No. 618 September 2022 Edited by Stephen Brunning
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
HADAS DIARY – Forthcoming lectures and events
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, until further notice lectures will be held online via ZOOM, all starting at 8 pm, although we do hope to get back to face-to-face lectures soon. As ever, our apologies to those who are unable to see online lectures. We will be sending out an invitation email with instructions about how to join on the day of each talk, so please keep an eye on your inbox.
Tuesday 11 October
Dr Martin Bridge (UCL) Tree-ring dating and what it tells us about the old Barnet Shop.
Tuesday 8th November
Nick Card. Building the Ness of Brodgar
Update on Elstree and Borehamwood Museum shown in the August newsletter. This exhibition has now been extended till Saturday 22nd October due to popular demand. Also see article from Andy Simpson later in this newsletter.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Membership Renewals – a reminder Stephen Brunning
Many thanks to everyone those who have already paid their subscription. If you intend to renew this year and have not yet done so, I would be grateful to receive payment by 30th September 2022 at the following rates: £15 (Full), £5 (each additional member at the same address), and £6 (student). My address is on the last page of this newsletter. Our bank details are: Account Number 00083254 or 00007253, sort code for both is 40-52-40.
I should like to remind people that Rule 3(b) of the HADAS constitution states that: “any member whose subscription shall be six months in arrear shall be deemed to have ceased to be a member”.
It is not necessary to return the renewal form enclosed with the March newsletter. A piece of paper with your name, postal address, telephone number and email address (if applicable) will suffice. I will then be able check the details we hold are still correct. If you have not already done so, it would also be helpful if you could indicate your willingness to receive the newsletter by email. This helps to keep our costs to a minimum.
Thank you.
1
Market Place, East Finchley MTP21 excavation Bill Bass
– illustrated notes on the pottery finds
Please see HADAS Newsletter (612) March 2022 for the main report. This is a selected and small example of what was found.
The earliest dated pottery found was a sherd of Tin-glazed Ware late 17th to early 18th century found in context 105 (trench 1) and may indicate evidence of the earlier occupation of the site (right). Also seen is a sherd of Westerwald Stoneware 1590-1900.
2
3
4
Acknowledgments: www.thepotteries.org (accessed 21/6/22)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
A New Barrow Jim Nelhams
No – not more equipment for our digging team.
In Victorian times, space for burials in London churchyards was running out. Some boroughs set up large burial grounds in the suburbs – we have them in Finchley and New Southgate. Local churches including St Andrew’s Totteridge and St Mary’s Hendon were able to acquire more land and extend their existing churchyards but the problem did not go away.
With rising populations, cremations became more normal and space was made in some churchyards to bury ashes or install plaques although some people want to keep their loved one’s ashes (including their pets) in an urn and need to store the urn.
5
This is the service offered by the Mid-England Barrow Ltd, in the heart of English Countryside, on the borders of Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire. Work started in February 2019 to create the first barrow to be built in Mid-England for thousands of years. This amazing structure was created entirely from natural resources by skilled craftsmen.
Niches, nestled into the walls, offer spaces for up to 5 urns (sets of ashes) which are then secured by completely personalised covers, made from stone, glass or other material, sourced from local craftsmen and craftswomen.
Pictures courtesy of Mid-England Barrow Ltd
One wonders what archaeologists of the future will make of this. For more information, see www.mid-englandbarrow.co.uk/
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Are We Finally Going To Return the Elgin Marbles? Stewart Wild
The saga of the Elgin Marbles, rescued from the ruined Acropolis in Athens by Lord Elgin’ s men from 1801 to 1811, has been on and off the front pages ever since . The Greeks maintain that w e stole them (“British imperialist plundering”); we argue that the marble frieze was legitimately obtained from the Ottoman authorities that ruled Athens at the time. (The original fourth century BC owners were no longer around and modern Greece did not become an independent country until the 1820s).
