaeologists digging in a cave near Idrija in north-western Slovenia have unearthed a Neanderthal flute made from a bear bone. It probably the oldest musical instrument discovered and is the first indication that Neanderthals did not inhabit a world devoid of recognisable language or, it would seem, of music.

No: 310 FEBRUARY 1997 Edited by ANDY SIMPSON

DIARY

Tuesday 11 February An archaeological History of Herffordshire- Tony Rook Tony is known to many of us from previous lectures and evening classes and has excavated widely in Hertfordshire. We can be assured of an entertaining evening.

Tuesday 11 March Tuesday 8 April Tuesday 13 May September

What not to do with a Roman Mosaic – Steven Ceosh Claude Graham-White – Hendon Aerodrome- Bill Firth HADAS Annual General Meeting

Our proposed Summer Weekend this year will be in York – a leaflet with further details is enclosed.

Important Reminder – Meetings are held 8pm for 8.30pm in the Drawing Room. (ground floor), Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N3. Members can also take the opportunity to visit the library, both on lecture nights and, presently, most Sunday mornings when the digging team are in residence working on finds.

Members’ News – from Dorothy Newbury

ALEC JEAKINS – one of our long-standing members, and the original discoverer of our Mesolithic site at West Heath in the 1970s, has moved with his young family to Gloucester. We will miss you, Alec.

Mrs Betty Jeakins (Alec’s mother) had a fall recently and broke her hip. She is at present staying with her other son in Norfolk. We wish her a speedy recovery.

CHRISTMAS DINNER REPORT: Tower Bridge Audree Price-Davies

This is the first time I have understood what hydraulic pressure means. It seems that if water is heated and thereby converted into steam, this steam acts as a source of energy. It is harnessed to motivate pistons which in turn activate the shorter weighted end of a bascule, (Bascule is the French word for see-saw.) Downward pressure is exerted on the short end of the bascule, which swings down, and the longer end which is the road itself, swings upward. This opens the bridge over the river, which allows ships to pass through, along the river. The source of heat used to convert the water into steam was Welsh anthracite coal – virtually smokeless, clean-burning, and almost ash-free.

That the bridge needed to be built was evident from the views we were shown of the congestion in London’s streets from horse-drawn vehicles which frequently broke down. There was also the problem of the rise in population which occurred during the Victorian period. Subways were built under the Thames between Rotherhithe and Wapping in 1843, which were converted to a railway tunnel in 1871 and in 1871 a subway from Tower Hill to Pickled Herring Lane was built, but this was plagued by technical difficulties. A new bridge was necessary, but there was opposition from the wharfingers and all those with shipping interests and also from the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Henry Isaacs who delayed the building of the bridge for 20 years, because of his shipping interests.Pressure mounted, however, and in 1876 the Corporation of London took action. The Act of Parliament defined the leading dimensions of the Tower Bridge as follows:

1 A central opening span of 200 ft clear width with a height of 135 ft above Trinity high water when open, and a height of 29 ft when closed against vessels with high masts. (The centre arch of London Bridge is 29.5 ft above Trinity high water,)

2 The size of the piers to be 185 ft in length and 70 ft in width.

3 The length of each of the two side spans to be 270 ft in the clear.

The bridge was made from the best steel available; some was hand-riveted on site but a great deal was accomplished using Sir William Arrol’s new hydraulic riveter, one of a number of labour-saving devices he had developed himself. With its highly ornate masonry of grey Cornish granite and Portland stone, backed by brickwork, it is easy to forget that Tower Bridge is essentially a steel bridge – and the most complicated ever to have been erected. The stonework wasn’t purely for aesthetic reasons, however. It also protected the framework from the weather. As additional protection from rust, the corner pillars had also been wrapped in oiled canvas and coated in cement. When the stone cladding was complete, the whole bridge was then decorated with ornate cast iron work, high pitched Welsh slate roofs and gold leaf pinnacles.

Earth has not anything to show more fair,

Dull would he be of soul, who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty

This city now doth like a garment wear

The beauty of the morning, silent, bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie,

Open unto the fields and to the sky,

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Wordsworth’s view from Westminster Bridge was composed in 1807 in the early morning: HADAS members viewed London from the walkways on Tower Bridge in the evening. There is a difference in time and place but Wordsworth was as impressed as we were. The galaxy of lights defining the streets, and the lights on Canary Wharf, the Post Office Tower, the Design Centre, the dome of St Paul’s – this was a panoply of the city. This was something that Wordsworth could not see, as electric light was not used until the end of the century. The river silently gliding between the banks of lights, was a permanent thread in the history and the archaeology of London.

We descended the Tower, in fact but not in spirit, but we were not disappointed in the next phase of the evening. The Anchor Tap had gaiety and warmth. The drinks and the conversation flowed. Past dinners were recalled, past outings were talked over, personal details recounted, future projects discussed. The meal was good and the service willing and cheerful. The speech of thanks by Dr O’Flynn was witty and to the point. The journey home was quiet and peaceful in a snug coach. The large number of people who attended – and who made their own way to the bridge and home – bore witness to the popularity of the evening and our grateful thanks must go to Dorothy who organised this interesting visit and offended in spite of personal physical pain,

Post-Script: It was announced on December 8th, 1996 that the “competition to design London’s first pedestrian bridge was won by the British team of architect Sir Norman Foster and sculptor Sir Simon Caro. The bridge, an arc of stainless steel and cable will run from below St Paul’s Cathedral on the north bank to the Bankside power station, the site of the new Tate Gallery of Modern Art, on the south bank.” ,

Meanwhile, at Bloomsbury – the British Museum Magazine reports that during 1996 is has acquired, or hopes to acquire, several important Iron Age coin hoards found in Southern Britain, reports Bill Bass…

The South Worcestershire Hoard

This hoard is one of the largest and potentially most interesting groups of Iron Age coins ever found in this country. In late 1993, 977 silver and 7 gold coins were discovered by a metal detectorist on farm land in south Worcestershire. Subsequent archaeological excavation recovered a further 13 gold and 489 silver coins, as well as two fragments of Iron Age gold, one of which has been identified as part of a torque. The coins are from two or more hoards.

The vast majority of the silver coins belong to the Dobunni, a tribe thought to have varied provenances, and include one of Cunobelin, king in south-east England, and one from Normandy. All these coins fall within the general period of the late 1st century BC and the early 1st century AD.

An unusual aspect of these boards is the fact that one of them was recovered during an archaeological excavation in what appears to have been a 3rd century AD Roman oven -raising the possibility that the hoard was found and then reburied in antiquity.

The Fish King

Study of two exciting new Late Iron Age hoards from Alton in Hampshire has re-named a king of part of Britain. One coin among a total of 256 gold staters shows that the Atrebatic king Tincommios has been misnamed by 19th and 20th century historians. His name was actually Tincomarus, “Tinc” is the equivalent of our word “tench”, while “Marus” means “great”. Tincomarus’ name can therefore be reasonably translated as “big fish”.

The Alton hoards are exceptional in other ways, too. A Roman gold finger ring and folded

Roman gold bracelet were found with the larger of the two hoards, This is the only Roman

jewellery ever found in an Iron Age context in Britain. Such evidence of contact between late iron Age Britain and Roman Gaul is supplemented by the coins in the larger hoard, every one of which has a “Romanised” style. This contrasts with the coins in the smaller hoard, all of which have ❑ more traditional “Celtic” style. Both hoards contain many rare or unknown coin types. One hoard, for example, contains twenty-one extremely rare coins of a king called Eppillus; until now only two comparable examples were known.

MILDENHALL TREASURE Andy Simpson

It will be interesting to see how the BM magazine records the recent Sunday Times report about the British Museum’s magnificent hoard of Roman silver could be wartime booty from North Africa or Italy. Supposedly discovered whilst ploughing a field near West Row Village in the winter of 1942, the collection of 4th century silver plate is one of the BM’s most prized exhibits. A forthcoming paper in Antiquity by Dr Paul Ashbee, retired lecturer in Archaeology at the University of East Anglia, suggests it may have been plundered by American soldiers in Europe and the claim that it was ploughed up concocted to explain its possession, the ‘findspot’ being close to the air base at Mildenhall, from whence it may have been illegally imported after the Second World War, and passed to a local dealer in antiquities who kept

it for five years until a visiting historian forced him to declare it to the police. It was then

declared Treasure Trove. The Paper suggests BM curators were aware of its doubtful origins

but kept quiet to avoid a diplomatic row – looting was associated with the Nazis, not the victorious Allies. Ashbee quotes conflicting inquest evidence and lack of evidence at the supposed findspot, though the BM stands by the original account, although conceding the silver was probably manufactured abroad, possibly the Mediterranean area.

PLANNING APPLICATIONS

Tessa Smith reports on information sent by Robert Whytehead of English Heritage.

A planning application has been received for demolition of part of the Government offices on land at London Road, Brockley Hill. English Heritage have done an Initial evaluation; 2 possible Roman sites located, which include a metalling surface, oolitic limestone, ditches and both early and late Roman pottery. Wessex Archaeology Consultants will now do a fuller excavation prior to residential development.

English Heritage has also recommended a watching brief on any earth-moving at playing fields adjoining Dollis School, Pursley Road, NW7. This area is just west of Copthall Fields where HADAS excavated Roman sherds and interpreted the results as a possible Roman road.

We also need to keep a watching brief at Belmont Riding Stables, Mill Hill, which now owns ahuge 130-acre tract of green belt land from Highwood Hill (where HADAS members walked part of the Viatores’ suggested Roman road) to Mill Hill Village and Totteridge. The “needs” of this riding stable include “facilities for accommodation of staff and students”. any HADAS members walking in this area please keep an eye open for any large scale earth-moving activity and let me know.

The Somatization of Archaeology: Institutions, Discourses, Corporeality

This paper examines archaeology’s Somatization. New conceptualizations of sex and gender in philosophy, anthropology and queer theory are discussed. Current formulations of the body within our discipline, such as the fascination with Foucault and power-based interpretations, are at the expense of human agency and individuality. One way of engaging with the lived body, bypassing existentialism and social constructionism, is to view embodied persons as individuated sites of interface and resolutions between the biological, cultural and personal. To illustrate these notions, Egyptian concepts of the body, self and death are explored in a mortuary context at the site of Deir el Medina.

Norwegian Archaeological Review

Pardon? Ed.

ROMAN HENDON

As mentioned earlier, the digging team continue to process finds most Sunday mornings at Avenue House. We are presently working though the Church Farm Museum material from the 1993 and 1996 excavations: included in the finds from the fill of the medieval ditch (the main feature on the site) are at least three sherds of Roman mortaria, one sherd of Roman greyware and several fragments of Roman tile, both flanged roofing tile and fiat bonding tile. It will be interesting to compare this to other Roman material from Hendon Meritage Club and other nearby excavations.

TV GUIDE

And For Your Family Viewing Entertainment ….

HADAS members will possibly have seen, at the time of writing, the new 1997 series of Time ream with Tony ‘Baldrick’ Robinson and all the regulars. So far, the team’s visits to a colonial site in Maryland, USA, Burials in Launceston, Cornwall, and Industrial archaeology in Birmingham have been shown: still to come are programmes on the Norman Castle and Jacobean Mansion at Malton, North Yorkshire, the search for a holy well and Viking remains in Govan, and a Romano-British site beneath the disused army base at Netheravon near Salisbury.

FORTHCOMING DAY SCHOOLS

Neolithic Landscapes in Britain and Beyond – University of Oxford Dept For Continuing Education at Rewley House, Wellington Square. Oxford – Saturday 22 February 1997, £23.00, Lunch Extra. For details, telephone 01865 270369.

Iron Age Britain – University of Oxford Dept for Continuing Education. Subjects include the Upper Thames Valley in Prehistory and Wessex in the light of the Danebury Environs Programme. 7 – 9 February at Rewley House, Oxford, fee E121 (residential). Details on 01865 270369

ALSO, 34th Annual Conference of London Archaeologists

Saturday 22 March, Museum of London Lecture Theatre, 1 lam – 5.30pm (approx). Tickets for non-LAMAS members are 5A.00 each. Applications/general enquiries to:

Jon Cotton, Early Dept, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 6HN. Programme includes progress on Southwark and the Rose Theatre.

HADAS will have a display and bookstand at this event.

AVIATION ARCHAEOLOGY – HENDON PEGASUS Andy Simpson

Those who know me will not be surprised that l have taken the opportunity to combine aviation with archaeology. As many readers will know, during the last war ‘Spitfire Funds operated all over the country as an expression of local pride, giving people the chance to purchase ‘their’ Spitfire – or Hurricane – or bomber aircraft – ❑ nominal £5,000 being the usual sum for a Spitfire. (This, when a skilled man might earn £5 a week!).

During 1940 the Borough of Hendon initiated the ‘Hendon Four Fighter Fund’ to purchase four Spitfires, and the fund was so successful that the required £20,000 was raised in under three months. A boxing tournament, a ‘Mammoth White Elephant Sale’ and ‘a thousand tea parties by the women of Hendon’ (how did they manage their sugar ration?) were among the fund-raising ventures. Also, ‘Hendon Four Fighter Fund’ stamps were sold and could be mounted on a ‘Card of Honour’. When the card holder filled his card with stamps he was presented with a coloured stamp of honour, depicting Britannia, ❑ lion passant, four Spitfires and the cliffs of Dover.

One of the aircraft purchased was cannon-armed Spitfire VB. serial no W3333 named ‘Hendon Pegasus` after the Pegasus on the Hendon coat of arms. The aircraft flew with no 129 Squadron from Westhampnett, Sussex.

On 7 September , 1941, flown by Sgt P Boddy, in a formation exercise, it lost position and collided with the formation leader’s Spitfire, which managed to glide back to base and land safely. ‘Hendon Pegasus’, however, lost a propeller blade and a portion of wing, forcing Boddy to bale out. He landed safely but his aircraft dived into the sticky mud of Chichester Harbour where it lay until some parts were salvaged by the Wealden Aviation Archaeological Group in 1978. Parts recovered included engine cowling panels, cockpit components, wing fragments and the radio mast. A few years earlier local ‘enthusiasts’ pulled up part of the tail and an undercarriage leg – then sold them for scrap, an all too common occurrence in the somewhat less disciplined world of aviation archaeology.

In 1981 further parts were recovered by the excellent Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. This exercise recovered the tailwheel and oleo leg, undercarriage selector box, both rudder pedals, instruments, engine cranking handle, armoured windscreen and other smaller components, plus the propeller with Iwo blades still attached. So at least something remains of all those 1 d stamp investments paid by the people of Hendon, albeit displayed by the Tangmere Museum in West Sussex.