Lord Elgin planned to incorporate the marble treasures into his own home in Scotland, but ran out of money (often happens after a divorce) and was obliged to sell the lot in 1816. He received back only about half of what he had paid to acquire them, and the lucky buyer was the British government, higher offers from people like Napoleon having rightly been refused.
Lord Liverpool’s government then passed the 2,500 year old artworks to the British Museum, where they have gathered dust ever since. The stumbling block to their repatriation, as Greece demands, is the British Museum Act of 1963 which prevents museum trustees from disposing of any of the museum’s items except in very limited circumstances.
For years this has meant a stalemate; the British Museum says it’s a matter for the trustees, and the trustees say the y cannot do any thing without action by the government to change the law.
6
This unhappy state of affairs has been a cause of friction between London and Athens for years. In 1986 actress and film star Melina Mercouri (also Greek Minister for Culture) argued passionately for the Marbles to be returned to Greece.
In 2009 one of our local MPs, Andrew Dismore (Labour, Hendon), brought a Private Member’s Bill to Parliament with the same aim, but without success. In 2014 UNESCO got involved but the stalemate prevailed. In 2021 the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stepped up the pressure.
But is the future of the Marbles set in stone? Former Chancellor George Osborne, now the British Museum chairman, is reported to have said there is “a deal to b e done.” But h is idea of a deal is a loan, and for a loan to go ahead the Greeks would have to accept that Britain legally acquired and owns the priceless collection of sculptures and friezes. Which they won’t.
So, it all seems to depend on another Private Member’s Bill to push through enabling legislation. The difference now is that public opinion seems to have moved in favour of the Greeks. A recent survey found that over half (54 percent) of the British public would support the marbles’ permanent return to Athens, compared with only 23 percent against the idea.
But Westminster has enough problems as it is, and a Department of Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said, “The government has no plans to change museum legislation any time soon.”
We shall see.
SOURCE:
Wikipedia and the Daily Telegraph
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Peter Pickering Birthday Celebration Andy Simpson
On Saturday 13 August many members of HADAS, the Finchley Society, other societies, friends and family – and of course Ted – were all able to gather at Avenue House to help HADAS vice chairman Peter Pickering celebrate a Covid-delayed significant birthday party. As ever, Avenue House provided a splendid buffet and there was a cake! It was still the height of the recent hot spell so the shady terrace was an added attraction.
7
Congratulations Peter.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Northern Line to Edgware – via Mill Hill…. Andy Simpson
Some newsletter readers may have visited the excellent recent uncompleted New Works Programme Northern Heights extension from Edgware to Brockley Hill and Bushey Heath and the exhibition at Borehamwood Museum.
This is a slightly tweaked version of a note I recently sent to ‘Mixed Traffic’, the magazine of the Epping Ongar Heritage Railway where I can usually be found once a week washing down coaches as part of the Carriage and Wagon Team at North Weald Station.
The short (barely a mile) electrified extension from Finchley Central to Mill Hill East opened in May 1941. If it had not been for the war the rest of that line via Copthall and Mill Hill (Bunn’s Lane) would have also been electrified up to Edgware where the Great Northern Railway had its station from August 1867, and would have connected via a flyover to the existing Northern Line surface tracks from Golders Green, Brent (later Brent Cross), Hendon, Burnt Oak and Colindale. When electrification was finally suspended beyond Mill Hill in 1940, much preparatory work had been completed including the electrical substation at Mill Hill Page Street, positioning of conductor rails and lineside cabling supports for much of the way through to Edgware (many of the latter can still be found in situ in the trackbed undergrowth today), along with construction of a new platform at Mill Hill (The Hale) at Bunns Lane, adjacent to, but below, Mill Hill Broadway main line LMS station.