ARCHAEOLOGY, HISTORY AND POLITICS DON’T MIX – part 2 Derek Batten

(We read the first part of Derek’s adventures out west in the December newsletter. In this, concluding, chapter he continues his account of work on the American Civil War baffle site at Camp Lewis).

It was a long drive north to the Wilderness Inn at Pecos, described as a Territorial style Hacienda built about 1836. Greer G❑rson owned that some time past as well. This was to be the headquarters of our small metal detecting group and here I met up with old friends, Doug Scott and Dick Harmon, as well as Charlie himself.

This survey was also to make use of a device known as a fluxgate magnetometer which measureslocal disturbances or anomalies underground. Something similar to the machine used in the Time Team programmes on Channel Four TV.

We started work on site on the Monday and the weather was even hotter, 930 F I am told, and some 7,000 ft above sea level. All part of the ‘fun’ of field archaeology.

The major snag to the whole project soon became apparent. As stated we were working on National Park Service land, under the control of the Local Superintendent, one Duane Alice, a smallish man of Spanish-American descent, with the obligatory Poncho Villa moustache. A sort of cross between Eli Wallach and Groucho Marx. Despite the sweet words on the surface, it was obvious to me that there was no love lost between Duane and his Assistant, and Charlie Haecker and our team. So much so that we were forbidden to remove more than 300 artefacts from the site. (At Little Big Horn we found well over 3,000 despite the area being ‘gone over’ for years after that battle). By the end of day two, and taking only the most obvious, we had recovered 283 artefacts. By the third day, Wednesday, the six-day project was virtually over. As I say in the title to this piece “Archaeology and Politics don’t mix”.

Nothing is ever all bad, however, and I had spare time to take a good look at the remains of the Pecos Pueblo and to journey out to Ford Union and to appreciate the isolation of that place.

From the historic view point our efforts have not been entirely wasted. It seemed to me that the extent of Camp Lewis may well be outside the road widening proposals. The proton mag, had picked up some mysterious circles which may indicate encircled wagon locations. One very interesting artefact found was part of a Spanish spur showing that we were certainly on or very close to the Santa Fe Trail.

The internal personal friction with the powers-that-be at the Park engendered an ‘us and them’ situation cementing the bonds between us mad archaeological volunteers. But Charlie Haecker deserved better.

Anon

Archaeologists excavating a Scottish kilt factory could not find anything underneath._ (gr o o o oan…. Ed)

For our October lecture, members will recall, John Shepherd of the Museum of London talked to us about the work of Professor Grimes at the Temple of Mithras (and Cripplegate Fort); here Audree Price-Davies gives us details of the beliefs that formed the basis of Mithraism.

MITHRAISM Audree Price-Davies

Christianity in the 3rd century was confronted not only by official persecution but by the conflicting claims of a variety of philosophic and religious faiths. The times were favourable to a revival of religious enthusiasm. The empire presented a melancholy spectacle. Without, there was the barbarian menace, within, financial exhaustion and civil discord, and in men’s hearts, mingled apathy, world-weariness and fear. To Pagan and Christian alike the wrath of heaven seemed to have fallen upon the world. In their distress they sought salvation, not from the emperor, but from supernatural powers. The crying need was for direct communion between the soul of the individual and the gods.

There were many faiths which catered for this need. Neo-Platonism had its gospel for the philosopher, Mithraism for the legionary and the cults of ancient Egypt for the women of the capital. There was a move to harmonise all faiths and devotion to Mithra could be reconciled with the respect due to the ancient gods of Rome. It was a question of live and let live, except for the Christian, in whose eyes all pagan faiths alike were false and idolatrous.

The most widespread faith, other than Christianity, was Mithraism, which came from the primitive Aryans of Iran. The faith was spread by the army in the second and third centuries. A bas-relief showing Mithra plunging his dagger into a bull, dedicated in London by a discharged veteran of the Britannic army may be seen in the British Museum. Sixty chapels to Mithra existed in Rome. In this country, there is the temple in London and the temple at Carrawburgh at the fort of that name on Hadrian’s Wall. (Others are known at the forts of Rudchester and Housesteads on Hadrian’s Wall and at Caernarvon in North Wales – Ed).

The doctrines of resurrection, immortality and final justice appealed to soldiers. There were rites of initiation which were militaristic. Women had a very subordinate role. Mithraism was a purely practical creed in which the life of contemplation found no place. It had much in common with Christianity – the faith in a divine mediator, the hope of resurrection, the efficacy of prayer, sacramental union with God, and his presence in all events of daily life.

The main aspects of its teaching was the belief in Mithra as the mediator between God and man, and as the redeemer of the human race from the powers of evil. He was the unconquered warrior, identified often with the sun-god, eternally young, under whose banner men could fight victoriously against evil passions within and evil demons without. Certain rites were similar to those of baptism, confirmation and the eucharist of the Christians. The adoration of Mithra by shepherds and his ascension were borrowed from Christianity. Sunday was observed as a holy day and December 25th, as the festival of re­birth of Mithra.

But there were basic differences from Christianity. The religion appealed to the heart and not the head, and there was no historical foundation such as Judaism and the historical Christ. The worshipper of Mithras could believe in other faiths but the Christian could not. So that, while Christianity flourished in persecution, Mithraism died of weakness. It failed to appeal to the intelligence and developed no theological or sacred literature. The attempt, for instance, to identify the sun with the supreme intelligence of the universe is not a serious philosophy.

The successes of the barbarians hastened its decay and in the 4th century it had yielded to Christianity even in the ranks of the legions.

NEWS FROM OUR NEIGHBOURS

Barnet & District Local History Society meet in the Wyburn Room, Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road, Barnet (an acoustical improvement on their previous venue at the Library). Their February lecture is ‘Nola by Gay Potter, Monday 10 Feb, 2.45 for 3pm).

Enfield Archaeological Society welcomes Stephen Gilburt as their February lecturer, speaking on ‘ The Vikings. Farmers, Traders or Looters? Friday 21 Feb. 8pm at the Jubilee Hall, junction of Chase Side and Parsonage Lane, Enfield.

The finchlev Society will be hearing Andrew Byrne of the Spitalfields Trust talk about London’s Georgian Houses’ on Thursday 27 February, 7.45pm at the Drawing Room, Avenue House.

The series of Thursday evening lectures organised by Harvey Sheldon, entitled The Roman Empire and its Provinces continues into the Spring with the following tiles. It continues to be worthwhile attending, as a new subject or to ‘brush up your Roman’.

6 February Coinage and the Empire (John Casey)

13 February Public Buildings in the Roman Empire (TFC Blagg)

20 February The Army of Rome (Simon James)

27 February Christianity and Late Empire (Richard Reece)

6 March Making Sense of the Western Roman Empire (Martin Millett)

13 March Art in the Roman World: Unify in Diversity (Martin Henig)

20 March The End of the Empire in the West (Simon Esmonde-Cleary)

The cost is £5 per lecture, payable at the door, at the Institute of Archaeology, Gordon Square, WC1, starting 7pm and finishing promptly at 8.30pm .

The Cripplegate fort and the Temple of Mithras Roy Walker

The October lecture reintroduced us to the work of a former HADAS President, Professor Grimes, when John Shepherd (Curator of the Grimes’ Archive at the Museum of London) told of recent research into the Cripplegate fort and the Temple of Mithras. Gustav Milne in April, 1994, had told us of the reappraisal of the Professor’s work at St Brides, Fleet Street, so we had an insight into the high standard of the original excavations

carried out with limited resources as well as the care and respect with which this work had been updated. The archive for these sites was presented to the Museum in 1988 and will now form the basis for a comprehensive publishing programme.* John Shepherd had worked as a research assistant to Professor Grimes at the Institute of Archaeology and was well-qualified to present his mentor’s work.

Excavating in the rubble of the post-war City of London, Professor Grimes noticed in places two adjoining thicknesses of the Roman wall and attributed this to a major repair dated to 180 AD, the original wall being 60 years older. The 1949-50 excavation on a length of wall at Noble Street (close to the Museum of London) revealed the same “repair” but here one wall curved eastward and the other stopped. This represented two separate structures – and he then interpreted the “repair” as a new City wall butting up to the older fort wall. A research programme placed the “double walls” on a map with projected courses, a series of slit trenches were then dug on the projections locating the walls of the fort and much more. The west gate and south gates were located, with the internal street plan also preserved in the modern street layout of the City. The south gate consisted only of a ditch and bridge but the west gate foundations are now preserved beneath London Wall. In the St Albans Street area strip-like barracks blocks were located but beneath Shelley House more ornate buildings with mosaic floors and painted wall-plaster indicated higher ranking occupants.

Professor Grimes always maintained that the discovery of the Temple of Mithras was a fluke! He ran a series of trenches across the middle of the proposed site of Bucklersbury House to provide a cross section of the Walbrook Valley in order to investigate the nature of the River Walbrook. He located a series of revetments in a waterlogged, shallow valley dating from 70 AD up to 220 AD when the temple was constructed. He was not initially aware of the name of the cult that worshipped in the apsidal­ended building but plotted a sequence of nine floor surfaces. Two sleeper walls initially carried two rows of seven columns the length of the building, the columns had been removed by the time floor five was laid. Buried beneath floor five were five cult objects -the heads of Mithras, Minerva and Serapis, a Mercury group and the hand of Mithras. Professor Grimes related their quality with finds made in the Walbrook in 1889 – a Mithras relief and statues of a river god and a genius. All these objects were connected with the cult of Mithras – the purpose of the temple was now known. At the time it was surmised that these objects had been removed by Christians. However, apart from their burial, little damage had been incurred (noses were still intact) and this reverence would appear to be out of character with an iconoclastic act. On floor nine was found a marble Bacchus group. A silver strainer and casket used in Bacchic rites came from perhaps a niche in the wall and other finds nearby lent weight to the theory that cult which took over from Mithras was Bacchus.As part of the review of the achive, John had investigated the actual location of the 1889 find-recorded as “being from the Walbrook during deep “ sewerage works”. He found no record of any such operation but that works had been undertaken to buildings nearby. One stanchion of the buildings had actually penetrated the floors of the temple, thus confirming that the finds had been originally deposited in the temple. The Mithras relief could have fitted a square hole in the face of the apse.

The temple suffered from its nearness to the Walbrook – buttresses were added after construction had started due to waterlogging, the number of floors may have been due to increased dampness. Collapse and subsidence were repaired with a column drum shoring up the foundations and after use (around 350 AD) the building was vacated, not pulled down, and became inundated with Walbrook deposits.

This lecture provided an insight into the work of Professor Grimes, his interpretive skills and the results achieved despite the handicaps under which he worked – short of funding and assistance. It also illustrated how forty years on, an archive can be enhanced l• further work in the field and by additional research? although the Professor’s meticulous notes and drawings no doubt make the task of those who follow much easier.

Two topics will be published later this year: “St Bride’s Church” by Gustav Milne and “The Temple of Mithras” by John Shepherd. The fort and other Cripplegate sites plus a Gazetteer of all 65 sites will follow_

Mrs Banham – one of our founder members. A delightful note came from her which I am sure all our early members would like to read. They will remember the large tin of sweets she always brought on outings and weekend until a spinal illness stopped her activities several years ago. In the very early days Mr Barham addressed all our newsletter envelopes by hand and dealt with their dispatch – those were the days!

Dorothy Newbury says: “The Minimart profit has risen to £1,040. May 1 add my grateful thanks to all the hard workers in the Society who helped to achieve this excellent result. I was somewhat under the weather myself, and feared I had not put my usual effort into the event. Thanks, everyone.”

Please let us know of any more examination successes. (0181 203 0950).

Readers will recall my article in the September Newsletter on Ephesus which commented on the serious damage wrought by the thoughtless over amplification of a pop concert in its ancient theatre.

In the Autumn I returned to the Aegean to visit the Green island of Samos which became the centre of Ionic civilisation when Miletos was destroyed by the Persians. One of the most important archaeological sites on the island is Heraion situated some 7 kilometres from Pythagorion, the home of the father of modern mathematics, Pythagoras. On the windswept plain of Heraion lies the Temple of Hera, accepted as one of the great wonders of the ancient world. The magnificent Temple to the goddess was 108.75 metres in length, 54.68 metres wide and its columns reached the astonishing height of 25 metres. The open colonnades had a total of 135 columns, of which only one now remains in situ, 9 metres high. Stretching from the temple for some 4,000 metres was the Sacred Way which today forms the base of the Samos International Airport runway! BAs planes accelerate to full power along the runway, the tremendous vibration has caused the central ‘plugs’ holding each section of the remaining column in place to fracture, so that several are now far from the perpendicular. One wonders how much longer the column can take this punishment without collapsing! Before the coming of the jet age, the column had been subjected to the ravages of Turkish artillery who are said to have used it for target practice after they conquered Samos in 1822 and occupied it for over a hundred years. Thus the upper sections were destroyed and the rest bear evidence of this senseless practice.With Samos becoming a major tourist island with a burgeoning infrastructure, one cannot but wonder how long it will be before it is adjudged that an extension to the Airport is needed, economic requirements once again proving superior to the irreplaceable loss of ancient heritage. Surely a poor way to celebrate our own Millennium.

BUTSER ANCIENT FARM Bill Bass

Peter Reynolds reports that this year has been a definite improvement on 1995, with more schools and visitors. The site is being enhanced all the time with the construction of the Roman Villa steadily advancing – the hypocaust room is now ready for the insertion of the underground flue system – the walls being two tubuili high. A second double ring roundhouse is now ready to be thatched, the wheat straw is currently being threshed. The herb garden in the labyrinth at long last is coming into being. In addition Peter is building the framework of a large roundhouse, which will be transported to the Isle of Man where it will form the heart of a new Visitor Centre for the Iron Age at Peel. The first flat-pack roundhouse ever!

The Camp Lewis Archaeology Project, June 1996

One meets some really super people on the several Archaeological Digs with which have been involved. Charlie Haecker is a little guy whose enthusiasm for military history is in inverse proportion to his size. I first met him at the Washita Battlefield Dig in November 1995 and had many a late-night discourse together. Charlie is an archaeologist with the National Park Service in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I have his 200-page report on the archaeological work that he carried out at Palo Alto Battlefield in Texas in 1992 and 1993. It is a splendid document complete with maps, illustrations and diagrams.

So I considered it a compliment to be invited to take part in a project involving a metal-detecting survey of the Camp Lewis site in the Pecos National Historical Park in New Mexico. Here one touches a great deal of history. The Pueblo itself dates back to 1100, Coronado’s expedition passed through the area in 1541, there were encounters with and eventual colonisation by the Spaniards, then from 1821 the Santa Fe Trail

followed the same route, and finally came the Civil War battles at Apache Canyon and Glorietta Pass in 1862.