For the next 20 years or so steam hauled main line freights continued to work from Finsbury Park via Stroud Green, Crouch End, Highgate and East Finchley through Mill Hill East to Edgware (and up the later branch to High Barnet, opened in April 1872) usually hauled by Gresley N2 0-6-2 tanks such as 69523 which has visited the Epping Ongar Railway in 2013 and 2016 painted in its original guise as Great Northern Railway 1744 – and in December 1961 this same loco hauled the last steam-hauled freight to Edgware. After a transitional period, these were replaced completely by the ubiquitous Eastern Region D82xx series B.T.H. Type 1 (later class 15) 800hp Bo-Bo diesel locomotives until freight services to the yards at High Barnet ceased on 29 September 1962. The coal traffic to Mill Hill East gas works, and return empty coal wagons, was particularly heavy until gas production ceased at the site in November 1961. Even in 1960 it received some 68,000 tons of goods, mostly coking coal
8
for coal gas manufacture at the gasworks, in 5,640 wagons – a significant loss of traffic.
The following photo from my collection, original photographer unknown, shows Edgware (GN) station being visited by a LCGB railtour headed by Gresley N2 69506 on 5 May 1956, five years before demolition of the main station building and eight years before the yard closed to BR goods traffic.
On Monday 1 October 1962 came the official closure on economy grounds of British Railways Eastern Region goods yards at High Barnet, Totteridge and Whetstone, Woodside Park, Finchley Central, East Finchley, Highgate Wellington goods yard sidings, and Mill Hill East North goods yards and the cessation of all BR workings other than those to Mill Hill (The Hale) and Edgware. The closed yards were replaced by a new coal concentration yard at Enfield Chase, opened September 1962. The regular morning freight worked to Edgware via Finchley Central and Mill Hill East throughout 1963, becoming an ‘as required’ service in 1964, by which time it was in London Midland Region territory.
9
The coal sidings at Mill Hill (The Hale) closed 29 February 1964 and the last regular BR freight train to Edgware (GN) ran on 4 May 1964. With the new M1 motorway extension underway, the tracks from Edgware back to Mill Hill East were rapidly lifted between 24 August and 23 September 1964, leaving just the short non-electrified overrun visible today, with the trackbed beyond blocked by flats. The last BR train from Finsbury Park to Highgate was in connection with an LT Northern City Line stock transfer on 4 October 1964, after which the tracks were used weekly by London Transport battery locos hauling sets of 1938 tube stock to and from Highgate Depot Sidings until October 1970, the tracks beyond Highgate Sidings back to Finsbury Park being lifted in January 1972.
The planned extensions beyond Edgware have been well covered in print over the years, as shown in the attached images.…most of these books can be found in a good rummage amongst stallholder’s stock at the Transport Collector’s Fairs patronised by several HADAS members, your scribe included…
The HADAS slide and photograph collection kept in our room at Avenue House includes a number of local railway views dating back to the 1930s and is currently being sorted and catalogued.
10
Other Societies’ Events Eric Morgan
Please check with the Organisation before setting out in case of any changes or cancellations.
Sunday 4th September, 11am-3pm. COLAS at Fulham Palace. End of Bishops’ Avenue (off Fulham Palace Road) SW6 6EA. Part of Totally Thames Festival. There will be a small handling collection and a display of Roman cookery. At 12 and 2pm Alexis Haslam (Community Archaeologist) will lead foreshore walks. Please book on www.fulhampalace.org/whats-on/events.
Friday 9th September, 7pm. Enfield Archaeological Society. Talk on zoom, “Elsyng Palace; 19 years under the trowel” by Dr. Martin Dearne (E.A,S,) on his upcoming book. For link, please visit www.enfarchsoc.org
Tuesday 13th September, 7.45pm. Amateur Geological Society – Finchley Baptist Church Hall,6, East End Road/ corner Stanhope Avenue, N3 3LX.The Lost Rivers of London and their relationship to the Geology. Talk by Diana Clements (A.G.S., Geologists’ Association and Natural History Museum). Refreshments afterwards.
Friday 16th September, 7.00pm. COLAS. St. Olave’s Church, Hart Street, EC3R 7LQ – “Wood Green; a spectrum of life from the medieval period to C19th”. Talk by Rosita Greco. (AOC Archaeology) Exploring the remains of a historic house. Also by zoom. Please book via Eventbrite. Visit www.colas.org.uk. HADAS may send out the details to its members.to book.
Saturday 17th September. Barnet Physic Well. Corner Well Approach/ Pepys Crescent, Barnet.,EN5 3DY. Open day.
Saturday17th and Sunday 18th September. Open House weekend. Free entry to London’s best buildings not always open to the public. For full details please visit www.openhouselondon.org.uk.
Wednesday 21st September, 7.30pm. Willesden Local History Society. St. Mary’s Church Hall, Neasden Lane, NW10 2TS. (Near Magistrates Court) Willesden Junction Station. Talk by Michael Woods (professional railwayman and amateur historian on his illustrated history of Willesden Junction and its web of local lines and stations. Should also be on zoom. If not a member buy a ticket (£3). For details please check www.willesden-local-history.co.uk.
Wednesday 28th September, 7.45pm. Friern Barnet and District Local History Society. North Middx. Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, N20 ONL…Art Deco London. Talk by Diane Burstein (London Guide). Please visit www.friern-barnethistory.org,uk and click on programme, or phone 020 8368 8314 for up-to-date details (David Berguer, chair) Non-members £2. Bar available.
Thursday 29th September, 7.30pm. Finchley Society. Drawing room, Avenue (Stephens’) House, 17, East End Road, N3 3QE. “Gardening the World”. Talk by Tim Bell (on behalf of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) on those who maintain the cemeteries and how they determine what plants should be used in different countries throughout the world. Non-members £2.at the door. Also on zoom. Please visit www.finchleysociety.org.uk. Also to register for link. Refreshments in interval.
11
Tuesday 4th October, 1-2pm. Society of Antiquaries. “The Rediscovery of Tutankhamun”. Talk by Prof. Aidan Dodson (FSA) Currently also on zoom. Please visit www.sal.org.uk/events for details and bookings. Free, but donations accepted. Also Thursday 6th October, 5-6pm. “From Gin craze to Gin Palace”. Talk by Prof. Judith Hawley.(FSA). Also Thursday 20th October 5-6pm. “Landscapes of Defence in Early Medieval England”. Talk by Dr. Stuart Brooke. And Thursday 27th, October, 5-6pm. Louis XIV;Patron, Collector, Creator”. Talk by Dr. Philip Mansel.
Wednesday 5th October-Thursday 17th November. London Luminaries Online lectures. Please visit www.londonluminaries.com/talks/food-and-drink . £5 donation requested. Historic West London properties share and celebrate their history including Kew Palace, Pitzhanger Manor, Ham House, Boston Manor, Orleans House, Pope’s Grotto, Chiswick House, Marble Hill , Hogarth’s House, Strawberry Hill, Turner’s House and Gunnersbury House. Exploring food and drink and its relation to the historic houses, former owners and the society of their times.
Monday 10th October, 3pm. Barnet Museum and Local History Society. St. John the Baptist Church, Chipping Barnet, corner High Street/ Wood Street, Barnet, EN5 4BW. “How Barnet got its Station”. Talk by Dennis Bird. (Barnet Mus. and L.H.S.) Please visit www.barnetmuseum.co.uk
With many thanks to this month’s contributors – Bill Bass, Stephen Brunning, Eric Morgan,
Jim Nelhams, Andy Simpson, Stewart Wild
Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chairman Don Cooper, 59, Potters Road, Barnet, EN5 5HS
(020 8440 4350) e-mail: chairman@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Secretary Janet Mortimer, 34, Cloister Road, Childs Hill, London NW2 2NP
(07449 978121) e-mail: secretary@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Treasurer Roger Chapman 50 Summerlee Ave, London N2 9QP
(07855 304488) e-mail: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Membership Sec. Stephen Brunning, Flat 2 Goodwin Court, 52 Church Hill Road,
East Barnet EN4 8FH1 (020 8440 8421) e-mail: membership@hadas.org.uk
Web site: www.hadas.org.uk
12