The sparse number of people who populated the Territories at the beginning of the Civil War were naturally divided in their loyalties. Although the Colorado and New Mexico Territories were nominally on the side of the Union, the South saw the opportunity of a military campaign aimed first at bringing these areas into the Confederacy and then driving through into California, where there were a number of supporters of the South and where the State was isolated from the military nucleus of the Union. With California as

part of the Confederacy, the South would have an unblockaded outlet to the sea and maybe the eventual outcome of the war would have been different.

So much for the Military Theory. An army under the Command of General Henry H Sibley and comprised mainly of Texans moved into the Territory in July 1861. There are a few hooks which describe this campaign, notably W C Whitford’s Colorado Volunteers in the Civil War, The New Mexico Campaign in 1862 (written in 1906) and Alvin M Josephy’s The Civil War in the American West. But briefly, the Confederates captured Fort Fillmore near the border, wintered and then won a battle at Valverde on the east

side of the Rio Grande, by-passing Fort Craig on the west hank. The victory at Valverde was an important one and enabled Sibley to occupy Albuquerque and Santa Fe virtually without a shot. Meanwhile, Union forces were gathering at Fort Union and being augmented by volunteers from Colorado Territory. The route from Fort Union to Santa Fe is through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains via Glorietta Pass, established on the old Santa Fe Trail.

The Battle of La Glorietta is one of several to which authors ascribe the epithet “The Gettysburg of the West”. In many ways it is the most deserving as the Confederate defeat here marked the beginning of the end of Sibley’s Campaign. In the battle the Confederates were actually in the ascendancy, but left their wagon train, supplies and horses virtually unguarded. These were attacked and destroyed by a Union battalion under the command of Major John Chivington – him of subsequent Sand Creek notoriety. Two important battlefield features were Pigeon’s Ranch , which was very close to the action, and Kozlowski’s Ranch further back towards Fort Union and the advancing Union troups, under the command of Colonel Edward Canby – later to he murdered in the Medoc War. Camp Lewis was established close to Kozlowski’s and was occupied by the First Colorado Volunteers at the time of the battle and probably afterwards when the Ranch was used for eight to ten weeks as a field hospital. So to the politics. There is a proposal to widen State Highway 63 which may affect the site of Camp Lewis, the exact location of which was uncertain, hence the raison d’être for the archaeological survey. I worked alongside the road for three days or so and the number of vehicles in a day equated to those passing through the Watford Gap on the M1 in about two seconds. Vehicles were so few we would look up and observe. I am told that the road widening is a “pork-barrel” project and will continue whatever, but some re-routing might be possible. Furthermore, there are proposals to develop Kozlowski’s stage stop as a visitor contact station and to establish an interpretive trail, hence another reason to locate the exact whereabouts of Camp Lewis Now here is a very interesting bit to us Brits. Kozlowski’s and another ranch building now used by the Park Service, and acres of land in this area were all given to the Federal Government by no less a person than Greet Garson, who had settled with her husband in this part of America for some years. Our own Mrs Miniver and an Essex girl to boot. (Recent obituaries on Greer Garson stated that she made up the story that she was Irish to impress the Hollywood moguls at the time). I flew out to Albuquerque on the Saturday and was grateful to be able to indulge myself in the outdoor whirlpool after the tiring journey. The next day I headed due south, not north, to find the remains of Fort Craig and the Valverde Battlefield, all very isolated but unspoilt and undeveloped. Fort Craig is a sort of National Monument where much restoration / archaeological work has been done in the past but it takes some finding, and, boy, was it hot! (To be continued. Part 2 in January 1997 Newsletter)

The smallest excavation? By Bill Bass

The smallest excavation undertaken by MoLAS to date is a hole approx 50 cm square before erection of a lamp post, adjacent to the Scheduled Ancient Monument of the site of Bermondsey Abbey – the corner of Bermondsey Street and Long Lane SE1 (MoLas Annual Review 1996).

NOTED IN THE NEWSPAPERS

Stuart Piggot, who died recently at the age of 86, was Abercromby Professor of prehistoric archaeology at Edinburgh University, and considered the leading authority on the Neolithic in Britain, as well as being an eminent European pre-historian. His numerous books include Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles (1965), Ancient Europe (1954) and Wagon, Chariot and Carriage (1992). He was made a CBE in 1976.

The “Sunday Times” of 3 November reported how archaeologists diving in the sea off Alexandria, Egypt believed they had identified the remains of the famous Pharos, longest surviving of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. There is speculation also about the discovery and appearance of the Timonium, Cleopatra’s royal quarters (similar to the Parthenon, but with Egyptian influence?)

Listen carefully in February 1997! American scientists are to build a computer version of the parasaurolophus’s head and crest. A computer simulation of air will pump through it to generate sound. Unlike the one-note elephant, this dinosaur’s nine feet of cranial tubing may have produced a deeper sound with varying notes.

Just issued is Ancient Art, a catalogue of relatively inexpensive but genuine antiquities – Roman glass vases start at £45, while £425 would buy you a fragment of Etruscan wall painting, and cuneiform tablets of 2000 BC from Mesopotamia would cost £125-250. (Chris Martin, Ancient Art, 85 The Vale, Southgate, London N14 6AT. 0181-882509)

The British Museum is considering introducing a £5 admission charge in 1997. The alternatives are sacking staff or restricting opening hours, as the BM is facing its deepest financial crisis in 250 years. One of the next collections to follow could be the Tate Gallery. Times, October 27.

COURSE

The Museum of London is running a study day of lectures and visits, Whitefriars Windows, which wilI provide an opportunity to view the original designs, cartoons, glass and equipment from the Museum’s Whitefriars Archive. There is also an optional visit to see mosaics and stained and painted glass in St Paul’s Cathedral. Fees and SAE to The Interpretation Unit, Museum of London, EC2Y 5HN (£15, concessions £7.50. Tel: 0171 600 3699)

No. 306 OCTOBER 1996 Edited by Micky Watkins

DIARY

Tuesday 8 October

Saturday 12 October

“The Temple of Mithras, Cripplegate Fort and Professor Grimes” Lecture by John Shepherd, Museum of London

Professor Grimes was HADAS President for many years and led us on an exciting weekend in South Wales in 1983.

John Shepherd is Curator of the Grimes Archive.

MINIMART 11.30am. – 2.30pm.

Helpers and contributors please ring Dorothy on 0181 203 0950 Bring your friends and relatives. Children will enjoy buying early Christmas presents. Lots of bargains, homemade quiche lunches.

GOOD NEWS FOR HADAS

HADAS RESISTIVITY METER Brian Wrigley

We are grateful and pleased to be able to tell members that HADAS has received a grant of £500 from the Milly Apthorp Charitable Trust, via the London Borough of Barnet, towards the cost of a new resistivity meter. Our old Martin-Clark instrument was giving us some odd readings ( e.g. in our surveying at Kenwood for the ancient ditch ), which we at first put down to the extremely dry weather last summer, but we at last came to the conclusion that the instrument was not working right and this was confirmed by Victor Jones’ tests in his own back garden where he had previously tested it over many years, thus having a good knowledge of the results that should be obtained! So we decided that, the machine being some 25 years old, it was time we had a new one.

The new instrument will cost a little over £900, so the grant is a great help, and we are proceeding with the purchase. We are applying to the CBA Challenge Funding scheme for help with the balance, which we hope we may get. We look forward to being able to proceed then, with a reliable instrument, to continue our work at Kenwood, Hampstead Heath, Church Farm Hendon and elsewhere.

GREATER LONDON SITES AND MONUMENTS RECORD Brian Wrigley

Earlier this year, we obtained, by the good offices of English Heritage, an up-dated print-out of the SMR for the London Borough of Barnet. The Excavation Working Party have studied this voluminous document with interest, and as a result have been able to send in over a dozen “error report” forms which we hope will help to keep it accurate. One or two of these have been references to digs in the distant past, where reference to old HADAS work notes have helped to clear up discrepancies. We certainly hope to continue this work in the future, as the SMR is a most useful archaeological tool – so long as it can be relied on! – and it is clearly a duty on us to do our best to help.

CAN YOU HELP HADAS TO FIND NEW PREMISES ?

HADAS may have to relinquish the Garden Room at Avenue House and we must look for alternative accommodation for our library and store. See Roy Walker’s appeal on page 5.

A WEEKEND IN CORNWALL, AUGUST 29TH – SEPTEMBER 1ST 1996

THURSDAY Paul O’Flynn

At 8am. (not pm. as advertised), the last of our party of HADAS members climbed onto the coach at Golders Green at the start of the 20th HADAS weekend. All appeared well as we started off around the North Circular Road, until just past Ealing we joined the end of a substantial traffic jam caused by slip road works at the Chiswick flyover. After an hour and a half delay we finally reached the M4. An average speed of 10 mph. – things were not going well!

As we journeyed West along the M4 concern was raised about the coach’s on board plumbing. Our driver Barry explained that it had become blocked on a return journey from Amsterdam – a cache of drugs perhaps? Fortunately the motorway was remarkably clear and so the long haul towards Truro started in earnest.

Members had started to relax (and a few to doze off ) when a loud bang at the front of the coach rudely awoke us. A stone thrown up by a car in front hit the windscreen and shattered part of it. I found some of the glass in my road maps, more was found half way along the coach. We were not deterred.

By 3.25pm. we were in the outskirts of Truro and navigating the one-way system down narrow streets in the 57 seater coach. This was to be the first of many challenging manoeuvres for our driver (see King Harry ferry below ). As much by good luck as good judgement we pulled up right outside the Royal Cornwall Museum on the tick of 3.30, and were advised to take afternoon tea before visiting the museum. ( Dorothy says this amazing punctuality was in spite of Paul and Barry ignoring the four colour direction maps from the Tourist Office – an excellent feat of navigation. )

At 4pm., Anna Tyacke, curator of the Human History Department of the Museum took us on a conducted tour of some of the exhibits. The Museum was founded in 1919 and is very much in the ‘old style’ with cabinets, exhibits and labels chronicling the history of Cornwall from pre-history to the modern age. There is also a geological section and a small art gallery. The explanation of the various exhibits helped to put them in context and very much brought them to life. I particularly enjoyed seeing the early bronze age gold collars on display.

We departed from Truro to travel on to Falmouth, our base for the weekend. There we settled into our respective hotels for supper and an evening of leisure.

FRIDAY Julius Baker

Friday morning saw the members of our party bestir themselves from about 7am.. Most of us had learnt to avoid starting the day on an excursion in a last minute rush and to sit down calmly to a good breakfast.

The sky was blue and cloudless except for the arrays of clouds on the horizon out at sea. We soon found ourselves on the typical narrow winding Cornish roads most of which, after centuries of different forms of transport, upon what had originally been paths, have been worn down three feet and more below the level of the land, and were lined with hedges of sycamore, hawthorne and gorse.

Our guide today was Peter Herring whose knowledge of the countryside, its history, geology and agriculture he tried to share with us – whilst we frantically attempted to pen the information in a moving bus and to look around at the fascinating countryside.

We were told that slate is the main rock in Cornwall but with outcrops of granite many of which were large enough to be quarried. Our attention was drawn to the quarrymen’s little cottages and smallholdings on which they carried on subsistence farming. The houses of the quarry captains were larger, dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries.

We passed a number of wind farms with modern gaunt windmills. These are a relatively new way of producing electricity and though they cause some hostility from local people they will reduce the number of pylons strung out across the countryside. We were told that there were at least as many Methodist chapels as churches in Cornwall.Close to the road we came upon the Merry Maidens – upright stones embedded in the earth, standing some 3 to 4 feet high in a circle. The story was that on an important ritual of the coming of Spring the maidens began to dance and were turned to stone.

The bridges of London were built of Cornish stone and of course many of the grand houses of the millionaires who owned the land and who had become rich during the boom in tin, copper and stone mined in Cornwall in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many of these families have migrated to London and neglected their homes and fields in Cornwall.

As we travelled the countryside became more lush, with bigger fields, hills and ravines and taller trees possibly because of richer soil. We stopped at Breage Church. There is a 2000 year old barrow nearby and on Tregonning Hill an iron age fort. In the parish a Roman milestone was found which is now in the Church. The stone bears a Latin inscription to the Emporor Postumus A.D258-268. The settlement there was in existence when St. Breaca arrived in about 500AD. The tower of the Church is 67 feet high and can be seen far out at sea. The paintings inside the Church were of great interest showing the tools of trade and the tradesmen of the 15th century remarkably clearly.

Scattered around there are many solitary stacks and roofless engine-houses, mute witnesses of the great days of Cornish mines. One of the largest and richest mines nearby had by 1840 a workforce of 1174. The slump in metal prices in 1877 led to a decline and to a final closure in 1901.

It was interesting to know that the Romans did not take over Devon and Cornwall as they did most parts of England. Since most of the tin the Romans used came from Spain in adequate quantities there was no need to direct their forces to the South West.

Breage Church has a Godolphin Chapel and the next stop was Godolphin House. The Godolphins were one of the most important families in Cornwall.The house is in grounds of about 450 acres with every indication that the grandees had been magnificent. In the 1620s it was famous architecturally, a building without peer in England, with a radical design for the times. Though there have been many changes to the house, the garden is the only known surviving medieval one in England. Recent documents discovered in the British Museum describe the gardens as the finest in England in 1530. Mrs Scofield, the present owner served us with tea in the inner courtyard and I doubt whether we will ever again sit in such gracious surroundings.

We left reluctantly and went on to Chysauster Ancient Village. This is a Celtic site on a windswept hillside with the remains of eight stone houses some with walls of 4 or 5 feet still standing. Most of the rooms were circular in which the families lived, with smaller rooms which may have been used for storage or animals. The settlement seems to have been for quite a well organised community. It was abandoned 1500 to 2000 years ago.

Our next stop was a Quoit where we had a magnificent walk over wild and rough country with the sea below on our left and all around the abandoned relics of the great tin mines. We returned to the bus tired but exhilirated and were then driven to our tryst with the dinner at Gurnards Hotel.

All in all a memorable day in an exciting and very busy four days. The weather throughout had been very kind to us, and the arrangements made by Dorothy were beyond praise.

SATURDAY Tessa Smith

Our guide on Saturday was Peter Rose, and so, where better to go than St. Just-in-Roseland. This area does not refer to roses however, but is a derivation of the old Cornish word roos’, meaning promontory. We set off smoothly enough, admiring the ancient field patterns, cultivated since Celtic times, the sheep and the barley, when, suddenly, we had to negotiate a tortuous drop, down to King Harry ferry, King Harry being Henry VI and the ferry originally a steam chain ferry. Our driver, Barry, skilfully twisted and turned the coach to board, and the crossing was serene enough. However, on the other side the exit was impossibly steep and the whole coach of HADAS members had to disembark in order to lighten the load, then we watched anxiously as the valiant coach strained and scraped uphill on to the road again.

Surviving this ordeal we arrived safely at St-Just-in-Roseland. The setting of the 13th century Cornish
church was an absolute delight, nestling beside a small fishing creek and surrounded by magnificent steep
terraces of exotic shrubs and trees. The church contained a double piscina and some interesting modern roof bosses, but it was the setting of this church that was so enchanting, and a HADAS member was heard to remark, as we puffed back uphill, that it would be a lovely place to be buried in, so when one member failed to arrive back for roll-call, we did wonder ? However these steep pathways at St Just were nothing compared to our next exploit.

Cam beach was picturesque and inviting, but it was not to be, our guide headed in the opposite direction towards the height of Cam Beacon. At a brisk pace he led us up the diagonal hillside. That morning we all experienced the disadvantage of attacking a fortified Iron Age farmstead uphill, but, using our walking-sticks as crampons, we all arrived victorious, more or less intact, at a circular grassy plateau with bank and ditch carved out of the surrounding hillside. Admiring the wonderful views towards the south-west, the Lizard, and Goonhilly Downs, we gazed out where neolithic forests once grew and where now seas sparkled on a glorious summer day.

But we were ever upward bound towards the actual Beacon, site of the largest bronze age burial mound in Cornwall. When excavated, a limestone cist had been found with burial ashes inside and secondary cremation burials with a bronze age urn inside the stone cairn above.

The tiny hamlet of Cam village lay seemingly abandoned to the ghosts of smugglers past. The majority of us accomplished the long walk via the coastguards’ path to the smugglers bay at Prada Cove, near Nair Head. Through bracken and butterflies we tottered thankfully back down towards the ice-cream van and beach.

We then headed to the north coast of Cornwall to visit the Church of St. Mawgan-in-Pydar to admire, inside, its fine 16th century brasses, surprisingly still intact on the floor, and outside, its collection of 13th century wayside crosses gathered in from the countryside where originally they marked the way to church. An unusual and curious 10th century lantern cross had carving of seemingly a bishop, the crucifixion and annunciation. Beyond the church, in a small garden alcove, of a Carmelite convent, once the home of the Arundell family stood a fine 10th century cross with Christ-figure, serpents and dragons, signed Ruhal and reminding us of crosses in the Isle of Mann.

Our last stop on this lovely day was at Wheal Coats tin mine, on the cliff edge, originally mining tin from below sea-level. Peaceful and silent now compared to its tumultuous hammering past, the chimney and pumping engine ruins stood stark against the seascape.

Finally, to the Miners Arms, where rumours of ghosts and hauntings were quickly dispelled by good food, good wine and good company. So ended a long but satisfying day.

SUNDAY Frances Radford

On our last day, alas ending our trip to West Cornwall, we visited Pendennis Castle, Falmouth. A steep uphill climb for the coach ( but then the driver was used to that! ) but affording us magnificent views over the coastline and sea southwards. We arrived at the outer gateway built, it is thought, about 1611. The high massive outer rampart set in a rocky base is most impressive and no doubt daunting for any would be attackers. Constructed in Elizabethan times when the threat of Spanish invasions ( more than one occasion ) seemed highly likely it must have appeared as a formidable obstacle. In the 16th century the Spanish and French showed considerable interest in this part of the coastline, the Spanish in particular having planned to invade and take control of West Cornwall as Sir Walter Raleigh had feared. Their attempt, however, was again thwarted, like the first, by the gales which blew up the Channel dispersing the fleet.

Our guide, Charlie Johns from the CAU, led us to the older centre of the fortress, the 1540-45 building, explaining the relationship between Pendennis and St Mawes Castle which stands on a lower promontory across the water, the two of them guarding the entrance to the river Fal, known as the Carrick Roads. Early 16th century guns were not long range hence the forts on either side of the entrance.

Life inside the forts must have been fairly grim judging by the display we saw at the upper gun deck. Guns were drawn up to the windows, any amount of cannon balls were strewn around and puffs of asphyxiating smoke rose up from the floor. Quarters were clearly very cramped for the gun crew who appeared to live and sleep close to the scene of action. Their food was cooked in a subterranean cavern or kitchen where there was very little light from the high windows. No sign of a well, but there must have been one. The Governor’s quarters attached to the keep showed he lived in comparative comfort having rooms with larger windows, ample fireplaces and a bedroom with his own `mod-con’ in a closet.

Though the keep was the main focus for the artillery there were gun placements at different levels including a minor fort “Little Dennis” with more guns at water level on the tip of the promontory. It could provide auxiliary fire power at a lower level_

Returning to the central open space to the north west of the keep our guide pointed out an area known as The Hornwork” which is thought to have had a variety of buildings on it, probably to house soldiers. North of the area is a large barracks dating from 1901. The forts of St Mawes and Pendennis are built in the same circular pattern as other Henry VIII forts such as Deal.

Just recently the `Sealed Knot’ Society has been re-enacting the Civil War battle here. St Mawes fell quickly to the Parliamentarians being more vulnerable but Pendennis continued to withstand the siege until after five months, starvation forced them to surrender. The enactment was over but curiosity was aroused at the sight of many high cylindrical wicker work constructions standing about. It turned out these were filled with earth and used for protection for the soldiers. Did they fire between them? – how were they used? Suggestions or answers please!

A memorable four days trip with so much to see and many questions to stimulate the brain cells. Who has the answer to a `fogou’?

Our thanks to Paul O’Flynn for his excellent navigating, and an enormous ‘thank you’ to Dorothy for all her careful organisation.

HELP!

THE GARDEN ROOM AT AVENUE HOUSE Roy Walker

The Borough of Barnet has formally terminated our lease of this essential storeroom at. Avenue House but has started negotiations for a further three years letting with effect from January next year.

The proposed new rent is £190 higher than that currently passing (fixed four years ago) and is held to reflect the open market for such properties. We feel this increase is too high being equal to about a 5% compound increase per year which cannot reflect the increase in commercial property values within Barnet. However, we are awaiting details of the service charge before we can put fully our counter-proposals to the Council.

In the meantime, it would be helpful to hear from any member who knows of premises of about 200 square feet available at a reasonable rent which could be adapted for our long-term use as a library and finds store. Such information might be helpful in our negotiations or, indeed, as a standby should the total cost of renewing our lease be beyond the Society’s means.

Details to Roy Walker please on 0181-361 1350.

MAX HOATHER. It was with regret that we heard of the death of Max Hoather, a member of very long standing. Max was an active participant at the 1955 excavations at Brockley Hill and kindly gave us several pieces of original information from those digs.OUTING TO WAVERLEY, FARNHAM AND SHALFORD Deidre Barrie

Sunday 17th August

“It’s even got an index !” breathed the man in front of me. He was of course referring to the superb 20-page illustrated outing booklet handed round on the coach by Vikki O’Connor. (And Dorothy Newbury must have done her usual anti-rain dance, so naturally the day was fine ). A well-briefed coachful of HADAS members headed for Surrey, stopping for tea en route at “Lloyd George’s local” with its rather kitsch Welsh-themed wrought iron fence.

Waverley Abbey was founded in the 12th century, when Abbot John and 12 Cistercian “white monks” arrived from Aumone, near Chatres. The ruins stand in a low, lush meadow by the river, with the picturesque 18th century Waverley Abbey House opposite on the other side of its lake.An anxious heron watched our approach. Judith Roebuck of English Heritage gave us a short, informative talk.

At the award winning Farnham Museum in 18th century Wilmer House, local author Jean Parratt spoke to us, mentioning the Roman villa and Bronze Age sites under her house. Charles I nightcap ( a lilac silk “pill­box” with gold thread embroidery – akin to ethnic day ware of the trendy young nowadays ) was one of the Museum exhibits.

Once again, Judith Roebuck was our guide when we visited Farnham Castle – a round shell keep, with 15th century brick entry tower. (The habitable part of the csastle is occupied by the Centre for International Briefing and not open on Saturdays.)

After time to explore Farnham ( definitely worth another visit ) we sped off for tea in the “Seahorse” at Shalford. The fit among the party scrambled tip at least three levels of ladders to the top of the 18th century mill – a picturesque old wooden building on one side of a nature trail. (An “undershot corn-mill”, said The Booklet . ) Our thanks to English Heritage for their guides and to Vikki O’Connor and Bill Bass for arranging a fascinating outing.

MEMBERS’ NEWS

BIRKBECK COLLEGE EXTRA-MURAL EXAMINATION SUCCESSES

Malcolm Stokes has passed the third and final year of the Certificate in Field Archaeology. Vikki O’Connor has passed the second year of the Certificate in Local History.

Roy Walker has passed the first year of the Certificate in the History of London. Our congratulations to all of them.

If anybody else has news of members’ successes, please let us know.

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

DIGGING AND THE SILLY SEASON

It is fortunate for archaeology that the best season for excavation coincides with the silly season when there is a dearth of political news. This summer The Times ran a series of articles on Roman Britain as well as giving good space to many reports on current digs.

South African archaeologists have found the remains of a King and Queen in a walled citadel in the Kruger National Park, close to the border with Zimbabwe. They lived in the 16th century, and artefacts found around, such as gold, iron, copper and bronze jewellery, show that their society was highly skilled and they were trading with faraway countries such as India and China. Times 8.8.19%

Where did the Romans land in AD43? Many HADAS members will have visited Richborough in Kent, which hitherto has been regarded as the only bridgehead. But recent excavations near Fishbourne Roman Palace in West Sussex have revealed a military garrison and it is now being suggested that the invasion took place through Chichester harbour as well as at Richborough. Times 5.9.19%Roman Fort in Norfolk. The dry summer weather brought the 16-acre site to light in an aerial survey. In very dry weather, plants grew higher in the ditches, so revealing the outlines of the fort. It seems it was built to accomodate up to 2000 soldiers who were given the task of imposing order on Boudicca and the Iceni. The barracks were of wood, and the fort was only occupied for ten years. Times

Roman Wreck? A mile off Hayling Island, Hampshire, a diving team has discovered the remains of a 40 ft. ship and dating by the rings has shown the timbers are more than 500 years old. Carbon dating will establish whether the ship was Roman. It is thought that there must be many Roman ships sunk round Britain, but hitherto none have been found. Times 18.7.1996

Folly Restored. If you went on the Durham weekend last year, you will have seen the Penshaw Monument on the way to South Shields. Built as a tribute to the first Earl of Durham, it is a double sized replica of a Greek temple in the doric style. At a cost of £100,000 it is being re-pointed and strengthened – but not cleaned. The stonework is to remain blackened as a reminder of the area’s tradition of heavy industry!

Is this a new folly? Times 8.8.1996

Latrunculus, the Roman Board Game

The remains of a Roman board game have been found in a burial pit near Colchester. The game is virtually intact, with all the disc shaped pieces near their starting positions so that the method of play can be worked out. It seems that the ten white and ten red discs represented soldiers and they were lined up facing each other as in draughts. Players were captured by trapping them between two pieces.The board was made of wood measuring 22in by 14in, was hinged in the middle and had metal corner pieces.

Are any members learning to play?

CHURCH FARMHOUSE MUSEUM

” Images of the Spanish Civil War” is an Exhibition to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the war. HADAS member, Alan Lawson, has contributed some of the photographs and the Exhibition also includes a film which Alan helped to make when he was in Spain from 1937-38.

Why not visit the Exhibition after lunch at the Minimart? – It is only just across the road on Greyhound Hill. Open 10am- I pm and 2pm-5pm. ( closed Fridays and Sunday Mornings }.Tel: 0181-203 0130

CONFERENCES

SCOLA CONFERENCE ON DARK AGE LONDON

Saturday 5th October, 1996, at the Museum of London from 10.00 am. Tickets at £7.50 from Peter Pickering, 3 Westbury Road, London, N12 7NY, enclosing an sae. Cheques payable to SCOLA please.

CBA CONFERENCE ON ROMAN LONDON

Saturday 16 November, 1996, at the Museum of London from 10.00 am. Tickets at £5.00 each are available from Derek Hills, CBA Mid Anglia, 34 Kingfisher Close, Wheathampstead, Herts. A14 M.

COURSES

See p.8 of the September Newsletter for the many courses, lectures and weekend events starting this Autumn, including Diploma and Post-Diploma courses, lectures on the Roman Empire and weekend meetings on Egyptology.

ENGLISH HERITAGE WINTER LECTURES

English Heritage experts will give a series of ‘entertaining and informative’ talks on a variety of subjects: 16 Sept. Great Castles

7 Oct. English Heritage Treasures

4 Nov Archaeology

9 Dec. Craftsmen at Work

10 Feb. St. Augustine’s Abbey

10 Mar. Quality of the Landscape

Lectures cost £3 each and can be booked in advance. They will be held at 6pm. in the English Heritage Lecture Theatre, 23 Savile Row, London. W1A 1BB

WEA EXTRA-MURAL CLASSES

June Porges writes:

Last season 1 attended a class given by Janet Corran at Bushey on The Golden Age of Rome. This was a WEA class but is included in the Birkbeck Extra-Mural assessed classes programme. Rather to my astonishment as it is part of the Archaeology Department programme, the course was on the history of Rome (Augustan period ) based on the literature. I didn’t do classics at school and was completely ignorant of all this but found myself swept into the most exciting mornings with discussions which ranged over all sorts of related topics including English and French literature and history as my fellow students brought in their knowledge of these fields. Janet is a marvelous lecturer – unfortunately I think she is retiring after this year -and I would very much recommend this year’s classes which are:

Emperors and Citizens: The Romans from Tiberius to Nero. Wed. 25th September, 10am. to 12 noon. 20 meetings. The Stable Room, Rudolph Road, Bushey, Herts. Watford WEA. Ring Peter Francis 0181-950­3199

The Age of Alexander. Thurs 3 October, 10am. to 12 noon. 20 meetings. Pinner Centre, Chapel Lane, Pinner and Hatch End WEA. Ring Heather Moodie 0181-427 5651

Incidentally I expect everyone else knows this quotation from Virgil’s Georgics Book 1, but it came as a complete revelation to me so I’m going to quote it. Writing about Philippi he says:

“Surely the time will come when a farmer on these frontiers Forcing through earth his curved plough

Shall find old spears eaten away with flaky rust

Or hit upon helmets as he wields the weight of his mattock And marvel at the heroic bones he has disinterred.”

It could be the Battle of Barnet!